Underhill: Saints are interviewing probably 12 coaches [Tracker: 8 confirmed requests]

Hedon James said
I appreciate the additional info on Kafka. About all I knew of him is that he's been with the Giants, and neither the Giants O nor Daniel Jones have been impressive. I was also wondering "WTH?!" Is it safe to say he's "on the map" due to his work with Mahomes; but hasn't duplicated that without Mahomes? I don't want to turn my nose up to ANY candidate, but I'm honestly trying to understand what this guy brings to the table besides "worked with Pat Mahomes in his early years of being an NFL QB." What else am I missing?

I’m not sure what else to offer up aside from “many people, since his college days, saw coaching in his future” and “prior to taking a promotion at a talent-poor team, he was the position coach for the guy many of us would argue has played the best and most successful stretch of quarterbacking we’ve seen this generation”

In a comparable manner, I remember reading a 2000 Peach Bowl preview for the game between LSU & Georgia Tech. There was a section offering random tidbits about both teams, and for some reason “LSU safety Ryan Clark, who has a future in broadcasting once his playing career is over, looks to lead the Tigers secondary blah blah blah” and for some reason the broadcasting part stuck with me. Clark would up not being drafted but still made a lengthy career for himself, and now he’s a well-regarded broadcast host.

Sometimes people around the game know stuff. Instead of dismissing Kafka simply because his most recent employer is low on player talent, it helps to go look at the whole picture - and that includes quotes well-regarded coaches have said about him spanning back about two decades now. I know this fan base has talked itself into one of two candidates (Joe Brady, Aaron Glenn) and can’t fathom why the front office would even bother talking to anybody else, but the race to be pettier than the next fan is just tacky in my opinion. In the rise of the social media era, the Saints were a stable franchise, and now that the team is undergoing a legitimate coaching search for the first time in this noisy social media “everybody gets a voice” time, people are just looking to be snarky and petulant for likes (they saw how it worked for their Fire Dennis Allen diatribes and are going to keep tapping that well, hence the ill-guided Fire Mickey Loomis movement) instead of crediting the team for doing diligence to find the next coach.