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Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy’s contract is set to expire this offseason, allowing a clean break for both sides. Photograph: Cooper Neill/Getty Images
The NFL’s coaching carousel will officially open as soon as the final slate of games wraps up on Sunday. There are already three openings – the Jets, Saints and Bears – and Black Monday will probably see at least four new vacancies. Let’s look at the toastiest coaching seats in the league.
Jerod Mayo, New England Patriots
Replacing Bill Belichick was never going to be easy; Belichick controlled the entire Patriots building. But Jerod Mayo’s first season has been a disaster. The first-time coach botched his initial quarterback decision, has struggled with in-game management, assembled a poor staff and has been consistently undercut by communication gaffes.
There have been some doozies. From calling his team “soft”, to telling running back Antonio Gibson he would be the team’s starter before not starting him, to insisting there is “nothing” he can do for players once they take to the field. Even Nick Sirianni must wince at Mayo’s public comments.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft believed in the promise of Mayo so much that he secretly made the team’s former linebacker the head coach-in-waiting long before it was clear Belichick was on his way out. But that belief has backfired. Mayo looks woefully out of his depth, unable to navigate the strain of a season or deal with all the extracurriculars that a head coach has to deal with beyond on-the-grass coaching. The Patriots lead the league in mental lapses, pre-snap penalties, blown timeouts, special teams snafus, and my totally fictitious “did he really just say that?” stat. The Foxborough crowd has already turned.
Adding to the heat is who is available to take over. Mike Vrabel, another former Patriots linebacker, is a free agent and is reportedly interested in the New England job. Moving from Mayo to Vrabel would allow Kraft to save some face….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-hot-seat-index-coaching-083050363.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2025-01-03 08:30:00
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