scout.com and sdboltreport.com first reported almost two weeks
ago that veteran defensive coach Ted Cottrell was a solid candidate to be the
San Diego Chargers defensive coordinator in 2007. It's believed that Cottrell
was the first choice of executive vice president/general manager A.J. Smith who
worked together with Cottrell when the two were with the Buffalo Bills several
years back.
Then, last Monday, head coach Marty Schottenheimer told Smith and the rest of
the front office that he planned to hire is brother Kurt to become the team's
defensive coordinator and he wouldn't be interviewing Cottrell. Both sides
butted heads on this issue among others which lead to Schottenheimer being fired
that evening.
scout.com has learned, though a league source, that Cottrell is on his way to
San Diego on Monday where Smith and Cottrell are expected to discuss contract
terms. It's expected that if both sides agree on the terms, he could be offered
the job today.
It's also believed that Cottrell is the real only candidate for their defensive
coordinator opening which became vacant when Wade Phillips was named the head
coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Cottrell has extensive work in the 3-4 scheme which
the Chargers have used with Phillips coaching the defense.
Cottrell is currently the officer of arbitration for player fines for the NFL.
San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Norv Turner is considered to be the
leading candidate for the head coaching job with San Diego. It should be noted
that Turner and Cottrell have not worked together before.
Two of the reasons why Turner could wind up being named the head coach this
week are because of his fine work with quarterbacks over the years (most
recently with Alex Smith) and he runs a power rushing attack that is similar to
what San Diego ran under Schottenheimer.
Turner would be making his second go around with the team if he gets the job
as expected. He was their offensive coordinator in 2001.