So the question could become did the coaches do a poor job implementing the info gathered by the pro scouts or was the info from the pro scouts poor? Or a combination of both?
It's completely on the coaches to scheme against their opponents and evaluate these things. The scouts are merely creating dossiers on every player for free agency and game planning purposes. The information is generally agnostic towards our team, or at least that's my understanding of it. I seriously doubt that system, which has been in place since Rick got here, had any deficiencies that came out of nowhere this year.
And even if they were only failing in part of their job, scouting for FAs; is that not reason enough to fire them?
Maybe, if that was the case. These guys don't really have much to do with the hiring process for free agents. That's Rick's call, and it's generally coordinated with the coach who is going to be using the player. That's why the Ed Reed thing was such a debacle, because Wade didn't have any interest in him, but Rick gave him a contract. Rick always has final say over these guys, regardless of what their evaluations say.
Also I don't care who you are, if you voice the opinion that your boss sucks at part of their job, irregardless if it is the truth or not, you will likely find yourself no longer employed.
Never said that, merely mentioned that there were rifts, and as far as I know, it came from disagreements on players. Ed Reed being the biggest one.
I agree that it should have been a total cleaning out on Kirby, but if that had happened wouldn't these guys have been fired then? I also can see how keeping the GM enabled the front office to move much more quickly in their pursuit of O'Brien.
If Rick had gone, then maybe these guys would go, maybe not. It's not uncommon in the NFL for the scouting departments (pro and college) to often retain folks from regime to regime. I'm not saying these guys were particularly elite at their jobs, just that the charlatan GM we have is likely getting rid of folks who don't agree with him and could undermine his preferences.