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With Training Camps now underway, its time to look at the eight new HCs and their respective franchises for the 2019 season. In this piece will delve into the ups and downs they will all face and whether they can maintain their job. Let’s get to it. Miami Dolphins – Brian Flores Flores is going to have his work cut out for him to lift the perennial struggles off the bottom of the AFC East. He has spent the last 15 seasons with the Patriots in various roles, so comes from a good coaching system. In 2018 he was defensive play-caller after the departure of Matt Patricia. He is a defensive-minded coach but has assembled a great team around him who can lift the Dolphins. Everyone around him has Superbowl experience, from Assistant HC Jim Caldwell to OC Chad O’Shea to QB Coach Jerry Schuplinski and CBs coach Josh Boyer. The Dolphins personnel will not be suited to the types of defensive plays he wants to run, so this offseason is vital for them to get on the same page. The battle between new QBs Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen will be one to keep an eye on. Surely FitzMagic starts the season and Rosen comes in the later in the year. Flores is a good coach but needs to be given time by the organization to rebuild this franchise. No one has lasted more than five seasons in Miami since Dave Wandsted in the early 2000s. Verdict: Flores keeps his job and leads the Dolphins to somewhat of a resurgence. Expect them to be back in the playoffs in a few seasons. Denver Broncos – Vic Fangio Fangio has been a defensive coach in the NFL and College systems for 40 years. He knows his way around the gridiron. This is his first job as a HC, and he has been thrown into the deep end. The Broncos are in free fall mode and cannot seem to find the right mix of talent to bring them back to their former glory. In recent years, they have struggled with their QBs and playoffs seem a distant memory. Fangio will need to address multiple areas of the franchise but will certainly help the defense play to their full potential. Verdict: He needs time to make this work, but the Broncos GM John Elway, hasn’t been able to pick and stick with a member of the staff or team in recent times. I think Fangio will be lucky to get two full seasons out of the job. Arizona Cardinals – Kliff Kingsbury This is a strange acquisition for the Cardinals. 39-year-old Kingsbury was fired by Texas Tech before taking the OC job with USC. He wasn’t there long enough to unpack his bags before landing the HC role with the Cardinals. He will bring an up-tempo style of offense to the team, similar to that of Oklahoma Sooners. He has a good relationship with Rookie QB Kyler Murray and will help him to transition into the NFL with relative ease. The two main problems will be if the offense can withstand the up-tempo style for long periods. Whether that be in the 4th quarter of games or late in the season. The second issue will be the defense. Kingsbury is not defensive-minded at all, so this could be a big area of concern for them. Verdict: They will struggle on defense and leak plenty of points. The offense will be OK, but Murray needs to be protected. They will struggle as a whole team for the first season. Kingsbury is the right guy for the job, but they may go 1-15 in 2019. Green Bay Packers – Matt LaFleur Bad choice. This is never going to work. The Packers have a storied history, in fact, LaFleur is just their 15th HC in franchise history. LaFleur is another one of these coaches from the Sean McVay coaching tree who has been given his shot way too early. He struggled with the Titans offense with Marcus Mariota at the helm and has already said he wants to change the way Aaron Rodgers plays. Verdict: He won't last long. Cincinnati Bengals – Zac Taylor Zac Taylor is a relative nobody who has been the QB coach at Nebraska and recent times in Miami with the Dolphins. It was believed that Taylor was the 5th choice for the job as no one else wanted it. Verdict: He will be the first coach sacked. Will be lucky to see out 2019. Cleveland Browns - Freddie Kitchens Took over from Hugh Jackson in Cleveland last season and changed the culture at the franchise. He drafted well and picked up some good players this offseason. The roster is excellent, they should push for a playoff birth this year and Kitchens will be the coach of the future for the Browns. Verdict: Good things are finally starting to happen for the Browns and Kitchens will be front and center of that. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Bruce Ariens Bruce Ariens has been around for a while, but he stepped away from the game a year ago as he had lost the love for it. During his time, he has had great success with QBs. He lifted the games of Andrew Luck, Big Ben, and Carson Palmer. Can he do the same for Jameis Winston? The Bucs organization thinks so. Ariens has come back to the game to help the Buccs grow into a better team, but does he still have the interest or has the game passed him by? Verdict: I think Ariens will create a successor for himself in Tampa and exited the team in the next two seasons. I don’t see him taking them to the playoffs in that time either. New York Jets – Adam Gase Gase was terrible with the Dolphins, he tried to hard to instill his way of football into a team which just couldn’t do it. This is another strange play. It was reported that Matt Rule the HC at Baylor wanted the job, he is a much better candidate than Gase. Expect the game of QB Sam, Darnold to take a big step forward. Gase is known for ignoring the OL and entire Defense. He has a hard head mentality and will butt heads will everyone left on the staff from the former regime. Things are going to get very ugly in New York before they get better. Verdict: Gase will be lucky to see out the 2019 season.

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