2011 NFL Draft: Grading the Performance of the Rookie Head Coaches
It’s been a frustrating off-season so for the NFL’s rookie head coaches.
All of them were handed the keys to the franchise, then forced to leave the car in the garage for the last few months thanks to the lockout.
The draft represented their first real chance to get to work retooling their respective franchises and finally make an impact, either positive or negative, as NFL head men.
The reality is a successful draft can be the first step towards long-term job stability, but a few draft bust in the early rounds are a stone cold lock to get you fired.
Needless to say a lot was on the line for the five NFL rookie coaches (for this exercise we’ll exclude anyone who got to take a test drive last year under the interim title). Let’s grade how they did.
Ron Rivera, Carolina Panthers: B-
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New Carolina coach Ron Rivera got dealt a tough hand inheriting the league’s worst team in a draft without a clear-cut franchise quarterback, so it’s tough to kill him for using his top pick on a QB who at least will provide a much needed boost of enthusiasm for the fan base.
That said, Newton is about as far from a sure thing as you can find from a No. 1 overall pick.
There are concerns about everything from Newton’s accuracy to his attitude, and he comes from an offensive system unlike anything he’ll be asked to run in the NFL.
After swinging for the fences with his first selection, Rivera went back to his defensive roots, using his next two picks to shore up the interior of the Panther’s porous D-line and adding cornerback Brandon Hogan, who has had his own off-field issues but has good physical tools and fills a need.
Regardless of how the rest of the picks pan out, Rivera has hitched his cart to Cam Newton, which is a tenuous position at best and earns him a B-.
Pat Shurmur, Cleveland Browns: A
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There is a reason great coaches like Bill Belichick and Bill Walsh built franchises around trading down in drafts. Every pick is a crap shoot, so the more rolls you get the better chance you have to strike it rich.
The new Browns brain trust of coach Pat Shurmur and team President Mike Holmgren kept cool heads while chaos reigned around them, swapping their No. 6 selection to Atlanta for five of the Falcon’s picks, including a first and fourth rounder next year.
Cleveland then moved up from the bottom of the first round to select one of the draft’s top run stuffers in Phil Taylor, and added a receiver (Greg Little) in the second round who many believe has much upside as any wideout in the draft, including Julio Jones, the player Atlanta moved up to get from Cleveland in the first place.
It all had the feel of a coach and a franchise who went into the draft with a plan and stuck to it, while everyone else around them panicked and starting grabbing quarterbacks like they were oil stock.
To top it off Cleveland added a fourth round pick named Owen who played fullback and inside linebacker, which just might be the most beastly thing in recent memory.
It all adds up a solid A in the eyes of this writer.
Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco 49ers: C+
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The 49ers are a few players and better coaching away from contending in the awful NFC West, which made you wonder why they decided to go for projects over plug-in-and-play with so many of their picks.
The 49ers’ will reportedly ask four of their ten picks to switch positions from what they played in college, starting with top selection Aldon Smith, who will move from defensive end to outside linebacker.
While Smith will take some time adjusting to life off the D-line, he won’t face as steep a learning curve as 49ers’ second round choice Colin Kaepernick.
Harbaugh will put his job and his reputation as a QB guru on the line trying to transform Kaepernick from a shotgun athlete into an efficient west coast quarterback, especially since San Francisco passed on more NFL-ready prospects like Blaine Gabbert at No. 7.
The 49ers did do a nice job of filling holes in the later part of the draft, grabbing a much needed change of pace runner in Kendall Hunter and a downfield receiving threat in Ronald Johnson.
Overall, if felt like Harbaugh and Co. approached the draft like the 49ers are two or three years away from contending and not on the cusp of returning to respectability, which is disappointing for fans, and a bad message to send to veterans like Frank Gore and Patrick Willis who want to win now.
It all earns Harbaugh a C+.
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Mike Munchak, Tennessee Titans: C
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Lots of teams took risks on Thursday, but perhaps no one went farther out on a limb than new Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak.
With the earth still smoldering in Nashville from the fiery trail left by departed QB Vince Young, Munchak used his top selection on another raw, athletic, quarterback, with a perchance for running and trouble throwing from the pocket.
Granted Locker doesn’t have the off-field issues that Young did, but he also doesn’t have the proven track record of winning and does have a history of injuries.
Following Locker, Munchak used six of his remaining eight picks to wisely try an upgrade a Titans' defense that finished 26th in total defense last season and 29th against the pass.
Both second rounder Akeem Ayers and third round selection Jurrell Casey were good value picks who should be able to contribute right away, so Munhack gets bonus points for those selections.
Still, Locker was a major reach at No. 8 and that earns him a straight C.
Hue Jackson, Oakland Raiders: B
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Given the usual craziness around draft day at Raiders headquarters, new coach Hue Jackson’s first haul was surprisingly sane.
The Raiders had holes on the offensive line and cornerback and took two of each with their first four picks.
As per the standing order of Al Davis the Raiders prioritized speed in their selections.
Third round pick DeMarcus Van Dyke clocked the fastest time of any player at this year's scouting combine and fourth rounder Taiwan Jones was the draft’s fastest RB, but neither was a Darrius Heyward-Bey style reach.
Top selection Stefen Wisniewski will not only add toughness to the interior of the Oakland O-line, but he’s the nephew of former Raider great Steve Wisniewski, which works well for Davis who is stuck in 1975 anyway so now he doesn’t have to learn a new name.
Oakland didn’t do anything to strengthen the team’s consistently awful run defense, nor they did they add a quarterback to develop behind Jason Campbell, but you have to grade Jackson on a curve given his team’s dodgy draft history.
He earns a solid B.
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