HEADLINES

Month: September 2024

Jets Interested In Gregg Williams, Chuck Pagano

January 10th, 2019 at 10:47am CST by Zachary Links

Former Browns interim head coach Gregg Williams is in consideration for the Jets’ defensive coordinator position under new head coach Adam Gase, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The Jets’ list also includes Chuck Pagano, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (on Twitter).

The Browns went 5-3 under Williams in the second half of 2018, but the Browns gave most of the credit for that to offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens, who was promoted to the role of head coach this week. After Kitchens was bumped up, the Browns and Williams parted ways.

Williams was widely mocked for last year’s assertion that several teams wanted him as a head coach, but there’s no denying that he is a highly-respected defensive mind. The Jets have serious holes on defense – specifically, their pass rush – but there is an opportunity for Williams to thrive in New York with players like safety Jamal Adams and $100MM+ in expected cap room to address areas of need.

Pagano’s name has surfaced again in the latest coaching cycle and he interviewed for the Packers’ and Broncos’ top jobs. At this stage, he’s realistically only in the running for lower staff positions. Aside from the Jets’ reported interest, the Panthers are set to meet with him to discuss their defensive backs coach position, according to Mike Florio of PFT.

Cardinals To Interview Vance Joseph

January 10th, 2019 at 10:18am CST by Zachary Links

Former Broncos head coach Vance Joseph will meet with new Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury on Thursday to discuss the team’s defensive coordinator position, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). As the first candidate to speak with Kingsbury, it appears that Joseph has a good opportunity to land the job.

Of course, Joseph is still in the mix for the Bengals’ head coaching search, which also includes Eric Bieniemy, Hue Jackson, Bill Lazor, Todd Monken, Darren Simmons, Zac Taylor, and Shane Waldron. Despite Joseph’s lack of success in Denver, he’s believed to have a real chance of becoming Cincinnati’s next head coach.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals are also said to be considering the 68-year-old Dom Capers as a potential defensive counterpart to Kingsbury.

A’s Expect Kyler Murray To Enter NFL Draft

January 9th, 2019 at 9:16pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Oakland Athletics own Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray‘s baseball rights after selecting him in the first round of the 2018 MLB draft, but they expect him to declare for the NFL draft this weekend, according to Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle.

Simply declaring for the NFL draft doesn’t necessarily mean Murray will decide not to play for the Athletics, although one source does tell Slusser that Murray is reportedly leaning towards football. If Murray does opt to play football, he’d be required to pay back the A’s more than $4.5MM. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter) NFL decision-makers believe Murray is “magic” and predict he’d come off the board on Day 1 or 2 of the draft, so he’d be able to make up that lost money in short order.

Murray and his agent Scott Boras have never officially ruled out the NFL despite persistently denying interest in deviating from an MLB-based plan. The Athletics would retain Murray’s baseball rights, but playing both baseball and football is not an option for Murray, per Slusser. The time commitments afforded to modern day professional sports simply make a dual-sport athlete nearly impossible.

Murray will likely need to make a decision by the end of February, as Slusser reports. He’ll be expected to attend Spring Training at that point, while the impending NFL Draft Combine would also require his attention, meaning the Heisman winner’s hand will likely be forced.

Vikings To Interview Joe Philbin

January 9th, 2019 at 9:06pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Vikings have received permission from the Packers’ to interview Joe Philbin for their offensive line coach position, according to Bob McGinn of McGinnFootball.com (Twitter link). Philbin began the 2018 season as Green Bay’s offensive coordinator but ended the year as the club’s interim head coach following Mike McCarthy‘s firing.

Andrew Janocko coached Minnesota’s offensive line last year after offensive line coach Tony Sparano tragically passed away during the summer. While the team still managed to finish ninth in adjusted sack rate, the Vikings’ front five ranked 23rd in adjusted line yards (Football Outsiders‘ run-blocking metric), 25th in pressure rate allowed, and 29th in Pro Football Focus‘ year-end rankings.

Philbin, 57, posted a 24-28 record over three-plus seasons as the Dolphins’ head coach. His coaching résumé is full of offensive line experience, and that’s the coaching role he performed the last time he was in a positional coach job. As Indianapolis’ OL coach from 2016-17, Philbin led units that generally excelled in the run game but struggled in pass protection.

Thomas Davis Says Panthers Won’t Re-Sign Him

January 9th, 2019 at 8:40pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Longtime Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis says Carolina has informed him they intend to move in a “different direction” next season, meaning the free agent-to-be won’t be playing in Carolina in 2019 (Twitter link).

Davis, 35, was a Panthers first-round pick in 2005 and just completed his 14th year with the club. Although he’s vacillated on the subject before, Davis has indicated he’d like to continue his career beyond the 2018 campaign. Whether he’ll still want to do that somewhere other than Carolina is unclear, but he should certainly have a market.

Davis only played in 12 games last year due to a four-game performance-enhancing drug suspension, but he graded as the league’s 19th-best linebacker, per Pro Football Focus. He doesn’t seem to be slowing down, as he played in 85% of the Panthers’ defensive snaps a season ago. With Davis gone, Shaq Thompson — who will be playing on his fifth-year option — will become a full-time player (he saw about 60% of Carolina’s snaps last year).

A 2017 extension that tacked on an additional year to Davis’ contract will run out in March. Davis will join a group of free agent off–ball linebackers that includes Anthony Barr, C.J. Mosley, Jordan Hicks, and Cory Littleton, among others.

NFC South Notes: Bucs, Falcons, Panthers

January 9th, 2019 at 8:22pm CST by Dallas Robinson

New Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich will call plays in Tampa Bay, head coach Bruce Arians told The Rich Eisen Show (Twitter link via Thomas Bassinger of the Tampa Bay Times). That’s something of a surprise, as Arians led the offense when he was the Cardinals’ head coach. Leftwich took over as Arizona’s OC after Mike McCoy was fired four games into the 2018 campaign, but he couldn’t get the Cardinals out of the NFL rankings cellar in terms of points and yards. Arians will still have a heavy hand in Tampa Bay’s offense, while new run game coordinator Harold Goodwin will also have input.

Here’s more from the NFC South:

  • Former Redskins special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica has joined the Falcons in the same capacity, Atlanta announced today. He’ll replace Keith Armstrong, who was one of three Atlanta coordinators fired after the 2018 campaign. Washington ranked two spots higher in special teams DVOA than Atlanta a season ago, per Football Outsiders, finishing with better results in kickoffs and punt returns. Kotwica has worked in the NFL since 2007, working his way up from quality control coach to special teams coordinator with the Jets.
  • Armstrong, meanwhile, will take over as the Buccaneers‘ new special teams coach, tweets Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. He’d been linked to Tampa Bay ever since Arians was rumored to be taking the head coaching position, and for good reason: as Auman notes, Armstrong played for Arians at Temple 35 years ago. Armstrong, who was a candidate for the Cardinals’ head coaching job in 2018, was fired by the Falcons last week, but quickly interviewed for a gig with the Bills before landing with the Buccaneers.
  • The Buccaneers have hired former Broncos offensive line coach Sean Kugler for the same position, reports Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). The Bills also had interest in interviewing Kugler before he signed on with Tampa Bay, according to Ryan Talbot of New York Upstate. Kugler, previously the head coach at UTEP, joined Denver in 2018 and guided a Broncos front five which ranked as a top-12 unit in both adjusted line yards and adjusted sack rate. Other Tampa Bay hires include former Jets coach Mike Caldwell (linebackers) and ex-Cardinals coach Rick Christophel (tight ends), per Auman (Twitter links).
  • After being fired by the Jaguars last week, Perry Fewell is interviewing for the Panthers‘ secondary coach job on Wednesday, tweets Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer. A former defensive coordinator for the Bills and Giants, Fewell worked with Carolina coach head coach Ron Rivera in Chicago in 2005. The Panthers still have Richard Rodgers in place as a secondary coach, but they’ve lost multiple defensive backs coach within the past year. Curtis Fuller resigned as the team’s secondary coach last summer, while assistant Jeff Imamura was fired as part of a housecleaning in early December.

Mike McCarthy Won’t Coach In 2019

January 9th, 2019 at 7:59pm CST by Dallas Robinson

After losing out on the Jets’ head coaching job, former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy won’t be on the sidelines in 2019, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link), who reports McCarthy is preparing for the 2020 hiring cycle.

McCarthy was selective throughout the head coaching search process; with young children in the Green Bay Area, McCarthy turned down interest from the Cardinals’ and never officially interviewed with the Browns despite a planned meeting. Recent reports had indicated McCarthy was focused solely on the Jets’ job, one that’s no longer available following the hire of Adam Gase.

As PFR’s Head Coaching Search Tracker indicates, only two jobs — the Bengals and the Dolphins — remain vacant. McCarthy never interviewed with either club, and there’s no indication either club was interested (or vice versa).

Coaching Rumors: Jets, Stefanski, Schiano

January 9th, 2019 at 7:39pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Former Broncos head coach Vance Joseph is a “strong candidate” to become the Jets‘ defensive coordinator under new head coach Adam Gase, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). While it doesn’t sound as though New York has officially reached out to Joseph yet, the connection makes sense, as Joseph served as Gase’s DC in 2016 before landing the top job in Denver. Joseph interviewed for the Bengals’ head coaching job and remains a candidate there, but the Jets clearly present something of a fallback plan.

On the offensive side of the ball, Dowell Loggains — who worked under Gase with both the Bears and Dolphins — is expected to be involved in Gase’s staff, tweets Jeff Darlington of NFL.com. However, Loggains is still technically Miami’s offensive coordinator and will need to get out of his contract, per Rapoport (Twitter link).

Here’s more from the coaching carousel:

  • Broncos defensive coordinator Joe Woods has drawn interest as a defensive backs coach from both the Redskins and Jaguars, and as many as three teams are eyeing Woods, possibly even as a coordinator, per Mike Klis of 9News (Twitter link). Denver had not been allowing its assistant coaches take interviews with other teams, but that will change now that new head coach Vic Fangio is in place. Fangio is a defensive coach by trade, so he may take on play-calling now that he’s in Denver. Even if he doesn’t call plays himself, Fangio might want to bring in his own DC, so Woods is certainly in limbo. A longtime defensive backs coach, Woods took over the Broncos defense in 2017.
  • In returning as the Vikings‘ full-time offensive coordinator, Kevin Stefanski inked a two-year deal, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (Twitter link). Stefanski is now signed for longer than head coach Mike Zimmer, whose contract expires after the 2019 campaign. The 36-year-old Stefanski took over as Minnesota’s OC after John DeFilippo was fired, and lead the club’s offense for the final three games of the regular season. Despite that limited track record, Stefanski was a serious candidate for the Browns’ head coaching position, finishing second only to Freddie Kitchens.
  • New Packers head coach Matt LaFleur will likely implement much of his own staff, at least on the offensive side of the ball, but one incumbent Green Bay staffer has already received an offer to stick around. LaFleur wants tight ends coach Brian Angelichio to stay with the Packers, per Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link). Angelichio worked with Kyle Shanahan on the 2014 Browns’ staff, meaning he has experience with the Sean McVay/Shanahan/LaFleur offense. He’s been with Green Bay since 2016.
  • Klint Kubiak is receiving “strong consideration” for the Broncos‘ quarterbacks coach job, tweets Klis. Kubiak is the son of Gary Kubiak, the former Denver head coach who was today installed as the club’s offensive coordinator under new head coach Vic Fangio. Klint Kubiak, 31, began his coaching career at Texas A&M before moving to the Vikings in 2013. He joined the Broncos in 2016, serving as an offensive assistant focusing on quarterbacks.
  • In announcing defensive coordinator Greg Schiano‘s departure from Ohio State, head coach Ryan Day said Schiano would be pursuing “options in the NFL” (Twitter link). That’s certainly a vague statement, and doesn’t indicate Schiano has a specific job lined up, but he could be in consideration for DC or position coach gigs around the league. Head coach of the Buccaneers from 2012-13, Schiano was rumored to have generated NFL interest at this time last year, but he ultimately stayed at OSU.
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