(12-30-2019, 09:16 AM)StroudCrowd1 Wrote: Nobody can be worse than Caldwell.

I just don't understand this line of reasoning. Caldwell could be mediocre, but he is definitely not bad. We seem to forget that he built the 2017 team all by himself. He did all the drafting, he ran the FO, he brought in all the free agents. We can blame him for the Gus Bradley hire, but there are also rumors that this was a Khan hire. There were reports that Caldwell wanted Roman. Would that have made a difference? I don't know. Either way, I think Caldwell's biggest mistake was drafting Blake Bortles and blowing up too much of the roster, which made the rebuild take to long. He admitted this himself.  

Coughlin came to this franchise in 2017 with a roster that was already in place. Coughlin chose the HC, and was almost certainly responsible for the LF pick based off the media reports. Who really knows how accurate these things are, but it definitely fit Coughlin's MO. We can also give Coughlin credit for Campbell, since Calais said he came here, in part, because of Coughlin. That's it. Coughlin brought in an iron fist approach, that ultimately created a hostile work environment, and was almost certainly responsible for driving away quality starters.

Khan should have a much better understanding of this dynamic than you or I. We don't know what's going on in the front office. Coughlin could override Caldwell all the time or they could have been in complete agreemeent. All I know is that Caldwell built the 2017 roster by himself. It was good enough to get to the playoffs and was a bad call away from the Super Bowl. We had no disgruntled players and it looked like a team on the rise. It went downhill from there. Shad should know, via hindsight, how much of that deterioration was on Coughlin and how much of it was on Caldwell. 

Here are the questions I would ask myself if I was Shad:

1. Did Caldwell want to resign Blake Bortles, or was he against it. It was his guy, and if he was the one pushing the new contract for him, it shows an inability to admit where he missed. I don't mind him missing the pick. All GMs miss from time to time, and it's hard to find the guy, but resigning him was a HUGE blunder.

2. What role did Caldwell play in creating the hostile work environment? We never heard any of these rumors pre-Coughlin. I want to know what his plan is for restoring the integrity of the FO.

3.  How much control did Caldwell have in player negotiations. It would seem that moves like paying Jack were influenced by Coughlin (paying for character, not play), but I have no way of knowing if that's true or not. I'm a believer that you need to let talented players walk, and be able to rebuild through the draft. 

4. Do I think Caldwell will do a better job hiring the next coach. How much influence did Caldwell have in the Gus Bradley hire?

5. Did Caldwell want to pay Nick Foles more than the market demanded. It was said when he came here, that they wanted him to feel like the Man, so they paid him more than necessary. I thought this was absurd when I heard it, and this season only affirms that. You never pay more than you need to for a player.

6. Which draft picks were Caldwell's and which were Coughlin's? When they were discussing future players, how did the guys Caldwell favor stand in comparison to those Coughlin favored.

If I'm Khan, I should know the answers to those questions. If they favor Dave, I've keeping him. There are definitely worse GM's than Caldwell, and my biggest reason is what I opened with: He build the 2017 team by himself.

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