Oakland

Don't know him well, but probably a good fit with Mike Lombardi.

I like it, and if you are picking from the two Pittsburgh guys, you're probably better off not getting the line coach. I like Grimm, but Grimm's style isn't that far from Shell's, and while the quality would be better I don't know if the same approach will work.

I like it, I guess. He's certainly an essteemed assistant, so whether he'd be an expert playcaller isn't of concern (I honestly don't know). Whisenhunt would have input at the least, and to have a veteran administrator of an offense around is a great fit.

With Whisenhunt, I'd see about trying to steal away Bruce Arians before Grimm does (since I'd assume Grimm the new Pittsburgh HC with this), for OC, though I don't know that Grimm wouldn't be able to pluck Mularkey back.

yeah, probably wouldn't happen, but I like it. Selling him as OC would be more plausible, but even then, he could conceivably be an outside candidate for some HC jobs soon anyway.

If he'd stay, that'd work very well. The D staff isn't bad off, so getting a new DBs coach for Pagano's job is the only important hire.





Getting a good FB and a powerful RG is a good start. I'd definitely make Jordan a focal point if there's no Moss/Porter, but at worst, I'd choose between the two and keep one. Either way, Jordan has to be productive and help that defense out; that'll take pressure off any incoming QB.

 

Very weird. I'm wondering why Butch Davis wants the guy that ran the Raiders pop gun offense..

 

That was my thinking, exactly.

Again, that's what I was thinking. I don't know the guy either, and I honestly had warning flags as to why a guy with such a sparkling resume was let go from Tennessee. But he looked good enough on paper to take a chance, IMO.

Arians? Really? I don't know him, but I was thinking more along the lines of their QB coach. But I just didn't feel too great about swiping two important coaches from one team like that.

I considered OC, but honestly from what I've seen of him here, I wouldn't want him as a playcaller. I honestly think he's better suited as a poor man's Grimm. But that's just my opinion -- I don't know college and position coaches as well as you and Collin do.

Agreed, which is why my focus was on the interior running game and good, balanced TEs who can block and help out consistently as security blankets. Ball control is the goal until the pieces are in place to get a little sexier with the O. That was my thinking, anyway.

 

yeah, seems to be a good compliment of ideas either way. Nice work.




For mine:
I'd elevate Rob Ryan. He's the most competent guy out there, IMO, to take control; he's got the respect of the team and that's important right now. As well, while he's tenured and kept his job through Turner-Shell, there's always the outside shot he bolts or just doesn't fit in the incoming philosophy. I don't think they should just outright hire someone else with the expectation that Ryan will stick.

OC: Jim Fassell. He's got a tie to Davis, would be a good transition guy with a new head coach, and he's got an allright offense. It would have to be a little more run oriented than he's tended toward at times; nonetheless, it would most likely mesh with Moss and Porter to throw a fair bit.

QBs: John Shoop, if he'd stay; if not, or perhaps instead, former Arizona Cardinals mid-season replacement OC Mike Kruczek. Kruczek did breathe a little life into that O, and Linehan did get up to speed pretty quickly (not to credit Kruczek for Linehan's talent, but I'm sure there was help). Ken Anderson would've also been a fine choice, or his OC, Carl Smith.

OL: Tom Cable , of the Falcons, and before that, UCLA offensive coordinator. For TEs coach, I'll take current Rams assistant OL coach (and former Purdue OC) Jim Cheney. I'd keep Skip Peete at RB and Fred Biletnikoff at WR. If I could, I'd see about making Biletnikoff a bit more of an administrator, and leave more of the coaching duties to an assistant, an up and coming coach like UCLA's DJ McCarthy.

Defensive Coordinator: Dave McGinness, Titans LBs coach and former Cardinals head coach. I'd keep the D staff intact, and replace the departed Pagano with Emmitt Thomas, senior assistant/DBs coach with Atlanta.


I guess, at this point, I'd take Russell first, or trade down. He's a good fit, and while a lot of people are hyping now that they finally watched him, he's still a very talented prospect.

I'd keep Moss/Porter - call me a sadist. I'd convert Crockett to the backup RB. Let Fargas and Echemandu fight for the 3rd job.

The line needs a lot of work, but for now, I'd just grab a somewhat competent backup type like Marc Colombo to fight for a start, and try to steal a guy like Ruben Brown or David Diehl for stability and experience at guard. Walker's good, and I think they're going to be stuck with Gallery at LT anyway, so putting Brown/Diehl at LG, and mixing Colombo/Walker at RG/RT in some form will give an allright line.

They're working on re-signing Terdell Sands, and I would. He's a very good situational run stopper, and not terrible at anything else, but his lack of quickness doesn't do much for the pass. They need some depth at DE, someone to take situational looks from Tyler Brayton.
They're good at LB. Howard worked out very well for them as a rook, with 110 tackles. Morrison's one of the more under-rated MLBs out there. I wouldn't mess with much on D; I'd actually just take some more talent at CB.


1 (or trade, though I won't consider the extra pick(s) either way): Russell, QB

33) Daymeion Hughes, CB, Cal - instinctive cover corner that lacks a little speed. They don't need a lot on D but for lack of a good TE, I went this way. Almost went with DE Lamarr Woodley for the contribution to add to Burgess/Sapp's rush, since they're light at DE.

65) Chris Beekman, G, BC - powerful, relatively unathletic guard to bolster run blocking. Personal preference over HB's pick of Grubbs, but in general I like Grubbs better.

97) Martrez Milner, TE, Georgia - good athlete, willing blocker. Needs to work on hands.

 

Thanks.

Good point, and I agree with you about the respect aspect of it. Plus, Davis likes him, so that's a big feather in his cap.

You know, I considered him briefly. But honestly his recent episode in Baltimore caused me to question him.

Really? Considering what the OAK QBs have looked like since Gruden left, I don't see a whole lot there to warrant retaining him. What do you know/see that I don't? (not trying to be snotty here, I'm genuinely ignorant about him)

The newest cut-blocking scheme guru? Yeah, that definitely fits the Raider mentality. Plus, it's effective.

I thought about that, and didn't really address it. Jordan's done alright, and even Fargas has been somewhat decent when healthy. I was lukewarm on him.

As much as I hate to say it (just because you have to respect a HOFer like him), I think his glory days as a WR coach are over. The present and future of WRs is prima donna man-children like TO, Porter, and Moss. Unfortunately, Biletnikoff hasn't shown he can handle guys like that very well. The Raiders need someone new who can get inside these guys' heads and keep them in line.

Funny -- I thought about him, too. Talented and passionate, which is something the Raiders need to maintain on defense. But with my selections, there just wasn't room to give him a better deal than he has in TEN.

What have you seen from the Falcons' secondary (aside from DeAngelo Hall) that makes you like Thomas as a DB coach? Haven't they been pretty mediocre at best for a while now?

Agreed, and should've been done a long time ago. Back in the day, Crockett behind Ritchie (IIRC) was a potent short yardage/goal line package.

Agreed, but there's always room on an active roster for a guy like that -- especially if he's not going to break the bank.

Yep. Burgess is fantastic, but Brayton has a hard time staying healthy and Johnstone's getting old.

Asomugha really emerged this year, and even Washington is improving. But yeah -- they could use some more talent there to push Washington especially. Routt showed a flash or two his rookie season, but since then seems to have declined badly.

 

The only thing in all that, that would've given me pause was the concern with running Lewis more that year, and possibly how Fassell was using him (since Lewis' output did improve a bit after). That Fassell's a bad coach because he and Billick had it out? I don't think so personally.

any time you promote from within, the chance is good that guys get retained. He's an OK QBs coach, but a bad coordinator. My thoughts pushed a bit toward Kruczek.

I don't know that he personally leans toward the cut blocking - I think he was just hired in. He was only in ATL one year, while Alex Gibbs was there a good while.

he's not bad, and again there's the greater chance that Ryan would keep his contemporaries than would another coach. Since he's got a bit of tenure across staffs, he's good enough to stay.

exactly why I stated I might want to move him to an administrating role (and keep his title so he's still in the coaching booth on gameday) and add another guy who's younger to assist.

it's more that I felt he's an esteemed DBs coach over time than that he did anything above average in ATL. He didn't.

yeah, it's not quite as much thinking that he'd be a great RB, as I'd rather have a stronger blocker (and then apparently never finished that thought).

yeah. They're not that deep. I know that DE and CB are somewhat premiere slots to attain, so I don't know if it's that realistic to worry about those, but there are enough pieces with the offensive skill, and only so much you can do with that line.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of the before-and-after of BAL's offensive production when Billick took over playcalling. Quite a difference, I thought. Maybe that was a personality conflict, maybe it was something else. Fassel's offense is good. He had the Giants rockin' back in 2000. I dunno, it was just enough to give me pause.

 

That was mostly a media invention, just like Cincinnati's defense supposedly getting things together when they were really just playing shitty offenses. Baltimore struggled offensively against good defenses and then feasted on a series of bad ones while their defense also scored some touchdowns to make the point total look like the offense did better than they were. That's not to say that Billick had no effect, as he appeared to be more dedicated to the run and that was a good thing for them, but it wasn't the huge difference ESPN made it out to be.

 

that's exactly what I'd mentioned, though. The only negative there to me was the concern of running Lewis a little less, but in the end, Lewis' output didn't significantly increase. They didn't have many points scored at 6 games and they didn't have that many at 16.