Running "Half the coaches in the league are all but fired" commentary

Remember who you're talking to.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5221872

Rumor implies that the deal for Edwards is done, and the Cheifs may have to part with their #1 pick.

 

Herm packing his bags for Kansas City
Thursday, January 5, 2006

By RANDY LANGE
STAFF WRITER


Gang Green again is looking for another head coach.

Late Wednesday night, 610 Sports radio in Kansas City reported that Herm Edwards would be free to leave the Jets and sign on to coach the Chiefs.

The station reported that a source close to the Chiefs said the compensation deal the teams had been working on for two days was done and that Kansas City would send "two mid-level draft picks" to the Jets in exchange for allowing Edwards to escape the final two years of his contract.

Jets officials could not be reached to confirm the news, but indications into the night had grown more optimistic that the negotiations were picking up speed. A source in Kansas City earlier in the night said, "Things have heated up the last several hours." And a Jets source said a deal was imminent. "There could be something there."

And so Edwards, who for two months chanted the mantra, "I'm happy to be the coach here and I want to be the coach here," appears headed for a news conference in Kansas City, where he coached and scouted for the Chiefs for five seasons in the early-1990s, as soon as Friday.

The so-called "staging process" toward a compensation agreement had been slow, possibly because the Jets decided earlier in the day to circle the wagons and play hardball regarding their now tenuous coaching situation.

It is believed owner Woody Johnson, president Jay Cross, general manager Terry Bradway and assistant GM Mike Tannenbaum talked at noon, possibly on a teleconference - without Edwards, who was said to be at Weeb Ewbank Hall working - to discuss a fair price to let Edwards out of the two-year, $4 million extension that he and the Jets struck after the 2003 season.

The NFL Network reported Tuesday that the sides were discussing "mid-round draft picks," but it's clear that even though Bradway and Kansas City president Carl Peterson are longtime friends, there was a difference of opinion on fair market value.

The Chiefs were rumored to want to give up third- and fifth-round picks. The Jets were believed to be arguing for something more like the 2001 second-round selection and 2002 third-round pick the Chiefs sent St. Louis to get Dick Vermeil, even though retired for a year, out of his Rams' contract.

Indications were if the sides couldn't agree on compensation, the Jets would say thanks but no thanks and would then tell Edwards he must continue to serve as Jets coach, not with a new two-year extension but under the terms of his existing contract.

Edwards told some in the team's complex Wednesday he didn't know what was going on regarding his situation. And his agent, Gary O'Hagan of IMG Football, declined comment.

But a person familiar with the situation said Johnson's position regarding big-ticket items such as a new Edwards deal and a long-term contract for defensive end John Abraham was frustrating.

"Has Woody said anything since mid-December about how much he wants to keep Herm?" the person asked rhetorically. "That's not good."

Indeed, other unspecified economic concerns not directly involved with Edwards may have forced the Jets-Chiefs talks to a crawl before they picked up speed.

Peterson, who goes back with Edwards to the USFL's Philadelphia Stars, the Philadelphia Eagles and even UCLA of the early-'70s, when Peterson tried to recruit Edwards to play for the Bruins, was said to be on the East Coast on Wednesday, but not to meet with Edwards.

He was in Baltimore to talk with former Giants coach Jim Fassel, among the 10-plus candidates he is interviewing to fill the job vacated by Vermeil's Sunday retirement.

If the Jets and K.C. officially sign off today on a package that would let Edwards walk, the Jets would replace the Chiefs as one of eight NFL teams searching for a head coach and possibly an entirely new staff.

Offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger and special teams coach Mike Westhoff, who also has the title of assistant head coach, would be possible candidates to replace Edwards, and defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson will interview in the next few days for New Orleans' head-coaching vacancy. But it is believed that none of the three will be among the front-runners for an opening with the Jets.

E-mail: [email protected]

 

#1s for a coach is riduculous, IMO. But then again, 4 of the last 5 have been won by that equation.

It's a good fit for KC, and you can justify the pick by saying that they don't have that high a pick, but they still need that pick.

 

they interviewed carthon yesterday. Everyone they are bringing in is of a 'tough disciplinarian' type mindset. millen is sick of finesse nice guy coaches...he wants someone that is of the same personality he is.

Hopefully the bears lose and they can bring in rivera. that guy just looks mean as hell.

haslett comes in today. millen likes him for some reason...he is at the bottom of my list.

 

edwards is relatively underpaid as well...considering his teams are usually in the playoffs or in the hunt.

 

I have yet to see Mooch's name on anyone's list...

 

:minigoats :minigoats :minigoats :minigoats :minigoats
:minigoats :minigoats :minigoats
:minigoats :minigoats :minigoats :minigoats :minigoats

 

or Martz' either

 

Edward would be a great fit in KC, especially if he keeps most of the staff together. They have some talent on defense so he could probably get it playing better. I would not want to give up a first round pick for him though. Maybe the Jets will take less.