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Three of the League's best Special Teams coaches...

Mr. Scot

By Mr. Scot,
in Carolina Panthers

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

Posted
Posted

...are currently available for hire.

 

Their info...

 

BRAD SEELY

 

New 49ers coach Jim Tomsula has basically gutted the team's coaching staff, retaining only RB coach Tom Rathman (talk about not liking your co-workers).  Among those not retained, Special Teams Coach Brad Seely.  Long time Panther fans should remember Seely as the Panthers original ST Coach (1995-1998) and those who pay attention to coaching know he's one of the best in the league.  Seely has the distinction of being one of the few Special teams coaches to have received head coaching consideration (Dave Toub and, obviously, John Harbaugh are among the others).

 

Would be great to see him come back to his old home, though there's one possible hitch.  There were rumors that a lot of Dom Capers staff departed Charlotte on very bad terms.  If that's true, and Seely still holds a grudge, he might not want anything to do with the Panthers.

 

JOE DECAMILLIS

 

Another ST Coach with a very solid reputation, available now because Chicago fired Marc Trestman and his staff, though DeCamillis was reportedly not under contract at the end of this year anyway.  DeCamillis has, oddly enough, served time with two of Dave Gettleman's prior employers, the Broncos and the Giants.  In both cases he departed for other teams prior to Gettleman's arrival.

 

It'd be no stretch to expect that whomever gets the Bears job (Fox, maybe) might reach out to DeCamillis and try to keep him, but right now he's out there if we had the desire to try for him ourselves.

 

BOBBY APRIL

 

This is the biggest name in the group, and interestingly enough, we tried to get him before.

 

April interviewed with the Panthers back in 2013 after Brian Murphy was let go but ultimately chose to sign with the Raiders (wonder if he regrets that decision now).  PFT reported that on January 14th April declined to re-up with Oakland, so he's now officially a coaching free agent.

 

April has three former coaching colleagues on the Panthers staff and one former player.  He worked with OL Coach John Matsko for a year at the University of Arizona (86) and three more in Saint Louis.  During two of those years, Ricky Proehl was with the Rams as a player.  April also coached a couple of years with Assistant OL Coach Ray Brown in Buffalo and one year with DC Sean McDermott in Philly.

 

A longtime NFL ST Coach with an excellent reputation, April will likely be in very high demand from the teams currently looking to build a coaching staff.  The question is do we still want him like we did two years ago.

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

 

There are a couple of other names conceivably out there.  One familiar one is Jeff Rodgers, late of the Broncos.  Rodgers was the Special Teams Coach for the last few years of John Fox's tenure in Carolina and followed Fox to Denver.  Like the rest of the the Broncos staff in the wake of the mutual Fox-Elway split, Rodgers has been told to seek employment elsewhere.  And while he doesn't have the rep of the top three, he's a good young coach who'd likely be an upgrade over what we have now.

 

Then there's Falcons ST Coach Keith Armstrong.  He'd be an upgrade too, but like the rest of the Falcons staff he's in limbo at the moment.  Although part of the staff of the now fired Mike Smith, Armstrong is still officially employed and the Falcons aren't giving any of their assistants permission to interview elsewhere.  OL Coach Mike Tice, for example, was recently denied permission to interview with the Raiders.

 

And yes, we do have a Special Teams Coach with a good rep on staff already as an assistant.  It's unlikely that Ron Rivera would agree to have Bruce Dehaven and Richard Rodgers swap roles, but technically it's a possibility.

 

SO WILL WE DO ANYTHING?

 

If you're a team looking for a new Special Teams Coach, the timing couldn't possibly be better.  Three of the best in the business are out of work and looking for employment right this very second.

 

But Head Coach Ron Rivera has indicated so far that there will likely be no staff changes.

 

In defending the performance of current ST Coach Richard Rodgers, Rivera pointed out that Special Teams play suffered when five of his best special teamers went down, Bill Voth rightly mentioned that three of them came back prior to season's end and things didn't get any better.  To be quite honest, they weren't that great even before the injuries.  But Rivera, who is known to be extremely loyal when it comes to both players and staff, doesn't seem to see it that way.

 

Loyalty is an admirable quality, but one that, when misplaced, can really hurt a football coach's performance.

 

If you want a reason for optimism, Rivera did say that he and GM Dave Gettleman will be in the "evaluation process" for the next few weeks.  And of course Gettleman mentioned that while he lets Rivera make all his staffing decisions, he is able to make 'suggestions'.

 

I'm sincerely hoping that during 'evaluation mode' one of Gettleman's "suggestions" to Rivera is that he look to upgrade the ST Coach.  The best Scenario would be to reach out to Bobby April again.  Failing that, go after Seely or DeCamillis.  I'd also settle for Rodgers or DeHaven, pretty much anything but sticking with Richard Rodgers

 

Those are the best scenarios.

 

Unfortunately, the most likely scenario is exactly what Rivera hinted at in his presser...

 

No changes at all.

 

And if that's the case, we will have missed an absolutely golden opportunity.

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LinvilleGorge Grand Master

LinvilleGorge

Posted
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I'm really hoping that our situation will mirror the Giants' this year in that mere days after Coughlin stood at his post-season presser defending his coaching staff and saying there would be no changes - boom - Giants' DC gets let go.  We really, really need a change at OC and ST coordinator.  I agree with Gettleman that you have to leave coaching staff decisions to the head coach, but I hope he made those suggestions to Rivera and I hope he made them strongly. 

 

Like, "Listen Ron, I know you love your guys, but I really think a change at OC and ST coordinator are needed... Oh, you don't?  Okay, that's fine.  But just know, we have high expectations for next season and I don't think I need to elaborate on what changes might be necessary if we fall short of them.  I'll always leave coaching staff decisions up to you and I sincerely hope you make the right decisions."

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