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Head Coach Mike McCoy added 3 more coaches today: Kevin Spencer (Special Teams), Joe D'Alessandris (O-Line) and Fred Graves (WR)
— San Diego Chargers (@chargers) January 22, 2013
After the earlier news that the San Diego Chargers had let go Hal Hunter as the team's Offensive Line Coach and Charlie Joiner as the Wide Receivers Coach, some (including myself) speculated that Mike McCoy had simply let them go because he already had coaches picked out for those spots on his coaching staff. The quick hiring of Joe D'Alessandris and Fred Graves certainly supports that theory.
D'Alessandris was hired by the Buffalo Bills as part of Chan Gailey's staff, and he was fired for being a part of Chan Gailey's staff. According to Football Outsiders, here's how the Bills' offensive line ranked during his tenure there:
- 2012: 8th run blocking, 10th pass blocking
- 2011: 12th run blocking, 1st pass blocking
- 2010: 20th run blocking, 17th pass blocking
In 2009, before D'Alessandris, the Bills ranked last in the league in pass protection, so there's little doubt that he will be able to help the Chargers (last in the league is pass blocking in 2012) improve in that regard.
We briefly went over Kevin Spencer being hired as the Chargers' Special Teams coach yesterday. I like that hire.
Fred Graves has been a Wide Receivers Coach in the NFL since 2001. He's 62 years old and a little crazy.
In 2001, Graves went to the NFL to be the wide receivers coach for the Buffalo Bills until 2003. Graves served as the wide receivers coach with the Cleveland Browns in 2004 and the Detroit Lions in 2005 before joining Jeff Fisher with the Tennessee Titans in 2007 as their wide receivers coach, a position he held until 2010. In 2011, Graves became the wide receivers coach for the Carolina Panthers under new coach Ron Rivera. Graves has been known to employ some unorthodox tactics as a coach; his receivers routinely catch bricks in order to improve their hands.
Bricks, huh? Well, maybe the Chargers need a little crazy to give them an advantage.
I wasn't terribly impressed with the Panthers' WRs the last two seasons, but part of that can probably be blamed on Rob Chudzinski and Cam Newton. Those Titans WRs from 2007-201 were.....okay. I guess we'll see how it goes.