NFL 2015: Follow the Coordinators

Let the fun begin.

Fans of the National Football League refer to it simply as “Black Monday.” It’s the Monday after the end of the regular season when head coaches get their walking papers following a disappointing season.

Of course, those sideline leaders are more often than not joined on the unemployment line by their assistants.

The reality is that while we look at the head-coaching carousel, offensive and defensive coordinator changes are much more common and frequent from year to year.

For instance, we saw seven NFL franchises change head coach from the start of 2013 to the start of 2014. But last season, there were a dozen new offensive coordinators, which included Houston Texans’ head coach Bill O’Brien serving that role with his team as well.

There were also 10 defensive coordinator changes around the league from the start of the previous season. To make things even more interesting were the names of these coaches on both sides of the ball. Former Texans’ head coach Gary Kubiak was now running the offense in Baltimore, while Detroit Lions’ head coach Jim Schwartz took over the defense with the Buffalo Bills. Other one-time NFL head coaches such as Romeo Crennel, Rod Marinelli, Gregg Williams and Leslie Frazier were now running defenses around the league.

This year, there are at least five head coaching jobs (Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers) up grabs right now (and possibly six if the Oakland Raiders don’t retain interim leader Tony Sparano). We have also seen the Jacksonville Jaguars part ways with offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch and the Washington Redskins break ties with defensive coordinator Jim Haslett.

Speaking of coordinators, Denver’s Adam Gase (offense), Arizona’s Todd Bowles (defense), Detroit’s Teryl Austin (defense) and Seattle’s Dan Quinn (defense) are probably the four names you hear the most when it comes to becoming head coaches in the not-too-distant future.

So what does this all mean? Once the hires begin at head coach (and keep in mind that the Bears and Jets are also looking for new general managers), the dominoes will begin to fall elsewhere. That means once again we will have many more coordinator changes on both sides of the ball. And that will play a huge role in free agency as coaches in new venues begin pitching for players that are familiar with their systems.

Call it the “six degrees of Kevin Bacon.” And who out there doesn’t like bacon.

As the many moves begin, we’ll keep you posted.