NFL Coaching Carousel – who will fill the vacant openings?

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youarefiredIn this episode of the Red Light Sports Ramble, Evan and Troy discuss the open coaching vacancies in the NFL and talk about who might be headed where. The first Monday after the NFL season is almost a National Holiday, well at least for NFL fans.  This is the day nicknamed “Black Monday” because it is the day that NFL teams will fire their coaches.  This day has come and gone, and now we are left trying to figure out this coaching carousel in the NFL.  One college coach; who does have NFL experience, will lead the Houston Texans next year.  The Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to hire long time Chicago Bear Head Coach; Lovie Smith, after a year lay off.

This leaves five NFL teams searching for a replacement.  The list of candidates is very qualified with many assistants getting a shot to interview to the head man for the first time.  Some have held the position and are looking for a second chance.  Needless to say; each of the five teams searching for a coach, have unique characteristics.

Of the five positions open, two of them seem to have the most promise for immediate success.  The Detroit Lions have play-makers on both sides of the ball, but lacked organization and structure.  This is a team that was in control of their own destiny and let it slip away.  The new coach will have some pressure to win immediately with the amount of talent on the roster.  Who is the right fit to help this team win immediately?

Tennessee decided that it was time to part ways with Mike Munchak.  However, when you look at this roster, they have a good young nucleus and success may not be to far away.  Quarterback will be a priority, but they have a proven running back and a defense that kept them in many games throughout the season.  People may argue that they were not a legitimate playoff contender, but they hung around the wild card chase up until the last few weeks of the season.  Does Tennessee fill the job with a raw rookie head coach, or do they go after someone who has held the reins before?

Minnesota has quietly been lurking around the coaching carousel and look to be hand picking a coach that may still be coaching in the playoffs.  It was obvious that Leslie Frazier was going to be on his way out and has already landed a gig being the Defensive Coordinator in Tampa Bay with Lovie Smith.  This organization already has a future hall of fame running back in Adrian Peterson, but have not had strong quarterback play in the last couple of years.  What is Minnesota looking for in its next head coach?

Finally, the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns bottom out the list of desirable jobs.  The Browns gave up on their coach after just one season.  Lets not forget that they also traded away their number 1 pick from the previous year.  The front-runner looks to be Josh McDaniels, the Offensive Coordinator in New England.  It is most likely his job to turn down, and would he consider turning down another opportunity to be a Head Coach in the NFL?  In Washington, when most teams are cutting their list of candidates, Daniel Snyder continues to add names to his list.  When the lights dim out in the offices and people leave for the day, everyone knows that Daniel Snyder is the one in control here.  He is the one who has tried to buy a championship, and it is evident from the list of candidates that he is probably going to have to find someone who has no head coaching experience.  A veteran coach may not be willing to levy all the power to the owner, so which way will Snyder lean?

So with that said, tune into the Red Light Sports Ramble and listen to who the boys think will be coaching these teams next year.

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  • californy

    Josh McDaniel just withdrew his name from The Cleveland Job. It a shocker to me, maybe he didn’t like the fact he didn’t chose his DC their. I have a feeling he looking at the NE job opening when Tom Brady will leave.and their HC retire.

    • Well maybe he listened to the show hahahaha, you have to think long and hard about wanting to go to a place that might have the wrong expectations, I thought Chud did a good job with what he had – you need more than one year when you are rebuilding a team. So we shall see what happens with McDaniels.

    • it doesn’t surprise me because he saw they only gave the last coach 1 yr then fired him

      • californy

        I believe they may be grooming McDaniel to take over Bellacheat when he is hanging it up

  • californy

    I feel a coach like Shanahan would be a good fit in Minny. He is committed to a run game, he know how to find low round RB, and know how to develop QB..

    • Yeah I think he would be a good fit to, but with all the fiasco that happened at the end of the season in Washington, I am not sure how many sniffs that Shanahan is going to get from other NFL teams.

    • I agree and frazier went to TB to be lovies DC

  • californy

    I agree with your assessment in Tennessee , it is their QB holding back the team. I was shock their HC got fired there. He brought on 3 new Offensive lineman last year.

    • I like Mike Munchak, its hard to win with and average quarterback when you don’t have players around him, I think the Defense was underrated and will only get better, I wouldn’t be suprised if they looked for a D coordinator to fill the spot to keep that momentum going from this year.

    • Ten has a strong tradition of winning. The fans are fanatics. If you don’t win in Ten you wont have a job long

  • californy

    Here a couple of NFL assistant who should get some calls, Todd Bowles, Mike Zimmer,, Ray Horton and Rob Ryan. They all have their defenses ranked in the top 10 in the league

    • Good List, the list of candidates this year is a bit deeper than in years past – should be interesting.

  • californy

    BTW, Bruce Arians is my coach of the year, he had a 10-6 record, lost their top pick and had to deal with the best division in the NFL playing SF and Seattle twice, despite being killed by the play of Palmer QB at 24-22 stats on the year

    • He would have a good argument to be the Coach of the Year for sure, he exceeded expectations beyond what most people thought. Again, there are going to be a number of good candidates out there, I think you Ron Rivera will win coach of the year though.

    • it would have to be him or Andy Reid

  • californy

    I agree with Art Brlies being the best fit in Washington, I believe he stays at his age, I dont think he need the head aches of the NFL. He also rumored to have turned down the HC job at Texas too.

    • You hit that right on the head, the headaches of the NFL. I honestly sometimes think to myself, why would you want to give up “hero” status in college to be thrown into the wolves in the NFL, I understand it is the coaching peak, but you had better hope you are prepared when you get fired.

  • californy

    I agree with your assessment in Detroit too, I can also See Shanahan being a fit here also.

    • I like the idea of Shannahan in Detroit; he would love Kellen Moore

  • californy

    I like Rodger calling out his GM, he is doing the right thing. He is saying to them get me the players. FYI Jimmy Graham is a FA, maybe to big a fish on the FA market, but it a scary though to think about it.

    • Packer fans can dream, but I don’t see Ted Thompson making a move like that. We have more holes to fill on Defense than anything so the only way that deal would get done is if Graham wanted to be in Green Bay and lower than market value, which he is going to get premium dollars – so the dream is nice but reality is a different story.

    • no way N.O lets him walk if at all possible they will keep him

      • californy

        NO has Cap issue similar to Dallas next year