Is your favorite football team about to embark on a journey to find a new head coach?
If so, then fear not! The NFL’s Career Development Advisory Panel has shared its list of recommended head coaching candidates to the league’s 32 teams. Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi shared the list of 12 assistant coaches who make the cut:
Many of the other names look familiar for a variety of reasons.
Schwartz coached the Lions to a playoff spot in 2011, but was 29-51 overall in five seasons. Cooter and Edwards are assistants for the Lions and Vikings, respectively, who the Bears see twice a year. Toub and Wilks have prior experience coaching in Chicago. Wilks coached the Bears’ defensive backs from 2006 to 2008, while Toub orchestrated those oh-so-great special teams units from 2004 until 2012.
We’ve discussed Nagy (his Chiefs have averaged 29 points per game since he took over the play calling) and DeFilippo (that Eagles plan looks mighty fine, if you ask me) as candidates in recent weeks, while Campbell is the only coach with prior ties to Bears GM Ryan Pace and his time in New Orleans.
This group features six offensive assistants, five defensive coaches, and one special teams coordinator. Of these candidates, only McDaniels and Shurmur have previous head coaching experience. McDaniels flamed out in Denver before re-establishing his career in his return to New England. Shurmur coached the Cleveland Browns and served as an interim head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.
So while the list might appear to be top heavy with McDaniels as a clear top candidate, there are several directions for the Bears to go based on this list alone. Once they part ways with John Fox, of course.