Ex-Vikings Starter Leaves Cowboys Amid Challenging History With Mike Zimmer
Matthew Davis
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In less than 24 hours after the Dallas Cowboys hired former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, ex-Vikings star and Cowboys assistant Sharrif Floyd found a new job.
Floyd joined the Washington Commanders staff in the same position — assistant defensive line coach. A defensive tackle during Zimmer’s tenure in Minnesota, Floyd faced challenges in his short-lived and injury-riddled career, memories he would understandably not want to revisit with Zimmer in the building.
Minnesota drafted Floyd as one of three first-round picks in the 2013 NFL Draft, and his young career held promise. In his first three seasons, he tallied 9.5 sacks, 57 tackles, and a forced fumble in 43 games and 24 starts.
Things went south for Floyd in 2016 when he sustained a knee injury in Week 1, and he missed the season and never played again. It became a source of disappointment for Zimmer, who originally anticipated a quick recovery.
“We didn’t think it would be this long, to be honest with you,” Zimmer said in 2016 via the Pioneer Press. “We didn’t think it was going to be, like, six years worth of hurt.”
Sharrif Floyd’s surgery ended his NFL career
Floyd’s surgery didn’t go as planned amid nerve damage, and he filed a $180 million lawsuit against Dr. James Andrews in 2018, who performed the surgery in 2016. The former Vikings standout also filed a grievance with the NFL Players Association over his non-football injury designation in 2017, but he withdrew it according to the Star Tribune.
“Floyd contends that the damage was caused by the negligent administration of a pain blocker. The blocker was used after the surgery itself became far more invasive and complex than Floyd had agreed to,” Sports Illustrated’s Michael McCann wrote in 2018. “The lawsuit also depicts Andrews as recklessly delegating decision-making authority concerning Floyd’s care to relatively inexperienced surgical fellows whom Andrews was entrusted with supervising and training.”
Sharrif Floyd strongly reacted to Mike Zimmer’s comments
That’s the injury side of things. Floyd also felt he didn’t have Zimmer’s support through it all and aired his grievances on Instagram in 2018. Floyd’s post included Zimmer’s comments on the injured pass rusher the 2016, and Floyd wrote his thoughts on his coach’s comments from Floyd being “kind of out of sight, out of mind” to “I’m kind of used to it” after the injury.
“I’m sharing this picture first because it was 2 days before I went into surgery,” Floyd wrote. “These words were used to slander my name, tarnish me as a person and a player.”
Zimmer addressed Floyd’s reaction and the surgery issues in an interview with ESPN’s Courtney Cronin in 2018. Zimmer noted that “we didn’t know” the severity of the injury and “it was a long time before we figured out” the complications.
“I suppose I say a lot of things about players during the season, but I had a good relationship with Sharrif like I do all the players, so I don’t think it was…I haven’t seen him in two years maybe?” Zimmer told Cronin.
Zimmer has been out of the NFL for two seasons since the Vikings fired him in 2022 over back-to-back missed playoffs. Floyd had been out of the league since 2017, but he returned in 2023 as the assistant defensive line coach with the Cowboys.
Besides the history with Zimmer, Floyd also followed former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to Washington. Given Floyd’s histories with both men, the move makes sense for the young coach.
The Cowboys notably didn’t block the Commanders from hiring Floyd, which could have happened since Floyd only made a lateral move. In addition, Floyd takes on a defensive line that shed stars Chase Young and Montez Sweat during the trade deadline last season.
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Matthew Davis writes for multiple outlets outside of PurplePTSD including NFL coverage for Heavy, recruiting coverage for Prep Network, and high school sports contributions for the Star Tribune. Davis has also written for the Sun Post, Inter-County Leader, Valley City Times-Record, and The Catholic Spirit. Davis earned a degree in mass communication from North Dakota State University and covered the Bison for The Spectrum.