Here are the latest reserve/futures contract signings from around the NFL. These deals will go into effect on the first day of the 2019 league year, with players joining their respective clubs’ offseason 90-man rosters:
Chicago Bears
The Jets are expected to hire former Bengals offensive line coach Frank Pollack for the same position, tweets Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Pollack did a solid job with Cincinnati in 2018, but he was revered for his work with the Cowboys’ front five from 2013-17. He drew interest from the Packers after being fired by the Bengals, but will now head to New York, where the Jets ranked dead last in Football Outsiders‘ run-blocking metric and 18th in pass protection. Before hiring Pollack, the Jets also had interest in former 49ers assistant OL coach Adam Stenavich, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Stenavich has since joined the Packers’ staff as offensive line coach.
Here’s more from the NFL’s two East divisions:
It’s a done deal. On Wednesday, the Jets formally announced Dowell Loggains as their new offensive coordinator. Loggains will also serve as New York’s quarterbacks coach.
Loggains, a longtime friend and co-worker of Adam Gase, was said to be in the lead for the OC job right after Gase shook hands on his new job with the Jets. Gase is expected to be the offensive play-caller for the Jets, but he’ll likely lean on Loggains for support as they look to get the most out of young quarterback Sam Darnold. In addition to serving as the OC, Loggains will also carry the title of quarterbacks coach.
Gase was Chicago’s offensive coordinator in 2015 when Loggains became the club’s quarterbacks coach. Together, the two men got a tremendous season out of Jay Cutler in which he threw for 21 touchdowns against a career-low eleven interceptions. Loggains took over the OC post when Gase left for Miami, but the two reunited in South Beach last year. Now, they’re together again in New Jersey.
The Broncos have released wide receiver Andre Holmes, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter). The veteran was acquired late in the season via waivers from Buffalo, but his time with Denver is through. 
Claimed off waivers just after Emmanuel Sanders tore one of his Achilles’ tendons, Holmes caught one pass during his Broncos tenure. The wide receiver was under contract through 2019, but his deal had no additional guaranteed money left for next season.
Prior to being released by the Bills in early December, Holmes had 12 catches for 157 yards on the season. Even though he had history with then-offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, he didn’t do a whole lot with the Broncos. After catching his lone target for five yards, Holmes wound up on IR to close out the year.
Holmes’ best ball came in Oakland, including a 2014 season in which he caught 47 passes for 693 yards and four touchdowns. Since then, he’s been much more of a role player and has not amassed more than 14 grabs in a season.
Thanks to his four-year, $60MM deal signed in 2017, Calais Campbell is set to carry a hefty cap number in 2019. The Jaguars probably want to tamp that number down one way or another and Campbell is open to suggestions. 
“I think it’s more with restructuring with an extension,″ Campbell said (via John Reid of the Florida-Times Union). ″That’s the only way to do it and that’s something that was talked about that could possibly happen.″
Right now, Campbell is set to carry a $14.5MM cap figure in 2019. If the Jaguars can smooth out that hit, they can use some of those funds to address other holes, such as the quarterback position. The Jags have been widely connected to Nick Foles, for example, and he won’t come cheap as several other teams are also in the hunt for QB options in a thin market.
Even with a projected cap increase of 6%, the Jaguars presently have just $3.57MM in cap space. Something has to give, and adjusting Campbell’s contract could go a long way towards giving the team some much needed flexibility.
Campbell crushed it in Year One of his contract as he set a franchise record with 14.5 sacks. Last year, he led the team with 10.5 QB takedowns.
Patriots assistant Brian Flores will have his second interview with the Dolphins on Wednesday night, a league source tells Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald (on Twitter). The interview, in all likelihood, will be a discussion about the future rather than a true interview. Flores has already been tapped as the team’s next head coach, but the hire cannot be formally made until after the Super Bowl. 
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In 2018, the Patriots ranked 21st in yards allowed but seventh in scoring. The Pats have only had one non-top-10 scoring defense in the past 13 seasons and Flores has been a part of their past eight defensive coaching staffs. After moving on from the offensively-minded Adam Gase, the Dolphins believe that Flores will help restore order on the other side of the ball.
Speaking of defense, the Dolphins are reportedly set to hire longtime Flores friend Patrick Graham as their new DC.
Former Giants defensive coordinator and interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo has emerged as the favorite to replace Bob Sutton as the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, sources tell ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Spagnuolo and Andy Reid worked together in Philadelphia and share the same agent, so this would be a pretty natural pairing in Kansas City. 
Sutton was fired this week after the Chiefs’ heartbreaking exit in the AFC Championship Game. Soon after, the loud and lovable Rex Ryan was connected to the job, but it sounds like the former Giants coach has a leg up over the ex-Jets coach.
Spagnuolo didn’t coach in 2018, but he is highly respected around the NFL for his work as the Giants’ DC. The 59-year-old also comes with head coaching experience, as he led the Rams from 2009-11. We haven’t heard his name much in this cycle, but he was connected to the Broncos’ DC job at one point.
The 49ers are not picking up the contract option for veteran defensive tackle Earl Mitchell, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Mitchell provided the Niners with a solid locker room presence, but they’ll have to find that leadership elsewhere. 
The Niners used D.J. Jones as their nose tackle down the stretch of the season so it’s likely that Jones will continue to be the team’s answer in the middle, unless they replace him with someone better between now and September. Mitchell leaves the Bay Area two years into a four-year deal.
At the time of signing, Mitchell’s contract was reported to be a straight-up four-year deal with no option years. Instead, the deal was believed to be a four-year, $16MM pact with a $4.45MM cap figure for the 2019 season. Releasing Mitchell under those terms would call for a $1.5MM dead money charge with $2.95MM in cap savings. Regardless of whether there is an option or not, the outcome is likely the same.
Mitchell finished out the 2018 season with 28 tackles across 14 games (12 starts).
The Panthers re-signed Efe Obada to a one-year deal, the team announced. The defensive end was set to be an exclusive rights free agent this offseason, so he would not have hit the open market anyway unless the Panthers renounced his rights. 
Obada made history when he became the first player to move from the league’s International Pathway Program to an active roster. The defensive end, who has also had stints with the Chiefs, Falcons, and Cowboys, finished out the year with two sacks. He also earned NFC defensive player of the week honors for his September performance against the Bengals in which he recorded a sack and an interception. That game marked his NFL debut and it could not have gone better for him.
“I’m very grateful. It’s another opportunity to contribute to the team and obviously support myself and my family,” said the Nigeria-born player, who plans to spend most of his offseason in England.
In 2019, Obada says he’s eager to take another giant step forward.
“The main thing for me is being consistent and trusting my training,” Obada said. “I’m going to work on my weaknesses – knowledge of the game, just recognizing things a bit quicker in terms of my keys against the run and things like that. I definitely want to step into a more secure role, into a leadership role on this team. That’s what I’m working toward.”
Here’s the latest out of Oakland: