Skewing younger

The hot trend this offseason so far is in the assistant coaching ranks. If you count head coaches in waiting Jim Caldwell and Jim Mora, Jr., the first four head coaching openings of this offseason have been filled by candidates who were neither offensive nor defensive coordinators. Tony Sparano, the new coach of the Dolphins coaxed a career season out of Leonard Davis as offensive line coach of the Cowboys. The Eagles special teams fell apart after new Ravens coach John Harbaugh was switched from special teams to defensive backs coach this past offseason. Marcus Trufant made his first Pro Bowl with Mike Holmgren's expected successor Jim Mora, Jr. as defensive backs coach. And Jim Caldwell, the first publicly announced coach to be a successor, has Peyton Manning's ear as quarterbacks coach.

There are two possibly explanations for this shift: the head coaches are getting younger or the coordinators are getting older. Look at the Colts - offensive coordinator Tom Moore is over 16 years older than Caldwell. Likewise Seahawks defensive coordinator John Marshall and Jim Mora, Jr. Monte Kiffin and Jim Johnson are maybe the two most respected defensive coordinators of the last decade, and they are 67 and 66, respectively. Meanwhile it seems that coaches over 50 need not apply, as Jim Fassel seems to be the first coach half a hundred or more to be seriously interviewed for any of the openings, Marty rumors and Rooney Rule fodder notwithstanding.

What's the dilly with Dungy?

Yesterday at around 2 PM Profootballtalk reported that Tony Dungy would be stepping down as Colts head coach, and that quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell would take his place. Within two hours the Colts were denying the story, yet Caldwell removed his name from consideration for the Falcons and Ravens head coaching jobs. Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and Eagles special teams coach John Harbaugh are the finalists for the Ravens job, so that isn't a huge development. But Caldwell, Garrett, and Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan are the finalists for the Falcons job, and Garrett also removed his name from consideration, so there much me something to this story for Caldwell to turn down a chance at a job 300 miles from Wake Forest, where he coached for eight years.

You can compare the Ravens, Redskins, Falcons, Dolphins, Seahawks, and even the Cowboys jobs right now, but the Colts job, in my opinion, is the most desirable job in the NFL right now. You've got Peyton Manning at a high level for at least another six seasons, an extremely capable general manager, a hands off owner, and reasonable expectations (as opposed to an unreachable standard in New England). The Steelers job is also among the most desirable, with a history of job security, but also a history of losing key players through free agency. The identity of the coach of the Colts next season is biggest off field story in the NFL right now.