POSTED 5:43 p.m. EST; LAST UPDATED 6:04 p.m. EST, February 13, 2007
SEAN'S EXIT STRATEGY?
Several readers have pointed out to us over the course of the day that ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury is making a big push for the Chargers to hire former Cardinals coach Dennis Green.
Said Salisbury: "The Chargers have a perfect candidate right in San Diego -- Dennis Green. He's an excellent candidate for a veteran team like the Chargers and probably won't demand the type of power that other more established coaches will try to get from San Diego."
We're compelled to make a few points.
First of all, anyone who believes that Green wouldn't immediately begin trying to get G.M. A.J. Smith and every other member of the current front office fired wasn't paying attention to Green's exploits when he was the coach of the Vikings.
Second, Green isn't going get back into coaching until he cashes out his severance pay from the Cardinals. As it stands, he now gets $2.5 million to do something other than coach football in 2007, and if he takes any other football job paying $2.5 million or less for 2007, he'll essentially be working for free.
Third, what has Green done in the past seven years to persuade anyone that he's still got the tools to be a successful NFL head coach? His mojo evaporated when the Vikings were trounced by the Giants, 41-0, in the 2000 NFC Championship game. From a wins and losses perspective, Green's career has yet to recover.
Fourth, we think that Sean's statements are a not-so-thinly-veiled effort by him to put himself in line for another job offer from Green if/when Green ever become an NFL head coach again. When Green was hired by the Cardinals, he offered the position of quarterbacks coach to Salisbury, who opted at the time to stay put. But maybe Sean would be more inclined to entertain the opportunity the next time it comes around, so what better way to ensure that he'll stay on Green's good side than to push him for a job that, as a practical matter, he'll never get?
Why would Sean leave ESPN, you ask? Well, for starters, our guess is that he's holding a quiet grudge regarding the decision to suspend him for a week in 2006, given our impression that Salisbury isn't real big on accepting responsibility for his mistakes. We also suspect that he thinks the boys in Bristol didn't do enough to back him up over that whole "chew or Jew" thing from last month. And maybe Salisbury realizes that, sooner or later, ESPN will have an opportunity to hire someone who is: (1) younger; (2) better; (3) prettier; (4) more articulate; (5) not an aimless loudmouth blowhard (in our opinion); (6) actually played NFL football in the past decade; and (7) actually played in more than a few NFL football games.
http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
