John simulates a draft of the top 10 NFL head coaches. Where do the following coaches rank: Bills Sean McDermott, Steelers Mike Tomlin, Lions Dan Campbell, Packers Matt LaFleur and Rams Sean McVay.
8:17 - Top 10 Ranking
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (02:14):
Is going on? Everybody? John Middlecalf three and OW podcasts.
How are we doing? My people? Hopefully everyone's having a
good day, a good week. And I thought i'd do
a little something something called a coaching draft. So what
I did is I removed Andy Reid because he clearly
would have been the number one pick. And I just
(02:34):
picked my top ten coaches, and I'm just going to
go from ten down to one the ten best coaches
I think in the NFL. If I was starting a team,
if I needed a coach, they'd be the guy I
would hire tomorrow in this order. So we will start
at ten and work our way up to one, removing
Andy Reid because it's like, it's like, yeah, who's the
(02:55):
best player in the NBA in ninety six. It's like, oh,
Michael Jordan. So there's no point, and so I think
it's fascinating if you kind of remove him and take
him out of the equation. It would have been like
that forever with Belichick in his heyday. So that's what
we'll do today. We're just gonna do a coaching draft,
because why not. It's a summer. What else you're doing.
(03:15):
We're a couple of weeks away from training camp. So
I thought i'd do something a little fun, have good
time with it. I actually thought about it. I spent
some time writing names. I changed my order a couple
of times, and I feel pretty good about it. I
feel pretty good about it, and we'll see how it ages.
Because some guys I'm buying, I'm buying for the next
couple of years, and other guys I don't know gonna
(03:36):
hut me up quick. But other than that, make sure
you subscribe to the podcast. Appreciate everyone that has. All
this stuff is up on YouTube as well, so go
check out the YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe to that.
We'll do a mailbag, probably big mail bag next week
at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff as the Instagram fire
in those dms, get your questions answered here on the show.
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(04:00):
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I try to say thanks or like it or whatever,
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to everybody. But appreciate everyone that has. And other than that,
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at ten. I'm gonna go. Sean McDermott in my coaching
draft look through the landscape and it kind of hit me,
(05:28):
actually think this guy's a little underrated. I would imagine
if you just asked a casual fan about Sean McDermott,
it wouldn't be that positive. You definitely wouldn't talk, you know,
put his name with the top guys in the NFL.
Yet he's won the division four straight times, and people
forget his first year there made the playoffs as a
(05:49):
wild card. Now he got a little lucky. You remember
the last day of the season, Andy Dalton. But regardless,
he inherited a joke franchise. The Bills were a laughing
stock when he showed up, and now they aren't just
like a perennial Super Bowl contender. They own their division,
which New England did for twenty years, and they are
(06:11):
the last couple of years right. This year was a
bad loss, but they had a ton of injuries, so
you could argue, should he have won that game? He
was favored against the Chiefs at home. Two years ago,
the Hamlin thing, the snowstorms, they ran out of gas
and they got their ass kicked by the banks. They did.
It happened. I mean, it was bad, but three years
(06:33):
ago is to me the biggest polemish on his resume
the thirteen second game against the Chiefs. That can't happen.
That is easily one of the worst losses in the
last twenty years. But here's what you got to give him.
He's in the fight, he's in the hunt and his team.
I think one thing I learned last year when I
picked the Jets, which sounds insane to say out loud.
(06:55):
Obviously Aaron Rodgers tearing his achilles changed their season, But
for the Jets winning that division last year, were they
gonna win eleven games? I thought last year was a
culture season for Sean McDermott. His team was six and six,
he fired an offensive coordinator, The Dolphins looked like they
were going to cruise the division. And then what happens. Oh,
(07:16):
it gets cold, it gets difficult, and that's where his
team's built for. I was around him when I worked
with the Eagles. I like him a lot. He's a
serious cat, you know. I mean, this is a guy.
I think he's mid to late forties. He's wired like
a dude from the forties. I mean, this guy is
not a screw round guy. I think he's loosened up
a little bit as time is gone, but there is
(07:38):
no debate he's a really good coach, and if he
was an offensive coach, I don't think anyone would debate
where he lands as a top ten guy. I think
Sean McDermott is going to continue to have success. I
think this year I would look for them to win
eleven twelve wins again, and I would be stunned if
for the foreseeable future they don't dominate that division unless
(08:00):
when you have Josh Allen at your quarterback, you have
a chance to win. But even in this exercise, like
we don't have Josh Allen, it doesn't matter. When he
showed up to Buffalo, guess what, they didn't have Josh
Allen either. They were a laughingstock. They weren't like this
dominant operation going to the playoffs every year. Bill's Mafia
front and center. They weren't playing every other week in
(08:22):
the afternoon game on CBS with Nanton Romo in primetime games.
And he's turned them into, you know, obviously the brand
from when you know, back in the early nineties they
were a big time program, but for most of my
life they've kind of been irrelevant and Sean McDermott has.
Obviously Josh Allen has played a role in this two
(08:42):
but like he's seventy eight and forty seven as a
head coach, five and six in the playoffs. Playoffs. Listen,
that's why he's ten. If you brought a little more
to the playoffs, you couldn't debate he'd have to go higher.
So I got Sean McDermott at ten. At nine. This
guy was fascinating because because one, if he was available,
(09:03):
I thought he should have got fired last year. Were
mutually gone their separate ways. I thought it was time
for a change. I never thought Mike Tomlin was a
bad coach. And if Mike Tomlin would have been available
last year, he would have been the number one choice
for multiple teams. And if he had taken a year
off to go into TV, he would have came back
and been had three or four job offers. He's a
(09:24):
big time football coach. Now he has some flaws, yes, right,
the quarterback situation post Roethlisberger is not something he can
really fix. He has nothing to do with the quarterback right,
and we've seen them struggle over the last several years there.
Now this year is going to be a big you know,
something to keep an eye on if they can resurrect
(09:45):
that room with the group. But there is no disputing
his team for fifteen plus years. They don't lose. They
do not lose, and II leen offensive coaches, and that's
how this list will eventually play out. But I do
like old school tough guys. Sean McDermott's won, Mike Tomlins won. Ironically,
(10:06):
they played together in college. Like, I know what I'm
getting with Mike Tomlin, leader of men. He's pretty good
at hiring coaches. Obviously his defense, like he knows defensive
talent because of the culture that he's been around. If
you hired Mike Tomlin, you would feel really good about it.
You really would. Now. Once upon a time he would
have been way higher on this list. The Super Bowl
(10:29):
he won was in two thousand and eight. To put
that into perspective, it was my first year at Fresno State.
I thought about this the other day. It's been like
fifteen years since I had that job, and that was
I'm talking twenty ten when I left Fresno State, so
it's been a long long time. But to me, it's
(10:50):
this list is less about Super Bowl championships, and you
know Belichick and Andy aren't a part of this the
only guy. There's only a couple guys with one super
Bowl on this list. Here's thing, though, it is about
playoff victories and having success in the playoffs. Like Sean
McDermott has been winning playoff games the last several years. Hell,
he just beat Mike Tomlin this year. Now, Mike Tomlin's
(11:13):
resume is a lot longer. That's why I gave him
the slight nod. Plus, who would I rather hang out
with on a daily base? It feels like Tomin But
Tomlin has not won a playoff game in eight plus years,
and I'm not sure it's gonna happen this year. That
I'm not That does not kind of deter me away
(11:34):
from just acting like this guy some bum. But there's
a reason he's nine and not three or four. Where
if we went back six seven years, I think most
people would consider him a top five coach. And I
think he's dipped down a little bit, but his floor.
And this is I gamble on golf a lot. I
gamble on got a lot of guys to finish top
(11:54):
twenty and top ten because I think their floors are high.
I feel very comfortable betting top Hens on Xander in
a major. Up until the PG eight. The dude wasn't
winning majors, but you could make a shitload of money
riding him to finish six, seventh or eighth, right, And
that's what Mike Tomlin feels like, and that's what the
roomies are cool with. But if you were starting from
(12:15):
scratch and you got a guy worst case scenario every
year gonna win nine or ten games, you could do
a lot worse. And let's face it, he's kind of
a star. He really is. There. There's more substance there,
but he's got like you know, there are certain guys
that are just bigger than life. Parcels was like this,
Gruden was like this, and Tomlin definitely has some of that.
(12:39):
Owns the room. He's good for business. It's just a
positive person to have around. And like I said, I'm
not just picking him because of that worst case scenario.
I'm winning nine games now, ideally you'd like to win twelve,
but he hasn't done that in a couple of years.
We'll see a lot of pressure on him this year. Eight.
This is like buying a stock early you know when
you're like, God, this thing's like ten bucks, and you
(13:01):
kind of go, ah, look at the industry. They're in
this thing like five years, could it be one hundred? Now?
Sometimes that ten dollars stock would you think could be
one hundred goes to four. But when I look at
Shane Steike and I go he's everything I wanted to coach.
He's the offensive play caller. He's worked with every different
(13:21):
style of starting quarterback. Philip Rivers couldn't beat my dog
in a race. Justin Herbert literally had to play because
Tyrod Taylor got poked in the kidney whatever thirty minutes
before the game, didn't prepare all week long, and then
obviously Justin's rookie season was fantastic. Then he goes to Philadelphia,
(13:45):
where it's pretty clear Nick Sirianni has no business calling plays.
It's why since he gave it up to Shane he
has not taken aback. Ben Johnson fired. Now he's on
to Kellen Moore. Well, Jalen Hurts easily had the best
stretch of his short career and ultimately earned a massive
payday because of the work this guy did. Now there
(14:08):
is a big unknown with the Colts. But here's what
I like about change Stikeen. Last year, they take this
Anthony Richardson guy who needs a ton of work, then
he gets injured early in the season. I heard Chris
Baller talking about this on Mike Lombardi's podcast. He said,
you get ready all week with this one player, and
then you go to Gardner Minshew, whose skill set is
(14:29):
the complete opposite of Anthony Richardson. So the plays and
the things that you would want Anthony to excel at,
Gardner can't even think or dream about doing. So you
have to change the game plan completely and on the
fly in the middle of the game and then the
rest of the season. If I would have told you
that Gardner Minshew had to start the majority of the
season for the Colts, I would have been like six
(14:50):
to seven wins. He not only won nine, he was
a shitty Gardner Minshew pass and a dropped ball away
with a running back from winning the division, being keen
of seven and being what we talk about the Houston
Texans being. But I love a head coach who calls
the plays and impacts the quarterback. Look at these quarterback salaries,
(15:10):
that's where your biggest investment goes. But there's a reason
d line coaches aren't getting head coaching jobs. So like that,
there's a reason linebacker coaches don't get head coaching jobs.
Everyone wants the quarterback who calls the plays. That's what
you want. And this guy was a college quarterback. I
think he's got a chance in the next three or
four years. I think the Colts are gonna be really good.
(15:31):
But this is exactly what you're looking for when you
hire a head coach. This is Look at the Giants.
They hired Brian Daboll, who will see, I mean, has
a big year coming up, and then right away he
gave the offensive coordinator job to Mike Kafka, who I
like a lot. But it's like, Brian, I'm hiring you
because you're the offensive coordinator, and what you do with
(15:51):
Josh Allen, I want you to work with a quarterback
twenty four to seven, three sixty five and call the plays.
Like no, I want someone I want to be a CEO.
I'm sorry in twenty twenty, I want my head coach
calling the place. The guy who's not even on this list,
because we all agrees to number one, Andy Reid, who's
one of the greatest coaches of all time. Head coach, quarterback, guy,
play caller. That's what we're looking for. So I'm betting
(16:13):
big on change Sykeing. I think the Colts I wouldn't
say lucked into him, but getting rid of Frank was
obviously the right move, and the debacle that was Jeff
Saturday led them to this. I'm really bullsh on Chang Stykeing.
If he was my coach, I'd feel really good about it.
This was a guy a couple of years ago that
you know, I think a lot of people in the media,
(16:33):
well educated look down on the quote unquote meadheads. They
don't have much in common with them, right, and Dan
Campbell early on was just viewed as this kind of
meadhead lifter, probably two tens of Copenhagen a day, eight coffees,
not much in common with, you know, the the educated elites.
(16:55):
And then the more and more I've watched Dan Campbell
over the last couple of years, just press conference, I go,
this guy is way smarter than the way everyone acted
like he was early on. Ultimately, though, that's not how
we judge this operation. Do you win or do you lose?
It's the best part about sports, specifically football, there's no guessing.
There's no well it could have been, we might have
(17:17):
this deal, we might get this done. I got this
project on the way, we got we got this land
we're working on. I meant all, a lot of business
is a lot of talking right now. You either ultimately
close it or you don't. But sometimes they're not deadlines
or whatever. There's a game you win or you lose it.
There's a season seventeen games. How made you win? How
made you lose? This guy inherited. You think Sean McDermott
(17:40):
inherited a shitty operation in Buffalo. It doesn't get any
worse than Detroit. And the difference is Detroit has no history.
They hadn't been to the NFC Championship game since nineteen
ninety two. They hadn't won multiple playoff games in like
sixty years. He inherited the team. They went three and
thirteen and it was. It was bad. And within a
(18:02):
couple of years with a great trade of Matt Stafford
and just a culture, a toughness. He can relate to players.
He's smart, but the way they play like you watch
his team play, you go, yeah, I understand what Dan
Campbell wants to do a lot closer to the Hardball
Brothers than any of the people that wrote him off
three years ago. Want to admit three and thirteen, nine
(18:24):
and eight in the last game of the season. They
didn't make the playoffs. Obviously they couldn't because I forget
the exac scenario now off the top of my head.
But they ended Aaron Rodgers Green Bay packer career and
then last year twelve and five. But here's the thing, Like,
they're easily going to compete to be the number one
seed again, and I think for the next several years
they're going to be not just one of the best
(18:44):
teams in the NFC, but one of the best teams
in the league. So what Dan Campbell did with Detroit,
like if Kaylin Duboor goes to Alabama and wins, he's
a winner. It's what he should do. But he's not
ultimately going to get that much credit because it's Alabama
kind of what we do here, right, But when you're
laying Kiffin and you go to Ole Miss and then
(19:06):
you went back to back double digit win seasons for
the first time in like program history, that's impressive. Going
to sc and not winning ten games is like, what
the fuck are you doing? The NFL is a little
different because the equality of the salary cap and every
team has money, but the Lions are much more of
an outlier than they are just like the rest of
(19:29):
the league historically. And he went and he immediately changed
the culture, and now they easily should have won that
game against the forty nine ers. Now you could say
that was a problem to kicked the field goal whatever,
but Dan Campbell's a big time coach. I don't see
right now, for the next five years how you could
feel better about taking like Mike Tomlin and Dan Campbell.
(19:50):
I couldn't do it just because he said he'd bite
your knees three years ago at an introductory press conference,
and all these guys with English degrees thought he was,
you know, a meadhead. I'm impressed with Dan Campbell. Dan
Campbell coached my football team any day of the week
and twice on Sundays, number six. This guy's been a
(20:11):
rocket ship since the moment he got in the NFL.
I read today when I was doing a little research
on him. His former teammates still call him cap as
in captain. He technically wasn't the team captain his Rookie
of the Year though he was the rookie defensive Player
of the Year. And in the NFL, this is not
(20:31):
the NBA. You don't get to just go from being
high level player to head coach. You have to start
as a quality control guy. And that's where he did
for Kyle Shanahan, and within three or four years he's
the defensive coordinator. And I got news for you, Kyle
Shannan's had a lot of success. He's easily their best
defensive coordinator over that time, and one of them has
a head coaching job right now with the New York
(20:52):
Jets and helped lead them to a Super Bowl. If
I any defensive coordinator, I'm taking Demico over Robert Solo.
And I ain't even hesitating. Special When I was with
Philly we traded for him. It was after he had
a bat achilles injury and he was never the same
as a player. But his character, his leadership, He is
beloved by people, and let's face it, coaching is a
(21:14):
people business. Defensively, he's awesome, but I think some of
these younger defensive coaches. His ability to interact with the
offensive guys is pretty unique, and I don't you know,
a defensive coach wouldn't be my first choice. But sometimes
there are exceptions, and I think Demiko Ryans is just
(21:37):
one of those exceptions. I think the NFL is lucky
that a guy that made as much money as he's
made loves football as much as he loves football and
wants to do this now. Obviously at this point in time,
he's making a lot of money again, but he's a
special coach. And like I said in this exercise, if
I'm drafted, I don't have CJ. Stroud on my team.
(21:57):
I wouldn't give a shit if Demigo Ryans coach. I
feel pretty good about it. And that's the cool part
about this list. Like I think that division has two
of the better coaches in the league, and it turns
out they're both young. I mean, Shane Stikeen's thirty nine
years old. I didn't write down Dimico's age. He can't
be older than forty maybe forty one. I mean, both
(22:18):
these guys, if they want to do this for a
long time, have a chance to be really really special
in this league. Obviously, Dimiko went ten to seven last year.
He won a playoff game, let's face it, kick the
Browns ass. Now it was Joe Flacco gonna beat you.
But regardless, a lot of people are gonna be picking them,
and I think they're gonna be really good, a lot
like the Colts over these next couple of years. Because
(22:40):
it's coach league and a quarterback league. Now Demko has
the quarterback. We'll find out if Shane does. But good
coaches figured out period point blank in the story.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
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Speaker 1 (23:44):
Number five. If you would have told me a couple
years ago, I would have had this guy here, I
don't think I would have believed you, because anytime you
inherit Aaron Rodgers, even if you're a major reason, and
even Aaron talked about this, that you resurrect his career.
Aaron won back to back MVPs under this guy, and
I thought in twenty twenty one, the year they lost
(24:05):
to Tampa, that's as good as Aaron's played. But when
you take a late first round pick that is a
major project, sit him for three years, and by the
time he finally starts by the end of the year,
people are going, does he kind of look like Aaron Rodgers?
Is he kind of playing like Aaron Rodgers? And then
go on the road with that player in a playoff
(24:27):
game and eviscerate the Dallas Cowboys. It's one thing to
win a tight game, is the playoffs. It happens they
beat the livin piss out of Dallas. Here's what Flor's records.
He went thirteen and three, thirteen and three, thirteen and
three obviously at Aaron. Then the year they kind of
fell a party win eight and nine, and then this
year boom back in the playoffs, wins a game with
(24:48):
Jordan Love. If Jordan Love keeps playing like he does,
like he did the final eight games, the Packers have
a chance to be the one seed. Like that's how
to the team is and their coach is really good.
He's fifty six to twenty seven, and I think a
lot of people, and rightfully so, are always hesitant when
(25:08):
you get to inherit, even if he's coming off a
bad year, an all time great player, Aaron's going to
get more credit than the Floor. I don't know how
anyone could have watched last season and go, wait, this
guy coaches the quarterback, he calls the plays, and he's
my head coach. And we're in the second round of
the playoffs against the number one seed, and let's face it,
(25:30):
they probably should have won that game if it wasn't
for Perty pulling out some plays out of his ass.
Now here's the one thing with the Floor defensive coordinator.
Is he going to get it right? Because if he
gets it right and Jeff Hafley's the guy. Anytime you're
the offensive play caller and you're dealing with the quarterback,
(25:51):
even if your defense sucks, you can get nine to
ten wins. But if you get that defensive coordinator right
and your defense becomes the top seven, eight ten defense
in the league, that's when you start winning twelve or
thirteen games. Now, Joe Barry clearly is buddy, just wasn't
any good. And let's face it, it's very, very difficult
to be a good coordinator in the league. So Joe
(26:13):
Barry is much more normal than he is. What the
elite guys are, the high end guys are a small
percentage of coaches. Most coaches that become coordinators turn out
to be pretty average or below. That is the majority.
So even if he was good buddies with Joe Barry,
he took a lot of shit for it. He easily
(26:34):
could have hired John Williamson and that guy have looked
like Joe Barry. But you go get Jeff Haffley, who
coached at Ohio State, who coached for Kyle Shanahan, who
was a head coach with Boston College, who knows DB's
high energy guy. If they're good. The Packers are gonna
be really good because offensively, Lefore's a baller, like there's
(26:56):
no dispute in that. And what he did with Jordan
Love last year, Holy shit, three and four the Hardbob Brothers.
These two guys, I'm gonna go John for Jim three.
If you wanted to argue with me and flip flop it, okay,
personally I'm a Jim guy, but have a ton of
(27:17):
respect for John. I'm a believer that certain human beings
are put on this earth to do certain things. It
could be a writer, could be a painter, could be
an architect. These guys, the moment Jack Harbaugh conceived both
of them and they came out of that womb, were
(27:38):
put on this earth to coach football, and that's it.
It's greatly benefited my life as a football fan, specifically Jim,
but let's start with John. He has had the same
success over a long period of time. He did go
through a little dip there with the Joe Flacco years,
but obviously Lamar Jackson has changed the game. Knowing some
(27:59):
people that were for that organization, they just say his
team meetings and the way he handles the operation is
just unlike anything they've ever seen. Like I said, Jim
and John born to do this shit, and last year
was tough. It was now Jim has had those moments too,
(28:20):
where it's like, you gotta win this game. You don't
have to win the super Bowl, but you gotta win
the AFC Championship game. It's at home, you're the favorite,
you have the better roster top to bottom. You gotta
win the game. And he doesn't like if he wins
that game. Even if he loses the Super Bowl, which
I think he would have won, but let's just say
(28:40):
he won that game, I would have put him over Jim.
But like this no show. Well John beat Jim in
the Super Bowl back in twenty twelve. Well, yet Jim's
champion now too. And I think if you play that
game ten times, probably a coin flip. Maybe they split
five to five, maybe one guy's wins six to four.
But you can't tell me what Jim has been doing
(29:01):
in Michigan and John's super Bowl way back in the day,
with let's face it, a lot of inherited players. This
is now his operation, and they're damn good. They're awesome.
Last year was tough, and if he wins that game,
I'll put him against his brother. And if Jim hadn't
won the biggest game of Jym's career, you could say
(29:22):
it was a Super Bowl. But since that game was
not the National Championship game, he was not gonna lose
to Washington. The biggest game of Jim's career was Nick
Saban at the Rose Bowl in the Final four. Because
the previous year, to lose to Sonny Dikes was one
of the worst losses of his career. Michigan cannot lose
that game. They should not lose that game. And if
(29:44):
you played it one hundred times, I would imagine Michigan
wins ninety five plus. But Saban's team had them on
the ropes. It was like this team with all these
guys getting drafted, you're gonna lose to Nick Saban. And
then he found way to win it, and then they
cruised the National Championship. And now Jim comes back to
(30:04):
the Chargers, and let's face it, Jim's a baller. Jim
won at San Diego, he won at Stamford, which when
he inherited Stanford, Bruce Feldman told me one time, and
he's been covered college football for twenty five years. It
is easily the most impressive thing he's ever seen what
Jim Harbad did at Stanford. They weren't just one and eleven.
(30:26):
They were pet they were losing to UC Davis. They
were a joke. Within three or four years, Jim had
him in a BCS game, and then obviously David Shah
takes over in their top five program for like the
next five years. Jim goes to the forty nine ers,
who he inherited a lot of talent. That talent was
playing awful. They had been consistently bad since Steve Mariucci
(30:50):
was fired, quit or traded. I don't even remember how
that breakup happened. But from two to twenty ten, the
Niners were a joke. There were moments in two thousand
and five when it might have been oh four. It
is either four or oh five conversations we had in college.
Could Pete Carroll's USC team beat San Francisco, Which is
(31:13):
always gonna be one of my favorite conversations of all
time because we'll actually never know the answer, even though
everyone thinks they know the answer, but we'll never see
the game. But when you watch the two teams play,
you're like, well, Pete's got a first round or like
every position they're dominating with a bunch of NFL guys,
and this Niner team is unwatchable. And then five years
later Jim takes over and boom they're in the NFC
(31:35):
CHAMPIONI Game, and then boom they're in the Super Bowl,
and then boom, they're in the NFC CHAMPIONI Game. And
his disastrous year which essentially got him fired. He didn't
win three or four games. He went eight to eight.
And at the time, Kaepernick couldn't hit the broad side
of the barn if he was standing next to it.
They had no offense. Quarterback couldn't complete a pass, and
(31:56):
they had I think Patrick Willis had retired, like it
kind of unraveled quick. And he still kept a competitive
and he went to Michigan went a little slower than
I thought, but by the end, what happened, Urban owned him.
Urban's a better college coach, I will give you that,
but Jim isn't just a college coach. He's a football coach.
Coach the NFL and coaches college. Urban got ran out
(32:18):
of town, so faster headspun when he went to Jacksonville,
Jim can do both, and once Urban left, he started
kicking Ryan Day's teeth in and then this year he
just finally he beat Nick Saban and the rest history
and now he's coming back to the Chargers. But here's
what I now, and this is what makes Jim so special.
Start from scratch. You could argue that it might not
(32:41):
be anybody better just starting from scratch. The only reason
I don't have him a little higher is because he
hasn't been the league in a while. But I'm expecting
ten plus wins from the Chargers. I wanna say plus
do they have like a thirteen win season, But I
would expect ten wins from the Chargers this year. So
let me recap. Got McDermott ten, Tomlin nine, Shane stike
(33:03):
In eight, Dan Campbell seven, Demico Ryan six, Matt Lafleur five,
John Harbaugh four, Jim Harbaugh three. This is a tough one.
This is a little like Jim and John McVeigh and Kyle.
And if you want to give me that one guy's
got a super Bowl the other guy doesn't. I don't
really have a comeback to that because Kyle Shanahan has
(33:27):
dominated Sean McVay. But in the biggest game they ever played,
the NFC Championship Game in La Kyle lost. Now Quatsky tard.
If he just catches the ball in his bread basket,
it's Niners win. But here's the thing. Sean McVay, who
I put two, is a fantastic He's an elite coach.
What he did last year, the way they were playing
(33:47):
at the end of the season, I love Sean McVay.
To me, the difference on why I put McVeigh two
and Kyle three or Kyle one, excuse me, is simply
because I mveigh thought about quitting last year. So if
I'm hiring a guy from scratch, Jim Harbaugh is never
leaving football. He's not going to TV, right, Dan Campbell,
(34:11):
Shane Steichen, even Mike Tomlin, Sean McDermott. These guys are
football guys all they know. Sean McDermott told Chris Long,
He's like, hey, it's crazy, but I look back. I
don't know how I did it, but it was clearly
I was contemplating leaving. Thought I was gonna leave. So
anytime that thought has not only entered, but you almost executed.
(34:33):
That's the difference here, because here's what I know. I
would expect Kyle Shanahan to coach football till he's seventy
years old, even though he's already making probably fifteen sixteen
million dollars. And Sean McVay, who I think their team's
gonna be really good. And if I had to start
from scratch, you got Sean McVay. Even if I only
got a couple of years with him, I feel pretty
good about it. But when I'm taking an elite guy,
(34:54):
no one has ever thought, you know what Andy Reid's
gonna do. He's gonna go do TV for a couple
of years. He just needs a break. You know what,
Belichick needs a break. Football guys at the highest level eat, breathe,
and sleep at twenty four to seven, three sixty five.
And that thought, even if across their mind, they kick
it out immediately. Now Sean, we'll see how long he's
in this for. Again, I'm not trying to talk shit.
(35:17):
I got him number two. I think he's excellent, and
I think the defining attribute of him and Kyle they
control the quarterback, they control the plays, they value defense,
and they just win at the highest level. Now Sean
has won a super Bowl Kyle hasn't. But Kyle's been
to four NFC Championship games in five years, and Sean
(35:37):
won a Super Bowl with Matt Stafford, who, let's face it,
if he hadn't played in Detroit, his whole career had
probably been considered a top five or six guy for
a lot of it. He's an elite player. Kyle Shanahan
won with Jimmy Garoppolo. I got news for you. Jimmy
Garoppolo ain't that good, and now he's winning with Brock Purdy,
who is good. Was the last pick in the seventh
round two years ago when Matt Stafford got hurt, the
(36:00):
Rams imploded. They were a disaster. It was an embarrassment,
which led to the Detroit Lions ultimately getting the number
six overall pick, which they flipped to twelve and ended
up with the running back in Laport. But I saw
Kyle Shanahan start a season with a guy I don't
even think he wanted at the time. But by that
point in time, Trey Lance broke his ankle, Jimmy Garoppolo
(36:25):
comes in, breaks his foot and still makes the NFC
Championship with a surs dring quarterback. I would argue two
years ago is more impressive than anything Sean McVay has
ever done. So I like both these guys. I think
they are carbon copies in terms of the way they
value defense, the way they value a coaching staff, the
way you know, the attention to detail, just how hard
(36:49):
their teams play. But I'm going Kyle one middle copy.
You're just a homer like Listen. I Kyle drives me
nuts sometimes, but a lot like Dan Campbell. When Kyle
got to the forty nine ers in twenty seventeen, it
doesn't get any worse. It doesn't get any worse. And
(37:11):
within three years during the Super Bowl and now he's
gone to multiple Super Bowls with two different quarterbacks that
even the guy he currently has half people to talk
about football don't even think the guy's good. Jimmy Garoppolo
definitely was pretty average. Now at the time in nineteen
he was actually solid, but they went to multiple NFC
championships after that. With the guy, it's like, it's been
(37:32):
incredible what he's done. I think one defining attribute of
both these guys, and Andy Reid definitely has this and
this is the difference of them right now in Matt Lafleur.
The emphasis they put on defense, the emphasis they put
on toughness, the emphasis they put on physicality is undeniable
and a big reason the Packers in Lafleur's time didn't
(37:53):
win a Super Bowl when they had Aaron Rodgers physicality
if they hadn't be more physical. And this goes back
to Karthy two back when a lot of people would
have considered him a top ten coach. In his heyday
with the Packers, it was defense, defense, defense, defense. You
have to have a good defense, and these offensive coaches
that value that it matters and the offensive players you get. Now,
(38:17):
Andy likes a speed guy, but physicality in your offensive players.
Look at the moment Andy Reid put Pachaco in. Look
at the moment Kieran Williams started playing for Sean McVay.
Look at the moment Christian McCaffrey like physical players. I
don't care what the rules say in this sport, about
the flags and all the bullshit. It will always be
(38:39):
a physical game. And the more physical teams the reason
the forty nine Ers did not win a Super Bowl
last year because Kansas City was more physical on defense.
And listen, Kyle made a mistake, There's no doubt about it.
Hiring Steve Wilkes. Why the guy got fired at the
end of the season in a tough spot, losing to Miko.
They didn't really have a guy on staff. Now he
goes with Sorenston. There's gonna be a lot of pressure
(39:00):
on him. But I think both Sean McVay and Kyle
shanahan have lost a ton of coaches a ton and
they just keep on chugging. And here's the other thing,
Like their coaches go on and they're like impressive. You're
like Kevin O'Connell, impressive dude. Lafleur, impressive dude. Mike McDaniel,
even though I don't think the Dolphins are going anywhere
(39:20):
somehow getting to the playoffs losing every year. But why
didn't put him on this list. I would not take
Mike McDaniel over any of these guys. Robert Solis hasn't
been great, but Demiko Ryans like they are. It changes
your life to coach for these people, just like I mean,
it still does. But for a long long period of
time in Philadelphia and then early on in Kansas City,
(39:43):
Andy Reid changed people's lives and a lot of those
guys went on to have success, right, Doug Peterson won
a Super Bowl. Sean McDermott has won a ton in Buffalo,
Ron Rivera went to a super Bowl. You know, So
that is the stain on Belichick's kind of legacy is
really two things. One, he thought Brady couldn't play anymore.
(40:05):
Brady could into all of his coaches suck like they're
not like, yeah, it was kind of mediocre. It's like, no,
this guy sucks. Like we got to get Josh McDaniel's
out of the building. This guy he could not finish
the Matt Patricia like, get him out. You don't say
that about McVay and Kyle's guys, like you want to
(40:27):
be around them more. So I got Kyle one, Sean
McVay two. Obviously Andy would have been the easy call.
But why I removed him, I don't know. I guess
I felt pretty good. I don't even think there's I
guess you could make the argument for McDaniel. I can't.
I just I don't know. I think he's good. I'd
(40:50):
have him probably eleven or twelve. If Rabel was in
the league, he definitely would have been in the mix,
and I would imagine he'll get in the mix, but
this was a fun little exercise the volume
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Speaker 1 (02:14):
Is going on? Everybody? John Middlecalf three and OW podcasts.
How are we doing? My people? Hopefully everyone's having a
good day, a good week. And I thought i'd do
a little something something called a coaching draft. So what
I did is I removed Andy Reid because he clearly
would have been the number one pick. And I just
(02:34):
picked my top ten coaches, and I'm just going to
go from ten down to one the ten best coaches
I think in the NFL. If I was starting a team,
if I needed a coach, they'd be the guy I
would hire tomorrow in this order. So we will start
at ten and work our way up to one, removing
Andy Reid because it's like, it's like, yeah, who's the
(02:55):
best player in the NBA in ninety six. It's like, oh,
Michael Jordan. So there's no point, and so I think
it's fascinating if you kind of remove him and take
him out of the equation. It would have been like
that forever with Belichick in his heyday. So that's what
we'll do today. We're just gonna do a coaching draft,
because why not. It's a summer. What else you're doing.
(03:15):
We're a couple of weeks away from training camp. So
I thought i'd do something a little fun, have good
time with it. I actually thought about it. I spent
some time writing names. I changed my order a couple
of times, and I feel pretty good about it. I
feel pretty good about it, and we'll see how it ages.
Because some guys I'm buying, I'm buying for the next
couple of years, and other guys I don't know gonna
(03:36):
hut me up quick. But other than that, make sure
you subscribe to the podcast. Appreciate everyone that has. All
this stuff is up on YouTube as well, so go
check out the YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe to that.
We'll do a mailbag, probably big mail bag next week
at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff as the Instagram fire
in those dms, get your questions answered here on the show.
I need some more dms. Appreciate everyone that's preached out,
(04:00):
be getting engaged in everyone's saying thanks or saying congrats.
I try to say thanks or like it or whatever,
but well I got so many it's hard to get
to everybody. But appreciate everyone that has. And other than that,
let's just keep enjoying the heat. Do you guys want
to do something this summer? Why wouldn't you get outside,
go enjoy yourself, do something fun. I got you covered
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because my friends, my partners, and the official ticketing app
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you name it. Whoever's hot out there on the streets.
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at ten. I'm gonna go. Sean McDermott in my coaching
draft look through the landscape and it kind of hit me,
(05:28):
actually think this guy's a little underrated. I would imagine
if you just asked a casual fan about Sean McDermott,
it wouldn't be that positive. You definitely wouldn't talk, you know,
put his name with the top guys in the NFL.
Yet he's won the division four straight times, and people
forget his first year there made the playoffs as a
(05:49):
wild card. Now he got a little lucky. You remember
the last day of the season, Andy Dalton. But regardless,
he inherited a joke franchise. The Bills were a laughing
stock when he showed up, and now they aren't just
like a perennial Super Bowl contender. They own their division,
which New England did for twenty years, and they are
(06:11):
the last couple of years right. This year was a
bad loss, but they had a ton of injuries, so
you could argue, should he have won that game? He
was favored against the Chiefs at home. Two years ago,
the Hamlin thing, the snowstorms, they ran out of gas
and they got their ass kicked by the banks. They did.
It happened. I mean, it was bad, but three years
(06:33):
ago is to me the biggest polemish on his resume
the thirteen second game against the Chiefs. That can't happen.
That is easily one of the worst losses in the
last twenty years. But here's what you got to give him.
He's in the fight, he's in the hunt and his team.
I think one thing I learned last year when I
picked the Jets, which sounds insane to say out loud.
(06:55):
Obviously Aaron Rodgers tearing his achilles changed their season, But
for the Jets winning that division last year, were they
gonna win eleven games? I thought last year was a
culture season for Sean McDermott. His team was six and six,
he fired an offensive coordinator, The Dolphins looked like they
were going to cruise the division. And then what happens. Oh,
(07:16):
it gets cold, it gets difficult, and that's where his
team's built for. I was around him when I worked
with the Eagles. I like him a lot. He's a
serious cat, you know. I mean, this is a guy.
I think he's mid to late forties. He's wired like
a dude from the forties. I mean, this guy is
not a screw round guy. I think he's loosened up
a little bit as time is gone, but there is
(07:38):
no debate he's a really good coach, and if he
was an offensive coach, I don't think anyone would debate
where he lands as a top ten guy. I think
Sean McDermott is going to continue to have success. I
think this year I would look for them to win
eleven twelve wins again, and I would be stunned if
for the foreseeable future they don't dominate that division unless
(08:00):
when you have Josh Allen at your quarterback, you have
a chance to win. But even in this exercise, like
we don't have Josh Allen, it doesn't matter. When he
showed up to Buffalo, guess what, they didn't have Josh
Allen either. They were a laughingstock. They weren't like this
dominant operation going to the playoffs every year. Bill's Mafia
front and center. They weren't playing every other week in
(08:22):
the afternoon game on CBS with Nanton Romo in primetime games.
And he's turned them into, you know, obviously the brand
from when you know, back in the early nineties they
were a big time program, but for most of my
life they've kind of been irrelevant and Sean McDermott has.
Obviously Josh Allen has played a role in this two
(08:42):
but like he's seventy eight and forty seven as a
head coach, five and six in the playoffs. Playoffs. Listen,
that's why he's ten. If you brought a little more
to the playoffs, you couldn't debate he'd have to go higher.
So I got Sean McDermott at ten. At nine. This
guy was fascinating because because one, if he was available,
(09:03):
I thought he should have got fired last year. Were
mutually gone their separate ways. I thought it was time
for a change. I never thought Mike Tomlin was a
bad coach. And if Mike Tomlin would have been available
last year, he would have been the number one choice
for multiple teams. And if he had taken a year
off to go into TV, he would have came back
and been had three or four job offers. He's a
(09:24):
big time football coach. Now he has some flaws, yes, right,
the quarterback situation post Roethlisberger is not something he can
really fix. He has nothing to do with the quarterback right,
and we've seen them struggle over the last several years there.
Now this year is going to be a big you know,
something to keep an eye on if they can resurrect
(09:45):
that room with the group. But there is no disputing
his team for fifteen plus years. They don't lose. They
do not lose, and II leen offensive coaches, and that's
how this list will eventually play out. But I do
like old school tough guys. Sean McDermott's won, Mike Tomlins won. Ironically,
(10:06):
they played together in college. Like, I know what I'm
getting with Mike Tomlin, leader of men. He's pretty good
at hiring coaches. Obviously his defense, like he knows defensive
talent because of the culture that he's been around. If
you hired Mike Tomlin, you would feel really good about it.
You really would. Now. Once upon a time he would
have been way higher on this list. The Super Bowl
(10:29):
he won was in two thousand and eight. To put
that into perspective, it was my first year at Fresno State.
I thought about this the other day. It's been like
fifteen years since I had that job, and that was
I'm talking twenty ten when I left Fresno State, so
it's been a long long time. But to me, it's
(10:50):
this list is less about Super Bowl championships, and you
know Belichick and Andy aren't a part of this the
only guy. There's only a couple guys with one super
Bowl on this list. Here's thing, though, it is about
playoff victories and having success in the playoffs. Like Sean
McDermott has been winning playoff games the last several years. Hell,
he just beat Mike Tomlin this year. Now, Mike Tomlin's
(11:13):
resume is a lot longer. That's why I gave him
the slight nod. Plus, who would I rather hang out
with on a daily base? It feels like Tomin But
Tomlin has not won a playoff game in eight plus years,
and I'm not sure it's gonna happen this year. That
I'm not That does not kind of deter me away
(11:34):
from just acting like this guy some bum. But there's
a reason he's nine and not three or four. Where
if we went back six seven years, I think most
people would consider him a top five coach. And I
think he's dipped down a little bit, but his floor.
And this is I gamble on golf a lot. I
gamble on got a lot of guys to finish top
(11:54):
twenty and top ten because I think their floors are high.
I feel very comfortable betting top Hens on Xander in
a major. Up until the PG eight. The dude wasn't
winning majors, but you could make a shitload of money
riding him to finish six, seventh or eighth, right, And
that's what Mike Tomlin feels like, and that's what the
roomies are cool with. But if you were starting from
(12:15):
scratch and you got a guy worst case scenario every
year gonna win nine or ten games, you could do
a lot worse. And let's face it, he's kind of
a star. He really is. There. There's more substance there,
but he's got like you know, there are certain guys
that are just bigger than life. Parcels was like this,
Gruden was like this, and Tomlin definitely has some of that.
(12:39):
Owns the room. He's good for business. It's just a
positive person to have around. And like I said, I'm
not just picking him because of that worst case scenario.
I'm winning nine games now, ideally you'd like to win twelve,
but he hasn't done that in a couple of years.
We'll see a lot of pressure on him this year. Eight.
This is like buying a stock early you know when
you're like, God, this thing's like ten bucks, and you
(13:01):
kind of go, ah, look at the industry. They're in
this thing like five years, could it be one hundred? Now?
Sometimes that ten dollars stock would you think could be
one hundred goes to four. But when I look at
Shane Steike and I go he's everything I wanted to coach.
He's the offensive play caller. He's worked with every different
(13:21):
style of starting quarterback. Philip Rivers couldn't beat my dog
in a race. Justin Herbert literally had to play because
Tyrod Taylor got poked in the kidney whatever thirty minutes
before the game, didn't prepare all week long, and then
obviously Justin's rookie season was fantastic. Then he goes to Philadelphia,
(13:45):
where it's pretty clear Nick Sirianni has no business calling plays.
It's why since he gave it up to Shane he
has not taken aback. Ben Johnson fired. Now he's on
to Kellen Moore. Well, Jalen Hurts easily had the best
stretch of his short career and ultimately earned a massive
payday because of the work this guy did. Now there
(14:08):
is a big unknown with the Colts. But here's what
I like about change Stikeen. Last year, they take this
Anthony Richardson guy who needs a ton of work, then
he gets injured early in the season. I heard Chris
Baller talking about this on Mike Lombardi's podcast. He said,
you get ready all week with this one player, and
then you go to Gardner Minshew, whose skill set is
(14:29):
the complete opposite of Anthony Richardson. So the plays and
the things that you would want Anthony to excel at,
Gardner can't even think or dream about doing. So you
have to change the game plan completely and on the
fly in the middle of the game and then the
rest of the season. If I would have told you
that Gardner Minshew had to start the majority of the
season for the Colts, I would have been like six
(14:50):
to seven wins. He not only won nine, he was
a shitty Gardner Minshew pass and a dropped ball away
with a running back from winning the division, being keen
of seven and being what we talk about the Houston
Texans being. But I love a head coach who calls
the plays and impacts the quarterback. Look at these quarterback salaries,
(15:10):
that's where your biggest investment goes. But there's a reason
d line coaches aren't getting head coaching jobs. So like that,
there's a reason linebacker coaches don't get head coaching jobs.
Everyone wants the quarterback who calls the plays. That's what
you want. And this guy was a college quarterback. I
think he's got a chance in the next three or
four years. I think the Colts are gonna be really good.
(15:31):
But this is exactly what you're looking for when you
hire a head coach. This is Look at the Giants.
They hired Brian Daboll, who will see, I mean, has
a big year coming up, and then right away he
gave the offensive coordinator job to Mike Kafka, who I
like a lot. But it's like, Brian, I'm hiring you
because you're the offensive coordinator, and what you do with
(15:51):
Josh Allen, I want you to work with a quarterback
twenty four to seven, three sixty five and call the plays.
Like no, I want someone I want to be a CEO.
I'm sorry in twenty twenty, I want my head coach
calling the place. The guy who's not even on this list,
because we all agrees to number one, Andy Reid, who's
one of the greatest coaches of all time. Head coach, quarterback, guy,
play caller. That's what we're looking for. So I'm betting
(16:13):
big on change Sykeing. I think the Colts I wouldn't
say lucked into him, but getting rid of Frank was
obviously the right move, and the debacle that was Jeff
Saturday led them to this. I'm really bullsh on Chang Stykeing.
If he was my coach, I'd feel really good about it.
This was a guy a couple of years ago that
you know, I think a lot of people in the media,
(16:33):
well educated look down on the quote unquote meadheads. They
don't have much in common with them, right, and Dan
Campbell early on was just viewed as this kind of
meadhead lifter, probably two tens of Copenhagen a day, eight coffees,
not much in common with, you know, the the educated elites.
(16:55):
And then the more and more I've watched Dan Campbell
over the last couple of years, just press conference, I go,
this guy is way smarter than the way everyone acted
like he was early on. Ultimately, though, that's not how
we judge this operation. Do you win or do you lose?
It's the best part about sports, specifically football, there's no guessing.
There's no well it could have been, we might have
(17:17):
this deal, we might get this done. I got this
project on the way, we got we got this land
we're working on. I meant all, a lot of business
is a lot of talking right now. You either ultimately
close it or you don't. But sometimes they're not deadlines
or whatever. There's a game you win or you lose it.
There's a season seventeen games. How made you win? How
made you lose? This guy inherited. You think Sean McDermott
(17:40):
inherited a shitty operation in Buffalo. It doesn't get any
worse than Detroit. And the difference is Detroit has no history.
They hadn't been to the NFC Championship game since nineteen
ninety two. They hadn't won multiple playoff games in like
sixty years. He inherited the team. They went three and
thirteen and it was. It was bad. And within a
(18:02):
couple of years with a great trade of Matt Stafford
and just a culture, a toughness. He can relate to players.
He's smart, but the way they play like you watch
his team play, you go, yeah, I understand what Dan
Campbell wants to do a lot closer to the Hardball
Brothers than any of the people that wrote him off
three years ago. Want to admit three and thirteen, nine
(18:24):
and eight in the last game of the season. They
didn't make the playoffs. Obviously they couldn't because I forget
the exac scenario now off the top of my head.
But they ended Aaron Rodgers Green Bay packer career and
then last year twelve and five. But here's the thing, Like,
they're easily going to compete to be the number one
seed again, and I think for the next several years
they're going to be not just one of the best
(18:44):
teams in the NFC, but one of the best teams
in the league. So what Dan Campbell did with Detroit,
like if Kaylin Duboor goes to Alabama and wins, he's
a winner. It's what he should do. But he's not
ultimately going to get that much credit because it's Alabama
kind of what we do here, right, But when you're
laying Kiffin and you go to Ole Miss and then
(19:06):
you went back to back double digit win seasons for
the first time in like program history, that's impressive. Going
to sc and not winning ten games is like, what
the fuck are you doing? The NFL is a little
different because the equality of the salary cap and every
team has money, but the Lions are much more of
an outlier than they are just like the rest of
(19:29):
the league historically. And he went and he immediately changed
the culture, and now they easily should have won that
game against the forty nine ers. Now you could say
that was a problem to kicked the field goal whatever,
but Dan Campbell's a big time coach. I don't see
right now, for the next five years how you could
feel better about taking like Mike Tomlin and Dan Campbell.
(19:50):
I couldn't do it just because he said he'd bite
your knees three years ago at an introductory press conference,
and all these guys with English degrees thought he was,
you know, a meadhead. I'm impressed with Dan Campbell. Dan
Campbell coached my football team any day of the week
and twice on Sundays, number six. This guy's been a
(20:11):
rocket ship since the moment he got in the NFL.
I read today when I was doing a little research
on him. His former teammates still call him cap as
in captain. He technically wasn't the team captain his Rookie
of the Year though he was the rookie defensive Player
of the Year. And in the NFL, this is not
(20:31):
the NBA. You don't get to just go from being
high level player to head coach. You have to start
as a quality control guy. And that's where he did
for Kyle Shanahan, and within three or four years he's
the defensive coordinator. And I got news for you, Kyle
Shannan's had a lot of success. He's easily their best
defensive coordinator over that time, and one of them has
a head coaching job right now with the New York
(20:52):
Jets and helped lead them to a Super Bowl. If
I any defensive coordinator, I'm taking Demico over Robert Solo.
And I ain't even hesitating. Special When I was with
Philly we traded for him. It was after he had
a bat achilles injury and he was never the same
as a player. But his character, his leadership, He is
beloved by people, and let's face it, coaching is a
(21:14):
people business. Defensively, he's awesome, but I think some of
these younger defensive coaches. His ability to interact with the
offensive guys is pretty unique, and I don't you know,
a defensive coach wouldn't be my first choice. But sometimes
there are exceptions, and I think Demiko Ryans is just
(21:37):
one of those exceptions. I think the NFL is lucky
that a guy that made as much money as he's
made loves football as much as he loves football and
wants to do this now. Obviously at this point in time,
he's making a lot of money again, but he's a
special coach. And like I said in this exercise, if
I'm drafted, I don't have CJ. Stroud on my team.
(21:57):
I wouldn't give a shit if Demigo Ryans coach. I
feel pretty good about it. And that's the cool part
about this list. Like I think that division has two
of the better coaches in the league, and it turns
out they're both young. I mean, Shane Stikeen's thirty nine
years old. I didn't write down Dimico's age. He can't
be older than forty maybe forty one. I mean, both
(22:18):
these guys, if they want to do this for a
long time, have a chance to be really really special
in this league. Obviously, Dimiko went ten to seven last year.
He won a playoff game, let's face it, kick the
Browns ass. Now it was Joe Flacco gonna beat you.
But regardless, a lot of people are gonna be picking them,
and I think they're gonna be really good, a lot
like the Colts over these next couple of years. Because
(22:40):
it's coach league and a quarterback league. Now Demko has
the quarterback. We'll find out if Shane does. But good
coaches figured out period point blank in the story.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
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(23:18):
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You can see all of this and more at fantasypros
dot com Slash Volume Today.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Number five. If you would have told me a couple
years ago, I would have had this guy here, I
don't think I would have believed you, because anytime you
inherit Aaron Rodgers, even if you're a major reason, and
even Aaron talked about this, that you resurrect his career.
Aaron won back to back MVPs under this guy, and
I thought in twenty twenty one, the year they lost
(24:05):
to Tampa, that's as good as Aaron's played. But when
you take a late first round pick that is a
major project, sit him for three years, and by the
time he finally starts by the end of the year,
people are going, does he kind of look like Aaron Rodgers?
Is he kind of playing like Aaron Rodgers? And then
go on the road with that player in a playoff
(24:27):
game and eviscerate the Dallas Cowboys. It's one thing to
win a tight game, is the playoffs. It happens they
beat the livin piss out of Dallas. Here's what Flor's records.
He went thirteen and three, thirteen and three, thirteen and
three obviously at Aaron. Then the year they kind of
fell a party win eight and nine, and then this
year boom back in the playoffs, wins a game with
(24:48):
Jordan Love. If Jordan Love keeps playing like he does,
like he did the final eight games, the Packers have
a chance to be the one seed. Like that's how
to the team is and their coach is really good.
He's fifty six to twenty seven, and I think a
lot of people, and rightfully so, are always hesitant when
(25:08):
you get to inherit, even if he's coming off a
bad year, an all time great player, Aaron's going to
get more credit than the Floor. I don't know how
anyone could have watched last season and go, wait, this
guy coaches the quarterback, he calls the plays, and he's
my head coach. And we're in the second round of
the playoffs against the number one seed, and let's face it,
(25:30):
they probably should have won that game if it wasn't
for Perty pulling out some plays out of his ass.
Now here's the one thing with the Floor defensive coordinator.
Is he going to get it right? Because if he
gets it right and Jeff Hafley's the guy. Anytime you're
the offensive play caller and you're dealing with the quarterback,
(25:51):
even if your defense sucks, you can get nine to
ten wins. But if you get that defensive coordinator right
and your defense becomes the top seven, eight ten defense
in the league, that's when you start winning twelve or
thirteen games. Now, Joe Barry clearly is buddy, just wasn't
any good. And let's face it, it's very, very difficult
to be a good coordinator in the league. So Joe
(26:13):
Barry is much more normal than he is. What the
elite guys are, the high end guys are a small
percentage of coaches. Most coaches that become coordinators turn out
to be pretty average or below. That is the majority.
So even if he was good buddies with Joe Barry,
he took a lot of shit for it. He easily
(26:34):
could have hired John Williamson and that guy have looked
like Joe Barry. But you go get Jeff Haffley, who
coached at Ohio State, who coached for Kyle Shanahan, who
was a head coach with Boston College, who knows DB's
high energy guy. If they're good. The Packers are gonna
be really good because offensively, Lefore's a baller, like there's
(26:56):
no dispute in that. And what he did with Jordan
Love last year, Holy shit, three and four the Hardbob Brothers.
These two guys, I'm gonna go John for Jim three.
If you wanted to argue with me and flip flop it, okay,
personally I'm a Jim guy, but have a ton of
(27:17):
respect for John. I'm a believer that certain human beings
are put on this earth to do certain things. It
could be a writer, could be a painter, could be
an architect. These guys, the moment Jack Harbaugh conceived both
of them and they came out of that womb, were
(27:38):
put on this earth to coach football, and that's it.
It's greatly benefited my life as a football fan, specifically Jim,
but let's start with John. He has had the same
success over a long period of time. He did go
through a little dip there with the Joe Flacco years,
but obviously Lamar Jackson has changed the game. Knowing some
(27:59):
people that were for that organization, they just say his
team meetings and the way he handles the operation is
just unlike anything they've ever seen. Like I said, Jim
and John born to do this shit, and last year
was tough. It was now Jim has had those moments too,
(28:20):
where it's like, you gotta win this game. You don't
have to win the super Bowl, but you gotta win
the AFC Championship game. It's at home, you're the favorite,
you have the better roster top to bottom. You gotta
win the game. And he doesn't like if he wins
that game. Even if he loses the Super Bowl, which
I think he would have won, but let's just say
(28:40):
he won that game, I would have put him over Jim.
But like this no show. Well John beat Jim in
the Super Bowl back in twenty twelve. Well, yet Jim's
champion now too. And I think if you play that
game ten times, probably a coin flip. Maybe they split
five to five, maybe one guy's wins six to four.
But you can't tell me what Jim has been doing
(29:01):
in Michigan and John's super Bowl way back in the day,
with let's face it, a lot of inherited players. This
is now his operation, and they're damn good. They're awesome.
Last year was tough, and if he wins that game,
I'll put him against his brother. And if Jim hadn't
won the biggest game of Jym's career, you could say
(29:22):
it was a Super Bowl. But since that game was
not the National Championship game, he was not gonna lose
to Washington. The biggest game of Jim's career was Nick
Saban at the Rose Bowl in the Final four. Because
the previous year, to lose to Sonny Dikes was one
of the worst losses of his career. Michigan cannot lose
that game. They should not lose that game. And if
(29:44):
you played it one hundred times, I would imagine Michigan
wins ninety five plus. But Saban's team had them on
the ropes. It was like this team with all these
guys getting drafted, you're gonna lose to Nick Saban. And
then he found way to win it, and then they
cruised the National Championship. And now Jim comes back to
(30:04):
the Chargers, and let's face it, Jim's a baller. Jim
won at San Diego, he won at Stamford, which when
he inherited Stanford, Bruce Feldman told me one time, and
he's been covered college football for twenty five years. It
is easily the most impressive thing he's ever seen what
Jim Harbad did at Stanford. They weren't just one and eleven.
(30:26):
They were pet they were losing to UC Davis. They
were a joke. Within three or four years, Jim had
him in a BCS game, and then obviously David Shah
takes over in their top five program for like the
next five years. Jim goes to the forty nine ers,
who he inherited a lot of talent. That talent was
playing awful. They had been consistently bad since Steve Mariucci
(30:50):
was fired, quit or traded. I don't even remember how
that breakup happened. But from two to twenty ten, the
Niners were a joke. There were moments in two thousand
and five when it might have been oh four. It
is either four or oh five conversations we had in college.
Could Pete Carroll's USC team beat San Francisco, Which is
(31:13):
always gonna be one of my favorite conversations of all
time because we'll actually never know the answer, even though
everyone thinks they know the answer, but we'll never see
the game. But when you watch the two teams play,
you're like, well, Pete's got a first round or like
every position they're dominating with a bunch of NFL guys,
and this Niner team is unwatchable. And then five years
later Jim takes over and boom they're in the NFC
(31:35):
CHAMPIONI Game, and then boom they're in the Super Bowl,
and then boom, they're in the NFC CHAMPIONI Game. And
his disastrous year which essentially got him fired. He didn't
win three or four games. He went eight to eight.
And at the time, Kaepernick couldn't hit the broad side
of the barn if he was standing next to it.
They had no offense. Quarterback couldn't complete a pass, and
(31:56):
they had I think Patrick Willis had retired, like it
kind of unraveled quick. And he still kept a competitive
and he went to Michigan went a little slower than
I thought, but by the end, what happened, Urban owned him.
Urban's a better college coach, I will give you that,
but Jim isn't just a college coach. He's a football coach.
Coach the NFL and coaches college. Urban got ran out
(32:18):
of town, so faster headspun when he went to Jacksonville,
Jim can do both, and once Urban left, he started
kicking Ryan Day's teeth in and then this year he
just finally he beat Nick Saban and the rest history
and now he's coming back to the Chargers. But here's
what I now, and this is what makes Jim so special.
Start from scratch. You could argue that it might not
(32:41):
be anybody better just starting from scratch. The only reason
I don't have him a little higher is because he
hasn't been the league in a while. But I'm expecting
ten plus wins from the Chargers. I wanna say plus
do they have like a thirteen win season, But I
would expect ten wins from the Chargers this year. So
let me recap. Got McDermott ten, Tomlin nine, Shane stike
(33:03):
In eight, Dan Campbell seven, Demico Ryan six, Matt Lafleur five,
John Harbaugh four, Jim Harbaugh three. This is a tough one.
This is a little like Jim and John McVeigh and Kyle.
And if you want to give me that one guy's
got a super Bowl the other guy doesn't. I don't
really have a comeback to that because Kyle Shanahan has
(33:27):
dominated Sean McVay. But in the biggest game they ever played,
the NFC Championship Game in La Kyle lost. Now Quatsky tard.
If he just catches the ball in his bread basket,
it's Niners win. But here's the thing. Sean McVay, who
I put two, is a fantastic He's an elite coach.
What he did last year, the way they were playing
(33:47):
at the end of the season, I love Sean McVay.
To me, the difference on why I put McVeigh two
and Kyle three or Kyle one, excuse me, is simply
because I mveigh thought about quitting last year. So if
I'm hiring a guy from scratch, Jim Harbaugh is never
leaving football. He's not going to TV, right, Dan Campbell,
(34:11):
Shane Steichen, even Mike Tomlin, Sean McDermott. These guys are
football guys all they know. Sean McDermott told Chris Long,
He's like, hey, it's crazy, but I look back. I
don't know how I did it, but it was clearly
I was contemplating leaving. Thought I was gonna leave. So
anytime that thought has not only entered, but you almost executed.
(34:33):
That's the difference here, because here's what I know. I
would expect Kyle Shanahan to coach football till he's seventy
years old, even though he's already making probably fifteen sixteen
million dollars. And Sean McVay, who I think their team's
gonna be really good. And if I had to start
from scratch, you got Sean McVay. Even if I only
got a couple of years with him, I feel pretty
good about it. But when I'm taking an elite guy,
(34:54):
no one has ever thought, you know what Andy Reid's
gonna do. He's gonna go do TV for a couple
of years. He just needs a break. You know what,
Belichick needs a break. Football guys at the highest level eat, breathe,
and sleep at twenty four to seven, three sixty five.
And that thought, even if across their mind, they kick
it out immediately. Now Sean, we'll see how long he's
in this for. Again, I'm not trying to talk shit.
(35:17):
I got him number two. I think he's excellent, and
I think the defining attribute of him and Kyle they
control the quarterback, they control the plays, they value defense,
and they just win at the highest level. Now Sean
has won a super Bowl Kyle hasn't. But Kyle's been
to four NFC Championship games in five years, and Sean
(35:37):
won a Super Bowl with Matt Stafford, who, let's face it,
if he hadn't played in Detroit, his whole career had
probably been considered a top five or six guy for
a lot of it. He's an elite player. Kyle Shanahan
won with Jimmy Garoppolo. I got news for you. Jimmy
Garoppolo ain't that good, and now he's winning with Brock Purdy,
who is good. Was the last pick in the seventh
round two years ago when Matt Stafford got hurt, the
(36:00):
Rams imploded. They were a disaster. It was an embarrassment,
which led to the Detroit Lions ultimately getting the number
six overall pick, which they flipped to twelve and ended
up with the running back in Laport. But I saw
Kyle Shanahan start a season with a guy I don't
even think he wanted at the time. But by that
point in time, Trey Lance broke his ankle, Jimmy Garoppolo
(36:25):
comes in, breaks his foot and still makes the NFC
Championship with a surs dring quarterback. I would argue two
years ago is more impressive than anything Sean McVay has
ever done. So I like both these guys. I think
they are carbon copies in terms of the way they
value defense, the way they value a coaching staff, the
way you know, the attention to detail, just how hard
(36:49):
their teams play. But I'm going Kyle one middle copy.
You're just a homer like Listen. I Kyle drives me
nuts sometimes, but a lot like Dan Campbell. When Kyle
got to the forty nine ers in twenty seventeen, it
doesn't get any worse. It doesn't get any worse. And
(37:11):
within three years during the Super Bowl and now he's
gone to multiple Super Bowls with two different quarterbacks that
even the guy he currently has half people to talk
about football don't even think the guy's good. Jimmy Garoppolo
definitely was pretty average. Now at the time in nineteen
he was actually solid, but they went to multiple NFC
championships after that. With the guy, it's like, it's been
(37:32):
incredible what he's done. I think one defining attribute of
both these guys, and Andy Reid definitely has this and
this is the difference of them right now in Matt Lafleur.
The emphasis they put on defense, the emphasis they put
on toughness, the emphasis they put on physicality is undeniable
and a big reason the Packers in Lafleur's time didn't
(37:53):
win a Super Bowl when they had Aaron Rodgers physicality
if they hadn't be more physical. And this goes back
to Karthy two back when a lot of people would
have considered him a top ten coach. In his heyday
with the Packers, it was defense, defense, defense, defense. You
have to have a good defense, and these offensive coaches
that value that it matters and the offensive players you get. Now,
(38:17):
Andy likes a speed guy, but physicality in your offensive players.
Look at the moment Andy Reid put Pachaco in. Look
at the moment Kieran Williams started playing for Sean McVay.
Look at the moment Christian McCaffrey like physical players. I
don't care what the rules say in this sport, about
the flags and all the bullshit. It will always be
(38:39):
a physical game. And the more physical teams the reason
the forty nine Ers did not win a Super Bowl
last year because Kansas City was more physical on defense.
And listen, Kyle made a mistake, There's no doubt about it.
Hiring Steve Wilkes. Why the guy got fired at the
end of the season in a tough spot, losing to Miko.
They didn't really have a guy on staff. Now he
goes with Sorenston. There's gonna be a lot of pressure
(39:00):
on him. But I think both Sean McVay and Kyle
shanahan have lost a ton of coaches a ton and
they just keep on chugging. And here's the other thing,
Like their coaches go on and they're like impressive. You're
like Kevin O'Connell, impressive dude. Lafleur, impressive dude. Mike McDaniel,
even though I don't think the Dolphins are going anywhere
(39:20):
somehow getting to the playoffs losing every year. But why
didn't put him on this list. I would not take
Mike McDaniel over any of these guys. Robert Solis hasn't
been great, but Demiko Ryans like they are. It changes
your life to coach for these people, just like I mean,
it still does. But for a long long period of
time in Philadelphia and then early on in Kansas City,
(39:43):
Andy Reid changed people's lives and a lot of those
guys went on to have success, right, Doug Peterson won
a Super Bowl. Sean McDermott has won a ton in Buffalo,
Ron Rivera went to a super Bowl. You know, So
that is the stain on Belichick's kind of legacy is
really two things. One, he thought Brady couldn't play anymore.
(40:05):
Brady could into all of his coaches suck like they're
not like, yeah, it was kind of mediocre. It's like, no,
this guy sucks. Like we got to get Josh McDaniel's
out of the building. This guy he could not finish
the Matt Patricia like, get him out. You don't say
that about McVay and Kyle's guys, like you want to
(40:27):
be around them more. So I got Kyle one, Sean
McVay two. Obviously Andy would have been the easy call.
But why I removed him, I don't know. I guess
I felt pretty good. I don't even think there's I
guess you could make the argument for McDaniel. I can't.
I just I don't know. I think he's good. I'd
(40:50):
have him probably eleven or twelve. If Rabel was in
the league, he definitely would have been in the mix,
and I would imagine he'll get in the mix, but
this was a fun little exercise the volume
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