The current state of the NFL coaching carousel
Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL, while four (white) head coaches have been hired so far — each with major questions to answer.
For the first time in nearly six months, we have a little bit of a football lull. Well, on the field. The NFL is certainly staying in the headlines while we wait for Super Bowl Sunday to arrive.
Just hours after Tom Brady officially retired, news broke that Brian Flores is suing the NFL (and three teams) for racial discrimination in its hiring practices. The details of Flores’ allegations are troubling and, sadly, unsurprising. This is a league made up of approximately 70 percent Black players and, at least currently, one head coach. Zero of the team owners and less than a quarter of coordinators are Black.
This is also a league that kept countless terrible quarterbacks employed while Colin Kaepernick remained a free agent. It’s very possible that with this lawsuit, Flores’ NFL coaching career is over. That’s a risk he understands and is willing to take:
Hopefully, Flores’ case spurs some real change rather than the performative actions — like painting the end zones with the phrase “end racism” or the disingenuous way that teams use the Rooney Rule — that the NFL usually takes.
My optimistic side says that will happen:
But my cynical side knows how the league operates in bad faith, like denying Flores’ claims a mere two hours after the suit was filed and before it had seen any of his evidence:
That said, the NFL will make changes if pressured, as it did just this past year after former players sued due to its “race norming” in concussion settlements. Maybe the stand Flores is taking will again result in the league eventually doing the right thing, when forced to do so.
How the NFL coaching cycle has played out so far
Since we’re on the topic, let’s take a closer look at who has been hired up until now.
The year began with nine franchises, a higher number than usual, looking for a new head coach. Of the eight who were fired (Sean Payton, the ninth, “stepped away” from the Saints, probably until the Cowboys’ job becomes available in the future), Flores was the only one whose team had a winning record, a fate that befalls Black coaches more often.
So far, four of the openings are no longer available, with rumors of a fifth — Jim Harbaugh to the Vikings — happening soon. All four of the new head coaches are white, and the Harbaugh report came out before he was set to meet with the Vikings and while they were interviewing a Black candidate:
Three of the recently hired men are first-time head coaches and one is returning to the AFC West after flaming out more than a decade ago. I don’t particularly enjoy trying to grade hires, because there’s too much we don’t know about a newbie coach. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t judge them in some form.
There are a lot of questions each will need to answer in his new role, but for now, I’ve narrowed it down to one question per coach. Eventually, I’d like to follow up this post with a Part 2, after all the vacancies are filled. And hopefully by that time, we’ll have a more diverse crop of coaches to discuss.
Denver Broncos: Nathaniel Hackett
Previous job: Packers offensive coordinator
No. 1 question: Is he the answer to the Broncos’ offensive woes?
For some, the biggest question surrounding Nathaniel Hackett is whether he’ll bring Aaron Rodgers with him to Denver. If that’s the reason the Broncos hired him, well then they’re dumber than they appeared to be in Flores’ lawsuit. With or without Rodgers, Hackett has to prove he can revitalize an offense that hasn’t been much of a threat since Peyton Manning’s last good season in the NFL (2014, the year before Denver won the Super Bowl and Manning retired).
On the plus side, Hackett has a strong resume in that department. In his eight seasons as an OC, he got decent results from the EJ Manuel/Kyle Orton-led Bills, helped turn Blake Bortles’ offense into a top-10 unit in Jacksonville at one point, and the Packers finished in the top eight in offensive DVOA in all three of his years in Green Bay.
His background says he can do it, though uncertainty remains about who his quarterback will be and how Hackett will transition into being the head coach.
We do know one thing: He’s got a sense of humor, which is more than we can say about Vic Fangio:
That’s Kevin Stefanski erasure, but I digress. At the very least, he should be able to endear himself to the players in Denver, just as he did in Green Bay.
Chicago Bears: Matt Eberflus
Previous job: Colts defensive coordinator
No. 1 question: What does this mean for Justin Fields?
The Bears’ attempt at hiring an offensive “guru” didn’t pan out so well last time. Matt Nagy’s offenses in Chicago ranked in the bottom third in DVOA in all four of his seasons as head coach. So the Bears went back to their roots — and back to the “Matt as HC, Ryan as GM” well — and this time they went with someone who is defensive minded and preaches toughness.
Eberflus’ intensity worked in Indianapolis, where his scrappy defenses put a big emphasis on turnovers. In Chicago, he wants to see that same effort from every player. As a first-time head coach, though, he has never been in charge of the entire roster or involved in who runs the other units. He has since hired former Packers quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy as his OC, Getsy’s first shot as a coordinator.
After a rocky rookie season in which he flashed at times, Justin Fields needs to be coached by someone who can develop him from an occasional playmaker to one who’s dangerous every time he touches the ball. Eberflus said the Bears will build their offense to Fields’ strengths, which seems obvious. But for a team that hasn’t had a true franchise quarterback in decades, they need to actually succeed, for the sake of the new coaches, Fields, and the fan base.
Las Vegas Raiders: Josh McDaniels
Previous job: Patriots offensive coordinator
No. 1 question: What’s different now?
In 2009, McDaniels was the NFL’s wunderkind — at 32, the Broncos made him the youngest person to ever be hired as a head coach (at that point). His tenure lasted less than two years, marred by controversy, personnel decisions, and frankly, just rubbing others the wrong way.
That was 13 years ago, and people can learn and grow from their failures, as McDaniels vows he has. The problem to me is that it’s only been four years since he accepted the Colts’ head coaching job, then jilted them to remain the Patriots’ OC (after Bill Belichick went all Aladdin on him and promised to open his world to McDaniels).
McDaniels has a great offensive mind; I mean, he turned Mac Jones into a Pro Bowler (it deserves an asterisk because of opt-outs but yes, REALLY). The question with him, however, is the same as it was in Denver and again when he spurned the Colts: Does he have the interpersonal skills to handle the job?
Belichick’s coaching tree — from Bill O’Brien to Matt Patricia to Flores — has had issues winning over locker rooms. McDaniels is already working from a deficit there. Two of the Raiders’ leaders, Derek Carr and Maxx Crosby, were clear about how much they wanted Rich Bisaccia to get the full-time gig. Neither attended McDaniels’ introductory presser; in fact, none of the players did.
That doesn’t mean McDaniels can’t bond with the players and convince them and everyone else that he’s ready for all the responsibilities that come with being a head coach. But it’s hard to trust him without seeing it happen for ourselves.
New York Giants: Brian Daboll
Previous job: Bills offensive coordinator
No. 1 question: Can he fix Daniel Jones?
Daniel Jones has been both as bad as many of us thought he’d be in the NFL and sometimes a perfectly fine quarterback. He hasn’t been a bust, but he also hasn’t lived up to his draft billing as the No. 6 overall pick.
That’s not entirely Jones’ fault; he’s been saddled with incompetent coaching in his three years in the league and has also dealt with injuries. Recently, team co-owner John Mara took responsibility for how the Giants hadn’t done right by Jones.
Landing Brian Daboll seems like a step in the right direction, at least based on Daboll’s accomplishments in Buffalo. Daboll transformed a bottom-tier offense into a top-10 unit the past two seasons and also took what looked to be a draft reach, Josh Allen, and helped him become one of the most electrifying quarterbacks in the NFL.
The hope is that Daboll can do the same to Jones, but whether Jones can take that leap, or if Daboll has the right players to get similar production in New York, remains to be seen.
It’ll be a challenging task for Daboll, who unintentionally found himself in the spotlight this week because of Belichick’s inability to grasp anything technological:
And as another novice head coach, he’ll have to figure out how to manage not just Jones and the improvements needed on offense, but the entire locker room as well.