COLUMN: The NFL coaching report

     All but two NFL teams have officially announced their new coaching hires for the 2019 football season. Both the Bengals and Dolphins are rumored to have their guys but both are current assistants with teams still in the playoffs.

     Eight teams fired their coaches this past month; that’s one quarter of the league. Being an NFL coach doesn’t lead to any type of job security unless you are a Bill Belichick-type coach.

     What may be the bigger news out of those eight hires is that only one, Brian Flores, (Dolphins) is a minority. Five of the eight coaches that were sacked were minorities: Steve Wilkes, Hue Jackson, Vance Joseph, Todd Bowels and Marvin Lewis.

     The NFL does have a rule in place, the Rooney Rule, which requires each team to, at the least, interview a minority coach for their open position.

     After looking over the new NFL hires, my opinion is there were a mixed bag of hires. Arizona hired Kliff Kingsbury. Kingsbury was fired from Texas Tech and just got hired to be USC’s offensive coordinator.

     He jumps from the college ranks to the NFL with virtually no experience. Former Cardinal coach, Steve Wilkes was given just one season with the Cardinals before he was let go. Grade D.

     The Browns stayed within their program and grabbed interim coach Freddie Kitchens. Kitchens took over mid-season for the fired Hue Jackson and did a sound job with QB Baker Mayfield. Grade B.

     The Broncos hired the Bears defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio. Fangio is 60 and his hire bucked the current trend of hiring young offensive minds. Grade B-.

     Green Bay is one of those teams that went after a young offensive guru. Matt LaFleur has quickly ascended up the assistant coaching ranks but does come to the Packers with no head coaching experience. Having one of the NFL’s elite signal callers in Aaron Rodgers will help him out. Grade C+.

     The Jets went and hired the Dolphins recently fired coach, Adam Gase. Gase will be asked to develop young signal caller Sam Darnold. Gase was also once one of those young offensive minds. Grade C-.

     Tampa Bay talked former Cardinal coach, Bruce Arians, out of a one-year retirement. Arians will be tasked with coaching QB Jameis Winston, both on and off the field. Grade B+.

     Yet to officially make their announcements are the Bengals and Zac Taylor and the Dolphins and Brian Flores. Taylor also had never been a head coach in the NFL or college but he is fresh blood for the Bengals. Grade C+.

     The Dolphins are getting a defensive guy as well in Flores, from the Bill Belichick coaching tree. For the record, none of Belichick’s assistants have had much success as head coaches. Grade D.