As each NFL season closes, many coaches and GMs will lose their jobs. Most teams won’t waste any time either as news of the firings come out the day after the final games of the season. Black Monday is usually a bloodbath. Here is a preview of the coaches and GMs on the hotseat.
Incinerated
Brian Daboll – New York Giants – Former Coach: Brian Daboll and the Giants were beset by injuries this season, but that doesn’t excuse the coach’s blatant poor handling of rookie QB Jaxson Dart and his concussion prone playing style. YOU CANNOT ALLOW THE QB TO KILL HIMSELF BRIAN! Joe Schoen is an idiot, but I’m sure this conversation occurred. Daboll didn’t listen. Now Mike Kafka is the interim coach and hasn’t exactly reeled in Dart either. Him even getting an interview probably depends on whether he can muster a loss against the Raiders this week. Kafka is still sitting on ZERO victories. How is he going to balance that desire to win with the Giants getting the #1 pick in the draft?
Brian Callahan – Tennessee Titans – Coach: Mike McCoy has been the acting head coach and has guided the team to two unneeded wins. If he doesn’t stick around, that means rookie QB Cam Ward will have 3 coaches in his first season in the pros. That’s not good. Whoever the next guy is will need to be committed to making Ward good and will be directly tied to his development over the next 2 seasons.
Chris Grier – Miami Dolphins – GM: Chris Grier was fired just before the trade deadline. His interim successor Champ Kelly made a solid move in trading away Jaelen Phillips for a 3rd round pick, but the Dolphins are going to do their work to find a full time replacement. It won’t be easy because Miami is a mess. Tua was just benched and has $100m in cap hit coming either next season or split between the next 2 years. They still have injured and old Tyreek Hill and his big old contract on the roster. Next season is DOA already. At least owner Stephen Ross seems to have a long leash on hires and isn’t afraid to spend, but YIKES.
Seat Is Hot, But It’s Not Their Fault
Kevin Stefanski – Cleveland Browns – Coach: Stefanski probably wants out of Cleveland, but he doesn’t deserve to be fired. Yes, the Browns are a shit team, but look at what they gave this man. They traded three 1st round picks, one 3rd round pick, and two 4th round picks for Deshaun Watson who is not only an alleged sex offender but has played just 19 games in 4 years for the Browns. Oh yeah, they also gave him a fully guaranteed $230m contract AND had no back up plan for him going down. They STILL owe Watson a ton of money too. Maybe they should just do Stefanski a favor?
Jonathan Gannon – Arizona Cardinals – Coach: Similar to Cleveland, Jonathan Gannon finds himself at the mercy of an undesirable QB situation not of his own doing. Eagles fans might not like Gannon but his tenure in the desert has been completely sabotaged by Kyler Murray. The QB has been plagued throughout his career with accusations of being lazy and distracted. Now he is injured and threatening to play baseball. The Cardinals too had no plan for this very foreseeable situation. Without a QB, a team has nothing. Gannon had no chance.
Aaron Glenn – New York Jets – Coach: It has only been one season in New Jersey, but Glenn has come under fire from the press for reasons I can’t understand. He also had no QB this season as Justin Fields has been a laughable but very obvious stopgap and this is one of the least talented teams in the league. At the trade deadline, the plunged further into futility by trading Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. What the hell was Glenn supposed to do with this team other than stay positive and hope to build relationships for next season?
Zac Taylor – Cincinnati Bengals – Coach: The Bengals are terrible this season but Joe Burrow has only played 6 games. That explains some of the terrible, but this team also has no defense and makes terrible front office decisions. What is Taylor supposed to do when he is coaching with one arm tied behind his back? He may live on this forever, but he is one of the few AFC coaches to have beaten Andy Reid in the playoffs. That’s not nothing.
Dan Quinn – Washington Commanders – Coach: I’m not a big fan of Dan Quinn, but this season wasn’t lost because of him. The Commanders are genuinely a talentless bunch despite making it to the NFC Championship last season. This season was marred by injuries and a very old roster. Could Quinn have done better with Jayden Daniels all season? Without a doubt. They only have 4 wins this season, but look for Quinn to stick around.
Adam Peters – Washington Commanders – GM: Wait, if it wasn’t the coach’s fault, then how could it not be the GMs fault either in Washington? Because friend, I am a Sixers fan. Granted, the poor roster decisions could have been on Peters, but I have seen this story before. When Josh Harris bought the Sixers, the team had a rather serendipitous run to a Game 7 in the second round of the playoffs after a freak injury ruined Derrick Rose. Instead of seeing this mini-run as lucky and rebuilding like he had originally planned, Harris doubled down and the Sixers traded for Andrew Bynum. That sounds a LOT like the Commanders trading for Laremy Tunsil and Deebo Samuel while resigning Bobby Wagner and Zach Ertz. Just saying, this one might be on Harris.
How Are You Even Sitting???
Todd Bowles – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Coach: Similar to Nick Sirianni two years ago, the Bucs have completely collapsed and the coach simply doesn’t have any answers. Yes, his QB is overrated, dangerous, and probably doesn’t listen but that too is on the coach. He needs to be able to stop a losing streak and right the ship. This team went from a sleeper contender to being the Carolina Panthers! You can’t bring him back after that. Although, it did work out for the Eagles.
Raheem Morris – Atlanta Falcons – Coach: You can make an argument that the Falcons are bad because of their atrocious GM, but Morris wasn’t exactly helping the situation. This is a team that has talent, but regularly looked past its easier opponents. That’s on the coach.
Andrew Berry – Cleveland Browns – GM: Berry presided over the Deshaun Watson debacle, resigned Myles Garrett to a monster deal while botching possible trades, and I have no idea what they were thinking at QB with Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders, Joe Flacco, and Kenny Pickett. This could be owner meddling as well, but if it is Berry needed to be the one to roll up a newspaper and whack Jimmy Haslam in the head. This organization is a total disaster.
Your Chair Melted, Just Leave
Mike McDaniel – Miami Dolphins – Coach: McDaniel has regularly presided over talented teams that have never won a big game. This team was a malfunctioning mess to start the season, then just when it looked like they were putting things together, McDaniel benched Tua. He claimed responsibility for that obvious team wide decision, and that may actually save his job but it shouldn’t. This team hasn’t had answers for years and that’s on the coach.
Pete Carroll – Las Vegas Raiders – Coach: Carroll was brought in to win and win quickly. It’s been just the opposite. This team is lifeless. The Raiders need to completely rebuild and that’s not a job for the oldest coach in football. A mutual parting of ways seems like the most obvious solution here.
Joe Schoen – New York Giants – GM: Schoen should have been fired last season, but the display he put on in the Saquon Barkley documentary is what should really drive the knife in. He threw the owner under the bus throughout the doc and displayed zero leadership. It was a virtuoso performance into how not to run a team. His presence and treatment of players should actively deter potential future Giants.
Terry Fontenot – Atlanta Falcons – GM: Quite simply, he’s the worst GM in the NFL. He has no idea how to draft, trade, or work free agency. He’s a triple threat! Here’s a good rundown of his managerial atrocities…
Are You Floating?
Duke Tobin – Cincinnati Bengals – GM: This one makes no sense. This guy is a mystery man around the NFL and has been the Director of Player Personnel in Cincy since 2002. For some reason he is above reproach with the team. The best move this team did was draft Joe Burrow, take him away though and it reveals a mess of a team. They have the highest paid QB/WR trio in the league by far, have no defense, and no offensive linemen. They draft horribly and make poor decisions. Tobin will keep his job though. Maybe forever?
Mickey Loomis – New Orleans Saints – GM: Drew Brees last threw a pass for the Saints in 2020. Since then 7 QBs have started at least 5 games for New Orleans. The only reason they aren’t more of a mess is because Derek Carr did them a solid and retired instead of taking their money for an injured year. Odd right? The team was bad on purpose this year but it’s time for a change of direction. That’s not going to happen though. Loomis is as intwined with ownership as possible considering he even ran the Pelicans for awhile when they needed him.
Jerry Jones – Dallas Cowboys – GM: This isn’t really fair since he’s the owner and all, but Jerry Jones has not been good at this for a few years. For every good George Pickens move he makes, he pulls a Micah Parsons and Quinnen Williams.
Philly Front Office 
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