It’s the pod that was promised. Matt Harmon and The Ringer’s Benjamin Solak team up to go through every single new head coach and offensive coordinator hire this coaching cycle and ask one simple question: Is this an offensive ecosystem worth investing in next season?
Harmon and Solak do a deep dive on each coach’s organizational fit, previous experience, scheme, tendencies and current player personnel to determine which hires are set up for the best success in 2024 and beyond. The two end the show by also discussing which defensive coordinator hire was the best of the offseason:
0:00 – INTRO
1:35 – L.A. Chargers: Harbaugh as HC, Greg Roman as OC
7:47 – Atlanta Falcons: Raheem Morris as HC, Zac Robinson as OC
12:28 – Seattle Seahawks: Mike Macdonald as HC, Ryan Grubb as OC
18:48 – Carolina Panthers: Dave Canales as HC, Brad Idzik as OC
25:12 – Washington Commanders: Dan Quinn as HC, Kliff Kingsbury as OC
31:44 – Tennessee Titans: Brian Callahan as HC, Nick Holz as OC
36:20 – Las Vegas Raiders: Antonio Pierce as HC, Luke Getsy as OC
40:15 – New England Patriots: Jerrod Mayo as HC, Alex Van Pelt as OC
44:08 – Philadelphia Eagles: Kellen Moore as OC
47:23 – Pittsburgh Steelers: Arthur Smith as OC
50:34 – Buffalo Bills: Joe Brady as OC
52:58 – Chicago Bears: Shane Waldron as OC
55:39 – New Orleans Saints: Klink Kubiak as OC
59:57 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Liam Coen as OC
1:01:38 – Cleveland and Cincy OC hires
1:03:05 – What was the best DC hire this offseason?
Thanks for watching! Subscribe to the Yahoo Sports channel here ► http://bit.ly/YSportsYT
Follow us everywhere!
Our Site ► http://www.yahoosports.com
Instagram ► http://www.instagram.com/yahoosports
Twitter ► http://www.twitter.com/yahoosports
Facebook ► http://www.facebook.com/yahoosports
Twitch ► https://www.twitch.tv/yahoosports
It’s Tuesday February 20th I’m Matt Haron welcome to the Yahoo fantasy football show it is hell of a day to talk ball and joining me to do just that is the ringer Ben solak Ben what’s going on buddy appreciate you’re having me on that yeah off season time forget about
All those results let’s talk about the 45th best pre agent in the league man let’s do it I mean yeah look we’ve talked a lot about this uh talked about this a lot on the show recently I enjoyed the offseason I mean I enjoy the real games
More than the offseason because I’m not a lunatic but at the same time man it does feel good to talk big picture ideas uh talk you know things that like you said no real accountability forget the results we’re talking about process baby and that’s what we’re going to do on
This show today I’ve teased this show a lot I I’m I’m excited about this one we have really kind of throughout the playoffs just avoided talking about these coaching changes on the show to build it all up for one big show here today because Ben if 2023 taught us
Anything it’s that coaching really really matters and I mean I think your Eagles are actually a perfect example of this I mean look what happens when you take Shane styken out of Philadelphia and you stick him in Indianapolis bad things for one team good things for the
Other so that’s the goal of this show today is to kind of break down all these coaching changes and sort of rank them I guess in terms of what moves the needle most in terms of the potential positive impact on these offensive ecosystems so let’s start off with the group of teams
That changed both their head coach and their offensive coordinator and I I think the Chargers are a perfect place to start here they hire uh Michigan head former Michigan head coach and former obviously long time ago 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh they also bring in former 49ers offensive coordinator with Jim
Harbaugh back in the day Greg Roman also he was the offensive coordinat with the Ravens in Lamar Jackson’s early eras so Ben tell me about what you your reaction to this move and and how you think this is going to play out schematically with this offense yeah I thought Harbaugh was
A really good hire for the Chargers I think that harb is a great coach I think is one of the 32 best coaches in the world I think is a good NFL head coach uh the Chargers need a dash of professionalism a dash of known quantity
ISM and I think that that’s a lot of what what Harbaugh brings to the table for you now obviously Harbaugh’s uh approach for much of the of his career has been that of a CEO head coach right and been you know kind of calling the shots from above same as his brother and
Then an offensive guy is going to handle the offensive staff and a defensive guy to handle the defensive staff we have two legit coordinators we were all like all right like this is great just please don’t bring in Greg Roman like just the way that this would stink is if like you
Gave the keys over to Greg Roman and then they gave the keys over to Greg Roman and I think that that’s uh It’s Tricky I think Greg Roman again like I started by saying Jim harau is a good coach I also think Greg Roman is a good
Coach like there’s stuff that that like like like Roman has coached a good running game for a long time in the NFL now at multi spots and and the reason why Roman was so successful when he first started with Hardball in the league right in San Francisco is because
He was willing to pull stuff and do stuff from the college level that guys weren’t willing to do yet like using the pistol and using read option and stuff like that so he understands how to find a leverage Point find an edge in the NFL and implement it the problem is I think
He’s due for some updating I think he’s due for some okay like the same stuff that was that was getting the drop on on teams in 2013 2014 isn’t getting the drop anymore right and we have to be more willing to evolve in the running game and evolve to spread formations get
More speed on the field and and and have a running game that doesn’t need as many tight ends as many fullbacks to be successful and so they paired him with Marcus Brady as a passing game coordinator Marcus Brady was OC with Frank Reich under Indianapolis he spent
The last year in Philadelphia he’s like of the Shane siking Nick serani tree you’ve heard good things about him like I I I I obviously like he didn’t last in Indie and then the Eagles passing game wasn’t great so there’s not like a lot of like wow look at the impact he’s had
On stuff and so uh there’s there’s a big question mark here I think that overall it’s a good high and har har is a good coach but offensively like I I I don’t see a vision for like what Harbaugh Roman Brain Trust has done previously that marries with what Justin Herbert
Does well and I don’t really look at the staff and go like oh here’s where the new ideas will be coming from here’s where the uh uh you know the the the the infusion of of passing game creativity will come from their QB coach is Shane day he’s been Herbert’s QB coach before
The wide receiver coach is SJ law he’s been in the league for like 25 bajillion years like they feel like they’re going to kind of do the same old same old stuff and I don’t think that’s going to be good with Herbert throwing like Alex Erikson
Again right I think that’s kind of the Crux of the Chargers off season is that this Personnel Group I think more so than the Casual fan probably thinks it really feels like a blank slate like the running back room Austin NE is free agent Josh Kelly’s a free agent in the
Wide receiver room I think Mike Williams is definitely going to be cut I don’t know what your opinion on like where keen and Allen is at this point in his career but he is making a lot of money is he a potential guy they move off of
The tight end room you talk about Greg Roman’s offense throwing tight ends on tight ends on tight ends on the field this tight end Grom has been a problem for years so I I think it’s kind of fair to wonder what what like this offensive scheme and and these group of guys what
They want to marry to the talent because really to me I think whoever is going to be a part of the Chargers core is probably not on this roster at least like in 2025 and Beyond yeah I think that’s fair and like I I don’t I think
It would behoove the Chargers to do a little one-year wash right where it’s like okay let’s like draft a tackle and let’s you know we restructured uh Cory lindley’s deal let’s draft an interior player and like let’s make sure that our line is good and we can protect Herbert
And let’s get a couple young guys in here and you know throw some dice rolls on some dudes and if we’re the 20th ranked offense we’re the 20th ranked offense but hey the covers are pretty bare the last guy spent a lot of money on on khil Mack and on JC Jackson on
Joey Bosa and on on on on Mike Williams and Keenan Allen and that’s just they they wanted to win with that and there’s no chance we’re winning with that over the next two years they also last guy spent some picks right like Quinton Johnson where I don’t know if we’re
Winning with that either and so it’s okay to take a one-year uh uh recovery period I think that’s fine you got you got to know what you’re doing and be able to set expectations it’s easy to say like all right well we’re going to reload for a year it’s another thing to
Be three and eight and be like this sucks so you gota you gotta commit to it um but I think that I think it would be good for the Chargers and if they do that I I won’t mind it too much yeah I think that having Greg Roman around and
Having Jim Harbaugh around like sets you at some level of a floor but I don’t think they’re reaching a ceiling maybe ever with this group and certainly not right this like this year at all I think I think that level of competion level of Competency is going to be nice I think
Whoever they draft at running back whoever they bring in at running back I’m going to be interested in in that player uh because I think this run game has been historically a good unit so that that’s kind of it though from a pass game standpoint I’m I’m ready to
Believe anything in terms of who they line up at wide receiver this year and really what that looks like cuz this group of players went stale in Los Angeles towards the end and this offense in terms of Greg Roman and Baltimore ran stale by the time it was over there so I
I I’ve I’ve came into this very excited about the Jim Harbaugh thing uh and you are kind of bringing me down a little bit which I think is fine because I’ve been sort of mixed a little bit I I I really don’t har and Herbert they’re going to compete they’re going to be
Around like they’re they’re they’re they’re going to have games where where Herbert kind of Wills them into into existence I don’t think they’re going to be a total nothing Burger I think Harbaugh and Herbert are both too good for that I just don’t see the vision yet right there’s too much uncertainty at
The skill position players and there’s too much of a question mark at OC for me to be like oh this is how this is going to work so bring me back in October we’ll talk about what we see then there we go yeah I think ultimately it’s going
To work from a onfield product standpoint I think they’re going to win games I just don’t I’m with you I don’t know what the vision of the offense looks like now this next one I’m I’m much more excited about I’m I’m interested to hear your thoughts here the Falcons higher Raheem Morris
Defensive coordinator from the Rams they bring in former Rams quarterback coach and passing game coordinator Zach Robinson and I don’t know about you Ben and listen we have no idea what Zack Robinson’s going to come in here and do from a schematic standpoint but theoretically the offense that they ran
With the Rams last year and which was a pretty Stark departure from some of the early Shawn McBay teams I actually think fits this group of players from a drake London from a bejan Robinson even maybe from a Kyle pit standpoint I think it fits this group a lot um how excited are
You about this potential offensive yeah so you bring up the offense that they ran right and that’s the tricky thing here is that uh the when Robinson started with the Rams in 2019 they were in Prime golf era right under Center Zone Duo play action then they transition with Stafford to be more
Spread more gun more dropback passing game get the back involved from the passing game a little bit more right um but that was because they had a grown-up back there and you don’t know who’s going to be back there for for the Rams at quarterback and accordingly you don’t
Know what they’re going to want to do like if Atlanta lands Justin Fields I don’t think they’re going to run the Stafford offense for him I they’re run the golf offense for him that just makes more sense for his skill set and and and it also can map nicely onto the the
Falcons Personnel because hey like Arthur Smith was running some of that stuff when he was here previously with with that said uh I think Robinson’s a Smart Cookie right like I think that all the things you’ve heard about him how quickly he rose to the the Rams coaching staff glowing recommendations like I’m
I’m I I believe in him and I also believe in Raheem who I think rahee is also a player oriented guy I think they’re going to gain an offense on the field that works for the players that they have available like I’m I’m all my Dynasty Drake London Shares are thrilled
With this hire not because like oh they run you and me both buddy not because like oh they run a an offense that finals wide receiver one but just like Drake’s very good and hasn’t gotten the the sort of volume that very good receivers typically do and the sort of
Utilization of very typical wide receiv receiver ones typically do he’s probably going to get that now just because Raheem and Zack Robinson are gonna sit down and be like all right we should probably get this guy the ball more and worry less about the Scotty Miller and Van Jefferson targets like that like
Right it’s just like it’s like it’s layup stuff a little bit uh and so to me like this right I I think that Robinson was going to be an OC somewhere I have about as positive of an opinion as you can have on a guy with like he’s only
Been in one system like I’ve never spoken to him you know like predicting OC hires is hard because usually it’s like a guy who just hasn’t done a lot that’s like visible from the outside but he gets glowing recommendations and I think raw is a smart guy I think raw is
Like again like a player oriented coach who knows where his bread is buttered so I think that you’re going to see some of the the ball distribution issues in the passing game uh from from the Arthur Smith years get sussed out a little bit that’ll be good for Drake and it’ll be
Good for pets I also think yeah like they Robinson knows how to how to plug and chug a quarterback too right and so I do think that they’re well positioned to get a Justin Fields if they get a Kirk Cousins it’s it’s easy right it’s Kirk you can run the Stafford stuff with
Kirk like Kevin mconnell has been doing that but I’m confident in their ability to grab a quarterback and in year one get the plane off the ground pretty quick I like that point about how if they get some guy that you know isn’t quite on the Stafford level or isn’t
Able to do all that stuff we’ve seen this coaching staff put together uh an offense with a quarterback in Jared G that’s a little bit more limited from what he can do I like that versatility there and I really just I’m glad you brought up Drake London because I think
About the conversation I had with pukan nakua at Super Bowl week and him saying look and this was the answer I expected him to give when I asked him what’s your favorite route to run and he brings up like the dagger routes the in cuts the the digs and everything from this
Offense to me when I chart Drake London when I look at his routes like those are the routes Drake London should be running those are the routes that probably desen Ritter could have done a better job getting him the football the last couple of years I think they kind
Of strayed away from that especially in 23 so to me I’m with you uh the dynasty bags for Drake London are uh are looking good at this point I like this hire a lot and everything it kind of paints for the Falcons yeah the uh uh as a
Self-proclaimed RAR guy I also would have liked for a couple more accurate rid targets over the middle of the field uh but yeah like the the quarterback Atlanta’s got a that’s my third offseason believing the Atlanta Falcons third straight which is tough they’ve had three different offensive coordinators or defens coordinators
Excuse me the whole time I got to eventually get off this train but infrastructure wise they have a lot going for them they have to be able to plug chug quarterback and I think that this staff is capable of doing that and if they get Kirk like they can take a
Big year one Leap yeah and if you guys want more context on Raheem Morris and how excited the playerss are about him I would encourage you to go to the yaho sports YouTube page and check out the bejan Robinson interview we did at Super Bowl week they he is gassed up about
Playing for Raheem Morris man so uh very exciting potential there for this team let’s move on to the next and this one I’m really curious to pick your brain about because I don’t watch a lot of college ball uh especially until we get to the point where I’m charting these
Receivers and I have started charting some of these watch receivers so I’ve got at least some background on what we’re going to talk about here but Seattle Seahawks they hire former Ravens defensive coordinator Mike McDonald love that hire that was awesome then they go on to bring in former University of
Washington and I guess you could say University of Alabama offense coordinator for about two seconds Ryan grub um Ben I again I have very little background on what to expect from Ryan grub and this Seahawks offense but I do know they have some pretty good players on that roster that probably could be
Maximized a little more than they were last year yeah so uh I really like the way that Seattle has pilled out the coaching staff I think that McDonald Allen derde the defensive side of the ball and then Ryan grab is the offensive side of the ball is like an aggressive
But understandable and and and I see the vision approach for how they they’ve built out this staff uh grub right uh OC at at in the last couple of years he was going to be at Alabama for a second he was at Fresno before this he’s pretty
Much always been with with caylin dbor who’s the who’s the head coach at Seattle now at Alabama uh and offensively like I I wouldn’t describe him as being any sort of like he’s definitely like oh air raid like it’s not like that right oh the spread like
They just do a lot of like here’s what we’re good at uh and La last year they had three NFL receivers in NFL quarterback they said hey we’re good at throwing the ball down the field and that’s that’s how we’re going to that’s how we’re going to live uh so there’s a
Lot of like play action pass stuff that’s in there there’s NFL concept that they borrowed there’s RPO and spread stuff that they do from the college level to kind of move the ball simply and win box countwise so there’s a lot of good intention there’s also a lot of
Stuff that doesn’t map to the NFL like half of their play action concepts are like gun stuff with a pulling guard like pass protction wise like it’s just not going to work like you’re not going to be able to stay back there for that long
Uh uh and and and expect a win along the offensive line and also have the routes win as typically as they do and like especially with like like Pen’s arm like that’s one of the reasons why it took so long Pen’s a little bit like slower processor and like doesn’t have like the
Biggest arm in the world and so like with Gino like maybe it could be faster like a lot of that stuff’s gonna have to go under center now right and like NFL teams are a lot better at reading you out under Center and like if it goes
Under center it’s going to need tight ends to actually Excel the Run fake and like they were more of a spread team and so grub like it was very clearly a smart offense but it is interesting because like a lot of what he did you can’t take
One to one to the NFL level you can try I just don’t think it’s going to be nearly as successful so what you’re banking on with grub is you’re Bank you’re banking on Smart Cookie theorem you’re banking on like this guy like understands how to get football in the
Field he’s always done it with Jabar and I was going to be doing it kind of on his own which is interesting to me right there’s just a a level of trust a level of oh like we should do that one thing we did against Toledo in 2015 like he
Doesn’t have that anymore right uh and he hasn’t said McDonald who McDonald came from the college ranks it was he was in Michigan for a year he didn’t come from the college ranks but had the experience of saying all right this is how what I saw college teams do this is
How I adjusted my defense to it and then I popped back up to the league and here’s kind of how okay here’s what teams can and can’t get away with so he’s been through that experience before I think that’ll help grub but grub is a
Big question mark to me it is a an encouraging question mark an optimistic question mark But like with a guy like Zack Robinson I feel more confident in my expectation that he’s at least above average relative to Grub where like I can see some high tail outcomes where
He’s sick and they you know Gino’s averaging 10 yards air yards an attempt for the entire month of October and DK metaps running more than six routes and and and Jackson Smith and jig is running more than just to screen every other play and like you know they’ve really
Like opened opened the world up a little bit I can also see a world where like they can’t get that off the ground because like pass protection wise they have limits or like illegal man downfield or like the running game and like just like you know the the the the
The the different hashes make it harder to play spread and harder just like you know do rpos to the wide side of the field like there’s just limits for college guys coming to the league that I think it’s it’s easy to kind of wash over with grub but you have to
Acknowledge like that’s a tough climb back up so I got I got a to to to believe in and and there’s there’s there’s Talent there like I’m a Gino guy I was a Jack Smith and jiga guy I’m a huge Zach sh guy like I like I
Like a lot of their talent um I I do kind of want to see and hear when we get to summer in the training camps what this offense is starting to look like and and how it’s coming together yeah in a weird way Ben it feels like I love
Again Mike McDonald I I could not speak high enough about what he did from a defensive standpoint there in Baltimore they had good players stuff like that but the way they mixed coverages up on the back end the way they really made quarterbacks put it put a lot of burden
On quarterbacks from a post Snap post Snap standpoint I thought that was super impressive that was great um but at the same time I love that higher it does feel like the Ryan grub hire is potentially of this group we’re going to talk about maybe the one with the most variance to
It yeah I mean like I would say I don’t know a lot about like Nick Holtz who’s like the new Titans OC you Cliff right like there’s like I I I want to make it clear I am excited about grub I think of the guys they they they interviewed and
They interviewed a lot of good guys that I was interested in the Chip Kelly interview like I think Mike cfco to be a good interview grub is the one to me that has like the highest ceiling because like he was they were doing awesome stuff at Washington right just
Like really cool like play action Concepts and downfield Concepts and playing off of off of Tendencies and and and calling Breakers at the wrong time and like he was a very aggressive play caller and they would come up with like really cool short yardage stuff that allow them to rip off easy explosives
Like grub clearly got it it’s just one of my big things is that getting it at the college level does not map to getting it at the NFL level not nearly as easily as we think it does we really want to think like oh if they’re good at
College at like calling plays and designing plays they’ll be good in the league and it’s just less true than we want it to be we just have a lot of data that the college NFL leap for coaches is harder than than we think U so that’s
Where my my uncertainty comes in but if we if we hopped on this pod again in in nine months and we ranked the O hirers there’s a good chance there’s a better chance for a lot of guys that we we would end up with gret one and I think
That’s an important it’s important to say that and also important to throw a little bit of cold water on it yeah God I mean these last two teams we just talked about Falcons uh and Seahawks I was way too excited about both of these offenses last year um and and now I feel
I can feel that excitement building up in me again and I I I’m very curious where my feelings are in October on both these two teams this next one um listen I I really like Dave Canal who Carolina Panthers higher former bucks offensive coordinator loved watching that offense
Last year again to to steal your phrase here from the last couple of ones I you it feels like you could tell that Dave Canales gets it you it feels like you can tell he knows what to do to get the mo best out of his Personnel the best
Side of his quarterbacks obviously he has a history with the aforementioned Gino Smith as well they hire a couple guys from that staff uh Brad idzik former bucks wide receiver coach be the offense coordinator uh Harold Goodwin who’s been around the game for a long
Time he is going to be the same title that he had with the Buccaneers assistant head coach and Run game coordinator um but man Ben it feels like this team still even if I like Canalis has a long long way to go to even just get to competency on offense Canalis was
My like he’s going to get interviews this year and then be the hottest candidate next year guy coming into the cycle I said I said the exact same thing during this and then the Panthers were kind of like hey well we need some time anyway so we might as well get a year
Ahead of this thing and honestly I respect I think that’s a good call I don’t I like that like I think that’s a good approach that makes sense to me um Canalis yeah like the the the change from the Tampa 22 offense to the Tampa 23 offense when
Canales came in was marked right it was noticeable it’s like hey like Mike Evans can run more than three routs actually like let’s ask him to do that you know uh we have this stable of of of uh receivers in the back who can like fill
Rolls for us let’s get a Trey Palmer game let’s get a Devon Tomkins game we they had the uh uh you know let’s get Rashad white involved in the passing the game let’s get Kate aore involved like there like he he made everything so easy on Baker and Baker could execute and
Like you clearly like they the floor for Baker is high enough that he can get that on the field and then you have your your star receiver and you understand how to get him activated in the games so you need him like they just the the luki
Thing worked at right tackle the Tristan wors thing worked at left tackle like every single thing that they did offensively worked which creates an unrealistic expectation that we should not carry into the Panthers tenure but I do think he’s going to be a pretty substantial
Jump for for Bryce young like I was I was a pretty big it’s wrong to say I was a Bryce Young doubter I had greated very highly coming out of Alabama but I was a big like hey like if this doesn’t work it won’t work like if he’s just too
Small he’s just too small period like there’s there’s worlds in which he’s just bottom tier and I think in year one we saw kind of what that could look like I do think there will be a pretty big jump with with Canalis there in year two
I I don’t know if it’ll you know I’m sure it’ll trick Panthers fans and believe in that young is real I don’t know if it’ll ever like you know wash away the pain of of CJ strout at to and and Bryce young at one but I do think
There could be a pretty big jump with Canales because I do think he makes things very easy on his quarterback he makes it clear your eyes glow clear where the ball goes the timing of it is nice I think he’s going to he he maximizes players very well I think
They’re going to get better at running back targets and tight end targets everything shallow all everything underneath that that both Thomas Brown and Frank Reich tried to do that they couldn’t get done I think they’ll get a lot better at the easy stuff the layup stuff because Canalis just does a lot of
That that that RPO game that quick game and that underneath game with intention and he does it with detail the way that to to make those layups actually work like layups they drill that stuff very nicely so I think that he’s going to be good for them all is the future of
Offense in Carolina at quarterback I’m not convinced and so there’s a chance that like we end up talking about you know 2025 26 okay canalysis very good but they clearly need to make a quarterback change they’ve hit the ceiling on this offense but that’s the next year problem this year problem is
Can you get something with Bryce working I I honestly I think they can yeah I think they can get Bryce working I kind of compared it a little bit to the Jared gof Rams model from when they fired Jeff Fisher they hired Shan McBay probably again a lot earlier than people expected
But at the same time and it it’s funny because we said Goff was kind of limited earlier but even you just compare physical gifts wise like Goff is a much Superior product to to Bryce young another former first overall pick I’m just curious Ben like from the way Dave
Canalis designs and runs offense do you think it even I mean should it even matter if it fits with some of these guys that are on this team right now because they they are locked into Adam thel on a three-year deal you know they draft Jonathan Mingo in the second round
They spent money on like Hayden hurse and mil Sanders but they’re starting chuba hubard by the end of the season do we expect any of these guys that I just mentioned to be a part of the immed I’m not talking long-term future but just even like the 2024 immediate future of
The Panthers offense I mean I think you’ll see th be that because th will be healthy and he’ll be spry and he’ll be fresh and like when he was that it was it was working for them I don’t know if that’ll be a 17 game thing and I
Certainly don’t think you want to live in a universe where Adam thand is getting as many targets as he was last year but that might be your best option wide receiver was um so yeah I think that you’re going to get that from them they’ll try it with Mingo were you a Mingo
Guy I thought Mingo could only really succeed in one role which is kind of the role that Adam Thelen was playing last year where he’s an off ball slot guy you’re getting him a lot of just like quick hitting targets I don’t love the stuff that they did from him with him
Last year where he’s a perimeter guy I he still play a lot of flanker he wasn’t like a pure X DJ CH was kind of their PX last year but he’s a vertical receiver they did try some of the crossing stuff but I was very kind of mixed on Mingo
And really only kind of liked him in that one role yeah so uh I like I I was not a huge Mingo guy I’ll be curious to see what they do with him I’m a lot more interested in like them bringing in other options and finding some more
Speed stuff and like uh there’s no one on that rout like you know Terrace Marshall sure let’s see right like there’s not like a lot that’s exciting but go get a fourth round and see what he can do um the main thing like the main thing I’ll be interested in a year
One is like okay if they just get offensive line stability and offensive line Improvement um re so much instability last year iky aanu that left tackle has been a pro now for two years he’s had four game stretches where you’re like yep that there it is that’s
What it is and then it’s gone and it’s like it’s somewhere in there and and you brought up Harold Goodwin who’s a offensive line coach Run game coordinator for a while there with the Buccaneers and he’s now assistant head coach Run game coordinator he’s got an offensive line background to him I’ll be
Curious to see what they’re able to do with iy but if you figure iy out and like moton’s a good right tackle and you know Bradley boseman’s on on extension Austin Corbett’s on extension like you have dudes like you can get this line to be a lot better and then that Tak so
Much pressure off of Bryce that’s where I’m more like they’ve got more fruit on the vine where like if they figure things out that offensive line could take a big step forward relative to wide receiver where they clearly just need to make additions no matter what all right next one up here Washington
Commanders they hire Dan Quinn former Cowboys defensive coordinator uh as the head coach they hire Cliff Kingsbury who you mentioned earlier was the senior offensive Analyst at USC and obviously we know him more prominently in the NFL circles as the Arizona Cardinals head coach um man my expectations were really high
About what Washington could do from an a head coach offensive play caller standpoint earlier in the off season and obviously now we’re sitting here with Cliff kingsberry where I mean Ben can you get the people excited about a cliff kingsberry offense in no and I resent
You for asking me to do that that’s not I’m I’m not kind sure to solve these problems um this is not good uh someone get my my boy Scary Terry out so I’m G to get my boy get my boy Johan doson out all right big Johan Dawson fan good film
Let’s save the man um dude thank you thank you for saying that though because number one I I love Johan doson at Penn State I thought he was a great Prospect and I I really like the rookie year film as well but man he is in terms look and
And it’s all over fantasy Twitter now at this point like his targets per route run yards per route run and how they’re like line up with some of the the busts of the busts like the jayen ragers and Quon tread Wells and all that stuff and
It’s like man that’s a good there’s a good football player in there with Johan Dawson and obviously Terry mclen I’ve been a big long time Terry mcloren backer and I was so excited for somebody to come really milk the milk the the juice out of here that’s not that’s not
What you do with juice you don’t milk it out of animals but squeeze the juice out of these damn receivers and I don’t I don’t feel good about Cliff Kingsbury being the guy to do it yeah Cliff is like a very classic like uh don’t know how to weaponize a top Receiver right
Because with DeAndre Hopkins in Arizona it was just leave him on on the left side of the field for 98% of the snaps and he runs four routes like that’s what we do with the outside receiver here in the air raid and it’s like okay sick but that doesn’t again that’s a perfect
Example of like college doesn’t climb to the NFL as easily as we think it does you need to be more creative with the guy you need to get him more reps off of the field you need to hide his alignment more like just to keep him mentally
Engaged with the game uh and so maybe Cliff’s learned from that like you know I will be very interested to see what he does on the field that’s new we have to remember those Iona teams they would come out every year September and October and Pitch gas right they they
Would come out and they would do some new stuff and they would have uh you know C would have been in the lab in the summer and they would have you know come up with some some designer stuff on on third and fourth down that allow them to
Extend drives and like they would come out with new things and Cliff had a whole year off like I think he’s gonna come out with some new stuff I would not be surprised if we’re you and I are suffering in September and October Commander Sam oh at Benz like at Matt
Haron you guys said it was bad and it’s good you’re an idiot but it’s it’s the long game it’s they don’t evolve over the course of the year they don’t they they they get stale and when when they start to reach resistance when they start to have problems they revert back
To their basic stuff right that’s a classic air rate Staples like when you don’t know what to do just call mes it’s probably going to work like that’s like the NFL level it is not that easy uh and so I think it’s very clearly Caleb bait
I I I subscribe to all Notions that they are trying to land Caleb Williams and that Cliff is is tight with Caleb and knows what sort of offense Caleb wants to run and how he sees the game he was his quarterback’s coach last year at USC
Uh so you know okay Cliff’s gonna uh it’s gonna be you know Caleb and Cliff in Washington it’s GNA be the new era the DC boy back football whatever I think there’s going to be a game in September where it looks like you’ll see it all making sense and Terry will have
170 yards on 12 targets and it’ll feel amazing but I don’t think it’s going to stand the test of a season I don’t think it’s going to stand the test of of of long-term time there’s not enough creativity on the staff to me it’s Dan Quinn with with Cliff Kingsbury and
Brian Johnson like it’s just I I I those are known Commodities to me and I don’t like the sum of the of the parts there so I I have a lot of doubts about the Way Washington built it I mean shoot even yeah bringing up Brian Johnson who’s the quarterback coach passing game
Coordinator on the team or just yeah like that’s a very similar offense that came out pretty hot in September and October but the longer the season wore on the less the fewer answers that this team was able to provide and I’m very concerned uh about the exact Vision that
You played out there like look i’ I’d love to look like a dumbass about this team and the way I’m the way I’m talking about not being excited about Cliff Kingsbury cuz I I love these receivers I mean Johan doson and Terry mcloren should be one of the top Duos in the NFL
But they haven’t been maximized for years there in Washington and I’m concerned we’re going to see the exact same thing with cliff kingsbery and yeah I mean shoot they they don’t have full access to to Caleb Williams at this point like they might end up with the
Drake May or something like that so we we’ve got a a lot of questions here when and I don’t know what’s just give me the rough sort of like Ben solak take on these top three quarterbacks because this is probably one of the teams that
Is Gonna Come Away with one of these two guys or one of these three guys Caleb’s very good you should draft him very early and you should kind of you know try to get some Reigns on the Bronco but in general let the Bronco Buck um he’s
Gonna have to mature at the NFL level I’m confident that he will uh I think a lot of what he did at USC was I kind of have to do this because our defense is horrible and I think that he can be a lot more mature of a player I love Caleb
May is excellent May is unbelievable I I would love to have the second pick in this draft make somebody else figure out who the best one is and I just take the other guy and I hope that I roll CJ shroud um May is is is big and he’s fast
And he’s strong he’s Dynamic he’s aggressive and he’s intelligent and he’s risk-prone like absolutely holds the ball like a knucklehead um but like I love that I’d rather have a guy be like it’s Brock per etherum I’d rather have a guy who’s too aggressive and have to
Dial him down than have a Jimmy grappo and try to dial him up on so to me like Drake is a clear would take him at one would take him at two um I’m not like I think Jaden’s fun I think Jaden can be a
Good Pro I’m not remotely in the camp of this guy can go should go top two he should go above may maybe he’s better than Caleb same thing with JJ McCarthy for me like he’s multiple tiers below Jaden uh Jaden is just like if if Caleb and
May are both risk proone which I think they are then Jaden Daniels is risk-seeking he is risk period he is just like there there’s a lot I I just watched that Alabama game and just all he did the whole game was just wait for the routes to get far enough down field
So he could scramble like there’s just not a lot right now that’s like oh this consistently works in the NFL in jayen Daniel’s game there’s the physical tools are there and the flashes are there down and down consistency is not there for me uh and so I would love Drake I would
Love Caleb the Patriots at three I’d really be either praying Jaden goes with one of the top two picks or really trying to convince the league that I like Jaden enough that I can I can trade out of the pick yeah I’ve obviously started working on these LSU receivers
And man Jaden Daniels gets himself crushed yeah as a Scrambler too so uh risk-seeking is a good way to say it let’s move on to the Tennessee Titans here uh and this one I’m excited to hear your opinion about because I I don’t have an opinion really too deeply
Certainly about the offens coordinator hire they hire Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan to be the head coach uh everybody says great things about Brian Callahan and he brings his father along as the offensive line coach that’s a nice higher they bring in Jaguars passing game coordinator Nick Holtz to
Be or Nick Holz to be the offensive coordinator for this team I I didn’t love the way the Jaguars passing game looked last year from a design standpoint so I don’t know how to feel about that one Ben but again this this hire does feel like a lot of unknown to
Me where do you stand with this group of coaches here yeah so right Holtz is a Raiders connection with Callahan they coached together in in Vegas I want to say like late 20110 it was like 2017 2018 something like that um and yeah like it’s very clearly like hey like I
Think you’re a great coach like you know we end up splitting going our own ways like hope our paths cross down the road and lo and behold Hol ends up getting a you know Jaguars passing game gig because Jim Bob cter leaves he’s kind of just floating around in the in the
Quarterback wide receiver Zeitgeist of things and Callahan finds a landing spot with Joe burrow and Zack Taylor and and Go’s plays and slowly climbs and now he’s he’s got this TI’s job I think Callahan like is a fine hire I think that Callahan especially this past year
Did like smart stuff and worked around quarterback issues and worked around wide receiver injuries and worked around like offensive line problems they I would say over the course of like four years in Cincinnati I’ve had an equal number of issues with the way that the Bengals have designed things that I’ve
Had like appreciations for it like there’s been strs where I’m like hey I can tell if you’re run or passing based if you’re in shotgun or under Center like this is pretty pretty simple like you can’t be this basic can’t be this predictable but then like this past year
Over the just like a one-year sample size I thought they were pretty impressive so it was Arrow up for me this year for Brian Callahan you brought up people have great things to say yeah like I Callahan very clearly seems like a guy who connects well with people and
Like he’s he’s he’s made himself available to Bengals into National media like he’s got a lot of fans uh in our space he’s the son of a coach he’s got a lot of connections in the coaching space there’s nothing wrong with hiring a guy who’s like a good dude who handles his
Business and and can bring in good coaches can connect well with players can like fix no fix is the wrong word can change a cultural approach there in Tennessee where like previously Mike brael was like Hey I run this ship if anybody looks at me sideways I’m going
To punch them in the mouth like that’s kind of the way that they present uh brael there nowadays and so I I I I don’t find it to be an inspiring hire I don’t find it to be an offensive hire accordingly Nick Holtz like they’re gonna run Callahan’s like stuff but even
Then Callahan’s stuff was Joe burough stuff Callahan was like we have t we have Jamar we have let’s just spread it out and throw nine balls like that’s going to work for us if he does that with Will Lis which I don’t think he’s going to do like they’ll die like they
Have no shot with way Levis plays it is the polar opposite of the way that Berto plays and so offensive group this is a complete question mark right now they’re going to bend everything to the Personnel they’ve got especially when they make wide receiver changes Derrick Henry might be gone like they are
Scrambling for a new identity on that side of the ball and so they’re going to put Lis out there they’re going to put as much talent out there as they got they’re going to see what it looks like see if they can hang more on tray and
Burks LOL uh hang more on on dandre Hopkins hang more on will Levis like what do you guys want to do and then after a year I think they’ll sit down and say okay we got to get this re receiver and we got to get this running
Back and then that’ll allow us to go this way and so total question mark right now in in Tennessee yeah weirdly I feel better about I mean again it’s all guesswork when we’re talking about head coaching hirings or at least educ maybe educated guesswork is the nice way of
Saying it um it’s the offseason approved way of saying it educated guesswork here on these on these head coaching hires I feel better about Brian Callahan a as an offensive designer as a coach generally because of what I saw with this team without Joe burrow because yeah I agree
With you if we’re just coming in like he’s white hot off a great Joe burrow season Jamar Chase and tgin and all these guys like okay from a schematic standpoint I don’t really know what to take away from that because that’s such a unique thing but seeing that offense
With Jake Browning and some of the ways that they changed things some of the ways they deployed Chase and mixed things up I I feel pretty good about that it’s just I’m with you that this Personnel in Tennessee I mean will Levis aside from it it’s Hopkins another year
Older I’ve never been a big tray and Burks guy I don’t know that he’s a part of their future you know chig didn’t have chig o quono didn’t have the second season that many were hoping for and yeah that I think they are moving on from Derrick Henry and I like Taj Spears
I think he’s an explosive back but we just haven’t seen him be a a fulltime back over the course of a season yet so there’s a lot of question marks but again I feel better about Brian Callahan answering some of those questions based on what we saw last year uh let’s talk
About the Raiders who they permanently uh hire Antonio Pierce is the head coach I think all the players wanted them to do it so I think they went ahead and did it uh I have not loved the way they filled out the staff after Antonio Pierce though former Bears offense
Coordinator Luke gy wouldn’t say that that was um a Cutting Edge offense there in Chicago the last few years uh they just hired Rich gangell to be the quarterback coach I think this morning again I love what Antonio Pierce did with the Raiders to end last season
And I’m very excited about him as the head coach not is excited about the rest of the staff yeah uh I feel like the Raiders they wanted cliff and then that didn’t work and so they got their second guy and in Luke gety and now rich garell
Is there like oh well you you guys have Cliff because he was the quarterback coach of Caleb Williams so we have a guy who’s helping train him in the off season scangarello like are you guys also trying for Caleb like what is the situation yeah uh getsy I think that the
I think the the the biggest opponents the biggest doubters the biggest detractors of getsy probably give him an unfair rap where like Fields is a highly Mercurial player there’s a lot of offensive line issues they had there in Chicago like I I’m not like you know 99th percentile on on anti- Luke gety
And anti- that offense I’m like 85th though there was just so many weeks where someone is making a procedural error somebody is making a route error somebody’s making a protection error like they just they were the most mistake riddled offense for two years they were getting better by the end of
23 but even then it was like this is okay now this is average not even like you guys are like a high execution team in general they just made so many mistakes under getsy in terms of the onfield product on Sunday and then they would walk into Sunday with so many game
Plans you’re like why like none of this is helpful like it’s very clear what’s going to help you win with this team what’s not going to help you win with this team and the fact that they had like they had that stretch of quarterback design runs in 22 where
You’re like okay they get it and then they walk down this year and they didn’t have it again and you’re like okay like I understand you’re trying to make Justin Fields mature and you’re trying to get to an offense where he doesn’t have to run but you got to know what you
Need to do to like keep the team afloat keep the field afloat uh I just found him to be I found gs’s offenses in Chicago and make maybe this was less his fault than than it appears from the outside I just found them to be poorly intended and poorly designed uh and so
Now he’s in Las Vegas where like he’s tight with Devonte Adams cool that’s I good I didn’t that I I think that’s the main reason why he’s there is that like you know getsy was was uh on the offensive coaching staff with Devonte in Green Bay right and that
Was kind of the uh uh the uh the initial selling point for him in Chicago is that he was associated with like the the late career Aaron roders and uh you know Aon Rogers MVP pushes Devon is the best receiver in the league pushes and so on
And so forth so now he’s in he’s in the Vegas with the Raiders he’s tight with Devonte great so Devonte is gonna get a lot of targets like awesome you guys don’t have a quarterback like there’s no like like what is what value ad is he going to bring besides being like we
Should throw the ball to 17 a lot of guys would have come in and been like you know we should do throw the ball to 17 and so I I don’t this doesn’t bring a lot to the table for me if we see Luke getsy once again at the hands of like
Developing and molding a young talented quarterback like let’s say they get Jaden Daniels I’m not going to be stoked about that I’m going to be very worried about that given the evidence that I had from Chicago no that’s a great point I think if you’re betting on gsy
Succeeding in Vegas you are betting against a lot of the players that the Bears have thrown out there besides like DJ Moore the last few years which to be fair not the worst not the worst bet in the you make so I didn’t I didn’t even put together the
Gsy and Devonte Adams connection yeah I think the Raiders offense again very a lot of variance with this because love Devonte Adams obviously been a long time jacobe Meers bro I think that uh Michael Mayer showed some flashes so there’s some players in Vegas but we’ll see what
Happens there final one here and again I’m kind of like I think this is the most will see uh higher here the Patriots obviously part ways with Bill bich they promote Gerard Mayo to head coach they hire former browns offensive Corner Alex Van Pelt um but dude
Patriots don’t have any players I mean they have like pop Douglas rre Stevenson and and like an interior offensive line sort of yeah everything else is just I mean it’s a total Blank Slate here with this team so I have no idea how to feel
Yeah and and the van Pelt thing is like a really big moving part because the whole value of Van Pelt is like okay he’s been around in the league for forever he’s been on a ton of different offensive coaching staffs right like uh uh he was offensive coordinator with the
Bills in 2009 and since then he’s bounc like Tampa Bay quarterbacks Green Bay Running Backs Green Bay quarterbacks Cincinnati quarterbacks Cleveland OC Cleveland ocn quarterbacks like he’s just been with a ton of different coaching staff seen a ton of different stuff so he’s going to come to New
England and like run something grown up run something that is like an NFL offense be pretty new for them there over the last couple of years like that’s going to I think a lot make it a lot easier for you to evaluate your players okay who works here and who
Doesn’t um if they retain either of the quarterbacks that they have in Mack and zappy it’ll help you evaluate those guys I don’t know what you don’t know about those dudes yet but like if that’s if that’s the way you want to approach it great um I think that right he’s he’s
Got a ton of quarterbacking experience and so you feel good with him kind of working with a Young quarterback and a rookie whoever they get at three overall and kind of helping shepher that guy along as he develops so there’s going to be a like a maturity and and a
Professionalism that hasn’t existed there right like I said a little bit at the top one with with Harbaugh in in the Chargers just growing up right just bringing the floor up a little bit is Van Pelt going to bring something novel to the NFL scheme meta that hasn’t been
Seen before no right like this they did not swing on a McVey they did not swing on a Mike McDaniel they said like let’s just get a dude in here and make sure that we know what offense looks like and we have to make a transition later we
Will uh so I think that’s like overall fine it’s just not thrilling doesn’t get me up out of bed I just see it I’m like all right sick great uh right the the main thing for them right now is the cupboard uh if you go and you draft
Jaden Daniels at three good great you quarterback of the future you got to make sure you have what is necessary around him that he doesn’t get David card right like in terms of pass protection in terms of uh you know make sure doesn’t get Sam darnold in terms of
Like receivers you have to ensure the Bedrock the foundation is there uh that that if he’s going to develop if he’s going to grow he actually can he can get Roots down he can get sunlight he can get the things that you need as a Young quarterback to mature and to grow uh
They don’t have that currently and so I don’t know if they’re going to spend the money for it I don’t know if they’re going to just kind of ride with it and and take a year off I love the Patriots as a trade out of free team just get so
Many picks and make and add so much to this roster and and and like okay if Drake Bay Falls take him but like if they if they go three Daniels I think they’re really wasting some of the value of that pick go let it go let the
Vikings go go at the Raiders like a team that’s really a Falcons team that’s like really desperate for a quarterback go let them do this rock a year with jacobe veret bring Jacobi back great Vibes uh and get come back to 2025 draft class which I know like isn’t as good of a
Quarterback class but you don’t want to be spending three on the third best quarterback in this class right now you want to be getting receivers and offensive tackles and the things that are necessary to make a quarterback good whenever you get him yeah I probably like a month ago just thought hey you
Have the third pick you probably don’t think you’re going to be picking here very often if you’re the New England Patriots you haven’t been certainly over the last 25 whatever years but man you you take a quarterback there and drop him into this situation it could
End up being a nightmare may even if Van Pelt does represent that adult in the room all right we’re going to take a quick break we come back we’re going to run through just the offensive coordinator changes after this and we’re back uh Ben let’s pick up
The pace here and talk through some of these offensive coordinator change uh no head coaching changes here let’s start with your Philadelphia Eagles they hire former Chargers offensive coordinator and cowboys offensive coordinator before that Kellen Moore this one uh to me I’ve talked a lot about on the show and recent
As a like I could see this one going either way like you could talk me in either Direction with Kell Moore as an offensive coordinator so where do you stand uh on this Eagles offense with more bringing being brought into the fold yeah if there’s three ways things
Can go great terrible and fine I can see it going two ways not fine uh this is this is a big Jaylen Herz like you know Jaylen Herz did did work this off this season being like you know getting some leaks out like I want to throw more
Middle of the field and they won’t let me and so on and so forth I put up a shut up right last two quarterbacks play in this offense are Dak Justin Herbert those are high caliber pre- and post Snap processors those are decision makers and whether because of of herdz
Limitations or because of just the way that the offense works because it’s like a college offense he hasn’t really been asked to do much of that over the last couple of years so this is now big boy offense on terms of the passing game with with with Devonte Smith with aan
Brown with the Eagles caliber pass protection there is no question that the kellmore offense should work if the quarterback is operating it correctly big big big dinner on Jaylen herz’s plate right now and they game a big extension so they expect him to be able
To do this and so I think those world’s wi Eagles are a top five passing offense and that also Jaylen Herz with his legs solved some of the kellmore running game issues and this is a really really dangerous group think there’s also some worlds where they’re legit bottom 10
Offense uh and and it’s because passing game wise they’re not trying to just okay let’s hit a a deep ball shot and get 45 yards they’re trying to be like a grownup matriculate the ball offense and they have an issue a quarterback that doesn’t allow him to do it so big big
Heat check for Jaylen Herz in this one I’m excited to see this yeah that it that’s a fascinating perspective on it just the Jaylen Herz heat check aspect of it because yeah when I as a receiver guy when I sit down and think about like what they could do
With deploying AJ Brown what they could do with deploying Devonte Smith and and kind of contrasting it to what they did in Philadelphia the last couple years because I I love Shane Sten but like the deployment of those players basically the same the last two seasons really in
My opinion I I like what they could do in this offense I like how they could mix some tight ends into the equation here but again they comes back to what’s under Center and it your dep your opinion on Jaylen Herz is very dependent on how you’re going to feel about What
Offense Phildelphia rolls out this year which isn’t Advanced analysis I mean he’s a damn quarterback of the team so I like that perspective uh on it there like so so you think it’s more likely to not go well that it is to go well yeah but I reserve the right to
Change that W dude we’re nobody’s writing anything in pen here February 20 this is one of the things I’m most interested to see in the entire league this offseason is Kell Moore and Jay Herz and how what Kell Moore has done offensively which is very different than
What jayl Herz has played in offensively the last few years how those two things melt together yeah and and I know fantasy football players will hate this because no nobody loves a a concentrated targetry quite like fantasy football players but I I’d like to see it like some improvement at wide receiver three
Or wide receiver four like let’s let’s get some other threats uh on this team that can maybe offer a little bit of dynamism beyond the top two guys but all right let’s move on to uh Pittsburgh where they hire former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith Ben uh I’mma seed the
Floor to you completely because as seemingly the football industry is perhaps lone psychotic Arthur Smith Defender I maybe need to recuse myself not not from a head coaching standpoint but simply from an offensive coordinator standpoint an offensive play caller offensive designer standpoint I like Arthur Smith and basically everybody
Else hates Arthur Smith so I’m going to recuse myself from this discussion and just get your your sense of the situation no I think Arthur Smith was good OC in Tennessee and and the way that he designed offense there and like for his early time in Atlanta made sense
To me that he was a good offensive coach the wheels really came off down down the stretch there in Atlanta where like they were terrible from an execution perspective and they were still pretty bad from a game planning perspective too just I I like Ritter and beon Robinson
Can never agree on like where route should be right they just had like like uh they were so bad in short yardage they had so many of like the uh like the little red flags that pop up we like oh this is not a well- coached unit right now like their execution their
Situational football their details like none of this is good why was that like it really felt like Smith like lost a handle on the team like just all of the press conferences he was just arguing with people and they’re making quarterback changes like seemed like
Being in the CEO spot was not great for him I think as an OC it’s going to be better I think they going to see it be more like what it was in Tennessee because it’s funny right like I know like fantasy people’s complaints like the the target distributions whereas
Like in Tennessee it was never an issue they it was AJ Brown the middle of the field like where where where did this problem come from and it’s like Smith had too much on his play and going back just being like a play call at OC I
Think that will that will benefit him what worries me in Pittsburg is if we say Smith’s issue are like player management roster management narrative management like get letting the world get to him you have one of the most vocally unhappy receiver rooms in NFL history and Deontay Johnson and George
Pickins there in Pittsburgh yeah and obviously like Mike Tomlin is the great aracer right Mike Tom is the great stabilizer but man this is a this is a concoction we got going on here this is some highly combustible materials that we have interfacing with Arthur Smith with piggins and Deontay and then
Whoever the quarterback ends up being right like a new a new body brought into the system uh and so there’s worlds in which this is like fine from an onfield perspective but also it’s terrible from like a a locker room perspective like every time they lose like it’s just it’s
It’s a really hard thing and then you know you you end up getting okay we got to get targets to this guy and and this player’s unhappy and like the again the wheels fall off so ex’s nose I like it Smith returning to OC I like it exact
Fit in Pittsburgh remains to be seen I think it’s great I think like it’s great news to Naji and Jaylen I have no doubt about that everybody else I’m I’m I’m interested to see what this looks like no yeah I think that’s a perfect way of
Saying it I I’ve been saying that it feels like Arthur Smith just lost a plot down the stretch in Atlanta um and that’s just kind of the way I’ve described that situation there but you’re right that I and I didn’t consider this but like George Pickins especially and Deontay Johnson like and
Arthur Smith mixing in there it’s it’s like that that gif or that Meme or whatever of the guy like the chef pulling the the lid off the pot and just dropping it in there and like everything’s about to explode that’s kind of how this feels to me so uh I’m
With you that again I should probably be a little more mixed on what’s going to happen there this next one I I am a little mixed on as well uh I like Joe Brady who was permanently promoted to the offensive coordinator job by the Buffalo Bills and we generally know I
Think what the product sort of is going to look like maybe should look like with Josh Allen the Buffalo Bills with Joe Brady there um at the same time right like I think that Stefan diggs’s role kind of withered away and in my opinion Ben Joe Brady doesn’t come in there take
The job from Ken dorsy and be like first thing I got to do I got to get Diggs out of this offense right like that’s that’s not what happened so I think I’m curious to see what this team looks like under Joe Brady with the full offseason to
Plan I don’t know where do you stand on Brady and and just like this era of Bill’s football I think any offense with Josh H running it is gonna be a top five offense uh and whether and if and if Allen’s thrown knucklehead picks it’s going to be five and if Allen’s not
Throw knuckle picks it’s going to be two and that’s kind of where your uh where where your difference is I over the last couple of years the bills have invested a lot in improving their running game I think Ken dorsy deserves a lot of credit for that Aaron chromer who’s the new old
Line coach there came from the Rams I think he deserves a lot of credit for that I think Joe Brady kind of reaped the fruits of that and I’ll be curious to see like Brady doesn’t read as man this guy loves to run the football but I think that’s the important thing for
Buffalo is kind of being able to to do that you saw you’ve seen how important that’s been for the Chiefs as they mentioned like the late Elite era of momes where like everybody’s just sitting on top of them too high like don’t you throw the ball down the field
Think that’ll keep Allen from his better self the outstanding question to me is right like how much what what does the digs Target share look like as he gets older who takes the Gabriel Davis role can CLE Shakir step up into a bigger role D can Kad year two like there’s
Target distribution questions I’m very confident in Allen’s ability to sus that out and Brady’s ability to kind of also be there while that’s being sused out and like contribute certainly but I think like the real driving force of this offense is Allen so I’m confident
It’s going to be a great unit I’m more interested to see like when we sit back in August we’re trying to figure out okay like who’s the guy who’s going to get the you know 85 targets and the you know 800 yards and the eight touchdowns
That are just kind of sitting around uh in in this group that figuring out that player is going to be interesting to me as a big longtime khil Shakir opponent a opponent I know I know where I’m at but they should they should add bodies for sure yeah their issues are more
Personnel I think than than scheme related there other than again I think they have to find better ways to to get Diggs going there if he is on the roster and I do expect it to say on that roster right now talk about a take I’m writing
In in pencil right now I expect him to be on the roster all right Chicago Bears they hire former Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Walder to be the offensive coordinator they hire former Panthers offensive coordinator to be the passing game coordinator Thomas Brown there Ben there were times I loved what
Shane Waldren did as the Seahawks offensive coordinator but mostly prior to this year where there were times I got a little frustrated about their inability to get the middle of the field going from a passing game standpoint some of the just ISO routes on the outside
I don’t know where do you stand with Waldren and obviously his pairing with the eventual number one overall pick I think overall Waldren is a a good coach I think overall he’s an above average offensive coordinator he’s not a guy who I think I’m like scrambling to hire as
My head coach and like a revolutionary but I think he runs the McVey stuff with his twists well I do think that yeah like over their time in Seattle like there were they tried to put a lot of Solutions on the table to solve the offensive tackle issues in terms of like
Getting rid of the ball quickly and stuff and like a lot some of them worked and some of them didn’t uh walren walren suffers I think a lot from too too smart for his own good too creative for his own good there’s a lot of stuff that he
Does whether it’s like a Sit situational one-off play or like you know an approach walking into a game you’re like Shane like dude like just chill like we don’t gota like you just hand it to Kenneth and get a second and six like there there’s a lot of like there was a
Lot of like Reinventing the wheel that would happen I think in in Seattle so I think like a change of location and a little bit of of of Humble Pie could probably be good for Waldren in that regard overall I’m bullish though I’m I’m Pro walren I he asked a lot out of
Gino uh a lot protection wise a lot change the playwise a lot read stuff out wise I’ll be curious to see like Chicago drafts Caleb I just wouldn’t want to ask him for that much in year one and so I’m curious what wal looks like when he
Starts thinking about how to put the kid gloves on a guy um and that’s where I think thas Brown can be a benefit to him right where uh Thomas Brown obviously was with uh uh Carolina last year didn’t necessarily like successfully get the kid gloves on the guy but like went
Through that experience of okay what will this be like he coached under McVey for the last couple years who McVey is like the king of how to get kid gloves on a guy obviously most of those years were Stafford years but still like I think Brown is a little bit more
Experienced in that regard walren obviously with McVey over that time as well and so that’s the the outstanding question mark for me is like they can’t ask their rookie to do everything that Gino did that’s how this thing falls apart overall though I think it’s a good
Offensive staff yeah that’s a good point about Gino Smith and what they asked him to do I think on the outside you’re thinking oh Gino Smith uh Journey veteran like they probably put the put the gates up for him put the bumpers up on the bowling lane for gin Smith but
That is not what they asked Gino to do at all as the offensive uh like with that offensive infrastructure there so I think that’s going to be pretty fascinating to see what they roll out with a rookie quarterback in New Orleans they hire former 49ers passing game coordinator Clint kubak to be the
Offensive coordinator Ben I hate it watch it the Saints offense on film last year it was one of the least enjoyable parts of the weekly prep how how do we feel about a 49ers offshoot offense maybe under Clint kubak coming here with Derek car still as a quarterback and
Some exciting pass catchers that I like yeah uh some players overall there that I I generally appreciate at at the wide receiver position um I I don’t know man again I just have such like a bad taste in my mouth about this offense overall how much of that was Pete carmichel how
Much of that is just Derek Carr Dennis Allen and what remains there heck yeah man I like a lot you could have put me in this job and I think it would have been a better offense and ter of play calling than uh than it was last year
Clint like Clint’s kind of just bounced around the the kubak Shanahan conjoined family tree and understandably so look at the last name uh I I have no reason to believe that he’s going to like Mike McDaniel the offense well you know reinvent everything but at the same time
If you had brought up me on and said Texans hire Bobby Slow like Ben what do you think I would have said I have no reason to believe he’s going to Mike McDaniel the offense and he didn’t but he sure freaking helped it uh and so
Like it it’s a Shanahan hire we should expect that that they run an offense that like we know works in the NFL right the recipees written down we know that we know the quantities we know how long to cook this thing like it this will
Work this will taste good I I I don’t think it’s going to suddenly jump to be like a top 10 unit I don’t think that Carr is aggressive enough for that to happen I don’t think Carr’s just point talented enough good enough a quarterback in at this point I think
That he’s kind of just a a middle tier guy that’s going to be lifted up uh by the nature of this offense but I think it’s great for Crystal La who I think is going to get a lot more easy targets a lot more Targets in space than he’s
Enjoyed over his first couple of years I think like Rashid sh I think plays a good role in this I think it’s good for like an at Perry right and start using the big guy over the middle of the field a little bit more um running game wise I
Think that they can they can see a big jump if they get offensive line Health but I think is good for like a kendre Miller as they kind of transition into their after Alvin Kamar era uh so there’s there’s like a lot of like you like you say talented Saints skill
Position players that I’m excited to see in an offense that’s run with more intention and then knows how to get some really like easy targets for guys uh not least among which is definitely a l like Ave Ave is more well known for than London is but I don’t think people
Realize like just how ridiculously talented Chris is um and I think that this offense can help him out quite a bit so good hire again a rock would have been a good hire but good hire yeah I mean Ben soak himself could have come in there run a better offense
For running the single wing we would have been all right brother but no I I love easy targets that that’s what we need for these receivers I mean I I posted about this at some point during the regular season but like simply the amount of slant routes and other layup routes that Chris
Olve has run through the first two years of his career is absurdly low if you look back at like reception perception history and I’ve been doing this since 2014 now which is crazy by the way uh like it’s just absurd how little layup routes how few layup routes they gave
Him in that offense that’s going to change simply just by the design of it and I like that you mentioned at Perry too and sort of the Bobby slowick and and Houston Texans of it all I don’t have the same opin high opinion of at
Perry I like at Perry but I had a very very high opinion of Ni Collins prior to 2023 and seeing seeing him run those like big in-breaking routes as the X receiver on that offense was perfect I wonder if we could see something similar with at Perry there so that’s a good
Kind of deeper sleeper to keep in mind off the summer podcast for propping up niik Collins last year the people didn’t know we knew other people didn’t know baby I mean we we knew like yeah he was everybody’s little favorite sleeper uh in fantasy coming into 2023 go back and
Find the 21 receipts on Nico Collins from my account okay like yeah and and I love the way he was uh activated in this offense and yeah at Perry just it’s kind of got me thinking I wonder if there could be sort of maybe a similar Vision
There but really to me it’s It’s All About Chris olve like if if you Clint kubak can figure out Chris ol and like to get him some not and he should shoot it shouldn’t even be that hard to figure out guy gets open all the time let’s get
Him the ball on some layup routes there all right let’s talk about Tampe Buccaneers who hire Liam Cohen to replace uh Dave Canalis as the offensive coordinator any Liam Cohen hot takes uh to to give out for the bucks offense um not like not particularly the thing with
Cohen that like raises my eyebrow is just I don’t love when a guy goes from being Kentucky OC to Rams offens coordinator to Kentucky OC to as a coordinator like the amount of bopping around is kind of like all right like what do you want what do you want to
Like do you want to be a college guy do you want to be an NFL guy like you were sha MC face offense coordinator in 2022 that was a pretty good gig like obviously like oh maybe Sha’s going to retire like Stafford is hurt or whatever
But in general like this just a coaching staff you want to be on if your objective is like NFL head coaching rising and so I I I don’t really understand what Cohen wants to get done with his career which is just like weird to me altogether I mean he he again
College NFL he was successful at the college level and then the NFL he was on a coach on a staff that was very successful and there you know run the classic stuff with with with with twist it’s kind of Shane Waldren theorem right he knows how to run the hits and he’s
Putting his own spin on it we’ll see if the spin actually adds much to it I think that it’s good for Baker I think it’s the right system for him I think overall it is it is a good hire that makes sense I don’t think it’ll be as
Good as the Canalis offense but I we talked about him earlier I hold canelson a pretty high regard and so I’m fine with it I don’t think it’s revolutionary I don’t think it’s bad yeah there’s some connective issue there with uh Baker Mayfield spent some time with the 2022
Rams uh and obviously Liam con was the offensive coordinator there I I just have nothing to take from that 22 season really from an offensive standpoint just because it was such a train wreck in Los Angeles so I I’m very yeah I’m open to believing anything here and I’m I’m
Really I don’t have a lot on these last two ones either Cleveland hires Ken dorsy former Bill’s offensive coordinator to be their offensive coordinator I don’t know if I really care about that because it’s still going to be Kevin stans’s offense and they got a lot to do to just get to competency
With DeShaun Watson under Center and I mean really I don’t know if you have anything to say about Dan pitcher becomes the offensive coordinator in Cincinnati he’s promoted from the quarterback coach they’re just keeping that pipeline alive yeah so Cincinnati you absolutely just right keep the
Internal guy like that makes a ton of sense I think like you know it’s important to add new ideas from like wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator and you get that done when you get that done but like Burrow’s a huge fan of the guy promote him great
Whatever Ken dorsy I liked Ken’s offense in Buffalo I thought that Ken was a good offensive designer I think he’s a good OC like the hire for Cleveland I think that Ken can bring benefit to the running game which is going to be you know like always been good on under
Stant but that’s going to be nice to see I I don’t think Ken is capable of solving deshun Watson I don’t think anybody is and so it’s kind of a question of is Ken able to keep the other players happy while you know like deshaun’s struggling the way that that
That he has been for his entire Cleveland career at this point and uh is des is Ken able to work around the back of quarterbacks if and when Desa gets hurt like that’s kind of your your question mark I feel good about the first one keeping the players happy the
Second one you know they don’t have Joe flaca walking through that door so you got to kind of play around DTR and soans is the the straw that stir the offensive drink there so I think dorsy will bring new ideas but I don’t think it’s a huge
Needle mover in any direction all right buddy I’m GNA give you just the the the floor is yours if you want to hit on any defensive coordinators uh that were hired that really I don’t know really got you jazzed up here since we only talked offense here as a fantasy Focus
Show any of these defensive coordinators you just like man that one lights your fire and makes you feel really good about the team going forward uh I think Zimmer to the Cowboys might be the thing that pushes them over the edge I love Zimmer to the Cowboys think that’s great
For them uh Vic Uncle Vic to Philly absolutely eastern Pennsylvania guy sturg guy represent the 570 baby what’s up uh so very happy about Vic I think that a lot of people are like more tepid than they were on the fangio system because a lot of the offshoots have been
Bad but there’s a big difference between having an offshoot at DC and having the original product at DC uh more so than an offense for like can proliferate it’s hard for defensive trees to proliferate and so when you have the the actual guy who runs the defense that is a big deal
So I think that’s huge for Philadelphia love Ryan neelson uh he was the Falcons OC DC for one year he’s in Jacksonville now just a big angry man I think that’s excellent looking forward to that Jimmy Lake in Atlanta is really interesting to me was a good defensive coach there in
Washington got the head coaching job was in way over his head and now kind of gets a a second chance in in uh in Atlanta now in the league which is like a weird place aage second chance I think that’s a really interesting one I’m curious how that goes
Um Patriots will be fun draw Mayo’s a great coach I think that defense still is awesome that’s all the ones I can think of right now off the top of my head well I I’m with you though Mike Zimmer in Dallas I think is is good for
The league that Mike Zimmer is back number one uh and number two there’s so many defensive players there that I’m not going to say haven’t been maximized of late but I think certainly can even further be maximized uh under Mike Zimmer and I I just I think the way he
Calls and Designs defense make sense to combat modern offenses so I mean the Cowboys look it’s just about like can you can you can you win a damn playoff game can you win multiple playoff games whatever I don’t know what the standard is in Dallas these days but I think Mike
Zimmer was a good hire uh to replace Dan Quinn um obviously who was hired by yeah Zimmer is going to be like it’s going to be a case where you look at season long numbers and his defense won’t necessarily look as good as Quinn’s defense did and it’s going to be like oh
This is bad but when they play the top NFC teams they’re going to be better that’s the objective is by January you are better at matching the 49ers and the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers of the world that exact sort of offense Shanahan McVey offense that has given
You so many issues when you had Dan Quinn as your DC that’s why I say it can be the thing that pushes them over the edge is like I don’t think it’s going to like you know oh they’re gonna be the Browns defense way that Jim Schwarz like
Just took that unit and yanked them up to the top ranking that would surprise me but I do think they’re going to be better against that specific system in that conference when they need to win playoff games in January and if they can great move well Ben I would say we
Absolutely hammered people with coaching knowledge and a lot of qualifiers on this show because that’s what a coaching podcast should be but I feel like the listeners the viewers will be better prepared for uh the season and what to expect out of some of these coaches and
I appreciate you coming on man we have known each other for years we’ve met in person multiple times and I I think this is actually the first show we ever did together so uh hell of a time appreciate you doing it buddy no of course I appre
I mean I’ve I’ve been personally reading into the fact that I haven’t been on the show yet it’s been breaking my my my self-confidence my self-esteem this this is a good bounce back for me well hey same to you pal uh I’ll I’ll uh on I’m
Not in charge of any of this that they tell me what to do oh I mean that must be nice I I am in charge of all of the guests that come on this podcast and that’s a big that’s a big burden to to feel so actually you you can personally
Attack me on this one uh in terms of not coming on the Pod but hey your debut was electric it was awesome appreciate you Ben solac everybody make sure to check out out all of Ben’s work on the ringer subscribe to the ringer NFL show Ben’s
The man does Great Stuff there uh as you can tell from this podcast appreciate you buddy uh and that is gonna do it for us today folks we are back next Tuesday because I’m I’m not doing two shows this week I’m only doing one show this week I
Deserve it okay huge for you I deser for me and I I I again I absolutely deserve it again we’re going to be back next Tuesday because believe it or not it is somehow already NFL scouting combine week Yahoo’s extremely serious draft expert Charles McDonald joins me to unofficially kick off draft
Season on the Pod we’re going to dive into the prospects you need to keep an eye on in Indie that could be instant contributors maybe in 2024 or not or long-term development guys that uh we’ll just obsess over and talk about on a coaching podcast years Nico the next Nico Collins that is
What we’re going to find for you next week until then we’re at
2 Comments
GREAT TOPIC OF DISCUSSION by two great minds!!!
Very interesting to hear y’all’s take on Jaden Daniels. Watched Kurt Benkert breakdown the Alabama game and he saw the game and sees the player completely differently (bad scheming and route concepts). Then saw him breakdown Caleb in a game against Washington and pointed out quite a bit of flaws in his footwork and decision making. Could be a product of the defense and trying to do too much at times but it’s interesting to see different peoples opinions.