Coaching Carousel 20/21

[Nightmare]

Whole new DL needed, then...

I’m ok with this hire. I’d have rather hired Raheem Morris, Kris Richard or Wade Phillips, but at the same time Bradley is better than anything we’ve had at DC in the near 20 years I’ve been a fan.

[Boo Khaki]

You must have had some god-awful DC's in that time then, because Ted Cottrell is the only Chargers DC I'd rank as poorly as Bradley. I'd take literally every other DC we've had in the past 30 years over him.

Your D was bottom 4 in sacks and pressures, yet you've gone out and hired a DC who put together a D that was bottom 4 in the league in sacks 3 of the past 4 years. His scheming is abysmal and basically relies on having all-pro talent at every position making plays off their own back, because all they do is line up in the same predictable Cover-3 then hope and pray the O screws up. He does absolutely nothing to utilise skillsets or help his players to make plays. If you don't have those players, well, have fun watching your team go months on end without creating a sack or turnover, refuse to put any pressure whatsoever on QB's because he has a pathological aversion to mounting any sort of pass rush, and teams also having no issues whatsoever running the ball on you just to rub salt into the wound.

Seriously never been so glad to see the back of a Chargers coordinator. Bradley was as much of a problem as Lynn, if not more so.

[Nightmare]

44 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

You must have had some god-awful DC's in that time then, because Ted Cottrell is the only Chargers DC I'd rank as poorly as Bradley. I'd take literally every other DC we've had in the past 30 years over him.

Your D was bottom 4 in sacks and pressures, yet you've gone out and hired a DC who put together a D that was bottom 4 in the league in sacks 3 of the past 4 years. His scheming is abysmal and basically relies on having all-pro talent at every position making plays off their own back, because all they do is line up in the same predictable Cover-3 then hope and pray the O screws up. He does absolutely nothing to utilise skillsets or help his players to make plays. If you don't have those players, well, have fun watching your team go months on end without creating a sack or turnover, refuse to put any pressure whatsoever on QB's because he has a pathological aversion to mounting any sort of pass rush, and teams also having no issues whatsoever running the ball on you just to rub salt into the wound.

Seriously never been so glad to see the back of a Chargers coordinator. Bradley was as much of a problem as Lynn, if not more so.

Paul Guenther, Ken Norton Jr, Jason Tarver, Rob Ryan, Chuck Bresnahan - that’s some of the names I can remember as our DCs in my time as a fan. A collective who’s who of total jobbers.

The Raiders haven’t had a top-half defence statistically since 2002. As a DC Gus Bradley’s defences have been in the top half in yardage allowed every season since 2011, and in the top half in points allowed in 6 of these 7 seasons (this year being the exception).

I get that he’s had more talent in Seattle and SD/LA than we currently have, and if we don’t completely revamp the DL then we’re still going to struggle. But he knows the division (and especially how to scheme the Chiefs), he’s a “name” which will hopefully allow us to attract better players in FA, and he’s an immediate upgrade on what we’ve had for as long as I can remember. As I said, he wasn’t my first (or second or third) choice, but I’ll take mediocre over terrible at this point.

[Boo Khaki]

Quote

 As a DC Gus Bradley’s defences have been in the top half in yardage allowed every season since 2011, and in the top half in points allowed in 6 of these 7 seasons (this year being the exception).

Those are dangerous stats to draw any conclusions from. If you look at yardage exclusively, then you fall into the trap of thinking that years where the D doesn't surrender a ton of yard = a good year. This isn't the only year a Chargers D has looked deceptively effective because of yardage. We were the worst team in the league in terms of starting position, our ST's were abysmal, so while the D didn't surrender a ton of yards, they still surrendered what there was available to surrender with alarming frequency, and gave up a ludicrous number of points anyway. To be brutally honest, I think he's totally underproduced in his time in LAC given the talent available, and I'm including the 'good' years in that when we did have an upper 50% D.

The only thing I will say for his time in LAC is that generally speaking, the better the players he has available the better his defense performs. Now I know that sounds like a no-brainer as you could say exactly the same thing about all defenses and all DC's, but with Bradley it really is as simple as his D only being as good as the talent available at any given time. I'm still baffled as to how he can have Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, and yet still constantly be at the bottom of the pile in terms of sacks and pressures. Likewise having Casey Heyward, who, prior to this season at least, was as near as dammit to a total shut-down corner as there is in the league, and yet we still struggled to create turnovers, get off the field on third down, and actually step up and stop an offense at the times we really needed to. I can't imagine a genuine, top tier DC failing to exploit the talents of these players in any noticeable way in the manner that Bradley does. Given the pick investment LAC has made on the defensive side of the ball, and Bradley's reputation built at Seattle and Jax, you'd expect LAC to have a ferocious D that is a nightmare to move the ball on, yet it's powderpuff, ineffectual, and routinely shits the bed any time we're in a game where the offense doesn't put up 30+ and give them a bit of leeway. 

I think what I'm getting at is that in no way does he elevate the play of the talent available to him. If you gave him 11 all-pro starters, he'd put them out to play Cover-3 and you'd probably end up with a D that is overall in the top half-dozen, but if you give him middle-of-the-road talent, you get a totally middle-of-the-road D performance. He doesn't seem to be able to scheme to raise the performance of the unit, and conversely, I'd argue that his rigidity in sticking to the same simple concept over and over and over actually hampers and impedes individual exceptional talents. It's frustrating as hell to watch, as you see other teams with lesser talent still able to create pressure by moving players around, commit to stifling a run game and actually succeed, shut down blue chip receivers using double-teams and shifted coverage concepts etc, whereas LAC just lines up in exactly the same vanilla 4-3 or Dime, runs the same passive zone crap, and we get burned by mediocre offenses anyway. The thing about reliance on individuals is doubly frustrating, because what's even more noticeable than the fact that they appear to be hamstrung anyway, is that when they're out with an injury that aspect of the D totally falls apart completely. We've been utterly reliant on Joey Bosa's individual performances to get any sort of pressure on QB's, so when he's out of the game, the pocket stays completely clean, play after play, drive after drive. We've played some bloody awful OL's this season, and yet still their QB stays completely clean and unpressured if Bosa isn't on the field. Our front 7 is entirely 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounders, so how this is possible is beyond me.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Boo Khaki

[Boo Khaki]

Urban Meyer and the Chargers thing is picking up steam again. 

Suspect it's probably being driven by Meyer to try and screw more money out of the Jags, but there was talk that the Chargers were interested in Meyer even before they fired Lynn, so it could have some merit. 

[sheepheid]

Bears DC Pagano announces retirement, shame Nagy isn’t going either

[Brummie Clyde]

Bears DC Pagano announces retirement, shame Nagy isn’t going either

Now if the Broncos could just sack Fangio, we could bring him back in....

[lichtie23]

Urban Meyer is in Jacksonville

[Boo Khaki]

Yeah, everyone saying it's basically a done deal

Chargers bringing Saleh back in for a 2nd interview.

Edited January 14, 2021 by Boo Khaki

[lichtie23]

Salah and the Jets reach an agreement

[steelmen]

If you had the choice you’d take the chargers over the jets surely. Strange choice

[RiG]

54 minutes ago, lichtie23 said:

Salah and the Jets reach an agreement

Mike LaFleur expected to follow Saleh to the Jets to become the new OC and they might also get Demeco Ryans as the new DC but the Niners want to promote him to that position in Santa Clara. 

[lichtie23]

Meyer confirmed to the Jaguars as well

[Antiochas III]

4 hours ago, steelmen said:

If you had the choice you’d take the chargers over the jets surely. Strange choice

Not sure if it is the same for coaches as it is players but the Jets market is much bigger than the Chargers.  

[PB1994]

Arthur Smith the Titans OC set to be appointed as the Falcons Head Coach.

Edited January 15, 2021 by PB1994

[lichtie23]

Not sure if it is the same for coaches as it is players but the Jets market is much bigger than the Chargers.  

I think they have a stupid amount of cap room as well

[steelmen]

1 hour ago, Antiochas III said:

Not sure if it is the same for coaches as it is players but the Jets market is much bigger than the Chargers.  

 

45 minutes ago, lichtie23 said:

I think they have a stupid amount of cap room as well

As much as i am not a fan.. I think the Chargers have a much much better roster and Herbert looks better than Darnold.

The Jets have lots of high draft picks but you need to draft the right players and give them time to mature

 

[GNU_Linux]

Lions have hired Brad Holmes as their new GM on a five year deal. Holmes had been with the Rams since 2003 in various scouting roles working his way up to director of college scouting. Interesting fact is there's a family connection to Detroit as 1978 first round draft pick by the Lions DB Luther Bradley is his uncle.
 

https://www.nfl.com/news/lions-agree-to-terms-on-5-year-deal-with-brad-holmes-as-new-gm

The Detroit Lions have landed their next general manager.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported that the Lions agreed to terms on a five-year contract with Brad Holmes, the Los Angeles Rams college scouting director, per sources informed of the situation.

The Lions later officially announced the news.

"On behalf of the entire Lions organization, I am thrilled to welcome Brad Holmes to Detroit," Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp said in a statement. "Several weeks ago when we embarked on this process, it was critical that we find the right person to fit our vision for this team. It was evident early on that Brad is a proven leader who is ready for this opportunity. We are thrilled to introduce him to our fans as a member of our football family."

An unheralded GM candidate until this year, Holmes is credited with helping keep the Rams depth chart stockpiled with talent despite some high-profile losses in recent years.

Following the firing of general manager Bob Quinn after nearly five years, the Lions conducted a wide-ranging GM search, which included the likes of former Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff, former Chiefs GM Scott Pioli, ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, expected new Falcons GM and former Saints assistant GM Terry Fontenot, new Broncos GM George Paton, and others.

Rapoport noted that in Holmes' second interview with Detroit, the long-time Rams scout impressed, and the club moved quickly to lock down their next general manager.

"Throughout our search for a new general manager, Brad was someone who stood out immediately," Lions president and CEO Rod Wood said in a statement. "His abilities as a critical thinker, along with his extensive experience implementing technology and analytics into his approach to scouting, were among the many decisive qualities Brad displayed in our time getting to know him during the interview process. We look forward to him helping lead our organization as we take the next steps as a team."

Holmes spent his entire NFL career with the Rams, beginning as a public relations intern in 2003 before quickly moving to the scouting side in 2004. Holmes was named director of college scouting for the Rams in 2013 after climbing the ladder and serving as a national scout.

The 41-year-old Holmes will be one of the youngest GMs in the NFL.

A keen eye for talent, Holmes played a massive role in the Rams adding starting talent through the draft during his tenure in L.A. Despite defections, the Rams remained a deep club in 2020, leaning on rookies in several spots.

In Detroit, Holmes inherits a club in sore need of an infusion of young talent. The new GM will specifically be tasked with rebuilding a defense that is one of the worst in the NFL. There is also the question at quarterback with incumbent Matthew Stafford.

First, the Lions' new general manager will be part of the search to hire Detroit's latest head coach.

When setting off to hire its new brass, Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp suggested the club desired experience at the positions. With Holmes being a first-time GM, it will be interesting to see if the Lions lean toward a coach with experience to pair with the man in charge.

As for the Rams, they will become the first team to benefit from the NFL's new rule, passed in November, which compensates teams that groom minority head coaches and GMs. With Holmes signing in Detroit, the Rams will receive a compensatory third-round draft pick each of the next two years.

"This is the first step," Rod Graves of the Fritz Pollard Alliance said Thursday of Holmes' hiring, per The Washington Post. "At the end of the hiring season, that will be the proper time to assess. But let's give the Lions credit for their process."

 

[sheepheid]

On 14/01/2021 at 13:51, Brummie Clyde said:

On 13/01/2021 at 21:50, sheepheid said:

Bears DC Pagano announces retirement, shame Nagy isn’t going either

Now if the Broncos could just sack Fangio, we could bring him back in....

We can but hope, this draft is a big one but I’m not holding out any hope

[lichtie23]

Arthur Smith the Titans OC set to be appointed as the Falcons Head Coach.

Confirmed