NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 2/5/26
Today’s reserve/futures deals:
Miami Dolphins
- TE Zack Kuntz
Zack Kuntz was a seventh-round pick by the Jets in 2023 and spent two years with the organization. The majority of his NFL career has been spent on New York’s practice squad, although he did find his way into two games with the Jets. He was waived at the end of the 2025 preseason and didn’t join a team for this past season. The tight end was selected by the DC Defenders during this past January’s UFL draft.
Giants Seem “Likely” To Retain WR Wan’Dale Robinson
Wan’Dale Robinson‘s career season couldn’t have come at a better time, as the impending free agent wideout is expected to garner a lucrative contract this offseason. While the Giants have brought in a new coaching staff, the organization is still making the receiver a priority.
According to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, Robinson’s return to New York “seems likely.” Raanan notes that Robinson has always been a “favorite” of Joe Schoen, who selected the Kentucky product in the second round of his first draft as Giants GM. Further, the reporter notes that the Giants need to add playmakers this offseason, and letting one of their top wideouts walk in free agency would defeat that purpose.
Robinson struggled to separate himself from the Giants other wide receivers through his first two NFL seasons, but he showed some progress in 2024 when he hauled in 93 of his 140 targets. With Malik Nabers being limited to four games thanks to a torn ACL in 2025, Robinson emerged as Jaxson Dart‘s preferred target. The 25-year-old wideout had his first 1,000-yard season, and he hauled in 92 catches and a career-high four receiving touchdowns.
As John Harbaugh looks to turn around the success of the organization, there’s some merit to maintaining continuity on offense. Nabers should be ready to go towards the beginning of the season, while Darius Slayton and Jalin Hyatt are set to return in 2026. Still, Robinson would provide Dart with another high-quality target, and he may also represent one of the best options the team could possibly pursue via free agency.
Outside of George Pickens, this year’s WRs free agent class lacks a true positional game-changer, opening the door for Robinson to garner a lucrative contract. Mike Evans offers an impressive resume but is entering his age-33 season following an injury-filled 2025 campaign, while the likes of Alec Pierce, Jauan Jennings, and Romeo Doubs bring a similar track record as Robinson. As a result, the Giants could find themselves competing with other suitors to retain one of their top WR.
Cardinals Add Miami’s Matt Merritt As RBs Coach
Mike LaFleur and Nathaniel Hackett aren’t wasting any time adding to their new Cardinals staff. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the team has hired Miami running backs coach Matt Merritt for the same role in Arizona.
[RELATED: Cardinals To Hire Nathaniel Hackett As OC]
Merritt joined the Hurricanes staff ahead of the 2024 season and guided a rushing attack that saw Damien Martinez and Mark Fletcher Jr. combine for 19 touchdowns. He also got some production from eventual first-overall pick Cam Ward, who rushed for 204 yards and four touchdowns on 60 carries. Fletcher Jr. took his production to another level in 2025, finishing with 1,192 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. CharMar Brown added seven scores of his own.
Other than his stint at Miami, Merritt’s stops have included Ohio State, Tennessee, and USF. During his tenure at that latter school, he helped guide a rushing attack that averaged 182.8 yards per game during the 2023 campaign. Nay’Quan Wright rushed for 797 yards and eight touchdowns, while QB Byrum Brown joined Jayden Daniels as the nation’s only signal callers to throw for at least 3,000 yards while compiling 800-plus rushing yards.
In Arizona, Merritt’s running back corps should be relatively set. James Conner will be leading the depth chart following a lost 2025 campaign, and Trey Benson will return as the RB2 following a handful of respectable outings last year. The team also has Corey Kiner on their offseason roster, while the trio of Emari Demercado, Zonovan Knight, and Michael Carter are all impending free agents.
Elsewhere in Arizona, the Cardinals have requested an interview with Dan Williams for their QB coach job, per Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network. Williams has spent the past seven seasons in Kansas City, including the past five coaching Patrick Mahomes as the Chiefs assistant QBs coach.
Giants Interviewed Arizona State OC Marcus Arroyo For QBs Coach
The Giants interviewed Arizona State offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo for their quarterbacks coach vacancy, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
[RELATED: Giants To Hire Matt Nagy As OC]
Arroyo, 46, has spent all of his coaching career at the college level except for one year as the Buccaneers’ quarterbacks coach in 2014. He has spent much of his career as a QBs coach and played a major role in developing Justin Herbert at Oregon.
Following a three-year stint as the head coach at UNLV, the 46-year-old coach has spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator/QBs coach at Arizona State. He guided Cam Skattebo to a prolific showing in 2024, but his offense took a step back in 2025.
Unlike many of the assistant coaches the Giants have targeted in recent weeks, Arroyo has no direct connections to John or Jim Harbaugh. He did, however, work with Todd Monken at Southern Miss and Willie Taggart at Oregon. Monken was John Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator in Baltimore from 2023 to 2025 and was widely expected to follow him to New York before getting the Browns’ head coaching job. Taggart was the Ravens’ running backs coach in that same period and now has the same job with the Giants.
Harbaugh has already started shaping his new staff in New York, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The team added Matt Nagy as their offensive coordinator earlier this week, and the new organizational leaders are starting to interview for other crucial spots. If Arroyo earns the new gig, he would be tasked with guiding a QBs room led by Jaxson Dart.
Ben Levine contributed to this report.
Sean Payton Has Not Decided On Broncos’ 2026 Play-Caller
Davis Webb‘s promotion to Broncos offensive coordinator stirred speculation that he may take over play-calling duties from Sean Payton.
Webb received interest from several teams this cycle for both head coaching and offensive coordinator jobs that would have come with the opportunity to call plays. Since experience as a play-caller has become an increasingly important factor in getting a head coaching job, his decision to stay in Denver suggested he would get a shot at calling the Broncos offense.
However, there is no language in Webb’s contract guaranteeing him that responsibility, according to Luca Evans of the Denver Post, and Payton has yet to make a decision on the matter.
Giving up play-calling duties would be a major departure for Payton, who has been calling plays for his offenses for the last 20 years. But he may have already hinted at such a change, per 9News’ Mike Klis (via DNVR Sports). Payton talked about needing to move quicker as a coach in January, and delegating play-calling duties to Webb may allow him to do that.
“I don’t think Sean [Payton] is ready to announce that, but I’m not going to be surprised if Davis Webb does [call plays],” Klis said.
Payton has voiced his approval of Webb’s play-calling abilities in the past. Webb called the Broncos offense for a preseason game in 2025 and the unit scored 27 points, racked up 562 yards, and averaged 7.8 yards per play.
“I had thrown a couple of call sheets or stat sheets from my first time and highlighted a few things and said, ‘see if you can beat this,’” Payton said (via Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post). “And he did.”
Of course, the regular season is a different story, but who better to mentor Webb in his first year as a play-caller than Payton himself? And if Webb were to falter for any reason, Payton could always step in to right the ship.
Bears To Hire Eric Studesville As RBs Coach
The Bears have found their replacement for Eric Bienemy, their running backs coach in 2025 who returned to Kansas City as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator this offseason. Former Dolphins assistant Eric Studesville will take up the job in 2026, per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune.
Studesville, 58, began his NFL coaching career with the Bears as an offensive quality control coach in 1997. Interestingly, that followed a college career in which he played and coached on the defensive side of the ball. He then served as the wide receivers coach/assistant special teams coach in 1999 and 2000 before he was hired by the Giants to be their running backs coach. He spent three years in New York before taking the same job with the Bills (2004-2009), Broncos (2010-2016), and Dolphins (2017-2025).
In Miami, he also held the titles of run game coordinator (2017-2020), co-offensive coordinator (2021), and associate head coach (2022-2025). He also overlapped with then-Dolphins WRs coach Ben Johnson for two years and will now fill a key role on his staff in Chicago.
Studeville has developed notable star running backs in his career, including De’Von Achane, Tiki Barber, Fred Jackson, Willis McGahee, C.J. Anderson, and Knowshon Moreno. He will now work with D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, who were an effective one-two punch in 2025.
Pro Football Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat: 2/5/26
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Andy Reid Recommended Matt Nagy To John Harbaugh
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid let offensive coordinator Matt Nagy leave Kansas City this offseason, but he also helped him get his new job in New York.
Reid recommended Nagy to Giants head coach John Harbaugh (via SNY’s Connor Hughes) during his scramble to find a new offensive coordinator after Todd Monken took the Browns’ head coaching job. Harbaugh had long been planning to bring Monken, his OC in Baltimore, to New York and even tried to talk him out of going to Cleveland.
But Monken could not give up his first opportunity to be an NFL head coach, and Harbaugh had to look elsewhere. He interviewed a number of qualified candidates, though the pool of available talent had been thinned significantly by that point. So when Reid called Harbaugh to personally endorse his longtime assistant, the discussion likely carried a lot of weight in the Giants’ final decision.
Harbaugh went with another assistant hire who is once-removed from his coaching tree in assistant offensive line coach Grant Newsome, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Newsome previously worked under Jim Harbaugh as Michigan’s offensive line coach and sent a number of players to the NFL, including current Giants guard Jon Runyan Jr.
The Giants are still adding former Ravens assistants, though, including outside linebackers coach Matt Robinson, per CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. He will move back to an assistant defensive line coach role, which was his title in Baltimore in 2024. He played a key role in developing Ravens outside linebacker Tavius Robinson and defensive tackles Nnamdi Madubuike and Travis Jones.
Offseason Outlook: Denver Broncos
Enjoying near-2024 Chiefs-level success in one-score games, the Broncos rode to a 14-3 record and the AFC's No. 1 seed. Denver far outdistanced longtime AFC West kingpin Kansas City and won the division by three games. The team's recent extension recipients led the way, with six players extended in 2024 or 2025 earning original-ballot Pro Bowl nods and four collecting All-Pro honors.
More impressively, the Broncos extended their season to the AFC championship game with Russell Wilson's $32MM cap figure topping their payroll. While Denver fell just short of Super Bowl LX -- with Bo Nix's season-ending ankle injury bringing one of the bigger what-ifs in recent NFL history -- the team has a clear window to continue as a top-tier operation in 2026. The Broncos are now clear of Wilson's record-setting dead money sum, and with Nix on a rookie contract, 2026 represents a sweet spot of sorts for the rejuvenated franchise.
Coaching/front office:
- Fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi
- Davis Webb promoted as OC replacement
- DBs coach Jim Leonhard became Bills' defensive coordinator
- Senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael became Bills' OC
- DC Vance Joseph interviewed for Cardinals, Giants, Raiders, Ravens, Titans' HC jobs
- Webb interviewed for Bills, Raiders, Ravens' HC jobs, withdrew from Vegas search
- ST coordinator Darren Rizzi interviewed for Giants, Ravens' HC jobs
- Logan Kilgore promoted to QBs coach
Significant changes are on tap for Sean Payton's staff, though Denver's 2026 coach roster will include Joseph -- despite extensive HC interest -- and Webb even though teams pursued the latter for HC and OC jobs. Webb's status likely led to Lombardi's ouster. The longtime Payton underling was not viewed as a head coaching candidate despite the Broncos' recent success, and credit for Nix's development generally went to Payton and Webb. Lombardi, a three-stint Payton replacement, has landed with the Ravens.
Vikings Add Matt Thomas To Front Office
The Vikings are currently the NFL’s only team without a general manager. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah‘s firing has left Rob Brzezinski in place atop the front office until after the draft.
Brzezinski will have some assistance during his interim GM stint. The Vikings are hiring Matt Thomas to serve as a football administration consultant through to April’s draft, Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network report. Thomas (whose arrival is now official) worked as the Seahawks’ VP of football operations from 2013-24 before retiring. This short-term gig will give Minnesota a veteran voice in the front office.
Thomas and Brzezinski worked together when they were both with the Dolphins for the 1998 and ’99 seasons (h/t ESPN’s Kevin Seifert). This reunion will last through free agency and the draft, and it will see Thomas take on a key role relating to the salary cap. He will work alongside Emily Badis in that capacity and by doing so allow Brzezinski to focus on other matters during his brief tenure as general manager.
The timing of Adofo-Mensah’s dismissal caught many by surprise. By parting ways as late in the hiring cycle as the Vikings did, they left themselves short on replacement options. Jon-Eric Sullivan (Dolphins) and Ian Cunningham (Falcons) are no longer candidates for Minnesota since they accepted GM offers elsewhere. Minnesota’s spring search will make for an interesting team storyline late in the offseason, and the team’s new full-time general manager will inherit a roster shaped in no small part by Brzezinski over the coming months.
The Vikings are one of several teams currently projected to be over the cap for 2026; Over the Cap has them in the red by more than $40MM. A number of cuts, extensions and restructures will be required over the coming weeks as a result. Thomas’ presence could prove to be key as Minnesota’s financial setup for 2026 takes shape.