Respected Colts RBs coach Scottie Montgomery leaves for Detroit
Its indystar
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INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts remain focused on the process of finding a new head coach, a process that is getting closer to a conclusion.
Whether the team’s new head coach ends up retaining any of the Indianapolis assistants remains to be seen.
But a few have already found their next landing spots.
Colts running backs coach Scottie Montgomery has been hired away from Indianapolis to be Detroit’s assistant head coach and running backs coach, according to the NFL Network, replacing Duce Staley who left the Lions to join former Colts coach Frank Reich in Carolina.
Colts Insider:Here's why the Colts' coaching search is taking so long
Montgomery is the first Indianapolis assistant to leave for another NFL job this offseason. Tight ends coach Klayton Adams left for Stanford before the end of the regular season, and last week, assistant offensive line coach Kevin Mawae left to become the head coach at Lipscomb Academy, a high school in Nashville, Tenn.
The team’s running backs coach, on the other hand, is something of a rising star in the NFL. Montgomery interviewed with the Saints and Panthers for their offensive coordinator positions last offseason, and he was hired by Reich in Indianapolis in part because he’s considered an expert in the world of RPOs, or run-pass options, a section of the playbook that has been on the rise across the NFL.
When the Colts fired offensive coordinator Marcus Brady, Montgomery was given more responsibility by Reich, and then the former college head coach decided to forego the opportunity to call the plays under Jeff Saturday in order to handle the wide-ranging role he’d taken over briefly with Reich at the helm.
“Of course, I want to be a coordinator,” Montgomery said. “I think that’s pretty evident around the league, people know that, but I also know there’s a lot that goes with having the responsibility of the room that I have.”
By joining Dan Campbell’s staff as the team’s assistant head coach, Montgomery has landed a role that Campbell himself ended up parlaying into a head coaching shot in Detroit, after time spent in the assistant head coaching role under then-Saints coach Sean Payton.
What is hard to know is how many more Colts assistants might move on for a different opportunity before Indianapolis makes a decision. Montgomery landed a promotion — NFL teams can’t block assistant coaches from taking a job that’s a step up from their current role — but Indianapolis has reportedly blocked defensive coordinator Gus Bradley from pursuing other opportunities so far, Sports Illustrated reported Monday.
And it remains possible that the Colts hire a head coach who has connections to Bradley or any of the other assistants still under contract.
Before all of those questions can be answered, though, Indianapolis has to hire its next head coach.
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Colts mailbag: Can it make sense to hire a defensive head coach?
Nate Atkins
Indianapolis Star
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The Colts are four weeks into their coaching search. The end should be in sight soon, with the Super Bowl this weekend.
But at this point, they're running on their own clock.
The Colts will have a coach by the time the NFL combine arrives in Indianapolis at the end of the month. This search is going to end at a certain point, and they will have a press conference and people will be either upset, inspired or something in the middle.
So, let's take a deep breath and pass the time with some more of the mail:
Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is one of the finalists for the Indianapolis Colts' head coaching job.
Question: "Why would we consider a failed ex-NFL coach who is now a DC (defensive coordinator) or DCs at all when we have a team that can't score and likely will have a young QB? All the final teams were offensive orientated HC." -- Molcka via Twitter
Answer: Hiring isn't easy and nor is doing the job as a head coach. It's more like being a CEO of a football factory than a master of X's and O's. Failures happen in the biggest role at the highest end of the sport that create lessons for the next time around, if it comes. On that note, keep in mind these two former defensive coordinators who were failed ex-head coaches at one point: Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll.
Yes, Raheem Morris coached the Buccaneers to a 17-31 record as a head coach once. It happened more than a decade ago, when he started at the age of 32, and his quarterback for three of four seasons was Josh Freeman, who was a wild first-round reach whose struggles compounded with off-the-field issues. That's not a franchise setting up a young defensive coach for success. But it did highlight areas of improvement for Morris to grow in the 11 seasons since, a span in which he's coached offense and defense, won a Super Bowl and connected with Jalen Ramsey in a way few coaches have.
The topic of defensive coaches is interesting in this era of the NFL, where championship ceilings mostly exist through the passing game. Seven of the final eight teams this year featured an offensive-minded head coach, and the one that didn't was the Bills with Sean McDermott, whose offense fell off when Brian Daboll left for the Giants.
At the same time, the viability and floor of defensive head coaches is higher than people give them credit for. Just take a look at the returning head coaches with that kind of background: McDermott in Buffalo, Belichick in New England, Robert Saleh with the New York Jets, Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, Brandon Staley in Los Angeles, Mike Vrabel in Tennessee, Matt Eberflus in Chicago, Carroll in Seattle, Dennis Allen in New Orleans, Todd Bowles in Tampa Bay and Ron Rivera in Washington.
The only members of that group who haven’t reached the playoffs with their teams are the coaches one or two years in. Three have won Super Bowls and two more have coached in championship games.
It goes to show how vital leadership is to the parts of being a head coach that aren't X's and O's, such as staffing, delegation, communication, organization and emotional intelligence. It also shows how there are only so many qualified head coaching candidates to go around, and so many have been hired from the offensive side of the ball in the chase for the next Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan or Andy Reid that at some point, the best defensive candidate dwarfs the fifth-best offensive one as the leader of a franchise.
Ideally, you would like the head coach to be the one running the offense so the system cannot be hired away. This is more true when you have a rookie quarterback who will be learning the game and what kind of player he is and isn't. He needs the leadership of the team and the offense specifically to remain high. The Colts offense is broken, and it will take a quarterback and coaching to fix it.
The Colts have more at stake with this hire than just the offensive system for the quarterback, though. That's what's made this such a challenge for them.
Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard has been running the team's search for its next head coach.
Question: "Exactly what are they waiting for with this hire? Being thorough is fine but after all this time, what exactly don’t they know that they think they’ll somehow discover now?" -- Evan Ausbrooks via Twitter
Answer: I got into this in detail in last week's insider story. To lay it out a little differently, I think it comes down to the fact that the organization has two primary objectives with this hire -- leadership from the cultural mess of last season and creating an offense tailored to the strengths of the incoming rookie quarterback -- with a cast of candidates who fit one box or the other.
In the leadership box, you have men like Rich Bisaccia, a longtime special teams coach who guided the Raiders through the turmoil of last season into the playoffs; Morris, a former head coach and interim coach and two-time Super Bowl champion who has connected with some of the biggest stars in the game; Aaron Glenn, a former 14-year defensive back who coaches with the fire of a player; Wink Martindale, whose every-man personality and aggressive schemes can fuel confidence into anyone, even an undermanned Giants defense; and Jeff Saturday, whose candidacy has been built entirely around his care for the franchise and ability to relate to the players playing for it.
GO DEEPER: Here's why the Colts' coaching search is taking so long
In the quarterback developer box, you have men like Brian Callahan, who helped take Joe Burrow and a young Bengals offense to two straight AFC Championship Games; and Shane Steichen, who is calling plays for an Eagles offense in the Super Bowl thanks to a scheme built to accentuate Jalen Hurts.
There are questions to pose about the first group's plan for an offense and ability to keep it streamlined with the same man game planning for the young quarterback each season; and about the second group's ability to create instant buy-in with a splintered roster by building a staff that's all on the same page. The candidates who seem like they'd be ideal balances of the two in this cycle were Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh, and neither interviewed with the Colts.
Add in a lack of competition for these candidates and the thorough approach Chris Ballard promised after he was once left at the altar by Josh McDaniels, and it adds up to one of the deepest searches in history. So much is at stake with this hire with a rookie quarterback incoming and the key players of the roster all entering their prime, and there aren't easy answers. So, the franchise proceeds with some trepidation.
Rock Ya-Sin spent three years with the Indianapolis Colts before the team traded him to the Las Vegas Raiders last spring in exchange for Pro Bowl edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue.
Question: "I see Rock Ya Sin is going to be a free agent. Do you think there is a realistic possibility we try to resign him in the offseason?" -- Amanda Ewing via Twitter
Answer: I have to think that's a possibility, even without knowing who the coach will be. Chris Ballard really leans on familiarity in free agency, which is why he re-signs so many of his own players. He likes to know what he's getting in a veteran. I think he'll see that in Rock Ya-Sin, a pretty mild-mannered personality who started to click in his third season before the trade for Yannick Ngakoue popped up.
If Gus Bradley returns and the Colts maintain the Seattle-style scheme, Ya-Sin could be a strong fit given his length and physicality at the line. That's what created a role for a 6-foot-2 veteran like Brandon Facyson, and the coaching staff clearly favored that prototype over Isaiah Rodgers Sr. early in the year before some of the athleticism just won out. Rodgers Sr. wasn't as strong in coverage when he had to take every snap against the Vikings, so finding another outside cornerback who can split some snaps with him could be a good idea. We will have to see whether Ya-Sin's market takes him above that kind of level or not.
Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Strachan will be fighting for playing time entering his third season with the team in 2023.
Question: "I really, really liked Mike Strachan last year especially because he actually played a little at the beginning of the year. Barely played this year as well. Do you think he may see the field more this year if we don’t resign Parris Campbell?" -- Joey Marshall via Twitter
Answer: The Colts have always been intrigued by Michael Strachan, which is why Ballard drafted him in the seventh round and why Reggie Wayne compared him to a raw Calvin Johnson. At 6-4 with vertical explosion, he's physically able to live above the rim in ways receivers like Wayne dream of.
But seeing that materialize on an NFL field has been a challenge through two seasons. Strachan played 131 snaps last season, which actually doubled his rookie total but still came in at just 15% of the total for the offense. He caught three passes for 59 yards, all in the first two weeks. His playing time fell off a cliff after a Week 2 in which he played 70% of the snaps with Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce injured, and the Colts were shutout by the Jaguars 24-0.
The reason the playing time fell off came back to trust. Strachan missed some time in training camp with a knee injury and never fully caught up to a complex playbook with Matt Ryan, especially once they started to incorporate more hurry-up. Then the quarterback and coaching changes were nonstop and it was too much to rush him up to speed with more reliable options available.
This is the toll the quarterback carousel takes, as it makes your low-percentage upside swings decidedly lower-percentage. The Colts will try this again with Strachan this year, but I'd think of him more as a backup 'Z' to Pierce than as a potential Campbell replacement in the slot. That's where his skill set aligns, and he needs to add some splash plays as an extra receiver before he'll get a look as a starter, too.
Stephon Gilmore added a number of game-changing plays in his first season with the Indianapolis Colts in 2022.
Question: "I know he’s got 1 year remaining on his contract, but do we think Stephon Gilmore will be back? I wonder if they could grant him a release to sign with a more immediate contender." -- @SpeedBlue23 via Twitter
Answer: Stephon Gilmore is an interesting player because he and the Colts set up this two-year deal to fit a contention window built around Matt Ryan that clearly no longer exists.
Gilmore came in and got right back to his five-time Pro Bowl level of play following a tough run of injuries. He picked off two passes, batted down 11, played 16 games and made some of the more clutch breakups and tackles in a lost season. He was determined to prove that age was not a concern as he turned 32, and he did that.
This will be his age-33 season, and it comes with a $12.9 million cap hit, up 40% from last year. It places him 15th among cornerbacks, which should place him in line as an average No. 1 cornerback. Given his physical and cerebral style and the year he just had, the Colts can feel reasonably good enough about his chances of hitting that while recognizing that all it takes is one injury for him to miss it.
I'd expect Gilmore to be here as Ballard tries as best as he can to build on the defense he has in order to lighten the job on a first-time coach and rookie quarterback. Gilmore is a major resource for young players and an easy personality to bank on in the locker room, making his presence a plus.
If the Colts decide to take a decidedly long-term approach to the roster and start turning older players into draft picks, the conversation changes, as he does represent $10 million in potential savings. That approach doesn't seem to fit Ballard, though.
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Last edited by JAFF; 02-08-2023 at 12:34 PM.
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02-08-2023, 09:01 AM
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