Bear Hands

in page 1

If Staley is out, the probability Payton is going to San Die...Los Angel...Englewood skyrockets, and Denver will be in a pickle for who they want. But rumor is Harbaugh interest is mutual there... Some guesses: AZ: Honestly, I think Vance Joseph may become the HC LAC: Staley out, Payton in CAR: Ben Johnson HOU: Jonathan Gannon DEN: Jim Harbaugh IND: Ejiro Evero THAILAND: Kingsbury Looking at this list and who's been interviewed where, there's honestly a chance Steichen stays put which I find quite interesting. But I wouldn't discount a Steichen/Reich type combo here.

Likely referring to how many people wanted him gone after year 2, and then again after we started 1-4 after that AWFUL Cardinals game. Right before the whole "Riverboat" stuff started.

And the reality is he was out of football in 2020, Missouri in 2021, is a Rhule hired, Rivera's longtime right hand man. It's this strange combination of being tied to our last 2 regimes (that we supposedly all hate) and yet he's this perceived safe baseline choice. Unsure about on this forum, but I distinctly remember many did NOT like what happened to our defense under him when McD left. He was always perceived as this great positional coach, the tightest coach w/Ron, a practice leading, hard-nosed dude, but didn't cut the mustard as a DC. It was then even worse with Eric Washington. He has a great image, is a great dude by all accounts, awesome locker room guy, all big reasons he got hired to AZ as HC with only 1 year of DC experience. But I have as much trepidation with him as our HC as I do with guys like Mayo or Moore. He's a half-career college guy with really just Rivera & Rhule coaching room experience sans a year with the Browns. He followed Ron through Chicago and SD straight to the QC.

That sounds like an unnecessarily, relentlessly negative mindset. It's okay to be optimistic even though he's made some bad moves. It's not like the guy wants to lose. But I see that av, and I sense the likely unflinching stance. Not trying to throw shade specifically at you. You do you, but I really don't dislike the guy THAT much to just entrench my fan experience moving forward as this unmovable "we will never amount to anything and our owner is the worst" mentality. It's a new day, maybe we finally find a great coach. We've only had 3 good ones (at their peak) and 2 duds. It's not like he's siloed this time, he has new people around him, let's see what happens.

Look at our old pal Dean Marlowe making a playoff INT. Good for that dude.

Yeah. So that would mean whoever we hire is the wrong hire. Seems pointless to just bash the choice no matter what because of Tepper hate.

Interesting note I mentioned elsewhere: Johnson has only 3 years less of NFL coaching experience than Wilks. Johnson: 11 years NFL coaching, 1 as OC Wilks: 14 years NFL, 3 DC

So you prefer the owner not to like the guy he hires?

I can actually see that over us, ATL, WAS, and some others. Don't know how they'l continue to finagle the cap, but he would be a nice fit there that can sometimes lead them to a winning record but never go deep in the playoffs. Smells like a nice purgatory situation for them that they'll think is a home run hehe

Correction on a Wilks stat--he only has 3 more years of NFL coaching experience than Steichen and Johnson.

Meanwhile EVERY single AFC QB is a 1st rounder lol. The AFC has simply been selecting all the QBs in recent years. Naturally, what happens would be the NFC didn't get those guys. Trevor, Burrow, *Tua, Herbert, Mahomes, Allen, *Lamar, NFC is about to be a QB wasteland, best be the team to get ahead of it and find a good one, right?

Even though some of these guys are perceived as young and inexperienced, the two clear favorites each have over a decade of NFL coaching experience. Sure, not a coordinator for all, but growth in multiple organizations, around plenty of different coaches and players. As an outsider to it all, I'd mostly be concerned about Kafka, Moore, & Mayo as they not only have half the experience, but have been pretty heavily siloed from a franchise/scheme background standpoint. Kafka is interesting because he was within 2 really good staffs & environments, but Moore and Mayo would be the ones I would have a TON of pause with. It seems people are placing this "young gun, nerdy offensive mind" generalization on like all of these guys but coaches are getting younger, more players are becoming them, and there is simply a more diverse bunch all around from a scheme, background, & connection standpoint. But then, looking on the supposed other end, you know the interesting thing looking back with Wilks? Over his entire career, he has 14 years NFL experience to his name, while taking 2020 mostly off and 2021 in Missouri, (with only 5 more NFL years experience than Steichen and Johnson). Only 3 of those were as a coordinator and the bulk of it was tied to the hip with Rivera. It may feel good, and it may feel like a sound and justified move, but there is a lot, and I mean, a lot of question marks with who he would bring together and the type of team he would want. Just find the support surprising but it's just awkward to really diss him given the player support. Just a weird spot honestly.

Totally agree about Purdy. Jimmy G and Lance did not look like this for Shanahan. CMC helps tremendously but he’s stayed on his feet and found guys down field. Many of these plays aren’t being thrown immediately. He’s done work today.

It hard to beat a well-coached team with a good game plan & disciplined skill players. Shows how important this decision is for us this next week or so. Does Wilks have the ability to assemble a squad at this level? Or which of these candidates has a Shanahan type ceiling? QB chat can happen later but we need to nail this coaching hire.

No one should believe any reports from now until draft that claim to know what people "inside the building" are thinking.

Well that would certainly drive the price of any trade down if no one supposedly likes these guys muahahhaha

I have a sense Johnson is going to run away with this poll, Steichen 2nd, and Ryans, Reich, and Kafkas sprinkled in. Maybe Dorsey gets a few.

A funny thing is arguably the only really legit Ex-Pat, now a successful coach, didn't even go to them to start his coaching career in Vrabel. He knew better haha

Thx--maybe remove the Frank Reich 2Pac reference (or cross it out) haha. #hip-hop_knowledge_shame

That would be insane. If he doesn't go for the draft, wonder if it makes Cameron Ward declare. With the amount of guy returning, that could assure a guy like Ward to be QB3 or 4 off the board.

This is what I'm thinking as well. That scenario could even happen if Indy trades to 1. I just don't see anyone between us and SEA being THAT aggressive for a QB. Raiders seem to be targeting vets, ATL has Ridder and could be a Carr candidate, SEA and DET may stand pat. And it would be a fortune for anyone to move that high further down than us. The first 4 could shuffled around but still think it could be Anderson, Carter, Levis & Young in any particular order. What it all comes back to is this Young, Stroud, Levis debate for the teams. The scenario operates under the assumption Indy and/or HOU will favor Levis over Stroud. But if we really want to secure a guy, if and Chicago doesn't move, I think we may have to trade with Arizona and not rely on Indy screwing up.

Coaching is really the biggest factor when it comes to having a SB winning product. I think an argument can be made that a great to elite QB can mask coaching deficiencies and help offset issues (See Panthers 2015), but if you don't have the right guy as HC, you're going nowhere fast. If you have the right coach and haven't found a QB, let's say have an average to good QB, you'll still see hints of success and can even make a run. But you don't see many SB winners with a flash in the pan HC. You do see a lot of SB/Conf Champ losers with flash in the pan QBs though. These next few weeks are bigger than any draft. Huge decision that will make or break our time as fans for the foreseeable future.

I just always thought the Outlawz were Oilers fans :shrugs:

Wow, my mind is blown. I apparently have misheard that since I was a kid ooooof lol