Bear Hands

He loves hearing his own voice. All bark and they're really wimpy barks.

With outlets like the Athletic, the Ringer, and ESPN saying we're the best opening, and claiming anonymous execs are saying we are the clear top landing spot for a good coach, and we're still not getting the mutual interest for the top tier candidates, it's telling me that something is just really not in alignment here. That being said, nothing is finalized and its all rumors as this point but the collective adjustment of expectations happening right now is deflating to say the least.

Some fun notes: Mahomes lost to 3 squads this year... the Bengals, the Bills, & yep, that's right, Frank Reich's Colts with the corpse of Matt Ryan and a banged up J. Taylor. They were still 3-3-1 before the whole Ehlinger thing happened and went into non-compete mode A Clausen-level Ehlinger lost his first 2 gigs and Reich got the boot at 3-5-1 Saturday went on to finish 1-10 with that squad, even with Matty Melting returning

This could be a fun cycle where nothing happens for a while and then all of a sudden every spot is filled within a day or so.

There's much less ebb and flow in the ranks this year, that's for sure. It's so much fun to look back at the roller coaster of projections. Last year's class was bonkers. Corral, Strong & Howell were the preseason top guys many were pining for. The next thing you know, Willis is getting pushed to the moon (and now we know wasn't really the case for teams), Strong had growing injury concerns surface, Corral was kind of background noise. Pickett bursts through the seams (Thanks to Jordan Addison). Next thing you know, the top of that class was Pickett, Willis, and Desmond freaking Ridder. People were justifiably iffy and pining at the prospect of Young, Stroud, Richardson, Van Dyke, & Levis this year. The classic "next year's draft looks awesome" pitch. So, compare the "Too Early" Mocks in Spring 2021 vs. Winter 2022 for last years class and it is just wild. Do the same for this years in the same windows, and a lot of the projections have held. Minus one dude who plummeted: Van Dyke. Young & Stroud have held on. Levis mostly as well (struggled on a bad team), Richardson held (struggled but popped at times), Van Dyke fell off a cliff and through a roof. Some places were hyping Cam Ward, Haener, Jurkovec, Rattler, but they weren't consistently in R1. CBS's headline for their early mock was a good one: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2023-nfl-mock-draft-will-levis-goes-no-1-to-texans-as-part-of-deservedly-hyped-qb-class-with-7-in-round-1/

The positive with Reich: Super Bowl winning coach (OC), and recently, managing to beat a more prime TB12/BB with his backup QB. Also faired well in Indy until whatever the hell happened this past year. He's probably the best of the experienced candidate pool out there & with a proven track record. I like him more than pretty much everyone sans Steichen, Ryans (not happening), & Johnson (who is now dead to me). Don't get why he's somehow a Steve Wilks of the offense. He's a legit candidate. Wilks doesn't even compare. He has 2 years of NFL coordinator experience in his career, 1.5 of being a HC/IHC, and his only playoff experience at anything higher than a DB coach/AHC was giving up 31 to the Saints in the wildcard. He's really not proven as a coordinator which is why I don't get why so many nonchalantly throw the idea he can be our DC out there, much less an HC again.

I think our phones should have speed dials to two teams: AZ and SEA. The 3 or 5 spot make sense for trade ups if that’s the route we’re going.

Thx for confirming

We're able to hire all but 2 right now. Seems to be we're holding out for someone...my wildcard is Ryans comes back into the equation or we are simply gunning for Shane. One of the two. And if they don't work out, I think we're looking at Reich or Wilks. Most of this field just isn't smelling passing the smell test Payton - NOPE Moore - NOPE Dorsey - NOPE Kafka - NOPE Caldwell - NOPE Evero - NOPE (longshot?)

He's the youngest of the bunch too. Young enough that he was on Gruden's QB Camp as a draft prospect. And we've hit our chinless quota with Fitt.

Moore's interview didn't seem to have lasted long this morning.

Dan Quinn and/or Payton are going to be the first dominos to fall. Really looks like Quinn is either the Broncos or Cards next coach. 2 interviews w/ AZ. It's really all dependent if Payton is back at Fox or elsewhere...

Because he already told them no to an interim spot. He knows better.

Impossible to really know not seeing these guys under the microscope of an interview setting or understanding what they're selling. But as an outsider-- Steichen, Kafka, Reich & Evero

If I'm recalling correctly, realized that the Fangio interview was shortly after the Evero one. He has direct ties to both him and Steichen. Fangio being our old DC, and directly tied with a few of these candidates. Makes sense why we chatted with him. I love the idea of him coming back.

Thanks for the heads up. Hadn't looked heavily into him but man, he's interesting for sure. Worked with Fangio as DQC in San Fran early 2010s (Also w/ST, WRs); then with McVay as a Defensive coach & passing game coordinator. Now had a really damn good defense. This guy looks pretty legit.

I can see that happening and he comes back into the cycle next year when LAC, DAL, & WAS (w/new ownership) have openings. This Quinn/Bevell reuniting is shaping up to be AZ or DEN. Might as well get Gus Bradley in there too and they've got all of the old SEA crew for Wilson lol. Arizona is such a toss up.

Yeah I'm not saying that's all on him, but that game was just so strange. Something felt weird about it but maybe it was a mix of the uncertainty and certain players knowing they were being shopped. Just felt strange as hell. It's not "on" him necessarily. He not only got thrust in from being our DC coach to HC, but was out of the league the prior 2 years. This would be quite a catapult for him back into a HC position. Think that's the reality of why he's not really being interviewed elsewhere. He wasn't even actively coaching in 2020 and was the DC of a 6-7 Mizzou team in 21.

Regarding the canidates: 1-Steichen - Easily the frontrunner. If this doesn't happen, it will indeed be a sad place 2-Kafka - Called a bad game against Gannon's squad, but I think the talent disparity became a reality as well. Still seems to have a ton of potential. 3-Reich - I don't think he's as iffy as a choice as he's made out to be. He's won a SB as an OC beating BB/TB12, had some good years in Indy with a bad QB situation, and this past season just stunk to high heaven with too much Irsay influence. I'd be a bit hesitant but this could grow on me. 4-Evero - I don't think he's necessarily out of the picture or simply a Rooney Rule interview. Maybe he impressed, but being a DC I'm not hugely in favor. 5a/b-Moore/Dorsey - Not the most popular at the moment. They seem more products of the environment than curators of the environment. Still young, would take a bit more time to warm up to if either happens. The Discard/Just Don't see it happening crowd: Payton, Caldwell *WILDCARD: Ryans Demeco postponing so many of his interviews makes me think we still may target bringing him in house once logistics make sense. Honestly, the top-3 this entire time may have been Johnson/Steichen/Ryans. Those three were the original rumored, they were/are the most hyped by a combination of insiders and reporters. The only real report on the matter was the following: We may just have to be patient. Steichen and/or Ryans still may likely be the target.

Regarding Wilks, I know we'll acknowledge the Bucs, Steelers, & Bengals games as stinkers but are we ever going to bring up whatever the hell that Rams game was on his interim debut? Sure, even more difficult with a week turnaround from being a position coach (after being out of the league for 2 years) to HC down multiple staff, but what even was that game? Felt like he was instructed to showcase CMC and avoid scoring. We still had McAdoo and our offensive all well in-tact. The offense was unchanged and that game happened. It would bum me out beyond belief if he's the choice. It's not even a safe choice, in his 30+ year career, he's been a DC for a grand total of 2 seasons at the NFL level. A HC/IHC for 1 1/2 with mixed results. And bottom line--it's not just that he's from Rivera's staff. He followed Ron from CHI to SD to QC for 15+ years. He was his AHC, helped run Tuesday-Thursdays. They are as tight as it gets and it would feel like this weird offshoot/extension of that era I want no part of anymore. Time to move on.

Big fan of the RB class. Could find a stud with any of our midrounders from the late SF-2nd to our 5th. Charbonnet, Abanikanda, Roschon Johnson, Chase Brown, & my fave Tyjae Spears. I just love what Spears did this year. Tulane closed out beating, what, like 4 ranked teams in a row (including USC in the Cotton Bowl), and it was in large part because of him.

And also a purgatory thread for the Ripped Donna person who has a new idol every few weeks (currently Harbaugh) & the CPPanther guy who constructs entirely made up realities in essay style format.