AZ54

Shaw pretty ran Harbaugh's Stanford program into the ground albeit slowly. He just seems like a run of the mill coach. Nothing creative, nothing that appears to exhibit the leadership we desire.

Nah if they really wanted him they could have had him. However it seems this was all a foregone conclusion since the day Mayo was fired. I saw where NE interviewed 2 minority candidates Pep Hamilton, Byron Leftwich, then Vrabel and Ben Johnson. Vrabel's interview was in person. Johnson was virtual. It appears Hamilton and Leftwich, two coaches who are out of the league, were both in person and satisfied the Rooney rule. Aaron Glenn declined to be part of that circus, kudos to him. That is not an extensive coaching search. Now if we want Johnson he has less suitors and less "good team" options. Reportedly the Raiders are now interested in Johnson but if there's an organization where ownership is worse than Chicago there you have it.

That'd be more like wet towel fight in a losers locker room.

Interesting for me because he was the only OT I thought was worth a top 10 pick.

Pete Carroll recommended Shane Waldron.

For all his success in NE with Brady everywhere else McDaniels has been a failure. I like Vrabel a lot but this would definitely make me concerned. https://www.profootballrumors.com/2025/01/mike-vrabel-heavy-favorite-for-patriots-job-josh-mcdaniels-in-mix-to-return-as-oc "Before the New England job became available, Vrabel connections to Josh McDaniels emerged. The northeast Ohio natives and former Patriots coworkers have stayed close, to the point OC rumors regarding McDaniels are still coming out. Buzz indeed is connecting McDaniels to being Vrabel’s OC with the Pats or another team, Fowler adds."

Dexter did that without any help on the interior for half of the season. Plus he fought through an injury that clearly affected him for a few games. Drop a stud next to him and teams will have their hands full. I like Walter Nolen but he's not top 10 material and likely won't last to our 2nd Rd pick.

He just signed a big contract extension he's clearly not interested in the NFL at this time. I haven't been that impressed by him not even in last night's victory over another marginal HC at Penn State. Coaches like Matt Campbell (Ia State), Kenny Dillingham (ASU) who do more with less talent and less NIL money are more interesting to me. I'm sure there are several other college HC who fit that category. Even so the college game is much different from the NFL and without any NFL experience I don't like going that direction at all.

All the reports I've seen say Johnson and Vrabel are at the top of their list. Maybe they are adding some others to try to get to a top 3-4 for in-person interviews. All interviews so far have been via Zoom which I'm not crazy about.

How do you know a guy is the next Lombardi or Papa Bear until you interview them?

I'm very conflicted about this. https://www.profootballrumors.com/2025/01/bears-expected-to-conduct-hc-interview-with-matt-campbell

Sad

Kudos to the Bears for forcing the Cowboy's hand with McCarthy. Regardless if our interest was legit, part of the search is understanding the competition and they forced Dallas to show their hand early. With their roster makeup and Jones' deep pockets that was a legit concern. Now there are 3 decent HC openings and how you count "decent" varies depending on what you think of Trevor Lawrence and JAX, NE and Drake Maye. You've got to figure Vrabel is at or near the top of the list in NE along with Ben Johnson. Does Johnson really want to go to JAX? Is this now a 2 team and 2 horse race for the top candidates? If so that gives the Bears more time to be thorough and see if there are any rising stars that intrigue them.

I have no problem with the owner thanking someone who worked for him for his time and effort even if he was fired for cause. George can be inept at football but he doesn't have to be classless. Someone else is going to get this job and they shouldn't be wondering if they'll be the next one to get s#%@ on publicly in 3 years. I personally feel that treating people with respect regardless of circumstances carries through an entire organization and that includes the players and other coaches who are about to get fired. The world already knows Eberflus failed no need to dig the knife in further. I don't think there will be 8 people in the interview room but it sounds like there will be 8 people involved at various points in the interview. Just to hire one person at my job they have to get interviewed by 5 people. Candidates for a manager role can get interviewed by 7 people including those who will report to them. While that may sound odd the post interview discussions are always enlightening because each person tends to focus on different aspects of a job and I always get a different perspective on a candidate that I didn't see in my interview. Or I'm the one who is a hard "no". Regardless, the problem for me is who those 8 people are and what they personally bring the interview table. Since the entire coaching staff is getting fired who are the 8? George, Kevin, Ryan, and maybe scouting department leaders... ? Poles already stated he's letting Ian go off and focus on his own interviews. The owner should only have right of refusal and even that should be for an extreme issue like a past history of drug or legal problems. The owner absorbs all liability so IMO that's fair. Get the DEI crap out of the way. Anyone who has played sports knows that teams become inclusive when they win. Kevin Warren does not know football, just sports management. He needs to be a sideline player in terms of the football aspect but I also don't mind his perspective on their leadership qualities after meeting with the candidates.

I always said that. Elite QBs change everything and really that and just decent coaching will get you into the playoffs.

And IIRC he also had issues with his defenses over the years. IMO the resume says he's an OC candidate.

During his final press conference when asked about who or what he wanted in a new coaching staff he said he wants to be challenged. He admitted or mentioned several times the need for him to improve his ability to play on time or within the timing of the play. Caleb is pretty smart and is already reading defenses well just not making decision quick enough. He setup the final play that got us the game winning FG. Thomas Brown said he called for triple stack of WRs on the right with DJ in one on one coverage with intent of DJ going deep and taking a chance on a game winning TD. Caleb told DJ if he saw coverage over the top to break it off to the slant we saw. DJ listened to him and we won the game. Little details like that have me very optimistic for what we'll see next season.

I can't argue against that point even though I knew Warren would never approve of hiring him.

We need to remember what the team did last year when we interviewed OCs because that's how we found Thomas Brown. While he's not yet HC material, nor even OC material he's on that path and I do think he's a good coach. He just needs more time. McCarthy could just as easily be an OC target for one of our HC candidates. He's clearly not a HC I'd want but like many other very seasoned coaches he might step back to being an OC and be just fine running the offense for someone like Mike Vrabel.

Just like last year I'd like a trade back from 10 even to as low as 20. I doubt anyone is that desperate to move up so that won't likely happen. There is still very good Dline and Oline talent for the trenches from 20-70. RB is supposedly very deep as well and netting an extra 3rd Rd pick enables us to grab a good one to mix in with Swift. Maybe someone will take Ian Cunningham off our hands and give us a 3rd Rd comp pick.

Agreed

For all the issues we dealt with knowing we finally have a good QB is just a nice feeling. Really Caleb should have had at least 3, maybe 4 come back wins (I've got a mental block on most of this season) if Flus had coached the defense properly. That's pretty good and for me watching him win the game that way was just an awesome way for him to begin the offseason.

To be fair neither does our Dline.

I'm with you. Shelton has met expectations as our C and can be our starter next year. Jenkins has done enough to stay if the contract is middle of the road... a 2 yr deal seems reasonable for both sides. Draft two Oline players early to add competition and sign one more in FA to be a starter at RG. Then get an OC who can make our QB throw the ball on time.

Josh Simmons?