Before the Chargers surprisingly hired Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley to be their new head coach last night, Bills OC Brian Daboll was widely considered the favorite for that job. After missing out on the opportunity to coach Justin Herbert, it sounds like Daboll is going to ride things out in Buffalo and wait until next year for a head coaching gig. A source close to Daboll said he’ll “be the big name for head coach next year,” per Dianna Russini of ESPN (Twitter link).
That would seem to indicate that Daboll isn’t a serious candidate for, or isn’t interested in, the Texans and Eagles jobs, which are the only two real openings left with the Lions expected to hire Dan Campbell. Russini also notes that agents and other candidates around the league viewed the Staley hire as a surprise as well. Daboll also interviewed with the Jets before they hired Robert Saleh. Widely praised for his work in developing Josh Allen into a top-tier quarterback, it looks like the Allen/Daboll partnership in Buffalo will live on for at least another year, which is music to the ears of Bills fans. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle later confirmed in a tweet that Daboll will in fact return on Sean McDermott’s staff in 2021.
Here’s more from the coaching ranks:
- Speaking of the Chargers, since they just hired a defensive mind, finding someone to run the offense is the new top priority. To that end, Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell is a possibility for the Chargers’ OC gig, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets. Pelissero notes that he’s become very close with Staley during their time together on Sean McVay’s staff. He also points out that since it would technically be a lateral move for O’Connell, he’d need McVay’s blessing to leave. Obviously since he would get to call the plays with the Chargers it would still be a pretty big step up, and McVay previously let his old OC Matt LaFleur make a lateral move to the Titans since it came with play-calling responsibilities, so presumably he’d do the same here. O’Connell is a former third-round pick QB of the Patriots, who spent 2019 as Washington’s offensive coordinator. We’ve heard that Herbert “loves” his current offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, and Pelissero again reiterates it’s possible he’s held over from Anthony Lynn’s staff.
- The Bears need a new defensive coordinator with Chuck Pagano retiring, and obviously with Matt Nagy being an offensive mind it’s a crucial role for Chicago. They’re starting to sift through candidates, and the team has put in a request to interview Colts defensive backs coach Jonathan Gannon for the job, Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic tweets. Gannon isn’t the highest profile candidate, as he was a quality control coach as recently as 2017 until he was hired to be DBs coach on Frank Reich’s inaugural Colts staff in 2018. We’ve also heard that current defensive line coach Jay Rodgers and safeties coach Sean Desai are internal candidates to succeed Pagano.
- New Falcons coach Arthur Smith will surely be running the team’s offense, but it sounds like he’s planning on hiring an offensive coordinator still. We also heard over the weekend that Bears passing game coordinator Dave Ragone was an early favorite for the OC role, but he’s apparently not the only contender. Atlanta has interviewed Panthers receivers coach Frisman Jackson for the job, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Jackson spent five years with the Browns as a player in the early 2000s, and was the Titans’ receivers coach in 2017 when Smith was coaching tight ends there, so he’s got that connection working for him. He then went to Baylor before following Matt Rhule from there to Carolina.
not shocked. Remaining HC jobs arent too exciting. however him missing one this time is concerning. we thought Bienemy would be a big this name this cycle after missing out in 2020 and look what happened on that front.
I view EB like Josh McDaniels. You’ll always look good coaching a HoF QB and HoF HC running the show. It doesn’t mean neither can’t coach, but exactly what did they do to bolster Brady or Mahomes?
and thats why I like Daboll over Bienemy. i feel more certain his QB’s development is related to his actions rather then the QB’s pure talent.
Plus Daboll has the playcalling experience whereas EB does not.
Play calling has evolved into nothing more than looking at computer generated data and choosing the option that has the highest probability of success.
We are literally competing with the rams in LA and all this picking from McVays tree at what point does Kroenke step in because it’s bad for the battle of LA
Why go to Bears next year they will be somewhere between 3-13/5-11 then it finally we be a house cleaning
Exactly, I expect them to stay in house
I believe that a measure of if a team is headed in the right direction or not is the value of who they cut and the staff they lose. The Raiders TE Coach Frank Smith is headed to the Chargers to be the run game coordinator. Don’t know what that means for Shane Steichen and Justin Herbert, but willing to bet Brandon Staley will bring in his guy.
Just as a reminder that when Dennis Allen was fired Derek Carr lobbied hard for Bill Musgrave to get promoted. This killed the offensive production and week after week we get to see friends afraid to criticize each other on the sidelines. Best friends at first then it went real bad.
As a bears fan I would like to see Marvin Lewis get an interview for DC
I love that move. I think it would be a match made in heaven. A lot of people will not like it though.
I was wondering when someone would find Frisman Jackson and give him a shot to run a offense. Quietly gets the most out of his units.. I was hoping when Dan Campbell was hired in Detroit, he might take a look at him if Bevell is not retained.
Lewis runs a completely different system than what the Bears have since rebuilding their defense. He likes a base 4 man front and edge pressure without blitzes or stand up linebackers, and zone coverage on the back end. The Bears would have to ask some stud players to do some very different things, despite some of them being extremely good at what they do currently. They could hire Lewis, but expect a complete rebuild to fit his defense for the possibility of establishing an effective unit three or four years down the road. It’s essentially what happened to the Cowboys this past year, but with opposite schemes respectively.
Lovie was fired unfairly let’s get him back with Nagy head coach and Lazor on OC that’s a tougher – smarter than most staff
Lovie went to the playoffs 1 time after firing the coach who was responsible for the Super Bowl appearance and had an extremely bad offense just about every single year. Never seen any coach survive 7 extremely bad OC hires before. He should have been fired earlier. Any coach who’s favorite offensive play is the punt needs to be fired for incompetence.
Lovie deserves consideration as a candidate for the DC position. He wouldn’t be asked to provide any offensive input so relax.
I’ve never understood why Bears fans just HATE Lovie Smith so much. Really, they talk about worse than they do Trestman.
It’s because in 9 years of coaching he got to the playoffs 3 times, twice in his first 3 years with a defense that was led by Ron Rivera that actually used multiple defenses and had great success and went to the playoffs 1 more time in the next 6 years. His offense and yes the head coach is completely responsible for the entire team not just one phase sucked and every single year. No other coach would have been allowed to hire 6 different offensive coordinators because of constant suckiness. And yet people praise him. They should have fired Lovie after the Super Bowl and replaced with him with the person who was responsible for it in Rivera.
People praise him because he won games. Nobody said that he was Chuck Noll. Smith was a decent coach. He does not deserve the sheer amount of unadulterated hatred that he gets from (some) Bears fans.
I mean, he was never worse than a game under .500. I agree that he had deficiencies but maybe things would have been better if one of those coordinators had done a better job. They fired Smith and haven’t even met that same level of consistency since. You really can’t give him any credit at all for anything he did in Chicago?
People praise him because he won games. Nobody said that he was Chuck Noll. Smith was a decent coach. He does not deserve the sheer amount of unadulterated hatred that he gets from (some) Bears fans.
I mean, he was never worse than a game under .500. I agree that he had deficiencies but maybe things would have been better if one of those coordinators had done a better job. They fired Smith and haven’t even met that same level of consistency since. You really can’t give him any credit at all for anything he did in Chicago?
People praise him because he won games. Nobody said that he was Chuck Noll. Smith was a decent coach. He does not deserve the sheer amount of unadulterated hatred that he gets from (some) Bears fans.
I mean, he was never worse than a game under .500. I agree that he had deficiencies but maybe things would have been better if one of those coordinators had done a better job. They fired Smith and haven’t even met that same level of consistency since. You really can’t give him any credit at all for anything he did in Chicago?
That was weird. Don’t know why that happened, or why I can’t delete any of those….
He had 6 chances to hire offensive coordinators and failed 6 times. 3 playoff appearances in 9 years isn’t good especially when 2 of them happened in his first 3 years. He was a glorified defensive coordinator who hates offense with a passion.
Matt Patricia for DC in Chicago. Look what he did with the personnel he had in NE, it’s all about the rings. Guy is a real good DC when he has good players to work with.