I was one at the time. Always said with it that he was at the top of the "in like" candidates for me after a bunch of the guys I was in love with got scooped up for jobs. Such as: Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Gary Kubiak, Bruce Arians, Pete Carroll, Rex Ryan, Jim Caldwell, Chip Kelly........that's it I think? Those were the guys I fell in love with over the years and would've taken ahead of Hue.
Hue was in the next category of guys just below that. I still think he's a very good offensive mind and think he might be able to work in a different situation but it would have to be something specific and almost definitely with a veteran-filled organization and I would no longer give him a ton of power. Before I would have been more negotiable on giving him a bit more control, though not full.
I also did say I did not love the Cleveland fit (obviously) and it very well could be one of those situations of grading him more for how well will he set up the cupboard for the NEXT guy to take over to make the next step than him making all those steps himself. I probably thought he'd leave the cupboard looking a little bit better than he did but again some of that was me misjudging the people he allowed to be put around him. Was not a fan of many of those guys. I was wrong on that part of it, too.
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Obviously I have more respect for the Baltimore Ravens entire organization than almost everyone on the planet but if the Ravens moved on from Harbaugh soon, that would be one of the spots that would be interesting to see what he could do there. (And I'm not advocating for the Ravens to move on from Harbaugh because he WAS on my all-time list).
The Ravens are going to have some front office turnover by their measuring stick here soon so that could change how I feel about that but that type of stability with some of those football minds would be a fit that I'd have interest in if we were talking about Hue's next opportunity.
Would I ever drive the Hue Jackson 2nd chance bandwagon? No. I'm not going there. I'm just trying to come up with a specific situation where I could become an advocate for Hue to get another shot at it and see.
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About the only guy that's been left on my "in love" shelf for a while now has been Urban Meyer but that's really been a topic of discussion and something I've thought a lot about lately obviously given everything that's surrounded him for a while now.
Before all that he was far and away my favorite target for a football team to go after hard if they had the chance. I'd really have to put in some time and thought if that ever became close to a possibility again. Not sure we'll ever get to that point anymore now where it might be like it seemed for a while there.
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There is a SERIOUS lack of good coaching talent around the game anymore now IMO. Maybe I'm wrong, and obviously I don't know everything about everyone or even close, but I like to think I'm one of the most well researched people out there when it comes to that type of thing (challenge me on something if you think otherwise; I welcome it) and I just don't see a ton of interesting names out there any more after a lot of my favorites were scooped up over the last decade or so.
I go back and forth kicking myself over the Sean McVay thing. I'm angry because now I can see he fits the bill and checks so many of the boxes of things I look for with a candidate but I didn't see it at the time. Then I go back and think how hard it was to really compile too long of a profile on him, mostly due to his age and lack of people who actually worked with him that have spoke on him, and I feel a little bit better for missing out on some of that stuff but that one really bugs me currently.
