How does Dan Quinn staying in Dallas impact the remaining NFL head coaching jobs? | You Pod to Win the Game
Yahoo Sports Charles Robinson, Charles McDonald and Frank Schwab discuss Dan Quinn’s decision to remain the Cowboys defensive coordinator rather than possibly becoming the head coach of the Broncos, Cardinals, Colts or Texans. What does that say about those head coaching jobs? What does it say about those franchises? Where will those four teams turn? Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
CHARLES ROBINSON: Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys have announced that Dan Quinn, he's going to be staying with the Dallas Cowboys for another season, which, to me, means, all of a sudden, this, hey, DeMeco Ryans is a top potential candidate in Denver, and remember Sean Payton, that hasn't closed yet, so one of two things has to be happening.
Either, look, it's down to Ryans and Sean Payton, or this Sean Payton thing is not really crossing the finish line, and there's some kind of problem there, and DeMeco Ryan realistically has surfaced as a head coaching candidate.
FRANK SCHWAB: First of all, with the Quinn thing, my first reaction is what a steal for Dallas. To keep that guy two straight years, he's getting interviews, I just wonder if Dan Quinn was just like, you know what, I'm happy being a defensive coordinator.
CHARLES ROBINSON: For three years! I mean, three years. This will be his third year, yeah.
FRANK SCHWAB: Three, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I can wear my hat backwards on the sideline, everyone thinks I'm cool. I don't care, I don't need to meet with the media every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I'm just happy being a defensive coordinator. What a big deal for the Cowboys to get him back. I think he's a heck of a defensive coach, done wonders.
Also, with the Broncos, real quick, we're looking at a situation now, all of a sudden, where Harbaugh kind of used them, Payton didn't work out, Dan Quinn says, nah, I'd rather be a defensive coordinator. What if they DeMeco Ryans doesn't work? What if he just says, you know what, I'm a Texan, I want to go coach in Houston.
All of a sudden, the Broncos are like, oh my God, the first crack at this for the new ownership group, they're down to, like, their fifth, sixth option, and what are they going to do? Maybe they can go get Nathaniel Hackett. He's done a great job as the Jets' offense coordinator.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Listen, I'm ready for Charles McDonald's Russell Wilson-- OK, now we're going to go to Russell Wilson takes! Here we go! Here we go!
FRANK SCHWAB: Go ahead.
CHARLES MCDONALD: The most interesting thing to me here is, like, holy [BLEEP], Russell Wilson's stock has fallen so far, in, like, what, a year-and-a-half span? It's amazing to me that we're already at the point where no one wants to coach-- I guess I don't really know how accurate that is, but I was about to say it, that no one really wants to coach this team, or at least maybe they see their current spots as better than they are.
I feel like the Russell Wilson experience might not be 100% dead. You're, like, in a light coma right now. If you get the right guy, you can pull him out of it. But the more that I've been thinking about these head coaching jobs in general, if you're Dan Quinn or DeMeco Ryans, is there a certain point where where you're at is better than where you could go.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
CHARLES MCDONALD: And I kind of think that could be where Dan is. Like, why the hell would I want to go fight with Russell Wilson and Broncos ownership, or deal with the mess that the Cardinals have built, when I could just--
CHARLES ROBINSON: Why mess up happiness?
CHARLES MCDONALD: --when I can coach Mike Parsons, you know?
FRANK SCHWAB: Nothing wrong with being the bad defense coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys. I'm sure Jerry pays him well.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Oh, I'm sure he does.
CHARLES ROBINSON: With Dan Quinn, we've said it before, Jerry Epstein, obviously, was on the pod as well, there's this feeling, like, you don't know if you're going to get another shot, if you're Dan, after this. This might be it, so make it the best, right?
CHARLES MCDONALD: I can't fault Dan Quinn if he's going through his decision making process, and saying I feel more comfortable in Dallas than I would one of those four spots.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Let's also be honest, I mean, look at all the jobs that are still open right now. Houston's ownership's not good. Indianapolis' ownership's not good. Arizona's ownership's not good.
FRANK SCHWAB: Indianapolis isn't open. Jeff Saturday's getting that job. We all know that.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Well, right, yeah. That's actually fairly accurate. But, I mean, yeah, Sean Payton's gotta be sitting there going-- and, again, I was told, straight up, number one thing he's worried about is ownership. What is his relationship going to be with ownership? How much power is he going to be allowed to have with ownership? Is he going to have to wear out the doorknob going into the ownership suite, asking for permission to do things? And I just don't-- I looked at this field, and unless Denver was willing to surrender it all, plus the money and everything else, I don't know.
