The Complete NFL Coaching Carousel Roundup | Joe Brady, Mike McCarthy, Stefanski, McDaniel and More!

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we love a good meat and potatoes news show. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Westley podcast studio with my friend Jordan rod Reed, and I'm fresh off of watching a real meat and potatoes guy, Mike McCarthy do a tearful press conference as the new coach of the Steelers, and it felt like it was time Jordan to start cleaning out all these news stories that have been piling up.

00:00:33
Speaker 2: It it bothers me. That's what we're gonna do today.

00:00:36
Speaker 3: We're kind of in our element, Greg, because we love news, and we love talking about things happening in football, and we love, you know, assigning commentary to things happening in football.

00:00:45
Speaker 1: This is great, okay, NFL Daily. We love talking about things that happen in football's bumper sticker.

00:00:53
Speaker 2: I love it.

00:00:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, the the fun games are cool or like big high concept or the preview and the recaps.

00:00:59
Speaker 2: I love that too. But give me a nice news show that connects.

00:01:03
Speaker 4: You're a brick by brick kind of guy.

00:01:05
Speaker 2: That's right.

00:01:06
Speaker 1: We actually have a fun, very odd show coming up later this week. I believe we're gonna drop it on Friday, where we come up with some playlists for each this team Colleen Wolf, that's just a little bit of a team give Wolf. It's a lot of pressure. So I know people are used to hearing Colleen on the Tuesdays. She's gonna end up coming up a little later in the week. Let's start not with McCarthy. Let's start with the news that dropped on Tuesday, and it's that Joe Brady is the new Buffalo Bills head coach a five year deal. And I have been monitoring that they've been announcing how long these deals are. McCarthy got five years, Joe Brady got five years. I think that matters. You know it could you could have gotten a Pete Carroll three years. You're on the hot seat almost right away tape of deal.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: This is different.

00:01:53
Speaker 1: Joe Brady gets elevated from offensive coordinator to head coach. Bill's fans not thrilled, I believe after the last week, obviously a tough playoff loss, and then that press conference felt like a disaster really in terms of public relations. To put everything on McDermott, it's all his fault, and you know it's the coaching staff's fault. But then to elevate a guy that was on the coaching staff in Joe Brady.

00:02:23
Speaker 2: What do you think about this move big picture.

00:02:26
Speaker 3: Well, I'm having the same feeling that I think probably a lot of people have had before, which is holy, this guy's my age, hm, Like, this is you know, we've the cycles have gotten younger in a lot of ways, especially over the last couple of years.

00:02:42
Speaker 2: And thirty six years old.

00:02:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, well I'm younger than I guess, thank god, But yeah, this is it's He is the youngest coach in the NFL at this point to my knowledge, the youngest head coach in the NFL at this point to my knowledge. But this is interesting because they the reporting around this from the jump was clear that Josh Allen would be extremely involved, even if he was distancing himself from the McDermott firing through similar reporting, right, So putting your distance between yourself and that pivotal moment in the franchise history, right, and then now aligning into Okay, this is very clearly Josh Allen's guy and has been for some time.

00:03:20
Speaker 1: So Josh Allen was part of the interviews. We haven't gotten into depth about this. What's been going on with the bills because so much has been going on. I don't love that it and everyone's like, well, he should have a have a say, and okay, like it is all about getting Josh the most out of Josh Allen, but I don't like players aren't usually literally in the interviews, like showing up to be part of the interview and then to hire the guy that he is most comfortable with to interview a guy in Philip Rivers that he had a relationship with Philip Rivers Withdrew, which inspired the best tweet of the year, which was, you know, will Brinston Steane, he didn't see that coming, you know, with Rivers, withdrawing. I don't know what to feel, but I actually feel a lot better if the news from our NFL network insiders ends up being accurate that Jim Leonard is believed to be a very strong defensive coordinator choice. He is with Denver among the guys who know, and he's obviously in a great system with Vance Joseph, among the brightest defensive young minds in the league, and was kind of viewed as a prize. If that ends up being the defensive coordinator, I feel a little bit better. But Joe Brady, you know you had that rough time in Carolina. He's been I think a good enough offensive coordinator. I don't know what he's like behind the scenes. I always thought he got a little too much credit for having the best skill position talent in the history of college football back at LSU. And there's something about the fact that McDermott gets acted and he just elevates that always makes me a little wary of like, is he just good at being a politician, which you could accuse Brandon Ban of being too.

00:05:06
Speaker 4: It's interesting because the going back to what you're talking.

00:05:08
Speaker 3: About with Josh Allen being in the interviews, well, with Terry Pugula also being a part of this interview process, he made the decision to fire McDermott based on the reactions he witnessed from Josh Allen.

00:05:19
Speaker 4: Now that's what he's saying.

00:05:21
Speaker 3: I assume that something like this was at least in consideration among some in the organization for a while. But Terry Pogula came out in that disastrous press conference and said he made the decision after witnessing Josh Allen crying. Okay, well, Josh Allen's in the interviews, so it's a little bit leaning, even if you want to pretend it's not your subconscious bias is it's a little bit vibes based there too.

00:05:41
Speaker 4: Who is he comfortable with?

00:05:42
Speaker 3: Who is he most you know, kind of vibing with In the interview, he knows Joe Brady and has for years. He's in his ear up until, you know, thirty seconds before every play, fifteen seconds before every play.

00:05:53
Speaker 4: So that's significant.

00:05:55
Speaker 3: And yeah, the Leonard thing, you know, he's a darling of I think you know the the film bros. And I say that positively. And he's got a great reputation Jim Leonard. What a lot of people don't know is is he's such an intriguing candidate for coaches that you've had head coaches in previous cycles, including when he was coaching in college, wait and try to wait him out before making their own decisions at their defensive coordinator spots in the chance that he might become available. So this is a very very intriguing match with somebody who is an inexperienced first time head coach in Joe Brady and inexperienced in the league overall, and a candidate who has the eye of a lot of people as somebody who is a future head coach.

00:06:37
Speaker 1: So I guess they're not going to go with my suggestion, which was that they take a look at Sean McDermott. I thought, you know, the players that they have in house kind of fit what McDermott likes to do. And if I'm looking at one coach on that staff that adjusted the best in game and probably overachieve with the talent that he had like during games, was pretty creative, I think it's Sean McDermott and that it could have been an interesting flip, but they decided they decided not to do that. You know, who was the youngest head coach in the league before this, and Joe Brady does just edge him out, Dimiko, he's in the super Bowl right now, Mike mccon, Mike McDonald that worked out well, and we'll see. It just feels like they didn't necessarily have Maybe this was the plan all along. A lot of people are just saying that it is not a surprise. If if you're cynical, you look at it, like, hey, Brandon Bean, if his goal was to amass as much power as possible, this is the exact route to do it. He is he got a promotion. Joe Brady got a promotion. He has someone he knows well that's gonna be underneath him. It is Brandon Bean's franchise. And the one positive I would say though with that is, look, they are on a short timeline and despite that five year contract, like like, this needs to go well in a year or two. If you're a Bills fan, obviously you want it to go really great. But I do think they are going to have They're not really a coach and a GM on different timelines because you hired Joe Brady. Joe Brady is almost getting treated as a guy who's art is going to get treated as a guy that's already been there before, and they have to win, and they have to win fast.

00:08:16
Speaker 3: I like that point, Greg, because you're right that that is absolutely true, and the age of the quarterback's a factor here as well, and as is the fact that you can't really count on the Chiefs to be down bad the way that they are forever right, And so I really feel like this is you're inheriting a similarly condensed timeline, and you're also doing it where you seed immediate control based on experience, and like.

00:08:42
Speaker 4: You know, like Kutzpa.

00:08:44
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like you.

00:08:45
Speaker 3: Just you're automatically seeding control to Brandon Bean anyway, And so is the roster going to look any different?

00:08:51
Speaker 4: We have yet to see.

00:08:52
Speaker 2: Well, we'll find out.

00:08:54
Speaker 1: As we mentioned, Joe Brady a young man, so if he's thirty six right now, he was either twenty one or twenty two when he sent out a tweet that an enterprising reporter believes was his first tweet ever on the You know the artist formerly known as Twitter, and that tweet was Andy Dalton, red heads in the League.

00:09:16
Speaker 2: We made it.

00:09:18
Speaker 1: I guess that was when Andy Dalton got drafted. It was not done the rest of us.

00:09:22
Speaker 3: Shout out to Will Gavin. By the way, what did I warn the listeners about taking over? You guys just keep an eye on this, okay, you just watch out.

00:09:30
Speaker 2: The thing with Brady and we got to move on.

00:09:33
Speaker 1: Like Olli Connelly's been pointing out all year, I thought it was a really good point that they kind of went away from where the league was going. That they helped start with all the jumbo packages and the extra offensive linemen this year and running heavy like they almost kickstarted that, and then they went away from it and it didn't really make a lot of sense this year. I also thought that game plan. I will always remember that that twenty four playoff game, the championship game against the Chiefs, just like there are moments in Joe Brady's time where just like, what what's happening here? But let's move to Pittsburgh where Mike McCarthy was hired, and honestly, from the sound of it, like it was a very sweet press conference, it was emotional and yeah, for Mike McCarthy, it felt like almost a culmination to go back to the city that he was born.

00:10:22
Speaker 5: I understand and embrace the responsibility the privilege in the way that comes with the stewardship out of city, This franchise, this fan base made the world to me because Pittsburgh's my world and Dodds, it's just awesome to be back here.

00:10:40
Speaker 1: And I love how emotional he was throughout the press conference. He talked about making the call to his parents, but there was an element if I was a Steelers fan that wouldn't love the vibe and tell me if I'm wrong, that felt like he was really surprised to be there. That was my biggest takeaway was he was so grateful. I do not think he thought he was gonna get another chance, much less get this chance, and was kind of like, I can't believe this is my life. I can't believe this is happening, which now what I want out of my head.

00:11:16
Speaker 2: Coach.

00:11:17
Speaker 4: It's sort of his nature.

00:11:18
Speaker 3: There is a little bit of that when he first got the Cowboys job too, like I can't believe I'm coaching the Dallas Cowboy, you know, like that kind of a thing.

00:11:25
Speaker 2: And that's maybe a sign of being humble too, Like I appreciate it.

00:11:28
Speaker 3: Here's the thing, Mike McCarthy is one of the more steadfastedly endearing people in football. You could like him, you can hate him as a coach, whatever, but he is earnest and he's endearing. And so that is the immediate sort of vibe that they're putting out for a higher that I think to me was received unpopularly across the fan base, and in part because there were a lot of candidates that the Steelers had previously followed, the path of which is young, dynamic, someone who's going to build and develop, somebody who's going to potentially be there for.

00:12:05
Speaker 4: Longer than a decade.

00:12:06
Speaker 3: They hope and somebody who grows with the team not admitting that this team needs rebuilding in certain areas you know, or could potentially try to sell off assets quickly to start a rebuild earlier than expected is exactly what this higher sort of broadcast.

00:12:26
Speaker 1: Absolutely and you could almost see how he got the job by how he talked about the team. He just talked about how great the roster was, that like, we're not trying to rebuild. I like, I think they see and looking at their roster. I actually think that makes sense. I've made that point already here. But he just talked about how he loves the roster, and he used pointing out I've only had one top five defense in my life and we won the Super Bowl that year, which is like, okay, are you good at hiring theive coordinators?

00:13:00
Speaker 2: Like a what does that say about you?

00:13:03
Speaker 1: He said, how we're going to keep the three four defense already we're not sure who the coordinator is. Have you heard Patrick Graham? I got a text about that right before we go on. Might be a strong candidate.

00:13:16
Speaker 4: I would I would really like that. I think that would be.

00:13:19
Speaker 1: Good that that might end up being but we might as well not talk about it until we know that, that's for sure. But a couple of things worried me if I was a Steelers. Well, first of all, it's Aaron. The Aaron Rodgers answer, let's just get to like the news of the press conference. The Rodgers answer worried me a little bit too.

00:13:38
Speaker 5: Question just a football one for you. I'm not asking this from any other perspective except your own personal preference in your best case scenario, do you want Aaron Rodgers back as your quarterback next year? That's nice the way he asked that, right, And that was suck. But I mean definitely, I mean obviously why you wouldn't. But you know, I think, just like anything, you know, no one are long enough going through seasons. You know. I think when players, you know, you know, to see to see mel Blount here, when guys are up in that stage of their career that they need to step away decompress it. That's I think that's very important.

00:14:13
Speaker 3: Uh.

00:14:13
Speaker 5: The game is so emotional, you know, what these men commit to and what they put into it. I think that time away is important, you know.

00:14:22
Speaker 2: And I have.

00:14:23
Speaker 5: Spoken to Aaron, and so that's really where you know, that's really where we are there.

00:14:29
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:14:29
Speaker 3: So that's another thing about Mike McCarthy, and you know, I've I've experienced myself. He's incredibly disarming, Like if someone asked him a question that is a pivotal question for the franchise. The beat there, which is made up of a lot of long time b reporters and TV people and who know Mike McCarthy because he's local, right, they're gonna love him because he's disarming in that way.

00:14:53
Speaker 2: And he actually gave a great answer.

00:14:55
Speaker 3: Really, he gave a great answer, and it's but it's also one where he has different outs as he continues to talk through that sense. And the biggest out of all is what wasn't said, which is that the Pittsburgh Steelers in all likelihood hired him in part because if they do bring in a new young quarterback, he can help develop that player and has a track record for it.

00:15:17
Speaker 2: He does.

00:15:17
Speaker 1: And yet when they started immediately pushing back and by they I mean media members, that sounded like they were getting talking points from the Steelers because the move was so unpopular about how great he has been developing quarterback and they mentioned Joe Montana in Kansas City. It's like I think he was pretty developed by then, and like his mentor was Paul Hackett, who again was like mentoring and helping to develop Joe Montana, but that was nineteen eighty three, yes, and Dak Prescott like he played his best under but he didn't gization.

00:15:52
Speaker 3: The organization is all about history in the past. Of course, they're they're gravitating toward it.

00:15:56
Speaker 1: And Art Rooney said separately that he would like to have Aaron Rodgers back, So it's pretty clear that that wasn't in this press conference, but that was before it that it's like, yeah, like they would like that, and they really talked up Will Howard specifically, Mike McCarthy talked up Will Howard that they that he thinks Will Howard, who was a Day three pick but as day three picks go, like, had some interesting stuff to him. It was like a promising guy that they really want to develop in Pittsburgh.

00:16:25
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, in a good way, yes way.

00:16:27
Speaker 1: And so, like the obvious take from all this, it was right, they don't want to rebuild. Rooney said it when he made the statement about saying goodbye to Tomlin, about like how important it was that they were always in the playoffs, like that is what they're trying to do. They are not trying to take a step backwards. And they said over and over it, you just would not expect a guy with the resume of Mike McCarthy to become available. It's pretty rare. And that's true to some extent, but also there's ten other teams out there. They weren't trying to hire Mike McCarthy, like that resume was there for them. And the thing then this is where it might be a little mean, like that worried me. Were the times where he said, how much harder it is right now to hire a coaching staff than it was even six or seven years ago. Okay, because maybe he's not as tied in, but also it's just more competitive, the money people are holding on to their coaches whatever. He's like much less twenty years ago. It's way harder to put a staff together. It's been he said, it's been a bit of a whirlwind. And then also when they asked him about like, what did you kind of go to the lab, you know how last time you got a PFF Ultimate account, they didn't say that that's me. You know, you got a PFF Ultimate account and you were all talking about the trends in the league, and he did a little bit of that talking about Trent. You know, I was watching trends and he was kind of like, yeah, this time I was more just you know, watching like my kids playing volleyball, and he was like emotional talking about having to almost say goodbye to his family.

00:17:53
Speaker 2: Again.

00:17:54
Speaker 1: I'm sure he is all in, but I think coaching is more of a young man's game. Third time, around sixty two years old, when he had that answer and he said that, he literally said, man, now, looking back at it, that time was too short, the time I spent with my family.

00:18:09
Speaker 2: I'm just thinking, I don't know.

00:18:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a man who knows how hard it's going to be, and I don't think that's the.

00:18:17
Speaker 2: Way to go.

00:18:18
Speaker 3: Best case scenario, you're looking at a successful retread. I am generally really on the fence with a retread coach.

00:18:25
Speaker 4: Anyway.

00:18:26
Speaker 3: I think when it works, it can really really work. When it doesn't work, it's an absolute dumpster fire. There's a wide range of in between on this one, and I.

00:18:34
Speaker 1: Sound so skeptical, and yet the funny thing is, I don't think he's necessarily going to be much of a downgrade from Tomlin. I think the roster's not in bad shape. There's actually a chance for them to spend smartly. The line plays on both sides. It's really promising and there's absolutely a route for them to be as good or better next year if they can figure out quarterback. But we've just been saying that for a while. As down as I sound about it, you know, we've got our producer Quob in the back. I think it could be medium or even even medium rare, like gets that that in my world, that's that's an upgrade. But you know, I'm just saying like it would taste better. Uh, you could be like they could be an eleven. Like he is very professional, he's on the details. I kind of buy what he's saying about tracking all the trends, like his teams like fundamentals.

00:19:25
Speaker 2: It's a West Coast. It's just he's not going where the trends are going.

00:19:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, you went from defense of Mike Tomlin aka Mike Tomlin to offensive Mike Tomlin with a slightly better recent track record in terms of the win column.

00:19:37
Speaker 4: You know, like that's that's really what it is.

00:19:39
Speaker 1: And it's also like do the do the pieces fit, and so that's that's the tricky part. Like he said, he wants his receivers to be able to play every position when they asked him about it, because that is kind of what he requires. You Like Cede Lamb, he was great for Ceedee Lamb, like DK Metcalf is not that guy. He's and so they have a long way to go in terms of their personnel. But I do I do think he's got to cham Let's wrap this first part of the section of the show with Kevin Stefanski. We have more like updated breaking news, but we did get a first head coach press conference, which over the years is I'm not going to say it's my beat, but I just I just enjoy watching them because they're all a little different. And what was different about this one was Kevin Stefanski felt like a supporting character in his own press conference. Let's listen to Matt Ryan talk about kind of what he wants to do and what he sees in terms of helping out his young quarterback or really any quarterback, and what he's going to do to help them.

00:20:38
Speaker 6: You know, from the quarterback's perspective, you look at it and the positions that you get put in. I always valued the run game and the ability to run the football and some of the pressure that takes off of you, specifically as a young quarterback. I think back to my experience as you talk and we hear questions about lot of Pennix, some of those early days as a young player, the ability to hand the ball off to a guy like Michael Turner, really solid physical offensive line, the way they played up front, and then using the play action pass off of that. I think those are all tools to help develop a young player. I think that's a strength of Kevin's. I think that's the strength of the staff that's coming in.

00:21:18
Speaker 2: Why do you keep laughing?

00:21:19
Speaker 4: He kept taking hits of that smart water vole.

00:21:21
Speaker 3: And then also I had this thought come through, yes tofans, geek, I had this thought come through my mind over the last like what five years, has there anybody who has been more of a front row passenger to his own life than Kevin Stefans?

00:21:35
Speaker 2: Oh?

00:21:36
Speaker 4: Like I really, I Like, let me be clear, I like the guy.

00:21:39
Speaker 3: He's a very very nice person and he's well respected, but it's like things he's just things are just happening to him all around him. Like I still am not quite sure what his identity is or is going to be as a head coach here in Atlanta.

00:21:55
Speaker 1: Well, I think that gave an indication, and the fact that they hired Bill Callahan right away and they talked about that, that's their offensive line coach who was with him in Cleveland last year he was with the Titans, and his son, Brian Callahan. I guess the last two. But that's that's a zone blocking run scheme. It's a good one, and they really ramatically.

00:22:11
Speaker 4: I'm very aware of what his identity is. Let me be clear that I was.

00:22:14
Speaker 2: Going to get to that too, because.

00:22:18
Speaker 1: I was texting with some and he wasn't given kind of similar to McCarthy. Again i'm sounding critical, he wasn't given that, giving that first like time head coach thing like he seemed a little tired, Like it's he went through a lot, yeah, in Cleveland, and then immediately is just sort is the bell of the ball of this coaching you know, psychle not not the top guy, but essentially I think he had some teams fighting for him, and immediately he's thrown into this other situation. I do think there are times where you could benefit from taking that year off or even taking a week off like he is two weeks removed from just being in a hole lot of Shader Sanders and Jimmy Haslam and winning seven games in two years, and I think he's gonna need to be supported, and I think he will be it. It's kind of why I went with Matt Ryan for the sound because Kevin Savanski, again, nice man. He never says much at press conference, is pretty typical, but man, was he short with words in this one. Like he had and they were concise they answered the question, but not really, but he just he didn't say anything. There was like one bad joke early that no one laughed at, and then it was just kind of like.

00:23:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was it.

00:23:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's hiring a lot of his former people. His his top assistant as well, he just hired over there.

00:23:37
Speaker 1: It's basically Tommy Reese bring bringing who's got a play call by the way, just a little news, yeah.

00:23:43
Speaker 3: And his assistant to the head coach as well, he just brought over. And so he's he is bringing over essentially what he had in Cleveland, uh, and just sort of transferring it with an I think an upgrade. You know, obviously Bill Callahan. That's that's a great hire on paper, right, But I think, like this is so interesting to me because when I made the passenger comment, I mean, he's a passenger in this press conference. You know, Matt Ryan is full on broadcast franchise quarterback up there, right, And maybe and listen, I made this point a couple of weeks ago or days ago, I don't remember. Time has no meaning at this point in the season. But like it, it's maybe they needed that. Maybe they needed like a voice, you know, like a direction, a voice, and at the moment, they don't care who it comes from.

00:24:28
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's a great way to frame it, because I think you're right. I think the Falcons are trying to be like a Ravens type of organization where it's top down and it's a system that the coach is going to fit into.

00:24:40
Speaker 2: And Stefanski talked about.

00:24:42
Speaker 1: And to be fair to Stefanski, I mean he did talk the most at that press conference. It was not mostly Matt Ryan, but Matt Ryan said the only few like interesting things and was much more commanding.

00:24:51
Speaker 2: So that's what I picked out.

00:24:52
Speaker 1: But yeah, he said, like I came here mostly because of Matt Ryan, more than anything, and he threw Arthur blank in. But my relationship in the belief in him and our connection and how we talked, and I kind of believe it.

00:25:05
Speaker 2: Their GM's not even in place. They have two finalists.

00:25:07
Speaker 1: It's either gonna be James Lipfert from the Houston Texans with two eyes in Lipfort not familiar with him, and Ian Cunningham, who you've talked about and talked to on your podcast. That will be the choice. And it sounds like that'll happen soon. Just a couple little like Newsy items. You know, he was pretty positive. Stefansky about Michael Pennock says he gets through his reads fast, that they were definitely, you know, trying to talk up Michael PENNOCKX didn't really want to say anything about his time with Kirk Cousins. So maybe that's telling in what he didn't say. He again, I wrote hired. He would not go into the Baker, the Baker drama of it all. I did, like de Orlando Ledbetter said sorry for sicking Baker on you guys, what do you think about all that? And he was just like, I love rivalries. I have a ton of respect for Baker Mayfield. That was all he wanted to uh, led alleged it was all he wanted to say about that, and uh. He also said the quote smooth seas do not make skillful skillful sailor.

00:26:10
Speaker 4: M I think I saw that on a wooden sign in someone's kitchen.

00:26:13
Speaker 1: Because the question was kind of like, hey, like, what do you say to the Falcons fans that note you won seven games combined over the last two years or something like that, And I was like, oh, suddenly, like it was kind of a hard, a hard question, you know, it wasn't a hard moment was the moment that Chris Babona came up with a theory that immediately cracked me up and made me laugh where he pointed out that Kevin Stefanski kind of resembles the Falcons logo. Uh, we're showing this to you when he is in profile. I kind of buy it. I know it's not like a one to one thing, but spiritually he is kind of the Falcons logo.

00:26:49
Speaker 3: There's a little similar like angular swooping yes, yeah, yeah.

00:26:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the coloring and and look, I love that logo. He said it was an iconic logo in the NFL that he's always looked up to. I was like, hmmm, I don't know about that with the Falcons, but he's kind of got an iconic profile.

00:27:04
Speaker 2: He's a handsome man.

00:27:04
Speaker 4: I was on the rundown. I was wondering what the hell that was.

00:27:10
Speaker 2: Let's take a break.

00:27:11
Speaker 1: Let's actually take a break while listening to again, just a fun little moment I had watching this, and you know, Matt Ryan showing that he's with the cool kids, he knows the Atlanta references, he understands the assignment. On the other side, we'll do some more coaching news in a little Super Bowl.

00:27:29
Speaker 6: Sam Princechall CBS Atlanta in ninety game, Welcome to Atlanta, coach. I feel like we should be saying where the players play, where the players play.

00:27:49
Speaker 2: Back on the.

00:27:52
Speaker 1: We're gonna keep that. We interrupt this coaching update news to uh have a.

00:28:00
Speaker 2: Little bit of a concerning the Super Bowl up it.

00:28:04
Speaker 1: Sometime on Monday just started like buzzing around that like is Big Mace stold her healthy And I'm not even sure exactly where it came from, and this and that, and then I don't know if we're gonna go def Con three here. But when Mike Rabel was asked about it on Tuesday. It did not make me feel any better person.

00:28:26
Speaker 7: No, I won't say that anybody hurt anything, you know what I mean?

00:28:30
Speaker 5: Again, this is a.

00:28:32
Speaker 7: This is a sport where there's going to be things that come up. But I don't think that there's a you know, we'll talk about whatever status each player has for the game once we're required to. We understand that. But you know, we were able to function offensively, throw the football, run the football. So that's kind of where everybody's at.

00:28:54
Speaker 2: At a couple other times too.

00:28:56
Speaker 4: And he breathing, he's fine.

00:28:58
Speaker 2: Nobody.

00:28:59
Speaker 1: I'm not in the position to say anyone heard anything or nobody heard anything. You're asked pretty directly, does your starting quarterback of a shoulder injury? And you won't answer that. I think it could be something. And I know the exact play that he came down awkwardly and it almost immediately sort of grabbed at it, and you know it was in the play. It was in the game when he got tackled kind of awkwardly from behind, I believe on a rush or actually was like a short sack where he had run up to the line of scrimmage. And my spidey senses say this is actually a little bit of a thing, because they even asked Drake May if he thought he would be limited, and he said it was too early to tell with that, but I'm optimistic. Obviously he's gonna be playing this game. He finished out last time. All this stuff, but it's kind of the last thing they need with a big, uphill battle against what I believe to be the best steam in football.

00:29:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree.

00:29:53
Speaker 3: And also he said on WEEI that he's like, I wouldn't say it's injured. It's more like, you know, you throw for thirty weeks in a row, and I'm like, okay, So that's sort of subtly admitting that there is there's something that's really that is bothering him, but not trying to assign it to like a specific incident or like an incident that could be like that's where he was injured.

00:30:13
Speaker 4: To me, there's a lot of like hedging.

00:30:15
Speaker 1: There's a lot of hedging, but it's also something you know, people are people whisper, people talk, and so I think it's going to be a topic of conversation over the next couple of weeks. Let's talk about things we actually do. No, let's go briefly with the Brian Dable news, which I don't want to stick on because it's more of a statement about where reporting is on this cycle. Brian Dable was bouncing around as a candidate in different spots. It was reported by ESPN and the Athletic I want to get you in trouble, so I'll just speak on it that he was gonna take the offensive coordinator job in Tennessee, which would be really interesting cam word Brian Dable, And then almost immediately afterwards it said, well, he's still in the mad for like the Raiders job in theory, and then there was another report following up that said, well, he's also possibly in the mix for the Eagles offensive coordinator job.

00:31:11
Speaker 2: Well, what are we reporting? Like, what is what these contingent reports? I don't need it.

00:31:16
Speaker 1: Let's wait till he's actually let's wait till it's actually reported. Let's even just move past it. I'm not even gonna let you talk about this because it's just like I was texting with different people about this. What is the contingent reporting? It was happening with Mike McDaniel in LA and he did end up in La. We'll get to that in a second. But if he's still in the mix for other jobs, who cares that? One team expects that he's gonna take their job, but they don't really know, you know what we do know? Jonathan Gannon is the Packers defensive coordinator. Do you have thoughts about your Arizona Cardinals former head coach? I mean, you grew up a Cardinals fan. You gotta wear that more often going to Green Bay and being back in the spotlight for a team competing in their minds for a Super Bowl.

00:32:01
Speaker 3: I think that Jonathan Gannon is an outstanding defensive coordinator, so I think this is a good hire. What I am interested in is the personality dynamics between Matt Lafleur, who is quite specific.

00:32:19
Speaker 2: I was like, what word are you searching for? Controlling? I actually don't know what you're searching.

00:32:23
Speaker 3: He's very specific about how he wants to do things and what he wants it. Also, Jonathan Gannon is the same way, so blending those two philosophies together being as aggressive as they were, which was a refreshing change I think for Packers fans to see a defense that was not going to sit back in some of these deeper zone coverages instead was going to get a little bit more aggressive. That's something I think Jonathan Gannon can absolutely help with. I think he's it'll be interesting to see. I am curious about who he brings over if he can from that previous staff. There's a couple of guys on defense over there that are sort of just waiting for their turn, waiting to maybe stay or go depending on what Arizona does.

00:33:03
Speaker 2: At head coach is coordinator Nick Ralis.

00:33:05
Speaker 3: Nick Ralis specifically would be the top would be the top one. But it is interesting to me because this is an example of a high profile defensive coordinator candidate and the Packers actually going after it and doing it. There was a lot of I think well earned criticism of the Packers in this offseason about the level of investment that they allow their coaching staff to make in their assistant coaches. Justice Scotta did a really really great look at that and the experience level and how much that's dropped off because you don't have the financial terms as well. I just think that this is a little bit of a sea change type of move for the Packers that they're willing to go out and get somebody who was a former head coach and who has a track record of being a very very good defensive coordinator.

00:33:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's been flexible.

00:33:50
Speaker 1: His defenses in Arizona looked nothing like his defenses in Philadelphia, which I actually think is a credit to him. Yeah, because he had such different types of talent. I really like this two minutes that I saw from a reporter or a radio host I was unfamiliar with before. His name is Grant Bilsa, where he did like two minutes to where like it's fine. The half Lee hire was fine, Halfley's performance was fine. This will probably be fine, And I kind of agree. I agree with all that, Like there's not as big of a difference between it all as you think. There's actually a lot of similarities, maybe because Lafleur wants things run a certain way. He even went back to the Joe Barry was actually more fine than you think. It wasn't that big of a difference. I don't know if I would have gotten that far, but I get what he's I get what he's trying to say, and I do I agree with him. I think it'll be fine, and it would be a good spot if they do well that Jonathan Ginnon could could get back in the mix.

00:34:44
Speaker 2: The Jets made a surprise move.

00:34:46
Speaker 1: They are getting rid of Tanner Engstron, their offensive coordinator. That just came out Tuesday afternoon, right before we were taping. I was going to talk about how quietly, after a couple weeks he wound up getting rid of about seven or eight different assistant coaches. Aaron Glenn and Zach Rosenblat at The Athletic reported how a lot of these coaches were kind of given the impression that they were going to stay, and Engstrand I think was one of those guys, and then they started looking for someone who would come over the top of him and maybe call plays, but he would get to stay. That someone might be Frank Reich. It sounds like the strong choice to be offensive coordinator.

00:35:24
Speaker 4: That really worked last time.

00:35:27
Speaker 1: But now that Engstrand is no longer there, you know, they have to satisfy the Rooney rule for those higher so they're gonna have to like do a full, you know, interview cycle. It doesn't sound great. It either sounds like he was indecisive or ownerships getting involved.

00:35:42
Speaker 2: But either way, we're like two.

00:35:44
Speaker 1: And a half weeks away from the season ending, right are we at three now? I'm losing track of time and they're just starting over.

00:35:50
Speaker 2: They're just starting their search.

00:35:52
Speaker 1: So if you're a Jets fan and you want to feel like better about things could be changing, this does not give you that confidence.

00:35:58
Speaker 3: It is so late to your point in the process to change what a lot of people don't know because we see these the flurries of moves as the season ends. But for teams that are expecting change in advance, or for coaches that are expecting to be on the interview cycle, they've already built out like depth charts of their staffs. So not only do you not have that in play, like we've already lost out to all of the people who have already gone and got the guys that they want on their teams.

00:36:27
Speaker 4: And this is this is a problem. I think this is this is a real problem.

00:36:31
Speaker 1: And if you're competing with the teams that are left, you know that are still hiring, because there is a lot of hiring to be fair, to be to go, but there's been backroom conversations.

00:36:39
Speaker 2: You're catching up on that.

00:36:40
Speaker 1: But also, HM, should I would I rather join the bills and Josh Allen and what's going on there, or Mike McCarthy. You know, like if you're competing and the Steelers, you know, if you're competing with other teams that are late in the process too. I think the Jets is the toughest sell of any situation because they're on the hottest of seats. Speaking of guys who you know were quite popular in this cycle, Grant Yudnski, I just wanted to throw this in there. They announced in Jacksonville is gonna get a raise and a new contract. He's gonna stay as the offensive coordinator under Liam Cohen. He was in the mix for the Bills job, the head coaching job, clearly.

00:37:18
Speaker 2: Did not get it.

00:37:19
Speaker 1: He was one of the Now it seems like countless people who withdrew from the Browns head coaching job before even becoming a finalist. So good job by them, keeping Udinsky. Let's talk about the Chargers who got their man.

00:37:34
Speaker 2: In the end.

00:37:34
Speaker 1: It is time for delivering results presented by Uber Eats. When football makes you hungry, order Uber eats. It is Mike McDaniel's time, and everyone is talking about, like, what a weird combination Mike McDaniel and Jim Harbor, and it felt even weirder after he stepped up to the podium and, according to Mina Kimes, was wearing what she thought was a twelve thousand dollars Bottega jacket.

00:38:00
Speaker 2: I mean, that is that's outrageous.

00:38:02
Speaker 1: Let's actually listen to McDaniel talking about his interaction with his new boss, Jim Harbaugh.

00:38:10
Speaker 8: Jim wasn't trying to sell me anything, and I felt that he I think he recognognized that. Yeah, he was excited about, you know, the prospect if and only if it was a marriage that was consensual, you know, and not a hostage situation. I feel the same guy.

00:38:30
Speaker 2: He's just he's just taller.

00:38:34
Speaker 1: He also said later, Uh, like I'm gonna go all doctors from now on. Like that's that's gonna be my new, my new.

00:38:42
Speaker 2: I love it. Uh. I mean he was getting a tricky territory. Uh.

00:38:46
Speaker 1: He wanted a marriage that was consensual, not a hostage situation. I mean, do you know any marriages like that?

00:38:53
Speaker 2: I don't know. It's gonna be fun, gotta be fun. I'm glad he's out here. How dare you? Eyes wide Chet was an amazing piece of art and I'm just.

00:39:04
Speaker 3: Saying I think, forget that image of her walking out of the court house, Greg.

00:39:07
Speaker 1: They're strange relationship help powered that insane but cool piece of art. So I support them for that. What a weird combo this is gonna be. But I think it's I think it's beautiful. I think it's so beautiful because I like that he said that. I think we're the same person because I would tend to agree. I mean, they think about things, they think about the world differently.

00:39:28
Speaker 4: I would very much think that. But also, but I think that.

00:39:32
Speaker 3: Like Mike is this extremely obsessive football guy who wants to look under every rock and will search far and wide for any type of innovation. And that's what makes him. That's a superpower. That's what makes him as gifted as he is. He connects with people, He's authentic, he believes in his players. I think sometimes he was a little too player friendly or willing to acquiesce maybe some discipline on behalf of his players when he was in Miami. He won't have a problem with that because Jim Harbaugh will definitely keep setting the tone in that building.

00:40:07
Speaker 4: And I love that.

00:40:08
Speaker 3: It's like a quarterback who is widely considered to be an introvert, even though he's built like a superhero.

00:40:14
Speaker 4: It is a sort of.

00:40:16
Speaker 3: An oddball quote yet quintessential tough guy at football guy, like the football guy as a head coach. And then it's also Mike McDaniel, who is a very creative, very talented play caller and scheme designer, who also I think has more to him than a lot of people got to see in Miami. There's a toughness there that we've talked about. I know, I don't need a wax poetic again on the show, but that dude got some stuff to him seriously.

00:40:40
Speaker 1: And I think whatever those weaknesses were, maybe being too much of a player like that worked as a coordinator. Yeah, and he spoke, He said all the things that charges fans would want to hear about, not wanting Herbert to have to do so much, not having him be in such a vulnerable position, and what Mike McDaniel does best is build a running game, which I'm sure spoke to Jim Harbaugh, and that'll help out Herbert more than anything. So I'm really excited about this subplot of the twenty twenty sixth season. Before we even get there, I also like the marriage of McDaniel and the Chargers social team. Yes, because the Panthers are great. There's some great ones out there, but I think the Chargers right now hold the title as like the best social team, and I think it's just gonna be a fun little combination. They actually announced that, like it was officially happening with like a little bizarre clip of a social media moment.

00:41:33
Speaker 8: Intruce yourself, Yeah, this is a this isn't gonna be a vape question?

00:41:37
Speaker 2: Is it? Big question?

00:41:38
Speaker 5: Now?

00:41:38
Speaker 8: How you guys roll? All right, it's up Mike McDaniel, offensive coordinator for the Chargers.

00:41:47
Speaker 1: Just a little tease of some game that McDaniel is going to be played. But I love like that was literally the way that they even announced that.

00:41:53
Speaker 4: He says, there, it's Mike McDaniels.

00:41:55
Speaker 2: This isn't gonna be a vape question? Is it? Bro That was delivering results presented by Uber Eat.

00:42:00
Speaker 1: When Football makes you hungry, get game day deals on Uber Eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL.

00:42:07
Speaker 2: Order Now.

00:42:09
Speaker 1: Quickly, the Giants hired Denard Wilson as their defensive coordinator. He was the coordinator for the Titans last year, but he was with John Harbaugh in Baltimore when John Harbaugh did choose zach Or over Wilson as his coordinator when he needed to replace Mike McDaniel, but obviously a lot of familiarity there. The Giants are also waiting to find out what happens with Todd Monkin because they believe that's going to be their offensive coordinator. In Les, Monkin gets another job, and he is still possibly in the mix for the Browns job. Let's wrap up just hitting the three teams that are still available. Like every twelve hours, a new leader in the clubhouse emerges for the Browns job. There's different guys who have withdrawn from the idea of being it right now, it seems to be down to guy and by your guy, just a guy with the rams Nate field House, the young you know, assistant of Sean McVay. Does he have passing game coordinator titles? Okay, but not the offensive coordinator. That's Mike will Fleur who is on our show. Todd Mounkin, who Mary Kay Cabot says is still in the mix. And then Jim Schwartz, their former defensive coordinator who at various points people are saying like, well, HASLM is making them keep Schwartz, or that Schwartz could actually just get that job, that that's just like sitting out there, and it's it sounds like it's gonna wrap up pretty soon, Like I'm gonna be annoyed.

00:43:37
Speaker 2: That's gonna happen right after we're done they've.

00:43:39
Speaker 3: Gotten through their second interviews and also apparently what's been reported as like personality tests and written assignments and whatever, because they're definitely doing this process smarter than everybody else. Is the most highly team front office in the in the game. No, I really think that this is a complicated thread that they're trying to needle that they're trying to thread because you can't lose Jim Schwartz.

00:44:03
Speaker 2: You can't.

00:44:04
Speaker 3: He's got you playing the best defense of a year over year of almost any team in the NFL, despite the fact that the offense is consistently letting them down, and so you can't lose him. But how can you be sure that whoever you bring in isn't going to want to bring in their own guy versus somebody who is already aligned.

00:44:22
Speaker 4: With leadership in the team. You can't.

00:44:25
Speaker 3: It's an incongruous power structure. It's part of the problem of having a power structure that exists like this in the first place. It's a bad process cleaning house. It's kind of the they have a written exam Greg.

00:44:36
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not going to make fun of him as much for that, which maybe the coaches didn't didn't love doing, and who knows, maybe that's why they withdrew. It's probably more about the situation with the roster and the history of the team under Jimmy Haslam and everything. But it's bad process, just like the Steelers are bad process to say, like we need a three four defense, Like it became clear in the macar at the press conference to me that like they told them, like, we believe in a few different things, and here's what we believe and that's it's if you want to be on the cutting edge, that's not the way to do it.

00:45:10
Speaker 3: That's probably what happened with Shula. Hey, we want a three four defense, Oh, I like to play a lot of five man from bye Like right, it's like it.

00:45:19
Speaker 2: Just didn't it didn't fit. And so we'll see.

00:45:22
Speaker 1: Because if you're Jim Schwartz, why would you want to stick around with the Browns. When if you don't get the head job they just passed on you, you might be a little annoyed you're not getting considered for other head jobs.

00:45:33
Speaker 2: That's not gonna happen.

00:45:34
Speaker 1: But at the very least you could go to a spot where you get paid great. I'm sure you get paid great in Cleveland. They do pay. But also, you know, you could get a little more pop on a winning team. It must be fun to be more in contention. So we'll see. It's a little messy. I don't think Cardinals or Raiders fans are feeling great either right now. You do wonder, you know, watching the Raiders opening and it's just kind of sitting out there and there's different second interviews happening. Davis Webb, who is the the QB coach in Denver, is getting a second interview with the Raiders. Did Anthony Weaver get a second interview there? I know he did with Arizona. No, not with the Raiders. Clint Kubiak is a name that a lot of people are kind of connecting. And there was Tom Brady announcing the game with you. You know, you were there in Seattle on Sunday and watching maybe Clint's you know, best night as a pro.

00:46:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, he got maybe so tired of pining for Ben Johnson, who he could never quite have while announcing his games, that he's maybe he's thinking, I'm not going to let this happen to me again.

00:46:37
Speaker 4: I don't know. It sounds like if it's not this.

00:46:39
Speaker 3: Job for Clint Kubiak, like he's perfectly happy to stay where he's at empowered as possible in Seattle. He might be up for a contract soon as well, Especially the guy goes on the cycle this quickly, usually that means new money is coming his way. So and and I like the fit, and this is a super Bowl team, so we'll kind of see how it goes. But and Mike lafloor in Arizona, here's the thing. Cardinals fans, however, they may think about this and where the Cardinals really stood or maybe didn't stand in terms of competitiveness in the cycle. Overall, Mike Laflora is kind of going to be an unknown a little bit in terms of how he'll.

00:47:16
Speaker 2: You're talking about him like he's gonna you think he's going to get the job.

00:47:19
Speaker 3: I think I think he's a favorite to get the job, and and if you know, kind of an unknown in terms of how he's going to be a head coach. But I will say this, I think he's a much better play caller, especially this second time around when he gets a chance. He's gotten a couple of shots to do it in LA for Sean, certainly better than he was reputationally, at least for the Jets. And he's also like maybe the one person who you could tap in to be insane enough to take on Sean McVay and Kyle shanahan and Mike McDonald.

00:47:49
Speaker 2: You don't his too, his.

00:47:51
Speaker 3: Two former bosses like it's it's a bad honestly, you take away everything else about that Cardinal's job. It's a bad job for that reason. And so he's he's the one who knows those guys on a like molecular level in terms of working so closely with them for so many years and knows how they tick. He would be the one crazy enough to take that job. That's all I'm saying.

00:48:11
Speaker 1: It's a great point, and I just mean it's too much. We need a little like diversity in that division. We don't all the you know, Mike McDonald come in there to break it all up. And then you add another Lafleur who's like Sean mcvay's his brother is the best.

00:48:26
Speaker 3: It's just I know, we don't need we don't need another Lafleur. We don't need another McVeigh.

00:48:32
Speaker 1: You would, you would like it. It'd be good for rodrig Corp. You know, just like another there. I'm the NFC West, That's what I mean.

00:48:39
Speaker 3: Girl here, And you know what if it keeps fueling the brand, uh.

00:48:44
Speaker 1: Mike Lafleur uh trying to get the NFL Daily bump that unfortunately John Spydeck did not, you know, but this next year he will.

00:48:53
Speaker 2: I'm sure he's not listening.

00:48:55
Speaker 1: Sounds like, by the way, Sean McDermott would have had a chance at that job based on some of the reporting, and that he is likely to take a year off almost certainly to take a year off from coaching, which I think it's good for someone like him, I think is really smart, might have helped out THEFANSKI and especially for him, like, don't go to a suicide mission type of job just to get the paycheck, because you've already gotten that paycheck. I'm less judgmental about a guy like Michael Fleur, It's like, will he get another head coaching offer in his life? Like he could, but it's very possible he couldn't. And that's life changing money. And I think that needs to not be forgotten in all this that like, yeah, they're doing okay as coordinators. None of this is guaranteed, and you're just offered a five year contract for millions of dollars a year that represents a you know whatever, it is, four hundred five hundred percent race, Like, yeah, most people are gonna take that, like you have to be a Ben Jonson type of confident guy that you know you're gonna always be that guy.

00:49:51
Speaker 2: And I don't blame them for taking it.

00:49:53
Speaker 3: Temperamentally, I think he is equipped to walk into a situation like that. I don't know how he would be as a coach, but inper mentally and in terms of how he sees the sport and the big picture of it and how he sees off like, I think he is equipped to it because the stakes around him are very high and that's just an almost impossible climb to get out of in that franchise right.

00:50:13
Speaker 1: Now, Speaking at high stakes, how about Arthur Smith going to be the Ohio State offensive coordinator. We did our top fifty prospects. When I say we, I mean Daniel Jeremiah did it. I know nothing about these men, but we talked about it on Forties and Free Agents. We're hitting you with two shows in the Feed on Tuesday, so check that one out too. And I noted how you know there's four Ohio State guys in the top ten prospects and they didn't find a way to get a win.

00:50:41
Speaker 2: So you got, you know, to win the title. You got to win.

00:50:43
Speaker 1: But it's really hilarious to me that Arthur Smith is the offensive coordinator and Matt Patricia is the defensive coordinator and just at Ohio State. If you had told me that like five or ten years ago, that I would have been very surprised by that. And so good luck to him. No more Arthur Smith in the NFL. Let's get out of here.

00:50:58
Speaker 2: We did it.

00:50:58
Speaker 1: We got in and we got out, and we're going to be back in the feed a little later this week, me you, Colleen and Patrick. I'm looking forward to that. I will be back in the feed next with Ali Connolly. That show will be on Thursday. Looking forward to that.

00:51:17
Speaker 2: I don't know what's next. I'm losing check of all time space. Continue.

00:51:20
Speaker 1: We're gonna go to the super Bowl, right that game will happen. Josh Dobson isn't gonna play in that game, is he?

00:51:28
Speaker 2: Please? No,