I don't think Jeff Ireland can lose final say now that it's been written into his contract. Although...when Jeff Ireland and Tony Sparano extended their contracts...didn't I read somewhere that Sparano was given more power over some areas of personnel? Did I read that right? We may have assumed it was Stephen Ross throwing a bone to Sparano, but it may have been more about getting Jeff Ireland to cede some of his authority to the Head Coach, with the idea being that ultimately that Head Coach will be someone other than Sparano.
Well, Wanny lost his final say authority in 2004. Maybe the rules are different for a GM/Exec. VP? I know in other sports you see guys take the so-called "another position in the organization", like when Stan Van Gundy "resigned" as head coach of the Heat but then became a "consultant"
I don't know, but I do know the only reason we were able to pull Jeff Ireland away from the Cowboys was because he would be full GM with final say. I don't know that you can take that away unless you've re-done his contract. I'm just saying good luck getting him to accept the step down. I wouldn't mind Ireland being Director of College Scouting. But I'd like someone like Russ Ball to be the Team President and General Manager, and I'd like him to find someone that is COMPETENT to be Director of Pro Personnel along side Ireland.
You could probably get away with taking the "Exec. VP of Football Ops" title from Ireland and then giving that to somebody else who would then have final say, or be the "tiebreaker". under that scenario Ireland would still be the general manager and thus in charge of the roster.
No you got it right and I looked at it as some form of damage control at the time. You could be correct though. It might have been a way to back Ireland off of control for the next guy. If that was actually going to go down it would seem better suited to just fire Ireland though IMO.
You did. Sparano was given more of a say in the roster makeup. We don't know what that means, but I don't think he was the one behind, say, cutting Crowder and signing Burnett.
Wait a minute if Gruden is here and the GM is hired by his choice with Andrew Luck the #1 pick are they more or less going with the I don't give a damn about anything but helping the kid approach for a while or will the GM try to field a competitive team quickly?
No, but given his "I watched the film" quote awhile back he may have been behind the Marc Colombo mess.
My guess is, Sparano is thinking that he can't start Garner at right tackle because he is using him as a blocking tight end in two tight sets. Of course, Garner is playing blocking tight end because Jeff Ireland didn't properly address the depth at this position. Ireland is at fault for not addressing the tight end position, and Sparano is at fault for placing a higher value on a blocking tight end than a starting right tackle.
That and starting Garner creates 2 holes on the OL, as there goes the backup C/G/T, Colombo is not really fit to play, but if you stick Garner in there and someone else goes down, you have to move Garner and reinsert Colombo. This with the disappointing John Jerry rarely playing, that could be Jimmy Graham, or Tony Maeoki.
Every day reading more and more, and watching Gruden related videos, I get more warm to the idea of him as head coach. How good has he been with draft decisions though? I know he had a sort of pre-built team in TB that he took over the hump, and his Raiders team had a lot of vets.
And why wouldn't you play Garner at RT on most downs and then when you want a 2 TE look move in Colombo to be like a 2nd RG if that's what's going on there? What you've suggested doesn't make much sense. It seems more likely to me that Garner simply isn't healthy enough yet to play a whole game.
