I like Stefanski and I thought he was interesting. Of the "new" guys we interviewed, I wanted him more than Flores, Campbell or Eberflus. But to be honest, I wasn't really excited for most of the guys we interviewed.
Of all possibilities, my personal preferences (in order) were:
1) Hire Arians, keep Freddie at OC. (didn't interview Arians)
Arians wanted to be here, has experience with young QBs and a good body of work, established a good culture and relationships
2) Keep Williams, keep Freddie at OC
Williams deserved the opportunity, most of the players respected him and did their jobs, preached accountability and a focus on the little things
3) Hire Eric Bienemy as HC, keep Freddie at OC. (didn't interview Bienemy)
Detail-oriented offensive mind, former player, from a winning culture, very adaptive playcaller, specialty with runningbacks
4) Hire Matt Campbell, keep Freddie at OC. (didn't interview Campbell)
Campbell is a good culture builder and seems to be adept at turning losing programs into winners, though he has zero NFL experience
5) Hire Stefanski as HC, keep Freddie at OC.
From a basketball family, dad was an NBA GM so he gets the business aspect of it, players like him and he preaches adapting the philosophy to the players
6) Hire Brian Flores, keep Freddie as OC.
Experience in a winning culture, no-nonsense guy, outside the box hire
All of my preferences involved keeping Freddie at OC. He couldn't take an interview for a lateral move and it was highly unlikely anyone offered him the HC job last offseason, so it's either he stays with us for another year and adds to his resume or he quits. Either one of those options was preferable to me compared to making him HC.
This year, if we do in fact decide to go in a different direction, I would hope Riley, Bienemy and Rivera are at the top of our list. All three of those guys are known for being detail-oriented and you'd be hard pressed to find a player who speaks ill of any of them. Those are the qualities I think are most important in a head coach - the ability to garner/maintain respect and a focus on the little things.
They are definitely preparing for Stefanski's departure but I'm not sure if it's this offseason or the next one. At most there will be like 7 HC vacancies in 2020 (WAS, CAR, NYJ, NYG, DAL, CLE, ATL, LAC), you have to think Rivera, McCarthy, Bienemy, and Roman are all going to definitely get hired as HC's next year.
My guess? If CAR doesn't hire Greg Roman as HC, they'll bring in Stefanski. He's a good fit for David Tepper, who's a decently big analytics guy.