Bears off-season thread 2022

[Derwood]

What’s the deal with Doug Peterson? Obviously led the Eagles to a SB but fell out of favor rather quickly. Is anyone in favor of him?

 

Andy Reid Coaching Tree = HARD PASS

[David]

 

Is GM a promotion over VP of Football operations? I guess in title it’s worse but in responsibility he has full control over the Bears vs likely reporting to a president of FO in Cleveland

 

of course it is a promotion

 

Why of course? It sounds like VP of FO would be a title given to the GMs boss

 

Wrigley's answer pretty much covered it, but even in this case, he works underneath the GM. I understand his title is longer than that but he's still below the general manager.

[WrigleyField 22]

Also Kwesi was my nerd-hire recommendation from the week 18 thread. You love to see it (even though it actually would make me nervous how green he is).

 

Although if my entire plan were fulfilled and he kept Champ (and much of staff) and hired an experienced HC I'm game. He could focus on bigger picture instead of rebuilding scouting systems/Staff in year 1. And that sweet sweet analytics build out would follow him.

[David]

 

 

 

[David]

[raw]

Running tab:

 

GM interviews requested

 

Ed Dodds- Colts Assistant GM & VP of Player Personnel

Morocco Brown- Colts Director of College Scouting

Kwesi Adofo Mensah- Browns VP of Football Operations

Glenn Cook- Browns VP of Player Personnel

Jeff Ireland- Saints Assistant GM & VP of College Personnel

**Rick Smith- Former Texans GM & Pres. of Football Operations

 

 

HC interviews requested

 

Leslie Frazier- Bills DC

Brian Daboll- Bills OC

Doug Pedersen- Former Eagles HC (no request needed)

Matt Eberflus- Colts DC

Byron Leftwich- Bucs OC

Todd Bowles- Bucs DC

Nathaniel Hackett- Packers OC

Brian Flores- Former Dolphins HC (no request needed)

Dan Quinn- Cowboys DC

 

** based on reports from DaBearsBlog guy who was alone in the Pace firing news last week.

[raw]

 

Dodds and Flores would be a slam dunk depending on the OC. Dodds' ties could come in huge with the OC hire. Maybe Flores can lure O'Connell from the Rams with the promise of a chance to completely run the offensive side of the ball. Flores was on the Pats staff when O'Connell was a backup QB there in 2008. Go from laughing stock to potentially one of the best FO/coaching staffs in the game.

[WrigleyField 22]

Very interesting the balance in the reports now. A handful of GM candidates from non playoff teams so they are hire able right away.

 

Mostly playoff head coach candidates, I believe they do have a limited window to move fast or not be able to interview the rest of that teams post season.

 

Part of me wonders if they're focused on non playoff GMs so they don't have to wait until after a possible SB run. How not, but interesting it's working out that way early. Really wish NFL would allow FO candidates to finalize a deal and then finish their playoff run. Coaches I can more understand requiring to finish their year.

[WrigleyField 22]

 

Dodds and Flores would be a slam dunk depending on the OC. Dodds' ties could come in huge with the OC hire. Maybe Flores can lure O'Connell from the Rams with the promise of a chance to completely run the offensive side of the ball. Flores was on the Pats staff when O'Connell was a backup QB there in 2008. Go from laughing stock to potentially one of the best FO/coaching staffs in the game.

This is a guy who I like a lot and he has some interesting thoughts on Flores. Sounds like the OC thing is maybe a legit concern for him.

 

[NOLA]

**Jeff Ireland- Saints Assistant GM & VP of College Personnel

Loomis gets most of the credit, but the Saints draft quality took a 180 degree turn once they hired Jeff Ireland. He and Khai Hartley would be huge losses for the NO front office.

[raw]

Very interesting the balance in the reports now. A handful of GM candidates from non playoff teams so they are hire able right away.

 

Mostly playoff head coach candidates, I believe they do have a limited window to move fast or not be able to interview the rest of that teams post season.

 

Part of me wonders if they're focused on non playoff GMs so they don't have to wait until after a possible SB run. How not, but interesting it's working out that way early. Really wish NFL would allow FO candidates to finalize a deal and then finish their playoff run. Coaches I can more understand requiring to finish their year.

 

I honestly don't know if the GM thing matters. The reason you can't interview playoff coaches because they are involved in game-planning, practice, and so forth to get ready for the playoff game. GMs don't have anything to do with that stuff, so I think you can interview a GM candidate from a playoff team whenever you want...but I could be wrong.

[raw]

**Jeff Ireland- Saints Assistant GM & VP of College Personnel

Loomis gets most of the credit, but the Saints draft quality took a 180 degree turn once they hired Jeff Ireland. He and Khai Hartley would be huge losses for the NO front office.

 

Ireland is no longer speculation. Reported by Schefter now. Asteriks removed.

[WrigleyField 22]

Very interesting the balance in the reports now. A handful of GM candidates from non playoff teams so they are hire able right away.

 

Mostly playoff head coach candidates, I believe they do have a limited window to move fast or not be able to interview the rest of that teams post season.

 

Part of me wonders if they're focused on non playoff GMs so they don't have to wait until after a possible SB run. How not, but interesting it's working out that way early. Really wish NFL would allow FO candidates to finalize a deal and then finish their playoff run. Coaches I can more understand requiring to finish their year.

 

I honestly don't know if the GM thing matters. The reason you can't interview playoff coaches because they are involved in game-planning, practice, and so forth to get ready for the playoff game. GMs don't have anything to do with that stuff, so I think you can interview a GM candidate from a playoff team whenever you want...but I could be wrong.

It would make intuitive sense but I could have sworn they had same limitation. I mean there is still some end of season roster management (or scouting if they're a college guy), but you'd think owners would prefer to end it rather than do the wink wink agreement and just pass off whatever duties those guys were working on.

[NOLA]

**Jeff Ireland- Saints Assistant GM & VP of College Personnel

Loomis gets most of the credit, but the Saints draft quality took a 180 degree turn once they hired Jeff Ireland. He and Khai Hartley would be huge losses for the NO front office.

 

Ireland is no longer speculation. Reported by Schefter now. Asteriks removed.

Yep.

 

Good for you guys, bummer for us if it happens. Just look at the Saints draft classes and note the change once Loomis let him bring in a whole new staff in 2016. Again, if he gets hired and takes Khai Hartley with him, who is the salary cap wizard of the organization, it would be quite a loss for the Saints, IMO.

[raw]

Ireland was kind of a disaster in Miami. Great 1st season, but all losing years after that. Apparently he's the guy that asked Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute or something (there is now a rule against these type of pre-draft interview questions). Also, had a poor response to the Incognito/Jonathan Martin bullying situation. They were kind of a PR mess when he was there. Not a huge fan of him being the top football guy running things.

[UMFan83]

Reading reactions from Dolphins fans about the Bears interviewing Flores, they all seem to believe this would be very bad for Justin Fields.

[jersey cubs fan]

Ireland was kind of a disaster in Miami. Great 1st season, but all losing years after that. Apparently he's the guy that asked Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute or something (there is now a rule against these type of pre-draft interview questions). Also, had a poor response to the Incognito/Jonathan Martin bullying situation. They were kind of a PR mess when he was there. Not a huge fan of him being the top football guy running things.

Yeah, I don't think the Ireland thing would be go over well.

[David]

There's a lot to like about Flores. He has overachieved with shitty rosters and Tua isn't that good. He was also, from what I understand, on record as wanting the Dolphins to take Herbert over Tua.

 

But while I'm willing to be open minded on some of the guys with defensive backgrounds, I keep coming back to the fact that nothing matters more than Justin Fields. Any path to consistent contention goes through him. Knowing that, I just have a hard time seeing an argument for a head coach whose primary focus isn't that side of the ball. Flores "if he just gets the OC/QB thing right" just seems like an obviously wrong approach. And if he DOES get the OC/QB thing right and things are going swimmingly (which is obviously a best case situation), then you lose your OC to a HC gig and we go through the same [expletive] OC carousel situation we've gone through with practically every swing we've taken at QB.

[UMFan83]

There's a lot to like about Flores. He has overachieved with horsefeathers rosters and Tua isn't that good. He was also, from what I understand, on record as wanting the Dolphins to take Herbert over Tua.

 

But while I'm willing to be open minded on some of the guys with defensive backgrounds, I keep coming back to the fact that nothing matters more than Justin Fields. Any path to consistent contention goes through him. Knowing that, I just have a hard time seeing an argument for a head coach whose primary focus isn't that side of the ball. Flores "if he just gets the OC/QB thing right" just seems like an obviously wrong approach. And if he DOES get the OC/QB thing right and things are going swimmingly (which is obviously a best case situation), then you lose your OC to a HC gig and we go through the same [expletive] OC carousel situation we've gone through with practically every swing we've taken at QB.

 

I was thinking the same thing, but also thinking that with Fields' talent, if an OC can spend a year developing him, unlocking his potential and creating a blueprint for a successful Justin Fields offense, perhaps its not that big of a deal if they leave for a HC gig after a year. I agree with you though, not my ideal choice, but if Fields is what we hope/expect him to be he's not going to be a guy that has to rely on a great OC to be productive (though clearly continuity would be preferred)

 

Also about Flores, if I am remembering correctly, he had Tua starting much of the 2nd half year in 2020 and then randomly went back to Fitzpatrick when the playoffs were on the line. If he's coaching here it needs to be clear that developing Fields should be his most important objective in year 1. I'm not saying Tua has the talent of Fields or anything but it seemed like a strange galaxy brain decision by him which ended up backfiring IIRC.

[jersey cubs fan]

The best thing McCaskey said was they would not be tied down to a specific type of coach. The purposefully went offensive minded coach with Trestman, stable old guy in Fox (to help Pace adjust) and then offensive guy with Nagy.

 

If the next guy hires an OC/QB coach that gets it right and moves on to another job, it will be because Justin Fields is a stud, and then I won't care who the next coach is.

[raw]

There's a lot to like about Flores. He has overachieved with horsefeathers rosters and Tua isn't that good. He was also, from what I understand, on record as wanting the Dolphins to take Herbert over Tua.

 

But while I'm willing to be open minded on some of the guys with defensive backgrounds, I keep coming back to the fact that nothing matters more than Justin Fields. Any path to consistent contention goes through him. Knowing that, I just have a hard time seeing an argument for a head coach whose primary focus isn't that side of the ball. Flores "if he just gets the OC/QB thing right" just seems like an obviously wrong approach. And if he DOES get the OC/QB thing right and things are going swimmingly (which is obviously a best case situation), then you lose your OC to a HC gig and we go through the same [expletive] OC carousel situation we've gone through with practically every swing we've taken at QB.

 

The thing with these offensive guys is that the really good ones tend to develop really good ones as well. Kyle Shanahan had Matt and Mike LaFleur, Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel all under him. Matt LaFleur has an OC that's a hot HC candidate. McVay has had guys under him hired already and has O'Connell who I love. So ideally, even if you get the OC so right that you lose him, then you should have his replacement being groomed underneath him and potentially promoted. If you say 2 years of a OC that gets poached and then 2 years under that OC's QB coach or whatever, then that's 4 years of good offense. By then, Fields will be going into his 6th year and he'd presumably be a pretty good QB and it won't matter who the OC is.

[jersey cubs fan]

If you say 2 years of a OC that gets poached and then 2 years under that OC's QB coach or whatever, then that's 4 years of good offense. By then, Fields will be going into his 6th year and he'd presumably be a pretty good QB and it won't matter who the OC is.

If history holds that 3rd OC could be the first guy after he's fired from his HC stint.

[WrigleyField 22]

This article does not give me good vibes for Flores. Sounds like he wants to be Belichick (surprise surprise). But if you're gonna try and be Bill, ya best deliver. Not sure he can.

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article256841207.html

[WrigleyField 22]

I'm also really talking myself into the model of not putting a scout type as GM. While you could probably flip my argument and say exact order doesn't matter, I will try to explain my thinking.

 

The NFL recently added assistant GM as a protected job level. So you can poach another teams staff for a "bona fide" assistant GM role and they can't block (unless they themselves are one of the top 2 spots already). But I don't think anyone really knows what a bona fide GM is. It's basically up to Goodell.

 

So look at Brown in Indy. He's really the number 3 scout/personnel guy behind Ballard/Dodds. So he presumably can't be blocked for a number 2 role as long as Goodell agrees. Making your assistant GM role the top scout role seems like as good approach as any to state its a bona-fide assistant GM role. That Brown happens to be a former Bear alum and might have motivation to come back and be the top talent evaluator and perhaps know a few faces and transition seemlessly. Very convenient.

 

So you end up with something like:

 

GM - Kwesi (he's the only one who fits the type so far)

Asst GM Brown reports up to Kwesi and oversees All scouting departments directly including VP of Player Personnel (retain Champ?) and College Scouting (retain Sadowski?)

 

Outside of scouting side (and coaching) your GM is busy building out and overseeing analytics/research, admin/contracts/cap, player development and engagement, sports sciences, facilities. All those big picture org things. But would still carry that final football authority, which I think is important. But the key is it is a delegator role. Maybe admin/contracts falls under asst GM as well, with some soft report lines from analytics up to GM.

 

I think that does effectively create the structure some are after when some fans say they want a "President" role.

[David]