The Skillz Report

Give & Go: Musical Chairs

 

By D-Rock; originally written 1/7/13

 

Personnel firings and hirings in the NFL can somewhat resemble a game of musical chairs.  The unemployed head coaches (and/or the impressive coordinators/position coaches) would be the chairs, and the organizations looking to fill spots would be the participants.  The action begins not too long after the last regular season game is played.  Understandably, the organizations want to fire and hire as soon as they can so as to turn the page quickly and get the team stabilized for as much of the offseason as possible.  

The problem I have is, with this scramble to fill openings, organizations want to interview coordinators/position coaches that are still coordinating/coaching.  Yes, the teams that have made it to the postseason tend to have desirable personnel, but they're preoccupied with...oh I don't know...trying to win a Super Bowl!

At least this headhunting is done cordially, with organizations asking permission to talk to other organizations' personnel.  But with the culture the way it is, permission seems to be always granted* as a courtesy to their coaches.  Naturally, an organization wouldn't want to block one of its employees from climbing up the ranks.  To do otherwise would likely harbor resentment.

What to do, what to do?  I propose that Roger Goodell prevent interviews and hirings of people outside of an organization until after the Super Bowl.  The last thing an NFL fan wants is for a coordinator/coach on his/her team to be thinking about an interview that he just had or will have (or even the new job that he got on a different team) instead of focusing on the playoff game at hand.

 

*I'm basing this on no evidence of a team denying permission, but it is totally possible that denials don't get reported by the media.