My favorite part of the off season is here! Today we’re going to be breaking down the new coaching hires that finished up this past weekend, and who gets a boost and who doesn’t, in order of their hire date:
Ron Rivera, Washington – After being fired in Carolina, Washington brought in Rivera. He’s a competent head coach who will allow his coordinators to do most while he manages things around them. Scott Turner, son of Norv Turner, has been handed the offensive coordinator position and was the QB Coach in Carolina the past two seasons.
Derrius Guice and Bryce Love receive a massive boost on this alone. Scott will probably use a workhorse back like his father, but Guice has not been able to stay healthy at this point in his career, and neither has Love. Love should be a cheap handcuff you can pick up in dynasty this season, because if anything happens to Guice, you have a work horse.
Dwayne Haskins should receive a nice boost too. Cam’s 2018 season was one of the best we had seen from him prior to him getting hurt, and that was in part due to the Turner duo. Haskins has a lot of work to do, but I expect Scott Turner to make him a competent starter in the NFL, and a high end QB2 in two QB/Super Flex leagues. He also might have a lower price tag after a disappointing rookie season and should be purchased on the cheap right now if you can.
Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys – After a fun slumber party at Jerry Jones’ place, McCarthy got the job. In Dallas’ situation they needed a retread and can’t afford a rebuild. We’ve seen him run a competent offense in the past, and despite his vanilla play calling, he says he’ll adjust to the NFL.
Zeke is going to gain the most value from this hire. We’ve seen McCarthy have successful run games, and if he falls to his vanilla play calling, it’ll benefit Zeke the most.
A name I would look out for is Randall Cobb. He had a good season with Dallas as their WR3. He’s familiar with McCarthy’s system and can help Dak learn it, making him a prime sleeper pick for this upcoming season. Amari Cooper’s status with free agency upcoming is unknown and if he walks, I could see Cobb stepping up and commanding a larger target share.
Lastly, Dak Prescott is no Aaron Rodgers, but he is a competent NFL quarterback. There was once a point where McCarthy was this great “QB Whisperer." I’m not saying he still is that, but with an emerging Prescott who gets better each year in the league, it’s hard to imagine he takes a step backwards.