Welcome Back Kwesi!

[JustInTime]

[supafreak84]

Your take on people with better resumes is valid 15-20 years ago, but not today. All leagues have shifted from the typical paths they expect of GMs and coaches. No longer are people expected to cut their teeth for decades moving through the standardized route to become GM or HC. 

Everyone is moving towards analytics and younger people with fresh ideas over the old guard. People were pissed about KOC getting the job because he didn't spend 20 plus years as an assistant coach and coordinator before becoming a HC. Seemed to turn out okay.

As to your assumption that the only possible way a minority and female could be finalists is as a result of DEI. Perhaps the reality is many old whites in the NFL have little to no clue how to connect and thus manage today's players and coaches. And thus aren't getting jobs. See former HC being shit canned for total incompetence in interacting with young players as case in point. 

Wilfs have clearly established they care a great deal about winning. Find it hard to believe they'd hire a GM solely for DEI brownie points at the risk of losing while also devaluing their franchise as a result of losing. Lol it's not like they sold more tickets by hiring a minority.

I still firmly believe the main job of a GM is to identify young talent and draft well to replenish the lifeblood of a roster. You can't keep signing 30+ year old vets to big contracts in free agency every offseason to cover your ineffectiveness of drafting players. That's where scouting comes in and having actual experience in personnel and roster building. Kwesi was able to survive the catastrophe of his first draft and his lackluster draft results thusfar because this was a good roster to begin with and Spielman left him with a lot of building blocks that are still the core of this team. So I don't believe that off the cuff hires who specialize in analytics or stock trading are taking the NFL by storm. Most GM hires are still rooted in scouting or having actual experience playing the game (former players).

I don't recall anybody being pissed by the KOC hire for anything other than the fact that he was chosen as coach over Harbaugh. Whether that was the right move or not remains to be seen. Winning a playoff game sure would go a long ways in helping KOC's cause. 

And that wasn't my assumption with DEI. I could care less about skin color, gender or sexual preference as long as you know what you are doing. We took two finalists that weren't scouts, personnel folks, or played the game themselves and lets not forget at the time we were fresh off George Floyd in Minneapolis and the choice was always going to be a minority or female after canning Spielman and Zimmer. It's what the league and Roger Goodell were pushing and the Wilfs (being progressives themselves) were happy to oblige. We interviewed current Raider GM John Spytek for the job, who's resume dwarfed that of either of our finalists, and the guy didn't even get a second interview. Why would that be? I think even Stevie Wonder could see and connect those dots. Regardless we are all cheering for Kwesi to get this team a championship.