McVay weighs retiring, then decides to come back. Is he going to do this crap every year now?
Probably every year his team sucks.
According to the ESPN Coaching Matchmaker tool on their website, they think that Leslie Frazier is the best candidate for the Indianapolis gig, with an “A.” Narrowly beating out Jim Harbaugh, who scored an “A-.“
I confess to not knowing enough about Frazier and his coaching style to support the suggestion fully, but it’s an intriguing idea, in any case.
Him and Aaron Rodgers are tight, I guess.
And Brett Favre. 
Supposedly, Harbaugh is off the table. I suppose we’ve seen this kind of statement flip before, but people are treating this one as pretty solid. Personally, I’d be shocked if he left Michigan at this point. It’s such a cushy gig…unless of course these sanctions come down hard on him and the program. Wonder if the University gave him a bunch of guarantees should the penalties come in harsh.
Frazier, eh?
I don’t see it myself, but I can see the argument for going back to an experienced coach and back to something resembling stability. The roster wasn’t terrible, but there did seem to be a lot of interference from the owner’s box.
If it does happen, I’d be mightily suspicious Jim Irsay is taking a page from the Texans’ book and looking for a one year deal while he works on whoever it is he likely already has in mind. I’m wondering instead if he keeps Jeff Saturday on for another year and says he thinks he needs a full offseason to prove his stuff.
I’d also be surprised if Harbaugh left Michigan for anything short of major NCAA sanctions or a near perfect NFL position. He interviewed with Denver but that job is almost certain to be available again in a year or two and that might be a better time for it. Not that he’d be thinking that way - bird in the hand and all that.
And, honestly, I think it’s only the former that would really do it. Successful college coaches at big football schools are effectively the coach/GM/director of player personnel for their programs, and are typically given a lot of free rein to run their programs as they see fit, with minimal interference from “management,” unless there are NCAA investigations, or the coach himself starts to misbehave.
By contrast, very few NFL teams give their coaches that level of complete control (Belichick is likely one of the few who has had it in recent decades). There’s a pretty sizable list of successful college coaches who jumped to the NFL in the relatively recent past, and quickly jumped back to college, upon realizing that they had it better in the college ranks: Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino, Butch Davis, Dennis Erickson.
I would be also. He had success in the NFL for sure, but there was so much drama and turmoil, especially toward the end. He’s got a good thing going at Michigan. If I was him, I wouldn’t go anywhere else. (Unless as you said, things go bad there.)
I don’t think it’s possible for a coach to have the kind of control on an NFL team that he can have on a college team, and that sort of thing is important to Harbaugh.
You are both correct about the relative control, but that’s not necessarily a net positive. Some coaches might view it that way, but it also comes with a lot more stress and a much bigger time commitment. It forces you to do a lot of things that you might not be great at at the expense of those thing that made you successful in the first place.
Harbaugh having been in a HC job before will know what the trade offs are. He certainly wants a big salary, a long commitment and might want to have a GM who is more of a peer than a boss. Sharing the load without undermining his ability to steer the fate of the organization.
Certainly that takes a pretty mature person without a lot of insecurity or ego. I think a lot of coaches get scars that drove them into insisting on that self-destructive model.
We’ll see what happens, but Sean Payton hasn’t publicly demanded a GM title or something equivalent. But he also always had a great working relationship with Mickey Loomis. Will be interesting to see what happens in his next stop.
Don’t recall if this has been mentioned upthread, but Payton is still under contract with the Saints, so another team would actually have to trade for him – and the price is a first round pick.
https://www.si.com/nfl/broncos/news/sean-payton-saints-first-round-pick-trade
If I’m Indy, no way I’m trading the 4th pick in the draft for a coach. Especially one who’s never won anything without Drew Brees.
I’d heard that previously, I think it’d be hilarious for Denver to do this. They’d have to give their 2024 pick of course since Seattle has their 2023 pick.
I agree. Even leaving out a top 5 pick, I don’t want Payton anyway. I’ve just never been a big fan of his.
Yeah, it’s weird how no one brings up the scandal over bounties from a few years back. I guess he did the time (a year’s suspension), so now we can forget the crime?
There’s no question he’s a good coach, and in combination with Brees had a solid run over more than a decade. The two of them turned that franchise around, but that was 16 years ago.
Among the coaches, Gregg Williams took almost all the heat for Bountygate. And Payton kept winning.
And people hate Belichick more. If Bill Belichick was 20 years younger and looking for a job, people would also probably overlook a lot of things. Heck, some teams might overlook a lot of it even now.
The bounties occurred over a decade ago, not “a few years back”. That’s why.
Don’t get me wrong, it was awful. But he was able to coach for almost a decade after the sanctions were complete, so obviously everyone has moved on since then.
While not head coaches, three offensive coordinators for playoff teams are departing, after their teams’ disappointing performances in the first round:
- The Buccaneers have fired Byron Leftwich (and a number of assistant coaches have been fired or have retired)
- The Chargers have fired Joe Lombardi (and QB coach Shane Day)
- Ravens OC Greg Roman has resigned
Payton is suggesting the Saints want a mid-to-late 1st round pick. That’s of course their starting offer. I think it’s unlikely that they get anything close to a pick in the teens or earlier. The Colt’s 4th overall pick is certainly not on the table. If they off their 2nd round pick I think they’d easily be the leader in the clubhouse as far as compensation, hell that’s the price of a Chase Claypool.
Dolphins have also fired DC Josh Boyer.
I have to say…I’m pretty surprised at how few HC have been fired so far. An awful lot of scapegoats falling in the Coordinator ranks, but the HCs are holding strong.
Open Spots at this time:
Panthers
Broncos
Texans
Cardinals
Colts
Only 5 spots at this time. Three of those five were mid-season firings. The Panthers and Colts are both considering hanging onto their interim coaches, so you could even put an asterisk by those two. Odds are probably against them both, but good cases could be made that they will be kept (“should be” is a different discussion).
Surprises:
Chargers
After that epic collapse in round one, and the continuing struggles while having one of the best QBs in the league on a rookie contract, Staley should be gone. He’s a defensive guy and their highly paid defense sucked. It’s truly amazing that they have kept him so far. Terrible OC Lombardi is gone so it looks like he’s taking the heat for Staley. The media is claiming the Chargers won’t fire him because they are too cheap to pay two coaches, but I find that pretty unlikely.
Buccaneers
Possibly the worst coached team in the league this year…with Tom Brady. Todd Bowles has had a few coaching jobs and has never really succeeded at all, this season was a trainwreck. Like in LA they canned their OC, and Leftwich was a garbage fire, but they have to be regretting how the Arians thing played out. Once Brady’s gone I wonder if he comes back and Bowles is just a seat warmer.
Rams
McVay still seems like he’s sticking around. It would have been weird to have him quit after one bad season, but this roster isn’t great and they gave away a lot of draft capital over the years. He also is apparently burned out. I haven’t seen anything official yet, but all signals are that he’s going to retool his staff which means he’s planning to be back.
Commanders
I haven’t heard a lot of noise about him being on the hot seat but he really should be. They can’t seem to figure out the QB situation, which isn’t totally on the coach, but it’s been a mess. Him not knowing the playoff situation is a pretty glaring deriliction of duty too. Washington just feels like a place in need of change but for now, seems like it won’t be at HC.