I know the 2024 season isn’t over, but the coaching carousel has begun, and I wanted to discuss that.
First, Pete Carroll has interviewed with the Bears and will be interviewing with the Raiders. In terms of culture-building and working with players, getting them to perform at their best, I think he’s an attractive candidate for both franchises. With the Bears, Carroll’s old school philosophy is the Bears traditional approach. It would be great to see a physical team with a great defense and run game. Plus, I think he has the QB of the future, and he would know how to utilize a sandlot QB. With the Raiders, his philosophy of letting the players be themselves would make a good fit. But they have a big holes to fill, especially at the QB position. I think the key is who his coordinators will be, as well as the GM. Also, is he going back to the 4-3 or will he install a 3-4. (He’s a less attractive candidate if it’s the latter.) Depending on the alternatives, I’d be happy if he were got the Raiders job.
Second, Mike Vrabel. I would like him to get the Raiders job, too, but it sounds like he’s the next Patriots coach. I hope not. I’ve grown to dislike Robert Kraft, so I’m rooting against the Patriots.
The Raiders hire Pete Carroll
I’m really excited about this hire, and feel a level of enthusiasm and hope that I haven’t felt in a long time. Don’t get me wrong–I think Carroll and the Raiders have a long road ahead. Additionally, Carroll’s success will depend on several things, all of which are far from guaranteed:
Without #1, he’ll never build a Super Bowl contender, and he’ll need a solid roster just to not be at the bottom of the AFC West.
Without #2, he won’t be able to successfully install his culture–which I think one of the best things about him. (The other great thing is the way he handles the psychology and motivation of the players.)
Without #3, especially the DC, I’m not sure if he’ll be to build a great defense. I would love to know what kind of defense Pete plans to build. In his last years with Seattle he tried to install a 3-4, primarily because he felt like teams figured out his 4-3, cover-3 defense. If he goes back to the 4-3, what new wrinkle will he add?
Mitchell, I really think you would like Carroll, if you got to know his approach and philosophy. I feel like you would like working for him. Yes, his rah-rah approach may turn you off, but he really allows individuals to be themselves, and he emphasizes building people up, eschewing punishment (to a fault at times).
Potential OCs
I heard Darrell Bevell is high on the list. That would be a meh pick to me. He’s not awful, and there could be worse picks, but he’s not exceptional, either. I’m more intrigued by someone like Klint Kubiak, but I don’t know if Kubiak would want to work under Pete.
Potential DCs
I heard Pat Graham, the current Raider DC, is up for consideration. I kind liked Graham, especially what I saw when he was with the Giants. I think he’s a 3-4 guy, though, and I guess if Pete wants to go the 3-4 route, that would be a good choice. Still, I feel like he should get a 4-3 guy, and just modify the defense. With that in mind, I thought of someone like Dennis Allen. His defenses never really stood out for me (although the Saints had some strong defenses in the last few years), but I believe he’s a 4-3 guy, and I feel like other people think highly of him. I feel like Pete would be able to help a 4-3 DC more than a 3-4 DC, so the former is a better option.
Cowboys choose Brian Schottenheimer as the new HC
I’m rooting for Schotty. I like him, and I like his father, but I’m skeptical he’ll make a great HC. I agree with those who think he’ll be a guy who just do whatever Jerry wants. He doesn’t strike me as guy who will assert himself and his own vision. Again, I hope he works out, because he seems like a cool guy.
Don, what’s your feeling about him?
Brian is highly regarded in terms of being an OC. I’m not sure what kind of input he had this year though, with McCarthy still being there. I’m happy to get Schottenheimer over Kellen Moore or Deion for sure. I thought Kellen’s offense has never looked better at Philly, but I don’t think he’s head coaching material. I’m totally not into Deion’s hype train. I think he can recruit, but that won’t serve him well in the NFL.
I think my first choice would have been Aaron Glenn, but who knows how good he would be as well. He just sort of reminds me of DeMeco Ryans for some reason, a little stoic and yet with some attitude. They need a guy like that.
I like the Eberflus hire, but would have been happy if they took the chance and made Al Harris DC.
I feel like Schotty is a competent OC at best, although I do think he can install a good, physical run game. At times I felt like the offense can be too vanilla. Still, if he can get the run game going, and make the offense more balanced, that should make the offense better. I have no idea how he’ll be as an HC, though.
I never had a strong, positive impression of Aaron Glenn. Then again, I felt the same about Ryans, and he seems like a solid HC.
I saw that Cowboys hired the Cardinals OC. I think the Cardinals went to a more power run-blocking style, and they had some really good success with this. This is Schotty’s favored style, so the match seems really good. It may signal more running and run-based offense for the Cowboys (and I’m guessing they’re going to draft or pick up a FA RB).
The Cowboys hired the Cardinal’s offensive line coach (I’m not sure if that’s what you meant.). I think Dallas’ o-line, despite the amount of draft capital spent, hasn’t been as good as it should be. I’m hoping this guy is the change that is needed.
But I agree that this hire speaks of a run first offense.
Pete chooses his coordinators
OC: Chip Kelly
DC: Patrick Graham
ST: Tom McMahon
Graham and McMahon are holdovers. When Graham was the Giants DC, he never stood out as an elite coach, but he was good enough to make me somewhat pleased when he first came to the Raiders. (The defense didn’t look very good last year, but I believe they had injuries.) As for McMahon, I really don’t have an opinion about him.
Besides their coaching, the virtue of these hires is that both coaches know the players, and vice-versa, so there really shouldn’t be much of a transition—or at least the transition should be minimal or easier.
Kelly is a new and somewhat surprising element–especially if Kelly relies heavily on the hurry-up. I don’t watch college football so I don’t know anything about Kelly’s offense (at OSU or UCLA). Based on watching some video clips, the offense seems to run primarily from the gun (as it did in Philly). Can Kelly have a great run game from the gun, especially if the QB isn’t a running threat? Does this mean they’re going to prioritize a QB who is a running threat?
The one thing that is a concern is if these coordinators buy in to Pete’s philosophy and can effective instill it in the players.
Edit
I may have said this before, but if Graham is a 3-4 guy, I think Pete’s ability to enhance the defense will be limited. Basically, the quality of the defense will depend almost solely on Graham (in terms of coaching).
Yes, I meant the Cardinals OL coach. (I also kinda like the Cardinals OC.)
Klint Kubiak the new Seattle OC
The pick makes sense, and I’m more positive than negative on this. I wish I were more confident that Klint could replicate what his father could do. I really didn’t see that clearly when I watched the 2024 Saints offense. I will be excited if he’s on the same level as his father.
Pete Carroll and John Spytek’s first press conference
I watched the whole thing, and I’m excited about Carroll being the coach. I just hope Mark Davis lets Carroll establish his culture there, and that he and Spytek can work well together.
AFC West is really tough. The Raiders are going to have to really upgrade their roster to be competitive. I don’t think Carroll–or the assistants he’ll likely bring in–are so good that they will have a chance to win the division.
Maybe he’ll prove me wrong and bring in some really great assistants.
I’m getting excited about Chip Kelly as an OC
I saw a video on Kelly’s UCLA offense–specifically the run plays. I also watched the Michigan-OSU game from this past season, watching almost all of the OSU offensive sequences. There was no really hurry-up (except near the end of the half), but I would say the offense went to the line of scrimmage fairly early (by about 10 seconds after the start of the play clock). They would then snap the ball with about 10 seconds left, on average.
The offense seemed very conservative–almost too conservative. There just seemed to be a lot of running plays. I almost felt like I was watching an option offense at times.
My overall impression is that the offense was about physicality and ball control, almost more than scoring. I like that, but I think would like the passing game to be involved more–specifically, I felt like the mix of run and pass wasn’t that good; there wasn’t a good flow, going from one to the other, in a way that would keep the defense off balance.
If this an accurate depiction of what Kelly’s offense will look like in the NFL, it matches Carroll’s philosophy, and I’m interested in seeing how it plays out.
Also, given what I saw, I would expect a QB that is a threat to run the ball, which would decrease the chances of older QBs like Russ or Cousins. The OSU QB didn’t seem like a great runner, but I don’t see how a good running QB wouldn’t make this offense function a lot better. (The ran almost every play from the gun, it seemed like.) If they can get a solid dual-threat QB, the offense can be like the Ravens
With that said, I could see Justin Fields being a viable option–and I’m don’t really care for Fields. (I’m not comfortable calling him a “dual-threat” because I don’t think his passing is all that great.) If I were him, I’d be interested in playing in this offense. I could see someone like Daniel Jones being a decent fit, too. Maybe there’s a rookie QB who is also a good runner.
I could be wrong, though. Again, the OSU QB didn’t seem like a great runner. And when Kelly was at Philly, he had Foles and Bradford (which I thought were mistakes in a way). If they do get a more pocket QB, I would think the OL or the run game will have to be really good.
Anyway, I’m really curious to see this offense and the Raiders overall. I’m really interested in knowing if Carroll will tweak his approach to coaching, e.g., giving more autonomy to the DC and OC. I think he may be able to get better results if he does this–assuming Graham and Kelly have what it takes to be really good.