After weeks of interviews and deliberation, Mike Singletary has finally settled on that fat offensive lineman with all the concussions from Varsity Blues as his offensive coordinator. Wait, his name was Billy Bob, not Jimmy Raye? My bad.
Jimmy Bob Raye comes to the 49ers after a stint as the New York Jets’ running back coach, which isn’t bad news at all. Anybody who watched the Jets last year knows Thomas Jones was playing over his head. Hell, Jones helped me win a fantasy league in 2008. Plus, nobody blames the running backs coach for all those interceptions Brett Favre threw because he was either bored, tired of getting hit, or both (just ask Jones).
Singletary’s choice has been an offensive coordinator for six different teams, most recently the Raiders in 2004-05 and the Redskins in 2001. None of those teams were any good, although it would be hard to blame Raye for helping the Redskins to an 8-8 record with Tony Banks and Jeff George at quarterback, or those Raiders teams that had Kerry Collins, Jerry Porter, Lamont Jordan and not much else (unbelievably, the Raiders top RB in 2004 was none other than Amos Zereoue).
Raye is obviously a guy who likes to run the ball, and that’s why he got the job. His offense in Washington helped Stephen Davis run for 1,432 yards and in Oakland he somehow coaxed 1,025 yards out of Jordan in 2005. With that track record, Frank Gore should hope for at least 1,600 yardsrushing in 2009. Of course, he should probably be aiming for a total like that every year, but without Martz 100 yards per game might actually be realistic.
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