And the Arizona job is a complete ground zero rebuild.
This isn't true when at least one side of the ball is as solid as it is. The Cardinals were an 8 and 8 team in a stacked division and without Carson Palmer for most of the season. They undeniably have work to do but I can name plenty of teams in a worse position than that. They will probably spend their first round pick getting what they hope will be Larry Fitzgerald's replacement or Carson Palmer's replacement. They can spend the next few draft's/free agency heavily investing in the offensive side of the ball. The Cardinal's main problem is they're in NFC West where it's possible next season every single team has a winning season.
They need a defensive coordinator who knows how to scheme less than perfect players into the best chance to be successful. A simple defensive scheme executed perfectly is great as long as you have the players, but they need to face the reality that they don't have the players for it any more, and aren't going to have the players again in any foreseeable future. So a good DC with the authority to overrule Pete Carroll.
On offense they need to build a pass first with complimentary running game instead of pretending that they are a powerhouse defense first power running team. They are going to be in too many shootouts to play the wear them down with three yards and a cloud of dust style that worked when they had the defense for it and Lynch to carry the freight. So, again, they need a good coordinator with the authority to overrule Pete Carroll.
Bottom line, problem might be Pete Carroll.
The Seahawks lost exactly 3 games this year due to missed field goal attempts, and I'm like 99% sure they'll move on from the Blair Walsh experiment. Had those three games been won (or even 2 of 3) we'd be in the playoffs.
The defense hasn't been the same and injuries haven't helped. I expect/hope their first-round pick to replace one of three players (Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor). Even if we are able to keep all 3 of them (far from a guarantee) they are all getting older and it won't be the same moving forward, and they are more and more injury prone as well. Malik Mcdowell was supposed to be almost as good as Myles Garrett other than his off the field issues, which have definitely been a problem, but supposing they're fixed next year (and he becomes healthy) that could really help our defense as well. I'm almost positive we get a new offensive line coach. There's absolutely no reason to keep Tom Cable at this point. He's done nothing to deserve it. Mike Davis has been a solid answer at running back and so has Chris Carson, will be back from injury for next year. Our running game is solid, our QB is definitely solid, our wide receivers, if we can keep them, are solid, and our offensive line could be better with a different coach. Our defense is not what it was but injecting some fresh blood from the draft, particularly into the secondary would make a huge difference. Our front 4 is stacked (even with Cliff Avril gone and potentially M. Bennette as well) and our middle linebackers have been good. Bobby Wagner has been a beast, and K.J. Wright has been above average. Losing so much of our secondary to injuries is what killed us and hopefully, we're smart enough to prioritize that in the draft. Sucks that we won't get a second-round pick, though. I remain confident enough in Carroll (when it comes to drafting defense, even in recent years) that a first and third round pick to replenish our secondary could make the difference we're looking for.
Most of all, firing Pete Carroll would be incredibly stupid. You know it's not going to happen, it shouldn't even be in the discussion. I can name plenty of teams who are worse than we are, even including the disaster that was Blair Walsh.
