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Winners and losers of the NFL's coaching carousel after final head coach position filled
This seventh and final NFL head coach vacancy of the current batch was filled on Tuesday, with the New Orleans Saints confirming they had hired Kellen Moore, just 48 hours after he had led the Philadelphia Eagles offense to victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.
The Saints joined the Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets, Chicago Bears and New England Patriots in landing new head coaches, but which teams look best placed to kick on with a new man in charge? And who has been left reeling by this year’s batch of coaching changes?
DAZN News looks at the winners and losers from the NFL’s off-season coaching carousel.
Winner - New England Patriots
Jerod Mayo learned last year that you never want to be the guy who replaces the guy.
Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
The post-Bill Belichick era got off a tough start in New England last year, with Mayo being handed an unenviable task in turning around a talent-poor roster, something that proved to be beyond the first-time head coach’s abilities at this stage of his career.
After spending last year as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns, former Pats linebacker Vrabel returns to the sidelines with a decent slate of draft picks and a promising young quarterback to work with in Drake Maye.
Loser - The Detroit Lions
Jets
The ‘brain drain’ that sees successful teams lose their highly-rated assistants is a byproduct of winning games in the NFL, but for the Detroit Lions it meant a heart-breaking end to the season was quickly followed by a one-two punch to the gut.
After earning the NFC’s number one seed, the Lions looked well-placed to reach their first Super Bowl in franchise history, only for injuries to catch up with them as a superlative Jayden Daniels performance saw the Washington Commanders dump them out in the Divisional Round.
Within days, both their offensive and defensive coordinators were gone, as offensive mastermind Ben Johnson got the Chicago job, while defensive chief Aaron Glenn was hired by his former side the New York Jets.
John Morton and Kelvin Sheppard have replaced the departed duo, in what is the first major coaching changes in Detroit for four years, adding question marks to a staff that had been one of the most stable in the league.
Winner - Caleb Williams
Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Ben Johnson’s Lions exit is good news for last year’s number one draft pick Caleb Williams, as he looks to build on a rookie campaign that was not helped by the Bears’ struggles around him on offense.
Williams will hope that the work Johnson did with Jared Goff can be replicated and allow him to kick on in year two, following a campaign which saw him eclipsed by number two pick Jayden Daniels in Washington.
Loser - Aaron Rodgers
Mario Hommes/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
When the Jets confirmed they were bringing their former cornerback Aaron Glenn back to the franchise, it sparked a fresh round of questions about the future of Aaron Rodgers.
And as night follows day, it was confirmed this week that the team will be cutting ties with the veteran quarterback as Glenn looks to undergo a full-on reset.
This leaves the Jets with no clear route to a new starting QB, with Tyrod Taylor and 2024 fifth-round draft pick Jordan Travis the only passers on the poster. A somewhat milquetoast crop of free-agent quarterbacks is unlikely to give the Jets their new franchise QB and their seventh overall pick in the draft may be too low to grab one of the top two young signal-callers in April.
But the situation is arguably worse for Rodgers, as he will turn 42 next season and his best-case scenario now is as a bridge QB.
Winner - Tom Brady and the Las Vegas Raiders
Getty Images
The Las Vegas Raiders looked to be off the pace in their offseason decision-making, dragging their heels over whether to jettison head coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco, which ruled them out of this year’s crop of in-demand young coordinators looking to step up.
But amid reports that minority owner Tom Brady’s influence was growing in the Vegas corridors of power, the team moved to hire former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll in the kind of common sense, grown-up move that the Raiders have been allergic to in recent seasons.
Carroll needs a quarterback - we’ll see if his old charge Russell Wilson ends up there in the next few weeks - but the 73-year-old’s experience, influence and energy should mean the Raiders are relevant from the get-go.
Loser - Trent Baalke
Trent Baalke has been a divisive figure in both of his past two jobs, but ran out of road in Jacksonville when Jaguars owner Shad Khan made an about-turn when the team’s search for a new head coach hit the skids when Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen turned them.
A stunning u-turn saw Khan dismiss Baalke and Coen come back into the fray and taking the job. Baalke paid the price for a string of poor free agency decisions and coaching hires as the Jags now hope that the pairing Coen and quarterback Trevor Lawrence can be the building blocks for overdue progress.
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