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Rob Staton
McShanahan..
Rob coined a new one when talking about the 2 coaches that kick the sh*t out of pete carroll
I’m afraid it’s going to be McGanahan soon…Gannon is one hell of a coach as well.
Just another quick reminder to file away for April…
— Remember that the national media all had Bryce Young as QB1 a year ago, we had him as QB4 and had CJ Stroud as QB1
— We also had no QB’s from the 2022 draft graded higher than R3, when the national media had multiple in the top-50. Some even had Malik Willis in the top-10
That group at the Senior Bowl was the worst I have seen in person by a nautical mile. This year’s group should be the best since 2012 and maybe better.
Houston with a rookie coach and QB lighting up on of the NFL’s top defenses. I know the int’s broke it open, but Stroud put up 24 points at the half.
It’s almost like getting lead early on is *another way* to win games than hoping for an 80 yard drive and missed fieldgoals.
Cleveland’s defense on the road was pretty bad all season though.
You’re reasoning behind pairing an offensive head coach with a young QB is sound. But after watching the Ravens go into Santa Clara and punching the niners in the mouth my thought is, yeah I’ll take a bit of that.
We don’t know the timing, but perhaps Adam Peters and Johnson made a gentleman’s agreement at a time when everyone thought Pete was going to be retained. Unanticipated events can change perspectives and plans, and maybe Johnson is reevaluating his options…we just don’t know. One can only hope that’s the case and Johnson is taking a fresh, hard look at all his options.
I think it’s a bit wishful thinking to imagine that suddenly the Seahawks job, as attractive as it is, has changed the entire mindset of the Johnson/Peters pact
It is what it is, if he goes there we move on
I wonder if the “pending” sale of the Seahawks in a year or two (?) might have an effect on a new coach’s employment? It might be a slight negative in the mind of a potential head coach as it could potentially happen that the new owner may want to bring in his own people.
Mike Macdonald’s name has been whispered about as a possible HC candidate. He was a longtime assistant coach (various jobs) to Harbaugh in Baltimore, then was DC of a 2022 CFB top 5 defense in Michigan, then returned to the Ravens as a DC and leads a top 6 defensive unit headed into the playoffs. They are especially good at holding down scoring opportunities and creating turnovers. The pass defense has been a major strength of the team. Biggest knocks I can think of would be that he is a first time HC and is only 36 yo.
He is green and that would be a bit of a concern. Plus, limited experience might make it hard to put a staff together. That’s a feather in Quinn’s cap — he’ll have no trouble building a staff.
McVay was 30 when he was hired turned out be a great decision. For me Slowik must be strongly considered a Shanahan prtoege working wonders with team not flush with offensive weao.
Absolutely. And I’m not saying a young coach can’t build a staff.
But we should also acknowledge how rare McVay is/was. He stomped into his interview, pulled out his phone, told the Rams owners, ‘here’s Wade Phillips’ number, he’s my DC, call him, he’s expecting it’. That’s a boss move and Phillips at the time was seen as the big DC hire. McVay had him.
Is Macdonald going to be able to walk into an office and throw down a great OC’s name? Can Slowik chuck out a great DC?
That’s the question.
Slowik should have mad connections from his and his dad’s work, but unknowm if he has it like that
Bob Slowik (the dad) hasn’t worked in the NFL since he was linebackers coach for Washington in 2013. So not sure how connected he’ll be. He’s 70 next year. I’m not convinced this is a brilliantly connected individual for current-day staff, rather someone who was a defensive coordinator in the 90’s and 2000’s and is now finishing up his career in the CFL.
Slowik’s performance today should have moved him up on some of the head coach openings list
What about Bill Callahans son? I know Jim H won’t happen but I’d imagine Brian Callahan can pull together a great staff. He’s experienced, has turned multiple qbs respectable. Well spoken
He is mentioned in the video
I like how this is a bit of a shift for the Seahawks.
The Paul Allen group has hired Holmgren, Mora and Pete.
Mora we can call a one-off, a misnomer that they immediately corrected. Maybe it was a Holmgren severance package promise.
The other two were not very young, but hugely credentialed, big splash hires.
If we follow that line of thinking, who meet that criteria this year? Bill Belichick and Jim Harbaugh. I think it is safe to say that neither of those two are realistic options for Seattle.
So they’re forced by circumstance into a bit of a posture to really go for it with the best choice available.
It makes me think that once they have identified their main choice, they’re going to be very committed to recruiting him. Private jet to sea plane to VMAC to Daniel’s Broiler. Write your own ticket. That type of thing.
Can’t see it being “write your own ticket” because it’s John’s team and after waiting 14 years for it, he won’t be handing it off to a new HC.
Everything else though…
Peacock? Seriously? A playoff game is behind a paywall?
I can appreciate the “go through the process” approach, but I also wonder if you risk losing out on the ideal candidate if you wait to interview a number of people. Is it better to key in on one or two candidates and go hard and fast to land them? That’s the approach Paul Allen took. He knew who he wanted and he backed up the truck to get them.
“Ben, we’re prepared to offer you 15m a year. We need an answer.”
Well many of the top candidates are still coaching in the playoffs
So nothing needed to be done this week
Haven’t watched your podcast yet. Just sitting down to it now. Will post again when I finish. But something funny occurred to me. On Thursday night, if I had heard DeBoer was leaving to coach the Seahawks, I’d have been super pissed off, both at him and the Hawks. Now, if Schneider could somehow wrestle that jackass away from Bama, I’ll laugh myself silly. Then I’d hope for him to flame out in a year.
Do I sound like a woman scorned? That’s totally how I feel, even though one look in the mirror at my 60 year old mug with a couple of days beard growth highlights how silly this is. I feel like the girl next door who got pushed aside for the hot supermodel and I’m pissed! “Oh, he’ll regret it!” I think to myself.
Good thing it’s only football. I’d get myself in trouble if this were real life. Also, probably a good thing I have a really down-to-earth wife who is happy to listen and let me blow off steam. Doesn’t hurt that she’s a Husky fan too.
Mahomes used to be likeable. Has he always complained every single time a play doesn’t go their way or he is even touched by a defender or did that just start this year? He’s quickly become the guy I root against weekly while still admiring his skill, like Brady for so many years.
It’s not new. He’s always come off as the spoiled player.
His wife is that parent in the stands that you hope someone else just hits with a ball.
Try living down here where they do no wrong….
Mahomes is a poor man’s Spencer Rattler
Mahomes is a poor man’s Kermit the Frog. And he walks like he’s getting an atomic wedgie 24/7.
Really not a fan.
It not fair to judge someone by the actions of their brother.. Jackson Mahomes is a real piece of work and makes me like Patrick a lot less.
OC Ryan Grubb is out at UW.
I think he would be a very intriguing guy as say a Passing Game Coordinator at the next level. Get him used to the NFL while bringing some innovative ideas to the offense.
Depending on how well he adapts you have a future OC in the making.
ESPN reporting that Grubb likely to become Alabama’s OC. Sounds like he was hoping to get the UW gig. I wonder if he was told that UW has already identified their next coach?
With the way JS talks about QBs and always heavily involved in scouting QBs for the draft, would that make him a guy that’s more interested in the offensive side of the ball.
If he’s more interested in the offensive side of the ball, would that point to him hiring and offensive coach for the head coach?
Yes
Worth noting that Jody in Portland hired Chauncey Billups as HC after just 1 year as an assts coach – even though Billups was a great player he had very little coaching experience
Could hint at hiring of Johnson, Slowik, MacDonald, etc
The Blazers have also been like a dumpster full of baby diapers that has been set on fire this year. Billups could be fired any day. No way he is HC next season.
The Billups experience could discourage the Valcans against a first time HC
So far Quinn and Macdonald are the only 2 Seattle has an interest in. Hopefully that number of choices grows. Let’s see some offensive minded coaches in there.
Pretty sure they will put out some interviews the next days. Pelissero said that they have to write out a job description that has to be approved by the league before they can officially request interviews. So it’s more because of that formality rather than the Seahawks not wanting to interview other coaches I think. Even the Quinn and MacDonald interviews aren’t official requests it’s just Rapoport connecting them
That was just a report connecting two names. They’ll have interest in several candidates
Seahawks Draft blog is my go to resource for in depth anaylsis on all things Seahawks. I’m very grateful for that Rob. I probably wouldn’t be so into the team without it.
I’m wondering perhaps there’s too much newness at the Commanders for the rookie NFL team owner to want a rookie coach like Ben Johnson, ontop of a rookie GM? I’d of thought a couple of years of a coach like Pete Carroll (he’s younger than the President) or Mike Vrabel, might help the franchise rebuild an identity and culture, to hand on to a younger offensive coach a few years into the future ?
I recognise this might be as much wishful thinking on my part.
I’m afraid it probably is Julian. It’s been reported by multiple people now that Adam Peters and Ben Johnson are connected at the hip and Johnson is expected to join Peters in Washington.
Its not good for us but I think going young everywhere is the way to go. Football, like the rest of our world, has had major shifts in the last few years. Bigger shifts than mankind has witnessed all at once in generations. We thought the internet was changing things but it took a few years to actually see how it would effect us. This might be my 40 year old bias but I believe for the first time maybe ever, older people really don’t actually fully understand the youth and the ever shifting landscapes society is navigating. Not to say there’s no wisdom to be learned from our elders of course or that we should all just give up and listen to whiney 20 year olds about everything. I’m long winded fashion I’m trying to say younger coaches, gms, amd owners will do a better job adapting to the new game and dealing with very different attitudes and issues from players than there’s ever been in the past. To reflect on my point, older players like Stafford for example recently said publicly that he was having a hard time relating to the ypunger guys for the first time in his career. They’re always on their phones and the locker room has changed. Thats how fast the shift has happened. Its not just football, the military says they have a problem with new recruits coming in and being incapable of bootcamp strain or the physical requirements. Whether this means progress or regression in our society is very much up for debate, but like it or not its where we are. Weird times for sure, and now I expect to get eaten alive in the comments.
I’m going to say it since he’s out. Pete has actually seemed like an old guy running a business for a while to me.
Harbaugh, Saban, Reid aren’t exactly young.
But Pete’s hires and his fairly desperate attempts to find just one more thing and then everything will be fine reminds me of countless business owners I’ve worked for in two different industries that just can’t adapt.
Nah, that’s a very astute comment i think you hit on something. Every generation goes through this, but it does seem like with the internet things are intensified and sped up. Pete has stayed young longer than most, but at some point everyone becomes set in their ways. I think he tried, offensively by hiring Waldron, but the defense is his baby and he just seems unable to adapt to the new NFL. And the older you get the more it’s about looking back than looking forward. Just the way of life.
Watching the Texans offense yesterday sure did make me envious. It seemed like everything they did worked. Even the stuff that Seattle does all the time and fails (screens, quick passes to the outside, etc) actually worked.
All I can think is that either those plays are just taught better by that staff or the OC is just that much better at analyzing what the Defense is doing and knows when to call them.
Either way, I’m jealous. Slowik has been on the top of my list for the last month or so. The idea of having young hotshot offensive HC who can relate to today’s players, work with young QBs and understands how the modern NFL is played is really appealing to me. Given his background, I’d trust him to bring in a likeminded DC.
Having the youngest NFL head coach would be a really cool story and would really signify a new era for the team.
So am I right, if Buffalo wins today we get a direct match-up between Bobby Slowik and Mike Macdonald next week. That could be a lot of fun and is going to be very interesting for every head coach searching GM.
Correct — and that would be must-watch TV
I’m starting to feel like I need a Staton draft board for offensive and defensive head coach candidates.
Thank you for all you do Rob.
For what it’s worth, Dallas has finished 4th, 4th, and 5th in defensive DVOA these last three seasons with Dan Quinn as DC. Seattle 20th, 22nd, and 28th during same time period.
Micha Parsons will do that for you.
Obviously not the entire reason, but it sure doesn’t hurt.
And better linebackers, overall talent, and money to spend on them rather than overpaying for guys that shouldn’t even be on the field.
That is great certainly. As a HC he is 46-44. Which is not great.
Ha, that’s fair. So much seems circumstantial for QBs and HCs; for example, Belichick went 36-44 as Cleveland HC.
I do wonder why Pete didn’t make the big move and send Norton Jr packing to bring in Quinn….
I’m not opposed to second chances. And I do think he would do better with nwossu, Williams, reed,probably woolen. Not sure how he improves the LB’s.
I doubt Quinn wanted to come back to run Pete’s system, rather than go to Dallas and have full control of the defense
For added context (and Seahawk relevance), the Cowboys defense got ran over by both the 49ers and the Cardinals this year.
They did hold up much better agains the Rams, to be fair.
Just watched a clip of John Harbaugh. Man, it’s odd how two brothers can be so different in terms of how much I like one compared to the other hahaha. Saw a clip of him nicely making fun of Jim and how John can send scouts LEGALLY to games.
We might be out on Johnson, so get me the guy that learned from John and knows that culture. Macdonald is really intriguing me. He will want to have his team the Ravens’s way. He saw the success of deviating control where needed.
I want to see my team as destroyers, bullies again. It might be a year or so down to build the team back up, but what I’ve seen of Macdonald and where he learned it from is the kind of culture Seattle has been trying to get back to for years.