Al Saunders

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Al Saunders
Date of birth	February 1, 1947
Place of birth	London, England
Position(s)	Associate Head Coach - Offense
College	San Jose State Southern California
Career Record	17-22
Coaching Stats	Pro Football Reference
Coaching Stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1983-1986 1986-1988 1989-1998 1999-2000 2001-2005 2006-Present	San Diego Chargers San Diego Chargers* Kansas City Chiefs St. Louis Rams Kansas City Chiefs Washington Redskins

Al Saunders (born February 1, 1947 in London, England) is an American football coach. He is the Associate Head Coach - Offense, a top assistant coach, for the Washington Redskins.

Al Saunders played Defensive Back at San Jose State University (SJSU) from 1966-1968 where he was a three-year starter, team captain and Academic All-American. Saunders also played Wide Receiver for the San Jose State Spartans.

In the 1970's, Al Saunders joined the coaching staff at San Diego State University (SDSU), whose SDSU Aztecs were then under the control of Head Coach Don Coryell. Saunders would go with Coryell to NFL when Coryell became the Head Coach of the San Diego Chargers.

From 1983-1986, Saunders was the wide receivers coach for the Chargers. He was tapped as the Charger's Interim Head Coach when Coryell resigned during the middle of the 1986 season. Saunders would eventually replace Coryell as the Head Coach from 1986-1988.

From 1989-1998, Saunders was with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he served as the Assistant Head Coach and Wide Receivers Coach under Marty Schottenheimer.

Saunders would then join the St. Louis Rams coaching staff. From 1999-2000 he served as the Wide Receivers Coach under Dick Vermeil and later as Assistant Head Coach under Mike Martz. During this period, the Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000.

Saunders would rejoin the Kansas City Chiefs in 2001 as the Offensive Coordinator when Vermeil came out of retirement. In his second stint with the Chiefs, Saunders built the NFL's top offense, which was ranked #1 in the NFL from 2002-2005.

On January 19, 2006, he joined the coaching staff of the Washington Redskins as the Associate Head Coach - Offense, reuniting him with fellow "Air Coryell" alumn, Joe Gibbs. His 3-year, $6 million contract makes him the second highest paid assistant coach in the NFL behind, Gregg Williams. Players such as recent additions Antwaan Randle El and Brandon Lloyd have claimed that the signing of Saunders to the Washington Coaching Staff was a major pull factor in their decision to sign with the Redskins. In this role, he will serve the team like he did in Kansas City, as the primary playcaller and offensive coordinator.

Saunders offensive playbook reportedly has approximately 700 pages of various plays. When the Redskins struggled offensively in the 2006 pre-season and during the first two regular season games, the lengthy playbook became the subject of criticism -both humorous and serious- by Washington sports media. However, desiring not to provide scouting information to opponents, the Redskins only used a small number of plays (estimated by Saunders at around 2% of his playbook) during the pre-season. Beginning with the third game of the regular season, Washington's offensive production increased but later fell.

Many believe that the pairing of Al Saunders offense and the veteran quarterback Mark Brunell was a bad fit. The Al Saunders offense requires a quarterback with a very accurate sense of timing and trust with the receiver which could not be replicated in Washington during Brunell's 2006 season.

Al Saunders was born in London, England. He became a naturalized citizen in 1960 and is only one of four foreign-born coaches in the NFL.

* - Head Coach