McVay tried to get Snead to grab him last year instead of Sammy but they didn’t have the draft capital to pull it off. While Snead and his scouts do much of the leg work, it is widely known that McVay wanted Cooks and Snead went out and got him. McVay doesn’t do the wheeling and dealing but he damn sure has a major input on the type of player he wants and even specific players if there’s one he covets. Same is probably so for Wade and some of the other coaches to a lesser extent.
If you are implying that McVay is involved in scouting that's pretty unlikely, actually virtually impossible.
Every coach in the NFL mentions players to the GM and FO, that's not unusual. But most HC's have no roster responsibilities beyond coaching it. There have been exceptions, like Fisher recently and Parcells who is the most well known of those types, but it's very, very rare. Saying that McVay is responsible, even in part, for player acquisition is a stretch.
If he makes comments about a player that he would like to have on the roster that is a far cry from being involved. That's akin to a kid getting credit for buying a bicycle and putting it together then wrapping it and putting it under the tree when all he did was say "a bike" after his parents asked him what he wanted for Christmas.
There aren't any quality coaches that are watching college tapes, talking to scouts much if at all, reviewing any tape of other teams players other than for game prep, or anything like that. They have no time for it.
That's why teams have to employ GM's and HC's.
These are two very different components. Yeah they aren't separated by a wall but they are two different things.
Mmm.. not sure about that. Wrongly, Sneed was almost thrown out with the Fisher bathwater and it was kind of a surprise he was retained. McVay was hot commodity and probably was given a lot more say on personnel than you may think. A la Woods, Watkins, Cooks.
It's Snead not Sneed by the way. Demoff met with Snead after the season when Fisher was fired to see if things could work out going forward, but I don't remember him nearly being let go. I wasn't at all surprised that he was retained.
McVay doesn't have "more say" on personnel than I think. Yes just like any other coach if there is a type of player or a certain individual he wants he is going to talk to the GM. That isn't having a say so in personnel. Going to the GM and saying "I think we should make a play for Cooks" is a long way away from having any responsibilities regarding calling the Patriots, making offers, negotiating and so on.
Making a suggestion, or request, isn't the same thing as being the guy who is authorized to make actual changes. And this is where many fans of teams get confused.
