If it ends up as Holmes and Lewis, I don’t think that’s a disaster. It may not have high upside on paper, but I would give it a shot. Ireland would be a disaster
What's the disaster? Unless Saleh is their #1 target at coach none of their other targets (Campbell, Lewis, Bevell and maybe Bowles) seem like good bets to land elsewhere. I don't think they're in much of a time crunch at this point unless they think Paton, Fontenot or Holmes is the clearly the guy they want. And, if that's the case, they can hire one of them before they get offered a different job. Dodds seems like he's Detroit or back to Indy, too.
Lewis should have gotten another job by now. Let’s be real that the only reason he hasn’t gotten a second chance is that he’s a black guy. He was an over .500 coach with the Bengals, who only employed two full time scouts while he was there, and he did it playing the Ravens and Steelers four times a year. He isn’t my top choice but the guy isn’t a slouch.
Lewis is at best fourth on my list, but I wouldn't crush that hire until I at least see who he hired on the staff. His coaching staff really seemed to kind of fall apart after Zimmer got the Minnesota job, and I'm not interested in seeing his OC success stories in Hue or Gruden with him in Detroit. But it's also fair to note that Cincinnati is the cheapest team in the league by far and that may have been part of the reason for that. He's been at ASU with Herm the last two years, and I wonder if that has changed his mentality at all as a coach, particularly about offense.
He hasn’t gotten another job because he’s 62 years old and 0-7 in the playoffs. He’s no different than Jim Caldwell. Not going to put you over The top. Everybody hated Caldwell when he was here because he didn’t win the big games.
Stoney apparently said on his show this morning that Colbert has been offered the gig. Obviously Birkett has heard something similar based on his tweets. I don’t see any way Colbert takes it. Maybe he takes a role as head of football operations and we still hire a GM, but that seems complex.
Also, the Athletic Falcons guy thinks Holmes is in their top 2 (with Fontenot). Since they can’t offer the job to Fontenot until the Saints are eliminated, I wonder if they act fast on Holmes to keep him from us.
Kind of blows my mind that Birkett seems to be suggesting here that Saleh isn't even in the top four out of the six coaches we've interviewed.
I took that the opposite way, and that those are the guys they're still actively considering. You could be right and that's what he meant, though. I think it's kind of weird to think Saleh is a done deal to the Jets just because he's the first guy to get a second interview. He might get the job, but I don't think it's a done deal yet.
It’s definitely trending that way. I’m curious if we jump on Holmes because of Atlanta’s interest, or we stick to the plan and bring in more guys for in person interviews.
I think the answer to that depends on whether Dodds is still interested and willing to do a face-to-face. If he's not, Holmes might get hired as early as tonight.
Holmes seems to have a possible choice to make between us and Atlanta. He lives in Atlanta so I’m curious if that’s his preference. I am not going to be stunned if we hire Holmes today but I anticipate it going through the weekend now.
The other part of that equation is how high are we on Fontenot? Because if we like Fontenot at least as much as Holmes, it's not that much of a risk to wait because Fontenot's path to a GM job was considered to be between us, Denver and Atlanta.
Saleh left the NYJ interview and the NY media stuff I've seen doesn't make it sound like anything is imminent there. One writer suggested he could interview in Philly in a few days.
Breer just posted this From Max (@max_schein): Other than Saleh, who do you think is a realistic finalist for the Jets job? Max, Saleh could have multiple opportunities—I’m told he’s stayed in touch with Detroit throughout, even as he headed to interview in-person with the Jets. So it’s certainly possible that the Jets move on Saleh, and Saleh’s people try and get an answer from the Lions on where they stand. Would the Lions then bring their process to an abrupt end in order to land Saleh? That I’m less sure of.
Also Breer Jason! This is another question I had to rework my answer to, because one of five names in play for the GM job, Paton, is now off the board. That leaves Indy’s Ed Dodds, New Orleans’s Jeff Ireland and Terry Fontenot, and the Rams’ Brad Holmes. Holmes is in Detroit for a second (and first in-person) interview on Wednesday. Paton had interviewed in-person the first time around, though it was with owner Sheila Ford Hamp over Zoom. Dodds just had his first interview this week. And Ireland and Fontenot can’t meet with the Lions, or anyone else, in person until the Saints are eliminated from the playoffs. I believe Paton was a leader in Detroit. Dodds’s late add to the interview list looks, at least on paper, like a sign of how seriously the Lions are considering Saleh—Dodds is high on Saleh’s GM list. And Holmes logistically has an interesting smaller edge over Fontenot and Ireland in that he’ll have met everyone in-person, after Wednesday. The coaching search, I believe, ties into all of this. If Paton had been GM, the Lions might’ve made a run at Fitzgerald or Bieniemy. If Saleh gets the job, I think Dodds will become the favorite to get the GM job. If one of the Saints guys land there, then Campbell could make sense. At any rate, this one has certainly accelerated a little this week. They have one interview left to complete the first round, by the way—the Lions’ brass is slated to sit down (virtually) with Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles on Friday.
The odd thing about this from him is it suggests Dodds basically wasn't on our radar as a GM candidate until Saleh brought him up as someone he'd want to work with. I find that pretty difficult to believe, given Dodds' rep compared to the others we brought in to interview that first week.
We can hire a GM candidate whose team is still in the playoffs, right? Or is that now the same rule as it is with coaches?
I believe you’re right. We just can’t interview them in person (Holmes works remotely which is why he was allowed to visit here). I don’t think we would try to hire the Saints guys without a visit first.
That's what I thought, but I wanted to ask because it seems really strange that we're allowed to hire Holmes, Fontenot or Ireland, but we're not allowed to interview two of them in person. Just seems like a "you're making this harder than it needs to be" situation.
Carolina is down to three finalists, and none are people we are pursuing. Washington appears to be in a similar situation as Carolina, with Rivera getting to pick his guy. We are likely not competing with them for any candidate. Jacksonville is in advanced discussions with Urban, per Schefter. The rumor is Trent Baalke would be his GM, so again, no competition there. Denver hired Paton, so that one is done. Houston hired Cesario, so that one is done. If I am not mistaken, it’s just us and Atlanta with openings now. We both had Holmes in for second interviews, and we both have been tied to Fontenot.
As far as coach openings Texans - Basically restarted their search, so it’s hard to say who they are after Chargers - Seems like it’ll be Daboll Jags - Seems like it’ll be Urban Jets - Saleh and Smith have interviewed twice Eagles - They are interviewing everyone, but it seems as if this search is in its infancy Falcons - Brady, Morris and Smith appear to be the top candidates I think I got everyone but it’s a blur
Philly seems like it has a chance to do something off the map. I really hope Bieniemy gets a job, but like you have it here there doesn't seem like a clear landing spot for him now that Houston has revealed itself to be what we thought it was.
So, essentially, we can take all the time we want on GM candidates. Ideally, though, we interview Dodds one more time and then pick between he or Holmes rather than waiting for Ireland.