I do not understand the crowning of Richards.
From 2017 to 2018, we went from 8th in yards to 7th, and 14th in points to 6th. Marinelli spent his 5th year developing the defense in the offseason. LVE got drafted. Smith got better. Gregory turned his life around, at least for a year. Chido and Lewis developed.
In that same time frame, Richards got fired and found a new job at Dallas, where he took over lots of playcalling and became to the secondary what Marinelli is to the DLine. He moved Jones to CB and Jones exploded. In general I think all the DBs have improved.
So when I look at these two paragraphs of things that happened and improved this team totally without Richards, and things that Richards did or was a part of, I don't see someone I'd call elite.
I see a damn fine assistant defensive coordinator, a great game manager since he got Marinelli's blessing to call plays, a fine developer of secondary talent. I see lots of good things to be sure.
But the track record to confirm greatness? It isn't there, not for me. Call him a great secondary coach if you want, there is a track record for that (Legion of Boom), but not as a DC or HC, not yet.
There also isn't confirmation that he's the reason we improved. Too many good things happened for this defense to confirm it was Richards who moved the needle most. In my opinion you'd need to be in the locker room to even get a feel for it.
Jury's still out for me but I do love what I see.
