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Meyer/Berry 2020

Stefanski isn't appealing to me as of yet. I believe most of why people like him is because Depo liked him last season and considered him a better candidate.

After all.. seeing what FK did this past season. It's obvious Stefanski may have been the better candidate.

With the new candidates this time around Stefanski may or may not be Depos guy. We shall see.

On the surface, I would like McDaniels. Having spent the better part of 2 decades learning from BB, he has to have learned a lot from the master. He is probably the person who has spent the most time with Belichick during their careers, not just going over game plans, but chatting over coffee, or cigars and brandy, or riding on the plane. He has to have absorbed not just football strategy and tactics, but the underlying philosophy.

My problem with Josh is this. I don't trust him not to bolt back to NE when BB retires. After his disaster in Denver, NE welcomed him back to his old position like he was Kraft's prodigal son. Then last year he accepted the Colts proposal, named his staff who quit their jobs and hired on with Indy, only to leave them all at the alter when NE improved his contract. He's the heir apparent in NE, and I'm not sure that changes if he hires as HC with another team.

And wouldn't it be poetic if after BB served as the lifelong HC in NE having first honed his skills with the hapless Browns, that Kraft and BB send the heir to Cleveland like a baseball farm team, to hone his HC skills in the minors before taking over for Bill as the next lifelong HC of the Pats.

The real question is how many minority owners are there. That starts to get to the root of the issue.

That said, I disagree with the premise that the interview is a waste for the minority candidate if hes just being used to check a box.

Exposure, facetime with decision makers, and the chance to sell yourself and showcase your vision are valuable. No one should pass that up, in any industry. Just because you dont get the job doesnt mean you havent improved your chances in the future. That's the point of the rule I believe.

Back on topic, I dont like McDaniels for character reasons. Stefanski might be solid, but you run the risk again of getting a good coordinator that cant lead men. McCarthy at least has shown he can do it.

Supposedly McDaniels lost interest in the Patriots job when they traded away Garappolo.

A bit tin foil cap, but you do make some points. He might really want the NE job. The way I see it is if he signs here it is a 4 year deal. I might make it 5 understanding if I did, I was stuck with the guy for at least 3-4 years...and maybe that is a good thing. I don't think Bill is going to be coaching 3-4 years from now.

The deal with McDaniel, I don't know the name of the person off the top, but there is a FO guy who's contract expires. He and McDaniel get along great. Maybe he fits in with Wolfe.

Makes some sense. You spend 2-3 years developing the guy, thinking he might become your QB at some point.

I don't think it should be based on a quota at all. We have been down that road in other areas. In this case I think it is simply because there are more white people who go in to coaching after their college days are done. Maybe that is where the emphasis needs to be focused. Most players who go on to play in the NFL don't have a desire to coach, or start the coaching career maybe 15 years behind the guys who stopped playing when they were 22 years old. That is a pretty big experience gap. The former NFL player might have a good grasp of the position they played, but don't get a lot of hands on in the other position rooms. It's hard to gain the experience when you start coaching at 35 yeas old. It's not like basketball where players play both offense and defense and are exposed to both phases of the game from the beginning.

Anyway, we have been down this road. It is 2020. I don't think there is any bias towards having coaches of color on the sidelines.

I’d like McCarthy, Stefanski, then McDaniels

Saleh Interviews with the Browns today (Sat), and Dabol tomorrow (Sun). So far I have seen nothing specific as to when Stefanski interviews.

Here is a coaching tracker to keep everything straight. Pretty useful IMO.

https://profootballnetwork.com/2020-nfl-head-coach-interview-hire-tracker-news-rumors/

Are you thinking Nick Caserio or David Ziegler ?

According to the tracker. Carolina Cleveland and NY all have Josh McDaniels interviewing on the 10th. Is that possible ?

Yes, they could all be traveling to NE for the interviews and lined up at different times.

Oh jeesh Florida..Must be half awake. I was thinking that's a heck of a lot of flying around in one day... LOL

For some reason I thought the Candidate would want to see the facility. Come on coffee kick in..

Thanks !

For the serious interviews, they come to the teams facilities.

For, kick the tires interviews, the team fly's to them.

j/c:

How can Jimmy Haslam find ‘alignment’? Terry’s Talkin’ Cleveland Browns

OLD/NEW FOOTBALL ORDER

Paul DePodesta, chief strategy officer of the Cleveland Browns, has out-lasted two heads of football operations (Sashi Brown, John Dorsey) and three head coaches (Hue Jackson, Gregg Williams, Freddie Kitchens).

Hired by Brown in 2016, DePodesta joined the franchise to help bring many of the analytics ideas from baseball into football. While DePodesta is known primarily for a baseball career (which began with the Indians), he did play football at Harvard.

Owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam obviously have been intrigued by at least some of DePodesta’s ideas, which is why he has survived the various front office/coach firings.

Now, he is heading the coaching search. The others on the committee are salary cap guru Chris Cooper and executive vice president J.W. Johnson, along with the Haslams.

The Browns continually say DePodesta will not be the head of football operations.

But his philosophy has prevailed. His history of suggesting the Browns hire coaches Sean McDermott over Hue Jackson (2016) and Kevin Stefanski over Freddie Kitchens (2019) looks good in the rear view mirror.

Haslam stressed the Browns would hire the head coach first this time, then the head coach would have a strong say in hiring the next general manager.

This can work, as happened when Kyle Shanahan took over as head coach with the San Francisco 49ers. John Lynch was hired as GM, even though the former star safety had zero front office experience.

Shanahan makes the big decisions. Lynch basically works for the coach.

Another recent example was Jon Gruden being hired as head coach and the dominant power with the Oakland Raiders. He hired former player and draft guru Mike Mayock, who works for Gruden.

IT’S THE PEOPLE

While I prefer the strong GM hires a coach and there is a clear chain of command, different setups have worked.

Haslam’s point was that the people are as important as the structure, they have to be and remain aligned.

When Jackson was hired in 2016, the tear-down-the-team analytics approach was explained to him. It was going to be very painful for a few years.

An offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, Jackson was desperate for a chance to be a head coach. He was willing to take the job almost under any circumstances, especially because he was given a four-year contract.

But it didn’t take long for an old-school coach (Jackson) to clash with the new-school front office.

The reason DePodesta and Brown favored McDermott (now Buffalo’s coach) over Jackson was the different approaches to team building.

WHAT ABOUT GREG ROMAN?

I was talking to one NFL executive about the Browns quest for “alignment.”

His point was DePodesta having a job where he reports directly to ownership means the new coach must embrace analytics.

Some surprising “old school” coaches do that, including New England’s Bill Belichick and Baltimore’s John Harbaugh.

The Browns interviewed Baltimore offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who is interested in analytics and uses it with QB Lamar Jackson and some of his play-calling.

An executive who knows Roman told me if the Browns hire him, they must make sure he has a strong assistant to teach his offense. Roman is very hands-on in terms of micromanaging the Ravens offense.

Most of his offenses have featured mobile QBs, such as Jackson in Baltimore. He had Colin Kaepernick in San Francisco and Tyrod Taylor in Buffalo. Would his offense work with Baker Mayfield?

do know the Ravens don’t want the Browns to hire Roman. They love what the John Carroll graduate has done to build a high-powered offense with Jackson.

THE NEW/OLD COACH

The Browns interviewed former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy on Thursday. One executive (not with the Browns) said he heard McCarthy was extremely impressive.

It went beyond his 125-77-2 record with the Packers, including his win in the 2010 Super Bowl.

McCarthy is selling the idea of being an experienced traditional strong leader, something the Browns desperately need.

But McCarthy spent the last year away from the game learning new offenses and analytics. He met with some of his old Packers assistants. They visited the offices of Profootballfocus.

At the very least, that shows some humility from a 56-yer-old successful coach. It’s called the McCarthy Project, preparing himself for what comes next in the NFL.

McCarthy also is interviewing with the New York Giants and has talked twice to the Carolina Panthers. He is determined to coach again somewhere in 2020.

WHAT MIGHT WORK?

The Browns will be talking to many other candidates. I will look at them at a different time.

As one NFL executive told me, Stefanski makes “a lot of sense” in terms of alignment.

The Minnesota offensive coordinator likes analytics and has used it often during the last few years with the Vikings. He impressed the Browns last season.

While Dorsey favored Kitchens, he was intrigued enough with Stefanski to go along with the idea of bringing the 37-year-old assistant back to Cleveland for a second interview.

The Browns could hire Stefanski as head coach. They can bring back Andrew Berry, who worked in the Browns front office in 2016-17. He is now vice president of football operations with the Philadelphia Eagles and would be a natural fit with DePodesta and Stefanski.

But Stefanski could end up as head coach of Minnesota. If the Vikings fire Mike Zimmer after the playoffs (a possibility), Stefanski has been rumored as the replacement.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2020/01...and-browns.html

Looking at the list, the guys the Browns are flying to interview are the guys on teams still playing football. It used to be they had to wait to interview guys after their team was done, now it appears (to me) they can interview them as long as the team comes to them.

No more so than a lot of stuff seriously discussed around here.

McCarthy is visiting the Giants today. I'm hoping we already have a good number in front of McCarthy and his agent.

j/c

Spent some time with a Browns fan last night who likes to research the teams' cap situations. I won't bore you with the details, but if the cap situation is part of a candidate's consideration on where to go, he'll be avoiding Dallas & Carolina.

Just my opinion - but between CLE, NY and CLT - Browns are the more attractive roster. Potentially easier to fix.

My concern is that Haslam didn't / doesn't go all out to get McCarthy - preferring to see what happens when we interview McDaniels. In the end we won't get either and we are on to choices 3-4-5 ...

Choices 3,4 or 5 ? It won't be the 1st time for us.

Question is.. Who is their first choice ?

j/c...

Nick Caserio. His contract expires after the 2020 NFL Draft. Caserio's current contract also includes a "no-interview" clause. Meaning he cannot even interview with other teams until after the draft. I do not see a McDaniels/Caserio package coming to Cleveland given the situation.

Side note, it has also been speculated Caserio will join Bill O'Brien in Houston after his contract expires.

https://www.patspulpit.com/2019/6/17/186...general-manager

Someone out of left field will impress them. I'm not sure we need that right now. Maybe they'd be legitimately good but we may want to go with tried and mostly true. Interviewing good and being good isn't always in line. I could probably convince you I was an airline pilot but you wouldn't want to fly with me...

I don't it see as McDaniels pretty much wants to be THE man. Depodesta kinda throws a wrench in those works.

Stefanski IF Zimmer stays at Minnesota.

McCarthy IF he isnt interested in a REALLY high profile job in NY.

That is why I said you made some points. It was mostly the stuff about letting McDaniel come here to make his rookie coach screw up's, then head back to NE ready to go.

Depo doesn't throw a wrench in to anything. His role will remain the same. McDaniel relies on analytics, and with Depo he has the guy who pretty much brought it in to sports in a big way.

That is what some people don't get. Depo isn't a threat to anyone. He does his thing, presents the results for all to see, then the decisions are made.

If Depo presents players who work out, or coaches who do, and the decision makers go a different direct, that isn't depos fault.

I understand interviewing several candidates if you really aren't sure of the number one or two prospects would be.

Getting to know other coaches and what they bring is always a good Idea.

But if you have a specific person on the top 1 or 2 of your list and you like him and there's a possibility of losing him to another organization... Then you simply hire him...No ?

Seems they would have somewhat of an idea what they have in Stefansky since he interviewed a year ago. And they already interviewed McCarthy.

Whats the point of moving on with interviews unless they feel McCarthy isn't first choice

interesting information. I was not aware of that. I wonder if that's why I've heard David Ziegler being mentioned as a possibility for McDaniels.

Well then - let's sign McCarthy ASAP !

I don't really put much stock in Wolf not being elevated to the GM position. I mean there seems to be a lot interest of in McCarthy and Cleveland may not be where he chooses to go. If Wolf were elevated to the GM role now, if McCarthy ends up not signing here it would force a new HC to work with Wolf as their GM.

It has been publicly stated that whoever is named HC will have a lot of say in who the new GM will be. I don't see a candidate on the list with the qualifications to make such a call other than McCarthy and if they let some NFL OC or DC make such a decision it's a recipe for disaster.

But as can be expected, disastrous outcomes have never prevented Haslam from following a process he likes.

But the thing is, if you promote Wolf to GM now, it corners your next HC into working with him if we can't land McCarthy. I feel fairly certain in saying if we can land McCarthy and he wants Wolf as his GM, the promotion will be made.

Don't panic hire. Trust the process.

Mike Tomlin was the minority interview to check off the box until he bowled them over in his interview.

On that note....

Haslam said he didn't want a HC and GM having a prearranged or forced marriage. Everything I hear about Stefansky is they would more than likely bring back Berry.

Is that not considered a prearranged marriage ? Like you stated who really could Stefansky bring in as his GM candidate... Pat Shurmur ? Just being sarcastic there.

I do like this interview. I stated some pages back that I was intrigued with Saleh.