Mr. Scot

Meanwhile...

Yeah, he did. I'm not sure what part of this process looks "right". Also...

Rhule has stated that Newton is the starter.

I love the practice of hiring former head coaches as coordinators.

Sure, but given Rhule's history I'm not sure he'd agreed to it and that could lead to a parting of the ways. (which I'd be fine with)

There's going to be a lot of competition for however many jobs are open. And the league has been looking for Sean McVay types.

My first question as well...

Go back to his history though. He turned down the Jets head coaching job because they wanted input on his staff. Turns out they may have had valid reason.

Fitterer and Morgan are actually a pretty solid combination of draft and pro personnel experience. I'd love to see Morgan bring over Lake Dawson from Buffalo to help with college scouting. Fitterer could also bring a board his old colleague Scot McCloughan. You'd just have to have some pretty strong assurances that he'd stay sober.

I remember thinking McDaniels probably had the job. Then Marty Hurney heard Matt Rhule's sales pitch and, welp...

You'd just have to convince Matt Rhule to hire him rather than promoting one of his own people. Good luck with that part

I actually like the idea of Pederson as an OC if we keep Rhule but fire Brady. He's got a track record of success, runs a West Coast type system so no need for system based personnel turnover. Plus he's got a Panther connection through VP of Player Personnel Pat Stewart. Hell, he was even on the 95 offseason roster (didn't make the team though).

Eberflus was on a Cowboys staff that included Jason Garrett and Scott Linehan with Tony Romo and, oddly enough, Kellen Moore playing quarterback.

Probably. I confess I'm not that high on the idea myself (nothing against Eberflus). We thought we were getting an offensive minded coach when we got Rhule, but I don't know if that's really true. To be perfectly honest, it feels like what we ultimately got was another coach in the mold of John Fox and Ron Rivera.

Lemme throw in one more point on Hackett... Lack of NFL experience is one of people's biggest criticisms when it comes to Matt Rhule and his staff. Hackett is pretty much on the other end of the spectrum. He's been an NFL coach for 13 years, but his dad coached in the league starting as far back as 1981, including some time spent coaching a guy named Joe Montana. Along the way, he's picked up connections to people like the Schottenheimers and the Grudens and the long list of people they're connected to. Heck, he even worked with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin a while back. And there's more. All that said, it's probably not all that likely that we get him. I'm not even sure how big a chance there is of Rhule being gone. But ya never know...

Whereas we handed him the keys to everything

Good link here for anybody that wants to look at potential head coaching candidates in general... Future NFL head coaches for 2022 and beyond Hackett and Daboll are actually the first two names mentioned, but guys like Eric Bieniemy, Byron Leftwhch, Matt Eberflus and others are also listed.

Couple of good reads on Hackett... Nathaniel Hackett has what it takes, and a lot more Solid gold Hackett becomes top coaching candidate Packers Nathaniel Hackett is not like the rest of them One writer noted that pretty much everywhere he's gone, offensive improvement has followed. Throw in that between he and his dad, he's got enough connections to build a world-class staff. He'd honestly be pretty entertaining too. His personality can definitely be described as...quirky.

No argument. Of course, you also have to remember that not being allowed to make his own staffing decisions was why Rhule turned down the Jets. Ironically enough, it was a factor in the Eagles parting ways with Pederson as well.

Rhule definitely has a preference for hiring people he's worked with previously. Still feels like if he goes to replace Brady, it'll be somebody from within (like Sean Ryan or Jeff Nixon) unless he's actually forced to look outside. If that happens, it might be more likely we get people with connections to guys like Scott Fitterer, Dan Morgan and Pat Stewart. Ken Dorsey would likely have the Dan Morgan endorsement. His coming back here would be ironic too (especially if Newton were retained). He'd also be a potential OC candidate under Brian Daboll. Kafka is a popular name right now. I read he's actually not under contract next year so he could be an option. Oddly enough, he's also got a minor connection to Daboll tracing back to the 2013 offseason. The most obvious names with connections to Fitterer would be former Seahawks OC Brian Schottenheimer land current Seahawks passing game coordinator Dave Canales. Schottenheimer has some history but depending on who you talk to, he's not always the most popular guy. My favorite option here though is a former colleague of Player Personnel VP Pat Stewart who also happens to have a lot of familiarity with West Coast type offensive systems. Specifically, Doug Pederson.

Valid. I was thinking more about Mike Phair though. Rhule dumped him after the 2020 season and replaced in with one of his Baylor guys (Frank Okam). I feel like if you have a history with Rhule, your job might be a lot safer than if you didn't. I'd add that this is probably part of the problem. There are more than a few guys on his staff for whom we could likely find good replacements with NFL experience. But unless he's forced to do so, I have a hard time imagining he'd do it of his own free will.

I'd call Doug Pederson myself. He's got a WCO background and an obvious record of success. No connections to Matt Rhule that I know of but Pat Stewart would know him from his time in Philly. I feel like Rhule would me more likely to promote from within though. So Sean Ryan or Jeff Nixon would be the likely candidates. Then we'd backfill their positions. Rhule has said he doesn't believe in firing assistants, but I think that's selective. Brady isn't one of the guys who's followed Rhule from job to job, so he's a lot more likely to be "fireable" than say, Phil Snow.

To those wondering, my absence is related to some personal challenges. Without going into too much detail, Lady Cowboy Fan is facing three upcoming surgeries. That's not the only thing going on mind you, but it's the biggest. Between that and the other things, I haven't been up to talking football quite as much, but I'm still watching. May be back to talk some more in coming weeks, but obviously my top priority right now is helping her.

I'm far from certain that Matt Rhule will be let go (in my opinion, he should be). But if he is, here's something worth keeping in mind... Two higher-up members of the Panthers front office have ties to Bills OC Brian Daboll. Pat Stewart was with the Patriots when Daboll was the right ends coach from 2013 to 2016. And of course, Dan Morgan was previously with the Bills. He and Daboll arrived in Buffalo the same offseason (2018). Personally, I'd prefer Packers OC Nathaniel Hackett, but it's hard not to think those connections wouldn't at least potentially give Daboll an inside track on the job if (if) any changes are made. Just something to think about... I'm out.

He wasn't blaming the defense. That idea got stirred up because of a hilariously bad take by a numbskull on Twitter.