With the end of the 2020 NFL regular season begets yet another football season and no, I’m not talking about the NFL Playoffs. No, I’m talking about a season that gets far less coverage but has much larger implications for the futures of the league’s bottom dwellers: NFL Coaching Season.
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers are the best job on the market and it’s not close. A few analysts I listen to say it’s Jacksonville, who have the most cap space and draft capital but if you want to win, first off, don’t go to Jacksonville. Just a good rule of thumb. Also, maybe go back and watch Justin Herbert smash rookie passing records.
I generally don’t think much of rookie passing records because of the way the game has evolved. You can throw for a lot of yards and a lot of touchdowns and still be playing some bad ball (see Mr. Winston’s 2019). Herbert, however, was one of the best quarterbacks in football this season and remains a frontrunner for Offensive Rookie of the Year (my vote went to Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson). I’m still skeptical because of how awful his college tape was and I also am a cautious talent evaluator who’s always wary of the one-hit wonder but he was damn good this season.
Only reason LA didn’t make the playoffs is because of how stacked the conference was (when everyone beats the NFC East, that tends to happen) and because Anthony Lynn doesn’t know how to read a clock. Lynn’s 2020 was almost a carbon copy of Tom Coughlin’s last season in New York when his clock management skills directly led to three Giant losses.
Of all the teams leaderless, the Bolts are the closest to competing, Kansas City be damned. Eric Bienemy is the right hire here, as he is for all these teams. LAC has one of the best edge rush duos in Bosa/Ingram and hopefully Derwin James can find his way to the field come fall. A true quarterback whisperer to nurse a possible superstar in Herbert is what the powder blues need. Give Bienemy all the money and rest easy.
New York Jets
The Pain brigade does what they usually do: bring P-A-I-N to the football fans of York and Jersey. They might even have garnered sympathy from people if they didn’t bring it on themselves. Close to no one liked the hire of Adam Gase for a vast multitude of red flags: lack of offensive consistency and a failed experiment in Miami being the two most consistent ones. A coach is often defined by two things: what he does when his team isn’t healthy and what his former players do when he’s not around. In perhaps the most damning statement of them all, Ryan Tannehill became one of the best game managers in football the second he got away from supposed quarterback savant Adam Gase’s hands. DeVante Parker was suddenly a reliable target rather than a pumpkin. Gase’s final year saw the Dolphins average 289.9 ypg (30th) and 19.9 ppg (26th).
One year later, with Brian Flores in his first year and journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick at the helm for most of the season, Miami had similar numbers, 310 and 19.1. However, as football experts were quick to point out at season’s end, a closer look shows the Dolphins went 5-4 in their last nine with averages of 353 ypg and 25.4 ppg.
The Dolphins ended up finding themselves the odd man out for the playoffs this year but had a very strong 10-6 campaign with averages of 339 ypg and 25.3 ppg, right on par with the back stretch of 2019. Sidenote: Yes, the Dolphins and Flores cost themselves a playoff spot by starting Tua fresh off an injury and without a training camp or preseason.
Meanwhile, Gase went 2-14 with the worst offense in football.
Finding success with Peyton Manning does not make you a quarterback whisperer. That makes you a guy that called plays for Peyton Manning.
Gase was then given Sam Darnold, a top-tier quarterback prospect and has spent the last two seasons nosediving his career into the MetLife Stadium underbelly, compiling a 9-23 record.
But today is a wonderful day in Jetsland because the Jets finally hired a good coach. Robert Saleh, the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, will be coming to Greenland (no, not that one).
If you watched the Jets this season (totally understandable if you didn’t), they aren’t the worst roster in football. They have pieces that give them a fighting chance of overtaking New England next season.
It’s hard to see a way where the Jets overtake Buffalo or Miami but now that the Jets finally have an adult leading the team, the squad has options and possibilities that haven’t been there since the Jets were losing AFC Championship games with Mark Sanchez and Revis Island.
Houston Texans
If there was ever a doubt about how much of a clown show this organization was, that doubt ended when the Texans and supposed prophet Bill O’Brien blew a 24-point lead in less than 10 minutes to Kansas City in a playoff game and proceeded to get stomped for the remainder of the contest to a resounding thump of a final score, 51-31.
In any other city, serious changes would be made but not in Houston. Bill kept his job.
And was promoted.
To general manager.
It was without a doubt the worst decision in professional football in 2020, worse than 24-0, until Bill O’Brien and the Texans decided to one up themselves again.
By trading one of the best receivers in football.
For a second round pick.
And took on an albatross contract of a one-trick pony running back.
Then traded for another albatross contract in Brandin Cooks after saying they traded DeAndre Hopkins because he wanted too much money.
Then started the season 0-4.
Then fired O’Brien after he’d traded away nearly all of their assets and draft capital.
And so you’d think, after blowing a 24-0 lead, keeping and then promoting the coach responsible for it, trading one of the best players in football for peanuts, taking on two of the worst player contracts in the sport, starting the season 0-4 and finally firing the cancer known as Bill O’Brien, that would be enough for the Texans. All of that happened in less than a year.
But this is the Houston Texans.
So they decided to piss off their star quarterback a second time (trading Hopkins obviously being the first).
After owner Cal McNair promised passer Deshaun Watson he would have input in the search for a new general manager and coach, Watson’s suggestions were flat-out ignored and the team proceeded to hire Patriots personnel man Nick Caserio. Watson asked the Texans to interview Eric Bienemy, by far the best available candidate on the market.
The Texans refused.
And now their star quarterback is on the verge of asking for a trade himself.
The Texans culture is beyond disastrous and that’s unlikely to change with the present ownership intact and walking mouthpiece Jack Easterby a constant presence in the owner’s earhole.
Of all the jobs in the NFL, this one is the worst. No smart head coach would take this job and certainly not Eric Bienemy. If Watson does force a trade (he should), the Houston Texans are a lock for the worst team in football in 2021.
These issues haven’t just arrived either. These are problems that have been brewing for years, issues that caused three-time defensive player of the year J.J. Watt to lead a player revolt against O’Brien and has caused nearly every franchise icon to tweet messages along the lines of “I told you so”, with Andre Johnson, the franchise’s all-time leading receiver, labeling the Texans “career wasters”.
That’s about as damning a statement from a former player that you’re ever gonna get. Looking at the comments only makes it worse.
That’s a former quarterback and the best offensive lineman and running back in franchise history tweeting support.
Yet another report from Sport Illustrated was released this morning which stated, among other scathing new information, that the Texans ignored the search committee they had put together to find a general manager and instead hired the first guy Easterby recommended after McNair firmly stated he would not be a part of the search.
And we’re still not done here because, from today’s article: “Easterby, according to two sources, told confidants there was something aside from roster-building experience that he liked about Caserio: He would be coming from an organization where he wasn’t in charge, so in Houston, he wouldn’t expect to run everything.”
That’s about as close to “Caserio is going to follow our direction” as you’re going to get.
Based off recent events, not even the people playing for the Texans like the Texans. They are the most toxic franchise in professional sports right now and Lord, I pity the soul who gets stuck trying to guide this ship because owner Cal McNair and Jack Easterby are going to be meddling and sabotaging every step of the way. Until they’re both out of the picture, this team is a cesspool.
Jacksonville Jaguars
From one garbage fire to the next, we go to the Jaguars, a team that was ten minutes from an AFC championship a couple years ago but decided to play scared with a ten-point lead and hand Tom Brady yet another trophy. Jacksonville then went straight to dismantling the best defense in football and traded away their franchise star, Jalen Ramsey, because he didn’t like the coach, a coach the Jaguars just had to fire for going 12-36 the last three seasons. Nice.
Stripped to the bare bones, Jacksonville now has a ton of cap space and draft capital but few players on the roster who have any impact on winning a football game, a position the team has found themselves in about as much as the Cleveland Browns have over the last 13 years, which is the last time, other than that AFC Championship game choke year, that the Jaguars had a winning record. And then there’s this:
A few things here.
- 105 of 144 is truly remarkable.
- This hire sucks.
Of course, one reason it sucks is because Urban Meyer isn’t Eric Bienemy or even Robert Saleh, the other grade-A candidate on the market. No, instead the Jaguars went with a college coach who has no professional experience who had to stop coaching in the first place because he ignored and then willingly covered up domestic violence within his coaching staff for years.
Sounds like a classy guy.
And this comes a little over a week after noted football expert and Jaguars owner Shad Khan said he intends to keep roster control rather than pass those responsibilities onto the new general manager, which makes one wonder why anyone would want the job.
But don’t worry, according to Michael Lombardi, they’ve already got their sights on an excellent candidate.
Yes, Ray Farmer, the guy that managed to botch not one but two top-10 picks in the same draft class. That’s talent that’s hard to find.
All the draft capital in the world isn’t going to help a franchise when they use said assets on players like Blaine Gabbert, Justin Blackmon, Luke Joekel, Blake Bortles, Dante Fowler and Leonard Fournette. All six of those guys were top-ten picks and none of them are still with the organization. That’s a historic level of incompetence.
The Jaguars problem isn’t asset procurement. It’s asset usage and development.
Few teams in the history of the sport have drafted as poorly as the Jacksonville Jaguars and there’s no evidence to suggest that is going to change especially when noted champion of scouting Shad Khan is now behind the controls.
You’d think they couldn’t mess up Trevor Lawrence, one of the best college quarterbacks ever but this is the Jacksonville Jaguars. This is what they do.
Honestly, when you consider the walking tumors known as the Texans and Jaguars are in the same division, it’s no wonder Peyton ruled the South for so long.
Detroit Lions
Wow, can’t believe you’re back again. Really thought that last one was gonna work out for ya. Truly caught off-guard it blew up in your face.
A team who STILL hasn’t figured out how to run a football since the days of Barry STILL sucks at football. Shocker.
And I could go over their draft boards over the last 20 seasons and their player evaluations and their coaching hires same as I could over the Jaguars but I’d rather skip over that and get straight to the point.
The Detroit Lions suck because they choose to.
Because they choose to again.
And again.
And again. Because teams like the Browns (obviously not this year, congratulations on your first playoff win in a very long 24 years. Keep it going), Bengals, Raiders, Jets, Jaguars, Texans and Lions repeat the same mistakes over and over and over. The Bills and Dolphins were in this cycle for a while themselves which is one of a multitude of reasons why the Patriots won the same division 11 years in a row.
They fail to draft a quarterback. They fail to draft a running back. They fail to hire a head coach who’s qualified for the job. They fail to make adjustments to how they evaluate talent. They fail to recognize patterns in league game planning and philosophies. They fail to acknowledge changes in team financial structures.
Anything that requires the least bit of professional awareness these teams are terrible at and it’s why these teams continue to fall short of expectations again and again and again and will continue to do so.
It’s why the Texans have wasted careers of talented players, why Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson both retired early, why Matt Stafford’s never won a playoff game despite being the most talented passer the team has ever had.
Because not even a baboon would think Dan Campbell, a name many of you likely don’t even know, is a better football coach than Eric Bienemy.
This is what the Lions do.
And while I’m not gonna go on about it here, if you don’t think race is a part of this conversation, wake up.
Philadelphia Eagles
Three years off a Super Bowl run, pretty much everything that could go wrong for Philly has gone wrong. Their quarterback has turned into a pumpkin, their once top offensive line is as resilient as U.S. Capitol security and their playmakers are either permanently stuck on the injury report (Alshon Jeffrey, DeSean Jackson) or aged like Macaulay Culkin (Zach Ertz). Malcolm Jenkins is gone and a team of Eagles has no ballhawks. I’ll take irony for 200, Alex. (RIP)
Their coach, who garnered a lot of praise during Philadelphia’s first championship, has demonstrated over the last three years he was not the most influential member of the coaching staff. Frank Reich was. Results over the last thousand days have proven as much. If you don’t believe that by now, sorry, you’re wrong.
Doug Pederson had gotten to the point that he was purposefully misinterpreting analytics and using those false translations to defend boneheaded decisions.
It finally all came crumbling down when he shaved points in a nationally-televised primetime game. It got so bad that some of his own players needed to be restrained. Whatever his motivations, Pederson lost the locker room the second he benched Jalen Hurts for third-string Nate Sudfeld in a three-point ball game. It was made all the worse knowing it came just weeks after beloved center Jason Kelce gave an interview discussing the importance of winning football games.
Doug must not have tuned in.
Things are now at least slightly better with Pederson sent out of the city of brotherly love with a for-the-road cheesesteak but the path in front of them is rocky. Some of the few remaining members of the champ squad have likely played their last game in green. Philly also have their fair share of bad contracts.
When the Eagles brought back DeSean Jackson for his retirement tour on a three-year, $27.9 million contract, I imagine it was with the intention he would catch some footballs and score some touchdowns.
In the last two years, they’ve paid Jackson $17.3 million to catch 23 footballs.
He has a cap hit of just under $11 million for this upcoming season and Philly can save a lil under half of that if they decide to shed him loose early.
General manager Howie Roseman has also failed to bring in receivers who can make life easier for Carson Wentz. Two years ago, the Eagles drafted JJ Arcega-Whiteside over D.K. Metcalf. Last year? Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson.
Those are two very bad misses. If the Eagles drafted both Metcalf and Jefferson, they’d have one of the best receiving units in football. Just drafting one would have made a huge difference. Instead, they’ve had one of if not the league’s worst receiving corps for three years.
The defense finished third in sacks this year but otherwise there’s not a lot of good to report. The good news, or bad depending on how you look at it, is they’re not excessively awful. With a fresh face and a coach that isn’t putting Wentz in a position to lose, I think Wentz can return to above average quarterback play, the same quarterback play that had kept this team above water the two years prior. Jalen Hurts also demonstrated promising potential if it turns out Wentz is too far gone to be refurbished.
I still think Howie Roseman can be the GM that was rewriting how to build football teams in today’s NFL just two years ago.
And given Philly still plays in the NFC East, it’s not a stretch to say the team could return to the playoffs in two years, even next year. No team in the East is particularly good right now. Washington has a great defense but they’re still young and the team’s future at quarterback is an unknown. Bienemy likely won’t take this job with the Chargers on the table but if they’re not? Philly is the best remaining job on the board. They’re a stable, well-run, competitive franchise year in, year out with a general manager who’s shown talent in the past and an owner who’s not a problem. The Wentz contract is a large behemoth but the right coach can solve it.
Atlanta Falcons
This team still hasn’t recovered from 28-3. They’ve never been the same since and have developed a hobby of blowing leads. This season alone, the team lost, at minimum, three games in which they had a win probability of over 99%. This team needs a cleansing in the worst way.
Dan Quinn should have been fired last year and the Falcons reluctance to do so wasted another year of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones.
Much of the defense needs cut from the roster. Atlanta has had one of the worst defenses in football since that Super Bowl and the personnel has had plenty of time and coaching invested into them. It ain’t happening. Cut ’em loose.
Because the team with the best defense in the NFC South controls the South. Every team in the South has offensive firepower. Two now have strong defenses and one of them will be going to the NFC Championship game after Sunday’s showdown.
Atlanta is in cap hell though thanks to the incompetence of GM Thomas Dimitroff. Nothing can sink a franchise faster than not understanding how money works. Currently, the team is more than $32 million over the cap. Nearly 70% of next year’s cap space is invested in just five players (Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Grady Jarrett, Jake Matthews and Dante Fowler Jr.). Heads are going to roll this offseason. Two, possibly three of these players will not be Falcons come August. Whoever takes this job is gonna need to be patient.
And per reports from yesterday, that person is:
And my thoughts are:
When your talent is throwing the ball and there is a coordinator who calls plays for Patrick Mahomes available, you hire that guy, not the guy who just spent the last year calling all the run plays. This seems like pretty basic logic to me. Unsure how someone could have difficulty understanding my thought process here.
Something I do like about Smith is he’s progressive.
Smith recognizes pre-snap motion is the direction the league is headed and has been quick to jump on the train. Progressive leadership generally puts you in a good position to win. While Smith brings some of the same concepts that Shanahan brought Ryan during his MVP run, I just don’t think the scheme and the personnel match up here.
To whoever wins the Bienemy Sweepstakes:
congratulations!
And if he gets skipped over again, prepare yourself for a heated column from yours truly.
wordsofwistim 