Oakland Raiders: Five Who Should Be Considered For OC Job In 2018

Norv Turner

This could set up a bit of an awkward reunion as Turner was fired as Oakland’s head coach after going 9-23 over his two seasons at the helm.

But then, as a head coach overall, Turner hasn’t been anything to write home about. As an offensive coordinator though, he’s been far more effective, and has had some success in the league – Turner has posted top-ten offenses a number of times throughout his lengthy career.

He seems cut from the same cloth as Bill Musgrave. He’s not going to give you a lot of razzle-dazzle, but he’s going to have a solid game plan, one that plays to the strengths of his players and exploits the weaknesses of his opponents.

Even better, he understands and embraces the idea that a potent run game sets the offense up for success in the passing game. In 2015, behind Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings had the league’s fourth-ranked ground game and their 18 touchdowns that year also ranked fourth league-wide.

Their passing game was at the bottom of the league, overall, as Teddy Bridgewater attempted an NFL-low 447 passes – though he did connect on 65 percent of them.

The biggest knock on Turner is that he can sometimes be a little too conservative in his play calling. With a cast of stars that includes Carr, Amari Cooper, Michael Crabtree, Jalen Richard, DeAndre Washington, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Jared Cook, he would definitely need to learn to loosen up a bit and sling it around a little more than he’s known to.

It could be a case of trying to teach an old dog a new trick, which is one reason why it might not work out. However, Minnesota’s offense seemed to improve with Turner at the helm – or at least, they became far more consistent, efficient, and good at what they did.

Again, not the perfect solution, but he’d still be a step up over Downing.