Coaching staff thread

[Neophyte]

How much of that is coaching/scheme and how much of that is the lack of talent on the roster?

 

[Chris]

That’s the $64,000 question. I bet we have a pretty good idea come September.

 

[Bulldog]

Ron ‘s coaching staff was faceless and colorless for the most part over those 4 years.

OL coach, RB coach, LB coach, QB coach?

Had to look these guys up to know who was in the building.

No visibility whatsoever.

I think the next staff will be much more aggressive and visible in doing their jobs.

Part of that may be they are not pre-retirees 😄

 

[Primus Porcus]

This is a connection.. inevitable in the NFL. Guys will work with other guys they've worked with.

I will say it's better than just re-hiring everyone from the same organization, as it's almost impossible to hire and not have SOME sort of previous overlap somewhere.

 

[Bulldog]

Nice to see the Raiders aren't pulling one of those 'let's give the guy a title change with no money just to keep him away from Washington' deals.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I'm going to be fascinated to see how many of the assistants who have been here have seats when the music stops.

My guess is no more than 2. I've heard very good things about Randy Jordan and Bobby Engram. So I wonder if they manage to stick around.

I doubt anybody on the defensive side of the ball is allowed back into the building after tomorrow.

Now that we know the coordinators, my biggest question is going to be OL and DL coaches.

I'd be interested if they retain Nate Kaczor. If they do, he would have worked for 3 HC's here, as he was on Jay's last staffs, then Ron's, and then Quinns.

I imagine Kliff is meeting with the offensive coaches, and Joe is meeting with the defensive coaches today. Some are probably going to be exited right away, others might get a couple interviews....

 

[Bulldog]

Outside of Tress Way I have not been overly impressed with our special teams.

I think Nate needs to go.

Offensive line coach has been a bit of empty well. Nobody here with a visible name in NFL circles.

Given the number of picks we have early and the number of OL positions we need to fill, we need a coach that can work with younger players.

I don't want to see any more Nick Gates or Andrew Wylie type signings.

Let's get it right in April and develop our own starters.

 

[burgold]

Did we even have an Oline coach? I remember us firing the Oline coach and then the TE coach got semi-elevated with the idea that he could coach them, too.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Did we even have an Oline coach? I remember us firing the Oline coach and then the TE coach got semi-elevated with the idea that he could coach them, too.

We did. Travelle Wharton. He was the assistant OL coach under Masko, who EB fired for "differences of philosophy" (and hindsight being 20/20, might have been Masko knew stuff and EB didn't), and they elevated Wharton.

Which I said at the time was a HUGE mistake. Not that there is anything wrong with Wharton, he might be a really good young coach.

One of the biggest Rivera crimes when hiring EB was not hiring anybody else, save MAYBE Tavita Prrtchard as the QB coach, who had any experience in Andy Reid's WCO which EB was implementing. So EB had to teach all the coaches the offense, and then the players. Literally nobody on the staff had experience with it.

They needed to go out and hire whoever the assistant OL coach was on the Chiefs or Jags (Pederson runs the same system) and install them as the OL coach so SOMEBODY with experience with the offense was also on the coaching staff.

But they didn't. They promoted Wharton, and then they bumped 97 year old Juan Castillo up from TE coach to run game coordinator. Which, with EB calling 9 run plays a game, I'm not entirely sure how useful that position was to begin with. But Castillo also is a Norv Turner/Coryell offensive coach. So even he didn't have WCO experience.

I said this when they made the move to hire EB: they can't just change the coordinator and keep the entire staff the same. Yet they did. EB might not have been great, but they absolutely set themselves up for failure.

Ron's coaching staff was as stinky as 3 week old gym socks.

 

[burgold]

In other words... No, we didn't have an o-line coach. I mean maybe we had one in name, but not in reality

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Outside of Tress Way I have not been overly impressed with our special teams.

I think Nate needs to go.

I think Nate will go.

Though, one thing to keep in mind: more than anywhere else on the team, ST depends on the back-end of the roster. Which means you need to have good personnel guys making sure we have good depth to play ST.

We didn't.

I went to the opener, which was on my Birthday. (And my, goodness, does that feel like 75 years ago.) One thing I witnessed was one of our gunners, and I don't remember who, would turn to run and within 5 steps be 10 yards behind the opponent. Dude just wasn't fast enough. Then I saw it on TV in subsequent games. It never changed. I wish I remember the guys number. But it was a while ago.

I'm not sure how much was Nate, and how much was the fact Ron built an absolutely crap roster.

Offensive line coach has been a bit of empty well. Nobody here with a visible name in NFL circles.

Given the number of picks we have early and the number of OL positions we need to fill, we need a coach that can work with younger players.

I don't want to see any more Nick Gates or Andrew Wylie type signings.

Let's get it right in April and develop our own starters.

I have to imagine Quinn and Kliff are going to bring in an OL coach who is intimately familiar with the Air Raid offense. That person could honestly come from anywhere, and I wouldn't be surprised if it came from college.

And thanks for bringing up Wylie and Gates. What are you going to do next? Give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

In other words... No, we didn't have an o-line coach. I mean maybe we had one in name, but not in reality

 

[Bulldog]

Jeremy Reaves mad the all-pro team.

We had decent coverage teams, but we didn't have a dynamic returner nor the schemes to set up break out returns.

Part of that was Ron's old fashioned philosophy of putting guys like Dax Milne back there, players with no speed or playmaking ability but with reliable hands to make the fair catch or get that 4-5 yard return

 

[Chris]

Jamison Crowder was a good punt returner (and a reliable 4th receiver). Except, of course, for his rugby return vs the NYG and his old man’s finishing speed.

An exciting addition at the very last moment possible. 🤣

 

[Neophyte]

I think it's possible Kerrigan sticks on the defensive side. He is young, tied through history with the org, and was an assistant position coach so doesn't carry the responsibility for the unit's performance.

If I'm Quinn, I might be thinking he has promise if he gets to work with experienced coaches.

 

[Bulldog]

I think Kerrigan could be headed back to Purdue to taken on a DC or other more visible role in the near future.

 

[burgold]

Kerrigan actually helped turn the D line around in 2022. I think he does have some coaching talent. Last year provided little positive tape though I wonder how much of 2023's line failures can be solely pinned to Chase Young?

 

[Bulldog]

Jonathan Allen didn't have his best season in 2023. He seemed off from the beginning of the season.

Payne made the type of regression to the mean that many of us expected. He's a solid player who was out there for each game. He is not a consistent uber-playmaking DT in the mold of Aaron Donald or Chris Jones however. I don't expect to see 10 plus sacks from him again.

The DE's after the trades need a complete overhaul. There are some useful depth players here but no guys projecting into starters for 2024.

The DL would be helped if Phidarian Mathis lived up to his billing as a #2 pick and allowed the team to use a 3 man rotation at DT.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Kerrigan actually helped turn the D line around in 2022. I think he does have some coaching talent. Last year provided little positive tape though I wonder how much of 2023's line failures can be solely pinned to Chase Young?

I mean, he played more than half the season with the 49ers, so I'd say no more than half of the DL's problems could be placed on Young.

That line was never as good as the sum of it's parts. That's due to poor roster construction, players not doing their jobs and bad coaching. All three.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Jonathan Allen didn't have his best season in 2023. He seemed off from the beginning of the season.

He also had plantar fasciitis, which for all we know stuck with him the entire season.

Payne made the type of regression to the mean that many of us expected. He's a solid player who was out there for each game. He is not a consistent uber-playmaking DT in the mold of Aaron Donald or Chris Jones however. I don't expect to see 10 plus sacks from him again.

I was adamantly opposed to giving him an extension. But I was also adamantly opposed to giving any of them extensions.

The DE's after the trades need a complete overhaul. There are some useful depth players here but no guys projecting into starters for 2024.

It was entirely stupid to have all of the DEs on the team going to FA at the same time. When people talk about roster construction, well, here's an example of bad roster construction.

They need to find another starting edge player in FA and probably draft a couple in later rounds. Early rounds should be focused on QB and OL, and literally nothing else. They have 4 spots to fill on the OL. They won't be able to do it in FA.

They're probably just going to have to live with having developmental, second tier edge defenders for a year unless they hit on a gem in the late rounds somewhere.

The DL would be helped if Phidarian Mathis lived up to his billing as a #2 pick and allowed the team to use a 3 man rotation at DT.

My guy has had some bad luck with injury. Lost an entire season due to injury, and the first part of last season. This is put up or shut up year for him. He's got to develop into the solid #3 and stay healthy.

I do think better scheme is going to make all of the defensive players look better, though. It looks like Jack was maybe not as bad a DC here as Joe Barry and Greg Manusky, but certainly not that much better.

My God, we went from Gregg Williams, who knew stuff about defense and was a good coach (for all of his other sins), to Mr. Read and React Greg Blache, to no idea what he's doing Jim Hazlett, to statistically the worst defensive coordinator in the history of the NFL Joe Barry, to meathead moron Greg Manusky to fake tough guy Jack Del Rio.

That's some lineup of bad DCs. My goodness.