Mr. Scot

You know he's gotta be absolutely nuclear level pissed over this story being out there.

He needs to "handle it" by keeping his ass out of it.

If more than 20 people in the building qere willing to talk to him and Russini for this story, does he even need to?

Caldwell and McCown are both good friends of Reich. Caldwell is actually the guy who got him into coaching. Definitely wouldn't be Capers either because he and Frank go way back. The chief suspects would likely be Campen, Tabor, maybe Thomas Brown who probably didn't like losing the playcalling duties.

There's a theme I've come to see you in a lot of Fitterer's decisions... Fletcher and others were drafted because of Rhule. Terrace Marshall was drafted on the word of Joe Brady. Matt Corral was taken thanks to advocacy from Ben McAdoo DJ Johnson was brought aboard because Ejiro Evero wanted him. And of course there's Bryce Young, who Fitterer may have had conviction on or who may have been David Tepper's favorite. Result is the same either way. We used to hear a lot about The Appaloosa Way and how it favored collaborative thinking. Hell, that was even echoed by Reich when he hired the "all star staff" including people from outside his circle (at David Tepper's suggestion). What have we ultimately learned? That The Appaloosa Way is horse sh-t. With the next brain trust, I want somebody over it all who knows their sh-t and doesn't have to do an opinion poll to make a decision. And no, that can't be David Tepper because not only does he not know his sh-t, he doesn't seem to know sh-t at all

With everything that's out there now, a full-on house cleaning is probably...no, definitely...the only viable option. Here's what I can tell you about that based on what I've seen from previous teams over the years... COACHING Obviously, we were already getting a new head coach. Will that new head coach be somebody that's currently on staff? I suppose that's possible, but it's kind of hard to imagine given the level of dysfunction we've seen this year. As far as coaching assistants, you can expect a new head coach will want to hire his own staff without interference or suggestions from ownership or the front office. In truth, that's pretty normal for most NFL teams, but wasn't for us this past offseason. Is there a chance Evero and the guys on the defensive side of the ball stay? Yes, but I don't know how much of one. It's still possible, even if unlikely, that Evero gets a shot at a head coaching gig. Even if he doesn't though, a better opportunity than working for the version of the Panthers organization that he experienced this season could very easily present itself. And of course, it's entirely conceivable that the new head coach might just prefer somebody else. FRONT OFFICE On the management side, regardless of anyone's (including David Tepper's) opinion on Scott Fitterer, it's necessary at this point to install a new GM. No head coach is going to want to work for a GM who's been reported to have gone to the owner about the prior head coach behind his back. That's way too toxic and atmosphere to ask anyone to accept. What about Dan Morgan and the rest of the personnel people? Good chance they could stay through at least this year's draft because it's pretty tough to build a complete front office that quick. Once the draft and the bulk of free agency are over though, it's be no surprise for a lot of them to be gone as well in favor of who the new GM wants to have in place. TIMELINE So coaching staff turnover will most likely be complete before the draft, by the summer at the latest. Front office turnover should at the very least begin later in the year, but could quite easily stretch into next year also. It's relatively rare for coaching staffs, but not unusual for front offices to be partially rebuilt over more than one season. There's less immediacy in that sort of thing. Heck, even under Fitterer not everything changed at once. Some guys will likely be given a chance to stay and prove themselves, and either they will or they won't (similar to what happened here with Pat Stewart). WHOS IN CHARGE? And the question on a lot of people's minds, will there be a "team president" or "chief consultant" helping make the decisions? On that front, your guess is as good as mine. I know there are some who want a Jim Harbaugh / Bill Belichick type to run everything. I don't, and after the experience with Matt Rhule I'm not sure David Tepper will either. Also have to wonder just how much a guy like that would put up with Tepper (or vice versa). If there is a team president, my long-standing preference would be that the job go to Kevin Colbert. He's got an impeccable resumé as a team builder, and perhaps more to the point he's well known to David Tepper. There were rumors a few years ago that Tepper was going to try and lure him to Carolina as GM. Whether or not he's still an option in that role or some other form is hard to say, but we can hope. Barring the hiring of a "football czar" though, my current choices for our top jobs would be Brandon Hunt at GM and Frank Smith as head coach. Hunt was reported to be Colbert's heir apparent in Pittsburgh before they interviewed everybody under the sun (including Dan Morgan) and finally settled on giving the job to Omar Khan. Hunt left for a role with the Eagles shortly thereafter, but he's known to both Colbert and Tepper. Experience with two strong organizations certainly doesn't hurt either. As far as Smith, he certainly has experience working with an undersized quarterback and has a lot of buzz as a future head coach going for him. Mind you, I don't know of any connection between Smith and Hunt so if Hunt had someone else in mind (perhaps from the Steelers or the Eagles) they might have a better shot. I would like to think Smith would at least get an interview though. Ben Johnson? I'd like him a lot, but knowing now that people with the team (probably Duce Staley, maybe also Shawn Jefferson as someone else pointed out) have warned him about the Panthers, it's kind of hard to imagine. That is, unless his desire to come back home and coach the team he watched as a kid is stronger than those other factors. Some have suggested that he might come here if he gets to choose his own GM, but nothing I've read about Johnson makes me think he's that sort of coach. Nor do I know at this time of any particular connection he has with a personnel type in Detroit or elsewhere. He came to the Lions based on connection with Dan Campbell, not anyone in the front office. BOTTOM LINE It probably goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway... No matter what else happens - who gets hired, who gets fired, whatever - the most key thing that has to happen is still that David Tepper needs to remove himself from the football operations. If that doesn't occur, pretty good chance that none of the other moves make any difference.

Didn't notice it before, but this article isn't written by Dianna Russini alone. It's co-written between Russini and Joe Person.

My opinion on that is pretty well known. The only alternative to that I can see would be hiring Brandon Hunt with the promise that he has absolute power and Tepper will keep his hands completely off. Have mentioned that I like Will McClay also but I don't know if he's obtainable.

The stuff being mentioned in Russini's article today doesn't exactly paint Young in a positive light.

I think it's very possible Russell Wilson may have influenced his thinking. Also can't help feeling the whole bit about Reich "overprotecting" Young gives me Pete Carroll-Russell Wilson vibes.

There's no way you can keep him now, not with a story out there that he was talking to the owner about Frank behind his back. No head coach is going to want to work in that kind of environment.

Oy

Yeah, that's a pretty clear sign that Tepper is not exactly "beloved".

I definitely think at some point he mentally checked out. Given the situation, it'd be hard not to. The only question is when It happened.

Jones didn't mention her either. And bottom line for me, I don't really care what her level of involvement is. Dave is bad enough on his own. He doesn't need anybody's help.

The GM did, and that's per his own words. Scouting staff apparently agreed. I'm not so sure in McCown did though, and Frank might not have either until the GM "helped" him (per Jonathan Jones).

Oh I think it's possible. Hell, a lot of owners stay away from the media just because they don't want to hear the negatives. We know from his own admissions though that Tepper does not. He is fully aware of how he's perceived, and he doesn't like it.

Wouldn't call it "coming to terms" so much as new information. My ideal situation would have had Fitterer and Reich being given more time to build the team together. That went out the window when Reich was fired, so from that point on I stopped caring whether they kept Fitterer or not. Hearing what we're hearing now though, It doesn't sound like they were ever actually "working together" to begin with. In fact, it sounds more like Fitterer helped sabotage him. Jones mentioned some NFL executives think the proper move would have been to fire Fitterer and keep Reich. Not sure that would have worked either at this point, unless Frank were allowed to remake his staff with only his own choices.

To be fair, she might not know anything about the story that's come out today. I'd be willing to bet a years salary Dave does though, and he's probably fuming about it.

I don't know whether she thinks anything like that. Don't honestly care. Dave by himself is bad enough.

That's one incident, and a minor one compared to the whole "madam" thing. Point was he was a hotheaded a--hole prone to emotional decisions. He'd have been awful.

I'm really not. Spartanburg was hot as hell. (though you could argue that might have been good for the players) Actually believed the idea of putting a practice facility in Fort Mill or Rock Hill was a good one. Even using the old Heritage USA space might have made some sense. The execution of those ideas though...left something to be desired

Mentioned it elsewhere but it likely applies here as well... Jones says that Fitterer "helped Reich make the decision to draft Young over C.J. Stroud". Lots of different ways that could go, but most of them not good.

I forget who, but someone mentioned Jansen as a guy Rhule wanted to get rid of because he saw through the bullsh-t.

Yep, though that was a long time ago when my body still worked