NFL head coaching changes often overshadow the coordinator hires that follow. This offseason, seven different teams made new head coaching hires, meaning seven different teams also made changes at either one or both coordinator positions.
This year, there were many changes among coordinators that have both the opportunity for great success and complete failure.
Here are four of the worst coordinator changes in the NFL:
Jim Schwartz
Schwartz seemed like he was going to be a great head coach one day when he took over the Detroit Lions, but he never pushed the team past the point of mediocre.
Hired after helping the Tennessee Titans D succeed under Jeff Fisher, Schwartz never did the same for Detroit. Instead, he put together an incredible defensive line, ignoring the second and third levels of the unit.
With the Buffalo Bills, he again has a terrific line to work with, but there are question marks in the second two levels. Will he ignore those holes again?
Kyle Shanahan
Shanahan’s best season came at the same time when Robert Griffin III was the Offensive Rookie of the Year. Coincidence? I think not.
To his credit, Shanahan worked with Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman during his time with the Washington Redskins, and now gets an unproven vet in Brian Hoyer and a rookie in Johnny Manziel. But not once did he make any player other than RGIII “better.”
Shanahan does have a knack for getting a running game going, but his work with quarterbacks remains unimpressive. Hasn’t that been Cleveland’s problem for far too long?
Rod Marinelli
Marinelli’s selection is more due to the situation he’s being thrust into. He’s the third defensive coordinator in as many years, and he’s inheriting a Dallas Cowboys D poised for regression.
Marinelli was promoted into this job in place of Monte Kiffin. Gone is DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher, and the team did nothing to improve its secondary.
During his time with Dallas and the Chicago Bears, Marinelli was a great defensive line coach. But that’s where he belongs.
Romeo Crennel
Crennel has been away from the NFL since 2012 when he was fired as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. If nobody wanted him to coach, that’s a bad sign already.
Crennel has been a good coordinator, but he has never panned out as a head coach, and that has hurt his reputation. He inherits a very talented Houston Texans defense, one that features Jadeveon Clowney and J.J. Watt, and has the potential to be pretty good in 2014.
The issue is that there are a lot of question marks throughout the unit, and I’m not too sure Crennel is the person to solve them.
