Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
With the regular season officially behind us, that means there are now only two things to talk about today: the playoffs and the playoffs. OK, so that's actually only one thing, but it's a big one, so I thought I should count it twice.
Actually we'll be covering several things in today's newsletter. Not only will we be ranking the six playoff games from most watchable to least watchable, but Pete Prisco will unveil his final regular-season Power Rankings and we'll also be ranking the attractiveness of each open coaching job.
One job we didn't rank was the Titans' job and that's because it came open just as the newsletter was going out today. The Titans decided to part ways with Mike Vrabel, and if you want more details on that be sure to check out our full story here.
Also, if you want the latest information on who's being interviewed and who's being considered for each open job, then be sure to check out our coaching tracker here.
As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. All right, let's get to the rundown.
1. Today's show: Ranking the open coaching jobs
With two firings on Black Monday, that means there are now five open head-coaching jobs in the NFL. Since our favorite thing to do during the offseason is to rank things, Will Brinson, Ryan Wilson and I decided to rank the coaching vacancies during our Black Monday discussion on today's episode of the Pick Six Podcast.
This is our collective rankings based on our combined votes (Note: The Titans job isn't listed here because it wasn't open when we made our rankings).
1. Commanders. The Chargers job seems the sexiest because they have Justin Herbert, but when you look at overall attractiveness, we all like the Commanders more. For one, you can immediately start to build through the draft since Washington has the No. 2 overall pick this year. Also, the Commanders have the most salary cap space heading into the offseason, which means they can make some major free agency moves if they need to. They also have a new owner who seems hellbent on winning.
2. Chargers. We all agreed that this is an awesome job and that's mostly because you already have your franchise quarterback in place. But the one knock on the Chargers is that they're currently $34 million OVER the salary cap heading into 2024, which means the new coach and general manager are going to have to make some tough roster decisions over the next few months. You also have to figure out how to knock off the Chiefs, which makes this job slightly more difficult than other jobs.
3. Falcons. The biggest upside with the Falcons is that it feels like this is the team that will give a new coach the best chance to make the playoffs in 2024. Not only do they play in a very winnable division, but the Falcons also seem like they're just a quarterback away from being the best team in the NFC South.
4. Raiders. On paper, this is a pretty solid job: You get to take over an iconic NFL franchise, you have a top-15 pick in the draft and you have plenty of salary cap space heading into the offseason. However, the downside here is that the Raiders don't have a proven QB on the roster and they're stuck in a division with Patrick Mahomes, which means you won't have very much margin for error if you take this job.
5. Panthers. The three of us unanimously agreed that this would be the worst job to take and it's not even close. The biggest problem is that you have an overbearing owner who's already fired two coaches over the past two seasons. Another issue with this job is that you don't have a first-round pick in 2024. Also, if you get hired, you have to design an offense that Bryce Young can thrive in. The one upside to this job is that you're in the NFC South, which means if you turn the team around quickly, you could win a division title in your first few years on the job.
If you want to listen to today's show, be sure to click here. You can also watch today's episode on YouTube by clicking here. If you don't feel like listening to a podcast today, Brinson also did his OWN ranking of the coaching jobs, and you can check out his list by clicking here.
2. Pete Prisco's final regular-season Power Rankings
Welcome to Prisco's final Power Rankings of the regular season! After today, Prisco won't be releasing another batch of his patented Power Rankings until after the Super Bowl, so you better enjoy this batch.
Here's a look at Prisco's top five, which has no changes from last week:
- Ravens (Same as last week)
- 49ers (Same as last week)
- Cowboys (Same as last week)
- Bills (Same as last week)
- Browns (Same as last week)
I'm not going to spoil the rest of the Power Rankings here, but I am going to give you a few nuggets. Here's what has changed since Prisco's last Power Rankings:
- The biggest jump this week went to the Raiders. Prisco was so impressed with their win over the Broncos that he moved them up five spots from 24th to 19th. The Raiders were one of only two teams this week that moved up more than one spot.
- In the NFC, the biggest jump went to the Packers. Green Bay is now ranked in the top 10 after beating the Bears in Week 18. Following their victory, Prisco moved them up four spots from 14th to 10th. The Packers will be facing a big test this week with a wild-card game against Prisco's No. 3 team: the Cowboys.
- The biggest drop this week went to the Jaguars. Prisco is a noted Jaguars homer, and after watching them lose to the Titans on Sunday with a playoff spot on the line, he was almost too depressed to do his Power Rankings. The Jags dropped four spots for the loss, falling from 11th to 15th.
- Now, let's talk about the worst team in the NFL. The 2-15 Panthers had been dead last in Prisco's rankings since October, and that's where they're going to end the season, which is fitting, because they finished 2023 by becoming the FIRST team in NFL history to go an entire season without holding a single fourth quarter lead. Both of Carolina's wins came on a field goal as time expired, which is how they were able to go an entire season without holding a fourth-quarter lead.
If you want to know where your favorite team ended up in Prisco's Week 18 Power Rankings, be sure to click here. If you want to argue with Prisco over his rankings, you can do that on Twitter by clicking here. I argue with him all the time about everything.
3. Ranking the six wild-card games from most watchable to least watchable
If you don't have time to watch every wild-card game this weekend and you're trying to figure out which ones you should watch, don't worry, because we now have you covered in that department. Will Brinson ranked all six games based on their watchabilty, and based on what Brinson has to say, there is one game you definitely don't want to miss.
With that in mind, here are the four games that he considers the most watchable wild-card round:
1. (6) Rams at (3) Lions, 8:15 p.m. ET, Sunday (NBC). "The super rare Double Revenge Game™️ with Matthew Stafford heading back to Detroit to play the Lions in Detroit for the first time since being traded to the Rams. Of course, the Stafford swap featured Jared Goff going from L.A., to Motown, which means it's an even bigger revenge game for the former Rams top pick."
2. (6) Dolphins at (3) Chiefs, 8:15 p.m. ET, Saturday (Peacock). "This is another revenge game with Tyreek Hill making his much-anticipated return to Arrowhead Stadium in a playoff setting. The Chiefs stifled him in Germany earlier this year and he was relatively quiet against the Bills, but it's safe to say he'll be plenty motivated to show up and produce in front of his old team and his old quarterback."
3. (7) Packers at (2) Cowboys, 4:30 p.m. ET, Sunday (Fox). "Speaking of revenge games, how do you like Mike McCarthy's old team versus Mike McCarthy's new team?? There's no Aaron Rodgers for Green Bay anymore, of course, which is a shame because it would have given this matchup some SERIOUS juice. But there's still plenty to love about this game."
4. (5) Browns at (4) Texans, 4:30 p.m. ET, Saturday (NBC). "We've got a sneaky fun little matchup here between two absolutely shocking playoff teams. The Browns were projected by Vegas to be a postseason club before the season but they started FIVE QUARTERBACKS and are going to be rolling out Joe Flacco for this game. Houston's been excellent against the run but has struggled against the pass lately -- I'm absolutely thrilled at the idea of catching some JANUARY JOE and maybe even some FEBRUARY FLACCO in the postseason this year."
If you want to check out Brinson's entire rankings, be sure to click here.
4. NFL schedule news: Home-and-away opponents for 2024
With the 2023 regular season officially in the books, now seems like a good time to start talking about the 2024 season. And thanks to the NFL scheduling formula, we can actually do that because we now know who the 17 opponents will be for all 32 teams.
Here are 10 of the biggest games that will be on the 2024 schedule:
- 49ers at Bills
- Chiefs at Bills
- Ravens at Chiefs
- Ravens at Cowboys
- Cowboys at 49ers
- Dolphins at Browns
- Steelers at Eagles
- Bengals at Chiefs
- Rams at Lions
- Lions at 49ers
If you want to see the home-and away opponents for all 32 teams, then be sure to click here. The dates and times of each game will be released at some point during the spring.
5. 2023 All-Rookie Team: Lions and Rams lead the way
With the regular season officially in the books, we decided that right now is the perfect time to unveil our 2023 All-Rookie Team. CBSSports.com NFL Draft guru Chris Trapasso locked himself in a room over the weekend and didn't come out until he was completely satisfied with his entire team.
Here's a look at the All-Rookie Team on the offensive side of the ball:
QB: C.J. Stroud, Texans
RB: De'Von Achane, Dolphins
WR: Rashee Rice, Chiefs
WR: Puka Nacua, Rams
WR: Jordan Addison, Vikings
TE: Sam LaPorta, Lions
OT: Darnell Wright, Bears
OT: Dawand Jones, Browns
Interior OL: Peter Skoronski, Titans
Interior OL: O'Cyrus Torrence, Bills
Interior OL: Steve Avila, Rams
One notable aspect of the All-Rookie Team is that the Lions, Texans and Rams were the only two teams that had at least one player on both sides of the ball. If you want to see what the defensive side of the All-Rookie Team looks like, then be sure to click here.
6. Extra points: Jon Gruden could be returning to NFL
It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.
- Saints eyeing Jon Gruden for possible spot on coaching staff. The Saints are thinking about adding the former Super Bowl-winning coach to their coaching staff, according to NOLA.com. Gruden, who hasn't coached since parting ways with the Raiders in October 2021, would most likely serve on the offensive staff, but he wouldn't be offensive coordinator. The move would reunite him with Derek Carr. For more details on this possibility, be sure to click here.
- Dolphins will be missing several key players against Chiefs. The Dolphins defense definitely won't be at full strength on Saturday. Linebackers Andrew Van Ginkel (Foot) and Jerome Baker (wrist) won't be playing this week and cornerback Xavien Howard is also expected to be sidelined. If you want to know how bad the Dolphins' defensive injuries have been this season, you can check out our full story here.
- Colts owner dealing with severe respiratory illness. Jim Irsay was nowhere to be seen during the Colts' huge Week 18 game against the Texans, and now we know why. The team announced today that he's dealing with an illness. "Jim Irsay is currently being treated for a severe respiratory illness," The Colts said in a statement. "He is receiving excellent care and looks forward to returning to the stage as soon as possible." The Colts also added that they won't be giving out any "addition information" on the situation.
- Chargers All-Pro likely to retire over health issues. The Chargers are going to have a big hole to fill this offseason due to the likely retirement of Corey Linsley. The All-Pro center told reporters this week that he's "99%" sure he's going to retire due to a heart issue he's dealing with. You can read more about his situation here.
- Jaguars dump defensive coaching staff. The Jaguars decided to clean house on Monday by firing most of their defensive coaching staff, including defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell. Defensive line coach Brentson Buckner, Passing game coordinator Deshea Townsend, inside linebackers coach Tony Gilbert and safeties coach Cody Grimm were also let go.
- Giants defensive coordinator resigns. After just two seasons with the Giants, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale has decided to hand in his resignation. There had been reports of friction between Martindale and Brian Daboll earlier in the season and at that point, it became clear that one of them was going to have to go and it likely wasn't going to be the head coach.
- Patriots might bring back Josh McDaniels. If Bill Belichick ends up keeping his job in New England, it's looking there's a strong possibility that he'll bring back Josh McDaniels, according to The Athletic. McDaniels might not be a great head coach, but he has a strong track record as an offensive coordinator, and bringing him back might be enough to convince Robert Kraft to give Bill Belichick another season. You can read more about McDaniels' potential return here.
