Saints officials say that owner Tom Benson has maintained an active role in running the team, Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune writes.
“I talk to him every day, just as I have for 15 years,” GM Mickey Loomis said. “He talks to me about the same subject matter: The status of the team. And after the season: What are the issues? How are we going to fix the issues? Nothing’s changed here.”
Benson’s involvement with the team, as well as his overall health, came into question after the latest claims made by his ousted granddaughter. Here’s more on the Saints’ ownership situation, as well as a few more notes from across the NFC:
- Team officials told Duncan that an anecdote in which Benson could not identify the president of the United States was misrepresented by his estranged relatives. The Saints owner was given a concussion protocol test after he fell and hit his head at the NFL owners meetings last May in Atlanta. However, daughter Renee Benson and grandchildren Rita Benson LeBlanc and Ryan LeBlanc tried to portray the incident as something different. Benson’s relatives want the owner to undergo a psychological evaluation, as Andy Grimm of The Times-Picayune details. The would-be heirs are challenging the 87-year-old’s mental fitness.
- With Nathaniel Hackett no longer in the running for the Rams‘ offensive coordinator position, an in-house candidate landing the job is “all but a certainty” at this point, according to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Tight ends coach Rob Boras and quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti are the top contenders, and Thomas thinks Boras probably has the edge.
- Running back LeSean McCoy and wide receiver Jeremy Maclin were the Eagles‘ two most effective offensive weapons in 2014, but it remains to be seen whether the team will be able to bring both players back for the 2015 season, says Paul Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News.
- Washington has announced the hiring of Matt Cavanaugh as quarterbacks coach (via Twitter). Cavanaugh, who served in the same position for Chicago the last two seasons, will be charged with jump-starting Washington’s troubled quarterback situation.
- If he were running the Cowboys, Bob Sturm of the Dallas Morning News would make it a top priority to retain DeMarco Murray this offseason.
Zach Links contributed to this post.