“I was also looking for a person that didn't want to come in here and just drop this playbook, right, and say, 'Hey, this is what we're doing.' No, Al Golden was a guy who said, 'Hey, let me evaluate what you all are doing, let me evaluate your players and let's put together the best scheme.'
"Ultimately, he is the defensive coordinator, and I want to make sure everyone understands that. Al Golden is the defensive coordinator, Marcus Freeman is not the defensive coordinator. He has to take this thing over, but the ability to come in and to adapt to what our players know, I think is a huge benefit for our players. My job is to always take care of our players. This will be their third defensive coordinator in three years, so if you talk about three defensive schemes in three years, that's difficult, that's tough. The ability for somebody to come in and say, okay, let me learn what they know and then let's enhance it from there, that to me was what I was looking for."
Translation: Freeman was advised to hire a DC with HC experience. Mason came in with his own playbook, and Freeman decided to pass. Golden will be running Freeman’s defense.
