The 2013-2014 NFL Offseason/Coaching/Free Agency (non-draft) Thread

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Also word is Miami is looking at Brian Xanders for GM.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Well think about it this way. People thought that coaches like Schwartz and Mooch were great hires and they turned out to be less than hoped for. So maybe an uninspiring coach hire will be a smash success!

Right? I mean the Lions haven't had a winning coach since the 70s, so they're due right?

*cries*

Yeah...

This is a horrible hire. I guess Dungy vouched for the guy and lobbied pretty strong, but he seems clueless.

My excitement level for next year is as low as it's been for a long time.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Where this annoys me as a Lions fan is that it seems this is the ONLY place Caldwell would have been hired. Odds are he would have been let go by Baltimore & taken a QB coach job somewhere. Supposedly he was very impressive in the interview, but not impressive to the point where they wanted him over Whiz (who, while being the glitzy & glamorous choice would have come with HUGE bust potential.)

Remember, yesterday they had a jet waiting to go pick up a different guy. Now we have a guy who looked great when paired with a QB who makes every coach look like Vince Lombardi, but won 2 games without him.

Hope we're all wrong.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by M GO BLUE!!!

(who, while being the glitzy & glamorous choice would have come with HUGE bust potential.)

So the Lions went straight to the HUGE bust potential.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Originally Posted by Matthean

So the Lions went straight to the HUGE bust potential.

For something to be a "bust" there needs to be some potential there in the first place.

If this were a date, the Lions just got turned down by the hot chick with a great ass, so they turned to the one with a "nice personality." There is no guarantee she's going to be any less of a disaster, but who cares.

[claphamsa]

is Minnesota the only remaining vacancy now?

[JPhillips]

Cleveland, too.

[Logan]

Apparently Ron Prince is leaving his OC job at Rutgers to join Caldwell's staff in Detroit. So you guys got that going for you too, which is nice...

[RedKingGold]

All you Caldwell haters are racist!

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

All you Caldwell haters are racist!

What if we thought Lovie Smith was the perfect fit for Detroit?

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Logan

Apparently Ron Prince is leaving his OC job at Rutgers to join Caldwell's staff in Detroit. So you guys got that going for you too, which is nice...

A one-year college offensive coordinator whose only job in the NFL has been assistant offensive line coach. This staff is shaping up to be a Detroit Lions fans worst nightmare.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

All you Caldwell haters are racist!

Also better GMs than what the Lions have hired.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Shows how bad Schwartz was in that nobody is wishing they didn't get rid of him. At least Caldwell isn't going to yell at the fans.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

A one-year college offensive coordinator whose only job in the NFL has been assistant offensive line coach. This staff is shaping up to be a Detroit Lions fans worst nightmare.

In fairness, he was the head coach at Kansas State prior to his last NFL stint.

But that also makes you remember that he signed/developed Josh Freeman. So if Stafford doesn't work out......

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by claphamsa

is Minnesota the only remaining vacancy now?

Best I can tell Detroit is still pretty much vacant as well

[Kodos]

Zing!

[M GO BLUE!!!]

One main problem... we got a QB from Georgia!

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by M GO BLUE!!!

I don't see how the Fords are such a problem. There are certified douchebags out there (Cleveland, bough, cough) and the Fords are not one of them. They may be too loyal and occasionally a bit cheap, but right now I don't see William Clay Ford as a problem.

It can only be speculated why Whiz went to Tennessee instead of Detroit, but I bet it has a lot more to do with flexibility to put his stamp on the team than who owns the damn thing. In Tennessee he gets to start basically from scratch, and if he doesn't have immediate success it's because he has to redo a great deal. He can remake the defense and offense into his vision. In Detroit he would just have to fix what doesn't work, and with everything we have heard about the QB who looks more like a guy in the stands on his 8th beer than a professional QB, that might be more than he wants.

I guess he wasn't that impressed with the interview Stafford gave him.

The owner is the problem because he has no idea how to hire and retain talented coaches or front office executives. I would take the douche bag that knew what he was doing if that was the alternative. Not saying that's the case in Cleveland of course.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

The owner is the problem because he has no idea how to hire and retain talented coaches or front office executives. I would take the douche bag that knew what he was doing if that was the alternative. Not saying that's the case in Cleveland of course.

This doesn't ring true for me. Six teams this year and eight team last year fired their head coach. Three of the four playoff team coaches have been fired in the past, including Belichick who is probably the best coach we've all seen in quite a while. It doesn't seem that NFL coaching ability is a very measurable talent. The Fords seemed to have been able to hire and retain an outstanding executive for their main business, Ford Motor.

Anywho, I was listening to the NFL channel on Sirius this morning and they were talking about the Caldwell hire and the Whisenhunt Whiff. One comment was that The Whiz wanted to run a 3-4 which certainly wouldn't have worked here in Detroit. And I'm sure the extra million the Titans were offering didn't make the choice any harder...

[Logan]

Vikings are hiring Mike Zimmer.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Logan

Vikings are hiring Mike Zimmer.

That is a good hire.

[Butter]

Leslie Frazier was also a former Bengals defensive coordinator, but was terrible when he was here.

I am saddened, but hopefully the Bengals will not hurt too much from this going forward.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Leslie Frazier was also a former Bengals defensive coordinator, but was terrible when he was here.

I am saddened, but hopefully the Bengals will not hurt too much from this going forward.

It'll all come down to his staff and if they can find someone to play QB. But I think he has as good a shot at being successful as anyone hired so far.

2014 will definitely be interesting for the Bengals with two new coordinators.

[claphamsa]

Originally Posted by Logan

Vikings are hiring Mike Zimmer.

fuck

[Grover]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Leslie Frazier was also a former Bengals defensive coordinator, but was terrible when he was here.

I am saddened, but hopefully the Bengals will not hurt too much from this going forward.

I always thought Frazier was a decent secondary coach and not much more than that.

Best of luck to Zimmer, did a hell of a job while here and I think he'll do well in Minnesota.

Curious to see who our next DC will be.

[BillJasper]

Dolphins hire Eagles QB coach Bill Lazor as Offensive Coordinator.

[Butter]

Have heard Schwartz and Marvin Lewis go back a ways, but I wouldn't be surprised if we go the cheap, in-house route. In fact, would be surprised if we didn't.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Have heard Schwartz and Marvin Lewis go back a ways, but I wouldn't be surprised if we go the cheap, in-house route. In fact, would be surprised if we didn't.

Is Mike Brown still writing the checks?

[Grover]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Is Mike Brown still writing the checks?

Hey! We've got like 3 scouts now!

[JPhillips]

I'll be very surprised if the Bengals don't promote Paul Guenther to DC. He's been on staff for a few years now and has been looked at to be promoted by other teams. Both Gruden and Zimmer are said to covet Guenther, but the Bengals have him signed for next year.

[Julio Riddols]

Guenther or Ray Horton would be my hopes.

[jbergey22]

Good hire Vikings. This is long overdue.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Dolphins hire Eagles QB coach Bill Lazor as Offensive Coordinator.

As of last night reports were he was the 1st assistant hired by Caldwell. Looks like Detroit may not be the team coaches are lining up for.

[JPhillips]

Apparently there is some doubt as to whether the Bengals can hold onto Guenther. Multiple sources are saying that his contract was altered so that the Bengals can't automatically keep him if he's offered DC positions. It may come down to his pick of Washington, Minnesota or Cincy.

If it turns into a bidding war I'd expect him to leave and the Bengals will move on to Schwartz.

[miami_fan]

The Jets and Rex Ryan have agreed to an multi-year extension. For someone who I think was universally expected to lose his job, this completes an amazing turnaround by Rex.

[flere-imsaho]

As a Patriots fan, this is great news indeed. I look forward to many more 8-8 seasons by the Jets.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Dolphins hire Eagles QB coach Bill Lazor as Offensive Coordinator.

Isn't he the guy that revealed all of the Area 51 secrets?

[Logan]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

The Jets and Rex Ryan have agreed to an multi-year extension. For someone who I think was universally expected to lose his job, this completes an amazing turnaround by Rex.

I bet the extension doesn't have the Jets on the hook for all the salary should they choose to get rid of him down the road. Doesn't make much sense otherwise.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

As a Patriots fan, this is great news indeed. I look forward to many more 8-8 seasons by the Jets.

The combination of league best defense and league worst offense almost guarantees it.

[BillJasper]

Time for Cleveland to go fishing in the bowl full of coach names?

Report: Adam Gase inclined to stay with Broncos | ProFootballTalk

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Time for Cleveland to go fishing in the bowl full of coach names?

Report: Adam Gase inclined to stay with Broncos | ProFootballTalk

Ya know after they pretty much screwed the head coach they just hired last year, it would be wonderfully ironic if they had to settle for another coach that wasn't exactly their top choice.

[Julio Riddols]

I have an interview with Cleveland tomorrow.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

I have an interview with Cleveland tomorrow.

Good luck! Well I suppose that would mean that I wanted you not to get the job then in this case

[BillJasper]

Will there be any quality assistants left for Cleveland to hire once they make a decision on who their next head coach will be? Both coordinators from last year are now with other teams.

Their likely best move would've either been to keep Chudinski or promote Ray Horton.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'm actually worried with it taking so long that they're going to go hard after Roman or Fangio. Worried both because I don't want to lose either from the 49ers, and because I think it's a terrible place to end up for either of them, because when they DO eventually leave, I want them to succeed.

[Desnudo]

No one good will take the job, don't worry. Maybe they could get Chudinski to come back if they apologized real nice like.

[bhlloy]

Don't you understand? Cleveland is just waiting for the right coach, their owner said so. They didn't really want any of those assistants anyway.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Will there be any quality assistants left for Cleveland to hire once they make a decision on who their next head coach will be? Both coordinators from last year are now with other teams.

Their likely best move would've either been to keep Chudinski or promote Ray Horton.

Its a great example of what a poorly run organization it is. Fire your HC of less than a year with no plan for replacing him.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Its a great example of what a poorly run organization it is. Fire your HC of less than a year with no plan for replacing him.

Their plan was clearly McDaniels. Now they're just trying to spin it. Chudzinski has to be laughing hysterically.

[Julio Riddols]

Wow, fellas, let me tell you. Things ain't right up in Cleveland. I sat down with Haslam for 2 hours this morning and we talked about what scheme I like to run and what I thought of the current personnel.. I was pretty honest with him, told him what I thought without pulling any punches. He sat for a minute after I went on a little rant and then said "Let's go get lunch". So we're eating at this kinda seedy place called Tommy's Pizza and Chicken and he is just tearing through his medium veggie pan while I answer more questions at length.. Questions about my family, my experience, all that. He learns I have thought about coaching a successful pop warner team for a few years and that gets him to stop stuffing his face for a minute and he just straight up says "You want the job?" I spat my coke across the table, costing me hundreds of dollars worth of primo columbian snow. He snorted it off his coat, I said "Lets get this deal done then. I'm ready to take this team where it has never been, Jim."

That's when he flipped his shit. The rest of the flake that hadn't been scattered before exploded as everything on the table went flying in this slow motion flash of rage. As he stood up, he swept the table clean in one Bruce Lee motion and exploded with this scratchy, throat ripping scream that had somewhere in it "NEVER FUCKING CALL ME JIIIIIMMM!!!!" Between the spit flying from his mouth and the veins busting out of his neck and forehead I couldn't control myself and just started laughing hysterically, which made him rage even harder. He stumbled his way out from the booth and raised his fist to hit me as I leaned away, but his lawyer was with us and caught him, pushing him toward the door and waving off the employees that had come over to try and diffuse the situation. I must have laid there for a good 5 minutes laughing while they tried to ask me if I was okay before I got up, dusted my blazer and just left. I got a phone call from the guy.. Curiously, I never got his name, but a short time after, here he was asking me to keep the incident to myself and offering to pay for my troubles, but I just hung up and threw the phone away. It was one of the most surreal mornings of my life and I am still trying to figure out what I just experienced. I've had bad interviews, I have seen obviously confused vagrants babble incoherently to random people at a bus stop.. I have watched a guy jack off in the subway while staring intensely at this meek elderly lady who seemed strangely turned on the whole time.... I have NEVER seen anything as alien to my concept of rational behavior as what I saw in Jimmy's eyes. They were cartoon crazy, so absolutely hilarious.. My god. Maybe I was supposed to be scared, but my natural reaction was to just crack up so hard that I think I actually pulled something because my left side hurts like hell right now.

I'm about to get back on the plane to go back to Asheville.. But I think I'll be lost in the repetition of that image replaying in my head as I kick back a couple bottles of airplane wine. I'm light headed and feel like I am watching things from further inside my head than where my eyes are.