Five of the Seven coaching positions gone just like that.

 Five of the Seven coaching positions gone just like that. 

   Five of the seven coaching positions were filled over the last week, many over the weekend. The Falcons, Lions, Jaguars, Chargers, and Jets are found their new general to the lead their organizations, to what they hope is a new direction into the light. These franchise have been ruled as dysfunctional over the last couple of years. Let’s breakdown each head coaching pick, see if they can succeed in their new city, and my final thoughts overall of the choice for each team. 

Falcons- Arthur Smith 

   The Falcons decided to move on from a defense mind in Dan Quinn right after the 2020 season. They have now decided to go with an offensive mind in Arthur Smith. Smith has been the Offensive Coordinator for the Tennessee Titians the last two seasons. He is the second offensive coordinator to be plucked away from Tennessee in the last three seasons. Former Titians OC Matt LaFleur went up to Green Bay following the 2018 season. Smith designed an offense for Ryan Tannehill to be affective in. Tannehill looked like another Dolphins bust being drafted in the first round. Ever since leaving Miami his last two seasons in Tennessee have been tremendous. Completely flipping his career from a bottom tier quarterback to maybe a top 10 quarterback. Of course Tannehill gets a lot help from Derrick Henry. Which is where probably many critics of the Smith hire are saying, he won’t have a 2,000 yard rusher in Henry. However Smith did design an offense for Henry to run through with no Pro Bowlers in the 2020 season. He may not have a 2,000 yard rusher be he will have Tood Gurley, Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley. The Falcons don’t lack weapons. The Falcons were 15th overall in offense. They have room to improve at the offensive line but their biggest Achilles heal is their defense. They were ranked 28th in overall defense. Even with the defense mind Dan Quinn captaining the ship. Big reason why he got the boot. So maybe they trust a defensive coordinator that much. They rather have Smith make a great offense in a offensive minded league. Then let the defense sort itself out. Smith apparently does know how to run an offense. The Titians had the third ranked offense in the 2020 campaign. He would get a lot of control of the offense since head coach Mike Vrabel is more of a defense minded coach. Being a former linebacker for the New England Patriots. 

The Falcons are heading in a different direction. Interesting to see what they do with big contracts like Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, and Pro Bowl center Alex Mac. They are in an awkward middle stage where it’s hard to get rid of those contracts and a desperate need of change. Smith offense seems to work. It’ll be his and new general manager Terry Fontenot job to figure out the new direction. With Fontenot history in scouting in my opinion they can. They just need to offense players designed for Smith’s offense. Also they need bulk up that defense. Interesting times heading for Atlanta. 

Hire: Interesting don’t know how to feel about it.  

Lions- Dan Campbell 

   The Lions have decided on a new head coach to maybe figure out the distinction to the organization. The Loins have hired Saints assistant coach and tight ends coach Dan Campbell. Campbell was immediately hired after the Saints loss to the Buccaneers in the Divisional round. Campbell has been with the Saints since 2016. He has an interesting path to becoming a head coach in the NFL. He started as an intern for the Dolphins in 2010. Then in 2011-2015 he was the tight ends coach. Then in 2015 after the Dolphins fired Joe Philbin in October of 2015, Campbell was hired to be interim head coach. That’s when it was reported Campbell made the players do Oklahoma drills first practice. Let’s just say he’s going to look to bring grit to the Loins. Which is something last head coach Matt Patrica failed to do. The Loins go from a defensive coach to an offensive head. However not a coordinator. Which is different. We don’t know what a Dan Campbell offense will look like. Especially with an aging Matthew Stafford, a good young running back in D’Andre Swift, an injury prone Kenny Golladay, aging Marvin Jones, and a beat up offensive line. The Loins were the 20th ranked while being the worst defense in all of the NFL. The defense looked terrible especially towards the end of the season. You call really see the team was not buying Patrica’s message. To me it was when they traded Darius Slay to the Eagles. Yes they got plenty of picks but you can’t replace an All Pro cornerback like Slay. They used their third overall pick in last year’s draft on cornerback Jeff Okudah from Ohio State. He still is young and no Slay. The Loins have also hired new GM Brad Holmes. He was a scout for the LA Rams. Who has incredible depth and he has some part of that. Campbell and Holmes also have a lot of work to do. Wonder if they’ll move on Stafford? Wouldn’t be surprised if they moved him. A clean slate for both organization and player. Expect good things from Campbell. He was an assistant behind Sean Payton for four years. He got to study how to build an organization from Payton. Which the Saints do very well under Sean Payton they are in it every year even with late draft picks. The future is bright for the Loins under Campbell as he will build a better culture for the motor city of Detroit. 

Hire: Perfect guy for the job. 

New York Jets- Robert Saleh

The Jets are another organization changing sides of the ball for their new head coach. Actually becoming the only division with the AFC East having all defensive head coach’s. Odd in an offense minded league. Jets hire Robert Saleh defensive coordinator from the 49rrs. He’s also the first Muslim head coach ever. The Jets fired head coach Adam Gase former Dolphins head coach, and Bears/Broncos offensive coordinator after a 2-14 season. Things never seemed to pan out for Gase in New York. The best thing to ever happen to him there is Peyton Manning suggesting him for the job. The Jets have improved since the end of the season but to fair they looked terrible most of the season. The only thing the Jets are good at is stopping the run and that’s on defense. Nothing to do with Gase. They have given no help to Sam Darnold since drafting him third in 2018. He has no weapons, they let go of his running back Le’Veon Bell which is crucial in developing a quarterback these days. Bell couldn’t get going in the Gase offense. The Jets offense was ranked 32nd in the NFL. Cant have that with a offense head coach. In my opinion Sam Darnold can still be a franchise quarterback. He has the skills just no weapons like at all. Robert Saleh may be a defensive head coach but he brings the energy the Jets need. He was also bring with him Mike LaFleur, brother of Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. He will be in command of Darnold. LaFluer has said he sees “untapped potential” in Darnold. Couldn’t agree more. LaFluer worked with Kyle Shannan who is the first part of his father’s Mike Shannan coaching tree. The tree that also produced Matt LaFluer and Sean McVay. A Shannan coach has been in the Super Bowl the last two seasons if Green Bay wins next week that’ll be three years in a row. Think they know what they’re doing? I’d say so. They’ve designed the new NFL offense younger LaFluer got to learn from those guys. Saleh worked his way up from the bottom of college football coaching from Michigan State as a defensive assistant. Then passed through Central Michigan and Georgia in the same role. Then from 2005 to 2010 he started out as a Texans defensive intern was promoted to Defensive quality control coach, then again promoted to assistant linebacker coach. He moved on from the Texans to the Seahawks as the Defensive quality control coach from 2011-2013. Then a linebackers coach for the Jaguars for three season. Then when Kyle Shannan got the 49ers job he made Saleh his defensive coordinator. That was a great decision. Saleh brought that full steam ahead energy to 49ers defense. The 49ers even with all their injuries still managed to be a top four defense in the NFL. They were the best defense on the Super Bowl run last year. Even though the defense gave up the Bowl to Mahomes and Chiefs the offense didn’t do much to help. Saleh has built up linebacker Fred Warner and edge rusher Nick Bosa. Richard Sherman former Super Bowl champion with the Seahawks and 49ers cornerback said the hire is great move for the Jets. Saleh was Sherman defensive coordinator in San Francisco for the last four seasons. Sherman being a free agent maybe he’ll bring Sherman with him as well. Saleh will bring the energy New York needs. He will also have plenty of cap space and draft picks to work with. He believes to have his franchise quarterback which makes the job a lot easier. The Jets GM Joe Douglas apparently loved Saleh. There is a lot to love. The Jets franchise is heading in good direction if you ask me. Saleh will control the defense with CJ Mosley and Quinton Williams. He will build up that defense as he did with San Francisco. LaFluer will design an offense that works in the NFL today. Trust the process Jets fans their is actually some real hope in New York. Wouldn’t be surprised of a Brian Flores like affect as Flores did in Miami coming to New York with Saleh. 

The Hire: Flawless choice great pick to lead your franchise. 

Chargers- Brandon Staley

The Chargers another team that’ll switch the sides of the ball from offensive mind Anthony Lynn to defensive coordinator of the LA Rams Brandon Staley. The Chargers let go of Anthony Lynn after a 7-9 season in 2020, and a 5-11 season in 2019. The disappointing season from the Chargers led to Lynn’s firing especially when they were loaded with enough talent in both seasons. The Chargers decide to go across town in LA and go with a 38 year old defensive genius in defensive coordinator Brandon Staley. Staley made major improvements to the Rams defense in just one season. The Rams defense was ranked first in scoring, total defense and pass defense. Stanley used that pass rush led by Aaron Donald and secondary led by Jalen Ramsey, and maximized their potential. Exactly what the Chargers will be looking to do that with defensive players like Melvin Ingram, Joey Bosa, Derwin James, Kenneth Murray Jr, and Chris Harris Jr. The Rams Morgan Fox Jr, Leonard Floyd, Michael Brockers, and Troy Reeder all had career year in sacks under Staley. Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald didn’t just help make defensive schemes work but Staley also got the best out of his smaller role players. Staley was the Broncos and Bears linebackers coach the last three seasons. He learned under defensive minds John Fox and Vic Fangio. Who both built top defenses. Then he went on to work with Matt Nagy and Sean Mcvay. Staley has seen two great minds from each side of the ball. Seems like he’s the type to soak up the knowledge like a sponge. The Chargers have injury issues but the lack of performance can’t be accepted. Staley will have pressure to win early. He will have the development of franchise quarterback Justin Herbert in his hands. As a defensive mind he will probably pick out an offensive coordinator that can work well with Herbert. They’re reports he’d like to bring in Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell. It’ll be a Ram’s coordinator show across town. Whoever Staley chooses for offensive coordinator is critical to his success for the Chargers. It’s not a tough road ahead but Staley will need to improve the Chargers to compete with Mahomes and the Chiefs for years to come. Staley as shown so far he can do it. Hope Chargers put it together. 

The Hire: Overall good hire young and intelligent. OC will be important for Herbert success which will determine Staley success. He has much respect from many young players and officials in the league even though he was a position coach a year ago. 

Jags- Urban Meyer  

Don’t really need a big introduction for the Jaguars new head coach Urban Meyer. Meyer is returning to the Swamp and coaching after retiring in 2018. The Jaguars fired Doug Marrone after four years with the organization as head coach. Marrone coached the Jaguars to their first ever AFC Championship game in 2017. The Jaguars never went really anywhere after that. After drafting young stars like Jalen Ramsey he had to wind up trading them away. From not paying them or lack of winning. The Jags were 5-11, 6-10, and 1-15 the last three seasons. Easy to see why the Jaguars would want to move on. The Jaguars decided to make a splash in coaching free agency. They are bringing Meyer back from retirement and into his first NFL head coaching job. He’s a 3x NCAA FBS National champion coach. Two of them came with the Florida Gators who do not play to far from Jaguars stadium. So in a way Meyer is coming back to Jacksonville’s swamp. 

Meyer clearly likes challenges he said he’d never coach again but I’m sure he always wanted to see what he could do in the NFL. He gets a clean slate in Jacksonville. A ton of cap space and draft picks. He will be able to design the roster how he wants. Meyers also gets the can’t miss generational pick with Clemson’s QB Trevor Lawerence. Who I’m sure Meyer will take with the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Jaguars were the 27th ranked offense and 31st ranked defense in the NFL in 2020. Meyer has a lot of work to do. Good thing he really knows college talent. Even though a lot of the kids he would of recruited at Ohio State probably are aged out. Doesn’t mean he can’t scout well. It’s a big adjustment from college to the NFL. Coaches like Nick Saban and Chip Kelly who were amazing college football coaches failed terribly at the transition. Sending a message to college kids and NFL grown man are two different things. Something Meyer will have to overcome in his first few seasons. Meyer said he plans to bring top level NFL coaches on his staff to help him develop his roster. Expect Meyer to be more like a general looking over his whole army while his staff does a lot of the grit work. However Meyer will have high expectations like he always does. It really is the perfect situation for Meyer to comeback. Generational QB, many picks, control of the full roster, coaches, and staff. While being paid 12 million a year how could he pass this up? The Jags needed to make a can’t pass up opportunity for Meyer to coach again. Which they did. Should be an interesting few years in Jacksonville or maybe more. I’m sure the media will be zoomed in Jacksonville which they haven’t been in a long time. 

The Hire: Great hire to create some real excitement in the city to go along with Lawerence. As football people know doesn’t matter if you have a young good QB with no coach. Meyer in my opinion will figure it out but it will take sometime. They’ll need to give him Gruden time for it to work. 

The last head coaching jobs that are left are with the Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles. Go figure the two worst jobs right now. One where a star player wants to leave with no draft picks. The other same thing confusion at quarterback, no cap, and no drafts picks. While also not having full control of your roster. Why would you take that job? Especially if you’re being considered now you’ll be considered again. Don’t see those coaching positions being filled for sometime. 

By Matthew Doherty