Knowing Khan's tendencies? Don't get your hopes up. He'll give Baalke the same treatment, and honestly, respect, more deserving I'll add, than he did Dave Caldwell. I think he'll do the exact same thing very soon that he did with Caldwell right when the season is over.
He'll look for another Coughlin type to fit a VP role that adds a needed layer of oversight, better decision making (hopefully) and final say in the overall process of how this team carries out it's personnel, it's scouting, it's war room, it's overall draft board, etc.
Baalke has earned the right to keep a job here at this capacity. He just doesn't have "it" when it comes to the draft. Especially on the backend. Where he's failed the most is in fixing the trenches. We need impact faster out of these players in these drafts. I appreciate his efforts through free agency, and some of the trades he's made, along with the contracts he's worked out and the talent he's added to the team.
While it's not perfect? They're still winning enough games to be in the thick of things. Where they fell short? They didn't do enough to be better prepared against a much, much more difficult 2023 schedule Vs. 2022 schedule. Nobody thought the tinhorns and clots would be this competitive in 2023. They probably expected an easy divisional run like the NFC South this year.
They were wrong in that evaluating. They were also foolish for not looking at this schedule and realizing, even with injuries as a possibility, that, they would be seeing Mahomes, the 49ers defense and a team that was a Purdy less QB away from a Superbowl, the Bengals with Burrow, the Ravens with Jackson, and a few other tough opponents that are stacked defensively like Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Resting their laurels on being 9 - 8 last year, and HOPING they were going to keep that going, which, in fairness, they did, against "meh" opponents in "meh" situations, that's what cost them here. Making luxury picks in RD2 and RD3 the previous two years were a bad decision. Especially at positions with talent already there.
It is what it is. Still three weeks to get into the play-off's. But, even if they fall short? I highly doubt Baalke gets canned and I expect some kind of VP hire. Rick Spielman, Rick Smith, maybe somebody from the Los Angeles Chargers implosion, or a poaching effort from the 49ers or Eagles would be a good start.
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"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."
