When the New York Jets hosted the
Oakland Raiders in the first game of the
2014 NFL season, Sanjay Lal got a chance
to help his new team beat his old team.
Lal, believed to be the first NFL coach of
Indian descent, is in his third season as
the wide receivers coach of the Jets, joining
the team after five years with the Raiders.
He was the Oakland’s quality control
coach for two years and wide receivers
coach for three.
Lal, 45, who was born in London,
was a wide receiver in college, playing for
the University of Washington and helping
the Huskies win the 1992 National
Championship. A Huskies Hall of Fame
selection, he had been a walk-on receiver
at UCLA for two years before transferring
to Washington.
He was good
enough to be invited
to NFL camps, but
hamstring injuries
derailed his career. He turned to coaching
and spent 11 years at the high school
and college level before landing a job with
the Raiders.
It hasn’t been easy, coaching wide receivers
in the NFL. Both the Raiders and
Jets have lacked for talent at the position
in recent years. But the Jets’ signing of
free-agent wide receiver Eric Decker could
help Lal hold onto his job. Lal told ESPN
that he was impressed with the different
ways that Decker, who caught 87 balls
from Peyton Manning last year, managed
to get open. “He always had something in
his back pocket to get loose,” Lal said.