2025-26 NFL Thread

[The Sultan]

Much like MLF, Chip Kelly was a brilliant offensive mind (more brilliant and innovative than MLF in his prime, IMO) that hasn't evolved as the league caught up and adopted/adapted much of what he did.  Which is a shame cause he's seemingly a good dude and entertaining/frank personality for the league.  I hope he goes back to college cause I still think he can be a good CFB OC (though its not hard to be a good OC with the studs OSU has).

Chip was never a great offensive guy in the NFL. He made the playoffs once with Philadelphia playing a fourth place schedule. His Oregon offense was revolutionary however.

[Uncle Rico]

Actually the perfect counter for what Pakuni said about Stafford.  McCarthy also has a very good offensive mind as a HC and elite receivers (Jefferson is the best of the bunch, but Adams and Nacua combined probably top Jetta and Addison.  Though Hockenson easily clears the Rams TEs).  But even with that McCarthy is totally hopeless.  Not every QB could do what Stafford is doing even with that, but it takes a special kind of terrible to be as bad as he has been.

I commented a few weeks ago that he was awful but had a drive a game where he'd look great...appears that was fleeting and gone too.  He could be serviceable in a system like SF (I don't think he and Purdy are all that dissimilar, Purdy just played on decent ISU teams, didn't manage a national championship winning offense)

Much like MLF, Chip Kelly was a brilliant offensive mind (more brilliant and innovative than MLF in his prime, IMO) that hasn't evolved as the league caught up and adopted/adapted much of what he did.  Which is a shame cause he's seemingly a good dude and entertaining/frank personality for the league.  I hope he goes back to college cause I still think he can be a good CFB OC (though its not hard to be a good OC with the studs OSU has).

Kelly never adapted once teams were able to counter his tempo driven offenses when the rules were changed to allow for substitution matches.  Speed in space has been countered as well with defensives moving towards quicker linebackers and schemes.

It's remarkable that he never found a real counter to this.

[JWags85]

Chip was never a great offensive guy in the NFL. He made the playoffs once with Philadelphia playing a fourth place schedule. His Oregon offense was revolutionary however.

I mean, he wasn't a great coach in the NFL, but his offense cooked those first two years and turned a mediocre Nick Foles into a stat machine.  Even that second year when they missed the playoffs he had a top 5 offense that scored 30 points a game....with Mark Sanchez playing half the season as the starter.

Kelly never adapted once teams were able to counter his tempo driven offenses when the rules were changed to allow for substitution matches.  Speed in space has been countered as well with defensives moving towards quicker linebackers and schemes.

It's remarkable that he never found a real counter to this.

Yea, thats sort of what I got at.  When he revolutionized things, he caught everyone off guard.  But the NFL adapts at lightning speed, as they always do, and he never transformed.  Spending the last decade in college and out of the NFL probably didn't help.  Was honestly surprised he took the Raiders gig actually.

[Uncle Rico]

I mean, he wasn't a great coach in the NFL, but his offense cooked those first two years and turned a mediocre Nick Foles into a stat machine.  Even that second year when they missed the playoffs he had a top 5 offense that scored 30 points a game....with Mark Sanchez playing half the season as the starter.

Yea, thats sort of what I got at.  When he revolutionized things, he caught everyone off guard.  But the NFL adapts at lightning speed, as they always do, and he never transformed.  Spending the last decade in college and out of the NFL probably didn't help.  Was honestly surprised he took the Raiders gig actually.

I don't think he likes college football and took the first thing he could

[Pakuni]

Actually the perfect counter for what Pakuni said about Stafford.  McCarthy also has a very good offensive mind as a HC and elite receivers (Jefferson is the best of the bunch, but Adams and Nacua combined probably top Jetta and Addison.  Though Hockenson easily clears the Rams TEs).  But even with that McCarthy is totally hopeless.  Not every QB could do what Stafford is doing even with that, but it takes a special kind of terrible to be as bad as he has been.

McCarthy has been bad, but we're also talking about a guy with six career starts vs a guy with 233. And unlike the Rams, the Vikings O-line is a dumpster fire. Not projecting anything about McCarthy's future, but I wouldn't comp his situation to Stafford's.
Stafford, fwiw, threw 5 TDs against 12 INTs while completing just 53.7% of his passes during his first six starts. And he was only throwing to some bum named Calvin Johnson.

Much like MLF, Chip Kelly was a brilliant offensive mind (more brilliant and innovative than MLF in his prime, IMO) that hasn't evolved as the league caught up and adopted/adapted much of what he did.  Which is a shame cause he's seemingly a good dude and entertaining/frank personality for the league.  I hope he goes back to college cause I still think he can be a good CFB OC (though its not hard to be a good OC with the studs OSU has).

Despite some initial success in Philly, his offense just doesn't translate to the NFL. He's great at identifying and exploiting talent mismatches, but you don't get as many in the NFL as you do in college, especially when you're coaching the less-talented team.
Worst yet, he didn't adapt his pass protection schemes. The Raiders lost the very good LT Kolton Miller earlier this year and replaced him with the very bad Stone Forsyth. Despite that, according to a stat I saw today, he left the LT on an island on 78% of dropbacks. You can get away with that a little with a really good pass blocker. Try it with Stone Forsyth against Myles Garrett, and your QB gets sacked 10 times.
And he seems to have been intent on making Ashton Jeanty hate football.

[RJax55]

I don't think he likes college football and took the first thing he could

It helped that the Raiders were paying him a stupid amount, $6 million a year. That's a number in the HC bracket, not coordinator market.

The Raiders received a lot of praise for their offseason moves. Pretty much all the moves have been awful in retrospect.

[The Sultan]

McCarthy has been bad, but we're also talking about a guy with six career starts vs a guy with 233. And unlike the Rams, the Vikings O-line is a dumpster fire. Not projecting anything about McCarthy's future, but I would comp his situation to Stafford's.
Stafford, fwiw, threw 5 TDs against 12 INTs while completing just 53.7% of his passes during his first six starts. And he was only throwing to some bum named Calvin Johnson.

He may not be a lost cause, but it's pretty bad.

https://athlonsports.com/nfl/j-j-mccarthy-highlights-minnesota-vikings-benching

I guess now he is in the concussion protocol, which doesn't surprise me. He got hit pretty hard on a run, I think in the first half, where he looked pretty dazed. I was actually surprised that the independent concussion guy didn't call down.

[Uncle Rico]

He may not be a lost cause, but it's pretty bad.

https://athlonsports.com/nfl/j-j-mccarthy-highlights-minnesota-vikings-benching

I guess now he is in the concussion protocol, which doesn't surprise me. He got hit pretty hard on a run, I think in the first half, where he looked pretty dazed. I was actually surprised that the independent concussion guy didn't call down.

Concussions aren't real

[GB Warrior]

Kelly never adapted once teams were able to counter his tempo driven offenses when the rules were changed to allow for substitution matches.  Speed in space has been countered as well with defensives moving towards quicker linebackers and schemes.

It's remarkable that he never found a real counter to this.

The real shortcoming of Kelly's system is the failure to establish the run.

[GB Warrior]

Concussions aren't real

Ok I know McCarthy is down with injury but what about Nine? Did Nine escape the protocol?

[Jockey]

Concussions aren't real

But neither is JJ.

[Uncle Rico]

Ok I know McCarthy is down with injury but what about Nine? Did Nine escape the protocol?

No one has ever died from a concussion

[GB Warrior]

Someone get him some nanobubbles

[MU82]

McCarthy has been bad, but we're also talking about a guy with six career starts vs a guy with 233. And unlike the Rams, the Vikings O-line is a dumpster fire. Not projecting anything about McCarthy's future, but I wouldn't comp his situation to Stafford's. Stafford, fwiw, threw 5 TDs against 12 INTs while completing just 53.7% of his passes during his first six starts. And he was only throwing to some bum named Calvin Johnson.

Folks don't have patience for this kind of thing anymore. It's like basketball coaches - people don't want to hear that it took Jay Wright or Coach K however many years to build their programs.

After next season, the Vikings will have to decide if they're gonna pick up McCarthy's pricey 5th-year option. Unless he makes significant strides, the answer will be a resounding no. The Panthers face the same decision on Young after this season.