Did Barnes get a fair shake as coordinator? Getting promoted mid-season to playcaller, to call a defense that he didn’t really design, at a time of the season where he couldn’t really implement anything new structurally. I think the Film Study articles this year did an excellent job pointing out where Barnes installed some aggressiveness while still having to maintain the same, base package (and the obvious limitations therein).

Now, for the record, I’m absolutely not advocating for Barnes to have gotten another full season as DC and I am happy with the Knowles hire, but I can’t help but wonder what kind of future Barnes has in store. We never got to see a defense that he designed or a full season where he called the shots.

11W community, y’all probably know more about the guy than I do. What do you think is his preferred style of defense, and do you see him being a premier DC one of these days?