Odds are Herm still employed after today...

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

OK then. I just don't think that contract length is indication of anything these days. Most contracts these days never ever make it full term, so I don't see how you can put any importance in that whatsoever. And under contract or not, if you're not doing an acceptable job, you're still going to get fired. It's the same for coaches as it is for players. And the players can see that.

And speaking of "sign of faith from the organization", you're also ignoring the fact that by firing Edwards before his contract expires sends the message that "Yeah we gave you a 4 year contract, but we're firing you anyway after the 3rd year." In essence, we gave you a "sign of faith from the organization" in your 4 year contract, but now that you suck we're going back on that sign of faith. Does that still sound like the message you'd want to send?

Yeah we're giving the new coach a 5 year deal, and we feel that contract length is a good indicator of faith and commitment. Never mind that we just ignored that and fired the last guy....

Overlooking all this back and forth arguing is the reality of the situation: How many NFL coaches are allowed to coach in the last year of their contracts?

As Adam Schefter wrote last January: "Teams typically do not like coaches to head into a season as a lame duck; last season, the New York Giants handed a modest one-year extension to Tom Coughlin."

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, Dec. 25: "Mangini has one year left on his contract, making the team’s latest flop even more perplexing. If they go by the NFL textbook, they are in a “fold or raise” scenario. They don’t want a scenario where he’s in a lame-duck season, especially when the players are hearing the New York media and fan base calling for his head. Either they fire Mangini now and begin with a rebuild, or they extend his deal and hope he can repair the damage from a late-season slide."

Off the top of my head, I can't think of many, if any, coaches in recent years who entered the season in the last year of their contract (other than someone retiring, such as Holmgren). Maybe someone can come up with a few names that did, and I'll concede the point.

Sure, nothing prevents the Chiefs from keeping Herm on next year in his final year, or giving him a Coughlin-like one-year extension. But given the situation -- new GM, 6-26, massive rebuilding -- it just seems a perfect opportunity to cut your losses and start fresh, rather than keep around all the lingering questions and doubts.