HEADLINES

Month: January 2015

Doug Marrone To Interview With Bears, Falcons

January 1st, 2015 at 2:21pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Doug Marrone is the favorite to become the next head coach of the Jets, but that hasn’t stopped him from setting up other interviews. According to Brian Costello of the New York Post, the ex-Bills coach will interview with both the Bears and the Falcons.

In Chicago, Marrone would be tasked with either fixing the flaws of quarterback Jay Cutler, or working with a new QB in the event Cutler is traded. Despite being a former offensive coordinator, Marrone’s Buffalo offenses haven’t been very impressive, although he was handed sub-par options in E.J. Manuel and Kyle Orton. He has shown a willingness to hand his defense to an experienced coordinator, and Mike Pettine and Jim Schwartz’s units turned in dominant performances in 2012 and 2013, respectively. As such, Marrone could probably be trusted to bring in a talented DC to turn around the Bears’ defense, which ranked 28th in DVOA.

Defense has also been the problem in Atlanta, so Marrone again would likely need to bring in a strong defensive coach to lead the turnaround. Like the Bears, the Falcons have some promising young talent on offense, though Atlanta can boast a better quarterback situation and potential cornerstone left tackle in Jake Matthews.

The Bears are known to be interested in Todd Bowles, Adam Gase, Gary Kubiak, and Dan Quinn, while the Falcons have shown interest in Teryl Austin, Bowles, Gase, Josh McDaniels, Quinn, and Rex Ryan.

Minor Moves: Thursday

January 1st, 2015 at 1:10pm CST by Dallas Robinson

We’ll keep track of the New Year’s Day transactions right here, with the latest moves being added to the top of the post:

  • The Cardinals have signed offensive tackle Cameron Bradfield to a reserve/futures deal, tweets Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com. Bradfield, 27, started 27 games over four seasons with the Jaguars before signing with the Falcons earlier this year.
  • The Bengals have signed rookie receiver Eric Ward to their practice squad, reports Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com (Twitter link). Ward, an undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech, was signed by the Titans earlier this year, but released in early September. He takes the place of fellow wideout Cobi Hamilton, who was promoted to the active roster yesterday.

AFC East Notes: Reich, Jets, Marrone, Bills

January 1st, 2015 at 1:00pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich is in high demand — we learned this morning that the Bills are interested in San Diego’s play-caller, but Buffalo isn’t the only AFC East looking into Reich. The Jets are also considering the 53-year-old Reich, and are tentatively expected to interview him for their head-coaching position next week, according to Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego (Twitter link). More from the AFC East…

  • The Jets are also interested in ex-Bills head coach Doug Marrone, and he’ll interview for the HC job on Sunday or Monday, per Brian Costello of the New York Post (via Twitter). Meanwhile, the feeling in NFL circles is that Charley Casserly, acting as a consultant for New York during their coaching search, has long been infatuated with Marrone, and is pushing him on Jets ownership, writes Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.
  • Marrone, of course, is a free agent due to an opt-out clause that allowed him to leave the Bills in the event of an ownership change. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk Buffalo inserted the clause into Marrone’s contract in order to keep him away from the Browns, who had offered a higher salary. As a result, the Bills are out both their head coach and his $4MM 2015 salary.
  • Mike Rodak of ESPN.com examines the Bills’ head coaching options, looking at internal and external assistant coaches, as well as former NFL head coaches who could intrigue Buffalo.

West Notes: Shanahan, Gase, 49ers, Fangio

January 1st, 2015 at 12:07pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Adam Gase and Mike Shanahan have several striking similarities — both are sharp offensive minds, have been employed by the Broncos, and most newsworthy, will be interviewed by the 49ers for their head coaching vacancy this weekend. According to Mike Klis of the Denver Post, Gase, Denver’s offensive coordinator, will meet with the Niners and the Falcons on Friday, before interviewing for the Bears’ HC position on Sunday. San Francisco’s decision-makers, owner Jed York and GM Trent Baalke, will also visit with Shanahan, who resides in the Denver area. Here’s more from the West divisions…

  • The 49ers have a busy weekend ahead of them, as the club will also interview former Jets head coach Rex Ryan on Sunday, according to Kimberly Jones of NFL.com (via Twitter). Ryan, who is also a candidate for the Falcons job, could have leg up for the SF gig because he “loves” Colin Kaepernick, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (Twitter link).
  • While their focus is on finding a new head coach, the 49ers could be on the verge of losing several key assistants. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio would like to be a head coach, and could opt to pursue other options if he’s passed over for the San Francisco job, reports Matt Barrows of the San Francisco Bee (via Twitter). Washington is interested in interviewing Fangio for its vacant DC position, but as he’s still in the mix for SF’s top job, they haven’t yet been granted permission to speak with him, tweets Mike Jones of the Washington Post. Washington wanted to meet with Fangio last year regarding its HC gig, but didn’t get the opportunity because of San Francisco’s extended playoff run, per Barrows (on Twitter).
  • Meanwhile, Washington has been granted permission to speak to two other assistant coaches about its defensive coordinator job, and both are currently employed by West division clubs. Chargers linebackers coach Joe Barry and 49ers secondary coach Ed Donatell will meet with Washington as the team looks to replace Jim Haslett, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN (Twitter link).
  • 49ers defensive line coach Jim Tomsula is a candidate for the team’s head coaching position, and if he is promoted to the top job, he’ll look to bring in Raiders defensive coordinator Jason Tarver for the same position in San Francisco, reports Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News (via Twitter), who notes that Fangio wouldn’t be interested in remaining on staff under Tomsula.
  • Rams head coach Jeff Fisher told reporters, including Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com, that he doesn’t expect to make any changes to his coaching staff.

Rob DiRe contributed to this post.

NFC South Notes: Bucs, Trestman, Draft

January 1st, 2015 at 10:32am CST by Rob DiRe

The Buccaneers had a disastrous 2014, but with the New Year hope they will be able to turn things around quickly. Among their top priorities are landing an improvement at quarterback and finding an offensive coordinator to replace Jeff Tedford, who missed the season after having a heart procedure in August, according to the Associated Press in USA Today.

  • Buccaneers current quarterback Josh McCown has pushed for the team to hire Marc Trestman as the offensive coordinator, reports Conor Orr of NFL.com. He mentioned his affinity for Trestman to the media, according to Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. “I think Marc is an outstanding coach and an outstanding person and he has a great sense of offensive football, especially quarterback play,” said McCown. “I just know that, for me personally, I played my best football in my career under him. So obviously I have good things to say. But I’ve been around a bunch of different guys over the course of my career, and he was probably the most detailed with game plans and things like that. I really felt like he was on top of it.’’
  • Today the Oregon Ducks will play the Florida State Seminoles in the Rose Bowl, and the Buccaneers will be watching that game closely according to Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune. The Buccaneers top need is quarterback, and they are expected to draft one with the first pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. Their options will likely be either Oregon’s Marcus Mariota and Florida State’s Jameis Winston, the past two Heisman Trophy winners. General manager Jason Licht will be in attendance for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and will probably be watching his team’s franchise quarterback one way or the other.
  • The Falcons also have had a close eye on bowl games since missing the playoffs, with general manager Thomas Dimitroff and assistant general manager Scott Pioli in attendance for the Peach Bowl between TCU and Ole Miss on New Year’s Eve, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
  • The Saints have 11 players set to become unrestricted free agents this offseason, according to Evan Woodbery of NOLA.com. Woodbery writes that none of the 11 will have huge markets for themselves, except maybe Mark Ingram if another NFL team is in desperate need of a starting running back.

Bills Interested In Frank Reich

January 1st, 2015 at 9:47am CST by Rob DiRe

With Doug Marrone no longer employed as the Bills‘ head coach, the team will have to look elsewhere to replace the man who brought Buffalo its second winning season in the past 15 years.

Although news of Marrone’s departure only became public last night, the fallout has been quick, and the Bills may already have a frontrunner to replace him as head coach in Buffalo. The team will have a strong interest in Chargers‘ offensive coordinator Frank Reich, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter).

Reich, who was the team’s backup quarterback behind Jim Kelly for the great Bills teams of the late 80s and early 90s, famously leading the team to a comeback victory over the Oilers after trailing 35-3 in the second half.

The team is also considering defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and could be interested in former Steelers’ coach Bill Cowher, but Vic Carrucci of The Buffalo News writes that Reich immediately became the team’s top target.

Reich would be the favorite for Bill Polian, who is expected to take over as the team’s head of football operations within the next month.

In anticipation of the hire, Mathew Fairburn of Syracuse.com put together a list of five things to know about the connection between Reich and the Bills. He obviously has a long history with the franchise, but Fairburn also points out that when Polian took over the expansion Carolina Panthers, he brought Reich in to be the team’s first quarterback.

Fairburn also writes that Reich worked under successful head coaches Tony Dungy, Ken Whisenhunt, and most recently Mike McCoy.

Bills’ Hall of Fame wide receiver Andre Reed believes Reich would be a great hire in Buffalo, writes Dan Hanzus of NFL.com.

I think he would make — definitely would make a great head coach anywhere,” said Reed. “He’s definitely a viable candidate. I think he would do a great job. Not only would he bring a lot of credibility, but Bills fans would probably — the roof would probably come off if he came in there and became the head coach. I’m definitely a proponent of him being the head coach there, if that’s the way and that’s what goes down.”

Reich is coming off his first year as an offensive coordinator and play caller in San Diego, and while Chargers’ general manager Tom Telesco understands the interest, he is not looking forward to losing Reich, reports Michael Gehlken of the U-T San Diego.

“I think Frank, in his first year, did a very good job,” Telesco said. “He’s smart. He’s detailed. He’s prepared for this for a long time. He’s a great teacher, a great communicator, and he can really handle a room as far as handling the offense. He did an excellent job, and I’m not surprised that some teams would have interest in him. But selfishly, I hope he stays here.”

While Telesco may hope to retain Reich, his history in Buffalo and the opportunity to become a head coach for the first time may be difficult to pass up.

Jets Interested In Doug Marrone

January 1st, 2015 at 8:55am CST by Rob DiRe

From the moment Bills‘ head coach Doug Marrone opted out of his contract, he has been linked to another vacant job within the division, with the rival Jets. As Zach Links reported on the fallout from his decision, key parts of the story were the Jets immediately being expected to schedule an interview with Marrone, as well as a report that the coach does not believe in quarterback Geno Smith.

There is mutual interest between the two parties, according to Brian Costello and Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post, and an interview will be scheduled shortly. They noted that Marrone is originally from the Bronx and was an offensive line coach for the Jets under Herm Edwards for four seasons before taking the head coaching job at Syracuse.

Marrone could be a perfect fit for the team, writes Steve Serby of the New York Post. He is a disciplinarian and a no-nonsense guy, according to Serby, and his decision to bench first-round pick EJ Manuel in favor of Kyle Orton almost propelled the team into the playoffs, while Rex Ryan refused to bench Smith, or wasn’t allowed to organizationally.

Serby compares him to a young Tom Coughlin, and notes that he has strong connections to both Coughlin and Saints’ head coach Sean Payton, with whom he built an offensive line good enough to help that team win a Super Bowl.

Jets’ owner Woody Johnson’s consultant Charlie Casserly reportedly loves Marrone, writes Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com. Casserly has been raving about the former Bills’ coach since he took the job at Syracuse in 2009, according to Cimini’s source.

“He was totally infatuated with him,” the source said. “You have to know Charley: When he gets on something, he’s a pit bull. I know he’s got Woody [Johnson] all lathered up.”

The Jets are still searching for their next general manager as well, but could hire Marrone immediately. The team has already satisfied the Rooney Rule by interviewing assistant head coach/running backs coach Anthony Lynn on Wednesday. If they were to hire Marrone first, he would likely have a say in who the team hires as a general manager to work with him.

Hiring a coach before a general manager puts the power structure of the organization in a very awkward position, according to Cimini. He writes that under that scenario, both of these new hires will likely report directly to the owner, and the system of checks and balances will be out of sorts.

“You might as well take a gun, aim at your foot and shoot twice,” said one longtime NFL personnel executive. “That would be absolutely stupid. As soon as you hire a coach, you have to understand that the GM would no longer be a GM. He’d be an MG. How do you have checks and balances? It seems to me that Woody is making this up as he goes along.”

Costello and Cannizzaro connect Marrone to two possible general manager candidates in Mike Maccagnan and Rick Mueller, both of whom have worked with Marrone before, as a player with the World League’s London Monarchs and as a coach with the Saints, respectively.

The Jets still have a number of interviews scheduled, including three in Seattle on Friday. They will interview Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, offensive line coach Tom Cable, and pro personnel director Trent Kirchner.