Who are You Firing?

I will explain my choice and let everyone vote on their option below. If you vote to fire someone, please feel free to comment on who you want to replace them.

Who am I firing and why?

Rick Spielman

He once thought it was a good idea to trade a 1st and a 4th for Philly’s oft injured clearly going to be the backup Sam Bradford. He did this out of desperation because he had no plan behind Teddy. That was a panic move and a bad one, but he got chances to redeem himself. He followed that up by signing the most mediocre QB in the history of mediocre to a fully guaranteed contract. He then extended said mediocre QB because the 3rd year in the guaranteed contract was too much. Now we have a decision to make. In the first week of the new league year we can choose two things:

Option 1: Cut Kirk Cousins and take $41M in dead cap money. Which increases his cap hit by $10M next year.

Option 2: Keep Kirk Cousins and guarantee the final year of his deal which means hits of $31M and $45M in the next two years respectively. (Of course we can always extend again!)

Option 3: I guess there is a 3rd option. Pray there is someone stupid enough to trade for Kirk and his contract.

The worst part about it is that we clearly need OL to be top tier for Kirk to be effective. If an OL draft pick turns out to be semi-productive we are ecstatic. We act like Brian O’Neill is the greatest RT in the history of the NFL. Bradbury is in the average to below average range according to PFF. Our guards are the worst in the NFL. Reiff should go back and ask for more money if they try to restructure him. He is our best OL. I haven’t mentioned our pathetic DL. Michael Pierce and Danielle Hunter have been out the entire year, but I think we could add Alan Page and Carl Eller next to our pathetic DL and still struggle. Rick’s plan for the DBs this year? Let everyone walk and go with the youngens. Bleh. The dude has had way too long. You can point to those 5th round steals he had and ignore the glaring issues all you want. I’ve had enough.

Mike Zimmer

Have you seen Mike try to manage the clock in a critical situation? He is more confused than a drunk nun in Vegas. If something goes not to plan we are never prepared to adjust. The play calling on offense and defense is so bland I can tell you what is coming from my couch. When was the last time our defense confused anyone? Our defense has been confused several times over the last few years. How many times did you see Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith looking at each other last year after a big play? How many times did it also happen with Dantzler and Smith? Either our All Pro safety is confused or it isn’t clear to the CBs what they are supposed to do. Xavier Rhodes looks a lot better in Indy. Magically bouncing back after leaving Mike Zimmer the cornerback whisperer.

Every other coach

I am not going to go through the entire coaching staff, but point to me what unit is well coached. DL, LB and DB are not. Special Teams sure aren’t. Maybe you can talk me into the WR coach, but I think that is more the sheer talent we have there rather than any coaching. Start fresh.

Who is replacing them?

General Manager

I am no expert in front office personnel. This is hard for more fans to really know who is good. I’ll give it a shot.

Mike Borgonzi
Director of Football Operations for Kansas City. Not only did they go out and get Patrick Mahomes, but they still are able to field an impressive offensive roster and a very competitive defense. They have managed this situation better than anyone.

Terry Fontenot
VP of Pro-Personnel/Assistant GM for the New Orleans Saints. Terry has been there for 16 years and has seen how to manage a tough cap situation with them and the Drew Brees contract. New Orleans seems to always be loaded with young talent and have sustained success just about as good as anyone outside of New England.

Mike Greenberg
Not the TV guy. Director of Football Administration in Tampa Bay. He is the young hotshot. He is a 34 year old smart dude from the Ivy league and considered the next cap whiz. He is young and this would be a big jump.

Adam Peters
VP of Player Personnel for San Francisco. If you want a scouting/draft guru this is your guy. He helped build New England into the dynasty they are. He then left and went to Denver and played a key role in building their championship defense. 3 years ago he joined the 49ers and they suddenly got loaded with talent and went to a Super Bowl. He has had success wherever he goes.

Rob Brzezinski/George Patton
These are our guys. If you believe in seeing the boss fail so you get rid of them and promote someone from their staff, this is your choice. Rob is our cap guy. He helps structure the contracts with Rick. George Patton leads our scouting department. I have no clue why you would want this. Really good at finding WR talent I guess? No hope to spot any decent OL. I will take neither please.

My choice: Adam Peters. He is a proven winner in multiple spots. I don’t think it is just luck at this point. First two were with Tom Brady and Payton Manning. This last one was with Jimmy G. He is good and has helped build some good teams.

Head Coach

Robert Saleh
49ers Defensive Coordinator and a hot candidate coming into this year. He has built a very strong defense and nearly won a Super Bowl with San Francisco. He is a top notch defensive coach. The issue: everyone wants an offensive guru. I don’t believe because we failed with a defensive coach it means we have to switch. I know we were burned with Leslie Frazier and Mike Zimmer recently. Bill Belichick, Mike Tomlin are the two the come to mind when I think of solid DCs that became good coaches. I would consider Robert.

Eric Bieniemy
Kansas City’s OC is high on everyone’s list. I think he will get his choice of jobs after the season. I am not completely sold on a coordinator that doesn’t call plays though. I wonder how much is Andy Reid and how much is Eric. Reid nearly won a Super Bowl with McNabb. Patrick Mahomes looks like a HOF QB and Eric might just be riding coat tails. Not my choice.

Brian Daboll
Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator. Brian has built this Buffalo offense to their best since Kelly was at QB. He has coached with some of the best in New England and the University of Alabama. 5 time Super Bowl Champion and National Championship winning coach that knows what it takes to win. He started as a defensive assistant in New England and has coached QBs, TEs and WRs for them. He went to Alabama as their co-offensive coordinator and QBs coach and won a championship. He joined Buffalo in 2018 as their OC and has build their offense up. Also, he is the actual play caller.

My Choice: Brian Daboll. I would consider Robert Saleh as well. However, I think Brian is the best coach available. I think we could give him the next few years with Kirk Cousins and see what he can do. If Kirk isn’t enough, we should give him 2-3 years with a young QB to see if he can build what they have in Buffalo. My plan would be to roll into 2021 with Kirk and if it is more of the same, we draft one in the 2022 draft to sit under Kirk for 1 year.

I won’t start trying to pick out position coaches or coordinators to pair with Brian. I would trust he has an extensive network of coaches he has worked with that would come along. I would be open to keeping Rob Brzezinski, but I would hope we would move on from most of our scouting leadership.

Please vote below in the poll and comment on your thoughts. To make it a manageable poll I only give options for Rick and Zim. I.E. if you want to fire Gary Kubiak, but keep Rick/Zim your choice is neither and you can comment on firing of some of the underlings.