What kind of job has Ron Rivera done so far?
December 16, 2020
by Steve Thomas
The purpose of this column isn’t to just sing the praises of WFT Washington head coach Ron Rivera or to unnecessarily bash him for decisions with which I didn’t agree. Since Washington is now in week 15 and on a four game winning streak, it seemed like a good time to take a fair and balanced look at the work he’s done since joining Washington at the beginning of the offseason (to be honest, I started this column a couple of weeks ago and just now got around to finishing it). One limitation to this exercise is that true objectivity is impossible in this instance since the job of a head football coach isn’t measured by statistics; therefore, I’m just going to try and be as “down the middle” as possible in my evaluation of Rivera’s performance so far. My grades for each area below are just my subjective wag at a grade and are not based on any data or calculations.
Background
As everyone knows, Rivera began his NFL career as a linebacker with the Chicago Bears, who drafted him out of the University of California in the second round of the 1984 draft. Rivera played through the 1992 season, playing in 137 games, starting 56. In his career, he had 392 tackles, 7.5 career sacks, and 9 interceptions. Rivera began his career as a coach in 1997 as a quality control coach for the Bears. He was named the linebackers coach for the Philadelphia Eagles under head coach Andy Reid in 1999. Rivera became the defensive coordinator for the Bears in 2004, where he stayed through 2007 when he moved to the San Diego Chargers as their inside linebackers coach. San Diego promoted him to defensive coordinator in 2008. The Carolina Panthers hired him to be their head coach in 2011, where he stayed until week 13 of the 2019 season. During that time, he accumulated a record of 76 – 63 – 1, 3 NFC South titles, and one Super Bowl appearance following the 2015 season.
Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder hired him as Washington’s head coach on January 1, 2020.
Grade: A+. Rivera is extremely well qualified.
Draft Choices
This was Washington’s 2020 draft, over which Rivera presided:
Rd 1 pick 2: Chase Young, DE, Ohio St.
Rd 3, pick 2: Antonio Gibson, RB, Memphis
Rd 4, pick 2: Saahdiq Charles, OT, LSU
Rd 4, pick 36: Antonio Gandy-Golden, WR, Liberty
Rd 5, pick 10: Keith Ismael, C, San Diego St.
Rd 5, pick 16: Khaleke Hudson, LB, Michigan
Rd 7, pick 2: Kamren Curl, S, Arkansas
Rd 7, pick 15: James Smith-Williams, DE, North Carolina St.
Of these picks, thusfar Young and Gibson already look like they’ll live up to their draft status, with Gibson outperforming his round 3 draft slot and Young basically matching expectations. Despite missing most of week 13 and all of week 14, Gibson is still fourth in the NFL in rushing yards amongst rookie running backs, with 659, behind James Robinson in Jacksonville (1035), Jonathan Taylor in Indianapolis (759) and Clyde Edwards-Helaire in Kansas City (724), first in rushing touchdowns amongst rookies, and third in rushing yards per attempt among rookies with 50 or more attempts. Curl looks to be a seventh round steal and a future permanent starter after stepping into the starting strong safety role vacated by the injured Landon Collins. None of the rest of these players have shown much to date, but it’s still early and there’s no real bust or wasted pick, yet. The fact that Washington has already hit on three of eight picks with three games left is a pretty darn good record. If you read my columns and listened to our show around draft time, I was an advocate for trading down in the first round in lieu of selecting Young, not because of Young in particular (although I thought then and still think now that people are hyping this kid a bit too much, too early), but because of team needs. What’s done is done, though, and there’s no reason to hold that against Rivera for not doing so since Young thusfar is meeting his outsized expectations and appears to have a bright future. I’d preliminarily call this draft a success and give Rivera credit for a job well done here.
Grade: A-. Several of these players ended up on injured reserve or just haven’t done much yet, so he loses a tiny bit on this grade.
Offseason and free agency
Whatever plan Rivera had to install his new offense and defense went right out the window thanks to a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and Rivera being diagnosed with cancer, neither if which being his fault. As a result, it’s a bit tough to evaluate his work preparing the team when there essentially was no real offseason. A bunch of Zoom meetings do not qualify. Therefore, I’m giving him a pass on this area.
In terms of free agency, Rivera made basically no effort to bring in elite-level talent other than receiver Amari Cooper and left what appeared to be obvious, gaping roster holes in the offensive line, running back group, tight ends, and receiver corps. He took significant flack at the time throughout the media and from the fanbase for this approach; however, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that Rivera’s plan was to build from the ground up for the long-haul using young talent, rather than go for the quick (and expensive) fix. This is an approach that the Redskins Washington has not taken for quite a while, maybe since the Norv Turner era. It’s the best way to build a long term, consistent winner. Whether or not he will ultimately succeed is another matter, but I applaud the effort. The moral of this story is that Ron might just know more than the rest of us about what will work best for his team. Shocking.
Grade: B+. The team does have some holes, but they weren’t all going to be fixed in one year.
Comparison to peers
Five NFL teams hired new head coaches this season, including Washington. The others were Joe Judge with the New York Giants, Mike McCarthy with the Cowboys, Matt Rhule with Rivera’s old team, the Carolina Panthers, and Kevin Stefanski with the Cleveland Browns. Through week 14, these are the win-loss records of each team:
Cleveland Browns: 9 – 4 (2nd)
Washington: 6 – 7 (1st)
New York Giants: 5 – 8 (2nd)
Carolina Panthers: 4 – 9 (4th)
Dallas Cowboys: 4 – 9 (4th)
From this perspective, Rivera is second behind Stefanski. Cleveland did have more offensive talent in place after last season than did Washington, but to Stefanski’s credit, quarterback Baker Mayfield wasn’t exactly a sure-thing franchise quarterback coming out of last season and he looks better now. Stefanski has done well. Rhule isn’t working with much in Carolina, and Judge has the Giants just one game behind Washington, so it’s tough to give him too much grief at this point. McCarthy, however, has been terrible even given Dallas’ injuries. My view is that Mike McCarthy is a detriment to the Cowboys, not an asset. His playcalling and ability to coach and manage his players seems from my perspective as a Dallas outsider to be severely lacking. I’m glad he’s not here in Washington.
Here is a list of each team’s offensive and defensive rankings through week 14, sorted by total yards:
Offense:
Cleveland: 11
Dallas: 12
Carolina: 19
Washington: 30
New York: 31
Defense:
Washington: 4
New York: 11
Cleveland: 19
Carolina: 21
Dallas: 23
Taking a subjective wag at it based on this information, I’d put Rivera second behind Stefanski in terms of overall first year success with three games left in the season.
Grade: A
Game and Roster Management
Rivera’s offense was terrible in the early part of the season as a result of the combination of a lack of an offseason or preseason, limited talent, and an inexperienced quarterback. They have obviously looked somewhat better in the past few weeks, although it should be lost on no one that the schedule was much tougher in the early going and they played two horrible teams in the Bengals and the Cowboys in weeks 11 and 12, and didn’t exactly do wonders in weeks 13 or 14. The offensive playcalling in the early part of the season was questionable at times, and Rivera made a few clock management errors during that time. I also blame Rivera for going for the 2 point conversion at the end of the fourth quarter in week 6 against the Giants instead of kicking the extra point and living to fight on in overtime.
The biggest controversy on offense was, of course, the benching of Dwayne Haskins and his relegation to third string. In my view, whether right or wrong, Rivera never believed in Haskins from the start and never intended to play Haskins beyond game 4, which was a very tough quarter of the season. Certainly, there’s no doubt that in the short term, Alex Smith is the better quarterback and the team is in better hands. The open question that will not be resolved is whether Haskins had potential to get better, or at least deserved more of a chance than he was given. In typical Washington fashion, a series of unsourced rumors about Haskins’ work ethic and character came out after his benching; we’ll probably never know how much was true. None of it matters now, as Haskins’ time in DC is about at an end, but in my view, he should’ve been given more time, so I fault Rivera for that. I’d be remiss by not pointing out that the team didn’t look any better with Kyle Allen at the helm and only stabilized under the leadership of Alex Smith, which of course only happened because of Allen’s injury. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
Early in the season, Rivera’s defense played well against the terrible teams but looked overmatched and flawed against good teams. However, this group has improved tremendously in recent weeks and looked very strong against both the Steelers and the 49ers. The defense appears to be rounding into form and is rising up the stat sheet, so Rivera has to get credit for this.
Grade: B, but this might be an A by the end of the season.
Messaging
Rivera’s public messaging was inconsistent in the early part of the season, sending confusing signals in press conferences about his choices, his players, and the direction of the team; however, that changed in the second half of the season, and he hasn’t said anything strange or off-kilter in a while. Whether it’s because the team is now winning or whether Rivera consciously made better choices about what he said at his pressers is unknown, but either way, he’s much improved in this area.
I give him credit for staying out of the ongoing ownership fight that’s being waged in courts in multiple states and on two continents, as well as the allegations of sexual misconduct during prior years brought by the Washington Post.
Grade: C+. He could’ve been better here.
Intangibles
Finally, the intangibles. The 2020 version of Ron Rivera is a walking, talking bag of positive intangibles. He suffered through the most chaotic offseason and the worst front office mess imaginable with dignity, underwent chemotherapy for cancer during the season without missing a game, and seemingly has his players ready to do anything for him. He’s brought this team together in a way that hasn’t happened around these parts in a very long time, maybe since Joe Gibbs exited stage left. I have nothing but the highest praise for Rivera in this area.
Grade: A+
Conclusion
What will happen heading into the season’s final three weeks remains to be seen, but for the first time in a long time, probably since the earliest days of the existence of The Hog Sty, I’m optimistic and excited about the future.
Overall Grade: A-
What do you think? Let me know in the comment section below. I might just read them this time.