I like what the Cards are doing. I'm sick of being the offseason champs.

[Lomax to Green 84]

We all need to take a deep breath and realize that the regular season ended 12 freaking days ago. The Cards first pre-season game is roughly 210 days from now. The draft is a full 100 days from now. Mini-Camps are 110 days from now. Free agency is still 7 weeks away. Even the "newsworthy" offseason workout program is 7-8 weeks away.

I am really impressed with the patience the Cards have shown in this process. Does is show incompetence? Not in the least. It shows a committment to do this thing right. It shows that they have learned from the mistake they made 3 years ago when all Micheal Bidwill was concerned about was "striking fast and making a big splash hiring". The result was Dennis Green.

The Cards are taking their time on this one. Anyone who thinks they are dumb for considering Mike Sherman simply doesn't understand what the Cards are after. Dennis Green was a great evaluator of talent, but was unorganized, lacked a good work ethic, and was a terrible game day coach. Mike Sherman is known as a tireless worker, super organized and a good game day coach. Ken Whisenhunt may want the Pittsburgh job but wouldn't you if you were an assistant coach for a great organization like the Steelers? Does that mean he is using the Cards? Not at all. It just means he is being honest about his top priority. No way Whisenhunt comes in for a 2nd interview if he is just planning to use us as leverage. Whisenhunt is smart enough to realize that he may hit the goldmine with the offensive power the Cards have. Sure he wants the Steelers job. I'll bet Eric Mangini would have taken the Patiots job over the Jets last year if Bill Belichik would have retired from the Pats.

I like what the Cards are doing. Finally, we aren't concerning ourselves with being the offseason darlings. Maybe we actually are putting performance on the field during the season as priority #1 instead of being the darlings of the NFL Network as we have been the last couple of offseasons.

 

[az jam]

Totally agree with you. The process makes sense. Last year it may have been different as there were 10 open positions for HC in the NFL. This year there have been only five and one was already filled with a college coach.
I like the 8 candidates and feel a second interview for those on the short list makes sense. Also having Mr B involved with all the interviews ties into the Rooney Rule which requests that owners be involved with the interviewing process on minorities.

 

[joeshmo]

There is no offseason in football. Ask any coach or GM.

The Senior Bowl practices are only a week and a half away, more important then the combine or pro-day workouts.

Combine is only 5 and a half weeks away.

EFA, RFA, and Franchise tag tenders due in 6 and a half weeks.

UFA starts in 6 and a half weeks.

Not only do we need to hire our new HC but we need to hire half of a staff maybe more depending on how many are kept by the new coach. They all need to do this and come up with a game plan, watch tapes of our players meet with the scouting department to come up with a game plan for senior bowl week, and so on.

That doesnt sound like a lot of time to me. I think anything past Tuesday is going to far unless you are certian one of the playoff coaches is your man, and then well we would just have to deal with it.

 

[red desert]

There is no offseason in football. Ask any coach or GM.

The Senior Bowl practices are only a week and a half away, more important then the combine or pro-day workouts.

Combine is only 5 and a half weeks away.

EFA, RFA, and Franchise tag tenders due in 6 and a half weeks.

UFA starts in 6 and a half weeks.

Not only do we need to hire our new HC but we need to hire half of a staff maybe more depending on how many are kept by the new coach. They all need to do this and come up with a game plan, watch tapes of our players meet with the scouting department to come up with a game plan for senior bowl week, and so on.

That doesnt sound like a lot of time to me. I think anything past Tuesday is going to far unless you are certian one of the playoff coaches is your man, and then well we would just have to deal with it.

I was all set to state that Holian made some good points, and he does, but so do you, Joe. Damn, I wish we would just hire Chow and get it over with.

 

[az jam]

Sorry Joe but those dates are no reason to rush the decision and not get the best qualified coach. The scouting system is in place for the draft. No changes needed there. Getting the right head coach is more important than the calendar timeframe. You can make up time by effort but the wrong coach can cost you 3 to 4 years. Just my opinion.

 

[Captain Matt]

Doesn't Graves now take ALL of the credit for the last few drafts? Except, of course, the coach Mac years.... LOL. I'm all for having the coach in position to influence the building of the team, but I'm pretty sure he's only gonna have a say in 5-6 new additions to the 53-man roster. Possibly 2-3 free agents and possibly 3-4 draft picks. During the Green years we got pretty darn lucky with the picks that made the roster. And any more than 3 quality free agents would make me very happy (WLB, CB, and maybe OT).

 

[Captain Matt]

So I guess my point was that they should (and will) take as much time as they deem necessary. Having a team strategy evolves over the course of a season anyhow... no matter what you best-laid plans are. Injuries, break-outs, the schedule, etc. all impact what your plan will eventually become. It'd be great to get all of the players on one page and give the coach time to evaluate our various strengths (we have no weaknesses.... but how much of an evaluation period is really necessary?

 

[SeaChicken]

The original poster has a very good point. Two years ago, the Seahawks had 16 unrestricted free agents with three of them being Walter Jones, Matt Hasselbeck, and Shaun Alexander. In a time when they needed to act fast, they didn't. Instead, they fired their GM and took what seemed like a lifetime in finding the new guy. They were slow and deliberate, making sure they didn't hire the wrong guy.

After what seemed like an eternity, they hired Tim Ruskell who immediately tweaked the offensive personnel, blew up the defense, and assembled the first ever Seahawks team to make the Super Bowl in his first year with the team.

Point is, sometimes it's better to take a long time and get it right. People will forget how long the process took the second you start winning.

 

[40yearfan]

The original poster has a very good point. Two years ago, the Seahawks had 16 unrestricted free agents with three of them being Walter Jones, Matt Hasselbeck, and Shaun Alexander. In a time when they needed to act fast, they didn't. Instead, they fired their GM and took what seemed like a lifetime in finding the new guy. They were slow and deliberate, making sure they didn't hire the wrong guy.

After what seemed like an eternity, they hired Tim Ruskell who immediately tweaked the offensive personnel, blew up the defense, and assembled the first ever Seahawks team to make the Super Bowl in his first year with the team.

Point is, sometimes it's better to take a long time and get it right. People will forget how long the process took the second you start winning.

Good analogy. Thanks SC.