New Coaches And A Novel Confrontation

Back when lots of teams were looking for new head coaches, I said I wanted to wait until all the jobs were filled before commenting.  That time has come; so, here are my comments about how things look for those teams and their new head coaches:

1. Chargers hired Brandon Staley – – formerly the defensive coordinator for the Rams.  His defense last year led the NFL – – but was it talent or coaching that led to that result?  The Chargers are clearly hoping that coaching was at least an equal contributor.  Staley is young (38 years old) and has only been coaching as an assistant in the NFL for 4 years.  Plenty of question marks here – – as they say on Draft Day, he has lots of upside…
2. Eagles hired Nick Sirianni – – formerly the offensive coordinator for the Colts.  His success or failure will depend on two things.  Can he “fix” Carson Wentz?  Can Howie Roseman (GM) do a better job of roster building than he has done for the past 2 seasons?
3. Falcons hired Arthur Smith – – formerly the offensive coordinator for the Titans.  Smith made Ryan Tannehill into a quality QB in Tennessee; with Matt Ryan on the Falcons’ roster, he has raw material that starts at a higher level of ability.  The big difference is that in Tennessee he had Derrick Henry too; and in Atlanta, he has nothing similar in the running game.  Jury is out…
4. Jags hired Urban Meyer – – formerly a college football national champion.  Time will tell if Meyer’s brand of football translates to the NFL with anything near the success he had in college.  However, he should be a big success for the Jags in the ticket-selling department.  Jax is about a 90-minute drive from Gainesville, FL where Urban Meyer coached the University of Florida very successfully.  Getting Meyer and presumably Trevor Lawrence in the Draft should sell plenty of tix in Jax – – and the Jags surely have plenty of tix to be sold…
5. Jets hired Robert Saleh – – formerly the defensive coordinator for the Niners.  Common wisdom is that he was the best hire of the offseason.  He is a “defense guy” who will bring intensity to the sidelines and the team facility.  He is sort of the anti-Adam Gase.  New Jets’ GM  Joe Douglas has a positive reputation around the league and the ability of Saleh and Douglass to work together – – and to keep meddlesome ownership at bay – – will be important to watch here.
6. Lions hired Dan Campbell – – formerly the tight ends coach for the Saints.  He was an interim head coach with the Dolphins in 2015, so he has a smidgen of experience in the job.  Campbell played for the Lions during his playing career, so he pretty much understands the dysfunctionality of the franchise – – and yet he took the job.  Give him points for that…
7. Texans hired David Cully – – formerly assistant coach and WR coach for the Ravens:  Cully gets high praise from coaches and players around the league but his success in Houston depends on two things over which he has little control.  The first is the executive tandem of Cal McNair (Chairman and CEO of the Texans) and Jack Easterby (Exec. VP of Football Operations).  McNair is not highly regarded around the league and Easterby has been described as “the NF’s most polarizing exec”.  The second one is the mindset of Deshaun Watson.  Good luck coach.

The mention of Deshaun Watson’s name necessitates a comment on his demands to be traded and the subsequent dismissal of that demand by the Texans new GM (Nick Caserio) saying that the team “has no interest in trading the player”.  There have been other misstatements and missteps by the team execs recently; you can find them in a dozen different places; the message here is that the Texans’ executives are totally tone deaf.  And now they have the largest asset under their control saying he no longer wants to play in Houston.

Defense Readiness Condition 1 – – DEFCON 1 – – was/is the US military’s status when “nuclear war is imminent or has already begun; maximum readiness, immediate response.”  I refer to that because we may see the NFL version of DEFCON 1 take place in Houston.  The statements made by the two sides are absolutely incompatible; neither side gives any impression of yielding any ground; what happens next?

• Watson signed a contract with the Texans that extends through the end of the 2025 season.  He got a $27M signing bonus and $110M in guaranteed salary in that contract.  It contains a no-trade clause and an annual salary “de-escalator” of $500K if he does not attend team workouts.  You can find more of the details here.
• The Texans say they have no interest in trading “the player”.  What are the options?  If the Texans were to release him, they would take a dead cap hit of $67M next year.  They would be hard pressed to field a competitive team with what is left of next year’s cap.
• The Texans could try to play “chicken” with Watson.  If he were to try to hold out and force a trade late in the offseason by that means, the Texans have financial remedies.  They can fine him up to $100K for missing minicamp and they can fine him up to $50K per day for missing training camp (7 weeks of Training camp @ $50K per day = $1.75M)  Then, they can fine Watson 1/16^th of his $10.54M base salary for this season for every regular season game missed.
• Watson could threaten to retire…

And there you have DEFCON 1 – – NFL style.

It would seem to me that the only way Deshaun Watson can blink is if he fires his agent and says that this confrontation was the doing of his former agent and that he now wants to play for the Texans.  That preserves his public forthrightness and his stature as a man of his word.

It would seem to me that the only way the Texans can blink is do some cleansing in the front office ranks – – and Cal McNair is part of the family that owns the team so he ain’t going anywhere.

Hence, the best move for all concerned is indeed another blockbuster QB trade in the NFL for this offseason.  If that is the pathway, it ought to happen before or during the NFL Draft in late April; between now and then there will be a war of words and a tsunami of speculation about what is coming next in the mess.  However, if this gets anywhere near the level of DEFCON 1 – – NFL style – – the league needs to step in and make sure the two sides avoid that condition.

Finally, with the reference to DEFCON today, let me close with this definition from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Nuclear Weapon:  A device that is now in the hands of just about everyone and can apparently be assembled with little more than confectioners’’ sugar, isopropyl alcohol and a can of creamed corn.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………