Our pre-divisional round coaching notes …
What took John Harbaugh and the Giants so long
The Giants have finalized a five-year deal to make John Harbaugh their next head coach.
So what took so long?
Over the past 48 hours, there was plenty of consternation over the pace of finalizing (and officially anointing) Harbaugh as the new boss in New York. I get that. This isn’t the way you typically see a coaching hire go down, where reports of an agreement lead to a deal, leading to an announcement and press conference in short order.
And this was indeed a little different. With owner John Mara in a cancer battle, there are some moving parts organizationally within the Giants with Chris Mara, John’s brother, having taken an elevated role amid his sibling’s illness. They’ve also had a mode of operation there that goes back decades—where the coach reports to the general manager, who reports to ownership. That goes back to George Young and Bill Parcells, and existed, of course, most recently with Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll.
It’s also a different structure than what Harbaugh had in Baltimore, where he worked with GMs Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta, with both he and the GM reporting directly to ownership.
In the end, Harbaugh got what he had in Baltimore. He’ll report directly to the Maras.
When Harbaugh agreed to take the Giants’ job late Wednesday night, he did it with some clarity needed on all of that. The important thing is that they found that clarity, and he’ll be the coach—there was never any doubt he would be after he accepted the job Wednesday.
Even if it took just a little longer than expected.
The Dolphins’ coaching search
The Dolphins are moving into the second phase of their coach search, and have scheduled second interviews with former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who was with new Miami GM Jon-Eric Sullivan the past two years in Green Bay.
Miami’s planning on setting up a couple more, too, as they work through it, and Sullivan’s been in on every piece of it with owner Stephen Ross, Ross’ son-in-law Danny Sillman, team president Tom Garfinkel, and cap chief Brandon Shore. The Dolphins’ priority now is finding someone who fits in with the new three-headed structure (Sullivan, Shore, and the head coach), which is part of why the timing for Harbaugh in Miami wasn’t quite right.
Hafley’s name is a name to watch there, and has been for a few days now. He’s interviewed well just about everywhere, but he’s been pretty consistently tied to Miami in league circles.
Falcons begin narrowing coaching options
• Stefanski’s a very popular man—he’ll arrive in Atlanta Saturday night for a second interview with the Falcons. And just as Hafley has, for a few days now, been considered a strong candidate for the Dolphins’ job, Stefanski has emerged as an important name in the Falcons’ search.
The plan, for now, is for Stefanski to meet with the Falcons Saturday night and Sunday in Atlanta, and fly tomorrow to Nashville to meet with the Titans, then sit down with the Dolphins (he already had an in-person interview with Miami). That said, Atlanta went into this weekend ready to compete for candidates if needed, which is why the Falcons are starting their second round before the first round ends (with Bills OC Joe Brady still slated for Sunday).
That’s also why the Falcons have backburnered the GM search, with plans to pick that up at the end of the coming week. If a coach is in place soon, that coaching would participate in the GM search.
• One other interesting piece of the Falcons’ search is sitting defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who’s been blocked by the team from interviewing for coordinator jobs elsewhere.
The Falcons would love for him to be a part of the equation with the next coach, I’ve heard he wouldn’t mind staying, and it sounds like Stefanski is amenable to him staying on as DC. And that would make for a pretty intriguing staff, should Stefanski choose Atlanta, potentially with Ulbrich as DC and, maybe, former Titans coach Brian Callahan as OC.
What about the Titans?
The Titans will finish their first round of interviews on Sunday, with former Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon coming in, and 49ers DC Robert Saleh interviewing virtually.
Stefanski’s joined on the second-interview list by Hafley and Chiefs OC Matt Nagy, who was with Titans GM Mike Borgonzi in Kansas City. That list, of course, could grow, with Saleh considered a solid candidate for that job.
• Callahan, for what it’s worth, is very much in the mix for the Chargers’ OC job, and there’s a cool connection there. His dad, legendary line coach Bill Callahan, gave Jim Harbaugh his first full-time job in NFL coaching, bringing him to the Raiders staff way back in 2003.
Broncos QBs coach Davis Webb and former Giants coach Brian Daboll would be two other names to potentially watch there.
Raiders still searching while already thinking about next QB
The Raiders are wrapping up their first round of interviews—they had Rams assistants Mike LaFleur, Nathaan Scheelhaase and Chris Shula over Zoom on Friday, with Joe Brady and 49ers OC Klay Kubiak set for Sunday—before heading to Miami on Monday to see Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza play in-person in the national title game.
One interesting name to watch would actually be Webb. He’s got a relationship in passing with Tom Brady, and he has two coordinator candidates on his list—Kliff Kingsbury and Daboll—who were together with the legendary quarterback in New England.
Vegas has/had a third of its first-round interviews over this weekend (the three Friday and two Sunday), so there’s still plenty to be determined. But the handling of the quarterback will be a piece to this puzzle, with the likelihood that Mendoza winds up being the first overall pick, so it’ll either be a quarterback guy like Webb, or a defensive guy with a strong plan for the quarterback. (Tom Brady’s own experience, where the system didn’t change from Charlie Weis to Josh McDaniels to Bill O’Brien to McDaniels again, is instructive there.)
Matt LaFleur’s negotiations with the Packers
Negotiations between Matt LaFleur’s camp and the Packers are ongoing—and a number of teams have kept their eye on it, just in case something went the wrong way, given the uptick in what established head coaches are making. For now, the overwhelming likelihood is LaFleur’s there on a fat new deal, with GM Brian Gutekunst being rewarded as well.
Mike McDaniel could start a domino effect
Mike McDaniel has become a big domino for teams seeking OCs. He’s a prominent name in the searches of both the Lions and Buccaneers, and looms as a potential OC for his close friend Robert Saleh, should the 49ers DC land a job like the one in Tennessee.
Teams taking their time
This will be an action-packed week with second interviews starting to roll and names coming off the board. Still, a lot of folks feel like the Steelers and Ravens are the two that can move at their own pace. I’d expect both to be thorough, and while it’s possible either goes with an established name, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see both go their own way—as they once did with Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh, respectively.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as What We’re Hearing Around the NFL Coaching Carousel Before the Divisional Round.
