For any other father, Super Bowl Sunday would've been perfect. Your son wins a Super Bowl and his son -- another grandchild for you -- is born shortly after.
But for Shawn Jefferson, the wide receivers coach of the Cardinals, that's not exactly how it plays out when he goes against/sees Van Jefferson, a wide receiver for the Rams.
"I talk to some of my colleagues, and they're like, 'It's got to be great, playing your son twice a year,' " Jefferson said on the recent "Big Red Rage." "I'm like, 'No, it's not. The swing of emotions, and after I play him, when I go home I'm totally spent. At one point I want to beat the crap out of him .. and at the same time I want him to do well."
Seeing the Rams win the Super Bowl -- and at one point beating up the Cardinals to get there -- leaves a mark.
"I'm his father, but I'm competitive," Jefferson said. "I don't want to get my butt beat, especially by my son. It's the toughest thing I've had to do as a coach, watching my son on the other side of the ball."
How does Jefferson help that? It starts with the Cardinals. Jefferson acknowledged that free agency "scares me" with a lot of unknowns -- Christian Kirk and A.J. Green are both unrestricted -- but the Cardinals will have DeAndre Hopkins back and will build on rookie Rondale Moore's role.
Much has been made about how Moore was and wasn't used as a rookie, but Jefferson said change there was inevitable in 2022.
"That's one of things Rondale and I have discussed, growing his route tree, being able to put him outside a little bit more," Jefferson said of the idea of getting Moore down the field for targets more often. "His route tree will grow leaps and bounds this year."
Jefferson also said he expects quarterback Kyler Murray's chemistry with all the receivers to improve this offseason by the mere fact the offseason should not be impacted by Covid restrictions again after the "damper" of the past two years.
"We'll be getting back to some normalcy of the offseason program," Jefferson said. "I think that will help us going forward."
