Mularkey out in Tenn; Titans aiming for McDaniels

[ScottishPatriots]

Both have plenty of cash to spend no matter which one he picks.

Colts have $84m in cap space in 2018 with Luck signed up for 4 more years.
Titans have $54m in cap space in 2018 with Mariota in last year of cheap rookie deal.

 

[Simpelton]

BB is going to wind up having to completely rebuild his coaching staff isn't he?

 

[Deus Irae]

IMHO the perfect head coaching position is one where you can work well with the GM and where the team has plenty of talent but has underperformed due to poor coaching. Which team was that last year? The LA Rams, a talented team who played lousy because of arguably the worst coach in the game. Sean McVay comes in, the Rams get good, and McVay is a coach of the year candidate.

Now, let's look at the Colts and the Titans. Although the Colts were poorly coached, they arguably have the least talented team in the league, plus a whack-ball owner. Now, what about Tennessee? As you say, a great fit. Josh knows and likes the GM. Plenty of talent on the team, defense, offensive line, etc. The main problem is the underperformance of Mariota. However, how is Mariota being used and coached? In college he was an absolute terror for defenses with his college type spread offense. What does Mularkey do? Put him in a "smash mouth" tight end heavy offense, and try to adapt Mariota to his system instead of adapting the system to his QB (the way KC, Philadelphia, and Houston has).

It seems to me that with a really good offensive coach Mariota could take a major leap and the Titans could become a really dangerous team next year. No wonder Josh is thinking seriously about the Tennessee job, it seems perfect.

The Colts are drafting third
The Colts have a TE (Doyle) and an OWR (Hilton)
McDaniels would have Brissett to help Luck learn the new offensive system
The Colts are looking at $84m for next year, as of now. NFL 2018 Salary Cap Tracker
Guys will spring loose from the Patriots (i.e. Butler, quite possibly one of the RBs and one or more of the WRs)

That's a start

 

[borg]

Still not sure why Josh would go to Indy.

Simple explanation: Indy would hoist a 'Winner of 2018 Coach Search' banner the minute Josh signs, immortalizing him forever ....................which is nice

 

[zydecochris]

The Colts are drafting third
The Colts have a TE (Doyle) and an OWR (Hilton)
McDaniels would have Brissett to help Luck learn the new offensive system
The Colts are looking at $84m for next year, as of now. NFL 2018 Salary Cap Tracker
Guys will spring loose from the Patriots (i.e. Butler, quite possibly one of the RBs and one or more of the WRs)

That's a start

You have argued very persuasively many times in the past about the importance of having a superior QB and how it is the most important thing for team success (although you are usually talking about the transcendent Tom Brady).

Simply, I agree.

I have tended to be a defender of Luck on this site, I think he was one of the most promising and talented QB's to ever come out of college, he had everything. On a different team, I think he could have been a great, great QB. Unfortunately, at this point I think there is simply too much danger that: i) Luck has been destroyed by Grigson and the team Grigson put around him similar to what Houston did to David Carr; and/or ii) he will never fully recover from his injury.

And without a fully recovered and new and improved Luck, despite having a WR and a TE the Colts seem to me to be the least talented team in the league. Heck, even the Browns have an OL and a few promising players on defense.

 

[maineman209]

I definitely wouldn't go to Tenn just because of the fact that they have Logan Ryan on a 10 mil/yr contract.

Seriously?

 

[Deus Irae]

Unfortunately, at this point I think there is simply too much danger that: i) Luck has been destroyed by Grigson and the team Grigson put around him similar to what Houston did to David Carr; and/or ii) he will never fully recover from his injury.

I think that's a legitimate issue, and it's one I put into the "100%" notion. I'd expect any potential HC to really want to look into Luck, both for physical and mental (football mentality) health reasons.

 

[maineman209]

I don't think the Tennessee job is attractive but, there's not many openings left and we don't know what kind of challenge Josh wants to face but if he goes to Tennessee he better get used to that salty taste of losing because that's what that franchise is all about. No pedigree.

Josh needs a QB with good passing skills to execute his offense, Mariota is very limited but Tennessee will stick to him for years like teams stuck with Flacco, Dalton and others. Your QB is not bad enough for you to make a move and there's hope he can keep taking you to the playoffs and hopefully getting hot in a playoff run. Also the team presents no direction as of now, its a interesting challenge if he is looking for that kind of situation where he can start from the scratch and develop his program but for immediate success the Indy job seems more prone to that if they get the right QB on the draft or Luck comes back healthy.

If he is patient, in a year or two there will be openings in Dallas, Seattle, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, maybe New England, maybe Baltimore (long shot).

More immediate success in Indy than in TEN? Have you compared their rosters recently?

The Titans have Mariota on the last year of his rookie deal in 2018 with no extension offered yet. They have about $53M in cap space and relatively few free agents, none of whom will be particularly expensive to re-sign (if they're wanted). Both their DL and OL are solid and signed for a couple of years.

Meanwhile, both the Colts lines pretty much suck. The best three players in their front-7 were Sheard, Mingo and Bostic. Their best RB for the past THREE seasons was 2,000-year-old Frank Gore. They may have $82M in cap space, but they have a metric crap-tonne more to do to build a competitive team. "But, they have Luck!" - who'll be sucking up an average of $25M per year for the next four years and no one seems to know yet when he'll play next, if ever again.

 

[maineman209]

One thing that speaks volumes is that they fired Murlakey in a very unethical way after giving him an extension right after the game so maybe something went on on the backstages? maybe a handshake agreement with Josh?

AFAIK, the Titans had merely "discussed" the possibility of an extension with Mularkey after the Titans made the playoffs. Nothing was signed.

 

[maineman209]

Lombardi claims the contract with the Colts and McDaniels is too far in motion to break now.
That the Titans missed out on Josh by winning in KC he tweeted the Titans went one step forward three steps back.

AFAIK, the only "too far in motion" point is when the final contract is signed.

 

[maineman209]

BB is going to wind up having to completely rebuild his coaching staff isn't he?

Next man up!

 

[ScottishPatriots]

 

[Deus Irae]

More immediate success in Indy than in TEN? Have you compared their rosters recently?

In Luck's 5 NFL seasons as a starter, he's never finished lower than 8-8. If he comes back at 100%, the GM doesn't screw the pooch with this draft and the $84m, and the HC doesn't suck, the Colts should compete for the AFCS title next season.

In fact, if the GM does a decent job, and the HC is McDaniels, I would expect a lot of pundits to pick the Colts to win the division.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

I don't like this
I really would of preferred he goes to Tenn

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

Bye Josh next man up don't poach Lewis

 

[ScottishPatriots]

I bet Josh has seen the medicals on Luck if he's taken this job, his career being over sounds like media hyperbole he's 28 years old.

Worst case is he needs a cleanup and misses the start of next year, Brees had a much worse shoulder injury.

Doesn't say much for Mariota if McDaniels would turn down a New England connection for a guy with a shoulder injury who didn't play at all in 2017, i thought he would go with the NE connection.

And Shurmur is going to the Giants.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Gotta admit, I have no idea why McDaniels is openly choosing to work for Irsay, the key lead on Deflategate in conjunction with the Ravens.

Very , very odd. Irsay is a loser, Luck's career may never be the same, and they're rebuilding with bad contracts everywhere. McDaniels is makinng an enormous mistake and clearly didn't learn from last time going to Denver with Bowlen and his health issues making that a big question mark there.

At least Tenn appears to have a better owner and of course, a Pats connection at GM.

You have to think Tenn will now turn to Vrabel.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Really would be the same no brainer as Patricia choosing Detroit over the Giants.

Who is Mike Loyko? Is this one of these kids in a basement trying to pose as a beatwriter?

 

[PatsBoy12]

I'm just now reading rumors that he's "likely" to take the Colts job.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

I'm just now reading rumors that he's "likely" to take the Colts job.

Its not a rumor Colts are confirming it