Jim Bob Cooter‘s run with Matt Patricia in Detroit will be limited to one year. The Lions and their longtime offensive coordinator will mutually part ways, Albert Breer of SI.com reports (on Twitter). The team announced it will not renew Cooter’s contract.
Cooter, the youngest active NFL OC, had generated interest from other teams in recent days and will likely be a name to monitor as the OC carousel accelerates in the coming days. The 34-year-old coach has received interview requests, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
The Lions promoted Cooter to offensive coordinator midway through the 2015 season, and the young coach helped elevate Matthew Stafford‘s game. This topped out when Detroit finished as the NFL’s No. 7 scoring offense in 2017, doing so without much of a running game. But this season, Stafford’s numbers regressed, down by more than 600 passing yards and going from 7.9 yards per attempt in 207 to 6.8 this season, as did the Lions’ offense in a 6-10 season.
After letting Eric Ebron walk in the offseason, the Lions traded Golden Tate and saw Marvin Jones and Kerryon Johnson go down midseason. They plummeted to 25th in scoring in 2018.
Patricia overhauled Detroit’s defense staff upon taking the Lions’ reins but left Cooter in place. Patricia fired Lions special teams boss Joe Marciano during the season and now looks set to reshape the franchise’s offensive staff.
Cooter interviewed for the job Patricia ended up getting, and while a head coaching gig may not be in his immediate future, another OC opportunity probably will.
Jim Bob Cooter for Broncos HC!
Lions should go & get Adam Case now before he gets hired away.
Adam Gase not Case….
He’s getting to much interest as a head coach. Not going to accept an OC position
Something incredibly gross about a headline that includes “cooter” and “mutually part”.
About time. How an OC kept his job without being able to run the ball for 3 years is beyond me.
WTF is the problem with Stafford? He stinks out the joint and Cooter gets dumped. He and Manning too, they’re just terrible. There are rookies that make headier, more intelligent plays than those two. They’re awful.
Imagine not knowing anything about football…
You are a moron
I can’t wait to see who gets the blame for Stafford’s mediocrity next year
The Lions need a new OC for sure. Really wondering who they might get. They gotta get someone good with a defensive minded HC. And people blaming Stanford clearly don’t have a clue…when the last time he had a really good run game to help him out? He had one good year of Bush and that’s really been it. Get the guy a good RB and a stud WR, they have some decent WRs but they need a true number 1 and RB and If they do that with a good OC I think Stanford will be fine. But for some reason I doubt they will, they need a RB every year and never go out and get one.
Kerryon Johnson was pretty legit when he was healthy this year if you watched any of their games
He also missed 6 games…… but Kerryon does have great promise going into next season
Steve Sarkisian should be considered
As a usc fan. I strongly advise against wanting Sark
Nick Sagan gives him very Hugh praise
Nick Saban gives him very high praise…… sorry don’t know what my auto correct was doing
This is the absolute worst news of the year in the NFL. Bob Cooter did a great job even if he was interested in going to the gym every day. They did not have to put that tag on him
You just hate to see a Cooter get publicly shafted like that
Cooter might end up as the OC for U of Tennessee.
Poor him then
Wow what a scenario this could create! Patricia being a former Patriot coach do you think he could lure McDaniels to be his OC?
If McDaniels doesn’t get a head coaching job, he’d just stay as New England’s OC. No reason for him to leave for a job that wouldn’t be a promotion.
Anyone blaming Stafford for this offenses woes clearly hasn’t watched enough of this team to know anything. Instead of watching Stafford in the pocket, take a look down field at absolutely NO ONE getting open! All year long he has had to fit passes into the tiniest of windows and in the NFL, that don’t translate into success all that often. Get him some more weapons and a OC that doesn’t come up with a game plan that’s best suited for a Pop Warner game and Stafford will be just fine!
Jim bob for Tennessee OC.