New OC Thread (Welcome Aboard Eric Bieniemy!)

[MartinC]

17 minutes ago, veteranskinsfan said:

Caldwell will not be the only experienced offensive coordinator/head coach who will turn down Rivera and Mayhew.  Mayhew knows Caldwell very well.

They may be forced to just go with an in-house coach.  Not knowing who the owner will be is an issue and knowing that Ron is a lame duck Head Coach

is also an issue and knowing that they want to prioritize running over passing could also deter some guys for seeking the Offensive Coordinator job in Washington.

I have low expectations right now.  Ron will not be looking for the young innovative play caller.  He let Kevin McConnell go.  Commanders brain trust let McVay go.

Ron is looking for an old timer he can trust who played football during his era.

 

Rivera will be on the hot seat. Assuming an ownership change happens too late for big changes before the start of next season Ron will need a strong winning season and playoff appearance/run to get an extension.

 

So its a win now season.

 

So that probably means they will not want to change the system. It takes a couple of seasons to really bed in a new system. So that means we are probably looking at guys very familiar with this system and terminology. So that rules out the West Coast guys. It will be someone from this system and probably someone Ron has worked with and is very comfortable with. It’s going to be a short list of people and Ken Zampese as an in-house promotion is probably not a bad bet for what happens.

 

There is talk about Mike Shula who was the OC with the Panthers when they drafted Cam. He is with the Bills as an offensive assistant right now. He is probably best case.

 

Then we get to QB. If its a must win season its a risk to go in with Howell as your QB1 from the get go. He has 1 start. They will need a vet on the roster anyway and it’s then a question of who they can get, how they acquire him and at what cost. A lot can happen between now and OTAs. Fields could be on the block if the Bears decide they love Young or Stroud (if he comes out), Carr could end up being released, Mayfield will be on the market as a free agent etc etc. Who they can get and what they are paying him will probably determine what happens with Howell.

 

From the teams perspective starting Howell, building around him and finding out if we can develop him is probably the best long term solution right now. But thats probably not the best strategy if you are Rivera in a must win now situation - assuming there are other vet QB options available.

[KDawg]

10 minutes ago, MartinC said:

 

Rivera will be on the hot seat. Assuming an ownership change happens too late for big changes before the start of next season Ron will need a strong winning season and playoff appearance/run to get an extension.

 

So its a win now season.

 

So that probably means they will not want to change the system. It takes a couple of seasons to really bed in a new system. So that means we are probably looking at guys very familiar with this system and terminology. So that rules out the West Coast guys. It will be someone from this system and probably someone Ron has worked with and is very comfortable with. It’s going to be a short list of people and Ken Zampese as an in-house promotion is probably not a bad bet for what happens.

 

There is talk about Mike Shula who was the OC with the Panthers when they drafted Cam. He is with the Bills as an offensive assistant right now. He is probably best case.

 

Then we get to QB. If its a must win season its a risk to go in with Howell as your QB1 from the get go. He has 1 start. They will need a vet on the roster anyway and it’s then a question of who they can get, how they acquire him and at what cost. A lot can happen between now and OTAs. Fields could be on the block if the Bears decide they love Young or Stroud (if he comes out), Carr could end up being released, Mayfield will be on the market as a free agent etc etc. Who they can get and what they are paying him will probably determine what happens with Howell.

 

From the teams perspective starting Howell, building around him and finding out if we can develop him is probably the best long term solution right now. But thats probably not the best strategy if you are Rivera in a must win now situation - assuming there are other vet QB options available.

Rivera’s strategy is almost irrelevant at this point. If Fields is on the block they’d have to move heavy assets for him (like our first and more) and they are bringing him in to learn a new system in a must win year. I’d say he’s a possibility if he makes it to the block because the monetary cost isn’t high, which makes him a real target. But I think the whole “I’d trade Fields” thing from Tannebaum was just a hot take talking point. Trading Fields for a tiny guy like Young (despite his high end skills) or another Ohio State guy who is similar to Fields in a lot of ways) is a mistake. But if someone pays enough they can reset the rookie window.

 

I don’t see it happening. The fanbase, their beat reporters, everything over there suggests the Bears want Fields as their QB moving forward. But we’ll see.

 

Mayfield as a QB competition is fine but, I don’t see him beating Howell out.  But I think this is the lane we’re playing in as it pertains to QB competition. Mayfield, Brissett, Bridgewater types 
 

Carr would cost a metric truck load and we don’t have an owner at this point. 
 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by KDawg

[MartinC]

24 minutes ago, KDawg said:

Rivera’s strategy is almost irrelevant at this point. If Fields is in the block they’d have to move heavy assets for him (like our first and more) and they are bringing him in to learn a new system in a must win year. I’d say he’s a possibility if he makes it to the block because the monetary cost isn’t high, which makes him a real target. But I think the whole “is trade Fields” thing from Tannebaum was just a hot take talking point. Trading Fields for a tiny guy like Young (despite his high end skills) or another Ohio State guy who is similar to Fields in a lot of ways) is a mistake. But if someone pays enough they can reset the rookie window.

 

I don’t see it happening. The fanbase, they’re beat reporters, everything over there suggests the Bears want Fields as their QB moving forward. But we’ll see.

 

Mayfield as a QB competition is fine but, I don’t see him beating Howell out.  But I think this is the lame we’re playing in as it pertains to QB competition. Mayfield, Brissett, Bridgewater types 
 

Carr would cost a metric truck load and we don’t have an owner at this point. 
 

 

 

Completely agree with you on Fields. If I was the Bears I would be looking to trade out of the first overall pick for a huge haul of picks and continuing to build around Fields. But if they do something stupid and he’s available for a first and change I can see us being interested - we reportedly wanted to trade up for him when he came out.

 

Mayfield on an incentive heavy deal in a QB comp with Howell and ending up as the backup would be a good outcome for me. Brissett would be more of a backup who could push Howell. I’m not a fan of Bridgewater personally but you are right thats the tier we are probably looking at.

[Koolblue13]

22 minutes ago, MartinC said:

 

Completely agree with you on Fields. If I was the Bears I would be looking to trade out of the first overall pick for a huge haul of picks and continuing to build around Fields. But if they do something stupid and he’s available for a first and change I can see us being interested - we reportedly wanted to trade up for him when he came out.

 

Mayfield on an incentive heavy deal in a QB comp with Howell and ending up as the backup would be a good outcome for me. Brissett would be more of a backup who could push Howell. I’m not a fan of Bridgewater personally but you are right thats the tier we are probably looking at.

I'd be forcing the Texans to get to #1, which is hysterical. Then trading back from 2. They have a shot at a transformational offseason with multiple 1rsts for years, while sitting on $100 mil of cap space.

[KDawg]

1 minute ago, Koolblue13 said:

I'd be forcing the Texans to get to #1, which is hysterical. Then trading back from 2. They have a shot at a transformational offseason with multiple 1rsts for years, while sitting on $100 mil of cap space.

And I think this is exactly what the Bears are doing. Tannebaum said what he said for a reason. Wouldn’t be surprised if Poles was manipulating the media.

 

Poles even said in a presser that Fields is their guy unless there is a huge draft haul. 
 

So they are playing up that there is a chance they stay put and take a QB. Likely on purpose. If Stroud doesn’t come out the Texans could very easily panic and offer future ones to move up to 1 to take Young. 
 

Then the Bears are at 2 with extra draft capital moving forward. And they can and should trade back again. 
 

Talk about a rebuild.

[Koolblue13]

1 minute ago, KDawg said:

And I think this is exactly what the Bears are doing. Tannebaum said what he said for a reason. Wouldn’t be surprised if Poles was manipulating the media.

 

Poles even said in a presser that Fields is their guy unless there is a huge draft haul. 
 

So they are playing up that there is a chance they stay put and take a QB. Likely on purpose. If Stroud doesn’t come out the Texans could very easily panic and offer future ones to move up to 1 to take Young. 
 

Then the Bears are at 2 with extra draft capital moving forward. And they can and should trade back again. 
 

Talk about a rebuild.

Right? You have the Colts, Seahawks, Panters, Raiders and more all sitting there in the top 10 wanting to come up to 1. If Stroud does stay in school, Texans have no choice but to get to 1, unless they're all in on Levis, which I doubt.

 

Easy double play for the Bears. They're right where the Eagles were a couple years ago.

[Warhead36]

On the flip side, if you're the Bears and you LOVE Young, you have to entertain the idea of trading Fields.

 

I'm not a Fields fan but I think Rivera would probably offer #16 straight up for Fields. Maybe even Fields and a franchised Payne. 

[CobraCommander]

6 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

On the flip side, if you're the Bears and you LOVE Young, you have to entertain the idea of trading Fields.

 

I'm not a Fields fan but I think Rivera would probably offer #16 straight up for Fields. Maybe even Fields and a franchised Payne. 

BARF

 

I really hope Rivera has enough sense to understand this is not an offseason for him to be trading away assets. If he wants to trade down, fine. But he needs to roll with Howell imo. He drafted the kid, it's his responsibility to get him ready, find him a good fit at OC and build the rest of the team up via draft and FA. 

[MartinC]

30 minutes ago, CobraCommander said:

BARF

 

I really hope Rivera has enough sense to understand this is not an offseason for him to be trading away assets. If he wants to trade down, fine. But he needs to roll with Howell imo. He drafted the kid, it's his responsibility to get him ready, find him a good fit at OC and build the rest of the team up via draft and FA. 

From the team’s perspective I agree with you entirely. From Riveras perspective entering a ‘must win’ year it all looks very different.

 

Which is one reason having a coach with final say is almost always a bad idea.

[burgngold fan]

If Washington’s main goal is quarterback! Then we are already lost.  This off season they need to fix the offensive  line.  No if ands or butts.   Without an revamped line no quarterback will be able to any better than what we had this past season.  

[CobraCommander]

29 minutes ago, MartinC said:

From the team’s perspective I agree with you entirely. From Riveras perspective entering a ‘must win’ year it all looks very different.

 

Which is one reason having a coach with final say is almost always a bad idea.

I hope we get an owner in place that can at least stop this before the league year starts. Maybe they don't have time to install a new GM but can at least tell Rivera NO to mortgaging the future. Work with the resources you have, not future ones.

[KWilliamsAWinfield]

On 1/10/2023 at 7:08 PM, clskinsfan said:

In fairness Coryell's offense is still a big part of NFL offenses. So is Shanahans. 

That is physically impossible. 

 

How would you know if the new owner would not be worse than Synder? What if the new owner buy the teams and decides to hire terrible head coaches and trade  players that are stars or players that are turning into stars? Anything can happen 

Edited January 14, 2023 by KWilliamsAWinfield

[MartinC]

38 minutes ago, KWilliamsAWinfield said:

 

How would you know if the new owner would not be worse than Synder? What if the new owner buy the teams and decides to hire terrible head coaches and trade  players that are stars or players that are turning into stars? Anything can happen 

You could pick someone at random off any street corner in any major City in the US and get a better owner than Snyder. It’s not IMPOSSIBLE that someone buys us who is worse - but the bar on that has been set incredibly high. 

[D’Pablo]

Looks like Pat Shurmur is under consideration. Personally, I ****ing love the idea. While he's been a horrible head coach, he's been a very impressive offensive coordinator. The guy has had success with way less everywhere he's been - he made Case Keenum look like a star. Granted, he had a way tougher time with Melvin Gordon, Drew Lock, and no receivers in Denver, but who wouldn't?

[method man]

3 hours ago, D’Pablo said:

Looks like Pat Shurmur is under consideration. Personally, I ****ing love the idea. While he's been a horrible head coach, he's been a very impressive offensive coordinator. The guy has had success with way less everywhere he's been - he made Case Keenum look like a star. Granted, he had a way tougher time with Melvin Gordon, Drew Lock, and no receivers in Denver, but who wouldn't?

Yep. Shurmur is a solid veteran guy off the Reid tree. Ron tried to interview him back in 2020 but Shurmur turned him down then

[woodpecker]

4 hours ago, MartinC said:

You could pick someone at random off any street corner in any major City in the US and get a better owner than Snyder. It’s not IMPOSSIBLE that someone buys us who is worse - but the bar on that has been set incredibly high. 

Nope. It is impossible, you cannot do worse than Snyder.

[HigSkin]

55 minutes ago, method man said:

Yep. Shurmur is a solid veteran guy off the Reid tree. Ron tried to interview him back in 2020 but Shurmur turned him down then

 

Here's a beat reporters tweet on it....

 

[Captain Wiggles]

Quote

On December 26, 2021 in week 16 of the 2021 NFL season game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Shurmur's offensive game plan made Broncos history as it yielded 40 offensive plays, eight first downs, and 158 yards of total offense. which is the second-fewest in a game in which the Broncos had a true quarterback playing in the last 29 years. The run offense managed just 18 yards on 16 carries, which is tied for the third-fewest in franchise history. 

 

😬

[MartinC]

Reports now that Washington are telling OC candidates they consider Sam Howell the starter heading into next season. Of course that might be because he’s the only QB under contract right now!

[Warhead36]

44 minutes ago, Captain Wiggles said:

 

😬

I'm sure you can cherry pick every good OC and find some really bad offensive games

 

Andy Reid once had an entire season with none of his WRs catching a TD

[clskinsfan]

6 hours ago, KWilliamsAWinfield said:

 

How would you know if the new owner would not be worse than Synder? What if the new owner buy the teams and decides to hire terrible head coaches and trade  players that are stars or players that are turning into stars? Anything can happen 

Brother we just had 3 decades of a complete frikin clownshow. Is it possible that a new owner ends up with a worse W/L record? Maybe. But far from likely. You basically cannot run an organization any worse than Snyders dumb ass did. Hence physically impossible. 

44 minutes ago, MartinC said:

Reports now that Washington are telling OC candidates they consider Sam Howell the starter heading into next season. Of course that might be because he’s the only QB under contract right now!

I think he showed enough to earn that spot though. He may end up a mediocre QB. I wasnt high on him coming out and thought he was most likely a career backup kind of guy. But I may be wrong....Or I may be right. Only one way to find out. And Howell showed enough to prove he belongs in the NFL. I will just say this. The guy has FAR more arm talent than Brock Purdy. And look at him right now. 

[KWilliamsAWinfield]

5 hours ago, woodpecker said:

Nope. It is impossible, you cannot do worse than Snyder.

 

9 hours ago, MartinC said:

You could pick someone at random off any street corner in any major City in the US and get a better owner than Snyder. It’s not IMPOSSIBLE that someone buys us who is worse - but the bar on that has been set incredibly high. 

 

Really? What if the new owner decides to move the team out of Washington to another state? Are you still going to think Synder is worse? 

[Conn]

34 minutes ago, KWilliamsAWinfield said:

 

 

Really? What if the new owner decides to move the team out of Washington to another state? Are you still going to think Synder is worse? 

What is your issue with wanting Snyder gone dude, why do you waste your own time twisting your mind into knots coming up with even worse historically bad scenarios than we’ve already experienced? Are you related to him? What point are you trying to make exactly, what is your purpose here 

[Warhead36]

The NFL won't allow this team to be moved out of the nation's capital. That's just absurd. We're more likely to be hit by an asteroid or be invaded by North Korea.

[Jericho]

16 hours ago, Warhead36 said:

On the flip side, if you're the Bears and you LOVE Young, you have to entertain the idea of trading Fields.

 

I'm not a Fields fan but I think Rivera would probably offer #16 straight up for Fields. Maybe even Fields and a franchised Payne. 

 

I tend to think this idea gains more traction as the offseason progresses. Everyone's saying the pro-Fields things now and that's expected. And it's not that Fields has no upside either. But Fields is halfway through his rookie contract (not including his option year) and the Bears were literally the worst team in football. So you're not getting much in the way of results. And Fields still is a bad passer (but excellent scrambler). Are you really going to stick with a potential Daniel Jones to pass on say the next Kyler Murray? It's likely a franchise altering decision and QB is the one position where you always want the best player you can get. You'd gladly trade competent for above average (see going from Goff to Stafford). I think you really have to be sold on Fields (and let's not forget he was the 4th QB off the board in 2021) or really hate Young/Stroud to not make the swap.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Jericho