Every year Earl Thomas III Color Rush Jersey , 32 men enter their name into the NFL Coach of the Year sweepstakes. Every year, 31 of them fall short. That’s because the only true way to correctly ascertain the deservingest recipient of all is through process of elimination. Although the headline is a bit of a spoiler (headlines: definitely overrated), let’s conduct an objective, untainted, bias-free experiment anyway, and see where it takes us.Who automatically isn’t the 2018 NFL Coach of the Year? We know 17 men who aren’t — all the guys without winning records this season. Out are:Arizona’s Steve Wilks*, Atlanta’s Dan Quinn, Buffalo’s Sean McDermott, Carolina’s Ron Rivera, Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis*, Cleveland’s Hue Jackson*, Denver’s Vance Joseph*, Detroit’s Matt Patricia, Green Bay’s Mike McCarthy*, Jacksonville’s Doug Marrone, Miami’s Adam Gase*, New York’s Pat Shurmur and Todd Bowles* Chris Carson Color Rush Jersey , Oakland’s John Gruden, San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan, Tampa Bay’s Dirk Koetter* and Washington’s Jay Gruden. *fired anywayFifteen men made the first cut. Who also isn’t in consideration? Anyone who faltered down the stretch in a bid to make the playoffs. You can’t be the CoY if you’re not playing in January. Out are:Minnesota’s Mike ZimmerPittsburgh’s Mike TomlinTennessee’s Mike VrabelApparently, not a great year to be named Michael. If you can help it.Of course we’re down to 12 men. Their teams are in the playoffs. Next to go, among the somewhat deserving, is any coach whose team won fewer games, or the same amount, as last year. As if we’re gonna reward someone for showing no improvement, or taking a step back. I think not. Out are:New England’s Bill Belichick (minus two wins)Philadelphia’s Doug Pederson (minus four wins)How about the guys whose teams did pretty well in 2017, were expected to be pretty good this season, and turned out pretty good? What did they accomplish? “Look at all this talent! I made it perform to expectations, in line with their existing and proven ability!” Are we supposed to be impressed? Out are:Baltimore’s John Harbaugh. That Ravens defense was excellent last year, continued to be excellent this year, and they won one more game than last year. Kansas City’s Andy Reid. The Chiefs were preseason AFC favorites and performed near expectations. Los Angeles’ Anthony Lynn. Same story as the Chiefs.Los Angeles’ Sean McVay. The Rams were good to begin with, then they added talent, and then they blew the 1 seed with a mediocre showing in December. A Super Bowl favorite got a first-round bye. Wowee. It would probably have taken a special coaching talent to prevent LA from winning 12 games.New Orleans’ Sean Payton. The Saints were one freak play from the NFCCG a year ago and entered 2018 as arguably one of the five best teams. Drew Brees had the most impressive season of his storied career, which reflects well enough on Payton George Fant Color Rush Jersey , but more well on Brees himself. It’s not like Payton is a bad choice; New Orleans won 13 games. But did he really do the best job of all 32 coaches? I doubt it.Who does that leave? Not a lot. Our survivor pool is down to five accomplished men. Let’s use one final argument to eliminate coaches who benefited from good fortune: did the team receive a star or superstar addition during the season? Great coaches shouldn’t receive accolades for being suddenly spoiled with a new All-Pro talent. They ought to be rewarded for overcoming something like the loss of one. Say, if a Hall of Fame safety were to break his leg in Week 4, and his coach still guided the team to the playoffs, it would be more notable than another coach reaching the postseason after adding the best defensive end in the game. Out are:Chicago’s Matt Nagy. (Here, have Khalil Mack. Are you kidding me?)Dallas’ Jason Garrett. (Amari Cooper to a team that lacked only playmaking receivers — hell, maybe Jerry Jones is the real Coach of the Year.)Two candidates remain alongside Carroll: Houston’s Bill O’Brien and Indianapolis’ Frank Reich. Interestingly, all three teams started slow — the Seahawks 0-2, the Texans 0-3 and the Colts 1-5. Props to each coach for pulling off a comeback story within the season.Interestingly, all three teams were in almost every game — the Seahawks lost six times by a total of 28 points, the Texans five times by 20 points, and the Colts six times by 46. Kudos again to each coach for keeping his team in pretty much every game until the end. Only Reich’s Colts lost by more than one score at any point.But here’s the difference: Carroll’s squad took their lumps against a far more difficult top-end schedule. While the Texans and Colts avoided top DVOA teams and lost to middling teams, the Seahawks were busy facing the top 5 teams in DVOA five times. Yes, five games against the five best teams.Seattle: 6 games against top 10 DVOA teams, 2-4 record. 8-2 otherwise.Houston: 3 games against teams in the top 10, 1-2 record. 10-3 otherwise.Indianapolis: 1 game against teams in the top 10, 0-1 record. 10-5 otherwise.Carroll’s Seahawks got the job done against tougher opponents, all year Rashaad Penny Color Rush Jersey , without the benefit of any significant additions. They thrived after losing the entire Legion of Boom, two Pro Bowl defensive linemen and their top touchdown-maker, relying on their third-string free safety by the end, while bringing in new coordinators all around and working in new talent everywhere. For perspective, Russell Wilson, Justin Britt and Bobby Wagner are the only holdovers from the Super Bowl years who played 15 or more games. Wilson was alone in appearing in all 16.O’Brien and Reich didn’t overcome the tougher schedule or tougher circumstances their colleague in Seattle did. So there’s only one possible conclusion. Pete Carroll, by process of elimination, is the 2018 NFL Coach of the Year. RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Bobby Wagner will be present for the Seattle Seahawks‘ optional offseason activities.Just don’t expect him to take part.That was the message delivered by the All-Pro middle linebacker Tuesday as Seattle continued the first week of organized team activities. Wagner’s contract is up after next season and he indicated there had been preliminary talks regarding a new deal. But until one is in place, he will be a spectator during the optional workouts.“I will be here. That will be my participation,” Wagner said. “I will be here helping the young guys, doing whatever I can.”Wagner’s contract situation is one of Seattle’s remaining loose ends this offseason. Defensive tackle Jarran Reed is still also playing under a deal that’s up after the upcoming season. The Seahawks took care of quarterback Russell Wilson with a massive new deal and traded Frank Clark to Kansas City to obtain more draft picks.For now, Wagner has to prepare as though this is his final year in Seattle.“I am honoring the contract. I am here, participating, helping the young guys to be the best they can be,” Wagner said. “So I am here and that’s what I want to do. This is my decision. So as of right now there is no other years for me left here so that was just a very honest opinion that if I don’t get a deal done, that’s it. But I believe there is something that can happen.”Wagner’s position doesn’t create the distraction of a contract holdout but it does make it clear he doesn’t intend to take any risks. He saw both sides of what can happen in his own locker room with two players entering the final year of their deals.Earl Thomas held out last year Doug Baldwin Color Rush Jersey , appeared to create friction with the front office and left in free agency following an injury that ended his season early. Meanwhile, K.J. Wright showed up for the offseason program, missed significant time with a knee injury, but was still rewarded with a new deal.Wagner said balancing all those different scenarios is playing into his decision now.“It’s a tricky situation and this is a business. You get hurt, they don’t pay you, so you’ve got to be mindful of that,” he said. “You all know I’m a professional, I’m going to be in shape, I work out every single day so you all don’t have to worry about me being in shape and my mind is going to always be sharp.”The 28-year-old is representing himself in negotiations, bypassing an agent for the first time in his career. He does have a target for the kind of contract he’s seeking after C.J. Mosley signed with the New York Jets this offseason for an average of $17 million per season.“I mean, the number is the number, the market is the market,” Wagner said. “That’s the top linebacker market. That is the standard and so that is the plan to break that.”Coach Pete Carroll said there’s been a set process for how the team has approached the offseason and Wagner has been aware of where he stands.“We’re right in stride with the process. Bobby’s been great. Everything is going to come together in time,” Carroll said. “Everything is in order and we’re in order of what we want to do and it feels very comfortable and very amicable and all of that.”NOTES: Seattle signed first-round pick DE L.J. Collier on Tuesday. Nine of 11 draft picks have signed. DK Metcalf and Cody Barton are the only two who haven’t. … Seattle has a number of players recovering from offseason surgeries. Carroll said Reed (sports hernia) will be back in time for training camp. RB Chris Carson had a minor knee procedure and should be back participating in a couple of weeks. S Bradley McDougald also had a knee procedure and was not present Tuesday.
