When I posted the rankings of the offensive coordinators yesterday, I slotted Bill Musgrave in the bottom 10 – 23rd. That’s probably be a little low. He’s been an offensive coordinator for five seasons previously, and he seems to have held up just fine.
Musgrave was an offensive coordinator for three seasons in Minnesota, and he spent two years with the Raiders. Those were all under defensive head coaches (Leslie Frazier, Jack Del Rio), so Musgrave was the main guy running those offenses. All five of those teams ranked in the top 20 in scoring, and his last three offenses all scored at least 41 touchdowns. There are lots of good offensive minds in the league, but Musgrave might be above average.
| BILL MUSGRAVE OFFENSES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Win | Points | Rk | TD |
| 2011 | Minnesota | 3-13 | 21.3 | 19 | 38 |
| 2012 | Minnesota | 10-6 | 23.7 | 14 | 34 |
| 2013 | Minnesota | 5-10-1 | 24.4 | 14 | 41 |
| 2015 | Oakland | 7-9 | 22.4 | 17 | 41 |
| 2016 | Oakland | 12-4 | 26.0 | 7 | 46 |
Musgrave’s teams have been particularly good running the football. When he was with the Vikings, with Adrian Peterson in his prime, all of those offenses ranked in the top 4 in overall rushing production. (That’s combining yards and touchdowns, using standard fantasy scoring). His first Oakland team ranked only 27th in rushing, but he got them up to 6th in 2016, with Latavius Murray having a big year.
| BILL MUSGRAVE / RUSHING | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Att | Yards | TD | Points | Rk |
| 2011 | Minnesota | 448 | 2,318 | 18 | 339.8 | 4 |
| 2012 | Minnesota | 486 | 2,634 | 16 | 359.4 | 3 |
| 2013 | Minnesota | 423 | 2,081 | 23 | 346.1 | 2 |
| 2015 | Oakland | 370 | 1,457 | 7 | 187.7 | 27 |
| 2016 | Oakland | 434 | 1,922 | 17 | 294.2 | 6 |
Peterson, of course, was one of the best backs in the league at that time. But Musgrave has had a top-13 fantasy back in all five of his seasons. (Again, standard scoring). The Broncos, of course, are a different team with different personnel, but I would think there’s a decent chance that either Devontae Booker or Royce Freeman finishes with top-20 numbers this year. But it’s a jumbled situation, with both of those guys and also DeAngelo Henderson, who looked pretty good on a few plays as a rookie.
| BILL MUSGRAVE, BEST RUNNING BACKS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Rec | Run | Total | TD | Fan | Rk |
| 2011 | Adrian Peterson, Minn. | 139 | 970 | 1,109 | 13 | 188.9 | 9 |
| 2012 | Adrian Peterson, Minn. | 217 | 2,097 | 2,314 | 13 | 311.4 | 1 |
| 2013 | Adrian Peterson, Minn. | 171 | 1,266 | 1,437 | 11 | 209.7 | 6 |
| 2015 | Latavius Murray, Oak. | 232 | 1,066 | 1,298 | 6 | 165.8 | 10 |
| 2016 | Latavius Murray, Oak. | 264 | 788 | 1,052 | 12 | 177.2 | 13 |
Musgrave’s offenses haven’t been as impressive passing. They were bottom-10 in all three of his years in Minnesota. They were 9th and 11th in his two years in Oakland. That is again, standard fantasy scoring – 6 for TDs and 10 for every 10 yards.
| BILL MUSGRAVE / PASSING | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Pct | Yards | TD | Int | Points | Rk |
| 2011 | Minnesota | 56% | 3,255 | 20 | 17 | 445.5 | 23 |
| 2012 | Minnesota | 62% | 2,935 | 18 | 12 | 401.5 | 31 |
| 2013 | Minnesota | 60% | 3,645 | 18 | 19 | 472.5 | 25 |
| 2015 | Oakland | 62% | 4,129 | 34 | 14 | 616.9 | 9 |
| 2016 | Oakland | 64% | 4,137 | 29 | 7 | 587.7 | 11 |
With passing, of course, personnel is key. He didn’t have much of a chance in Minnesota, where he was working with Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel and an ancient Donovan McNabb. Those guys all posted bottom-10 per-game numbers.
Musgrave had reasonable success in Oakland, where he was working with Derek Carr. Playing for Musgrave, Carr averaged 256 passing yards in 31 starts, with 60 TDs.
Case Keenum might be a Carr-type talent at quarterback, and he’s definitely better than what Musgrave had in Minnesota.
With this QB chart, you’re looking at per-game numbers using standard scoring. The per-game numbers at the end show how player ranked against other quarterbacks starting at least half of the year.
| BILL MUSGRAVE QUARTERBACKS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | St | Pass | TDP | Int | Run | TDR | Pts | Rk |
| 2011 | Christian Ponder, Minn. | 10 | 175 | 1.30 | 1.30 | 21 | .00 | 16.1 | 24 |
| 2011 | Donovan McNabb, Minn. | 6 | 171 | .67 | .33 | 10 | .17 | 13.2 | -- |
| 2012 | Christian Ponder, Minn. | 16 | 183 | 1.13 | .75 | 16 | .13 | 16.1 | 26 |
| 2013 | Matt Cassel, Minn. | 6 | 240 | 1.50 | 1.17 | 9 | .17 | 19.9 | -- |
| 2013 | Christian Ponder, Minn. | 9 | 142 | .56 | .78 | 17 | .44 | 13.7 | 32 |
| 2015 | Derek Carr, Oak. | 16 | 249 | 2.00 | .81 | 9 | .00 | 21.4 | 20 |
| 2016 | Derek Carr, Oak. | 15 | 262 | 1.87 | .40 | 5 | .00 | 21.7 | 10 |
As long as we’re trotting out these numbers, I will also show the wide receivers. In five years, Musgrave has had three wide receivers finish with top-15 numbers and two others at least finish in the top 25.
| BILL MUSGRAVE TOP-80 WIDE RECEIVERS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Rec | Avg | Run | TD | Points | Rk |
| 2011 | Percy Harvin, Minn. | 87 | 967 | 11.1 | 345 | 9 | 185.2 | 7 |
| 2016 | Michael Crabtree, Oak. | 89 | 1,003 | 11.3 | 0 | 8 | 150.3 | 12 |
| 2016 | Amari Cooper, Oak. | 83 | 1,153 | 13.9 | 0 | 5 | 149.3 | 13 |
| 2015 | Michael Crabtree, Oak. | 85 | 922 | 10.9 | 0 | 9 | 146.2 | 21 |
| 2015 | Amari Cooper, Oak. | 72 | 1,070 | 14.9 | -3 | 6 | 142.7 | 23 |
| 2013 | Cordarrelle Patterson, Minn. | 45 | 469 | 10.4 | 158 | 9 | 116.7 | 33 |
| 2013 | Greg Jennings, Minn. | 68 | 804 | 11.8 | 0 | 4 | 104.4 | 40 |
| 2012 | Percy Harvin, Minn. | 62 | 677 | 10.9 | 96 | 5 | 107.3 | 41 |
| 2015 | Seth Roberts, Oak. | 32 | 480 | 15.0 | 0 | 5 | 80.0 | 56 |
| 2013 | Jerome Simpson, Minn. | 48 | 726 | 15.1 | 0 | 1 | 78.6 | 58 |
| 2011 | Michael Jenkins, Minn. | 38 | 466 | 12.3 | 0 | 3 | 64.6 | 67 |
| 2016 | Seth Roberts, Oak. | 38 | 397 | 10.4 | 0 | 5 | 73.7 | 68 |
| 2013 | Jarius Wright, Minn. | 26 | 434 | 16.7 | 0 | 3 | 61.4 | 71 |
| 2012 | Michael Jenkins, Minn. | 40 | 449 | 11.2 | 0 | 2 | 56.9 | 79 |
Musgrave has not had a lot of success with tight ends. Kyle Rudolph ranked 9th back in 2012, but nobody else in the top 25. Those Minnesota teams, of course, didn’t have great quarterbacking, and Musgrave didn’t have great tight ends in Oakland.
He’s in Denver now, and it doesn’t look much more promising. Broncos probably will have Jake Butt starting at tight end, assuming he can work his way back from the serious knee injury that sidelined him for all of last year.
| BILL MUSGRAVE TOP-80 TIGHT ENDS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD | Pts | Pts | Rnk |
| 2012 | Kyle Rudolph, Minn. | 53 | 493 | 9.3 | 9 | 56 | 105.3 | 9 |
| 2011 | Visanthe Shiancoe, Minn. | 36 | 409 | 11.4 | 3 | 18 | 58.9 | 26 |
| 2016 | Clive Walford, Oak. | 33 | 359 | 10.9 | 3 | 18 | 53.9 | 28 |
| 2015 | Clive Walford, Oak. | 28 | 329 | 11.8 | 3 | 18 | 50.9 | 30 |
| 2011 | Kyle Rudolph, Minn. | 26 | 249 | 9.6 | 3 | 18 | 42.9 | 36 |
| 2013 | Kyle Rudolph, Minn. | 30 | 313 | 10.4 | 3 | 18 | 49.3 | 36 |
| 2015 | Mychal Rivera, Oak. | 32 | 280 | 8.8 | 1 | 6 | 34.0 | 42 |
| 2013 | John Carlson, Minn. | 32 | 344 | 10.8 | 1 | 6 | 40.4 | 43 |
| 2016 | Mychal Rivera, Oak. | 18 | 192 | 10.7 | 1 | 6 | 25.2 | 46 |
| 2013 | Chase Ford, Minn. | 11 | 133 | 12.1 | 0 | 0 | 13.3 | 59 |
| 2013 | Rhett Ellison, Minn. | 5 | 61 | 12.2 | 1 | 6 | 12.1 | 62 |
| 2015 | Lee Smith, Oak. | 12 | 70 | 5.8 | 1 | 6 | 13.0 | 70 |
| 2012 | Rhett Ellison, Minn. | 7 | 65 | 9.3 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 | 72 |