Is Ravens’ head coach opening the best available in NFL?

As John Harbaugh becomes the head coach everyone else wants to hire, does Steve Bisciotti hold all of the cards with the rest of the extensive NFL search for the next Hall of Fame coach? Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the long-and-growing list of candidates and what makes a perfect fit for Bisciotti and the Baltimore Ravens? We’ll start with the obvious: for now, Lamar Jackson runs the building…

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ head coaching search, noting the team’s extensive interviews with potential candidates, including Jim Schwartz, Vance Joseph, and Kevin Stefanski. They highlighted the importance of finding a coach who can improve the defense, contrasting the Ravens’ recent performance with the Houston Texans’ defensive prowess. The conversation also touched on the potential impact of Lamar Jackson’s input on the hiring decision and the historical context of the Ravens’ coaching hires. They speculated on the transparency of the process and the potential for the new coach to have significant autonomy in staffing decisions.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Publish any breaking Ravens/head-coach search news first via the WNST text service (ensure breaking updates are posted to the service immediately).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Write a post-press-conference write-up on the Steve Bisciotti press conference (produce follow-up coverage after the event).
• [ ] Attend the Steve Bisciotti press conference in Owings Mills on Tuesday and report live from the event (be present at the press conference and provide on-the-ground coverage).
• [ ] Prepare specific questions to ask the owner at the press conference (have questions ready prior to attending today).
• [ ] Write a post-press-conference write-up on the Steve Bisciotti press conference (produce follow-up coverage after the event).

Ravens Head Coaching Search and Initial Thoughts

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the topic of the Baltimore Ravens’ head coaching search, noting the team’s lack of activity in this area for 18 years.
• Nestor mentions Luke Jones’ prediction about the coaching search and the extensive interviews being conducted.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the brain drain of interviewing numerous coaches and the league’s standardized interview process.
• Luke highlights the importance of gathering information about the Ravens’ operation, Lamar Jackson, and the team’s offense and defense.

Comparing Defensive Performances and Coaching Interviews

• Nestor reflects on the 25th anniversary of Ray Lewis’s hit on Rich Gannon and the contrast between the Ravens’ defense in 2025 and the Houston Texans’ performance.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the Ravens to return to championship-caliber defense to win regularly.
• Luke mentions the Ravens’ plan to interview 15-16 candidates in the first round, with in-person interviews following for the finalists.
• Nestor questions the transparency of the coaching search and the league’s protocols regarding candidate announcements.

Transparency and Ownership Involvement in Coaching Decisions

• Nestor expresses skepticism about the Ravens’ transparency and the potential for Steve Bisciotti to influence the coaching search.
• Luke discusses the differences in the hiring process 18 years ago compared to now, noting the impact of social media.
• Nestor and Luke debate the extent to which Steve Bisciotti will allow the new head coach autonomy in hiring their staff.
• Nestor shares his thoughts on the importance of honesty and integrity in the coaching search and the impact of past decisions on the current process.

Potential Candidates and Coaching Staff Dynamics

• Luke lists the eight former head coaches the Ravens have plans to interview, including Jim Schwartz, Vance Joseph, and Kevin Stefanski.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential fit of these candidates and the importance of finding the right balance between offensive and defensive expertise.
• Luke highlights the role of the offensive coordinator and the potential for the new head coach to call plays.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for the new head coach to have a strong relationship with Lamar Jackson and the importance of the quarterback coach.

Historical Context and Personal Preferences

• Nestor reflects on his experiences with various coaches, including Jim Schwartz, Anthony Weaver, and Brian Billick, and their integrity and character.
• Luke and Nestor discuss the impact of John Harbaugh’s personality and leadership style on the Ravens’ success and the potential for a new coach to bring a different approach.
• Nestor shares his concerns about the Ravens’ culture and the need for honesty and transparency in the organization.
• Luke and Nestor speculate on the potential impact of the new head coach’s personality and leadership style on the team’s performance and culture.

Potential Impact of External Factors on Coaching Decisions

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of other coaching vacancies, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ job, on the Ravens’ search.
• Nestor speculates on the possibility of Mike Tomlin or John Harbaugh being hired by other teams and its implications for the Ravens.
• Luke and Nestor consider the potential for the new head coach to bring in their own staff and the impact on the current coaching staff.
• Nestor emphasizes the importance of the new head coach being Lamar Jackson-approved and the potential for a new coach to bring fresh ideas and energy to the team.

Final Thoughts and Expectations for the Press Conference

• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming press conference and the potential for new information to be shared about the coaching search.
• Nestor expresses his hope for transparency and honesty from Steve Bisciotti and the new head coach.
• Luke highlights the importance of the press conference in providing clarity on the coaching search and the team’s direction.
• Nestor and Luke conclude by discussing the potential impact of the new head coach on the Ravens’ performance and the importance of making the right decision for the long-term success of the team.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens coaching search, Steve Bisciotti, Lamar Jackson, Jim Schwartz, Kevin Stefanski, Vance Joseph, Anthony Weaver, defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator, quarterback coach, head coaching candidates, NFL interviews, coaching staff, team culture, ownership involvement.

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SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively getting the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. It’s going to be a cup of soup or bowl. We begin in less than three weeks. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery off candy cane cashes to give away. Might have some fresh Harlem Globetrotters as well. I know you’ve been hearing those ads around here. I may even break out my curly Neil sit down with him for many years ago as well. It is winter time. It is that little period where nothing’s supposed to be going on, but everything’s going on. Obviously, the oral still chasing pitching and the Baltimore Ravens chasing a head coach for the first time in 18 years. Luke Jones will be at the press conference on Tuesday. If you hear this on the other end of the press conference, we’ll have plenty to say about it. If you’re out on the wnst tech service, you’ll get any breaking news first of the head coaching search, unless you’re on AT and T and it might be delayed, because that’s just the way it is. I have no idea Luke is here. He’s Baltimore. Luke up, you know, I guess we spent two different stretches during our time saying, Well, you would fire all ball. Who you gonna hire? Now, the Steelers are gonna deal with that, right? You could fire Tom. Who are you gonna hire? I see all these guys. We could hire Stefanski, you know, Schwartz, one of these guys that didn’t work somewhere, I don’t know, like they are extending their search, though, and you made the best prediction ever last week, and I’d sort of forgotten about this in the because they don’t search for coaches around here. What a brain drain it is to bring in every coach you’ve ever had a crush on and get to talk to them about football for an hour or two or three, for as long as you want. I don’t know how long these interviews have been. All I know is that the NFL and the Ravens have they have a system now. It’s like all these pre game interviews on the field that are usually pretty terrible, although Damico Ryan’s just pretty good the other night because he wants to be great. Most these guys don’t want to be great. They don’t want to do it. But there’s these league things that that are have become like, what every team does? Those interviewed, you know, those little Instagram, little pictures with the Falcons logo and our balls face on it, they’re all over the league, right? Like everybody’s interviewing everybody. Yeah.

Luke Jones  02:15

I mean, there’s a lot of that going on right now. And as I talked about it, as we talked about late last week, you want to talk to other people, and it’s not just about hiring a head coach, not just about potentially finding a new OC or a new defensive coordinator. It’s also finding out information, finding out what others think of your operation, what others think of Lamar Jackson, what others think of your offense, what others think of your defense. I mean, let’s face it, regardless of who they’re going to hire to be their defensive coordinator or anything like that, how could you not watch what the Houston Texans defense did against Pittsburgh compared to the Ravens giving up 23 points to the Steelers in the second half a week ago?

Nestor Aparicio  02:55

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I must say that it’s the 25th anniversary tomorrow of goose laying on rich Gannon, and we’re 25 years and two weeks out on the greatest defense. So I wrote a book about defense around here, and it holds up a quarter of a century later as of next week. So it does,

Luke Jones  03:15

although in today’s NFL, Goose probably would have been arrested and taken off the field for doing that to a quarterback today, but, but no. I mean, you saw what championship caliber defense looked like on Monday night. And I’m not saying that that means that the Houston Texans are going to win the Super Bowl, but you saw quite a contrast with that, compared to what we saw from the Ravens defense in 2025 and that’s even, you know, with or without Kyle Hamilton, that was not a group that was championship caliber in that way. So it’s just a little reminder there, and it’s not to say that that’s the only way you win, but to bring it back to the coaching search, you know, it’s how do you get back to more of that? Right? How do you get back to winning in the regular season to the degree that they’ve been accustomed to which they had done until this season. Also then how do you break through? Right? So you talk to people, and you want to find out. You want to learn about your football team. You want to learn about tendencies of other teams, just in how they and how they view the game, not necessarily that you’re going to get these amazing secrets or anything like that. So there’s plenty of that going around. I mean, as of you know, through Monday’s business, they’ve officially interviewed seven candidates, and on Monday it was Cliff Kingsbury and Anthony Weaver, you know, two names that had already been thrown out there last week in terms of plans to talk to.

Nestor Aparicio  04:37

These are three hour interviews. Two hour, three hour. How long you think these are?

Luke Jones  04:41

I mean, they’re, most of them are being completed via zoom. So there’s that. I mean, I think, I would think, if it’s someone that you’ve thought enough of to identify, to talk to, and, you know, the the general idea, it feels they’re, you know, they’re planning to talk to 15, 16k Candidates, something like that in the first round. And then they’ll, they’ll narrow it down. And then that’s when you’ll start to get into the in person interviews, the more extensive courtship, if you will, by the way.

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Nestor Aparicio  05:10

And you’ll ask bashati This, or someone will. Somebody should ask him a whole of a lot of things. But will they be forthcoming about who their candidates are, or do they have to be now by league pub. I don’t know when Stephen Ross was flying har ball’s brother around on a plane and fly, you know, like hiding things and all that. It feels like they’re acting so transparent, like horrible as to be like they’re being honest. And I, I mean, I guess they’re being trained. I don’t know whether they think this should be a transparent process or not, because, as I’ve written, they think the whole place should be like, you know, chaos was back. And get smart, you know, like total cones of silence, secrecy, all of that. I don’t know. I mean, the job search itself. I’m wondering if that’s considered to be secret in some way, you know,

Luke Jones  05:57

yeah, I mean, and obviously it’s different than it was 18 years ago. I mean, 18 years ago, social media was in its infancy. I mean, the NFL and the Ravens weren’t even on Twitter. In 2000

Nestor Aparicio  06:08

reporters did an even better job, because I would have five coaches on the on the phone with me telling me, really what was going on, as opposed to whatever this is. I don’t know. I mean, it’s it. I know so much about the NFL, feels dishonest in a general sense, including head trauma. And just, you know, in a general sense, that the hiring process that we haven’t done here in two decades, and I know how Steve is, I’m just, you know, I don’t know. Do you think you’re going to be tricked in some way? Are they going to say these are our four, these are our five. Are they not going to narrow it down because Steve got his fee. Fees hurt 20 years ago when Jason Garrett told him, No, literally, Steve didn’t like that. Steve thought that was embarrassing. I didn’t get the guy I wanted to get, and it’s all over the paper. I mean, that’s embarrassing for Steve. He he thinks like an old guy, then that way. I mean,

Luke Jones  06:56

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I don’t think anyone’s gonna like that. You know, when they’re all billionaires, right? I mean, all these owners, whether they’re older or younger, whether they’ve done this a lot or they haven’t hired coaches very frequently, right? So there’s ego involved. Well, there’s

Nestor Aparicio  07:08

power involved and control and power of everything, including the information itself, sure.

Luke Jones  07:12

So, yeah, I mean, that’s a that’s a fair question. I mean, I mean, they put out there when they’ve completed interviews, you know that that’s kind of become standard protocol around the league. You know, obviously there’s some rules in place and protocols in place in terms of which coaches you can talk to, when can you talk to them, based on if their team’s still in it. So there’s some of that. But in terms of, like, you must formally announce who your finalists are, like that. Like, I don’t know. I’m not aware that they have to be 100% transparent on that. So, I mean, your question is a good one, and I’m not

Nestor Aparicio  07:49

well, I’m wondering when this is done, when they’re done with the 12/14, first round, drink, short, force round, whatever that is, are they then? And I don’t expect them to see there’s three candidates, or five or six, whatever, just, you know, who are the candidates, who are the five guys, or who are the six guys, or are there four guys, or are there six guys? And if they say they’re three guys, they’re probably lying to you anyway. I mean, Eric got to the point where he lied to me about a lot of stuff. The last 15 years were 25 years ago. He wouldn’t lie about anything. That’s why I trust him, you know. So, like, I don’t even know when the reporters report. Look, last week, we had Rappaport saying x, and we had Schefter saying, why? Right? Because one of them’s get one side of the story like there’s only one side of this story if bashati wants to do it right, there never needed to be lies coming out of his building, from Chad steel, or from John Harbaugh, or from Eric dicostal Or from him himself. They don’t need to lie. They don’t. They can be honest. They can be community partners. They can be all the things they say they are, and they can be honest about it or not. I I’m just wondering, by Friday, I’m thinking their final list will be four or 567, guys, some something like that, couple black guys, couple white guys, couple offense, couple defense. You know, they filled all the boxes of the Rooney rule and all the things that they need to do now, I guess we’ll hear from the coach, and we’ll have more to say about that. I don’t think he’ll be very forthcoming and saying we’re getting an offensive mind that’ll just eliminate that made Schwartz not hireable, right? So why are you bringing these guys in? So I don’t think there’ll be any of that, but I do think the more I hear and talk about and the quarterback whisperer. Part of this was my first instinct. And that’s sort of where, when I hear other names out there, I’m like, Kingsbury seems more legitimate to me, you know, given what he does for a living and what he’s done for a living. But I don’t, I don’t know, Steve may be thinking more like defense after watching the Texans with you. Sunday night, Monday night.

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Luke Jones  09:40

Yeah. I mean, it kind of goes back to we talked about from the beginning, when we first started talking about, okay, John’s gone, what’s next? I mean, you don’t want to pigeonhole yourself, and there’s arguments to be made for any of those, right? I mean, you just laid it out in terms of watching what the Houston Texans did on Monday night and thinking, wow, the Ravens defense. I save for maybe a couple games here or there, didn’t look like that in 2025 I mean, there’s no way you could say it looked like that. So do you hire? Do you go out and maybe look at someone like Robert Sala in San Francisco and see what he’s done with an injury, ravage defense, and say, okay, it didn’t go for well for him with in New York, but it was the Jets. It doesn’t go well for anyone coaching the Jets. So how much are you going to hold that against him? Question for bishati for you. But while we’re

Nestor Aparicio  10:29

at it, because I just thought about this. So har ball, when he was with me, many times, many times, said, I pick my coaches bird up. Had that Prickly, that thing that John gets going in his in here, in the veins pop out. And, you know, I had a lot of breakfast with John Harbaugh over the years. I did, and, I mean, you know about that. And he would always say, I pick my coaches. That’s in my it’s in my contract. He would say it’s in my contract I pick my coaches. So last week, the rub on the early reporting was he wanted changes. And John said, No, we’ve since learned there’s different reporting. I don’t know where the truth is. I’ll just say different reporting on it, because i i It’s not that I don’t trust Adam Schefter or Ian rapport. I don’t trust John Harbaugh. The more I learn about him in his exit, the even, the less I trust him. But that being said, Steve, the next head coach, are you giving that coach full autonomy to pick their staff? Because the rumors have been that you’ve been interested in you the quarterbacks coach, or who the OC might be. So that’s another way to do this. The way you get a young coach, you get a young coach, and you say, I’m picking your OC. Cliff Kingsbury is going to be lamar’s guy, but I don’t like him as head coach. I like him in the room with Lamar. So let’s make him the offensive guy. Let’s hire Jim Schwartz and make him hire and I don’t think Schwartz would deal with that. I think guys who have been coaches would not say, Dude, you’re on a boat with no socks on in in the Bahamas. You’re I have to work with the coach in here. You’re not telling me who Mike, it’d be like somebody telling me who my reporter is going to be. Like, no dice. You’re not giving me Jerry Coleman today and trading him in for Luke Jones, even if you like Jerry Coleman or Jeffrey back or Jameson Hensley or anybody, Luke Jones is my guy. I pick my reporters. So that’s how I feel about it. I wouldn’t want to be on the phone with Jerry Coleman three three times a day, let alone work all day with him. So it’s it. And Steve would say, I’m hiring a guy for $8 million a year. I’m not going to tell him what to do. Okay, well then when you’re pissed off and you’ve had your second Miller Lite after the game, and you come down and the quarterback coach, Todd moncken, or the offensive coordinator Greg Roman or cam Cameron or Jim call well, all the things you think you know about football because you’re the owner that in the past you’ve opined about, including today, he’ll pine about football today, he’ll he knows more about football than David Rubenstein knows about baseball. Easily Correct. Correct enough to have a strong opinion, a $6 billion dollar opinion, Fu, I’ve been doing this 27 years. Opinion, now, I did my apprenticeship. I know what I’m doing. We’ve won championships around here. I know what I’m doing. That’s what Steve’s going to present today. But to my point, they fall in love with Cliff, Cliff Kingsbury and decide he can’t be the coach, but he’s a brilliant offense of mine. Do they make a recommendation to the new young coach, or do they just say, this is, you know, this is what we want, or is this Eric’s chance to say, I’m picking a coach? I’m in the building down the hall from the coaches too. I was on the sideline with my Jackass coach the last six years and hearing all the chaos and wondering why we’re burning clock with the last two minutes left, Eric’s been more involved too. Eric’s been on the field. So I, I don’t know, man, I literally, I’ve heard rumors that peshawti is sick. I’ve heard rumors of this and rumors of that. Today’s the day to put all rumors away. But is it? Are they really going to get questions? Are we really going to come away with some clarity in regard to the coaching situation, the first part is, you’re saying to me that, well, it’s first round, the second round. Well, what it what are those rounds? As I’m trying to understand how many people they’re going to really be farting around with here, you know what

Luke Jones  14:30

I mean? Yeah, no, I hear what you’re saying. And look, we and even if those questions are asked, it doesn’t mean you’re going to get full blown transparency, or even, even if there’s a complete

Nestor Aparicio  14:41

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it, and therein lies the problem of you get in the car and going over there for three hours today, and me throwing my arms up,

Luke Jones  14:46

that’s always the case, though. I mean, I just wish, if

Nestor Aparicio  14:50

you really want the truth, I wish they had the integrity they say they have. And that’s, that’s all. That’s, that’s it, from a ticket holder, from I feel that way. And I buy Hershey’s chocolate, right? That I expect it to be what they say it’s going to be, that’s all. And this organization has blown a lot of purple smoke and bullshit, especially since bashadi has bought the team, and especially since hardball has been here, especially since they had the parade, the last 10 or 12 years you were there, before the parade and after the parade, you know, it’s, it’s a completely different joint. And whether Steve knows that or not, anybody that walks in the building knows that. And I think the fans know that too, not the second fence, not not that hardball haters, but the people that have watched the totality of this, including what the Steelers have gone through, which is losing playoff games every year, and Marvin Lewis’s name is at the top, and losing playoff games gets you fired. Maybe it won’t Mike Tomlin, but it gets everybody else fired.

Luke Jones  15:46

Yeah, sure. To go back to your original question. I mean, I think it’s going to be interesting to see what does happen as far as do there end up being an does there end up being an individual or two that they talk to about the head coach job, but the thought is more likely they’re an OC candidate, or they’re a DC candidate, or they’re a quarterbacks coach candidate, right? And and look to your point, it does matter in terms of if you have a first time head coach who might have and part of the interview process is also any of these candidates who would be on your staff. Yo, that’s, I mean, that’s a huge part of it. That is the problem, right? Like dicostal looks at Kingsbury and says, who will be his DC, who will be his quarterback? He will be the OC, I guess, right? If you’re looking at certain people like that, you’re feeling that way about them. And I go back and we never mentioned this, Billick was the OC at the end, when he got fired. You know, Billick took the offense over from fossil, and we threw OC, and still got fired. Yeah, sure, sure. So, so, yeah. So when you kind of look at it through that lens, I mean, it will vary a little bit, because if you do have a younger coach, I mean, surely they’re going to have some ideas, and they’re going to have some names that they’ve talked to at some point, whether it’s some, you know, some offensive coordinator who has talked to the running backs coach that they’re currently working, you know, at their current stop, and they’re taught they have a good buddy that was a wide receivers coach for the Tennessee Titan. You know what I

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Nestor Aparicio  17:20

mean, every coach who has ever dreamed of being a coach, you don’t have an idea. You have a it’s a bucket list. It’s a it’s the one of the most important list in your life. Is, if I ever get a job, who am I going to hire? And who are my friends and who are my you know, who are my allies? Who do I trust? Who’s a dream guy and who’s already employed by somebody else. And how can I get them? How can I get them a raise, or get them or whatever? And by the way, the hardball reporting of $10 million for a staff and stuff just really bad reporting that gets shared around. Yeah, you know, in a general sense, I think, yeah.

Luke Jones  17:57

Well, some people would also $10 million I mean, you look at some of these coaching staffs that barely scratched the surface, you know. I mean, some of these higher profile OCS and defensive coordinators make pretty good money. I mean, they do so anyway,

Nestor Aparicio  18:11

but I think shorts was making four or $5 million being a defensive coordinator.

Luke Jones  18:15

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I mean, I don’t know the exact number, but that wouldn’t that that at all. Wouldn’t remotely it’s not

Nestor Aparicio  18:19

two, yeah. I mean, it’s four or five or six is where we are now with coordinators, right? Probably eight for a really good coordinator, right? Like Steve Spagnola is probably

Luke Jones  18:28

making eight Sure. Well, I mean, I don’t know if it’s eight, but it’s, it’s good money. There’s no doubt, right? It’s, it’s not what Zach or is making as a entry, you know, not entry level, but first year defensive coordinator, but you just mentioned Jim Schwartz, and this is where it does vary a little bit when you’re talking about Clint Kubiak compared to Jim Schwartz. You know, the latter is two decades older, has collected people and networked for a much longer period of time. So yeah, when you’re talking about someone who’s done it a little bit longer they’re going to have, I would assume more conviction about what their staff would look like, whereas a younger coach, you probably the organization, probably can have a little more input on hey, you know, I know you’ve thought about this guy, this guy and this guy. Have you considered this guy? We just talked to him. We think it’d be a good fit. We talked to him. We we think your personalities, how well do you know him? Did you did you cope? Did you ever interact with that person at, you know, some Senior Bowl or something like that, where so, you know, there’s, there’s so much information, information gathering that goes on there. But I do think that’s a very relevant question in terms of how much autonomy would the new head coach have? Would the organization have some ideas, especially if it’s a newer head coach, and let’s face it, in the Ravens model of doing things, understanding it’s always been owner and then GM and head coach side by side, right? It’s not like. The Orioles model, where Craig Albernaz Answers to Mike Elias as the General Manager and president of baseball operations, and Elias answers to ownership, right? I mean, it’s not, this is not that model. It’s always been that the head coach and the general manager both answer to the owner question. You know, one of my questions is, right there, will that, will that structure stay the same? Or Steve being at this point in his life, especially knowing that there have been plenty of questions about how engaged, how much you know, how hands on he is, compared to 10 years ago, 20 years ago,

Nestor Aparicio  20:34

by the way, he’s never around, according to everybody. Sure, go ahead, yes,

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Luke Jones  20:38

but my question would be, then, would you consider, because Eric’s now been in that role a number of years, as the General Manager, will the head coach answer to the General Manager? Is that something you’d consider, or is, will it stay the same in that way where the head coach is still answering directly to the owner? So I mean, these are relevant questions. These are things they have to sort out. These are things that maybe, like I said, a first time head coach might be more open to more collaboration and input from others, as far as putting together a staff. But I would assume Jim Schwartz, even though he hasn’t been a head coach in a very long time, at this point in time, he’s probably going to have a little more conviction about, you know, his staff, where you know, whereas someone who is dying to be a head coach for the first time might, might bur up about that a little bit more. So, I mean, it depends. I think it depends again, there’s always even when situations where someone has full say, that doesn’t mean there’s not going to be collaboration. That doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be questions about it. I questions about it. You know, in terms of, you know, the initial reporting as far as Steve fired, John over Todd moncken, you know, what was it really that, or was that something that they had talked about? Was that something that there were concerns about? You know, I mean, you know, these conversations aren’t just binary, right?

Nestor Aparicio  22:00

Like, Oh, are we gonna Are you gonna stay? Are you gonna go? Like, I mean, there’s a lot of that gets you a lot of discussion in between, that gets you to one outcome or the other. So I’m fascinated to know why he called John Harbaugh 245 when John was leaving the building, driving home after everybody there thought he had his job and fired him in the car. Like I just, I sure was your relationship that deteriorated, that he couldn’t get on a plane and fly up and be present like he’s being today this week, like I

Luke Jones  22:33

Yeah, no, that’s absolutely,

Nestor Aparicio  22:37

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I’m utterly disgusted with all of it, because I do this in front of people, and people said bashati wouldn’t read my letter. He’ll read my letter. Believe me, everybody in the building’s read my letter, because it calls all of them out, and it’s honest. I don’t know what else to say, and he hasn’t been around in eight years, the first questions for him should be about Justin Tucker, one of the sleaziest things that’s happened in the history of sports in the city, that went on, that was pushed under the carpet, that there’s all these women in the marketplace who are our sisters. They are our daughters. They are our they’re the women of this community. Never been answered to by the billionaire, and whether he knew or not, he knew. So just ask him and see if he’ll lie about it or not. So if you’d not use somebody, somebody in that room should be asking about Justin Tucker. This shouldn’t be all coach, Coach, Coach, Coach, Coach. Somebody also should be asking about the $600 million that we that got you thrown out of the press box, me thrown out of the stadium, that you know, they’ve never had a comment. They ever said thank you. They’ve he’s never said thank you to the citizens of Maryland for giving him $600 million fixing the stadium, I guess. Thank you stupid. You know too much for him. It’s like whether like leaving a press credential for real media people, I mean, they’re twisted dude, and you’re in the building all the time, and you know that? I don’t, I don’t know how that’s going to change with a new head coach. I hope it does, but I do think what I wrote a week ago, I’ll stand by it, culture and honesty. Can I trust you? Can you trust me? No one in the city should trust Chad steel. No one in the city should have trusted John Harbaugh. I don’t think Lamar Jackson trusted John Harbaugh in the end. And I’m not sure that Steve trusted John Harbaugh in the end when he fired him, I don’t trust you to run the team anymore. This isn’t working. And, yeah,

Luke Jones  24:30

I mean, that last part’s evident. I mean, if he, if he had full confidence that John was going to be able to turn it around in 2026 and moving forward, he wouldn’t have fired him. I mean, and you know that doesn’t necessarily mean that someone’s completely broken your trust beyond repair, as much as sometimes it’s

Nestor Aparicio  24:48

it’s time away. I think John will fail where he goes next. That’s my opinion. Well, I mean, my opinion is all that he’s learned, the wisdom that he’s picked up has not served him. Well, his wisdom has led to arrogance, and it’s led to failure. And I don’t, I don’t think he’s become a better man or a better coach through all of this. I think he became a more powerful coach who rested on his stripes and kept pointing to the to the trophy that’s and also the fact that he had all of this talent around him, you know, Eric and Ozzy, and the strength of the organization helped a lot. I mean, I helped him keep his job. It helps every coach. Yeah, look, players are where it’s at period.

Luke Jones  25:35

I mean, that’s the biggest thing. I mean, you know, some of the other stuff you mentioned. I mean, it’s, it’s hard to quantify, right? It’s hard to determine that there have been. I mean, it’s not like Bill Belichick was regarded as this warm and fuzzy, great human being that everyone loved inside the building in Foxborough, but he got results, and they had really good players for a long time, until Tom Brady left and other guys got old, and he didn’t draft as well. And you saw what happened, then they moved on, right?

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Nestor Aparicio  26:01

So I just say from a personality standpoint, right? Like two of the people they brought in the building this week on Zoom are people I know really, really well. Jim Schwartz, I know really well. Anthony Weaver, I know very well, not really well, but very well. Yeah, I in my time with them in their integrity in their character. I’ll tell you straight away, they’re better people than John Harbaugh, and they’re way different people than John Harbaugh in regard to integrity and honesty and all of that. I mean, I’ve known Brian Billick 30 years. He’s never lied to me. Like Marvin Lewis, known 35 years, never lied to me. So so like I don’t. Mike Nolan, Mike Smith, Rex would lie to anybody, but Rex didn’t lie to me, you know. So I’m just thinking about the people that they’ve had in that building and the kinds of personalities. John is the most paranoid human I’ve ever met in coaching, and I’m talking about baseball. And you know, Davey Johnson had some paranoia about him, and Johnny Oates had some military in him, anybody’s military, he’s got some paranoia in him. They’re trained that way. He looking over like cops, but not that’s doesn’t that’s not a pre a prerequisite for being the next coach is to be duplicitous and to be John’s personality. I don’t know what it was about John and John’s personality that won Steve over, all of that humility and special team coach from 18 years ago that got baked out after the first 100 million and the Super Bowl. And I think most people would tell you that if you met John Hart, I’m going back to looking at what John Harbaugh looked like and the way he comported himself and the way he spoke in 2008 nine and 10 and 11, and where he is now, and what the giants are going to get, or what the Falcons or what Johnny Bravo they’re going to get in a different place. There is that part of the personality that Steve really liked, and I went through that in my culture, Dear Steve letter, which is in the end, Steve likes bullies. He does so I mean, Chad steel, I mean, come on, there’s never been a more classic bully that I’ve ever met than Chad said than most people around me say they use the same word with him, bully. So that’s what Steve likes. And I don’t know whether that this will be a Steve higher or Eric higher or a think tank organization, higher organization higher means that’s what Steve calls it when Steve makes a decision and says it’s everybody else’s decision. And I’m I’m concerned about all of that for a guy who was in the building a lot when he hired John, when he was around John, part of was he was around Brian every day. Didn’t like Brian and wanted something different. He brought John, and he was around there a lot, and he had his constantly area down the hallway, and he believed in John, and John was like a child to him. That relationship became a weird Uncle, you know, at some point. And now Steve’s going out and doing this again, and I’ve only seen Steve pick one person. Well, two, if you take Eric and Eric, he didn’t pick Eric. He loved Eric and brought him in. But Steve hasn’t been a guy who’s brought a lot of people outside the building. And by the way, Sashi brown wasn’t Steve’s guy. Was Dick’s guy. Dick brought Sashi Brown in. I don’t know how often Steve even deals with him or even cares. Steve’s made $4 billion since the last time he got in front of you. What does he care about, what Sashi Brown’s doing, or Chad Steel’s doing, or even the coach is doing, other

Luke Jones  29:29

than winning? It’s just, I mean, I was just gonna say, I mean, he cares about winning, because they didn’t win in 2025 for the first, you know, in terms of the regular season, first time. And, you know, since Lamar was hurt in 2021 and they made a change so he cares. Now, does that mean he’s going to hire the right guy, or they’re going to hire the right guy? We’re going to find out, right? I mean, he obviously made a built an empire on hiring people in his former life and former business. Endeavors. So he clearly has an aptitude, or at least had an aptitude for doing that. Had an aptitude for doing it 18 years ago, regardless of how anyone might feel about John Harbaugh. Now that was a wildly successful hire, regardless of when you think it started going south. 18 years is 18 years, you know, the first 10 years, or the first 10 years, right? I mean, especially in this day and age where some of these teams in this hiring cycle are hiring a coach two years after they last did it, right? I mean, and that’s just how it works for

Nestor Aparicio  30:31

somebody, some of these guys seem to like interviewing people. Arthur Blank, you say how many coaches?

Luke Jones  30:37

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I mean, think about some of the number of hiring cycles that some of these teams and owners, they

Nestor Aparicio  30:42

brought Schwartz down there 15 years ago and pick them up in the building down in Buckhead, you know, like, like, it’s, he’s talked to half the guys in the league, because he has, every three years he’s interviewing 15 more guys.

Luke Jones  30:54

Yeah, and just because they have that experience doesn’t mean that they are any better at actually picking someone well into your point,

Nestor Aparicio  30:59

whoever finished second last time doesn’t mean anything. Jason Garrett’s not even getting a whiff this time. And he was the apple of Steve’s eye 18 years ago. And that’s

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Luke Jones  31:07

what’s kind of interesting when you look at, you know, and this, maybe this is where we transition, just to briefly look at kind of the rundown of who they are talking to or have have plans to talk to. It’s, you know, with Jim Schwartz’s, you know, reporting on Jim Schwartz on Monday. That’s now eight. I believe it’s eight former head coaches that they have plans to talk to. Most of them fall into the realm of very recently was a head coach, obviously, Kevin Stefanski, Mike McDaniel, but you do look at Vance Joseph, for example, who was one of the very first interviews they completed. You know, Denver was on the buy, and that’s part of the reason why. But he’s 53 and he was a head coach in 2017 and 18. I mean, that was, it’s a while ago. At this point, you’re talking Nine, eight or nine years ago, we talked about Schwartz. I mean, Schwartz, it’s hard to believe. I didn’t think it had been this long. Detroit was 2009 through 13. I mean, you’re talking about like, that’s horrible’s Peak, you know, Super Bowl time for the shorts has been in Buffalo, Tennessee has been a lot of places, yeah, Philadelphia and Cleveland since then that, I that, I that I know, and he’s made every one of their defenses better. And he’s 59 I mean, I, I think full blown truth serum. I’m guessing Schwartz is more of a let’s size them up to see whoever we’re actually going to hire to be our head coach. Maybe he’d be, maybe we, maybe we make him the height you know, and he might already be, for all I know, but make him the highest paid defensive coordinator in the league.

Nestor Aparicio  32:35

And by the way, Chip Kelly was reported at 6 million, okay, as a coordinator, I look back at all, but I would expect Nolo is the highest paid coordinator in the league right now. I would think he is, but it goes to the

Luke Jones  32:46

point that your original point was that reporting that John Harbaugh wants 10 million for his coaching staff budget. It’s like, that’s, that’s nothing when you when you kind of think about how many coaches you need to hire. And of course, no, your running backs coaches are going to be making $3 million but

Nestor Aparicio  33:03

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you’re making five a year to the internet. Yes, there you go,

Luke Jones  33:06

but, but that’s that, but that’s where you’re kind of looking at this thing. So anyway, but, but you look at most of the former head coaches, and you know, Vance, Joseph, I mentioned Jim Schwartz, Stefanski, just fired, right? Brian Flores has been talked about, even though they haven’t completed an interview. He was in Miami 2019 through 21 that one? Is that a real you know? Is that a full blown head coaching you’re really serious about potentially hiring him? Or is that another one that like looking at it through the lens of like Schwartz, where you’d say, maybe make Brian Flores the highest paid defensive coordinator in the NFL, I don’t know, but you know, Robert Sala, obviously, was very recently with the Jets, Kingsbury, you know, Arizona that that’s he’s a few years removed from that. But the point is, these aren’t Jason Garrett, right? You know, Schwartz is kind of the exception there. Vance, Joseph, the exception there. These are all former head coaches, but have been for had been head coaches very recently. So, you know, you kind of look at that. I mean, we talked about Matt Nagy in passing in one of our previous segments. My gut tells me Matt Nagy is probably not a serious head coach candidate for them, but he’s worked with Andy Reid. He’s worked with Patrick mahomes. Be interesting to hear what his vision would be for Lamar Jackson, even if it’s kind of just in a general sense, and maybe they’d hire him to be their offensive coordinator if they hire a more defensive minded head coach. So, you know, it’s all about the puzzle, right? I mean, it’s kind of a puzzle you’re putting together based on everything we’ve seen. I think it’s apparent that they’re not going the CEO route. Again, it appears that whoever the head coach is going to be, it’s going to be someone who has a greater level of expertise on one side of the ball, or the other or the other, although I would say like Anthony Weaver, for example, it’s not as though he has this lengthy history of. Having amazing defenses, I’m guessing Weaver would be a little more skewing towards a little more of a CEO type, but he’s been a defensive coordinator. Of course. I’m not saying he doesn’t know defense, but it feels like much more of these candidates that they’re talking to this time around are much more an offensive genius or a defensive genius, right? Rather than, I mean, to my knowledge, they haven’t talked to anyone who’s just a special teams coach. So, you know, I don’t think you’re going to see that again, but, but, but you’re trying to figure out the puzzle. It’s like, Okay, you go offensive minded head coach who may or may not be the play caller, but it’s clearly going to be very hands on. So what does that mean for their offensive coordinator? Then? Because, like, Matt Nagy, okay, he’s the OC with the chiefs. He on call plays. I mean, it’s Andy Reid, so it’s, it’s a different job. So do you have that? And then you need to make sure you have an excellent, established defensive coordinator, most likely, or on the

Nestor Aparicio  35:59

flip side, quarterback coach? That’s the thing I can’t like to me, if you want Lamar better, who’s in the room with Lamar all day? T Martin was the guy, right?

Luke Jones  36:08

Sure. Sure, so. And that’s obviously a big part of it, too. I mean, would you have a let’s say Kevin Stefanski becomes the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. He’s going to be the play call. Actually, I shouldn’t make that assumption, because he didn’t call plays the entire time in plays the entire time in Cleveland necessarily. You know, he had passed that off and then taken back play calling duties at a couple points. But, you know, let’s say whoever it is, it’s a head coach, offensive minded, it’s going to call plays in the same way that Sean McVay does, in the same way that Andy Reid does, in the same way that Kyle Shanahan does. Well, then who is the OC? Is that OC just that title, or is that an offense coordinator, slash quarterbacks coach? And that’s going to be the guy that works very closely with, Lamar Jackson.

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Nestor Aparicio  36:53

Well, that’s where Kingsbury would come in if he’s not getting a head coaching job anywhere else. That’s the kind of guy. He was a quarterback, and you know, he was a quarterback, right? So you and a lot of the really good offensive head coaches, Andy Reid Jon Gruden, they were quarterback coaches. That’s what the first job was. Was Being a quarterback coach. Was seeing a game like that or being a quarterback like that. Jim Harbaugh, same thing. He’s quarterback coach. That’s what he did when he came back to the

Luke Jones  37:20

NFL, yeah, but, but, but, on the flip side of that, if that’s the way you’re going to go, you need to make sure you have a great defensive coordinator then, right? Because, I mean, like Andy Reid, he doesn’t know anything about defense, but he’s got he’s got Spags, he’s got Steve Spagnola running the show. And you know, when they’ve been at their best in recent years, their defense has been excellent. I mean, go back to two years ago. I mean, when they came into Baltimore and beat the Ravens. I mean, it’s not as though their offense was great that day, but their defense did a hell of a job. So, so, you know, you’re when you’re talking to all these different candidates, and you see a lot of fans do this on Twitter, and I’m, I don’t say this to be disparaging, you know, it’s interesting. You know, it’s how’s the puzzle going to fit? You know, who’s head coach? What’s that mean for the offensive coordinator? What’s that mean for the defensive coordinator? Defensive Coordinator? How’s that going to fit? Where are the relationships, who’s worked with, whom, elsewhere in the past? That might be a connection, right? You know, you’re looking for that connective tissue, right? And I just mentioned Stefanski. I would assume, if Stefanski the if he would get the Ravens job, and I’m not saying he will, but if he, if he were to get that, you would think the fact that Jim Schwartz worked with him in Cleveland might bode well for the Ravens prospects of making Jim Schwartz their defensive coordinator in Baltimore, and making him the highest paid defensive coordinator, if that’s what it takes to get him to Baltimore. So you know, you don’t know how it’s going to work and but to go back to your original question. I mean, you go back to John horrible when he was hired in 2008 you know, Rex Ryan stayed on his defensive coordinator for a year and well that what that could have been very awkward and uncomfortable, and that that flat out could have not worked. Quite frankly, considering Rex went for that job, when was interviewed for that job, whether the Ravens were ever going to seriously consider him or not. He was at least talked to, but they made it work. And John helped Rex in some ways, and then Rex got a head coaching gig the year after that. So, you know, I’m not saying that that’s going history is going to repeat itself in that way, but yeah, when you have a first time head coach, or a younger head coach, the or that, those are the cases where the organization’s going to have more influence in terms of hiring a staff, and sometimes that’s out of necessity. John Harbaugh has 18 years at of head coaching experience, let alone his prior experiences to collect people, to put together his own staff, and to make the demand in Atlanta or Cleveland or the Giants or the dolphins or wherever he ends up in saying, yeah, yeah. Part of, part of the deal of me coming here is, I want you can give me some input, but I’m going to have the final say on my entire coaching staff. I mean that, and that would be. I would think would be quite standard in terms of longtime head coaches, right? I don’t think Pittsburgh’s telling Mike, Mike Tomlin, who that who he needs to hire as their new offensive coordinator if Mike Tomlin is going to be in Pittsburgh, I mean, you and I, as we’re speaking in real time, who knows what’s going to happen there? So there’s, there’s so much to answer. Are we going to get full blown clarity on all these issues and all these questions and all these topics? I doubt it, but I am glad we are going to at least get an opportunity, because it’s something that, you know, what used to be an annual expectation, and that was a good thing, and that’s gone away. So we’re going to find out, and we’ll see. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  40:42

there’s one of the first questions, where the hell have you been? How about that? Why’d you stop doing this after eight years? You heard John’s feelings holding him accountable. I know I did. I know what happens when you hold people accountable in that building. You get uninvited for asking questions, because that’s who they are, that really is who they are. Today is a great example of that, and you’ll see that today. Anybody that’s watching, you’ll see Chad steel pointing to bunkies. You’ll hear questions from ravens.com employees who basically work for Steve it’s like that woman kissing Liam Cohen’s ass in the press conference. Do that off the podium. You got the rest? You got the offseason to do that. Yeah, these people are managed by people like Chad steel. They’re thrown onto the stage. They’re told what they can and can’t say, even when they’re the owner and they’re pointing the hand picked people that Chad feels will have a safe question, not a good question, a safe question, a company question they get pointed to, and then Steve will be whisked off the stage. And if you go to YouTube, you can see droves of Steve little snippets where he would do after the podium, he would just talk to people about things, about Ray Lewis, about the league, about Roger Goodell, about his philosophy, about what he thinks of the city. What do you think should be done to the Inner Harbor? Just things because he never speaks. And the more money this guy has gotten, the more arrogant he’s gotten, and the more checked out he’s been, which is really reminiscent of his coach, the more money his coach got, the more power his coach got, the more prickly his coach got, the more secretive his coach got, the more his coach lied, and then looked at you and pointed you and said, If you don’t lie, I’ll throw you out, which is what happened to me. So that’s the truth, and it’s sad. I mean, I I love the ravens, I love football. I hate being eliminated. I like rooting against the Steelers and watching them stink and watching all the turmoil around the league. But I just wish we had better people in front of the organization. And as I watch it on television on Tuesday afternoon, all of this transpire, I’m going to be interested to see what, what they’re being honest about, what they’re willing to be honest about. First question, what did you know about Justin Tucker? They’ll it’ll start with lies, and then it’ll devolve from there. If that’s the first, at first, be lucky to get a Justin Tucker question in, and nobody will think to ask about the $600 million that that he’s taken since the last time. So this is another game. When you go eight years, that’s eight years worth of Has he ever answered a question about Lamar

Luke Jones  43:16

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in any way? I mean not, not in Owings Mills, because the last time that he did a press conference in their building. Lamar was in Louisville. Lamar was a couple months away from being drafted. I mean, the the owners meetings in 22 Yeah, he was asked about Lamar at that point in time, because that was that was in that was coinciding with Lamar at that point, negotiating or not negotiating. And the way I

Nestor Aparicio  43:39

witnessed that, when my organization, my news organization that’s broke news here for 30 years, from Baltimore, watched the New York Times, ESPN and a paywall local site that was fledgling at the time, sit with the owner of the team while I witnessed it from 60 feet away, not being able to ask questions on behalf of the fans. It’s it’s just not what anybody signed up for but Uncle Steve’s coming to town. He’s returning him to Owings Mills. Luke will be out there today. He’ll have questions for the owner. You expect any more names? Or you think they’re done? I mean, if Mike Tomlin gets fired, would they interview him? I guess they would. I guess I don’t know. Would they you’re laughing, dude, don’t laugh.

Luke Jones  44:19

Can you imagine the scenario where, you know, I mean, I don’t, it’s not going to happen.

Nestor Aparicio  44:26

But well, two days ago, people thought Harbaugh might be coached.

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Luke Jones  44:29

I’ve seen some people joke that Tomlin what? How funny would it be if Tomlin wound up with in Baltimore and John Harbaugh went up in Pittsburgh. Take it a step further. How about Kevin Stefanski winds up in Baltimore. Mike Tomlin winds up with the browns, and John Harbaugh’s the coach of the steel. I mean, like, let’s get nuts if we’re gonna get not. I mean, I’m not, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Tomlin’s just, like, horrible at this point, like, until they actually do it. I’m guessing he’s not going anywhere. But I said the same thing about John, and then. And two days later, no,

Nestor Aparicio  45:01

this is the interesting thing, and I like just take two more minutes on this. There are a lot of people think John got John fired on purpose because he wanted to get away. I would be one of these people. I don’t think John liked Lamar. I you know why? I know that because I have text in my phone to tell me John didn’t like Lamar years ago. So it didn’t like lamar’s work ethic, and didn’t like Lamar not showing up at OTAs. And John will never admit to that, because Lamar is going to the Hall of Fame, and he thinks he is too. So they might be going in the same year for all we know, right? And they didn’t win anything together. That’s a fact. They didn’t win anything together unless John goes and takes the dolphins job and Lamar shows up there two years from now, and that ain’t happening, because Lamar would never sign up to play for John again, from, from what I know, wouldn’t want to do that he, I mean, he was the one putting the Instagram little tune diddies out to dis hardball last week after hardball got fired.

Luke Jones  45:54

So allegedly, that’s your opinion. I don’t, I don’t know if it was that deep or not, but anyway, go ahead. Well, I’m just Lamar posts a lot of stuff on Instagram that doesn’t necessarily have meaning. I mean, maybe you did, maybe you didn’t, I don’t know anyway.

Nestor Aparicio  46:09

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So there’s a whole industry in interpreting lamar’s tweets, right?

Luke Jones  46:13

Yeah, and most of it’s nonsensical. And I would say for everything that someone interprets, I think that for everything that might actually have some meaning. I think there’s many more that

Nestor Aparicio  46:26

he’s well, Lamar didn’t have any vote in this right? Lamar was drafted by these people who told them that they loved him. They brought him in, they gave him the ball right away, let him run around and have success. They paid him. He played well, he stepped up and did everything they asked him to do. Then he gets hurt and again for the third time in five years, and the coach gets fired, and he’s survived it, and he’s about to get a raise. He’s about to get another big bag of money so and he’s going to call the shots, and the new head coach has to be Lamar approved. That’s way different than the way Steve did this the last time around. So knowing all of that and knowing John’s personality pretty well, as I do, John looked at this and said, All right, we lose ball sales wide. I’m getting shit canned. What are the other jobs? Is this a good job cycle, or is it a bad job cycle? It’s like having the number one pick in a draft where there’s no quarterback, right? Is it a good draft, or is it a bad draft, if you’re Mike Tomlin right now, and the Green Bay job looked like it might pop for 30 seconds this week too. Which Pittsburgh could the Pittsburgh job might pop as well, right? That opens things up for hardball. It opens things up for lots of people, right? If you’re Mike Tomlin and you’re looking to, like, get another job, if you’re not going to be in Pittsburgh the next five years, if you’re thinking, I’m not here for the next quarterback, the next rebuild, the next nine and eight season of struggle, or whatever it will be if you’re a coach and you’re like, This is my chance to get to Atlanta, this is my chance to get to Miami. This is my chance to get somewhere with the owner I met at the and this wouldn’t be Mike Tomlin. Because Why do you think Mike Tomlin hangs out with me at the owners meetings? Why do you think that is because he’s a little bit of a pariah to everyone else. He hasn’t made friends. He’s not an whose ass is he kiss looking for a job the last 19 years, nobody whose Ass did he not kick and not blow kisses at the camera. Mike’s not popular like that. You know, I mean, like he’s just not, and I don’t mean that in a way, like he’s hired and fired coaches. He pissed Bruce Arians off. So everybody loves Bruce Arians doesn’t like Mike because Mike fired him 15 years ago, like so, Mike is one of those guys that might take a job somewhere. You wouldn’t think and say, well, I’ll figure I’ll figure my next job out. They’re gonna give me $100 million I’ll figure it out. But I think Mike loves Pittsburgh. I think he loves the Rooney family. I don’t think he would leave, but I do think if you are a coach, you’re looking at this like a bonanza, like if you’re Jim Schwartz, he’s get he’s got two interviews this week. To your point, I’ve been a coach in 13 years. He’s coming off this great defense. He’s got a ring now with Philadelphia. I mean, he’s a

Luke Jones  49:25

sports this. I mean, this might be his last chance, right, if he’s to be a head coach again, which I’m I’m still very skeptical that he’s going to get a head coach gig. But this is his last this feels like this would be his last chance. I mean, that Cleveland miles, Garrett, record breaking season with sat the sax record, all that. So, yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, there’s all of this is calculated. I mean, there it has to be, you know, I’m

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Nestor Aparicio  49:48

just saying it’s a good time to be in the market with all these jobs for the next week or two, as opposed to if Mike Tomlin hits the market next year, all these jobs. Some filled for the most part, maybe one of them, maybe some chump like Atlanta will fire their coach again after a year, or what. I don’t know, the Vegas job. Who the hell knows? But there is a point in all of this where, if you’re Mike Tomlin this morning, not necessarily the floor. I don’t know the floor would get a job right away. Maybe even get one of these eight or nine, maybe. But there is a point where Kevin Stefanski scarred, if you bring him into Baltimore next week, to some degree. Even though there’s nothing wrong with Kevin Stefanski, there’s something wrong with every Jim Schwartz and Kevin Stefanski and Vance Joseph, who had a four and 12 record the last time they coached somewhere. And that’s part of I don’t know that Miami and Atlanta need to sell tickets, or they feel like they need to reinvigorate their fan base. Steve certainly feels that way. Steve’s had a full stadium become empty in this era. He should look at Sashi Brown and Chad steel about that as much as anything else. That’s why my two seats are empty, because they’re Chad steel, not because I don’t like the team or I’m mad at John or mad at losing or whatever. But in other places, Arizona, I guess they could bring Mike Tomlin in or John Harbaugh and say, We fix things the way they did buddy Ryan 40 years ago. But there is a point where getting a job right this minute would be better for Mike Tomlin than it would be a year from now. If Mike Tomlin is concerned about Mike Tomlin, that’s all I’m saying. Yeah.

Luke Jones  51:22

Or, and, I mean, there’s been a lot of smoke out there that he’s got a TV offer in his back pocket, and he does that for a year, and then either maybe becomes Bill cower and realizes, Hey, I like this way more than coaching, and this is a way better gig, and it’s a way better quality of life, or does he go the Sean Payton route and land somewhere, and Pittsburgh gets a draft pick for him, because there’ll be one, I think, one year left on his deal, and he goes somewhere in 2027 right? I mean, I don’t know. I mean, it’s gonna be, would the

Nestor Aparicio  51:53

Ravens even want him? No, I

Luke Jones  51:57

8

just Yeah, and I don’t, I don’t even say this just because, like, it’s the same kind of coach. It’s your issues for why you’re firing John. Now, personalities put that aside, but in terms of, like, results on the field, your issues for firing John are, it’s the same exact thing. I mean, Tom was, it’s been even longer since he last won.

Nestor Aparicio  52:18

A super Tomlin would look across and say, John had a hell of a lot more talent the last five years than I am.

Luke Jones  52:23

That’s fair but, but it’s still the same perception. And let’s face it, even towards the end of the Roethlisberger era, their postseason success have really started to dry up as well. I mean, they’ve gone a decade now without a playoff win. So, you know, I think you it’s funny, you just mentioned the floor and like, if I were a team, like, if I were an owner or general manager, I’d be way more interested in the floor than Harbaugh or Tomlin in terms of the actual football part a piece of this. And that’s not to say Lafleur. I’m not saying he’s the next Andy Reid, necessarily, either, but har ball and Tomlin are way more the optics hire hires, obviously, because, I mean, they’ve done it as long as they have, and I don’t look they have Hall of Fame credentials or near Hall of Fame credentials. I’m not saying that to be disparaging, but I also do think in a lot of ways, this is, it’s a younger man’s game in terms of being a head coach. And I think that’s some of this is also some of the consideration you mentioned it with Lamar, but it’s true of your entire 53 man roster. All things being equal, I’d probably want a younger head coach to connect with this generation of players, not to be their buddy, per se, but you might be able to communicate more effectively with them. You might be able to connect with what’s going to make them tick more effectively. And I’m not saying John couldn’t do that, or that Tomlin can’t do that, and that’s why they haven’t won as much in recent years. There’s always so many variables to this, but that would be a consideration for me, where I would look at that, and my my bias would be probably to trend younger, at least, and that doesn’t mean 30 either, but would be someone that I’d be much more inclined to hire someone in their late 30s or their early to mid 40s than someone who’s 63 right? I mean, and that’s I think, look around the league and look where head coaches are as far as that demographic goes. And I think the league’s very clearly gone in that direction here in recent years, with a few exceptions, har ball, Tomlin Andy Reid, right? Pete Carroll got back in, and then it’s thrown out again after a year, because it was an absolute disaster. Not that he had much of a chance with the Raiders. But, yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s a younger man’s game, so, you know, I think laflore would be, I think he’d be a hot commodity, maybe not to the degree of hardball or Tomlin, but he certainly there’d be three or four other teams that would be eager to hire him, at the Packers. Don’t work out the extension, as you know, you the way that that’s been reported, that feels ominous, that that could be heading towards it. Well, that.

Nestor Aparicio  55:00

Be the mike Tomlin thing. If next year is a lame duck year, then what are we doing? Right? Sure, yeah, all right, we’ll find out we got football. Saturday, bills at Broncos, 438 o’clock game. 40 Niners at Seattle. Sunday, the Houston Texans, who eliminated the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night, will play the three o’clock game in New England, and then the rams and the bears will close it out at 630 on Sunday night. So we’ll have some football here this week. Luke is in Owings Mills. Any breaking news happens first on the wnst tech service, brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. I’m wearing my fadley shirt right now. We’re going to be doing a cup of Super Bowl. Brought to you by the Maryland lottery, as well as our friends at GBMC. We’re doing that the first week of February. We’re going to be all over the community doing some good stuff, and I am going to be writing on the backside of the Steve bishati press conference, as will Luke. We will have a new head coach here. I’m waiting for the purple plumes of smoke to arrive over Owings Mills. I am Nestor. He is Luke. We are W NST AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore. Nobody’s talking ravens better than us. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.