Mr. Scot

The David Tepper decision to hire Matt Rhule cost us more than any other choice did. That one sits at the root of all the others.

I wouldn't bet on that.

Sean Ryan's actually got more pro level experience (14 years to 9) as well as a more diversified pro skill set (quarterbacks, runningbacks and receivers vs runningbacks and tight ends). Nixon's technically been a coordinator, but it was actually a co-coordinator, and even that only for three seasons at the college level.

Garrett could very easily be an OC option if Matt Eberflus gets the head coaching job. They were colleagues back in Dallas.

You think the team owner that gave an unproven college coach a 7 year, 60 million dollar contract that paid him more than some successful coaches won't pay an established coordinator?

Let's not forget that those early Panther teams were given some special advantages because the league wanted them to be competitive early. The early Jaguars actually stayed competitive for a while even after those advantages ended. The Panthers... didn't.

This is valid.

Here's the rationale behind those ideas (per Orr) Jags: I think that when an owner says the head coach has lost his trust, and the coach, who has also been woefully unprepared throughout his first campaign, has failed to develop the most important asset in franchise history, there is little reason to reconvene for a second season. The Jaguars remain a plumb job for someone with NFL experience who can design an offense and handle game-management situations. Had the Jon Gruden email scandal never materialized, there’s a good chance we would have still been focusing our collective coaching ire on Urban Meyer, making the idea of keeping him all the more difficult from an optical standpoint. While it’s surprising Meyer has not already fled northern Florida for one of the legacy college football openings, it would be even more surprising if Jacksonville tried to sell us on a second season of his tenure, with Trevor Lawrence currently rated as one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. Texans: My guess is that the Texans went into last year’s process knowing that it would be difficult for them to have their choice of dream candidates, given how chaotic the organization appeared. It would make some sense for them to reemerge onto the market to see if they could land the person of their dreams and if not, keep David Culley who, say what you will about the hire, has gotten a threadbare roster to well outplay its capabilities. If the Texans can find the right match, perhaps someone with some Patriots ties who has familiarity with general manager Nick Caserio, then they could pounce. And for good measure, here's the Panthers analysis... Matt Rhule and general manager Scott Fitterer have been incredibly aggressive this season, especially in an effort to repair the tumble Carolina took after a 3–0 start. They traded for two starting defensive backs and brought back Cam Newton to patch up the quarterback situation. The result? Almost nonexistent playoff chances and a spot deep in the queue for next year’s quarterback carousel. The Panthers dealt Teddy Bridgewater (one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the NFL this year) and brought in Sam Darnold, who will end this season no further from his NFL reputation as a mistake-prone, replacement-level passer. They were unable to jam themselves into the receiving line for Matthew Stafford. If you’re David Tepper, who is desperate for an answer at the position, do you view what has happened as an indictment of the coach you hired? Was there anything to the fact that Rhule’s name was bandied about during this chaotic NCAA coaching cycle? How does that play? Still, this would be an industry-shaking move just two years into a seven-year contract.

The guy who had final say on that roster turnover was Matt Rhule.

From Conor Orr's head coaching carousel article (linked elsewhere)... Aside from the success of Kliff Kingsbury (which also comes with some qualifiers, given the load carried by assistants Vance Joseph and Jeff Rodgers) owners are watching as certain hires deemed “outside the box” or without enough seasoning are flaming out spectacularly or, at the least, can cause their organization to stick out like a shock of red hair in a sea of brown, black and blonde. They are not fond of this feeling, which is why the process has largely been devoted to risk-averse maneuvers for the longest time. Also, while coaches like Andy Reid, Bill Belichick and John Harbaugh were outside-the-box hires at the time, the fact that they, along with other tenured coaches like Bruce Arians and Mike McCarthy, are sitting in first place as owners begin the process doesn’t bode well for the idea that they should pluck someone from (relative) obscurity. The most recent series of experiments involving college coaches has not gone well. We’ll get to potential openings in a few paragraphs, but it seems like there have been notable personality conflicts between owners of teams with recent college head coaches and their former all-powerful university leaders. In addition, outside of a few names that we’ll list below, the hot-rising-I-know-Sean-McVay-and-coach-quarterbacks market has pretty much dried up. We went from a glut of up-and-coming offensive minds to a bit of a dearth.

The burning question right now: What happens if we lose out, especially if we do so in embarrassing fashion?

You're talking about "should" though. Until there's an actual change, it doesn't matter.

NFL coaching carousel primer From the article... Raiders: already open Bears: very likely open Jaguars: likely open Texans: likely to very likely open Broncos: possibly open, if they miss the playoffs Vikings: possible, if they miss the playoffs Dolphins: unlikely to be open, though a playoff run would help Seahawks: possible, if Pete Carroll chooses to retire Giants: unlikely to be open, but… Lions: highly unlikely to be open Jets: extremely unlikely to be open And the Panthers? Possible, but would be precedent setting...

Sort of... Rhule had co-offensive coordinators, Nixon and Glenn Thomas. Thomas was also the quarterbacks coach and Nixon the runningbacks coach. Effectively speaking, they had a run game coordinator and a pass game coordinator.

Possible. Also possible that Dorsey follows Daboll to his new job.

Oy...

Good news! There is a connection between Doug Pederson and Matt Rhule...albeit a second hand one. Specifically, interim OC Jeff Nixon was on staff with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2009 and 2010 as an offensive assistant. During those two seasons, the Eagles offensive quality control position was manned by Pederson. The bad news? It's not easy to imagine that Nixon would suggest his own replacement rather than lobbying to have the full-time job himself. The worse news? If Brian Daboll gets a head coaching job next year with someone other than the Panthers, the guy who's going to be looking for his replacement was the Eagles defensive coordinator for those two seasons, our old buddy Sean McDermott. Given the choice, which team would you join?

Fixed.

Rivera deserved to be gone. Rhule deserves it even more than Rivera did.

This is a valid concern. It's also true that if you hire somebody who's not qualified for the job, holding on to them just for the sake of not changing too much too soon is a mistake.

He's got one. Assistant ST Coach Ed Foley was Rhule's special teams coordinator at Baylor.

That's a plausible scenario. With that said, I don't have faith in Rhule to choose the right person.

I don't know whether he's on the hot seat or not. I absolutely believe he should be. He is, in my opinion, not qualified to be a head coach in the NFL, and I'm not willing to wait around the number of years it would likely take him to gain that level of experience (which isn't guaranteed anyway).

It's valid that we face some bad teams, and anything can happen, but I don't have any faith that we win another game either. And as mentioned, I don't have any faith in David Tepper. But in the case of the very specific condition that he defers to guys like Fitterer and Morgan, I do have hope.