Boston College Head Coach Jeff Hafley is Packers New DC

[incognito_man]

1 minute ago, {Family Ghost} said:

I always wondered if this story upset LaFleur, or whether he even cared.  I remember reading it back at the time and kind of thinking, wow, this kind of stuff never gets made public.  

I didn't remember he had came out and said it. For some reason I was thinking it was just rumored he has been offered.

[oldmansmell]

It also seems slightly exciting. Last year we couldn't probably upgrade Barry because there were so many questions around the team no career minded guy was going to take the job. This year, we're gearing up for the SB, and with the quotes from guys like Preston, Kenny, and Gary about next year I wonder how much they were in on this. I wonder if Vrabel is the odd man out in this coaching cycle, and MLF was his coordinator in Tennessee. 

Edited January 27 by oldmansmell

[Sasquatch]

5 hours ago, incognito_man said:

The reporting on Leonhard was through WSJ, so it has a pro-Leonhard lean and I bet it backfired on him. They very much portray it as LaFleur begging and courting Leonhard who then spurned him last minute and told the world about it the next day.

Yeah, I can see why LaFleur might be done with him.

I remember when that Leonard story came out and my first reaction was holy sh!t.  My second reaction was well, that pretty much takes Leonard out of any future jobs with GB for as long as MLF is HC.  I’ve already taken him off my list at this point. I’d be shocked to hear his name announced as our new DC, but who knows.

[turf toe]

7 hours ago, incognito_man said:

The reporting on Leonhard was through WSJ, so it has a pro-Leonhard lean and I bet it backfired on him. They very much portray it as LaFleur begging and courting Leonhard who then spurned him last minute and told the world about it the next day.

Yeah, I can see why LaFleur might be done with him.

and other teams, 8 NFL DC openings, did he even get a interview? thought he might be a good DC, now that he spurned a opportunity, it could have turned off a lot of teams.

[Chili]

Doing a deep dive on Babich as he came across really well in the video that was posted some pages back.

He was tied with Sean McDermott right from the very beginning. He followed Rob Chudzinski to Cleveland and that's where he befriended Shanahan, McDaniel and Pettine. During that time he also met Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell, Detroit's DC Aaron Glenn and Anthony Weaver who I recently showed how well connected he is to LaFleur's circle of friends back on page 13.

When McDermott was hired as Bills head coach he brought Babich onto his staff with his first true position coach gigs with the safeties and linebackers.

He only worked with Pettine for two years as an assistant secondary coach so he will have some working knowledge of the 3-4 however he spent six years in McDermott 4-3 system.

LaFleur doesn't know him directly but instead through his friends so it does make sense now why he is being brought in for an interview.

However he faces very stiff competition as Daboll has personally known Babich for 5 years and that familiarity probably puts him no.1 on his list whilst he wouldn't necessarily be at the top of LaFleur's. If we don't offer a second interview after the conference championship games then we're probably going to lose him to the Giants.

==================================================================

I do find it interesting that LaFleur for whatever reason did not interview Weaver back in 2021, there was nothing stopping him from doing so despite the fact how well connected Weaver was to his coaching circles. If Baltimore loses and LaFleur still does not submit an interview request for Weaver then perhaps Babich might be at the top of his list.

Him and Evero probably. If Carolina decides to keep Evero then Babich out of all the interviewees so far will be the strong favourite for our next defensive coordinator.

I'm discounting Leonhard for the time being due to the way the Packers job offer was leaked to the media. The Packers run a very tight ship and they certainly wouldn't have liked that. If Leonhard or his agent leaked this to generate a bigger/better contract offer from Wisconsin then he has severely miscalculated. He ended up not getting the Wisconsin head coach job and maybe burned his bridges with the Packers as well. For a Wisconsin native....ooof!

Historically LaFleur generally has avoided raiding his friends coaching staffs unless it was for a coordinator job (Joe Barry, Evero. Harris). Stenavich is the only exception but he was just a low level assistant. So the likes of Bowen, C.Harris, Pleasant are all still in play. Last time round LaFleur interviewed ten coaches and so far we have 4 known interviews so still alot of ball game left.

Amazingly if everything falls a certain way then Christian Parker is going to be our next defensive coordinator. That is seriously a real possibility. All he has to do is interview well and just sit tight and wait for the dominos to fall until he's the last man standing. How would you feel about us hiring a 32 years old with only two years position coach experience under his belt?

If I have to guess the current rankings of LaFleur's list:

1a. Weaver
1b. Evero
3. Babich
4. Staley
5. Parker - he's practically Evero 2.0 on paper. If we thought Evero was inexperienced three years ago, then he is even more inexperienced.
6. Bowen - 4-3. Knows LaFleur. Only 37 years old with 3 years of DC experience under his belt.
7. C.Harris - 4-3
------------------------------ Basically I see a line here for the time being, One of those 7 is going to be the Packers DC.
8. Leonhard
9. Durde - 4-3. Does not know LaFleur but knows Outten and Ulbrich. Comes with a good reputation. A very outside candidate imo.
10. Pleasant - only just over a year and a half removed from being unceremoniously fired by the Lions who now as we can see have improved remarkably since. Maybe a year too early for him to land a coordinator job, if ever.

Edited January 27 by Chili

[Mazrimiv]

1 hour ago, turf toe said:

and other teams, 8 NFL DC openings, did he even get a interview? thought he might be a good DC, now that he spurned a opportunity, it could have turned off a lot of teams.

Yeah, Leonhard seems to have been removed from the NFL's list of hot DC candidates. For a guy I thought was coveted, his lack of interviews during this cycle is telling.

[Refugee]

1 hour ago, turf toe said:

and other teams, 8 NFL DC openings, did he even get a interview? thought he might be a good DC, now that he spurned a opportunity, it could have turned off a lot of teams.

We’ll never know the whole story but when I read how many details came out about the interview even though neither side “talked” I felt like it was a leak from Leonhard’s side trying to boost his leverage for college jobs. He can play his hand how he wants to but I agree other teams do pay attention and keeping in house conversations in house is important in any business, sports being no exception. 

Edited January 27 by Refugee

[Chili]

59 minutes ago, Mazrimiv said:

Yeah, Leonhard seems to have been removed from the NFL's list of hot DC candidates. For a guy I thought was coveted, his lack of interviews during this cycle is telling.

If Weaver or Glenn becomes Washington's head coach I think Leonard could become a DC candidate with them. They know each other from their time at Buffalo and Cleveland respectively. Brian Callahan the new Titans HC knows him from Denver.

It doesn't help that Leonhard NFL coaching circles is so small. Rex Ryan is no longer in the NFL. He basically played under Pettine defences most of his career and ran that type of defence at Wisconsin. Unfortunately the Vikings who Pettine currently works for don't have any job openings.

He has played under Fangio so being a position coach at Philadelphia is an option for him. Played under Sean Payton very briefly so perhaps a position coach gig at Denver if Christian Parker is hired elsewhere. Maybe he can be a position coach under Babich. All those situations will require uprooting his family. Would he take a position coach gig in Green Bay if we hire Babich? Will the Packers and Leonhard swallow their egos?

Right now if he wants to avoid uprooting and remain "close" to his family he has very limited choices where to go. Bears, Vikings, Northwestern, Illinois, and Minnesota Gophers

Edited January 27 by Chili

[turf toe]

32 minutes ago, Chili said:

Doing a deep dive on Babich as he came across really well in the video that was posted some pages back.

He was tied with Sean McDermott right from the very beginning. He followed Rob Chudzinski to Cleveland and that's where he befriended Shanahan, McDaniel and Pettine. During that time he also met Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell, Detroit's DC Aaron Glenn and Anthony Weaver who I recently showed how well connected he is to LaFleur's circle of friends back on page 13.

When McDermott was hired as Bills head coach he brought Babich onto his staff with his first true position coach gigs with the safeties and linebackers.

He only worked with Pettine for two years as an assistant secondary coach so he will have some working knowledge of the 3-4 however he spent six years in McDermott 4-3 system.

LaFleur doesn't know him directly but instead through his friends so it does make sense now why he is being brought in for an interview.

However he faces very stiff competition as Daboll has personally known Babich for 5 years and that familiarity probably puts him no.1 on his list whilst he wouldn't necessarily be at the top of LaFleur's. If we don't offer a second interview after the conference championship games then we're probably going to lose him to the Giants.

==================================================================

I do find it interesting that LaFleur for whatever reason did not interview Weaver back in 2021, there was nothing stopping him from doing so despite the fact how well connected Weaver was to his coaching circles. If Baltimore loses and LaFleur still does not submit an interview request for Weaver then perhaps Babich might be at the top of his list.

Him and Evero probably. If Carolina decides to keep Evero then Babich out of all the interviewees so far will be the strong favourite for our next defensive coordinator.

I'm discounting Leonhard for the time being due to the way the Packers job offer was leaked to the media. The Packers run a very tight ship and they certainly wouldn't have liked that. If Leonhard or his agent leaked this to generate a bigger/better contract offer from Wisconsin then he severely miscalculated. He ended up not getting the Wisconsin head coach job and maybe burned his bridges with the Packers as well. For a Wisconsin native....ooof!

Historically LaFleur generally has avoided raiding his friends coaching staffs unless it was for a coordinator job (Joe Barry, Evero. Harris). Stenavich is the only exception but he was just a low level assistant. So the likes of Bowen, C.Harris, Pleasant are all still in play. Last time round LaFleur interviewed ten coaches and so far we have 4 known interviews so still alot of ball game left.

Amazingly if everything falls a certain way then Christian Parker is going to be our next defensive coordinator. That is seriously a real possibility. All he has to do is interview well and just sit tight and wait for the dominos to fall until he's the last man standing. How would you feel about us hiring a 32 years old with only two years position coach experience under his belt?

If I have to guess the current rankings of LaFleur's list:

1a. Weaver
1b. Evero
3. Babich
4. Staley
5. Parker - he's practically Evero 2.0 on paper. If we thought Evero was inexperienced three years ago, then he is even more inexperienced.
6. Bowen - 4-3. Knows LaFleur. Only 37 years old with 3 years of DC experience under his belt.
7. C.Harris - 4-3
------------------------------ Basically I see a line here for the time being, One of those 7 is going to be the Packers DC.
8. Leonhard
9. Durde - 4-3. Does not know LaFleur but knows Outten and Ulbrich. Comes with a good reputation. A very outside candidate imo.
10. Pleasant - only just over a year removed from being unceremoniously fired by the Lions who now as we can see have improved remarkably since. Maybe a year too early for him to land a coordinator job, if ever.

Thanks Chili for connecting all the lineage with these prospects,👍

[Old Guy]

Michigan tabs Sherrone Moore to replace Harbaugh as head coach - ESPN

This was definitely a foregone conclusion he was going to get the gig. No chance I see Minter sticking around, what does he have to prove. He's either going to San Diego or Green Bay. Get busy MLF, get it done! 

[Isherwood]

Listening and reading more, I quite like Babich too.

The reasons for Leonhard being out of the loop make perfect sense, but they still wouldn’t deter me.
 

The only reason I have Hewitt ahead of Weaver on my list is that Weaver seems a little more rehearsed when he answers media questions vs. Hewitt and I don’t gravitate to people like that as much, however they both seem extremely smart and I love the Baltimore defense. It’s just one small thing that breaks an essential tie for me. 

 

 

[St Vince]

I hope this is a case of Matt just doing his due diligence by turning over every stone, because the names he's connected to for interviews are very underwhelming, most are unproven and I don't know half of them. Non of my hopefuls are on the list. At this point I don't know if Leonard wants to be an NFL DC. I thought for sure he'd be one of the first to interview.

Edited January 27 by St Vince

[spilltray]

9 minutes ago, St Vince said:

I hope this is a case of Matt just doing his due diligence by turning over every stone, because to names he's connected to for interviews are very underwhelming, most are unproven and I don't know half of them. Non of my hopefuls are on the list. At this point I don't know if Leonard wants to be an NFL DC. I thought for sure he'd be one of the first to interview.

Would you know many position coaches? 

 

"Proven" to me is largely BS.

Edited January 27 by spilltray

[St Vince]

7 minutes ago, spilltray said:

Would you know many position coaches? 

 

"Proven" to me is largely BS.

Barry was a position coach, I'll land my plane.

[Mazrimiv]

5 minutes ago, St Vince said:

Barry was a position coach, I'll land my plane.

So was everyone on your wish list