With John Morton fired and 15 names circulating for Detroit's OC vacancy, the Grey Manes break down the candidates through the lens that matters: data, scheme fit, and Lions identity.

Which candidate has actually elevated pocket passers like Jared Goff? Who brings the intellectual firepower Goff craved with Ben Johnson? And critically: which hire ensures Detroit doesn't sacrifice offensive dominance for coordinator roulette?

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[0:01] John Morton's out and there's 15 or so names that are now in, but which offensive coordinator can actually sustain what Dan Campbell and Benedict Johnson built without becoming the next one year experiment with Mike McDaniels, the guy, or is it a sleeper like Mike Kafka? Let's get into it forward down the field.

[0:24] All right. All right. Lions, gray maze family. Thank you for tuning in today. It's a special episode. We decided we'd blow out the pipes. We had some issues going live on X the last few times that we've gone live. So if you're watching on X, smash that love, retweet, repost. I guess you can't say retweet anymore, whatever that is. So this is a bit of a test, but, you know, we're Lions fans and it's a football Saturday. It's an NFL football Saturday. and what better way to spend an NFL football Saturday than to talk about a team that isn't in the playoffs any longer our Detroit Lions and I'd like to introduce to you the two other gentlemen on the screen my name is Chris Stone by the way I'm at castahead.net and the two gentlemen on my screen I call him DK Dan Keener from the great state of Ohio how we doing today, Not too bad. Not too bad. You know, considering that we're watching two teams from our division play each other, knowing that one of them is going to get knocked out. So that brings a smile to my face. Doesn't matter which one at this point. It's like watching the SEC get their butts railed through in the college football playoff. Doesn't matter who wins at this point. SEC's out. We're good. Exactly. It's like, can we hope for the NFL's first double loss today, Brent? What do you think? Make a tie.

[1:53] It was great last night watching Indiana just destroy Oregon. Not that I'm anti-Oregon. I actually like Oregon. But the Big Ten, could you imagine Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, back-to-back-to-back years after all the years of suffering that we've heard at the hands of the SEC? But I do point out to all my SEC friends, the Big Ten is 500 against them in the last eight years. So you know which conference is better i think we've got a good argument why big 10 is better after three straight nannies i think the sec is like four and ten in bowls this year and one of those wins was against their own conference so in the playoffs you know the nil i mean let's just be honest nil is just totally leveled the playing field even the blue bloods and you know the ohio states and the and the texas and you know oklahoma's those schools even there you know they're they're losing players to mid-tier schools you know if you can afford somebody they'll come play for you because really it's money and it's playing time and you know and that's that goes both ways you know a lot of a lot of the big boys they don't want to pay for a you know a five-star freshman to sit on the bench because he hasn't earned playing time yet and it's just kind of a waste then they leave so it's going to be interesting to see how this changes.

[3:12] Absolutely. Absolutely. But, uh, you know, unfortunately this is not a college football, um, uh, show, uh, fortunately or unfortunately, uh, but we want to say hello to our friends. Want to thank you for, uh, for joining us and being patient, uh, you know, for us as well. I know that we got started a little bit late today. Um, uh, but, uh, you know, just, just blame me, blame the producer. It's, it's always a part of the deal. And, uh, Mr.

[3:39] Uh, dab three, 313, howdy to you as well. Boy, if you're from the 313, howdy's not like, you know, that's from where, you know, that's from, that's Georgia speak. So wherever you're joining us, thanks for doing that. Smash the subscribe button, the like, all that fun stuff, especially if you want content like this. What up, doe? Mike Terry also in the house for this impromptu live stream. Gentlemen, I felt like, you know, instead of just showing up and talking about, you know, why the Big Ten is so much more dominant than the SEC, I thought it would be a good idea since it seems like every day we're getting new information as far as what's going on for offensive coordinator. Our last show, we talked about the potential of having David Blau. The Lions had, you know, sort of announced that they were either they had or they were going to reach out to the former Lions quarterback. And now the Washington commanders have announced that he will be their new offensive coordinator, which they didn't want him to to leave the building. And so they must have given him an offer that he can't refuse. Obviously had a great relationship going on there with Jaden Daniels. And we wish him the best unless it affects our Detroit Lions. And then of course we wish him the worst.

[4:59] But, you know, it was kind of nice thing to at least see him, you know, have that success. But that's a name we could scratch off. There's other names we can scratch off. But I felt like the name that everyone wants to talk about is the name that everybody knows that may not necessarily be our offensive coordinator, but the Lions made the announcement shortly after he was released of his duties with the Miami Dolphins and that they are going to be talking to Mike McDaniel as a potential fit for us as offensive coordinator. So that's probably the most polarizing name on this list, guys. He's got this run coordinator pedigree. He's a Shanahan disciple. He's had obviously historically some explosive offensive success in Miami, but then it all collapsed, right? And so I thought it would be a good idea for us to sort of break that down, kind of have each one of you talk about your your thoughts about McDaniel.

[5:57] If you feel like right now he's in your mind, maybe what you would like to see, you know, or or if you've got another guy that you'd rather have than Mike McDaniel. Dan, I'll let you start off. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to throw cold water on Mike McDaniel, but he's a he's a plus five hundred. Head coach that got let go and he's going to be in demand for if there's eight head coaching openings. I don't think any have been filled yet. There's eight head coaching openings and you can guarantee that Harbaugh is going to get one of them for sure. And I would not be surprised if McDaniel gets another, you know, and I just don't think he's a legit, we're going to talk to him. I know there's a lot of professional respect, especially after we did joint practices with them this year, you know.

[6:44] Uh, him and Campbell have a lot of respect for one another, but you know, the guy, he's only been off its coordinator for one year in San Francisco, had a great run. You know, they, they played super well that year, parlayed that into the Miami coaching job and, and he didn't do a bad job. Miami, I mean, Miami is a problem due to their owner, you know, in the way they had their office structured. I mean, they forced two on him to a, you know, the guy is a heck of an athlete. He was a heck of a quarterback in college, but he has his limitations, not just size-wise, but the guy's had like six or seven concussions in his career, you know, and he's, he's been playing different, you know, you got to protect yourself. And if you're a smaller guy and your, your game is, you know, based off of being elusive and running and, and that sort of thing, and you all of a sudden have to start protecting yourself. So you don't, you know, hurt yourself long-term that's going to impact your play. And, you know, Ross initially said he was going to keep McDaniel. And then all of a sudden Harbaugh shows up on the market and, you know, you know, everybody knows Ross is a huge, uh, university of Michigan, uh, donor and supporter and a huge fan of the Harbaugh family, you know, all the way from Jack, all the way down to John and Jim.

[7:57] So, you know, it feels like it's possible that McDaniel got the shaft just because Ross wants to go after Harbaugh and he couldn't do that while McDaniel was still there. So, but I, you know, I have no problem with the guy coming in, you know, I think he'd be fine. Yeah. I think he would give us a different set of eyes, you know, blend his, his past history with what. Uh, you know, Dan once, but, you know, I really feel listening to, listening to the, the press conferences and, and seeing, you know, he's had three offensive coordinators. Two of them have been veterans, older guys that failed miserably in the one guy that he was able to kind of like bring along slowly and mold and, and have him, you know, he Campbell's, he's not a control freak, but he wants it his way and you know johnson did that and he added extras to it he made it better right unpredictability the the play created play calling which is something blau from my understanding a lot of input in um he suggested a boatload of plays to ben johnson while he was here a lot of our trick plays came from him um so you know i i think that it's not out of the realm him if mcdaniel doesn't get a coaching job i just don't see him not getting hired yeah brent your thoughts on mike yeah i think dan hit the the main points very well there and what i would say is.

[9:26] He he's a guy that that has a very good offensive mind and would would i'm sure do miraculous things with the talent that the lions have on offense so that you know the reality is that he's probably not going to be the guy but i i go back to i go back to anto antoine randall um, I still, I was chatting with Mike Sosson the other night for all those gray means that remember Mike Sosson. And he's really bullish on Antoine Randall-El as a potential name. Blau, I think, would have been an excellent candidate. But keep your eyes on Antoine Randall-El as kind of a sleeper pick that might be the guy that the Lions lean towards. And then the last thing I'll say is they enlisted guys that are probably going to get a job. I would love to see Brian Flores get another opportunity, but you know how the NFL is. Yeah. Right. Anywhere but the NFC North. There's no openings in the NFC North. Or any other NFC team on our schedule, please. Yes.