Valid question.
That's just my prediction. I never regarded Romeo's promotion to assistant HC strictly as a means of improving our odds in 2017; I regarded it as a preparatory reorganization for a post-O'brien regime in 2018 while O'Brien was given his last chance in 2017.
I believe they think highly of Crennel. I think highly of Crennel too. But I'm uncomfortable with that record in Cleveland and KC.
So, so true. Chip Kelly's college system turned Nick Foles into a temporary TD machine, just like O'Brien's college system did with Watson (though we all acknowledge Watson is much more talented). We don't want to waste another year or two just to discover that A) O'Brien's college playbook gets figured out like Kelly's, or B) Watson struggles to acclimate to O'Brien's mysterious scheme just like every QB before him.
For those complaining about wasting the careers of top talent like Watt, here's an opportunity to salvage the prime years of current talent like Watson and Hopkins by making the right move now.
This is why Belichick happens to thrive as his own GM. He's is an exception, but a good example of the coach's influence over personnel taken to the extreme. In a more normal case like O'Brien and Smith, the coach incurs more liability for players washing out than coaches under the traditional GM overlord hierarchy. This is why Rick Smith leaked to the press in 2013 that Kubiak needed to take ownership of his draft choices from the position coaches. This may also be why some responsibility for this O-line rests on O'Brien as much as it does with Smith.