Which teams are parting ways with their coach or GM after the 2020 season? Plus thoughts on why they are making the change and some early replacement candidates.
Phase two of the NFL season begins for 14 teams Monday morning, while all the teams that missed the postseason are now freed up to regroup in the hopes of a better 2021. This season has been strange in that a higher volume of teams opted to move on from their head coaches during the season (there were three interim coaches on NFL sidelines in Week 17), while other teams gave their obviously-wavering head coaches more time to twist in the wind (the Chargers, Jaguars and Jets come to mind) instead of getting a leg up on the search like their counterparts.
Below, we’ll break down all of the staff changes on what continues to be one of the more grimace-worthy days in all of sports. Yes, an exciting new era of football is on tap for nearly a quarter of the NFL’s teams, but that also means hundreds of support staff shuffling off to their next destination in the coaching profession’s nomadic slog. It’s the one part of all this we rarely consider fully enough when talking about one person’s name on a “hot seat” or a list of candidates to replace them.
That said, let’s get on to the news of the day. Here is the who, what, where, when and why of the 2021 coaching carousel. (And keep in mind that last month I laid out some of the top candidates available to fill these openings.)
We will update this post as more news comes out.
CHANGES AFTER WEEK 17
• Jets (head coach)
The Jets officially announced Adam Gase’s dismissal on Sunday night, following the team’s season-ending loss to the Patriots. Gase was 9–23 over two years at the helm. While the Gase hire was unpopular locally, he came to New York with the reputation of someone who could get teams to play hard, which was perfect for a middling roster that was threadbare at most key positions. Each year he was head coach of the Dolphins, the club outperformed its Pythagorean win-loss expectation, despite having only one postseason berth (and winning season) in four years. However, in New York, brief moments of excitement were counterbalanced with long stretches of noncompetitive football. Sam Darnold did not develop into the bona fide star many believed he would become. Most of the team’s star players found a way to happily wriggle off the roster to other destinations.
So it goes for a franchise that has not made the playoffs since 2010 during the Rex Ryan era (now the longest drought in the NFL). The Jets have struggled mightily to put together a combination of competent roster evaluator, creative head coach and adequate quarterback in some time. Though the Joe Douglas regime brings promise, it is a story many fans have heard before.
Expect the team’s new hire to be focused offensively, given the team’s most likely scenarios: drafting another quarterback at No. 2 or turning Darnold into a legitimate franchise quarterback before his rookie contract runs out. Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith might make some sense. On the flip side, Douglas’s time in Baltimore could elevate a name like Don Martindale, the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, who interviewed for the Giants’ opening last year.
CHANGES DURING THE SEASON
• Detroit Lions (head coach and GM)
Patriot disciples Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia were both dismissed after an embarrassing Thanksgiving performance this year. Patricia had three losing seasons in Detroit, while Quinn dismissed Jim Caldwell following a 9–7 season to hire Patricia in the first place. Look for their tenure to pivot the coaching search in a different direction. A more engaging, CEO type of coach with experience or a long track record of success, or a burst-off-the-page personality will be front of mind. The Lions have already interviewed ESPN’s Louis Riddick, former Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff, former Chiefs GM Scott Pioli and former Texans GM Rick Smith for the GM vacancy, while former Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis recently interviewed for the head coaching vacancy. I would imagine 49ers defensive coordinator and Michigan native Robert Saleh will impress, and fits a lot of the criteria.
An interesting report from NFL Network suggests that the Lions may also attempt a complicated, high-profile poaching of Seahawks general manager John Schneider. While a GM’s player-selecting ability is often overrated (and is not that different from person to person in terms of success), Schneider is notorious for having one of the best eyes for talent in the league and has a tremendous hit rate among mid and late-round targets.
• Falcons (head coach and GM)
The Falcons dismissed both Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff back on Oct. 11 and watched as interim candidate Raheem Morris built a strong case to remain in the head coaching role over the course of 11 games (the Falcons interviewed Morris officially for the job on New Year’s Day). Despite building a team that was a few bad decisions away from throttling the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, Quinn and Dimitroff struggled to overcome that loss and returned to the playoffs just once in the four seasons that followed.
What’s interesting about this job is how it may have elevated Morris’s star power for other high-profile defensive coordinator jobs this offseason if he’s not retained. The Falcons have already interviewed former Texans GM Rick Smith and Falcons director of college scouting Anthony Robinson for the job. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution also heavily linked Saints assistant GM/pro personnel director Terry Fontenot to the GM opening.
Given Atlanta’s dwindling window to maximize the remaining athletic primes of Julio Jones and Matt Ryan, it would not be a surprise to see the head coaching search hyper-focused on offense. Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy could be a name to watch there.
• Houston Texans (head coach and GM)
Because Bill O’Brien was both the head coach and general manager, the Texans lopped off a significant portion of the football power structure when they dismissed O’Brien back in early October. This will be one of the most closely-watched head coaching vacancies in the NFL, given the looming questions about current interim GM and former Patriots character coach Jack Easterby, who, alongside a search firm, is helping to yank the strings down in Houston. You can read more about Easterby here.
Malik Boyd, the Bills’ pro personnel director, and Scott Cohen, the Ravens’ director of football research (a former Jets assistant GM), have both been linked to the GM opening by the Houston Chronicle. Matt Bazirgan, the Texans’ director of player personnel, has also interviewed for the job already.
Because this is a search firm-run operation, don’t be surprised to see both the head coaching and GM interviews focus heavily on people from traditionally successful franchises. For example, ESPN recently reported that Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was a name that has been bandied about early in the process.