UNCrules2187

I mean the Spanos family has owned the Chargers for nearly 20 years and the franchise has 5 total playoff wins in that timeframe with Rivers and Herbert as franchise QBs. The Tepper era hasn't gotten off to a roaring start, to say the least, but let's see how the next 5-10 years play out.

Not quite aware of who he may have ties to from a HC perspective. Person confirmed Wilks would go after Brian Johnson to be his OC, maybe Manuel is his pick for DC?

He deleted the tweet about Ben interviewing today

Tweet was deleted, think he’s wrong

Not only that but you’re punting on the possibility that you blow a team away to the point where they decide they’re gonna go with you instead of who they thought they wanted

Wonder if the Panthers reach out to Evero or Morris now.

If Ryans and Mayo ultimately don't end up interviewing then we will need to interview another minority candidate before we can officially hire anyone.

I'd be happy with Johnson or Steichen, but for some reason, I'm leaning towards Johnson. Maybe UNC is the tiebreaker for me lol. I do think if it's Johnson I would prefer he get a former HC as his DC. Someone like Vance Joseph (coached with him in Miami). Nugget here, but in 2021, Dom Capers was a Senior Defensive Assistant/Consultant for the Lions, that could be a good potential DC/AHC hire that has a connection to Johnson. Otherwise, there are former HCs that could be available for DC roles (Vic Fangio, Gus Bradley, potentially Raheem Morris if McVay leaves the Rams).

I do think Mayo could break the mold and would be an intriguing HC candidate. I don't think he's a serious contender for the Panthers job, but anecdotally it seems like recent ex-LBs have made for some pretty good coaching candidates (Vrabel, Ryans).

Does Wilks have any connection to Dan Mullen? Johnson coached QBs at both of Mullen's stops (MSU and UF) and was also OC at Florida before Mullen was fired.

Agreed. I think if Wilks is the guy, I would not at all be surprised if one of Caldwell or Reich ends up being the OC in Carolina.

Yeah I think in the case of Brian Johnson specifically, he's probably thinking 1) does Steichen get a HC job? If yes, I'm in line to get become OC with a great QB in place OR I could follow him depending on the situation (e.g. if Steichen lands in Houston or Indy, I can help mold a top 5 rookie QB); 2) does Gannon get a HC job? If so, I could potentially follow him similarly to Houston or Indy (reports are that Gannon is the early front runner in Houston) and probably have a bunch of autonomy to coordinate the offensive side of the ball with a #2 overall pick at QB. I think Wilks would be my fallback where if Steichen doesn't leave AND Gannon gets a HC gig but has a different person in mind at OC, THEN I would look into a situation where I take the promotion to OC under a guy like Wilks that I don't have much (any?) experience with.

No, I understand Johnson has been linked to Wilks a possible OC option (Breer reported that a few times I believe). I'm saying if I'm him, why would I make that move? Especially if Steichen gets hired elsewhere as HC, then I'd rather stay in Philly, get a promotion, and work with an MVP caliber QB in Jalen Hurts.

It's great to throw names out, but I'm not quite sure why Brian Johnson would join Wilks rather than someone like Gannon or Steichen who he's worked with for the past few years on the Eagles staff if they land a gig? Or just stay put and get elevated to OC in Philly if Steichen gets hired elsewhere?

We only interviewed 4 guys last go-round and ended up with the worst possible one. You're hoping to not do this sort of thing every 2-3 years. Even if you know you have a top 3-4, it makes sense to get as many different guys into the building as you can and hear diverse perspectives to compare and contrast to what you're hearing from the guy(s) you're leaning towards.

Problem is that OC is probably gone in a year or two - that's why guys like Johnson, Kafka, Steichen, Dorsey are getting looks this go around even though they only have 1-2 years OC experience. Could see Lafleur being an OC on DeMeco Ryans staff, btw.

I had the same thought. Read somewhere however that he wants to stay in the Northeast because he doesn't plan on uprooting his family, so think it's more likely that he would only move out of the Northeast for a HC gig rather than a DC gig (or take the Cleveland DC gig over other DC jobs, if offered).

They could still request an interview. Moore is coaching in the same game and he's been requested.

Realistically, it makes sense. I know if I was an owner of a team playing this weekend I wouldn't want an important member of my coaching staff doing HC interviews rather than prepping for the game and I don't think any of those candidates would want their focus divided between prepping for a HC interview and prepping for a do or die game in a few days.

We cannot interview any of those 3 candidates (Dorsey/Moore/Kafka) this week. This week you can only interview currently employed external candidates virtually if they are not in the playoffs or have a Wild Card bye. Starting next week after the Wild Card round and prior to the divisional games on 1/22, we can conduct in-person or virtual interviews of candidates whose teams played on Wild Card weekend.

Calm down my guy, Johnson went to UNC 20 years ago, it's not like Rhule bringing in guys he had just coached over the past 5-6 years. Breathe, relax, it will be fine.

Yep. In-person interviews with external candidates employed by other teams can’t begin until next week.

I wouldn’t trade Moore, but it’s actually quite easy to trade him right now. Cutting him isn’t feasible which is how you get $35m dead cap hit because you eat the 2023 base salary as well. However, in a trade, while the remaining prorated bonus of $9.75m in 2024 and 2025 would accelerate onto the 2023 cap, his $20.165m of 2023 salary shifts to the new team so we’d actually net a little over $10m in 2023 cap space. But good luck supporting a rookie QB with a mid-round rookie WR, Terrace Marshall, Shi Smith, Ian Thomas, and whatever bargain bin WR you can find in FA with that extra $10m in cap space. That’s why I don’t think it makes sense to trade DJ. He’s on a very reasonable deal for his level of production.