Oh thank god.

As a Colts fan who remembers things, nothing would crack me up more than McDaniels getting promised a slot, then unexpectedly getting passed over for someone else.

(That said, I've been more than happy with Frank Reich, so I don't really care that much about McDaniels changing his mind. But a little tit-for-tat seems appropriate.)

Having read various reactions, I think that the play for Payton is this.

(1) He does really want some time off, and now is as good a time as any.

(2) He has always wanted to coach the Cowboys, and this is a way to let him do it in a few years that will save them draft picks and not make him public enemy #1 in New Orleans.

I think this is exactly the situation. A cooling off "gap year" to let McCarthy bury himself yet again and then take over the Cowboys without jumping directly from the Saints.

I read yesterday that he was under contract through 2024.

Yeah. But I think waiting a year or two is the difference between the Cowboys trading 2 first round picks for him vs. trading a 2nd round pick or something.

The Saints could play hardball and not let him coach anywhere else until after 2024. But that starts to make them look bad and petty if they actually went through with it.

My guess is that after a couple years, emotions have cooled down, and it becomes "Sean's gone either way. Would you rather a 3rd round pick from the Cowboys or to make him stay on TV out of spite?" That's a pretty easy choice, IMO.

Broncos apparently about to hire the Packers OC. I don't know anything about that situation - does that make it more or less likely the Broncos might try to trade for Rodgers? Is this like an NBA team hiring Lebron's personal pick or something?

I could see the Broncos deciding that the QBs they have aren't going to do it, there's no one worth it in the draft, and the only success they've had in the past 20 years is to take the aging superstar and ride him for the last few years of his career, so let's make Rodgers our next Manning.

Reports coming in Bears hiring Matt Eberflus as head coach.

Definitely more likely, I suspect Denver is where Rodgers will want to go if he decides to keep playing somewhere besides Green Bay. One way or another Denver needs a new starting QB next season.

So the current joke is ... the Bears have replaced Ryan with Ryan as GM, and Matt with Matt as HC.

Why? So George McCaskey could remember their names.

Looks like it is going to be the Washington Commanders if the Twitter is to be believed.

A big difference is Rodgers is not a free agent. You're giving up a ton of draft capital and money here. May be worth but but I don't think Rodgers males them as good as the chiefs

After the 49ers lose this weekend, Rodgers to SF for Trey Lance and 2 1st rounders.

Really? All this and we get the Washington Commies?

And to continue this, word is Poles went against the preferred candidates of both McCaskey and Philips (and the outside advisors) to hire Eberflus.

Which means it might be a good hire.

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - NFL 2021 Regular Season Thread

Called it (sorta)!

Commanderps

Apparently, Polian is butthurt that Ryan Poles didn't hire his guy (Caldwell) as head coach.

I always liked Caldwell. He has the best winning percentage of any Lion's coach since the 1950s*.


*Anyone that has coached a full season.

In an admittedly small sample, I thought he always looked lost on the sidelines when it came to decision-making / adjustments. He reminded me of Lovie in that regard. I don't have the stats, but what is the success rate of HCs hired for a third team? Second chances are fine, but a third? I would take a chance on someone else which is what the Bears did. Surprisingly.

So what’s up with the Leftwich thing? Are the Saints in on him.

Bill Belichick is on his third head coaching stint (Browns, Jets for one day,Patriots) and he's doing fine.

Also Pete Carroll(Jets, Patriots, Seahawks) has done well for himself.

Belichick doesn't qualify. A one day stint? He's not even listed on Pro Football Reference as HC for the Jets. Pete Carroll? He turned out to be a good one, yeah. This is not important enough for me to research, so either there are no other good "Third times the charm" head coaches, or owners/GMs think the same way that I do that two previous failures are proof enough.

I like Caldwell but I don't think a 68 year old is the best choice to lead a rebuild.

Caldwell deserved better at both stops, really. Guy has a record of 62-50 (that is skewed by the 2-14 tank year when Peyton was hurt and Andrew Luck was in the next draft), a Super Bowl appearance, and only got 3 years at Indy and 4 at Detroit. It is unfortunate that he was older (mid-50s) when he got his first shot.

I agree though, it is hard to get excited about bringing in a 67-year old head coach to a multi-year rebuild.

I could argue that it's equally as skewed by having Peyton Manning his first two seasons. But in retrospect, he definitely had an impressive record in Detroit, particularly in the last two years after Johnson abruptly retired.

He seems like the absolute nicest guy but I also agree that he sometimes has that deer in the headlights / too many moving parts look on the sideline at times that some coaches just seem to struggle with.

At the end of the day though, I'm not sure what he brings to the table. I don't think he's a great cutting edge offensive mind. I don't think he's one of those great culture guys. He's probably decent at both and brings a level of stability but I don't think that's Super Bowl level material. If your goal is 9-8 over the next few seasons but not going beyond that, he's probably fine.

With Poles coming from Kansas City and the Bears having a head coach opening where they're looking for someone to groom a young QB, why wasn't Bieniemy given a look? A deal with KC to not poach from the team before the playoffs are over? He didn't have significant interest from the Bears brain trust? There's a big OC hire coming down and it all makes some sense? Poles doesn't think Bieniemy is ready? Very curious...

So I think we probably need to limit this to coaches that were fired two other times, not simply third teams (ie. Bruce Arians).

A few that came to mind...

Dan Reeves
Marty Schottenheimer (debatable whether he was fired in Cleveland)
Mike Shanahan
Pete Carroll
John Fox (debatable again but I think he counts as they let his contract expire in Carolina and then I think Denver was a fire or resign situation)
Norv Turner
Wade Phillips

I think Carroll is the big one there who finally excelled at a third opportunity. Reeves did take Atlanta but most likely what you are getting in a best case scenario is a John Fox/Norv Turner/Wade Phillips type who brings some name recognition and a bit of respectability to the position.

Then they change names after the next election?

(Forgive me, that just felt like it wrote itself)

Another bit of change in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Steelers GM Kevin Colbert stepping down after 2022 NFL draft, could stay with team in new role

Finally.

He is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, but good Lord I was tired of his ass.

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Most overrated player in American sports history.

Pretty much how I feel-congrats on an incredible career Tom, hope I don't have to hear about you again until your Hall of Fame admission :)

So what old QB will Arians get to replace him now?

Wilson or Watson in TB next year

And so the last non-kicker or punter in the league that was older than me retires. The end of an era.

Does Arians retire? Gronk definitely will. I imagine Tampa just starts dismantling.

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Same. I remember rooting against him while I was in college and Syracuse played Michigan. I still needed my fake ID to buy beer.

Then he showed up on my favorite team which hadn't won a thing my entire childhood and got to the Super Bowl exactly half of his 20 seasons as a starter (and got to the conference championship game 2/3rds of his seasons). I had so much fun watching him play and win so many times over so many different parts of my life. Just about my entire adulthood. Sports will certainly never be that fun again.

Edit: And he's going to be MVP runner-up this season. I wonder how long he could have played effectively if he wanted to.

I was hoping he'd play one more year, but he completely destroyed just about every longevity mark the NFL had. It was a miracle he was pretty decent this season. Only he knew how hard it was to get to that point.

Let's see, what do we still have for the geriatric set in the quarterback room:

Class of 2005
Aaron Rodgers (24th overall) 38 years, 1 month (age today)
Ryan Fitzpatrick (250th) 39-2 (probably retiring)

Class of 2008
Matt Ryan (3rd) 36-8
Joe Flacco (18th) 37-0
Chad Henne (57th) 36-6
Josh Johnson (160th) 35-8 (I think he was only on a practice squad briefly this season)

Class of 2009
Matthew Stafford (1st) 33-11
Brian Hoyer (FA) 36-3
Chase Daniel (FA) 35-3

Class of 2010
Colt McCoy (85th) 35-4

Class of 2011
Cam Newton (1st) 32-8
Blaine Gabbert (10th) 32-3
Andy Dalton (35th) 34-3
Tyrod Taylor (180th) 32-5

Class of 2012
Ryan Tannehill (8th) 33-6
Russell Wilson (75th) 33-2
Nick Foles (88th) 33-0
Kirk Cousins (102nd) 33-5
Case Keenum (FA) 33-11

Class of 2013
Geno Smith (39th) 31-3
Mike Glennon (73rd) 32-1 (Glennon is actually the most experienced quarterback from the 2013 class - and has a 6-25 career record as a starter).
Matt Barkley (98th) 31-4
Ryan Griffin (FA) 32-2

Class of 2014
Blake Bortles (3rd) 29-9 (he spent a week on a roster, I think that covers everyone 2014 or later, or 30 and older)
Teddy Bridgewater (32nd) 29-2
Derek Carr (36th) 30-10
Jimmy Garropolo (62nd) 30-2
Garrett Gilbert (214th) 30-6

Trevor Siemien is 30, from the class of 2015 (250th)
Taysom Hill is 31, was in the class of 2017 (FA) because of a BYU mission.

For reference:

Tom Brady, 44-5, 2000 (199th)
Ben Roethlisberger, 39-11, 2004 (11th)

Now they're reporting Brady called the GM and told him he hadn't made up his mind.

Brady's father says Brady's not retiring.....though he's enjoyed stirring the pot a little the last few years.

My guess is that they're unhappy with the leak and Brady will make his own retirement announcement shortly. Brady managed to personally tell Belichick and Kraft that he was leaving the Patriots before the news broke. He can't be psyched that Adam Scheffler broke the news to so many people this time.

Quick note. Brady is owed $15 million of his signing bonus on February 4th. He isn't retiring before that.

$15M is probably one day's work for Gisele.

Yes but this would be zero day's work for Tom.

Anyway...

Tom Brady does intend to retire per @RapSheet.

The pushback is more about the timing of the announcement more than his actual decision. pic.twitter.com/iBnUebqzBV

— PFF (@PFF) January 29, 2022

FYI, he actually started a game for the Ravens when their QB depth chart fell into disrepair with injuries and COVID. On ten days notice, he didn't completely embarrass himself, pretty impressive. So, total duration for him is still, I guess, an active clock.

Not that it matters but I would love to know who actually leaked it to Schefter. If he did not tell the Bucs then someone in Brady's inner circle told Schefter. They have to know that Schefter is going to break the news. So did they leak it to him just so they can play the victim to the mean old media again?

Interesting news that Josh McDaniels is headed to LV. He definitely seems like a Raiders-type coach, though. But he's been sitting so long I just assumed he was waiting for Belichick to retire.

What's crazy is he last coached 12 years ago and the only coach hired so far this offseason that's been younger is Nate Hackett.