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Coaching Carousel 2026
- Thread starter rossihunter2
- Start date
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
Would be more than ok with that. Just really hoping he has a good OC in mind
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Not in the second round. Hafley did virtual on the 14th. In-person was the 19th. He was hired that day.
The same back, however. This was James Conner at 26 and 27 under Kingsbury and inexplicably the older version at 28 and 29 without.
And that offensive line retained most of its starters. D.J. Humphries, Kelvin Beachum, Rodney Hudson. Neither of the guards they replaced were adept lane openers. Kingsbury's insistence on spinning the wheel at skill positions and constant spelling has been one of the most frustrating aspects about all of his tenures.
None of his running backs have gotten into a groove. Even at USC, with MarShawn Lloyd averaging 7.1 YPC, he didn't reach a 1,000 yards with Austin Jones involved. This year, they talked up Jacory Croskey-Merritt, he dashes for 82 yards on 10 carries and doesn't see double digits for a month. In fact, since 2019, in neither the pros nor college has a Kingsbury-called offense had a thousand yard rusher. For those hoping for more of Derrick Henry, that's not a promising outlook.
And to top it off, they selected Trey McBride, a ready-made TE with 1,100+ yards in college and used him as a run blocking complement to Zach Ertz until the last 5 games of the year.
I don't despise the idea of Kingsbury's potential arrival. He's a fast starter with overall success in his first season wherever he goes. But the fact that his offenses continuously fell flat to finish the year, coupled with the potential questions in projected usage of our RBs, and the fact that he was just let go for clamoring for a college-style offense with likely less audibling. It just feels like a tether to what we're hoping to leave behind.
That's my bad. Could have sworn he was a couple of days earlier but time is a construct apparently
You just talking or you seeing this somewhere? Lol
gtalk12
Ravens Ring of Honor
All up and down my feed
Davesta
Ravens Ring of Honor
Meh. Same ole Ravens.
so I guess you wouldn't be happy with Mike Macdonald as head coach either?
He hasn't coached here since 2020 either.
I think I seen one post earlier but I’m not seeing anything recently about it. Care to share any?
Anyone have access to this article and down to share it here? Lol
ravenslord
Ravens Ring of Honor
We absolutely need a defensive minded coach. Defense is key in the cold weather and playoffs and travels well if you have to play away games.
It's critical we get back to Ravens dominant D!
welcome to the browns, I mean the Falcons. Thankfully they have some talent on offense.
The secret to great NFL defense in this era? Having a premium nickel
Ted NguyenJan. 21, 2026 6:30 am EST
There’s a key to taking an NFL defense to the next level in today’s game: Get a premium nickel corner.
The best defenses in the league don’t just have good players at nickel, they have difference-makers playing in a spot that was once reserved for a third corner, not good enough to play outside. Look no further than this year’s playoff teams to see examples: The Seattle Seahawks’ Nick Emmanwori, the Houston Texans’ Jalen Pitre, the Los Angeles Rams’ Quentin Lake, the Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin James and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Cooper DeJean are all standout nickels.
DeJean has been the glue for an Eagles defense that had an exodus of talent from their Super Bowl-winning unit. Baltimore Ravens nickel Kyle Hamilton is one of the best defenders in the league, and rookie Emmanwori is following his footsteps playing in the same system in Seattle. Each one of these players was a first- or second-round pick.
Ted Nguyen's nickel ranking
| 1 |  Kyle Hamilton | Ravens |
| 2 |  Cooper DeJean | Eagles |
| 3 |  Derwin James | Chargers |
| 4 |  Nick Emmanwori | Seahawks |
| 5 |  Jalen Pitre | Texans |
| 6 |  Quentin Lake | Rams |
 Seahawks | 1 | 94.6% (1) |
 Texans | 2 | 74.8% (8) |
 Rams | 4 | 71.8% (11) |
 Eagles | 7 | 73.4% (9) |
 Chargers | 10 | 76.4% (7) |
 Ravens | 17 | 88.3% (2) |
Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who is running a system derived from Macdonald’s, told The Athletic that the nickel’s skills can decide the initial direction his system evolves from.
“If they’re a really good zone defender and can read run/pass well and can play like passing lanes and things like that, then you’re probably leaning on zone,” Minter said. “Maybe they’re a really good blitzer like Derwin or Kyle Hamilton, like those type of guys where they’re now in a super disruptive spot. And then maybe it is a guy that’s better at playing man. We played a little bit more man at Michigan when Mikey Sainristil was our nickel. I think it’s not necessarily, ‘we have to have this type of guy,’ but whoever the best guy is to play that spot will determine the initial direction that you go with that particular unit (in) your first year.”
James played all over the place before Minter was hired in Los Angeles, but he was intentional in making sure James would stay close to the ball by shoring up both free safety positions to be protected on the back end. This season, James played the lowest rate of snaps on the back end than ever in his career, and he arguably was the most impactful he’s ever been.
“When I came here, I really spent a ton of time in meetings watching the 2023 Ravens film,” Minter said, to see what was working with Hamilton. “Because meeting Derwin and watching his film, I thought he can just get pulled away from the game too much at (free) safety, honestly. And he’s impactful when he’s close to the ball and things like that. So really, we just studied what Mike Macdonald did with Kyle.”
Nickels such as Hamilton and Emmanwori also can change how a defense plays upfront. Hamilton has the rare ability to play on the line of scrimmage, so he doesn’t just play off-ball linebacker; at times, he can line up on the line of scrimmage and play the edge, which allows the Ravens to stay in their odd fronts with their sub personnel.
Week 17, 12:57 remaining in the second quarter, second-and-2
On this play, Green Bay Packers tight end Luke Musgrave motioned to attach to the left end. As he motioned in, Hamilton moved up to the line of scrimmage, and the defense formed a bastardized 3-4 front, with Hamilton playing edge linebacker, a position typically manned by players such as T.J. Watt.
Above is an image from Fangio’s playbook with a 3-4 front with base personnel and two-deep coverage behind it. The Ravens essentially lined up on this front but had a lot more coverage flexibility with Hamilton on the field.
After the snap, Hamilton took on the block from Musgrave and pushed him into the backfield while keeping his shoulders squared to the line of scrimmage. This would have been an excellent rep for a true outside linebacker, but it’s nothing short of spectacular for Hamilton, who can also shut down Musgrave in man coverage on passes.
Hamilton forced the run inside, where the runner was tackled for a short gain.
The Ravens bolstered their safeties, drafting Malaki Starks in the first round and trading for Alohi Gilman midseason so they could ensure Hamilton was free to play upfront. That helped shore up their run defense, which struggled at the beginning of the season.
In Seattle, though Macdonald traditionally uses the 3-4 as his base front (as in the image above), Emmanwori has turned them into a 4-3 (four down linemen, three off-ball linebackers).
“In terms of how you manage your roster, really (Emmanwori’s) playing a linebacker position,” Macdonald told reporters earlier in the week. “We’re really kind of turning into like a 4-3 base team with a crazy athletic sam (linebacker), is what we are. When we go to dime, we’re really a nickel 4-3 team. I think the cool thing that our front allows us to do, what Nick allows us to do, is we get some front variety that normally you wouldn’t get out of a true four-down team, and I think that’s been pretty cool what we’ve been able to create.”
Week 18, 7:23 remaining in the first quarter, first-and-10
Against the 49ers’ 21 personnel (two backs, one tight end and two receivers) grouping, the Seahawks kept their nickel personnel on the field with Emmanwori lining up as an off-ball linebacker. The Seahawks defense was essentially in a 4-3 look, but with Emmanwori as a hyper-athletic linebacker.
The crux of the 49ers offense is being able to punish defenses with the run game when they go small and punish defenses with the pass game when they go back. Tight end George Kittle and fullback Kyle Juszczyk are typically able to dominate defensive backs as run blockers, but Emmanwori is different. Juszczyk went to the second level, and Emmanwori punched him with both hands in the chest, knocking him back.
Christian McCaffrey tried to run underneath Juszczyk’s block, but Emmanwori was able to shed the block and stop McCaffrey for a short gain. When the 49ers tried to pass, Emmanwori tightly covered McCaffrey on some snaps and Kittle on others.
The physicality to be able to take on blocks from tight ends and fullbacks is a rare trait for a defensive back, but it will be highly valuable against modern, physical offenses. It’s still secondary to being able to defend the pass, but offenses are trending toward using heavy personnel. Defensive coaches don’t want to move backward and start using 250-pound linebackers again and risk getting exposed in coverage.
Finding two safeties who can protect the deep parts of the field to allow your most versatile defensive back to play near the line of scrimmage could be a formula we see defenses try to emulate. The nickel position has evolved so much that coaches might even dedicate a specialized coach to them.
“I do think that’s something I would consider at the next place,” Minter said. “For us, our secondary often meets together, and so they’re in that room from a pass-coverage standpoint. They’re with the safeties during some drills, they’re with corners during some drills. We’d get with the linebackers in certain run fit situations.”
Every defensive coordinator’s call sheet is significantly bigger for their sub personnel groupings than for their base groupings. They can call more coverages, blitzes and adjustments with their nickel on the field, so having the ability to do so while remaining credible against the run has proved to be the most valuable for defenses.
“The nickel now has become a premium position, a defensive-defining position,” Eagles safeties coach Joe Kasper told The Athletic. “So having that length and strength is a big advantage, you know, to be able to reroute and disrupt releases of routes. Foot speed to be able to match routes when you’re talking about being able to play true single-high coverage. And then your vision to be able to identify route concepts.”
The ability to quickly process information in a short distance is also essential. Whether they are in the box or playing 1 to 3 yards away from a three-receiver bunch, they have to see and read their keys in an instant.
“They have to identify and have a feel for time and distance in a quicker setting than a safety would,” Kasper said. “A safety has about 7 to 12 yards to be able to process and then make his first move. The nickel doesn’t have that. He has to make his first movement within those first 4 to 5 yards.”
Though Hamilton, Emmanwori and Pitre are bigger nickels, DeJean, who could be the best at the position, is 6 feet, 203 pounds. He’s unique in that he can play outside corner while having all of the skills and processing ability to play inside. He does everything at a high level, and Fangio has weaponized everything he does in the Eagles’ scheme. A season after their Super Bowl run, they had an exodus of talent, but DeJean, who plays outside corner on base downs and nickel in every other personnel package, holds the defense together.
Super Bowl LIX, 7:38 remaining in the second quarter, third-and-16
On DeJean’s game-changing interception in Super Bowl LIX, the Eagles were in quarters coverage with DeJean responsible for the flats and linebacker Zack Baun responsible for the inside wall (taking anything coming inside).
The Kansas City Chiefs tried to flood the flat with multiple routes, but the Eagles played it perfectly. Baun took the flat route, which triggered DeJean to switch assignments with him. DeJean smartly floated back toward the sideline because he knew that’s where the Chiefs wanted to attack on this play. He was in a position to play the comeback from the outside receiver and the crosser.
DeJean knew Patrick Mahomes was looking for the crosser despite the play’s design and Mahomes’ trying to move him to the sideline. He moved inside and picked off the pass.
“Look at the interception Cooper had in the Super Bowl, you know, the evolution of our scheme where Zack Baun is attaching to the low piece and Cooper DeJean is going back into the intermediate part of the field,” Kasper said. “There isn’t a quarter flat defender that’s doing that in the NFL other than Cooper. And part of that is the scheme that we have, but Cooper enables us to be able to play that way.”
So, where do you find these types of players? The truth is, they are very rare, akin to finding great quarterbacks. You can find 32 guys who can play the position, but there are maybe five to 10 nickels who are truly exceptional game-changers. And if they are available in the draft, they should be bona fide first-round picks.
“The value of a great nickel is way higher than what most personnel departments think,” Kasper said. “Most personnel departments are really way behind the times. They think that they need the outside guy first and the inside guy second, and you know that inside piece is really a mid-round type guy. I totally disagree (with their going that low), the way that the game is going. When you look at it, you look at these offenses that run in-breaking routes off of reductions, and then that is already defeating quarter leverage. And then we talk like, ‘Oh, well, the corner is still the most important one.’ I just think that that’s grossly inaccurate if you’re talking about keeping up with the times.”
The thought of nickels catching up and getting even with the value of outside corners in the eyes of some coaches and evaluators is paradigm shifting, but with how offenses are attacking the middle of the field with both the run and pass game, strengthening the spine of your defense with versatility is essential.
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
Minter/Tee Martin?
Minter/Kingsbury?
Minter/GRo?
Minter/Kingsbury?
Minter/GRo?
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
Wtf my guy