Game 224 is tonight. After that, just 32 to go until the playoffs …
• The story of how the Panthers came to the dismissal of two-time Carolina GM Marty Hurney is an interesting one. Early on in David Tepper’s ownership, Hurney was a trusted ear and a great resource for the new boss as he learned the ropes in pro football. That said, having already been a minority owner in Pittsburgh, Tepper had a pretty strong idea of how he wanted his team to look—as forward-thinking as his hedge fund.
So what does that mean? Tepper, I’m told, knew a modern structure was going to be part of the solution, which meant having a general manager, with football operations and scouting reporting up to that person—Kansas City and Philadelphia are two teams set up similarly (the Eagles actually had their heads of both, Andrew Berry and Joe Douglas, poached to become GMs over the last two years). And so went his recent discussions with Hurney.
I don’t think Hurney knew it would lead to his dismissal. But I also don’t think this parting of ways was any sort of shock for him, either. My belief is he knew the news that he got on Sunday was the possible endgame to all this, and that’s in part because, I’m told, his contract was up after the draft anyway, so this would be a natural time to split.
It doesn’t seem to me like there are any hard feelings here, and I don’t think the GM search is fixed for any certain candidate. San Francisco VP of player personnel Adam Peters was actually a defensive end for Panthers coach Matt Rhule at UCLA, when he was a GA there in 2011, and the two have stayed in touch over the 20 years since. He’d line up as a possibility. So too would Saints assistant GM Jeff Ireland, who’s transformed New Orleans’s luck in the draft and built a monster roster there. (Ireland happens to be a Baylor alum.)
This much we know—the hire will be designed to align with Rhule. So guys like Peters and Ireland, as well as Carolina’s own director of player personnel, Pat Stewart, who have a strong understanding of what Rhule wants, line up as guys who make sense as potential major pieces in the second phase of Tepper’s reimagining of the Panthers’ football side.
• Since we dove into the Jets and assessed the impact of Sunday’s win in the MMQB column, I figured here we could double back and look at the decision that will face Joe Douglas in the spring of 2021 if the Jags lose out and he winds up with the second pick. And first things first, there will be quarterbacks there worthy of going second, with Ohio State’s Justin Fields and BYU’s Zach Wilson first in line for consideration.
So yes, Douglas’s decision will be some form of Darnold vs. those guys. But it’s not quite as simple as one versus the other.
Let’s say they go with Darnold, and deal off the second pick for a ransom. It would seem to be academic, then, to pick up Darnold’s option, likely worth around $25 million, for 2022, and under the new CBA that option is fully guaranteed. Adding that to the $4.6 million he’s owed for 2021, they’d be at $30 million for two years, and then likely either have to pay him $40 million or so per year or look for his replacement after that.
If they go with a rookie? Then they get that player, say Fields or Wilson, for about $35 million over four years with an option for 2025. Which is a nice idea, when you’re weighing the massive financial commitment and opportunity cost of going with Darnold. The bottom line: They’d have to feel strongly that he’s the guy, to pass on going with a quarterback at two.
This, of course, would be a much easier decision if the Jets were still on track to pick first. Under the current circumstances, it’ll be a very, very complicated one, and the most important one, by a long shot, Douglas will have made as Jets GM. I do believe that the Jets really like Darnold and the idea of building around him. How much do they like him? If they have the second pick, we’ll find out.
• Along those lines, Jaguars coach Doug Marrone now has to answer the questions that Adam Gase has had to for over a month.
“No one’s advised me anything different than to go out there and win,” Marrone told the local media on Monday. “I was young growing up and had a favorite team and was excited to see where they were going to pick. I look back and I understand, but, I mean, we’re trying to win. We’re doing everything we possibly can and that’s my job right now and I owe it to the coaches and players.
“None of us are going to look at this and the future. No one knows what’s going to happen tomorrow, never mind at the end of the year. But I do understand the question and appreciate it.”
And I appreciate Marrone answering it that way—he’s not blind to reality nor is he expecting his players to be (something he and I discussed last week).
We can be that way, too. It’s possible to empathize with the position these players and coaches are in, while realizing exactly what’s at stake here, and how the results of the next few weeks could impact the Jets’ and Jaguars’ franchises for the next decade and a half. Based on the level of prospect Trevor Lawrence is, that’s just the truth.
• Everyone’s to some degree a product of their own experiences—and therein lies an interesting backstory to Jalen Hurts landing in Philly. It was eight years ago that current-and-then Eagles GM Howie Roseman and then Eagles coach Andy Reid became intrigued with a diminutive-but-dynamic Wisconsin quarterback named Russell Wilson. Philly was set to take Wilson in the third round (the Packers were another team interested in Wilson in that range), before the Seahawks snapped him up with the 75th pick.
Philly wound up with Nick Foles at 88 instead, and there’s a lot of history to that one, too.
But how he and Reid saw Wilson stuck with Roseman, and put Philly on the lookout for similarly competitive, athletic quarterbacks. And losing out on Wilson in 2012 came up among Eagles folks in the spring, on the premise that if you really like a quarterback, you shouldn’t get cute and wait. Which is a big reason why the Eagles jumped on Hurts in the middle of the second round, a move that, in 2012, would’ve brought Wilson to Philly.
• Bears coach Matt Nagy’s team has bounced back with a sort of defiance the last couple weeks, running off two wins to follow a six-game losing streak. And 9–7 is in sight, with the Jags this week and the possibility the Packers game on Jan. 3 will be played with Green Bay having locked up the No. 1 seed already.
A four-game winning streak to finish the year might get Chicago in the playoffs. It also would likely solidify the ground that Nagy and GM Ryan Pace are standing on. But a few weeks ago? That ground looked shaky, and so I asked Nagy on Sunday night what it was like to have speculation on his own job security running wild for most of November. And I thought his answer was pretty insightful.
“I would say this—that comes with the territory,” Nagy said. “Like you said, when you sign up for this job, you’re always going to have that. And when you go through a six-game losing streak, you’re always going to have that. But in those times, what happens is you realize who the people are that are truly with you. And the ones that really aren’t. Then what you’ve got to do as a leader is you’ve got to make sure that at all times, your people that are a part of this thing, they totally believe and trust in everything that you’re saying.
“And you’ve got to have an action plan. When you go through a six-game losing streak, it’s about communicating with others on where we’re at and to keep fighting, because sometimes the message can get stale and monotonous after every loss. But you have to find ways and devise ways to keep the team motivated. And keep them playing. And it’s not easy. Especially in these times.
“But then that goes back to talking about culture. And you talk about, well, the culture’s great but if you’re not winning it doesn’t matter. Well, you know when culture matters? Culture matters when you’re losing. When you’re losing and you’ve got a sh—- culture, you’ve got no shot. When you have a good culture, you’ve got every shot in the world. Now you’re seeing it.”
• Cam Newton’s future in the NFL is uncertain because of his play, and because he’s not under contract for 2021, and in large part because he’s never really had to fight for a roster spot or playing time—so few truly know whether he’d welcome that opportunity, if that’s what he needed to do to stay in the pros. I do know earlier in the year, Newton had communicated to people that he didn’t want to go somewhere as a mentor or bridge.
Is he ready to be Josh McCown now? That’s unclear. But he at least shot down the idea that he’s preparing to walk away on WEEI on Monday, saying, “I still have a lot of football left,” while emphasizing that he wouldn’t want to go out with the kind of year he just had.
• When the Chiefs scooped up Le’Veon Bell in October, most saw it as akin to buying a fancy hood ornament for a luxury car—sure, it looks nice, but it probably wasn’t necessary. Now? Now things look different. With Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s high-ankle sprain, which will knock him out for the rest of the regular season (and those can linger), Bell now figures to loom large in K.C.’s plan.
It’s a good thing they’ve gotten him plenty of reps and have him well-acclimated to the offense.
• Interesting note: Word is that Patrick Mahomes recommended his OC, Eric Bieniemy, to Deshaun Watson as a good candidate to be the Texans’ next head coach. Houston owner Cal McNair has already consulted with Watson on the situation, and plans to continue to.
• Because I forgot to mention this in the MMQB—credit to Titans GM Jon Robinson and coach Mike Vrabel for the job they’ve quietly done in Nashville. This is the first 10-win season for each guy, with two games left, and marks five winning seasons in five years as GM for Robinson, and three winning seasons in three years as head coach for Vrabel. And the arrow seems to be pointing up on that program in general.
One takeaway on that: With Vrabel’s success, it’s not too hard to see more ex-NFL players becoming attractive as potential head coaching candidates. And there are promising guys in the pipeline like Aaron Glenn (Saints DBs coach), Jerod Mayo (Patriots LBs coach), Larry Foote (Bucs LBs coach) and Kevin O’Connell (Rams OC) to choose from. This could be the year, too, with the Zoom interview dynamic ensuring most teams will cast a wider net.
