Second, just sorting out draft picks right away, sorting out coaching hires before an off-season training or a legal team legal meeting is the most dangerous task of the football cycle. There are many things we do not know and many that not even the people who know these people do not know. For example, we thought that of all the new hires last season, it would be Kevin Stefanski who, most successfully, would take a quiet low season and use a series of trivia contests and group therapy sessions to galvanize a star list Expand?
Did we think Joe Judge would emerge as a classmate instead of being seen as a consolation prize after he hadn’t landed Matt Rhule? Did we think that, of all the new hires, the most immediately faced would be Mike McCarthy, a coach who has won a Super Bowl?
The point is, like the draft, there are many immediate reflections based on who we are told and who we observe are prepared for. But you never are ready being an NFL head coach. The position exposes the depths of your personality and preparation unlike any position in the sport. So with that in mind we give it a spin, but we also show our work in an effort to be transparent.
Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports (Saleh); Christopher Hanewinckel / USA TODAY Sports (Smith); Kirby Lee / USA TODAY Sports (Culley)
New York Jets: Robert Saleh
I’ve said it before, but I think Saleh brings all the good energy of the Rex Ryan era without the side effects. Essentially, Ryan’s green tea version. This is the emotional component of it. Yes, Saleh had an excellent defensive roster and a complementary offense in San Francisco, but he also had to play a defense of giant personalities. You can’t just incorporate someone like Richard Sherman without having a strong necessary knowledge of your scheme and where you’re headed. His slogan “All Gas, No Brakes” served as the motivating foundation of the list of 49ers that made up the Super Bowl.
The other part of the A the degree is the fact that he managed to keep Mike LaFleur away from Shanahan, who clung tightly to the two most important offensive assistants. Introducing this system to Sam Darnold, or using it to lure Deshaun Watson out of Houston, is a huge part of that equation.
DEGREE: A
Los Angeles Chargers: Brandon Staley
I think it’s okay to love a rental, but I also don’t like the circumstances in which it happened. Like my partner Jenny Vrentas he pointed out in last week ‘s edition of The Weak-Side podcast, much of the reason LA was considered one of the top destinations this offseason was because of the things that kicked out head coach Anthony Lynn set in motion (including Lynn’s own hand in progress by Justin Herbert).
That said, I wrote in early December that Staley was the next Sean McVay, right on the defensive side of the ball. He’s a former offensive player who devoured football’s most effective defensive scheme and calibrated him to a historic Rams unit that led the team in 2020. Staley is the kind of low-purchase, pre-purchase proposition we produce. more property groups. do. Like McVay and the Rams, the Chargers had to choose between catching Staley now or getting a much longer line next year.
DEGREE: A-
Atlanta Falcons: Arthur Smith
Smith will return to Atlanta to his most successful offensive system in the Matt Ryan era. The former Titans offensive coordinator has perfected the wide-area system that Kyle Shanahan has repopulated throughout the NFL. If Atlanta were rebuilt, Smith probably would not be the right kind of organizational catalyst for the task, for example, of eventually negotiating Ryan and Julio Jones and reaping the available capital. He’s in the perfect position to inject offensive competition immediately and get the Falcons to be able to compete in a division that (probably) Drew Brees has lost.
Before the news of a commercial success for Deshaun Watson, he would put Smith in pole position as the leader of the coach of the year, given the ceiling of the roster and how quickly he should be able to turn the offense upside down.
Grade: B +
Jacksonville Jaguars: Urban Meyer
This recruitment causes complicated sensations. Meyer has been flirting with the best NFL jobs for years and finally decided to jump head once he was assured a lot of space limit and the best chance of quarterback from Andrew Luck. On the one hand, it makes a lot of sense. Meyer’s last team, Ohio State, has run smoothly (on the field) since his departure. It has the ability to encourage and develop a good staff, but it is clear that it has a blind side when it comes to the actions of these staff off the field, an important criticism that should not only be left out of the road. I think the programs should lean in a more collegial way anyway. It makes sense to have a team that can develop young players faster and therefore rely less on complicated long-term veteran contracts.
Meyer has the ability to surround himself with innovators, and with the wide network his brand is capable of emitting, he’s more likely to attract top-notch schematic talent that will help Trevor Lawrence flourish.
The downside here is that Jacksonville is betting at a turning point in the history of franchises. This, and the staff you are gathering right now, is not one to be overwhelmed by. If you are Lawrence and you can choose between, for example, Darrell Bevel and Brian Daboll or Eric Bieniemy, who would you bet the direction of your career? There are coordinators and coaches with better and more contrasting backgrounds who develop NFL talent. The same can be said of CEOs and their track record of responsibly allocating large amounts of space. Right now, Jacksonville is betting on a lot of confidence in the Meyer brand.
DEGREE: B
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Philadelphia Eagles: Nick Sirianni
The Eagles, like the Steelers, seem to have a pattern for what they want in a head coach. While Pittsburgh likes early defensive coordinators in their mid-thirties, the Eagles like untapped potential on offense, often hiring young coordinators or position coaches before they become staples known as single players, such as Andy Reid once. Sirianni has the added benefit of working with Frank Reich, who was an instrumental piece of the Philadelphia Super Bowl race and includes a book on how to work with the facing Carson Wentz. It looks like Sirianni is putting together a solid coaching staff that includes critical linebacker offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and the withdrawal of Florida offensive coordinator Brian Johnson to the quarterbacks coaches.
My lingering question here is whether Sirianni can navigate properly so it could become a messy list deconstruction. The eagles will change fundamentally and, with the process, will lose a lot of the soul of the dressing room. Can you grab the young core and galvanize them to move forward?
DEGREE: B-
Detroit Lions: Dan Campbell
It was hard not to leave Campbell’s introductory press conference a little more lit than we entered. However, the most exciting aspect of his coaching tenure to date seems to be the desire to diversify his staff and provide high-profile jobs to minority candidates who were believed to need “condiment” or not. they considered ready for the role. Having Anthony Lynn as a full-time offensive coordinator is a win, especially if they end up developing a young starter in QB. Having Aaron Glenn as defensive coordinator is a victory.
I guess the Lions are betting on Campbell’s ability to have a Mike Vrabel presence – esque to the team while their coordinators do a lot of schematic lifts. And while Vrabel is fantastic, we’ll see what the Titans look like now that Smith will train in Atlanta. Will it be a lasting fashion?
Campbell may have scared some fans with his Wild West routine at the inaugural press conference, but if he is able to invest in the type of players who buy this type of hokum, the Lions can quickly cut into an annoying division . NFC North Blue Blood Roadblock. That’s a lot more than we can say about Matt Patricia’s Lions.
GRADE: C +
Houston Texans: David Culley
I think it’s important to separate rent from the situation momentarily, even if it’s hard to underestimate the fractured mess that jeans now have. They work like a driver’s car that not only has a secondary brake, but also a few additional steering wheels and gas pedals. The owner may have a franchise that players don’t want to play, but that doesn’t mean the coach they hired was bad. Culley, 65, has been in the NFL since 1994. He coached mostly wide receivers, but has seasons as a quarterback coach and as a Baltimore passing game coordinator. Houston, having exhausted all of his initial options, seemed to be within reach of more experienced older coaches versus a head coach. If you’re CEO Nick Caserio, you have to decide what kind of voice resonates most with a clearly downcast costume. It was played with a soft-spoken, long-lasting Andy Reid tree lieutenant to get it.
I think Culley is a good coach. My problem here is that jeans will probably accumulate a lot of selections if they change Watson. Will they take Culley’s contributions on how to spend that capital? Or do they just force him to take on most of the criticism as they form the team they really want to build backstage, dealing with Watson and possibly JJ Watt in the process?
In case the reported coaching structure merges, which involves Lovie Smith on defense and Josh McCown as an ascending type of coach on offense, the rent is easier to digest in the long run, even if such discussions are not necessarily fair to Culley.
DEGREE: D +