While Jets fans drool over two players who made their names in Pittsburgh -- Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell -- there's a third person from Pittsburgh who may find his way to the Meadowlands.
Fired Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who was born and raised in steel and coal country, is expected to interview with Gang Green within the next week. McCarthy is the latest in a conga line of candidates, joining Eric Bieniemy, Kliff Kingsbury, Jim Caldwell and Adam Gase interviewing for the Jets' head coaching job.
Just as the Jets should pass on Brown and Bell -- who have performed a public mutiny on their employer this season -- they should also demure on McCarthy.
Surely the Jets can find a candidate north of the NFL's recycle bin. Maybe McCarthy is the most experienced head coach on the market, but that doesn't make him the best. Don't jump on someone who couldn't get along with his Hall of Fame quarterback, whose team quit on him, who lost at Lambeau Field to the Arizona Cardinals -- a club that finished 3-13 and just fired their head coach.
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There's also been no public expression from McCarthy that he covets the gig. And for the first time in a long time, the head coaching job with the Jets has much allure. Jets fans are all chest-out because of this, because they have a young, gifted quarterback, stacks of salary-cap space and live in the media vortex of America. All valid points, and all reasons the team should take its time combing through the candidates.
Even if you ignore the whispers that McCarthy has been running the same plays for a decade or that he had a dubious relationship with Rodgers, the Jets are finally in a position where they don't have to dumpster dive for their next coach.
As the team that had Bill Belichick as head coach for one day, the Jets should know that you can unearth head coaching gold in the most peculiar ways. Remember that the Colts got Frank Reich because Josh McDaniels took the job then fled soon after. The Steelers found Mike Tomlin by adhering to the Rooney Rule, the NFL mandate to interview a minority candidate, named after the franchise's progressive patriarch. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl after trading for Raiders coach Jon Gruden. Even the Browns came within a few yards of their first winning season in forever after firing Hue Jackson and allowing Gregg Williams to run the club.
If the Browns have the most tempting opening, then the Jets are just a yard behind. Baker Mayfield had a much better season than Sam Darnold did, but Mayfield also had way more talent around him, from Jarvis Landry to Nick Chubb to David Njoku. With a few adroit draft picks and a seasoning of free agents, the 4-12 Jets can easily double their win total in 2019.
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Sure, some of the best head coaches in history didn't become great until their second NFL gigs. Don Shula, Pete Carroll and Belichick blossomed into iconic coaches only after leaving their maiden NFL jobs. (The Jets had another such coach, Weeb Ewbank, who came to the Big Apple after he was fired by the Baltimore Colts.) McCarthy found prosperity right away, as can happen when you're blessed with Brett Favre and Rodgers as your only two quarterbacks, fueling the Packers to a 125-77-2 record in McCarthy's 13 years as Packers coach.
But over his last two years in Green Bay, McCarthy's record was 11-16-1, hardly the mojo the Jets are looking for. With a fresh start should come a fresh, energetic head coach. There are too many available jobs for someone with a Super Bowl ring to remain jobless. But perhaps McCarthy should take a year off and purge this last lost season from his soul. Perhaps it will recharge him and give him a more positive perspective on the NFL.
And if the Jets are ready to make the leap into contention, they need to find someone who hasn't just suffered the NFL guillotine. McCarthy will be a fine coach again, just not for the Jets.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel.
