TW said: ↑
One man makes the decision who they want to draft. Another makes the decision on paying them. A third coaches the guys they give him. Sounds simple, right? LOL
i just want to be clear on this because i'm not that familiar with the inner workings of a football team's front office. but in the tt days, wasn't it one man makes the decision who they draft and how much to pay them, and a second guy coaches the guys he gives them? so the only new wrinkle is that now ball has control of how much to pay them? and this is going to completely ruin the fabric of the team?
i can see some potential issues, yes. but don't we kind of already know that ball was already making those decisions under tt, and tt was just rubber-stamping them? at least that's the impression i got from some of the things i've read recently. the reason peppers and hyde were never even given an offer was ball, from what i read.
anyway, i believe that ball and gutekunst have worked together long enough that they are going to continue to work together. i'm going to take the pollyanna view that it's all going to work out fine. at least for now.
In the past, theoretically, the GM called the shots. He directed all operations related to football. He was in charge of all facets of the operation, and both Ball, and the head coach were responsible to him. That meant that he was the final say on issues related to the draft, and whether or not they should pursue a free agent. The coach would work under the GM, and advise him as to what he needed for the team, and together, they'd evaluate the players out there, that could help, both in the draft and free agency. In turn, Ball was the bean counter who showed the GM how they could fit a contract into the cap, or why they couldn't. The end result was that the GM then made the decision as to whether or not they should draft a specific player, or pursue a particular free agent. The same applied to cuts from the team. The GM oversaw the process, and worked with the coach, determining the final roster, and roster changes. That includes the practice squad. Ball, in the meantime, kept a rolling record that would give the GM instant information as to what they had available to make moves, and whether they could afford them. He also presented return on investment information on players to determine contracts they considered terminating. The depth of his information is almost staggering, because it deals with everything, including a total comparison in compensation with everyone who plays the position throughout the league, and free agents. Too much to post in one thread.
Ultimately, the GM controlled the final decisions, because that's the real purpose for the job itself. It's to manage the entire process.
That chain of authority is gone. Let's put this in perspective as coaches. The team has one head coach. There's a defensive and an offensive coordinator. They are the authority on their specific side of the ball. They answer to the head coach. Let's consider the GM the equivalent of a head coach, and both Ball and McCarthy are like offensive and defensive coordinators. Now, throw that concept out the window. You still have the two coordinators, but you tell all the assistant coaches on the team that they report to you, the head coach, but the two coordinators keep their job. How long is that going to work? It's going to turn into chaos eventually, and when it does, there's going to be an entire meltdown in the organization's football operations.
That's where we stand. The GM has no more control over the product than the two coordinators do, when the assistant coaches answer to the head coach, not the coordinator.
Then there's the future issue, where they end up with pockets, or groups if you prefer, of players, who want to dictate who the assistant coaches will be, and guess what? You now have the NBA.
This whole thing sucks! Everything that Harlan and Wolf built, is now being thrown under the bus.
