Anybody else concerned w/ our staff??

[Southpaw]

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Is anybody else concerned about our staff? Other than BA, T. Moore and Bowles we have little to no experience and even some questionable character guys (see RB coach). This seems to me like a makeshift staff after the initial remarks that a staff will be in place in a couple of days. Most of the guys are either former players for BA or guys he used to work with in some capacity. The defensive staff is especially concerning with a first time DC and hardly any experience behind him, nobody on the staff has even been a DC before. Other than Bowles we have about 4-5 yrs of NFL coaching experience TOTAL from the other members on the staff.

Offense - Very old at the top (BA, 60 & TM, 74), but very experienced. These guys better know what they are doing b/c it gets ugly after them.
OC – Harold Goodwin, 40 - 1 yr as OL coach and some as QC. Worst hire in my opinion, he has no business being a OC at this point in his career. Not sure what the motivation here was.
RB – Todd McNair, 47 - Coached in the NFL for 2 yrs before going to USC 04-10 but has been out of FB since and has been arrested for cruelty to animals. Currently suing the NCAA.....
QB – Freddie Kitchens, 68 - was a former QB but zero experience coaching them.
WR – Darryl Drake, 60 - 8 yrs coaching in the NFL but underwhelming. Had a blowup with the media ala Denny Green one year.
TE – Rick Christophel, 60 - Never coached in the NFL. All of his coaching was in college as an assistant on the offensive side. Was a head coach of Austin Peay the past 5 years with a 20-46 record.
OL – Larry Zierlein, 67 – Fired from Tomlin’s staff in 2009 and has been in the Canadian league since.

Defense - After Todd Bowles we have very very little experience on this side of the ball. Even Bowles has only been a DC for half a year now in Phily, before that he was always a DB coach.
DL Brenston Buckner, 41 - never has been a coach at any level. Interns with the Steelers during the preseason and has his own radio show. WTF?!?
LB – Mike Caldwell, 41 – QC coach from ‘08-‘09, asst LB ’10 and LB coach ’11-’12. Could be an up and comer, but all I see is 3 years of NFL level coaching experience and that’s it. No other coaching jobs.
OLB – James Bettcher, 34 – Coached with the Colts last year as “Special Asst to HC”. Had some other college coaching positions as well.
CB – Kevin Ross, 51 – Barely any experience for being 51. QC with SD from ’07-09 then went to the Raider in ’10 but was fired after the season. Has been out of football since.
S – Nick Rapone, 57 – Never coached in the NFL, was at Temple with BA. Has been a secondary coach in the small college ranks since ’95. [/FONT]

This is what you get when a never HC is hired . You get buddies, out of work guys, scraps and question marks.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Exactly. Be concerned with whoever the Cards hire. They are the Cards.

I agree with you.

I am in the "Show me" group when it comes to Cardinal coaches.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

Not a fan of McNar at all. SIAP
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/30/sports/sp-mcnair30

First off, he brushes it off like neglect of dogs is okay. Then he says he was exonerated. How is paying a $5k and being sentenced to perform community service being exonerated? Either way, I tend to believe the police sgt. and he was dog fighting.

 

[CardsFan88]

There should always be a concern, and our track record hasn't been very good.

But I'm fairly optimistic about this staff. While alot of them may not have a bunch of NFL experience at their position, many of them have been coaches for a good long while, and there is a good amount of people that have head coaching experience.

Yes all the 60+ year old coaches can be a bit concerning, but in the NFL ten years is an eternity, so I don't think we should expect any coach to be with us 10 years from now.

I like that we have a bunch of old guys backing the various positions. Our OC will not call the plays. Probably do more of the Mon-Sat work and maybe the printouts on the sideline stuff. Oh and he's more of an OL coach. So I see it as Arians calling the plays, fine, and the OC being more of a line coach...I'm fine with this.

We have a bunch of assistants, more than probably we've ever had.

I don't know why we're dogging Kitchens. I don't think our guys are really there to be the coaches of the positions they have. We have an OC who is most likely a OL coach. A QB coach that is most likely a TE and overall offensive coach. We have Tom Moore and Bruce Arians who will be offensive coaches. We have a guy who minus the horrible dog fighting seems to be pretty talented. USC doesn't usually hire scrubs. Even if his actions suggest he is off the field.

Defense there's more question marks. But it seems like we got guys who ply their trade. Are they ambitious with the right contacts to move up? Just because you aren't a hot name to move up, doesn't mean you can't coach. Some people are great coaches, they just don't have the desire to pimp themselves to everyone.

We shall see. They could all be scrubs for what we know.

We also have assistants who very experienced. Guys who easily could be our OC or DL coach or whatnot. We have them backing these guys.

It may turn out we have assembled a premium quality staff, or a crappy one. But it is very experienced overall in football. We're still probably not done.

Would love to see an Alex Gibbs.

 

[DoTheDew]

Just looked at the SB teams. Baltimore has 17 assistants shown at nfl.com. 2 played in the NFL. SF has 21 assistant coaches shown with 4 having played in the NFL.

38 coaches and only 6 former players.

I've found that ratio to be about the same for most NFL teams.

Were you counting college players? I wasn't just talking about NFL.

 

[Stout]

For what it's worth, Pittsburgh radio reported today that the Steelers wanted Amos Jones back, but that he chose Arizona instead.

 

[Duckjake]

Were you counting college players? I wasn't just talking about NFL.

No just NFL. Haven't seen anyone who went straight to the NFL as a coach after finishing his college playing career. There might be a few who's fathers brought them up.

It's almost universal that a college player works as a grad assistant or coaches at a small school then moves up to bigger programs for several years before finally moving to the NFL.

 

[MadCardDisease]

I feel the exact opposite way unless you just mean at QB. Otherwise we will have a veteran roster that I feel was poorly coached. Other than maybe the Guard position the rest of the lineup is talented enough to win. Never could figure out what was going on with the Guard of the Month program. Wells, Lutui, Faneca, Hadnot, Colledge, Snyder...

On the other hand I'm not real keen on yet another coaching staff full of former Steelers guys. Either Pittsburgh is Michael Bidwills favorite team or he thinks maybe he can catch lightning in a bottle again.

BUT, where are they going to get their Kurt Warner? The QB problem will probably trump everything and it won't matter how good the AARP sponsored coaching staff is.

I think we have some core players but overall we have major holes all over the place. Obviously the biggest issues are on the offensive side of the ball but there are also question marks on the defense as well.

IMO we need to upgrade the following starting positions:

QB
ROT
ROG
C (Sendline is servicable but an upgrade would be nice)
RB#1
RB#2
TE#3 (Arians will use more TEs in his offense)

DE (assuming we play more of a 4-3)
CB#2 (I think William Gay is a cap casulty)
SS (Wilson is another year older)
LB (need depth)

The way I see it, we are not in complete rebuild mode but we are also not close to being a consistant playoff contender with the current players on the roster.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Would love to see an Alex Gibbs.

This would make me feel much better.

 

[Chopper0080]

We got to the Super Bowl with the staff we just fired.

In the end, if we can't find a QB, it doesn't really matter who is on our staff.

4 things matter in the NFL.

1-Owner
2-General Manager
3-Head Coach
4-Quarterback

Everything else is just a distraction.

 

[WildBB]

We got to the Super Bowl with the staff we just fired.

In the end, if we can't find a QB, it doesn't really matter who is on our staff.

4 things matter in the NFL.

1-Owner
2-General Manager
3-Head Coach
4-Quarterback

Everything else is just a distraction.

Well from what we've seen the last few yrs. an OL sure helps out too.

Teams have to play physical to succeed over several seasons. If not it's just smoke and mirrors.

 

[Duckjake]

I think we have some core players but overall we have major holes all over the place. Obviously the biggest issues are on the offensive side of the ball but there are also question marks on the defense as well.

IMO we need to upgrade the following starting positions:

QB
ROT
ROG
C (Sendline is servicable but an upgrade would be nice)
RB#1
RB#2
TE#3 (Arians will use more TEs in his offense)

DE (assuming we play more of a 4-3)
CB#2 (I think William Gay is a cap casulty)
SS (Wilson is another year older)
LB (need depth)

The way I see it, we are not in complete rebuild mode but we are also not close to being a consistant playoff contender with the current players on the roster.

Agree, as I wrote earlier on QB and G. But Massie is going to be a fixture at RT for years (unless he becomes a victim of the Duckjake jinx).
Sendlein is just fine at C.
BWells and RWilliams I just don't know. They both could be just fine but it is a huge risk as Cheese keeps saying with their injury history. I have a feeling now that CKW is gone Beanie suddenly won't be "hurt" so much.

Other than that I agree with you but all those other positions are for depth.

But now that I think about it we definitely could use a pass rusher for the ROLB spot so Acho could move to LOLB.

So: QB, G, ROLB. That's about it for glaring holes.

Minor needs: Younger ILB for Lenon. TE but are blocking TE's normally a draft priority? I don't know. RB not as much of a priority as in year's past. Plus we now have Fozzy Whitaker. Oh wait he too has an injury in his past.

 

[Chopper0080]

Well from what we've seen the last few yrs. an OL sure helps out too.

Teams have to play physical to succeed over several seasons. If not it's just smoke and mirrors.

Window dressing. The offensive line is an easy fix, you just have to intelligently commit resources to doing so. We used a 4th round pick last year and got a starting RT. We use a 1st round pick this year and we can get a starting LG or a starting LT.

Where the Cardinals failed was by spending large money on crappy free agent linemen (Daryn Colledge and Adam Snyder) while not using draft resources to develop younger, cheaper options. They neglected the position and paid for it. Regardless, Warner showed if you have a QB all you need is Mike Gandy, Wells, Sendlein, Lutui and Levi Brown to get you a shot at winning a Super Bowl.

 

[Totally_Red]

Window dressing. The offensive line is an easy fix, you just have to intelligently commit resources to doing so. We used a 4th round pick last year and got a starting RT. We use a 1st round pick this year and we can get a starting LG or a starting LT.

Where the Cardinals failed was by spending large money on crappy free agent linemen (Daryn Colledge and Adam Snyder) while not using draft resources to develop younger, cheaper options. They neglected the position and paid for it. Regardless, Warner showed if you have a QB all you need is Mike Gandy, Wells, Sendlein, Lutui and Levi Brown to get you a shot at winning a Super Bowl.

That's it! You can occasionally pick up a quality lineman if someone else is in serious cap trouble, but you usually have to pay through the nose for the priviledge.

I'm excited about adding a piece this year and with the #7 overall pick we should have our pick of Chance Warmack or Eric Fisher.

 

[52brandon]

Window dressing. The offensive line is an easy fix, you just have to intelligently commit resources to doing so. We used a 4th round pick last year and got a starting RT. We use a 1st round pick this year and we can get a starting LG or a starting LT.

Where the Cardinals failed was by spending large money on crappy free agent linemen (Daryn Colledge and Adam Snyder) while not using draft resources to develop younger, cheaper options. They neglected the position and paid for it. Regardless, Warner showed if you have a QB all you need is Mike Gandy, Wells, Sendlein, Lutui and Levi Brown to get you a shot at winning a Super Bowl.

truth be told, I think with the right coaching, Potter could be a starter at LT, he looked pretty good by year's end. I read that he could also be a candidate for moving inside. So we may have lucked into another starting O-lineman in the 7th... that would be a beautiful thing. Hopefully we grab Warmack and he turns out to be as good as he's supposed to be. Our OL coaching STAFF (I love knowing that we will have multiple coaches working with our guys now) can try to work some magic with Levi and Potter. Make one into a legit LT, and move the other inside successfully. Then there is Snyder and Sendlein that can compete for C, and Colledge can take a pay-cut (I hope. I like the guy) to be a backup or be let go, either way, saving money

 

[GuernseyCard]

truth be told, I think with the right coaching, Potter could be a starter at LT, he looked pretty good by year's end. I read that he could also be a candidate for moving inside. So we may have lucked into another starting O-lineman in the 7th... that would be a beautiful thing. Hopefully we grab Warmack and he turns out to be as good as he's supposed to be. Our OL coaching STAFF (I love knowing that we will have multiple coaches working with our guys now) can try to work some magic with Levi and Potter. Make one into a legit LT, and move the other inside successfully. Then there is Snyder and Sendlein that can compete for C, and Colledge can take a pay-cut (I hope. I like the guy) to be a backup or be let go, either way, saving money

Levi - Warmack - Snyder - Colledge - Massie

Backups: Potter, Kelemete, ???

 

[Duckjake]

Levi - Warmack - Snyder - Colledge - Massie

Backups: Potter, Kelemete, ???

Change Snyder to Sendlein and move Warmack to the other side and I'm in.

Snyder can be a backup on another team as far as I'm concerned. By the way I gave the 49er fan who told me Snyder was a good addition a ration of @#$ and then the 4and9ers make it to the SB.

 

[52brandon]

Levi - Warmack - Snyder - Colledge - Massie

Backups: Potter, Kelemete, ???

Change Snyder to Sendlein and move Warmack to the other side and I'm in.

Snyder can be a backup on another team as far as I'm concerned. By the way I gave the 49er fan who told me Snyder was a good addition a ration of @#$ and then the 4and9ers make it to the SB.

I'm on the fence between Levi/Potter and Snyder/Sendlein. I think either could give em a run for their money in camp. Which is a problem I am more than happy to have. We've had trouble finding ONE capable guy at those positions, but TWO? Oh man, I love the idea of two competent players competing for these positions. I have hope for the OL for the first time in forever. And it's not just blind faith, there's actual reason behind it. I'm pretty freaking optimistic about this next season. Most on the O-line. BUT, they seem to find a way to crush my hopes had dreams by mid-season... I'll stay on the optimistic side for now...

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

We could just do a total re-build on the OL and go:
Fisher, Potter, Schwenke, Warford, Massie where the two second year players are the veterans .

My choice would be:
Brown, Warmack, Schwenke, Kelemete, Massie with Potter and Colledge the backups

I don't know why but I have a feeling Kelemete will become a very good player with the proper coaching. I liked how he moved people when he saw his limited time last year.

 

[52brandon]

We could just do a total re-build on the OL and go:
Fisher, Potter, Schwenke, Warford, Massie where the two second year players are the veterans .

My choice would be:
Brown, Warmack, Schwenke, Kelemete, Massie with Potter and Colledge the backups

I don't know why but I have a feeling Kelemete will become a very good player with the proper coaching. I liked how he moved people when he saw his limited time last year.

I'm in that same boat. I think there is something to the kid. And I KNOW there is something to Massie and Potter. The line already has potential. I think the #7 pick could really shore it up for years to come. But the line will only be as good as it's weakest point, plus they need chemistry. I can't wait to see how it pans out