Coming out of Alabama, Chance Warmack was considered one of the best guard prospects in the history of the NFL draft. He’s been a bit of a disappointment in Tennessee, however, demonstrated by the team deciding this week not to pick up his fifth-year option.
But Warmack says he’s disappointed, too, in the quality of the coaching he has received.
Warmack didn’t mention him by name, but he was obviously referring to former Titans offensive line coach Bob Bostad in comments about an ex-coach whose teaching Warmack thinks didn’t provide him much help.
“I had one dude who played D-III football at linebacker. And he’s teaching me how to play offensive line? If there’s nothing wrong with that, you tell me,” Warmack told Pete Prisco of CBS. “I play offensive line. I don’t play linebacker. I definitely didn’t play D-III football. Not knocking D-III schools out there. We’re talking about the highest level of football in the world. And you have a guy who has never put his hand in the dirt teaching me how to block. You don’t think there’s anything wrong with that? I appreciate a coach who is open-minded to questions and comments. They don’t want to hear a question that questions their philosophy. When they are closed-minded, it stunts the growth of the offensive lineman.”
There may be some merit to Warmack’s complaints, and the fact that Bostad is now the tight ends and fullbacks coach at Northern Illinois suggests that he didn’t have any other teams interested in his services as an offensive line coach when the Titans fired him this year.
On the other hand, there are plenty of good NFL coaches who weren’t good enough players to make it to the NFL, and plenty of good position coaches who aren’t coaching the position they played. If Warmack is going to blame his position coach for any struggles he’s had in the past, he’d better have a big year this year. His position coach now is a Hall of Fame offensive lineman, Russ Grimm.