Then, they\u2019d need the Lions to beat the Bears in Week 18, to get the No. 1 seed, since the Bears would hold the conference-record tiebreaker over them if they win out.<\/p>\n
Is all that likely? No. But it\u2019s not that far-fetched either.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Matthew Stafford & Co. fell to the Seahawks in Week 16 in a narrow OT defeat. \/ Kevin Ng-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
From Will McMahan (@wmcma): Why would the Browns feel comfortable allowing Andrew Berry to stay and be a part of hiring a new coach? I think the Browns need an established leader of men and not a yes man that has things dictated to him like Stefanski has.<\/p>\n
Will, I think the answer to that question is that Andrew Berry has a really good working relationship with Jimmy Haslam and his family, the type of working relationship that the owner has been looking for since he bought the team almost a decade and a half ago.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d also give you a half agreement on your second sentence there. I don\u2019t think Kevin Stefanski is a yes man\u2014my opinion is the failure of the Deshaun Watson trade has made a lot of things awkward, in a way that probably would\u2019ve been hard to prevent. But I would agree that if the Browns are out there looking for a new leader, someone capable of bringing the sort of change Dan Campbell did to Detroit would make a lot of sense.<\/p>\n
Who would that be? That\u2019s the problem. I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s anyone ready-made now the way, say, Mike Vrabel was last year\u2014when he was actually working for the Browns.<\/p>\n
From Ian Schwifty (@cashmoneykid89): Is Kevin Stefanski getting fired in 13 days?<\/p>\n
Again, I don\u2019t think Haslam is quite sure what he\u2019ll do yet (that\u2019s just my read on it). But I do think we\u2019re at a point, after all that\u2019s happened the past four years, where maybe everyone is at the \u201cIt\u2019s best for everyone to move on\u201d stage. And I love Stefanski as a coach, and think he\u2019d be a really good fit for a team like the Giants, if he becomes available in January.<\/p>\n
Speaking of the Giants \u2026<\/p>\n
From Pendulum Throws (@PendulumThrows): 1) Chances Schoen returns at this point? 2) What would Marcus Freeman\u2019s buyout at ND be? My suspicion is it\u2019s going to be too high for him to be a serious candidate.<\/p>\n
Pendulum, I\u2019d say the scenario in which Joe Schoen does not return as GM would have the Giants hunting down a coach who insists on bringing his own GM with him. And based on where things stand on the market now, I don\u2019t know that there\u2019s a coach the Giants will simply point to, like New England did last year with Vrabel, and pursue without any sort of real search conducted.<\/p>\n
On Freeman, because Notre Dame is a private school, his buyout isn\u2019t public. But given NFL teams\u2019 willingness to spend eight figures per year on coaches now, my guess is that whatever Freeman\u2019s buyout is wouldn\u2019t preclude the Giants from making a run at him.<\/p>\n
Now, as I see it, I think the Giants are intrigued by Freeman, but may not have him as some sort of runaway front-runner. I also believe Freeman won\u2019t leave Notre Dame yet, but is intrigued by the idea of, at some point, moving from college to the pros. And because of the complications that come with an NFL team pursuing a college coach, it\u2019d be a tightrope walk for both sides to get something done. So while I\u2019d never say never, I wouldn\u2019t bet on this one.<\/p>\n
From Jimmy T (@jimmy_tomredle): Based on what you are hearing, who do you believe has a very good chance of becoming the next Giants\u2019 head coach?<\/p>\n
Jimmy, it\u2019s a good question. Here are some names I think might fit: Jeff Hafley and Chris Shula from the younger set, Mike McCarthy and Brian Flores as guys with previous head coaching experience, and Lou Anarumo and Joe Brady as potential wild cards. Schoen has a working list of about 10 candidates he\u2019s working from. So I don\u2019t think this is going to be a search like, say, the Jets\u2019 search last year, which was all over the place.<\/p>\n
From Matthew Lownes (@LownesMatthew): Is Woody Johnson growing as an owner? Has he learned from the Aaron Rodgers\u2013Robert Saleh debacle? Jets fans can\u2019t trust him right now.<\/p>\n
Matthew, your distrust is well-founded, and I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s time to dive in with both feet on Woody Johnson making it work this time around.<\/p>\n
That said, he has given Aaron Glenn the shot to grow over the course of the year, and it looks like Glenn will get a chance to build into 2026. He\u2019s also given GM Darren Mougey the shot to mold the roster as he sees fit. I know people around Johnson thought the core a new regime would inherit a year ago was solid\u2014and no one\u2019s stopped Mougey from deconstructing it, in off-loading big-money guys such as Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams.<\/p>\n
Those are good signs, and obviously leave a lot of work to do (namely, at quarterback), and maybe smaller staff changes to come, as the Jets look toward next year.<\/p>\n
So, how sustainable is Johnson\u2019s patience for rebuilding? How much restraint is he capable of displaying when things get really hot? It\u2019ll take time to answer those questions, which are the real ones when it comes to judging whether Johnson has changed.<\/p>\n
From Husky Walker (@AZWhoDey): So it\u2019s been widely reported that Duke Tobin, Zac Taylor and Al Golden are safe in Cincinnati. This is despite some of their biggest players saying changes need to be made (Burrow, Chase, etc.). What types of changes could be on the way, if not personnel-based?<\/p>\n