St. Louis gets their Ram: Az-Zahir Hakim to be WR coach

[Tank55]

Legitimately surprised not to see a thread on this yet. From (who else) Mike Mitchell:

Breaking: Former St. Louis Rams Wide Receiver and All Pro Return Specialist, Az-Zahir Hakim will be joining Jonathan Hayes @XFLStLouis staff. Hakim will be coaching the teams wide receivers. A position, he held earlier this year in the AAF, with The San Diego Fleet. #XFL2020

https://twitter.com/MMXFLBoard/status/1 ... 7952425984

[Shooter McGav1n]

It surprised me as well.

This move has me wondering. There’s the obvious connection with Az-Zahir Hakim and St Louis, but are there other connections involved in his return to St Louis? Hakim played under and this past season was a coach on Mike Martz’s staff in San Diego.
Is it possible that Martz will be hired as OC and that move is what has brought Hakim to XFLStLouis? His return has been mentioned before, but this is the first actual link, albeit indirect, to XFLStLouis.

[LeoNY]

Legitimately surprised not to see a thread on this yet. From (who else) Mike Mitchell:

Breaking: Former St. Louis Rams Wide Receiver and All Pro Return Specialist, Az-Zahir Hakim will be joining Jonathan Hayes @XFLStLouis staff. Hakim will be coaching the teams wide receivers. A position, he held earlier this year in the AAF, with The San Diego Fleet. #XFL2020

https://twitter.com/MMXFLBoard/status/1 ... 7952425984

Great hire. Nice scoop by Mitchell. I am amazed how so many of these hires have been kept under wraps.

[LeoNY]

It surprised me as well.

This move has me wondering. There’s the obvious connection with Az-Zahir Hakim and St Louis, but are there other connections involved in his return to St Louis? Hakim played under and this past season was a coach on Mike Martz’s staff in San Diego.
Is it possible that Martz will be hired as OC and that move is what has brought Hakim to XFLStLouis? His return has been mentioned before, but this is the first actual link, albeit indirect, to XFLStLouis.

Martz would be an amazing hire. Hayes would really score some serious points if he pulled that off.

[GDAWG]

It surprised me as well.

This move has me wondering. There’s the obvious connection with Az-Zahir Hakim and St Louis, but are there other connections involved in his return to St Louis? Hakim played under and this past season was a coach on Mike Martz’s staff in San Diego.
Is it possible that Martz will be hired as OC and that move is what has brought Hakim to XFLStLouis? His return has been mentioned before, but this is the first actual link, albeit indirect, to XFLStLouis.

Martz would be an amazing hire. Hayes would really score some serious points if he pulled that off.

And it would also make St. Louis Dispatch Writer Ben Fredrickson a lot less negative about the team as he has been since Hayes has been hired.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

Martz would be an amazing hire. Hayes would really score some serious points if he pulled that off.

And not just because of the Greatest Show on Turf connection... with Martz having coached in the AAF, he's now on record as being willing to coach for an "other" league and is probably in play, and with Hayes being largely a first-time coach, having a guy like Martz who knows how it's been done will help a team that is, quite frankly, lagging behind the rest of the league so far. Plus the Greatest Show on Turf was a wide-open, high-powered offense perfectly suited and easily adapted for what the XFL wants.

If the XFL can land the type of talent that it appears they're aiming for, Martz could do a lot better with an XFL roster than he did with San Diego.

[MikeMitchell]

It’s a very good hire. From a football and PR standpoint.

The league is very secretive when it comes to a lot of their information. Some of the staff hires have a lot of paperwork involved. Some staff members that I have been in touch with, are still finalizing their titles and roles.

The league still needs to fill out positions per team, like Pr Directors and office staff. It’s not sexy but it’s necessary.

There should come a point where all personnel should have full titles and bios listed on their respective team websites. It’s these kinks that will eventually be ironed out but the league isn’t there yet.

[steinerfhc]

It surprised me as well.

This move has me wondering. There’s the obvious connection with Az-Zahir Hakim and St Louis, but are there other connections involved in his return to St Louis? Hakim played under and this past season was a coach on Mike Martz’s staff in San Diego.
Is it possible that Martz will be hired as OC and that move is what has brought Hakim to XFLStLouis? His return has been mentioned before, but this is the first actual link, albeit indirect, to XFLStLouis.

I seriously doubt Martz will be the OC. If they hire him why wouldn't he be THE head coach? It would be amazing if Hayes pull that deal off but Martz is a guy who been a head coach, something Hayes never has so I don't see him taking that role. However I do like the hire and at less someone fans can start connecting with. The XFL teams needs things to draw fans to want to come and watch. I know it sounds gimmicky but at this point what else is there with the underwhemming hires.

Now what is the connection, form what I understood that he, Bruce, and Holt are still close and as recently as I believe it was last year around this time, the had some kind of dinner event where they told stores about there time they played here and the Superbrowl run. So he still comes around St. Louis from time to time. Not sure if they played any role in this but it is something. Could one of the other two end up as OC maybe. The only reason why I could see Bruce being that because how close the AAF was to being the last team in St. Louis and HE was going to be the HC for that. I think Hayes has a better chance of pulling that off than Martz but we will see.

[GDAWG]

It surprised me as well.

This move has me wondering. There’s the obvious connection with Az-Zahir Hakim and St Louis, but are there other connections involved in his return to St Louis? Hakim played under and this past season was a coach on Mike Martz’s staff in San Diego.
Is it possible that Martz will be hired as OC and that move is what has brought Hakim to XFLStLouis? His return has been mentioned before, but this is the first actual link, albeit indirect, to XFLStLouis.

I seriously doubt Martz will be the OC. If they hire him why wouldn't he be THE head coach? It would be amazing if Hayes pull that deal off but Martz is a guy who been a head coach, something Hayes never has so I don't see him taking that role. However I do like the hire and at less someone fans can start connecting with. The XFL teams needs things to draw fans to want to come and watch. I know it sounds gimmicky but at this point what else is there with the underwhemming hires.

Now what is the connection, form what I understood that he, Bruce, and Holt are still close and as recently as I believe it was last year around this time, the had some kind of dinner event where they told stores about there time they played here and the Superbrowl run. So he still comes around St. Louis from time to time. Not sure if they played any role in this but it is something. Could one of the other two end up as OC maybe. The only reason why I could see Bruce being that because how close the AAF was to being the last team in St. Louis and HE was going to be the HC for that. I think Hayes has a better chance of pulling that off than Martz but we will see.

Isaac Bruce is not going to be an OC in the XFL. He's never been a position coach, so why would he be the OC?

[Shooter McGav1n]

It surprised me as well.

This move has me wondering. There’s the obvious connection with Az-Zahir Hakim and St Louis, but are there other connections involved in his return to St Louis? Hakim played under and this past season was a coach on Mike Martz’s staff in San Diego.
Is it possible that Martz will be hired as OC and that move is what has brought Hakim to XFLStLouis? His return has been mentioned before, but this is the first actual link, albeit indirect, to XFLStLouis.

I seriously doubt Martz will be the OC. If they hire him why wouldn't he be THE head coach? It would be amazing if Hayes pull that deal off but Martz is a guy who been a head coach, something Hayes never has so I don't see him taking that role. However I do like the hire and at less someone fans can start connecting with. The XFL teams needs things to draw fans to want to come and watch. I know it sounds gimmicky but at this point what else is there with the underwhemming hires.

Now what is the connection, form what I understood that he, Bruce, and Holt are still close and as recently as I believe it was last year around this time, the had some kind of dinner event where they told stores about there time they played here and the Superbrowl run. So he still comes around St. Louis from time to time. Not sure if they played any role in this but it is something. Could one of the other two end up as OC maybe. The only reason why I could see Bruce being that because how close the AAF was to being the last team in St. Louis and HE was going to be the HC for that. I think Hayes has a better chance of pulling that off than Martz but we will see.

Isaac Bruce is not going to be an OC in the XFL. He's never been a position coach, so why would he be the OC?

I agree. Hayes hasn’t previously held a position above position coach and will likely want someone with a little more experience to help out. He may not need it, but there may be occasions where he wants to bounce ideas off someone and the extra experience could prove helpful.

With the St Louis showcase coming up next weekend, I get the feeling that we may be getting answers to some of these questions in the next several days.