jim Caldwell
After the LIons' painful loss to the Green Bay Packers on Thursday, the speculation as to the future of coach Jim Caldwell seemed to heat up.
Dave Birkitt of the Detroit Free Press writes that the Lions want to wait until they have a general manager before deciding the fate of Caldwell.
That strategy could cost them in terms of going after other candidates for head coach should the team decide to dump Caldwell.
Birkitt writes:
The Lions want to wait until they have a general manager to decide on coach Jim Caldwell’s future.
But if they stick with that plan, they could miss out on several of the winter’s top candidates.
By NFL rule, the Lions can’t interview general manager candidates currently employed by other teams until the regular season ends Jan. 3.
Depending on how thorough that interview process is, it could take a week or more to make a hire.
If that happens, the Lions would miss out on the interview window for assistant coaches on playoff teams with a first-round bye, and perhaps cut into the window for assistants on wild-card teams that win their first-round playoff game.
Among the assistants with potential first-round byes expected to draw interest in head coaching jobs this off-season are Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson and Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott.
