The HC Dan Quinn Discussion Thread

[burgold]

I'm not sure about Harris. I'm sure he's competitive and a tough minded businessman. After all, he chose a hard business and became a billionaire in it. That said, I also think he is patient. I'm basing that one what he did with his NBA team. He was willing to wait out a rebuild through many seasons of misery.

I get it that we've endured thirty-five years of misery, but Harris' rebuil d is only three years old. So, I don't know where Harris is on the patience/misery index. Does he believe 2024 was a mirage or an oasis and a sign of things to come?

 

[BayouBrave86]

I have followed the Steelers trials and tribulations the last decade fairly closely, mostly just because I follow Jon Ledyard on Twitter (a guy who has covered both the Steeelers and Bucs professionally over the years) and he’s always talking about Tomlin. Always. Level-headed, but willing to be critical. He does the same for Bowles (and Arians before him), and for the coordinators under them. Ledyard was a very entertaining read during the Leftwich years in TB, and it’s why I wanted no part in that guy. And he’s out of the league now because despite being a young OC, he was a dinosaur. Just ancient football ideas that have no place in this modern league, hidden by Brady in their SB year. Tomlin is the same.

Simply put, Tomlin is also a dinosaur. What he does and how he does it and the process by which he makes decisions…it doesn’t work anymore in this league. You do not want Mike Tomlin running this franchise, trust me. He’s a respected guy. At a base level he’s even a good, effective coach and motivator. And he kept teams with mediocre-to-bad offenses (that he brought in the QB’s for and hired poor OC’s for btw) competitive and around .500 for a long time, comfortable in the organizational structure the Steelers provided. He’s over-appreciated by some, and under-appreciated by some, but I can tell from reading your comment here that you absolutely have not followed him and his decision-making, his staff hiring, etc. closely at all. Understandable. Trust me though, you do not want him here. You don’t. And the cherry on top, he has an enormous ego after being the king of the Steelers stable infrastructure for decades, holding him accountable or wanting him to consider new ideas is impossible. He would be horrific to watch here, and you’d be hoping Daniels could drag us past the wildcard round every year by sheer will.

Appreciate that insight.

Man I’m just not inspired at all by this offseason so far. At least we’ll have the nicest stadium in the league in 2030. Seriously can’t believe how well they crushed that design.

 

[mcdonaldrw]

Appreciate that insight.

Man I’m just not inspired at all by this offseason so far. At least we’ll have the nicest stadium in the league in 2030. Seriously can’t believe how well they crushed that design.

You know you've been traumatized when your first thought is wow look at all the seating that the new stadium will have, they will be able to hold so many more opposing fans as they take over the stadium. I wonder when the cynicism will disappear.

 

[RedWolf]

You know you've been traumatized when your first thought is wow look at all the seating that the new stadium will have, they will be able to hold so many more opposing fans as they take over the stadium. I wonder when the cynicism will disappear.

When people stop thinking negative like this

 

[Boone]

When people stop thinking negative like this

Come on - negative thinking has nothing to do with it. All it will ever take to fill an NFL stadium with home fans is consistent winning. Nothing else has any effect on it.

 

[Riggo44]

Come on - negative thinking has nothing to do with it. All it will ever take to fill an NFL stadium with home fans is consistent winning. Nothing else has any effect on it.

We just a 12 win season, with 2 playoff wins, and it took one injury plagued season for a majority of the fanbase to start calling for everyone to be fired. I'm not sure even a Super Bowl title will suffice unless we win three in a row...and even then...

 

[Boone]

We've had 'a season' here and there even with Snyder. What we haven't had (and what there is no guarantee AP and Quinn will be able to deliver) is consistent winning. That's what puts fans in seats.

 

[Bulldog]

And to get a consistent winner you need a stable and consistent approach to building a roster and then coaching it.

That is what helped to make Baltimore, New England, KC successful.

They didn't change strategies and outlooks on the team from season to season.

Look at KC. Brett Veach and Andy Reid for the most part build through the draft.

Yes, they occasionally sign free agents to play certain spots as most teams do, but you almost never see KC trade a #1 pick in a deal for a veteran.

Those #1 and #2 picks become guys like Chris Jones and Trent McDuffie that Veatch and Co. get at the END of each round in most years and many of them become impact players while on their rookie contracts.

I was hoping to see a build through the draft approach here and a churn of younger players as we traded guys like Payne and accumulated picks.

We had 9 picks in 2024 but that draft so far is a very incomplete tableau even those these players will be entering their THIRD season with the club and decisions will have to be made on them and their contracts shortly.

After 2024 we went down to 5 picks in 2025 and now have only 6 for 2026. We are or should I say we WERE going in the wrong direction.

Hopefully, Peters and Co. have adjusted their approach and we are going to see more flexing of our scouting and drafting muscles.

 

[Riggo44]

We've had 'a season' here and there even with Snyder. What we haven't had (and what there is no guarantee AP and Quinn will be able to deliver) is consistent winning. That's what puts fans in seats.

This is inaccurate. We never had the success in year one ever under Snyder. And no one was going to succeed with how battered our roster was last year. Yet no one wants to acknowledge that--they just want to spam about prospects in their THIRD year every time they post.

100% chance most people here would want Shanahan fired year two; and would still want him gone because "he can't win the big one."

 

[Primus Porcus]

And to get a consistent winner you need a stable and consistent approach to building a roster and then coaching it.

That is what helped to make Baltimore, New England, KC successful.

They didn't change strategies and outlooks on the team from season to season.

Look at KC. Brett Veach and Andy Reid for the most part build through the draft.

Yes, they occasionally sign free agents to play certain spots as most teams do, but you almost never see KC trade a #1 pick in a deal for a veteran.

Those #1 and #2 picks become guys like Chris Jones and Trent McDuffie that Veatch and Co. get at the END of each round in most years and many of them become impact players while on their rookie contracts.

I was hoping to see a build through the draft approach here and a churn of younger players as we traded guys like Payne and accumulated picks.

We had 9 picks in 2024 but that draft so far is a very incomplete tableau even those these players will be entering their THIRD season with the club and decisions will have to be made on them and their contracts shortly.

After 2024 we went down to 5 picks in 2025 and now have only 6 for 2026. We are or should I say we WERE going in the wrong direction.

Hopefully, Peters and Co. have adjusted their approach and we are going to see more flexing of our scouting and drafting muscles.

you're completely dismissing 'the beginning' of these teams runs. They didn't just start day 1, make no changes, and move to where they are now. Your example of New England is lost because they're literally on their 3rd HC and OC in 3 seasons. They have Eliot Wolf as their defacto GM, who's been in the building since 2020. In Kansas City, Brett Veach has been in place since 2017. DeCosta in Baltimore since 2019.

We have had 2 seasons with this front office / coaching staff. 2 seasons that required the mass overhaul of one of the worst rosters in sports. How can we look at this roster and try to act like we can compare them to groups that have been in place for far longer, who also were successors to some of the best roster architects the league has ever seen? It's a completely unfair argument to look at how Peters and Quinn try to rebound from Rivera, and compare it to how Eliot Wolf handled a roster built by a 6 time Super Bowl Champion. How DeCosta managed a roster, 7 years after taking over for Ozzie Newsom.. It's apples and oranges. You're asking someone to replicate a foundation of 20 years of roster building and philosophical evolution, in 2 off seasons.

 

[Boone]

This is inaccurate. We never had the success in year one ever under Snyder. And no one was going to succeed with how battered our roster was last year. Yet no one wants to acknowledge that--they just want to spam about prospects in their THIRD year every time they post.

100% chance most people here would want Shanahan fired year two; and would still want him gone because "he can't win the big one."

It's not inaccurate at all - you just changed the topic. I didn't say anything about 'year one', you just added the parameter.

Norv Turner took us to a Divisional Playoff game.
Shanahan and Gruden and Rivera all took us to the playoffs.

Is it your premise that because AP and Quinn had an amazing run in 2024 that fans should automatically view 2025 as an anomaly and have no criticism or skepticism?

Maybe 2025 was an anomaly. Or maybe 2024 was the anomaly. I think you have to at least consider that as a possibility.

We shall see.

 

[Boone]

We have had 2 seasons with this front office / coaching staff. 2 seasons that required the mass overhaul of one of the worst rosters in sports. How can we look at this roster and try to act like we can compare them to groups that have been in place for far longer, who also were successors to some of the best roster architects the league has ever seen? It's a completely unfair argument to look at how Peters and Quinn try to rebound from Rivera, and compare it to how Eliot Wolf handled a roster built by a 6 time Super Bowl Champion. How DeCosta managed a roster, 7 years after taking over for Ozzie Newsom.. It's apples and oranges. You're asking someone to replicate a foundation of 20 years of roster building and philosophical evolution, in 2 off seasons.

I get your point Derek and there's a lot of truth in that. What you are saying is that AP has not had a lot of opportunity to turn the ship and revamp this roster. That's true. But it's also true that his draft picks (so far) are looking fairly 'meh', he has given away quite a few draft picks - some seemingly worth it (Tunsil), some a complete waste (Lattimore) - and his free agency moves have also been mostly uninspiring.

So while I agree with 'we need to give them time, it was a disaster they inherited', there are areas of concern.

 

[burgold]

I think it's fair to give Dan Quinn the benefit of the doubt. 2025 was ridiculous. For a large part of the season, we were down our top four defensive ends, our number one and number three receiver, our two top corners, our tight end, our quarterback, our best receiving running back. Not to mention losing Cosmi for a quarter of the season and Tunsil down the stretch.

So yeah, it's fair to do the ole "trust but verify" bit with Quinn. That is, we can assume based on his pedigree and year one that the guy isn't a bum who doesn't know how to coach, but also say 'Year 3 is a 'prove it' year. If we agree to that then all we have to do is figure out what it would take for Quinn to reprove himself. Would .500 do it? Would a playoff appearance be enough? Does he need to win a playoff game?

In any case, I don't think you can expect a coach and a GM in year two with a terribly thin roster to survive the year of injuries Washington suffered. Heck, Maholmes and Reid couldn't survive it and they suffered fewer injuries.

 

[Primus Porcus]

I get your point Derek and there's a lot of truth in that. What you are saying is that AP has not had a lot of opportunity to turn the ship and revamp this roster. That's true. But it's also true that his draft picks (so far) are looking fairly 'meh', he has given away quite a few draft picks - some seemingly worth it (Tunsil), some a complete waste (Lattimore) - and his free agency moves have also been mostly uninspiring.

So while I agree with 'we need to give them time, it was a disaster they inherited', there are areas of concern.

Of course there are, but the expectation is unfair.

What is the single most important thing an NFL team can do? Get their franchise QB. What's the second most important thing? Protect him. It's absolutely clear that the intention of this front office was to build the O-line. They've done it better than anyone has since Gibbs 1.0. And that includes having 2 Lock Down LTs come through this building in Chris Samuel and Trent Williams. They've brought in Biadasz, traded for Tunsil, Drafted a 1st round RT who looks to be the real deal, drafted a quality backup OT in Coleman (3rd round), retained the only 2 quality O-lineman on the roster in Paul and Cosmi. That had to be priority we've all been screaming about for years. I disagree that his drafts are 'meh.' Its impossible to expect Pro Bowl level players in year 1 or 2 to be picked every pick in the draft.

2024 -

1st round - Jayden Daniels - not meh
2nd round - Johnny Newton - likely starting in 2026 after your two $20M DTs are now gone - Flashed at the end of 2025 after his first actual season playing due to injuries.
2nd round - Mike Sainristil - Starting CB either in Slot or outside - looked like a slam dunk in 2024, regressed in 2025.. was this him or coaching?
2nd round - Ben Sinnott - I'll give you this one is a bit annoying, want to see more
3rd round - Brandon Coleman - Brought in to hopefully start, didnt develop as quickly as you'd like but stepped in and played admirably at LT when Tunsil went down. Looks like he can play pretty much anywhere on the line.
3rd round - Luke McCaffrey - Looked to be taking that step before he got hurt. Quality return guy, and was blossoming as a possible 3rd / 4th WR going forward.
5th round - Jordan Magee - Injured year one. Year 2, as the 3rd LB behind Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu, was 6th on the team in tackles, 3 tackles for loss.
5th round - Dominique Hampton - out of the league - MISS
7th round - Javontae Jean-Baptiste - Quiet rookie season, 2 sacks over the time he did play. grade is incomplete

2025 -

1st round - Josh Conerly - HIT
2nd round - Trey Amos - looking to be a hit until he got hurt.
4th round - Jaylin Lane - at a minimum looks to be our return specialist with some offensive flexibility
6th round - Kain Medrano - at most an incomplete grade as he was buried down the depth chart - flashed on ST at times
7th round - Jacory Croskey-Merritt - Major contributor in 2025. Still not sold he's got enough to be a focal point going forward, but at a minimum has proven he's got NFL skills. - HIT

What do we expect from draft picks?

As far as free agency goes... no there hasn't been an extensive list of hits when were talking about long term contracts. Kinlaw.. meh. Luvu, i believe this is a good pick and he'll benefit with a better defensive scheme. Looked like a premium player last year when he was playing like his hair was on fire. Tyler Biadasz - HIT. Am i missing any actual investment in a player beyond the 1 year deal?

Trades -

Tunsil - HIT
Deebo - HIT - would have been a lot different had the injuries not messed with the whole offensive skill position unit.
Lattimore - MISS
Jahan Dotson and 5th round pick - to Philly - return - 3rd round pick and 2 x 7th round picks
Brian Robinson - to San Fran - return - 6th round pick


The only players still on this roster from the day Peters and Quinn

Terry McLaurin
Chris Paul
Sam Cosmi
Daron Payne (likely gone)
Jeremy Reaves
Tress Way


I would also love to have added a bunch of key pieces at certain roster spots, on long term deals, it's just not that simple. We can't hand out large contracts when you're talking about needing to round out 30 of your to 50 roster spots. Its going to take multiple years to get to a point where you have the foundation set, to take that big swing. PERSONALLY, i think were on the verge of that this season. I could see us having a big offseason because the depth has started to fill out along the roster. Big moves like RB, S, WR, Edge could be coming since you don't need to worry about turning over entire position groups like we have over the last 2 off seasons.

 

[Riggo44]

It's not inaccurate at all - you just changed the topic. I didn't say anything about 'year one', you just added the parameter.

Norv Turner took us to a Divisional Playoff game.
Shanahan and Gruden and Rivera all took us to the playoffs.

Is it your premise that because AP and Quinn had an amazing run in 2024 that fans should automatically view 2025 as an anomaly and have no criticism or skepticism?

Maybe 2025 was an anomaly. Or maybe 2024 was the anomaly. I think you have to at least consider that as a possibility.

We shall see.

It is in accurate. We won as many playoff games last year as we did under Snyders entire term. You specifically equated it to "we had seasons under Snyder." We never had a season like that. We made the division round twice in almost 25 years, never winning it.

But yes we shall see. There will be changes to approach in a number of areas

 

[clskinsfan]

Giants gave up their souls for Harbaugh. He has complete control. We will see how that turns out without Ozzie feeding him pro bowl level players every year....

 

[Primus Porcus]

Giants gave up their souls for Harbaugh. He has complete control. We will see how that turns out without Ozzie feeding him pro bowl level players every year....

My father in law asked me how i felt about Harbaugh coming to the NFC East and I said the exact same thing. Be interested to see how much was him, and how much was a HOF GM pumping him full of talent at the most important positions not labeled QB

 

[Boone]

I think we're going to find that Harbaugh is every bit the HC most think he is. Having great talent is obviously big, but I feel like it is wishful thinking on our part that it was all the GM...

 

[Conn]

I think it's fair to give Dan Quinn the benefit of the doubt. 2025 was ridiculous. For a large part of the season, we were down our top four defensive ends, our number one and number three receiver, our two top corners, our tight end, our quarterback, our best receiving running back. Not to mention losing Cosmi for a quarter of the season and Tunsil down the stretch.

So yeah, it's fair to do the ole "trust but verify" bit with Quinn. That is, we can assume based on his pedigree and year one that the guy isn't a bum who doesn't know how to coach, but also say 'Year 3 is a 'prove it' year. If we agree to that then all we have to do is figure out what it would take for Quinn to reprove himself. Would .500 do it? Would a playoff appearance be enough? Does he need to win a playoff game?

In any case, I don't think you can expect a coach and a GM in year two with a terribly thin roster to survive the year of injuries Washington suffered. Heck, Maholmes and Reid couldn't survive it and they suffered fewer injuries.

Is it fair? He himself wasn’t happy with either of his initial coordinator hires, now he’s starting over heading into year 3.

His record in ATL without Kyle Shanahan was 24-29.

He’s well respected. I’m not sure how impressive his HC pedigree really is anytime he doesn’t have an elite offense being run by somebody else (and he doesn’t want to coach the defense so why should I consider that as a factor—especially given his DC hires over the years have never really given him an elite defense).

I think we’re potentially in no-man’s land with Quinn. 2024 was a blast but we’re just waiting for the next phase of this franchise’s future at this point imo unless Daniels can carry us again and buy time for Blough to grow into his huge brain on the job, I guess. If that doesn’t happen then we’re starting over in the 4th year of Daniels’ rookie contract. That’s insane. Even Keim says Quinn can’t afford a slow start next year, or things could change and his seat could grow warm. That’s a calamity after the taste of apparently unsustainable success we received in 2024. Nobody would be happy about that.

But benefit of the doubt? Don’t see why people would give that gift to Quinn with the way things have gone. Again, his career HC record is below .500 without someone else running an elite offense for him. Which I guess is fine as long as you keep finding those guys. But then after a disaster season, all hands on deck, he hires a completely inexperienced OC to shepherd this offense and further develop Jayden Daniels. Huge swing with huge whiff potential, we have to acknowledge that. Quinn’s career is likely relying on what Blough/Daniels cook up together over the first 12 weeks of next season. And it’s still a tough schedule imo. Godspeed to us.

 

[Conn]

Giants gave up their souls for Harbaugh. He has complete control. We will see how that turns out without Ozzie feeding him pro bowl level players every year....

He won’t win them a SB, nothing about their situation will become better than the situation he had in BAL with the organization, roster, and QB.

But he will fix their operations. Modernize and professionalize a building that’s been run by Mara sons, nephews and such for a generation. Invest huge money into the sorts of facilities, analytics department, scouting department, etc. that the Giants have been neglecting for decades. Mara runs things very “old school” and in the family, in a way that the premier franchises don’t do anymore. The same sort of stuff we needed a new owner and AP to fix to set us on the right path, though not quite as bad. But same idea.

So even though he’s a bit of a dinosaur in this league and probably overhyped as a coach, he’ll still be good for giving them an entire organizational reset as the leader in the clubhouse imo, which sucks for us. They’ve needed it since Coughlin grew stale and never got it. They’ve been basically the same stale org with a new coaching face for a very, very long time. This shakeup will benefit them going forward even if Harbaugh is a .500 coach there. And unfortunately I expect him to be better than that.