Sports Time Radio

I get the impression that there weren’t as many NFL head coaching openings as the pundits thought there would be. It actually started during the regular season when the Carolina Panthers and the Washington Redskins parted ways with their head coaches. At the end of the regular season the New York Giants and the Cleveland Browns decided they’d ne making a change at the head coaching position as well. Then finally this week the Dallas Cowboys finally made their decision on Jason Garrett, but they used the term “moving on” instead of firing.

Interestingly it didn’t take very long for four of these five teams to find new head coaches. The Redskins quickly made a move and hired Ron Rivera who was just let go by Carolina. Then even though Dallas was the last of these teams to decide to change head coaches it didn’t take them long to hire a new one. The Cowboys interviewed just two head coaching candidates and they decided that Mike McCarthy the former Green Bay Packers head coach would be their new head coach. Then yesterday the Panthers and the Giants made their choices for head coach. Carolina was the only team so far to reach into the college ranks for their new head coach as they hired Matt Rhule away from the University of Baylor. The Giants made what has the be the hiring that surprised most people as they went with Joe Judge who was the New England Patriots Wide Receiver/Special Teams coach. So we’re just waiting for Cleveland to hire a new head coach and they’ve said they’d like to have someone in place by Saturday.

Coming into the off season it looked like Cleveland was the best of the open positions with Dallas not far behind; so it’s a bit of a surprise that Cleveland is the only team in the NFL without a head coach. There have been a lot of names banded about and it doesn’t seem like there’s a front runner for the job right now. Who do you think the Browns will end up hiring as their new head coach?

The other interesting thing we might see in the NFL when free agency starts is who might be available. It’s actually possible that Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers could all be on the open market.

Tom Brady is 42 years old and is coming off what may have been the worse year of his career. Now it did come out yesterday that Brady was dealing with foot and elbow injuries; so you have to wonder how much those injuries had to do with his down year. Patriots owner Bob Kraft has already come out and said that they’re interested in bringing Brady back. Remember with the way Brady’s contract was structured the Patriots can’t use the franchise or transition tags on him. It would be weird to see Brady in another uniform besides the Patriots, but it looks like that may actually happen.

Drew Brees will turn 41 years old in a week. He set the record for most passing yards in a career this season, but there have been some questions lately about his arm strength. Brees averaged 7.9 yards per passing attempt and while that down a little from his last two seasons it’s actually better than his career average. If the Saints can’t workout a new deal with Brees they could use either a franchise or transition tag on him if they do want to keep him. Even though Brees did start his career with the San Diego Chargers; he’s a Saint and like Brady it would be odd to see him in another uniform.

Philip Rivers just turned 38 years old last month and not only are we waiting to see if the now Los Angeles Chargers have any interest in bringing him back, but if Rivers is interested in continuing to play in the NFL. Rivers has thrown for 4200 or more yards in each of the last seven seasons, but this season he only threw three more touchdowns 23 than interceptions 20. Rivers has played in and started all 16 games for the Chargers since 2006 and someone else under center for the Chargers would look strange. Out of these three veteran quarterbacks Rivers seems to be the only one who’s team isn’t sure if they’d like him back.

If these three quarterbacks do change teams; where would they go? Would one of the teams that are going to be drafting a quarterback be interested in bringing one of these quarterbacks in to mentor their rookie quarterback? How many teams that have quarterbacks would be willing to bring in one of these guys and give them the starting quarterback job over the guy they have? There should be a couple of teams that have an opening at the quarterback position and you’d have to think that if they think there in a position to win they’d be interested in one of these three quarterbacks.

Where do you think these three veteran and probably Hall of Fame quarterbacks end up? Do they all end up back with their teams? Or is it at all possible that one or more of them could be wearing a different jersey next season? Whatever happens with these three quarterbacks it will add some intrigue to NFL free agency when it starts.

As far as Schaumburg Stu’s picks went for wild card weekend. Well he ended up spitting his picks going 2-2. On Saturday he correctly picked the Houston Texans, but he also had the New England Patriots on Saturday. His Sunday didn’t start well as he had the New Orleans Saints, but he got his record back to .500 by picking the Seattle Seahawks in late Sunday game. On this Friday’s edition of Sports Time Radio Stu will make his picks for the divisional round.

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