Weird Hypothetical

ramblnwrek

ramblnwrek

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It will never happen, but it occurred to me the other day. A team like the Cleveland Browns, who have not had a winning season in over 10 years (had 10 wins in 2007). Would they have any incline to just say 'F*** it, we have tried everything else. Paul Johnson, you wanna run the option in the NFL?'

I mean what have they got to lose, right? They just went 0-16 and might crack 4 wins this year after just firing their coach. And if you are going to go crazy and use the option, you might want to get the best in the business. I am reminded of a saying "If it is stupid but works, it is no longer stupid"

Just random musings while we see how the GT season unfolds.
 
It would be like watching them play Clemson every week. Too much speed.
 
ramblnwrek said:
It will never happen, but it occurred to me the other day. A team like the Cleveland Browns, who have not had a winning season in over 10 years (had 10 wins in 2007). Would they have any incline to just say 'F*** it, we have tried everything else. Paul Johnson, you wanna run the option in the NFL?'

I mean what have they got to lose, right? They just went 0-16 and might crack 4 wins this year after just firing their coach. And if you are going to go crazy and use the option, you might want to get the best in the business. I am reminded of a saying "If it is stupid but works, it is no longer stupid"

Just random musings while we see how the GT season unfolds.
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The key thing would be the Browns' calculation whether being laughing-stocks means it doesn't matter if people laugh at you for something else, or if it makes it worse when they laugh at you for something else. Because the talking heads would have a field day.

It would be glorious, though, and it might prompt me to start watching the NFL again... if only to hear the color guys generate their stock cliches, and opposing coaches generate the stock complaints.

But I promise you this – the NFL is a much more efficient decision-making machine than the NCAA. They will change the rules week-by-week if necessary to squash it, should it prove successful and should the non-option owners decide they don't like it. The experiment wouldn't last one season if they didn't want it to.
 
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ThisIsAtlanta said:
One would have thought that Saban would be proof dispositive of the "program builder" type's effectiveness in the NFL.
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I don't know. Saban was 15-17 in two years. I think the issue was more that Saban didn't like the NFL, rather than that the NFL didn't like Saban.

I'm not sure whether Dabo's style would work in the NFL. Is he too goofy? But in fact good leaders come in many different molds. Who knows?
 
ramblnwrek said:
It will never happen, but it occurred to me the other day. A team like the Cleveland Browns, who have not had a winning season in over 10 years (had 10 wins in 2007). Would they have any incline to just say 'F*** it, we have tried everything else. Paul Johnson, you wanna run the option in the NFL?'

I mean what have they got to lose, right? They just went 0-16 and might crack 4 wins this year after just firing their coach. And if you are going to go crazy and use the option, you might want to get the best in the business. I am reminded of a saying "If it is stupid but works, it is no longer stupid"

Just random musings while we see how the GT season unfolds.
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Not a chance
 
18in32 said:
I don't know. Saban was 15-17 in two years. I think the issue was more that Saban didn't like the NFL, rather than that the NFL didn't like Saban.

I'm not sure whether Dabo's style would work in the NFL. Is he too goofy? But in fact good leaders come in many different molds. Who knows?
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To make a very long story short, Saban didn't like the NFL because the power structure of it simply didn't allow him to wield the level of control he needs to work his system, the personality issues aside (and those did definitely matter). Not to mention "recruiting" is quite a different monster at that level. Dabo is obviously a much more collaborative leader than Saban was, but I don't know that he'd encounter too much more success, especially in an organization that is plagued from positions other than the head coach. I don't know that Dabo gets too much push back from boosters or AA personnel at Clemson in terms of who he recruits and starts, but he would certainly have to deal with that in the NFL from the GM and the owners, as well as guys who not only think they are all that and a bag of chips, but whose rookie / free agent contracts also state such.

IMO, the best transitions from college to the NFL these days are going to revolve around guys who have tons of raw X and O brainpower, and the ability to adapt their leadership styles to new situations. I think Dabo might be a better fit than Saban on that latter score, but how well will the "hire good coordinators" mode of X and O operation work in the NFL? And what will it really leave a head coach to do in an organization where he's more of a consultant in the management decisions than a CEO?

I certainly wouldn't look at it as a sure bet. But then again, I don't manage any NFL teams. Who knows indeed.
 
thegtstunner08 said:
It would be like watching them play Clemson every week. Too much speed.
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This doesn't make sense. We don't just struggle against Clemson because they're fast. We struggle because they're faster than we are. If we had Kyler Murray at QB, AJ Dillon at B-back, Travis Etienne at A-back, and 4/5* players across our OL, we'd put up 400 yards rushing on Clemson's defense too (and torch them through the air).

There are 2 reasons we won't see the option in the NFL.

1) Quarterbacks are too valuable and teams won't want them taking hits like running backs.
2) The NFL is not an innovative league. That's why you see conservative coaches like Chan Gailey getting hired and guys like Paul Johnson, Mike Leach, Gus Malzahn, Urban Meyer, etc. staying in college. The NFL wants to see something have consistent success at a lower level first before trying it at the highest level.
 
ThisIsAtlanta said:
I don't know that Dabo gets too much push back from boosters or AA personnel at Clemson in terms of who he recruits and starts, but he would certainly have to deal with that in the NFL from the GM and the owners, as well as guys who not only think they are all that and a bag of chips, but whose rookie / free agent contracts also state such.
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I don't know how much pushback Dabo gets, but if he doesn't, it's because he demonstrated ever-increasing success, has now won a NC, and is still at that level. If he slips down, it won't be long before he has to put up with the same second guessing and internal power struggles that afflict everyone. There's only one antidote to second guessing, and it's winning.
 
Broncos seemed to be flirting with it with Tebow there for a few years. It’s at least worth thinking about as an NFL owner. Your pay structure would be different enough from every other team that it could be very beneficial. Meaning you’d be spending less on QBs (other people not wanting them) and you could spend more on defense. And your season has less of a chance of being torpedoed with an injury to QB because you’d be able to afford several guys capable of running it at a high level.

Probably not, but GMs with teams that aren’t performing would be dumb to not at least consider it.
 
18in32 said:
I don't know how much pushback Dabo gets, but if he doesn't, it's because he demonstrated ever-increasing success, has now won a NC, and is still at that level. If he slips down, it won't be long before he has to put up with the same second guessing and internal power struggles that afflict everyone. There's only one antidote to second guessing, and it's winning.
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Even then, it's a different animal when compared to what he'd face in the NFL even if he did have some level of consistent success (depending on the team perhaps). Boosters donate and influence, owners own.
 
ScionOfSouthland said:
Dabo to the NFL is guaranteed failure
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I can't think of any reason why he'd want to leave Clemson for Alabama, the NFL, or anywhere else. He's built an absolute juggernaut and seems to be having a blast doing it.

What does Alabama offer that Clemson doesn't, other than impossible-to-reach expectations and no bank of goodwill like he has at Clemson?

As far as NFL, I think he would know that isn't a good fit for him. Neither his personality nor his skill-set lend itself to the NFL head coach demands.
 
How to win in college:
  1. Have more money & academic freedoms than everyone else
  2. Hire a coach with a good scheme
  3. Hire the most expensive coordinators and an army of analysts
  4. Get the university to fund pet projects
  5. Get boosters to pay recruits

All of that goes out the window with the parity of the NFL
 
gtrower said:
Broncos seemed to be flirting with it with Tebow there for a few years. It’s at least worth thinking about as an NFL owner. Your pay structure would be different enough from every other team that it could be very beneficial. Meaning you’d be spending less on QBs (other people not wanting them) and you could spend more on defense. And your season has less of a chance of being torpedoed with an injury to QB because you’d be able to afford several guys capable of running it at a high level.

Probably not, but GMs with teams that aren’t performing would be dumb to not at least consider it.
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The closest it came to happening was when the Dolphins used the wildcat. It turned them from 1-15 the previous season into a playoff team the following season. However, by the time the playoffs came around the AFC defenses had figured out how to shut them down. After getting crushed by Baltimore, the wildcat disappeared and hasn't come back.
 
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