February 3rd, 2022 at 3:55 PM ^
The guy that was fired as the Bengals defensive coordinator after only 9 games?
Steelers are expected to promote senior defensive assistant and secondary coach Teryl Austin to defensive coordinator post vacated by Keith Butler retirement, according to a league source @PFN365
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) January 22, 2022
February 3rd, 2022 at 3:57 PM ^
Upvoting because this was indeed a name I hadn't considered and which seems plausible. Need more positivity around here
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:32 PM ^
Sam Webb’s gut indicated that Aubrey Pleasant (edit: not Austin) is interested on today’s WTKA podcast
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:38 PM ^
ah sorry for recycling old news. I was just reading the paper re sham interview and made the connection.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:41 PM ^
Yours is not old news - I re-listened to edit/ correct. As most know, Pleasant is a the DB coach with the Lions.
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:08 PM ^
Pleasant's name came up on the periphery when Michigan was looking for a DC last year. I, for one, would in general prefer an up-and-coming NFL hire to a veteran college guy. Gets recruits excited, brings in fresh ideas, and it obviously worked out incredibly well last year
February 3rd, 2022 at 7:24 PM ^
Aubrey pleasant is an excellent DB coach. He took undrafted guys like AJ Parker and Jerry Jacobs and turned them not just into starters but good starters. Oruwariye balled out under his tutelage this season with 6 picks too
February 3rd, 2022 at 8:15 PM ^
I'm not opposed but I hope he also doesn't have to learn about tempo the hard way like MacDonald did.
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:44 PM ^
Aubrey Pleasant would be a brilliant hire... go read anything about his approach to coaching the Senior Bowl this week, and you'll instantly be won over.
February 3rd, 2022 at 11:08 PM ^
Pleasant will be promoted to DC of the Lions once Glenn takes the New Orleans job.
February 3rd, 2022 at 3:59 PM ^
If we are just throwing out names with no specific reason behind them other than because…
What about Bill Belichick? Has been defensive coordinator for several NFL teams. Coached the greatest NFL player who happened to go to Michigan. I think he has won a few Super Bowls too. Not sure if he would be able to handle the tough Detroit media and the lofty expectations from the Michigan fan base. But what do you all think?
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:00 PM ^
actually it's going to be Terry Tate, Office Linebacker for DC
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:09 PM ^
You can legit hire him to visit your office. That was a very interesting day at work. Not sure it would be good for recruiting.
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:59 PM ^
BIG Terry Tate fan
February 3rd, 2022 at 7:32 PM ^
have shown that to my kids before, particularly the 5 football playing sons. they absolutely love it.
February 3rd, 2022 at 8:11 PM ^
Where's my TPS report, Duuuuug?
Oh, hiii, Janice!
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:52 PM ^
This is an oddly snide response to a reasonable post
February 3rd, 2022 at 6:56 PM ^
Posting a name without a really good reason for posting it other than him serving as a defensive assistant in the late 90s, is misleading. It tends to imply that there is buzz around him for some reason (e.g. good friends with Harbaugh, lots of other people discussing it, has expressed an indication in returning to Michigan, etc.).
If there is a legitimate reason, post away. But just mentioning a name bc, why not, isn’t a good reason to start it’s own thread.
February 3rd, 2022 at 8:32 PM ^
The speculative coaching search posts are my favorite part of said coaching searches by far tbh. It's fun to think of the guys who might be options.
February 3rd, 2022 at 6:40 PM ^
Andy Reid or Bruce Arians for OC.
February 3rd, 2022 at 7:40 PM ^
Belichick sucks at texting. Do not want!
February 4th, 2022 at 3:56 PM ^
+1 underrated
What an uncomfortable text conversation, awkward AF.
February 3rd, 2022 at 9:34 PM ^
Aubrey Pleasant was a grad assistant at U of M and is from Flint. This is not just throwing names out there.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:02 PM ^
I still can't believe the Lions fired a competent, albeit spectacular, 9-7 coach in Jim Caldwell for that disaster of a human being Matt Patricia. Based on the before, during and after defensive stats, Patricia seemingly had about as much to do with the Patriots success as the guys cleaning out the urinals after each game.
The Quintricia dumb and dumber combo ran off All-Pro Quandre Diggs with no backup safety option other than Teez Tabor who may have been the worst Lions DB I have ever seen (which is saying something).
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:08 PM ^
Bob Quinn was an awful hire by the Ford’s they listened to Ernie Arcosi, who also did sham interviews for the Lions he only interviewed Quinn who’s not capable of running a power puff team! Terrible hire but till that franchise sells it will stink all the time.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:22 PM ^
I was not a fan of Caldwell, he had to go. Obviously Patricia was a much worse option than Caldwell, but that doesn't make Caldwell a good coach.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:31 PM ^
He had a winning record with the Detroit Lions. Shouldn’t have been fired
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:14 PM ^
Based on your logic coaches like Zimmer and Nagy should not have been let go. Caldwell won zero playoff games in Detroit. The team had Stafford and Calvin with nothing to show. He should have been fired.
February 3rd, 2022 at 6:49 PM ^
Lions had a new GM who had a different philosophy. Caldwell was treading water. He was rightly fired.
A collapse was coming with the decline in talent. Loss of Johnson, Megatron, Suh, Ansah, and Levy and not replacing them would have imploded a fifth season of Caldwell.
People who say Caldwell shouldn’t have been fired always ignore the decline in talent and the treading of water under Caldwell/late Mayhew. Team wasn’t going anywhere. It was losing talent and not replacing it adequately. Poor drafting and free agent signings.
Should be noted that most of the core of the Lions best team as acquired under Mayhew/Schwartz. Suh, Stafford, Levy, Slay, Ansah, Avril, Fairley, etc.
Jim Caldwell should have been fired. Quinntricia should never have been hired. I hated the Patricia hiring because his track record as a DC was poor. Lions got caught up in the Patriot mystique.
February 4th, 2022 at 12:07 AM ^
Just because he was better than Patricia doesn't mean he shouldn't have been fired. Caldwell was a terrible game manager. That's what might do in Dan Campbell, too.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:34 PM ^
This is correct. Being the smartest of all the fools isn't something worth bragging about. Caldwell is a middling coach. Patricia, a horrible one.
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:04 PM ^
He had a winning record with a pretty mediocre roster -- and did better than any other Lions coach in modern history.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:34 PM ^
Don't underestimate the impact of clean urinals and freshly changed urinal cakes.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:55 PM ^
Especially if the logo is facing the right way and the cakes across the line of urinals make a clean OCD-friendly line. Nothing gets a defense ready to play quite like it.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:39 PM ^
I think it was ok to let go of Caldwell. Maxed out with the Lions. But you knew Bob Quinn was gonna hire Patricia, which was always going to be a disaster.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:47 PM ^
I've read that the mind blocks out painful memories. You're looking at the Lions records but not remembering the seasons. Caldwell's best and first season was a stacked Lions team which was jobbed by the officials in Dallas. The Lions though were up against the cap.
After that season, the Lions went 7-9 and that 7-9 only seems respectable because the Lions won a lot of meaningless games after they started the season 1-7 and were out of it by their bye week.
The following year, the Lions were 9-4 going into week 15 and never won another game the rest of the season including an embarrassing playoff loss to Seattle.
Caldwell's final season another 9-7 affair but going into week 16, the Lions needed to beat a mediocre Cincinnati team and they looked bad and were eliminated from the playoffs even with a meaningless win against Green Bay to make his record look a bit better than the .500 ball they played all season.
Caldwell had some very talented teams who just couldn't get motivated to win. There was so much talent that they Lions found ways to win but under Caldwell showed time and again that they couldn't take the next step.
The idea was that an infusion of Patriot motivation would do the job but with the crumbling cap situation and a years of draft misses by both Mayhew and Quinn Lions fans realized that it could get much worse.
The Lions would not have risen up under Caldwell, it was time for a roster reset.
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:06 PM ^
None of those Lions teams was "stacked" with talent. They had a handful of good players, no depth, and a bunch of guys.
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:22 PM ^
Matt Stafford
Calvin Johnson
Golden Tate
Reggie Bush
Theo Riddick
Ziggy Ansah
Suh
Kyle Van Noy
Glover Quinn
Darius Slay
Compared with everyone else that's more than a handful of good players.
February 3rd, 2022 at 8:32 PM ^
I mean dude coached the lions to a winning record after suh and Johnson were gone and stafford had his best years under him. It’s pretty clear Caldwell was a good coach
February 3rd, 2022 at 6:33 PM ^
And that’s the problem with any Caldwell argument: you act like all the winning was done despite the coaching but as soon as we changed coaches the winning stopped?
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:47 PM ^
Patricia/Quinn were horrible hires, but Caldwell went 4-24 against teams that finished with winning records. Dan Campbell already has 2 wins of that nature and with a much worse team.
February 3rd, 2022 at 6:40 PM ^
Lions talent level was deteriorating under Caldwell. He would have fared little better than Patricia season with the collapse in talent. People tend tend to forget that Lions lost a lot of talent in that time period and didn’t replace them. End of Mayhew era was…not good.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:11 PM ^
Partridge or Foote are the top two candidates according to GOJ (CP & LF)
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:20 PM ^
Steve Lorenz latest update says Partridge will probably stay at Ole Miss. A couple names to watch are Jesse Minter & Anthony Campanile.
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:26 PM ^
Minter with the Ravens connection again
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:32 PM ^
Haven't heard Jesse Minter's name before but sounds like a good choice to me, the ravens secondary looked much worse coached this year after he left and feels like a good co-dc fit with Clink. Only question is whether he would take a co-dc spot despite currently being the guy. Also overlaps on position coaching front with Clink too, would have to accompany a move for Bellamy to the offensive side
February 3rd, 2022 at 4:53 PM ^
Jesse Minter was tossed around as a candidate on here last year for a bit.
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:07 PM ^
Minter wouldn't be the Co-DC, Clink would. Minter would be the DC. Similarly, Sherrone Moore has Co-OC in his title, but Josh Gattis's title is OC.
February 3rd, 2022 at 6:16 PM ^
we can just clarify his title to 'assistant to the DC'
February 3rd, 2022 at 6:46 PM ^
I think people are overestimating what a Co-DC role is. If they offer Minter full control, he’ll come. He’s not splitting hairs over the title as long as duties are properly delegated by Jim.
it’s a nice little treat for Clink to improve his career, without really taking anything away