Jason La Canfora did an interview on Friday with Jamie Nye of 980 CJME in Saskatchewan to discuss the possibility of Chris Jones departing for the NFL.
La Canfora’s interview was a follow-up to this tweet from Monday in which the NFL sportswriter stated that Jones was receiving interest from multiple teams down south.
“I’m not sure if it will manifest itself in an interview,” La Canfora said regarding the interest in Jones. “Teams have made calls on to people he’s worked with throughout the CFL … just to sort of gain a little more insight. What makes him tick, how does he do in these situations, how does he handle pressure, what are his strengths and weaknesses.”
Jones would be an out-of-the-box hire for one of eight NFL head coaching positions, but a straight CFL-to-NFL hire isn’t unprecedented.
Marc Trestman was hired as the head coach of the Chicago Bears in 2013 following a five-year stint with the Montreal Alouettes during which he recorded a 59-31 regular season record. The Als made three trips to the Grey Cup under Trestman, winning two (2009, 2010).
Trestman’s tenure with the Bears was underwhelming, recording a 13-19 record through two seasons prior to being fired. Despite the failure of Chicago’s Trestman experiment, an NFL team may be ready once again to look north for their next head coach.
“Supply isn’t meeting demand in terms of traditional NFL candidates. That’s why you’re seeing more teams dip more into the college game and also into the CFL,” said La Canfora.
And he’s right.
Eight NFL teams — a quarter of the league — are currently without a head coach and the list of prospects is… uninspired.
Retreads, television analysts, college coaches, and New England Patriots’ coordinators are being bandied about by several teams as head coaching candidates. These options are fine, but hardly new or innovative.
Could a desire for change be Chris Jones’ ticket to the NFL?
We’ll have to wait and see.
