NFL teams are paying for performance in the future, not for achievements in the past. Andrew Brandt offers ten views on coaching decisions and the playoffs, along with thoughts on the 49ers and Chiefs, the impact of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce on the league, and more.

This is a season of transition, with players, with the exception of two teams, departing team premises for the next three months, and one-quarter of the league’s coaching staffs currently in transition. Here are my ten observations on the coaching decisions—or not—and the 2024 NFL playoffs in light of the significant change.

1. Even with seven head coaching spots available this season aside from the New England Patriots, I never felt Bill Belichick would have much of a market to return to that role. Yes, I am aware of his record and Super Bowl victories. However, hiring head coaches is comparable for organizations to signing players in that they are doing it based on their potential for success, not their track record.

Teams prefer younger coaches, as evidenced by this hiring cycle, in the hopes that the Teams can succeed consistently and have continuity for a long time (like New England did).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In fact, the reason Belichick and Carroll are unemployed is because their teams chose to part ways with them—they wanted new, inexperienced coaches to guide them from the sidelines. Is this discrimination against older people? The teams would respond that they wished to go “in a different direction” if questioned. For that, there is no Rooney Rule.

2. Although I didn’t watch a lot of Tampa Bay Buccaneers games this season, I did notice something about offensive coordinator Dave Canales. He exuded composure and poise and, well, possessed “the look,” that attractive, youthful offensive coordinator persona that draws the attention of NFL owners.

Although his name was not on the list of well-liked candidates, David Tepper, the owner of the Carolina Panthers, has appointed him as the team’s sixth head coach in the previous five years. I’m glad he signed a six-year contract because by then, who knows how many coaches Tepper will have to pay?