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No new Broncos GM? Questions remain about those who hired McDaniels
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My friend Bob is a long-time, die hard Denver Broncos fan. Someone who was upset with the way Mike Shanahan had been running things, unhappy with the downward trend of his favorite team, and glad when Shanahan was let go.
Bob was still uneasy, even after the announcement that Josh McDaniels would be the new Broncos head coach. He just can’t quite understand why the seemingly defense-less Broncos opted for the seemingly offensive-minded McDaniel as Shanahan’s replacement.
“Your defense stinks and you go out and replace “the Mastermind” with another young offensive “mastermind?” Bob asked rhetorically. “Doesn’t make any sense.”
I nodded my head in understanding. Sure does seem like Bowlen was looking for the next Shanahan when he hired McDaniels. It’s a gamble to be sure, I told Bob…before asking him a question of my own…
Who watches more tape of defensive players than an offensive coordinator? I asked. Bob just shrugged.
If you think about it, an offensive coordinator like McDaniels, who also has lots of experience working in the New England Patriots front office, should have a pretty good idea of how to create a solid defense. I told Bob I wasn’t worried a bit by McDaniels being an “offensive” coach.
Having said that, I told Bob what was bothering ME about the whole deal. I’m not upset with the hiring of McDaniels, I’m just not real confident with the people who DID the hiring in the first place. It’s been 15 years since Pat Bowlen had to make a significant hire like this, so we don’t really have a track record to go on. What we do have to base a judgment on is the very poor record of the Broncos front office when it comes to evaluating personnel. Yet Bowlen opted NOT to hire a General Manager or new personnel man, just a new head coach. Here’s a news flash: If the new coach has to coach the old players, not much is going to change record-wise, in Broncos Country.
What do we know about Jim Goodman and the rest of the people who will now be making the decisions about which players to try to put in predominately orange? Was it them or Mike Shanahan who were responsible for the player acquisitions during this decade? You hear conflicting stories on that, so the only thing that can be certain is that it wasn’t done very well by whoever was calling those shots. You could bring Vince Lombardi back to coach the 2008 Broncos, and they’d still go 8-8. The talent level is just average. The significant upgrades have to happen in talent, not coaching.
None of us really know Jim Goodman, I told Bob. Maybe he will be a great GM. Maybe he’ll do a bang up job with the upcoming NFL draft and free agency. We’ll see. What scares me is that Scott Pioli, the renowned personnel man from New England, is now the GM of the division rival Kansas City Chiefs. We know that Pioli knows how to bring in quality players. He’s got the track record to prove it. I would have felt a lot better, I told Bob, if Bowlen had hired Pioli first, and let him hire McDaniels, whom he worked closely with in New England. Bottom line: If the Broncos talent level doesn’t improve dramatically, then Bowlen will have to replace both the GM and the coach who replaced Shanahan in the not-to-distant-future.
Bob agrees.
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