Report: Former Jaguars Wide Receivers Coach Keenan McCardell Heading to Vikings

A Jacksonville fan favorite has moved on and found a new role in the NFL following the turnover of the Jaguars' coaching staff.

According to Eugene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union, former Jaguars wide receiver and wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell is going to take a role on the Minnesota Vikings staff as the wide receivers coach.

#Jaguars WR coach Keenan McCardell is moving on to same position with #Vikings, where he gets to mentor Justin Jefferson, per NFL sources. Didn't have relationship with Meyer or Bevell and wasn't really in hunt to keep his job that he did really well.
— Eugene Frenette (@GeneFrenette) January 28, 2021

McCardell has been a member of the Jaguars organization for 10 years as a player and a coach. He was one of the best offensive players in team history during a six-year tenure in Jacksonville during his playing career, and he has been the wide receivers coach for the Jaguars 2017.

Under McCardell's coaching, the Jaguars sent one wide receiver to the Pro Bowl (DJ Chark in 2019) and saw several young wide receivers take positive steps in their development such as Keelan Cole, Collin Johnson, and Laviska Shenault.

With that said, McCardell did only coach one 1,000-yard receiver during his tenure (Chark in 2019, again). His players improved by leaps and bounds, but the team never produced any truly top-tier talent at the receiver position. Despite that, McCardell's position group was among the best on Jacksonville's team over the last four seasons, but especially the last two years.

The writing on the wall for McCardell's tenure in Jacksonville became clear on Wednesday when it was reported by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero of NFL Network that the Jaguars are set to hire Sanjay Lal as their wide receivers coach.

Lal served as a senior offensive assistant for the Seattle Seahawks in 2020 and served as a wide receivers coach in the NFL for a decade before that, including with the Dallas Cowboys (2018-19). He also coached receivers previously with Indianapolis (2017), Buffalo (2015-16), the N.Y. Jets (2012-14) and Oakland (2009-11). From 2007-08, he was an offensive quality control coach for the Raiders.

Meyer has yet to formally announce any additions to his staff, so it is unclear if any holdovers from the 2020 Jaguars' staff will remain in place. McCardell was thought of by many as a potential candidate to stay due to his ties to the organization and the development of the team's young wide receivers, it appears Meyer will be looking elsewhere.

"Yeah, next week I’d like to—we’ll give a deep dive into what’s taken place because there’s been no finality to where we're at as a coaching staff. So I’d like to hold on that until next week, because there’s been nothing set in stone yet," Meyer said last week.