Cimini sees it differently "According to Rich Cimini on his “Flight Deck” podcast: Mike Vrabel has told people that he is open to the #Jets HC job if he approves of the GM hire. Cimini adds that Vrabel doesn’t care what Bill Belichick might think of Woody Johnson and would interview and decide on his own."
Vrabel is garbage. He got fired after two straight losing seasons. If Vrabel was such a hot candidate he would be getting HC offers left and right. That's not the case. The Jets don't need anymore ground and pound type head coaches especially ones who have failed in their most recent HC role. Hard pass.
I mean that doesn’t tell the whole story at all lol. He had Ryan Tannehill at 6-6 in 2022 before getting hurt and then played rookie Malik Willis and Josh Dobbs off the street. 2023 - he had Tannehill who looks like his arm died and then rookie Will Levis.
When judging any coach it is really hard to take the QB situation out of the equation - if you are a HC with a top tier QB then you have to be really terrible not to be successful - if you are a HC without a good QB then it is very very hard to have success on a consistent basis - almost no-one can achieve this level of performance given how critical the QB spot is. If a HC has done OK and had a crap QB to work with I would take that over someone that has been able to lean heavily on a QB to make them look good.
Cimini says Vrabel is open to coach here. Woody, you shit for brains, make it happen before he changes his mind .
Vrabel isn't my ideal choice but he also had 4 straight winning seasons prior to his last 2. His offenses were a mixed bag though. They ranged from top 5 to bottom 5 during his tenure. I think he's probably a good coach overall. A good teacher of fundamentals, a good leader and motivator, but not exactly an innovator. A poor man's Mike Tomlin basically. I wouldn't be upset if we hired Vrabel but I wouldn't be thrilled either.
I think Vrabel only really wore thin in Tennessee because he got fucking pissed when the front office inexplicably traded away AJ Brown and he went to war with them. He made it known he wasn’t happy about it and who could blame him. I think your assessment is good. The team will always be prepared with a gameplan. Was he conservative offensively as a means of his overall strategy? Or was he conservative offensively because that’s the hand he was dealt with a QB he could make not turn the ball over and an all world rusher? I mean he went into 14-2 MVP Lamar’s Baltimore and beat them in the playoffs. He’s certainly not “trash” as overreaction man alluded to. This game always sticks in my mind; https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/202211060kan.htm Almost beat the eventual SB champion Chiefs at Arrowhead in prime time with rookie Malik Willis in his second start.
He got fired after two straight losing seasons with injured and backup QBs playing at a near Zach Wilson level. And that came after four straight playoff seasons including an first round bye and an AFC championship appearance with Ryan Tannehill at QB. The guy can coach.
Yes, but similar to Vrabel he was mediocre to average in his first head coaching stint and he definitely wouldn't be my first, second or third choice. But somewhere around 4 or 5 in the same cateegory as Vrabel. I like the disciplinary angle and the defensive background of them both. I don't like how neither have a strong offensive background which is what the league is today more than ever. Obviously they don't need to be a Run n Shoot type background but I want a guy who has a mix of successful coaching building a successful franchise (either head or coordinator) and an offensive background. I think Flores and Vrabel are decent candidates but not in my top 3. Ben Johnson and a few other big names out there. We'll see how it pans out but I would rather have someone with an offensive background.
I don't want another 1st time coach... not with the way this 2-bit organization is run. We need a strong decisive dude... that won't buddy up to players and doesn't coach to not lose. If Vrabel wants the job you give it to him.
Cimini also said to keep an eye on Arthur Smith It makes a lot of sense for Woody to like him, and he may have been the one pushing to replace Hackett with Smith this past offseason I think we could do worse that’s for sure
I don't really get the Smith thing. It always felt like his Falcons offenses underperformed their talent. They never had a good QB which was definitely a factor but they had elite talent at every other position group and Smith's playcalling was a head scratcher. Smith reminded me of Gase a bit - a guy who got too deep into his own head and overthought things to the team's detriment. I'd prefer Vrabel 10x as much as Smith.
