Quote:I guess here is my main problem with GM Dave Caldwell if you truly feel that HC Gus Bradley is the problem than why did GM Dave Caldwell hire him, or why after three years into it did he finally quit on the guy?  I mean he is a professional, we are simply fans.  He had more data, more input, basically more information at his disposal to make that choice & he made a bad one not once, not twice but three years into it? 

The say a GM is tied with a QB a lot of times the guy he picks at the top of a 1st round to be the teams franchise QB shows his ability to pick out talent and lead the team in the right direction but the same is true with the GM's HC pick maybe more so than a QB because a lot of times GM pick the QB that the HC tells them to pick.  


I mean when it comes to trades, free agents, and drafting at this point in the third year I think hes better than average GMs (granted his staff is helping with many aspects of those decisions).  When it comes to hiring coaches if we all agree that he failed with Gus how come he didnt see it last year after only winning three games and only four the year before?

 

I hear this critique of Caldwell often here in the Jungle.  Let's face it, when hiring a 1st time HC, no matter how much actualy research on that person you do, it's a crap shoot because you have no empirical data to formulate your opinion. 

 

Now, don't take this as I'm calling you out, because it is not what I'm doing...  But you must remember back 3 years ago when the hiring process was going on.  Bradley was one of the top HC hiring prospects of the time.  3 years ago, if you remember, going after a successfull Coordinator that may not have HC experience was all the rage.  The entire league was hiring inexperienced OCs and DCs during that period.  3 years ago, the concept of hiring a "retread" HC was not in vogue.

 

This is important to realize, because it's not as though there were any other coaches that were hired 3 years ago that are really lighting the world on fire right now are there?  Just checked, Bruce Arians is the only HC from that period who's killing it now.  Chip Kelley, and Chudzinsky were also in that class.  

 

Again, Bradley was one of the top candidates for multiple teams that year.  On top of that, there is a legit arguement to be made that an ice cream cone type coach is what we needed the first 2 years of this major rebuild.  If only Gus actually grew into this HC position as the team's talent got better, we wouldn't be having this arguement.

 

But the reality is the reality.  Gus was/is a good rah rah HC that kept this team's head up.  But he never advanced beyond that.  Caldwell made a hire in Gus that at the time was not panned by the league.  Matter of fact, he was considered an OK pick.

 

The thing that could indict Caldwell is if he keeps Gus beyond Tuesday after Week 17's game.  The other thing is that Caldwell needs to hire a world class head coach to take this team to the next level.  If those 2 things don't happen, then yeah, Caldwell's in trouble.

---