All eyes on Vikings' Shurmur as Giants, Cardinals look to fill coaching vacancy
Pat Shurmur could land a head coaching job as early as Monday if Vikings lose to Saints
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5 min read
The man being most closely watched around the league today, on the second day of the divisional round, won't be wearing a helmet or shoulder pads. It won't be Drew Brees or Le'Veon Bell or Antonio Brown or Calais Campbell or Adam Thielen or anyone else playing Sunday.
No, the guy most under the spotlight today is Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, the third of a trio of most coveted future head coaches currently still participating in the playoffs, and, sorry Vikings fans, but executives on both coasts are hoping Minnesota loses to New Orleans so that they can pounce. If the Vikings lose tonight, Shurmur is going to have a head coaching contract somewhere by Monday (I'd put my money on the New York Giants), as there are four teams still in need of a head coach for 2018 – New York, Indianapolis, Detroit and Arizona – and three top guys (Shurmur and New England coordinators Matt Patricia and Josh McDaniels). And with Detroit general manager Bob Quinn closely linked to Patricia for years, and with the Colts the first team to interview McDaniels and the allure of coaching Andrew Luck very real, well, you do the math.
Someone is going to be left without one of these guys, and nobody wants to be that team.
Things can get a little fast and loose this time of year, especially with coaches who might be going to the Super Bowl. It wasn't that long ago that the Falcons started putting together Dan Quinn's new staff in Atlanta this very same weekend, knowing full well that they couldn't hire Quinn until his season in Seattle ended (and it ended up ending at the Super Bowl, when the hire that everyone in the league knew was already essentially done could finally be announced). And let's just say the whispers about Detroit having a wink-wink with Patricia began well before the regular season ended. The Giants, however, are one franchise that will abide by the letter of the law when it comes to NFL bi-laws and regulations, which in this case precludes any further contact with a coach still in the playoffs at thus stage until his team loses, or until the bye week before the Super Bowl. And no contract negotiations are to take place until that candidate's season is over.
But, um, just take a look at how many franchises treated The Rooney Rule when it came to this hiring cycle and you get a sense of how sometimes it's anything goes this time of year. Internally, the Giants never quite had one guy they were honed in on, I'm told, because they knew other teams might have already essentially taken a finalist or two off the market before they could formally negotiate with them. My reporting on the Patricia stories about him being the Giants guy was unwavering – I never bought it and it smelled like some in the Giants front office as agent Jimmy Sexton putting the final squeezes to the desperate Lions to cement things there. Patricia's relationship with Quinn and the presence of star quarterback Matt Stafford were always going to make the Lions the front runner. And as much as the Giants respect McDaniels there have always been concerns on both sides about how he and hard-nosed general manager Dave Gettleman might mesh – and whether that is really a good fit – and the Colts are desperate for an offensive guru to get Luck back to a franchise QB level.
The Giants knew after completing their initial round of interviews that they wanted to hire a coach still participating in the Divisional Playoffs, and that remains their intent, but the timing is a bit out of their control. If Shurmur wins tonight then the Giants and Cardinals will continue to wait, but ultimately I fully it expect to come down to those two teams for his services, and I'd give the advantage to the Giants. In which case Arizona would still consider Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak or Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. All things being equal, Arizona has been intent on hiring a man with former head coaching experience, but, alas, in this process all things aren't always equal.
Seahawks should have shown patience
Still can't figure out why the Seahawks didn't just want for this weekend to shake out before hiring a new offensive coordinator. Todd Haley's contract is up in Pittsburgh at the end of the season and so is John DeFilippo's in Philadelphia, and I'm at least talking to one of them before rushing out to sign Brian Schottenheimer for the position. Trust me, a lot of people are baffled by this. And while I've been a skeptic of Steve Sarkisian's work in Atlanta all season, he does have strong ties to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and it was no secret around the league that Sarkisian's work was under thorough review in Atlanta even before Saturday's debacle no matter what coach Dan Quinn said publicly about it. Strange. Add in that someone like Brian Daboll is a free agent as well after a superb year at Alabama and it makes the haste to hire a new OC even more baffling to me.
Quinn will finally get his guy
Bob Quinn will finally get his guy in Detroit, as he's been eyeing Patricia for years and flirted with the idea of hiring him two years ago when he was initially hired away from the Patriots. And Titans GM Jon Robinson feels just as strongly about McDaniels from everything I have heard for years since before he got hired in Nashville. Both men should've gone ahead and got their guys when they came in the building (though ownership had other ideas) and now ownership has given Mularkey a vote of confidence moving forward, even though Saturday's loss has to confirm some ongoing fears about the state of that passing game and the development of Marcus Mariota. If ownership changed gears and was willing to spend big and move on from its coach, McDaniels would have to listen. Bottom line is this would be a second time to fail to get in the batter's box to even take a shot at landing the quarterback guru, and history would say there won't be a third time to do so. I'd call it now or never, as I suspect McDaniels' second go-around as an NFL head coach will be robust.
DeFilippo ready for next step
The next step for DeFilippo's career should involve him calling plays. There was a lot of hype about the Eagles quarterback coach coming into the process – some of the persistent media buzz probably did him no favors – but outside of Chicago (where it was going to be a young offensive coach all along, i.e. Matt Nagy or DeFilippo) this was never going to be his year. Staying in Philly has merits, but with Doug Pederson and Frank Reich ahead of him in the pecking order there, calling plays may not be likely anytime soon. Should Wilks land a head coaching job, DeFilippo is his top choice to be his offensive coordinator. That would be worth exploring.
