Shawn Jefferson returns for his second season with the New York Jets as the team's assistant head coach/wide receivers. 2020 marks Jefferson's 16th season as a coach in the league, following a 13-year playing career.
In his first season with the Jets, Jefferson oversaw a group led by Robby Anderson and Jamison Crowder, as the duo was one of just seven leaguewide to each post 50+ receptions, 700+ yards and five+ touchdowns. Anderson averaged 15.0 yards per catch, one of just 20 receivers in the league to do so, while Crowder posted a new single season best in reception (78), leading the team with six touchdown receptions. Additionally, Vyncint Smith, added by the Jets from the HST practice squad in-season, became one of just nine wide receivers in the league with at least three receptions of 20+ yards and at least 117 runs of 10+ yards.
Prior to joining the Jets, Jefferson's three seasons in Miami saw Dolphins wide receivers average 4.9 yards after catch, the fifth-best average in the league, and account for 52 touchdowns, tied for sixth most. Additionally, Miami wide receivers accounted for 70.8% of the team's receptions, the second-highest percentage in the league during that span. In two seasons with Jefferson, wide receiver Jarvis Landry made two Pro Bowl appearances, pulling in 206 total receptions, the third-most of any player in the league, while wide receiver Kenny Stills posted 21 touchdowns in his three seasons under Jefferson, the ninth-most in the league.
Jefferson spent three seasons (2013-15) with the Titans as wide receiver Kendall Wright finished seventh in the league with 94 receptions in posting his first 1,000-yard season in just his second season (2013). Wide receivers Nate Washington (2013-14) and Justin Hunter (2013-14) each averaged at least 16.0 yards per catch during Jefferson's time in Tennessee. Prior to Tennessee, Jefferson spent eight seasons on the Lions staff, beginning as a coaching assistant in 2005 and moving up to wide receivers coach where he served from 2008-12. During his time in Detroit, he helped wide receiver Calvin Johnson set an NFL single-season record with 1,964 yards receiving (2012). Johnson was selected for the Pro Bowl three times and led the NFL in receiving yardage twice, finishing with season averages of 88 receptions for 1,416 yards (16.1 average) and 10 touchdowns in five years with Jefferson as his position coach.
Jefferson began his coaching career shortly after a 13-season playing career during which the former Charger (1991-95), Patriot (1996-99), Falcon (2000-02) and Lion (2003) wide receiver caught 470 passes for 7,024 yards and 29 touchdowns after entering the league as a ninth-round selection in 1991.
Before entering the league, the Jacksonville, FL native played receiver for three years at Central Florida. He and his wife, Marla, have two daughters, Paige and Faith, and a son, Van, a former standout receiver at the University of Florida who was selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams.
