Nearly two weeks after the end of the 2021 regular season, none of the eight franchises with a head-coaching vacancy have made a hire. (And, of course, moments after we publish this, someone will.)
The amount of patience being exhibited by the teams is unusual. How unusual?
Peter King explained on Friday’s PFT Live that, of the past 63 head-coaching vacancies before this year’s group, 53 of them resulted in a hire within two weeks after the end of the regular season.
It’s good that teams are taking their time, this time. The question becomes whether they’ll remain patient once the dominoes begin to fall. If, for example, one team hires a coach that other teams wanted, will other teams react by rushing to Plan B or Plan C or Plan Whatever?
The reality is that some of these hires will work, and some won’t. Some of these teams will be doing it all over again, sooner than later. But at least they’re each taking their time.
Part of the reality in this case could be that most teams didn’t enter the process knowing who they’d ultimately hire. As one source recently explained it, owners know who they’ll hire when firing the current coach, 70 to 80 percent of the time.
For now, 100 percent of the vacancies remain.
