McCormick’s Football Folder: Reese finally gets another shot

Perhaps the best news of the week was that former Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese had landed with the New England Patriots as a “senior football advisor.”

While that title might sound vague, Reese’s duties apparently will include negotiating contracts and helping to assist and serve as a sounding board for director of player personnel Nick Caserio. Caserio assumes more responsibilities with the departure of Scott Pioli to become general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs.

After his departure from the Titans after the 2006 season, Reese didn’t find many doors open for him to immediately return to the NFL in a front office capacity.

And that was the part that was puzzling.

When it was announced Tuesday that Reese had been hired by the Patriots, I spoke with his wife Sally, and she indicated that it had been tougher going than expected for her husband to get back to doing what he loves — being an NFL executive. She admitted they had even begun to think that perhaps being an ESPN analyst might be a more permanent gig for the former Titans GM.

But the Patriots and Bill Belichick, an old Reese ally from their days in Detroit back in the mid-1970s, had a vacancy and a need for his old friend in the Pats’ personnel department.

The lingering question is: Why did it take Reese so long to re-enter the league? Certainly, he had his draft misses — Andre Woolfolk, Tyrone Calico, Ben Troupe — but he had plenty of hits as well. Three NFL Rookies of the Year were selected on his watch — Eddie George in 1996, Jevon Kearse in 1999 and Vince Young in 2006. He drafted Michael Roos, Keith Bulluck, Cortland Finnegan and a host of others, while signing key free agents from Kyle Vanden Bosch to David Thornton that helped turn the franchise’s fortunes around.

Plus, it is no secret that the choices of Young in ’06 and Adam “Pacman” Jones in 2005, both of which backfired after initial success, were influenced by other members in the organization. Word around the Titans is that owner Bud Adams directed them to take Young with the third overall choice in 2006, and that coach Jeff Fisher, wanting to fill spots on the defense and special teams, lobbied hard for Jones the year before.

Another of the criticisms of Reese was that he was the one who put the Titans in salary cap jail after the 2004 season. But that was something that Reese, Fisher and former Titans president Jeff Diamond all agreed was something that would happen eventually as the team tried to keep as many pieces of a Super Bowl-caliber team together for as long as possible. It is also noteworthy that the salary cap in those days was around $80 million, and much harder to manage than the $120 million it is today.

In the end, the Titans came through the cap purge and out the other side with a solid nucleus and plenty of cap space that both Reese and current general manager Mike Reinfeldt share credit for.

So why did it take so long for Reese to re-emerge, as general manager vacancies came and went with him getting barely a sniff? There have been whispers that for whatever reason, some might not have been eager to see Reese get another shot, but nothing concrete to confirm anything of the sort. Others wondered if his age, 60, might have worked against him at a time when young hotshots are the front office rage.

Whatever the reason it took so long, Reese’s wait is finally over. And the wait may have been well worth it, given that he will have some input into the direction of how one of the NFL’s model organizations conducts its daily business.

ANNOUNCEMENT COMING: Fisher said on local radio this week that he will announce his new defensive coordinator next week, and that it will come from the current staff.

That means that either defensive backs coach Chuck Cecil or linebackers coach Dave McGinnis is likely to receive the promotion.

While Fisher has remained coy, signs have been pointing to Cecil getting his first chance to be a defensive coordinator in the league. Fisher has been down the road of grooming and giving a first-time coordinator a chance under his direction twice before.

He did so with Gregg Williams in 1997 after he had initially been the quality control coach and later was promoted to linebackers coach. When Williams departed in 2001 to become Buffalo’s head coach, Jim Schwartz, who had followed a similar path from quality control to position coach, became defensive coordinator.

Cecil, who has been on the staff since 2001, has also done time in quality control, before becoming assistant defensive backs coach and being promoted to secondary coach two years ago.

Fisher also must replace defensive quality control coach Matt Burke, who went to Detroit with Schwartz. It remains to be seen if he will fill the offensive assistant’s role vacated when Bart Andrus went to the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.

LOSING OUT: Chris Johnson missed out on being the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, losing to Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan before calling the process “bogus” in an interview about the voting on the Associated Press award.

On Thursday, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco beat out Johnson and a host of others for the Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Year Award.

Additionally, according to a report, Johnson’s ankle apparently will force him to be replaced on the AFC Pro Bowl roster.

He suffered the injury in the first half of the Titans’ 13-10 playoff loss to the Ravens.