Arizona has an offensive coordinator: Mike McCoy. He’ll have more power than most coordinators around the league, with the Cardinals going with a young, defensive-minded head coach (Steve Wilks). McCoy has eight years of experience as a coordinator and head coach, so he’ll likely be given considerable leeway in designing their offense.
But it’s still a unit that’s very much up in the air. Starting at quarterback. Carson Palmer retired, and they could go any number of ways at that position. That could involve an early draft pick, a trade or breaking the bank for somebody along the lines of Kirk Cousins.
Arizona also needs to shore up what’s probably one of the half dozen worst offensive lines in the league. That area will need to be improved for the team to have much of a chance of finishing with above-average numbers.
McCoy has shown some ability to put together good offenses, but the ones he’s had that have thrived have mostly been directed by high-level quarterbacks – Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers. With lesser quarterbacking, McCoy’s offense in Denver last year finished with bottom-10 passing numbers.
The offensive line is key because it’s an area that’s undermined McCoy in the past. His last four offenses have all been plagued by allowing too many quarterback sacks – 37, 40, 36 and 52 sacks since 2014.
| MIKE McCOY OFFENSES: PASSING STATS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Pct | Yards | TD | Int | F Pts | Rk |
| 2009 | Denver | 61% | 3,825 | 21 | 13 | 275.3 | 15 |
| 2010 | Denver | 58% | 4,307 | 25 | 12 | 315.4 | 9 |
| 2011 | Denver | 51% | 2,708 | 20 | 13 | 215.4 | 30 |
| 2012 | Denver | 68% | 4,671 | 37 | 11 | 381.6 | 2 |
| 2013 | San Diego | 69% | 4,478 | 32 | 11 | 351.9 | 3 |
| 2014 | San Diego | 66% | 4,098 | 31 | 18 | 328.9 | 10 |
| 2015 | San Diego | 66% | 4,855 | 30 | 13 | 362.8 | 5 |
| 2016 | San Diego | 60% | 4,386 | 33 | 21 | 351.3 | 5 |
| 2017 | Denver | 59% | 3,668 | 19 | 22 | 259.4 | 23 |
Passing production is always heavily influenced by personnel. Trevor Siemian floundered last year, but in each of the previous five seasons, McCoy’s quarterback finished with above-average (per game) passing numbers. That’s using standard fantasy scoring – 4 for TD passes and 1 for every 20 yards.
The numbers from earlier in McCoy’s career aren’t as meaningful. In the 2009 and 2010 seasons he was working under Josh McDaniels (who’s a notable offensive mind) and in 2011 McCoy had to re-work the offense around Tim Tebow’s unusual playing style.
| MIKE McCOY'S STARTING QUARTERBACKS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | St | Pass | TDP | Int | PPG | Rk |
| 2009 | Kyle Orton | 15 | 242 | 1.40 | .73 | 17.7 | 14 |
| 2010 | Kyle Orton | 13 | 281 | 1.54 | .69 | 20.2 | 8 |
| 2011 | Tim Tebow | 11 | 150 | 1.00 | .55 | 11.9 | 32 |
| 2012 | Peyton Manning | 16 | 291 | 2.31 | .69 | 23.9 | 2 |
| 2013 | Philip Rivers | 16 | 280 | 2.00 | .69 | 22.0 | 5 |
| 2014 | Philip Rivers | 16 | 268 | 1.94 | 1.13 | 21.1 | 9 |
| 2015 | Philip Rivers | 16 | 300 | 1.81 | .81 | 22.5 | 7 |
| 2016 | Philip Rivers | 16 | 274 | 2.06 | 1.31 | 22.0 | 7 |
| 2017 | Trevor Siemian | 10 | 214 | 1.00 | 1.20 | 14.7 | 28 |
McCoy’s offenses haven’t tended to finish with big rushing numbers. The Broncos ranked 5th in rushing in 2011, when they were employing a run-dominated system with Tim Tebow, but all eight of McCoy’s other offenses finished with below-average rushing production.
Most of those offenses, of course, were playing with immobile pocket passers – Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers most notably – and that might not be the case this year.
Steve Wilks says he’s hopeful that a reliable running game will be part of the team’s offensive identity.
“You have to have a foundation of running the football,” said Wilks at his introductory press conference. “As a defensive coordinator, there’s nothing more demoralizing to a team than being able to run the ball. I mean, you’re talking about taking the air out of an individual. So, that’s going to be our premise. When you look at some of the premier running backs in the National Football League, we have one right here in (David) Johnson.”
| MIKE McCOY OFFENSES: RUSHING STATS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | F Pts | Rk |
| 2009 | Denver | 440 | 1,836 | 4.2 | 9 | 237.6 | 21 |
| 2010 | Denver | 398 | 1,544 | 3.9 | 13 | 232.4 | 18 |
| 2011 | Denver | 546 | 2,632 | 4.8 | 11 | 329.2 | 5 |
| 2012 | Denver | 481 | 1,832 | 3.8 | 12 | 255.2 | 17 |
| 2013 | San Diego | 486 | 1,965 | 4.0 | 9 | 250.5 | 19 |
| 2014 | San Diego | 398 | 1,367 | 3.4 | 6 | 172.7 | 30 |
| 2015 | San Diego | 393 | 1,358 | 3.5 | 4 | 159.8 | 32 |
| 2016 | San Diego | 398 | 1,510 | 3.8 | 10 | 211.0 | 26 |
| 2017 | Denver | 457 | 1,852 | 4.1 | 8 | 233.2 | 21 |
In nine years, McCoy’s offenses have featured only one top-10 running back (for overall fantasy production). But he hasn’t tended to work with running backs as good as David Johnson.
McCoy has shown a tendency to incorporate his running backs into the passing game. That could be a nice fit with Johnson’s ability. Danny Woodhead caught 80 passes under McCoy in 2015.
| MIKE McCOY'S BEST RUNNING BACKS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Run | Rec | Total | TD | Points | Rk |
| 2009 | Knowshon Moreno | 947 | 213 | 1,160 | 9 | 170.0 | 17 |
| 2010 | Knowshon Moreno | 779 | 372 | 1,151 | 8 | 163.1 | 18 |
| 2011 | Willis McGahee | 1,199 | 51 | 1,250 | 5 | 157.0 | 21 |
| 2012 | Willis McGahee | 731 | 221 | 952 | 4 | 121.2 | 24 |
| 2013 | Ryan Mathews | 1,255 | 189 | 1,444 | 7 | 186.4 | 12 |
| 2014 | Branden Oliver | 582 | 271 | 853 | 4 | 109.3 | 31 |
| 2015 | Danny Woodhead | 336 | 755 | 1,091 | 9 | 163.1 | 12 |
| 2016 | Melvin Gordon | 997 | 419 | 1,416 | 12 | 213.6 | 8 |
| 2017 | C.J. Anderson | 1,007 | 224 | 1,231 | 4 | 149.1 | 17 |
And as long as we’re rolling out numbers, I’ve also got the best wide receiver for McCoy for each of the last nine years. Back in 2012 (with Peyton Manning at quarterback) was the only year McCoy put two wide receivers over 1,000 yards.
In recent years, McCoy’s wide receivers haven’t tended to be great touchdown scorers.
| MIKE McCOY'S LEADING WIDE RECEIVERS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Rec | Avg | TD | Points | Rk |
| 2009 | Brandon Marshall | 101 | 1,120 | 11.1 | 10 | 175.9 | 9 |
| 2010 | Brandon Lloyd | 77 | 1,448 | 18.8 | 11 | 209.0 | 1 |
| 2011 | Eric Decker | 44 | 612 | 13.9 | 9 | 115.3 | 33 |
| 2012 | Demaryius Thomas | 94 | 1,434 | 15.3 | 10 | 203.4 | 5 |
| 2013 | Keenan Allen | 71 | 1,046 | 14.7 | 8 | 152.6 | 17 |
| 2014 | Malcom Floyd | 52 | 856 | 16.5 | 6 | 121.6 | 29 |
| 2015 | Keenan Allen | 67 | 725 | 10.8 | 4 | 96.5 | 47 |
| 2016 | Tyrell Williams | 69 | 1,059 | 15.3 | 7 | 147.9 | 15 |
| 2017 | Demaryius Thomas | 83 | 949 | 11.4 | 5 | 124.9 | 23 |
—Ian Allan