Crossing Broad
We were having a hypothetical discussion the other day.
With Kevin Patullo soon-to-be fired (now official), say a guy like Mike McDaniel or Kliff Kingsbury shows interest in the Eagles’ offensive coordinator job. Does it make more sense to go for the Browns head coach job, or come here?
There was a lot of knee jerk reaction in favor of the former. Why would anyone turn down a head coaching job to become a coordinator?
Well, you’d turn down a head coach job if the team stinks, or doesn’t have a franchise quarterback.
That’s the case for several of these gigs, a list that now includes:
The jobs you’d absolutely go for are the Ravens and Steelers gigs. Baltimore is a great franchise and has Lamar Jackson in place. Pittsburgh has no quarterback, but that job never becomes available, so you take it knowing that you’ll get a really long leash.
Otherwise, the Giants have Jaxson Dart, who looks to be their franchise QB. The flipside there is having to work with Joe Schoen. The Titans have Cam Ward, who may or may not be the guy. The Falcons have Michael Penix Jr. coming off an ACL tear, while the Raiders have the #1 pick and a clear line to Fernando Mendoza. The Cardinals have Jacoby Brissett and lame duck Kyler Murray and the Browns have Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel. Miami probably isn’t going anywhere with Tua.
There aren’t a ton of slam dunks there, which, shockingly, is probably why those jobs opened up in the first place.
You look at former Eagles coordinators Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore and they’re in decent shape now. Steichen was rampaging to the AFC South title before Daniel Jones’ injury, and Moore has something to work with in Tyler Shough. That could be the same situation for a guy like McDaniel or Kingsbury, who might benefit from a season in Philadelphia to work with Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Saquon Barkley, then parlaying that likely success into their pick of jobs in 2027 or 2028, a more calculated risk in taking one step sideways or back with the goal of taking two steps forward. It’s not out of the question that the Tampa, Buffalo, Cincy, or Green Bay jobs open up. Maybe Minnesota or Detroit. You never know.
Obviously you’d be turning down a lot of money since head coach jobs pay a lot more than coordinator jobs. Even if you took the Browns gig and failed, you’d be set for life. So it’s hard to say no to that, but the counterpoint is that you could quickly find yourself in the college ranks with no future shot at another NFL head coach gig, like Freddie Kitchens...
