2013 NFL Off-Season Thread

[dfwabel]

Tony Dungy to Mike Florio yesterday:

“Mike Singletary, Leslie Frazier and Romeo Crennel were named interim coaches when their bosses were fired during the season. They were retained as permanent head coaches. Jim Caldwell, Raheem Morris and Hue Jackson were assistant coaches on staffs where there was a head-coaching opening and they were promoted from within. However, you have to go back to 2007 when the Steelers hired Mike Tomlin to see a situation where a team hired an African-American coach from outside their organization to be their head coach.

While many people would say it doesn’t matter and those six coaches were selected and got a chance, you still have to be concerned about the process for minority coaches. I know Ron Rivera was hired by the Panthers, but you would have to think that somewhere in the last six hiring cycles a team would reach out to an African-American coach outside their building. Unfortunately, it appears right now that the best way for an African-American coach to get an opportunity is to be on a staff where the head coach gets fired or retires. I still don’t think owners and GMs are doing a great job in the process of identifying minority candidates.”

[Kramerica Industries]

I think there's been enough sample size that basically says, it's not that black coaches don't get chances... black coaches just don't usually get second chances, compared to how many white coaches who are total also-rans and get shot after shot after shot.

And that's why the rule is still necessary.

The NFL has a long way to go with black coaches.

I won't disagree there, but I don't think the solution is publicly lamenting that the Rooney Rule process, for 2013, hasn't yielded any hires, thus almost creating more pressure to hire black coaches and GM's because, well, they're black. In most cases, that would result in team's hiring people who are not the best candidate's for the prospective job.

There could be any number of minor factors at play here that may or may not play a role in the non-hirings of black candidates, but I highly doubt that a major reason many candidates have been turned down is because of their skin tone. This isn't the '60s anymore, and teams aren't so naive. The likes of Tony Dungy and Mike Tomlin, among others, have proven that black (or mixed) coaches can be successful.

[dfwabel]

One thing people need to understand is that no matter what base defense you run, it inherently has some weakness somewhere. By virtue of the way the Cover-2 is designed, slant routes are often available—and again, by design (it's a zone scheme, meaning that 7-yard bubble can be exploited). If you go look back at all those Tampa defensive statistics from like '96 to '02, you probably won't see too many impressive passing yards-against stats. Here's why: it's a bend-but-don't-break system, designed to keep everything underneath and inside—and in Tampa's case, if you watched the angles they took, even those were designed to funnel ballcarriers back to the inside.

The key, however, is upfront pressure. That's also precisely how the Steelers of the past 10 years or so, with all that great front-seven pressure, managed to hide the relative weakness of their defensive secondary all those years—outside of Polamalu, the only half-decent DB they had was Ike Taylor. Those games in which Polamalu didn't play proved it...only in more recent years have more people began to realize that, though.

Back to the point, though...any successful defensive scheme is dependent on having the right people to run it. Noe I don't know the specifics of Dallas' defensive personnel right now, but if they don't have the right kind of people, don't expect all that big a jump, if any at all, come next season. (And even if they do, they still have to learn the nuances of the system if they've never played in it.) & That's called being realistic.

Exactly! The Cowboys are a team which under Parcells ran a "0-Gap 34", then Wade Phillips' "1-Gap 34" for basically the last decade. Now they will go a "Tampa2 43"

With being a 34 team for so long, their roster is full of LB (11) as opposed to DE/DT (7 w/ Josh Brent). Their interior players, like Jay Ratliff and Tyrone Crawford are not a big as either Warren Sapp or Booger McFarland. Ratliff is also over 31.

They will have to determine:

1-if Ware (at age 31) can be a DE and handle that role essentially being underweight.

2-if Ratliff, coming off injury, or anyone on the roster can play as a 3-Gap NT.

3-if Bruce Carter can play in coverage and be a 3-Gap, WeakLB or will they move him to SAM and see if he can cover a TE.

4-if they have a Safety at the level of a John Lynch or Bob Sanders to be effective in both pass and running situations.

Marinelli's hire will assist Kiffin who has been out of the NFL for the last five seasons in relation to how to handle the new offenses. Downside is DAL needs to first address the OL issues before thinking about the defense.

[Joshawaggie]

Jags tabbed Jedd Fisch as their new OC and Bob Babich as their new DC.

SOURCE

Anybody know anything about them other than what is in that article?

edit: I can't stop laughing at Babich's mug shot.

Babich is not that good. He was the DC in Chicago, and I think he was demoted twice maybe. He's definitely there because he's friends with Gus. I heard some talking that he might just be a puppet that won't actually call plays, and I think maybe you should hope for that.

[BBTV]

He is guaranteed $3M if he's on the roster after February 6 (or around that time) so I would assume the decision to cut him would happen by then. He said he's not going to rework his deal, but who knows if that's true or not. Either way, Chip Kelly said above all things he needs his QB to be a quick decision maker, and that's not Vick. He might have legs (even still) but he doesn't seem a good fit for what I would imagine the Chip Kelly NFL offense would be.

Well the thing is Vick is clearly not the best option, but who else are the Eagles going to get? I don't think there's anybody out there that the Eagles could get this year that be a good long term fit for what Chip Kelly would want outside of Geno Smith, so Vick may just be the starter by default.

As for Vick saying he's not going to rework his deal, he's probably telling the truth. I think he will want to test free agency rather then just re up with the Eagles. I still think he'll ultimately end up in Philly.

It's certainly possible. I think it's more likely that they stick with Nick Foles as a "transitional" QB until they find their guy next offseason.

Foles isn't fast, nor is he a statue. He makes relatively quick decisions, and Kelly raved about him when he coached against him in college. He's certainly not ideal, but Kelly could "tailor" the offense to hide his weaknesses, at lest for a season.

[Saintsfan]

I think there's been enough sample size that basically says, it's not that black coaches don't get chances... black coaches just don't usually get second chances, compared to how many white coaches who are total also-rans and get shot after shot after shot.

And that's why the rule is still necessary.

The NFL has a long way to go with black coaches.

The issue is not the rule, its the way it's abused by a lot of owners. To begin with owners seemed to view the rule as a chance to give good young minority guys a look in. Now they seem to bring in guys as the worst kind of tokenism. I think not having Dungy in the league is a big disadvantage here, he was pretty good at finding talented minority coaches and giving them opportunities, and they could then find other opportunities. I think the issue isn't just head coaches but coordinators and lower down.

[Island_Style]

Jags tabbed Jedd Fisch as their new OC and Bob Babich as their new DC.

SOURCE

Anybody know anything about them other than what is in that article?

edit: I can't stop laughing at Babich's mug shot.

Babich is not that good. He was the DC in Chicago, and I think he was demoted twice maybe. He's definitely there because he's friends with Gus. I heard some talking that he might just be a puppet that won't actually call plays, and I think maybe you should hope for that.

Personally that is what I think. I'm cool with that; However, our new OC I am also not sure about.

[The_Admiral]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA BOB BABICH IS AWFUL WHAT ARE THEY EVEN THINKING

[Island_Style]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA BOB BABICH IS AWFUL WHAT ARE THEY EVEN THINKING

I think Bradley is thinking, "You sit there and look pretty while I call the plays." So I hope.

[dfwabel]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA BOB BABICH IS AWFUL WHAT ARE THEY EVEN THINKING

I think Bradley is thinking, "You sit there and look pretty while I call the plays." So I hope.

You want that? There generally is one per division.

Unless you are named Sean Payton or Mike McCarthy, being a HC and a playcaller typically does not end well.

Chan Gailey, Norv Turner, Pat Shurmur, and Kent Whisenhunt all called plays last year...and were fired. Jason Garrett is on the biggest hotseat for 2013 and Gary Kubiack is just Gary.

[ninersdd]

Speaking of Shurmur, he is now likely to be the OC with Chip Kelly and the Eagles.

[pmoehrin]

He is guaranteed $3M if he's on the roster after February 6 (or around that time) so I would assume the decision to cut him would happen by then. He said he's not going to rework his deal, but who knows if that's true or not. Either way, Chip Kelly said above all things he needs his QB to be a quick decision maker, and that's not Vick. He might have legs (even still) but he doesn't seem a good fit for what I would imagine the Chip Kelly NFL offense would be.

Well the thing is Vick is clearly not the best option, but who else are the Eagles going to get? I don't think there's anybody out there that the Eagles could get this year that be a good long term fit for what Chip Kelly would want outside of Geno Smith, so Vick may just be the starter by default.

As for Vick saying he's not going to rework his deal, he's probably telling the truth. I think he will want to test free agency rather then just re up with the Eagles. I still think he'll ultimately end up in Philly.

It's certainly possible. I think it's more likely that they stick with Nick Foles as a "transitional" QB until they find their guy next offseason.

Foles isn't fast, nor is he a statue. He makes relatively quick decisions, and Kelly raved about him when he coached against him in college. He's certainly not ideal, but Kelly could "tailor" the offense to hide his weaknesses, at lest for a season.

Foles is my opinion is a true NFL backup. He won't do anything to lose the game, but he's not going to win it for you either.

Its not a bad option to have but there's always going to be a better one out there. I think alot of it will depend on what happens with Vick, I would try to go after him if I were the Eagles, but I would make sure Foles stays on the roster. I look at him as somebody who can be a backup QB for five maybe even ten years. I think there's value in that.

If Vick goes Foles is not a bad fallback option and I would stick with him for the 2013 season as my starter if Vick leaves. If they can resign Vick I would still keep him and if they want to have a QB competition, then go for it. I don't its a slam dunk either way in terms of who's better. Vick won't like it and it may cost the Eagles a chance at resigning him, but where is Michael Vick going to go where a team looks at him as the unquestioned starting QB for the next four to five years? Anywhere he goes somebody is going to be hot on his heels from day one for that starting job, or the team is going to sign a good backup because of his injury history. Nobody is trusting Michael Vick anymore as a franchise QB.

[Joshawaggie]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA BOB BABICH IS AWFUL WHAT ARE THEY EVEN THINKING

I think Bradley is thinking, "You sit there and look pretty while I call the plays." So I hope.

NOPE

[rams80]

Speaking of Shurmur, he is now likely to be the OC with Chip Kelly and the Eagles.

HOW DOES HE KEEP GETTING WORK?!

[Gothamite]

Speaking of Shurmur, he is now likely to be the OC with Chip Kelly and the Eagles.

HOW DOES HE KEEP GETTING WORK?!

Seriously, guys. This is exactly why we need the Rooney Rule.

[Lights Out]

Seriously, guys. This is exactly why we need the Rooney Rule.

The Rooney Rule hasn't stopped NFL owners from hiring the same old security-blanket retread cronies, nor will it ever.

[Saintsfan]

Interestingly only 1 of 8 head coaching hires this off season has previous NFL head coaching experience. The issue needs to move to coordinators and other assistant coaches. They aren't as high profile, but if the NFL is serious about getting more minority head coaches in, that's where it will start.

[Gothamite]

Seriously, guys. This is exactly why we need the Rooney Rule.

The Rooney Rule hasn't stopped NFL owners from hiring the same old security-blanket retread cronies, nor will it ever.

No, which is again why they need to rework it. Give the rule some teeth.

[The_Admiral]

Maybe Roger Goodell can just centrally assign everyone's coaches so that no team can ever again be tut-tutted for re-hiring an incompetent white coach instead of re-hiring an incompetent black coach.

[Lights Out]

No, which is again why they need to rework it. Give the rule some teeth.

How many more "teeth" does this rule need to have? Keep revising this lame rule and we'll end up with racial hiring quotas down the road, a system just as inherently racist as refusing to hire minorities at all.