NFL Head Coaching Updates - Fantasy Impact
January 15, 2009 at 7:31 am | Article by Paul Hickey |
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Yesterday, we broke down the fantasy impact of Josh McDaniels’ hiring in Denver. The NFL’s coaching carousel continues, and while there are still many moves to be made, No-Offseason.com takes a look at the fantasy impact of the moves made thus far.
As of this writing, NFL teams have named four new head coaches this January, including Eric Mangini in Cleveland, Josh McDaniels in Denver, Jim Mora in Seattle and Jim Caldwell in Indy. Tuesday, both Caldwell and Mora were officially introduced as head coach in their respective cities and spoke to the media for the first time regarding their plans.
Head coaching vacancies still exist in Detroit, St. Louis, New York (Jets), Oakland and another one could potentially pop up in Kansas City, as the Chiefs have replaced GM Carl Peterson with new VP of Football Operations Scott Pioli. Pioli is likely to make sweeping changes and can Herm Edwards after two straight sub-par seasons at the helm.
Denver - While McDaniels is believed to be bringing in an offensive coordinator, early word coming out of Denver is that he will call the plays, and implement his highly successful spread offense. In short, this means that Jay Cutler is fantasy football’s new number one QB. Far and away, Cutler has the best weapons, with Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal and Tony Scheffler spread wide, and will be learning from a man that turned Matt Cassel into a 3,700 yard, 21 TD passer this past season. The Broncos see a “young Mike Shanahan” in McDaniels, and we jock him very hard. Overall this move will prove huge for the Broncos offense, as we’re on the record saying that Marshall could very well catch 15-20 TDs and Royal should garner 100 receptions in 2009. Former 49ers head coach Mike Nolan is the Broncos new defensive coordinator, which means we could see a 4-3/3-4 hybrid defense from Denver in 2009. We expect the Broncos to focus strictly on defense in the draft, while maybe sprinkling in a running back, meaning the Broncos defensive unit should be much improved in 2009.
Cleveland - Word is that Eric Mangini will hire Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan (twin brother of Ravens DC Rex) as his DC, and bring in former Jets QBs coach Brian Daboll as his offensive coordinator - replacing rising star Rob Chudzinski who was let go as part of Romeo Crennel’s release and has interviewed to replace Mike Martz in San Francisco as Mike Singletary’s OC. Both Ryan and Daboll have a history with Mangini in New England, and have worked under Bill Belichick. Mangini’s vision for the Browns offense is likely one that should include some solid creativity. We saw the Jets kick things up a notch last season, using the spread attack to feature rookie TE Dustin Keller, WRs Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery, and we saw a strong running game from both Jets RBs, Thomas Jones and Leon Washington. Look for Mangini and Daboll to dump Derek Anderson, and give the job outright to Brady Quinn, but for them to also potentially cut ties with Jamal Lewis, and bring in not one, but two running backs this off-season to compete with Jerome Harrison for playing time. Harrison is a Washington-like player, so he could earn a role. As for Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow, we expect a resurgence from both players under Daboll, as long as they can stay healthy. We wouldn’t be surprised if the Browns also draft a wide receiver this year, as the talent pool is deep at that position, and Donte Stallworth simply can’t be counted on. The Browns are without a GM currently after firing Phil Savage, but are expected to hire Ravens personnel man George Kokinis for that position as soon as Baltimore is eliminated from the playoffs.
Seattle - The pass happy west coast advocate Mike Holmgren is out, and Jim Mora - former Falcons front man - is in. Mora wasted no time in brining in Greg Knapp to run his offense, the same man who orchestrated the NFL’s top rushing offense as the Falcons offensive coordinator in the early 2000s. Look for Mora and Knapp to get back to the basics and use the run to set up the pass. Their first course of action - find a running back - or two. UFA Maurice Morris is gone, and Julius Jones is likely to be cut after a dismal 2008 campaign. T.J. Duckett could remain, as he has a history with both Mora and Knapp from his Atlanta days. But we all know Duckett can’t carry the load, which means Seattle will do one of two things - look to add a guy like Derrick Ward as their primary back, or draft multiple RBs in this year’s NFL Draft. This return to a run-first offense should help take the pressure off of Matt Hasselbeck, and keep him healthy in 2009. We expect Hass to return to form, and post good fantasy digits, with Deion Branch healthy, and another WR to be added to the Seahawks roster later - possibly Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree or free agent T.J. Houshmandzadeh - contributing huge as well. Mora has also hired Casey Bradley (former Buccaneers LBs coach) as Seattle’s defensive coordinator, and Dan Quinn as assistant head coach/defensive line coach. Quinn has recently worked with the Jets, Dolphins and 49ers defensive lines.
Indianapolis - What do we know about Jim Caldwell? Well, he turns 54 soon (Tony Dungy is 53), and he has spent most of his coaching career in the college ranks prior to joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff in 2001 as QBs coach. Oh, so he’s an offensive guy? Yep. Dungy was defensive oriented after playing defensive back in the NFL, and Caldwell is the opposite - a hard nosed QBs coach who has earned the trust and respect of three time NFL MVP Peyton Manning. Caldwell has learned from college legends Joe Paterno at Penn State, Howard Schnellenberger at Louisville and Bill McCartney at Colorado, and intends to take Indy to new heights - but do it his own way. He told media in his first press conference as head coach that he’ll likely “yell more” than Dungy.
But should fantasy owners expect sweeping changes? Other than Marvin Harrison likely retiring and Anthony Gonzalez stepping into his role and becoming a fantasy stud - no.
We’re also going to keep an eye on the RB situation closely this off-season, to see if UFA RB Dominic Rhodes returns and continues to take chunks out of Joseph Addai’s playing time.
On defense, Indy will look to improve after not being able to get the ball back from the Chargers on the first drive of overtime in the AFC wild card showdown.
Discuss this more in our forums.
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