2018 NFL Head Coach Carousel: Who’s Up and Who’s Down?
By Erik Lambert
With a month left to go in the regular season, the 2018 NFL head coach carousel is really starting to spin as openings begin to spread around the league.
Ben McAdoo was the first to fall. His collapse after last season and poor management of the Eli Manning situation sealed his fate as the Giants fired him. It won’t be long before others follow. John Fox, Chuck Pagano, Hue Jackson and Dirk Koetter are all strong possibilities as well. Suffice to say some fairly prestigious jobs will open up and a bevy of candidates will hope to fill them.
The question is who is on the radar of late and how are they doing. This is an update on some of the top candidates. A couple names are currently rising and others saw their stocks take a dip. With a month left to go, this is when it really gets fun.
UP
John Morton (OC, New York Jets)
If there is a coach who can be considered the guy doing the most with the least this season, it’s absolutely John Morton. His first year as offensive coordinator for the Jets he was given Josh McCown (38), Matt Forte (31), and Jermaine Kearse as his primary trio and told to score points. Never mind an offensive line that had just lost several of its key members. Somehow he’s made it work. The Jets have scored at least 27 points in three of their last four games including 38 against Kansas City for their fifth win of the season. They ranks 17th in total offense. Unreal for a first-year coordinator.
Matt Nagy (OC, Kansas City Chiefs)
Buzz was circulating Nagy for weeks. Many felt he could be the next Doug Pederson, an Andy Reid disciple who went on to get the head job. Unfortunately he hasn’t been calling plays all year, leaving doubts about his true impact on the offense. That changed in New York. After three weeks of scoring 17, 9 and 10 points Reid relinquished play calling duties to Nagy in hopes of shaking things up. The young coach responded with 31 points, over 400 yards of offense and four touchdown passes from Alex Smith.
Matt Patricia (DC, New England Patriots)
What a job the Patriots defensive coordinator has done. Think about this. After the first four games of the season, New England had given up the most points in the NFL. Things looked bad. Then all of sudden they didn’t. Patricia made adjustments, kept working his depth chart and suddenly the Patriots are 10th in the league in points allowed, providing an exclamation point with a 23-3 win in Buffalo. That is some rock solid work.
DOWN
Teryl Austin (DC, Detroit Lions)
To be fair the man doesn’t have a ton of talent to work with on defense these days, but the fact remains Austin’s once hot stock is cooling more and more. Giving up 44 points to the Baltimore Ravens, a team that had averaged 21 per game going into the matchup, isn’t a good look for him. Now with Matthew Stafford uncertain due to injury, that will put even more pressure on him and the defense to pick up the slack. Austin may not have the resources to make it happen.
Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: AFC Desperately Tries to Balance QB Power
Frank Reich (OC, Philadelphia Eagles)
Through almost the entire Eagles schedule, Frank Reich enjoyed huge success with Carson Wentz playing like an MVP. Unfortunately when he met his first real test of the season in Seattle, things didn’t go well. Philadelphia was off-kilter most of the night. Keep in mind this wasn’t the 2013 Seahawks defense either. It’s still a good unit but not the same as it once was. For the Eagles to only score 10 points against a top NFC team dulls the luster on Reich a bit.