The biggest mistake Mike McCarthy and every first-year NFL coach made this offseason

The early part of the offseason is all about the coaching hires, and this year, there were a whole lot of them. Ten of the 32 teams in the NFL changed their head coaches. And it wasn’t just the usual suspects who dump coaches every time someone sneezes, like the Cardinals and the Falcons. It was also some of the beacons of stability in the NFL, like the Ravens and the Steelers. 

To make it weirder, it wasn’t like the new hires were completely new to head coaching either; it was more of a shuffle. Four of the new guys have been head coaches in the past (and they have a combined 46 years of head coaching experience), and two of them were head coaches last year. 

Regardless, every single one of these guys has made a mistake so far this offseason. Some are bigger than others, but this is what we’re looking at. 

It’s hard to determine which moves were made by GMs and which moves were made by coaches, but we’re going to give teams the benefit of the doubt and assume that they’re well run; we’re going to assume that coaches and GMs talked about things and agreed on what they were doing. 

Mike LaFleur, Arizona Cardinals

• Baaaaaad draft

Was Jeremiyah Love the best player that the Cardinals could’ve drafted? Yes. Should they have? Absolutely not. It was ridiculous that they did that. 

Remember last year when the Raiders drafted Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick? Remember how that offense wasn’t ready for an elite running back because their offensive line was garbage, and then he ended up having a terrible season? This is like that, but worse. 

The Cardinals have soooo many holes on their roster, and they’re on both sides of the ball. They could’ve drafted one of the linebackers from Ohio State or traded back to get more picks to get more guys… or they could’ve just picked pretty much anyone else. 

Kevin Stefanski, Atlanta Falcons

• Keeping his guys

I get having your guys. I get wanting to keep your guys around. I get wanting to have people who can help implement your system. I don’t get keeping guys around to help implement your system if your guys aren’t good.

Kevin Stefanski had a real opportunity to go to Atlanta and turn over a new leaf. Instead, he walked in the door and brought over a bunch of his guys from Cleveland: Tommy Rees (OC), Alex Van Pelt (QB coach), and Bill Callahan (OL coach). 

If you have the chance to separate yourself from anything Browns-related, you should do it. It would’ve been cool if Stefanski took this opportunity to get new friends, but he’s just running it back with guys that didn’t work in Cleveland. 

Jesse Minter, Baltimore Ravens

• Neglecting the offensive line

One of the biggest signings in free agency was the Raiders getting center Tyler Linderbaum on a three-year deal worth $81 million. The other side of that signing is that the Ravens lost their elite center, and they didn’t do anything to really backfill.

They signed Danny Pinter and Jovaugh Gwyn, and they also have Corey Bullock, who was a UDFA last season. None of those guys hold a match to what Linderbaum was offering that offensive line. 

At guard, they lost Daniel Faalele in free agency, but signed John Simpson and drafted Vega Ioane in the first round. That’s at least a little better than their center situation, but that means there’s going to be a training camp competition between Simpson and Andrew Vorhees for the other starting guard spot. That’s not super great. 

Joe Brady, Buffalo Bills

• Settling with just one offensive playmaker

The Bills had spent the last nine seasons with a defensive head coach in Sean McDermott. When they fired him and promoted Joe Brady from offensive coordinator to HC, they had an opportunity to change the way they build their offense. 

Typically, what they’ve done is give Josh Allen a single receiver every season. When that receiver is really good, like Stefon Diggs from 2020 to 2023, that offense is lethal and looks beautiful.

Lately, the receivers they’ve been giving him have been bad, like Keon Coleman and Joshua Palmer. 

So obviously, now that Brady is running the show, he opted to get Allen multiple good WRs, right? Wrong. Their offensive move this offseason was trading a second-round pick for a 29-year-old D.J. Moore… and that’s it. 

Todd Monken, Cleveland Browns

• Not naming a starting quarterback

The Browns might’ve had the best draft of any team in the NFL. They traded back, got more picks, drafted the guys that they wanted, and filled holes on their roster… But most importantly, they drafted guys who are going to make their next quarterback’s life a whole lot easier. 

The insinuation there is that their quarterback of the future is not one of the four guys on their roster. However, Todd Monken needs to name a starter, and it’s got to be either the Pro Bowler Deshaun Watson or the Pro Bowler Shedeur Sanders.

There doesn’t need to be a quarterback competition resulting in young starting skill position players practicing with a quarterback who isn’t going to start. 

The sooner they name a QB1, the sooner they can start to develop their rookie wide receivers, and the sooner they can try to trade the guy who isn’t QB1.

Sure, OTAs haven’t started yet, so there’s still a lot of time, but Monken’s got to make a decision soon.

Klint Kubiak, Las Vegas Raiders

• What wide receivers?

Outside of Brock Bowers, Fernando Mendoza is going to be throwing the ball to Tre Tucker, Jalen Nailor, and Jack Bech. That’s bad…. That’s really bad. 

The problem is that they had opportunities to get pass catchers in the draft, but they didn’t. With the 38th overall pick, they drafted safety Treydan Stukes. With the 39th overall pick, the Browns drafted the mondo-sized wide receiver Denzel Boston. 

He would’ve been a great piece for the Raiders to add to their overwhelmingly lackluster wide receiver room, and he would’ve been a great piece to add to help their rookie (and hopefully franchise) quarterback grow. 

They must’ve been counting on that Maxx Crosby trade to go through with the Ravens because they could’ve used another first-round pick in the draft. It would’ve been the 14th overall pick, and at that point, only two wide receivers had been picked. They could’ve got Makai Lemon, or made some moves to trade back and still get Omar Cooper Jr.

That’s tough.

Jeff Hafley, Miami Dolphins

• Signing Malik Willis

One basic concept of rebuilding a professional sports team is that you trade guys away, get draft capital, and try to spend as little money as possible. 

The Dolphins are rebuilding. They bit the bullet and released guys who were going to cost them a bunch of money. They traded guys and got draft picks… But they also decided to spend $22-ish million on quarterback Malik Willis.

It doesn’t really make sense, especially since one of the trades they made sent Jaylen Waddle to Denver. That means Willis is going to be throwing to Malik Washington, Jalen Tolbert, Caleb Douglas, and Greg Dulchich.

I have no idea how they’re supposed to assess how well Willis is playing if his pass catchers have a combined total of 230 receptions. It’s weird.

John Harbaugh, New York Giants

• Taking all the responsibility

Since John Harbaugh got to New York, he’s been hilariously outspoken about how little Joe Schoen is involved in any of the decisions they’ve made. Schoen’s been the GM of the Giants since 2022, and now he’s been completely neutered by a head coach who knows what he’s doing.

It sounds like he has absolutely no say over the roster or the team whatsoever, so he’s kind of just wandering around the hallways, like a ghost, and collecting a paycheck.

The smart move for Harbaugh would’ve been to keep Schoen’s lack of input in the dark. That way, if something does go wrong, he can just blame it on the GM. He doesn’t have that play anymore.

Mike McCarthy, Pittsburgh Steelers

• Taking the job

The Steelers hire young head coaches who are going to be with the team for a long time. When they hired Chuck Noll in 1969, he was 37 years old, and he coached the team for 23 years. When they hired Bill Cowher in 1992, he was 35 years old, and he coached the team for 15 years. When they hired Mike Tomlin in 2007, he was 35 years old and coached the team for 19 years. 

Mike McCarthy is 62 years old. He feels like he’s a placeholder rather than a long-term hire. You have to think that the Steelers are going to cut ties with him the second he starts to slip, and a new candidate becomes available. 

Also, he’s the first offensive coach that they’ve had since 1968. I bet that Christian Parker is the defensive coordinator in Dallas for a year or two, and then the Steelers bring him on as their new head coach. 

Robert Saleh, Tennessee Titans

• Hiring Brian Daboll

Brian Daboll has been a good offensive coordinator in the past, so this isn’t really about Daboll as the coach. It’s more about Daboll as the person and how he is absolutely not going to mix with Robert Saleh. 

Daboll is a lunatic and will yell at everyone at any moment during the game. Whereas Robert Saleh is a lunatic and will yell at everyone at any moment during the game. To make the situation even better, Saleh is a defensive guy, and Daboll is an offensive guy… and neither side of the ball is all that good (yet).

This whole thing is like mixing oil and the Gulf Coast: It’s naturally going to be a disaster. 

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