Over the offseason teams are tapping into the New England Front Office pipeline, with the Detroit Lions hiring Bob Quinn and the Titans hiring Jon Robinson. Even though Robinson left the Patriots to join the Buccaneers last year, there's a good chance he taps into the New England coaching staff to pick his head coach. With the Patriots averaging 12 wins a season, teams are trying to see if people from the Patriots front office and coaching staff can help replicate a similar kind of successful program for their team. The NFL is a copycat league and when you are the Gold Standard in the league, teams will hire people from your organization to improve theirs.
Quinn walks into a pretty good situation in Detroit. He wound up leaving New England partially due to the fact that he pretty much was blocked from going up the front office ladder with top personnel man Nick Caserio signed through 2020 and also due to the attractive job prospect of running the show in Detroit. The team has enough talent to compete for the division as evidenced by winning against Green Bay in Lambeau Field, but they started off very slowly and it ruined their season. It's unclear if Quinn will keep the same coach in Detroit, but what he doesn't have to worry too much about is finding a QB. What I think the Lions need to find is younger parts at LB in addition to being able to draft and develop OL better. Quinn could set himself up for a quick 1-year fix in Detroit. It comes down to who he picks as coach whether it's keeping Jim Caldwell or hiring someone else, say Matt Patricia although that hire is unlikely.
With the Titans hiring Robinson, it's very likely that he will pick OC Josh McDaniels to be his new head coach. With the Titans currently having young, but talented pieces on their offense the right move is to pick an offensive-minded coach. While Marcus Mariota probably won't be near as successful a QB as Tom Brady, McDaniels can teach Mariota and the Titans how to prepare for games. McDaniels will be linked to the coaching search throughout the entire process unless the team decides to take a different route. McDaniels did have coaching experience in Denver, which he needs to use as a learning experience for his next job because failure means he's bouncing around as an offensive coordinator the rest of his football career.
When you have the best team in the NFL and you're averaging 12 wins a year despite the amount of parity in the league, teams are looking to hire people from your organization to try to foster that same winning environment. The Patriots and Bill Belichick know this, which is why they wind up grooming people to ultimately replace the people that wind up leaving. The NFL is a copycat league and are searching for how the Patriots are able to achieve their success in the personnel department and in consistently winning games. With further passing time and the Patriots continually having successful seasons, we will see more of the same in the next offseason. The Patriots will have the people ready to fill the voids left in the front office. Let's hope that Quinn and Robinson are able to achieve success for their teams, the Patriots won't see the Titans or Lions until 2018 unless they're able to make a faster and more drastic turnaround.