Adam Schefter stirred up a lot of fans in the Kansas City area when he sent out this tweet. It concerned the Chiefs interviewing current Green Bay Packers Offensive Coordinator, Joe Philbin, tonight for the head coaching position and that the team had already conducted "several interviews" with other candidates. Since Chiefs fans are largely starved for information regarding the inner workings within the Chiefs organization, people jumped on it.
Everybody needs to just tap the brakes a little bit.
The only reason this information is ciculating is because a source within the Packers told Schefter. The Chiefs like to keep things secret from the media and from fans. Just because Joe Philbin is getting an interview doesn't mean he is on Scott Pioli's short list of candidates by any means. Schefter did say several candidates had been interviewed (which means they were either NFL coaches currently without jobs or college coaches), Philbin's name was just the first found out. But, no rumor should be completelely disregarded, so let's examine Philbin.
Philbin was a journeyman offensive line/coordinator in the college ranks before becoming the assistant offensive line coach for the Packers in 2003. From 2004-2005, he kept that role but was also given the additional duties of tight ends coach. In 2006, he was made the offensive line coach, and in 2007 was given the offensive coordinator duties. He has maintained those duties since then, managing some very good Green Bay offenses over that time, from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. Philbin, however, does not call any of the offensive plays, that responsibility is head coach Mike McCarthy's.
With the Packers on the cusp of becoming a dynasty under their NFL-leading offense, Green Bay coaches are going to be hot commodities. But in the Chiefs current state, hiring an OC to be HC that doesn't call his own plays seems like a risky move for the team. Would lose continuity, coaching staff shaken up, typical change of regime symptoms. If Philbin came in to be OC and heir-apparent to the 64 year old Crennel, I would have no problem with the move; HC, however, is a different story.
While I don't think promoting Romeo Crennel to the permanent head coaching job is the best move the Chiefs could make, I think it is the right move right now. The players love him, they play hard for him, and they finished the year strong under him. Where the team is talent wise, Crennel is the right choice. So assuming that Pioli agrees with me and makes Crennel HC, the defensive coordinator position will be open.
While we have many deserving candidates already with the team (Emmit Thomas for one), there is an available candidate that I think has a real chance of taking over the defensive helm for Crennel. He runs a 3-4, is looking to get back into the NFL, has worked with Pioli before, and has already inherited one Crennel-run defense in his career. The answer is current ESPN analyst Eric Mangini. I think the former Jets and Browns HC could get and should get a lot of consideration for the DC job if Crennel is indeed given the head coaching job.
These are just some of my thoughts.
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