Days has gone thru a string of writers over the past several years. There are not many soap writers left, and other writers perhaps don't want the job. It is one thing to write a movie, or one episode a week.......writing 5 is challenging. They have to keep adding things in to use up the time, but still keep it interesting.
Guess we just think differently. Head writers calling the shots, means they think up and write story initially. Their ideas. NBC reads, nixes something perhaps, but it means the headwriter has to then put in something else. They write characters in and out. Ron relies heavily on bringing in past characters, since ones he creates don't go over well most of the time...(not all, just most) and that is usually because of his writing, story, etc.
Days had Sheri Anderson (wonderful writer) as a consultant. She knew history, knew characters, their strong points and weak ones. She soon was gone. Not a peep as to why from anyone. Fine. But Days definitely missed the boat there.
We don't know if Days might be contemplating replace current headwriter when contract ends. I do remember that in order to get rid of Reilly, they had to continue to pay him, tho he was no longer writing. Learned a bitter lesson there. Since every one ordered to keep their mouths shut, etc. we just can only speculate, and are usually wrong.