HEADLINES

Month: September 2024

Jets To Hire Adam Gase As Head Coach

January 9th, 2019 at 6:59pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Jets have agreed to hire former Dolphins head coach Adam Gase for the same position, according to Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

Gase will stay in the AFC East, where he led Miami to a 23-25 record from 2015-17. That tenure only included a single postseason appearance, a first-round loss in his rookie campaign. But Gase, 40, earned glowing reports as an offensive coordinator with the Broncos and Bears earlier in his career, as he helped Peyton Manning and Jay Cutler to immensely successful seasons.

Once viewed as something of a “quarterback whisperer,” Gase will now be tasked with continuing the development of 2018 No. 3 overall pick Sam Darnold, who showed flashes during his first NFL go-round. He’ll also inherit an interesting offensive corps, with weapons such as receiver Robby Anderson and tight end Christopher Herndon at his disposal. And the Jets, who rank second in projected 2019 cap space with nearly $100MM at their disposal, should be likely to reinforce their roster via free agency.

As PFR’s Head Coaching Search Tracker shows, the Jets had been one of just three teams without a head coach in place. With Gase on board in New York, only the Bengals and Dolphins have yet to find a new head coach.

Before hiring Gase, the Jets interviewed a number of intriguing candidates:

Kingsbury landed the Cardinals’ head coaching job, while others like Bieniemy, Monken, and Richard each still candidates for either the Cincinnati or Miami position. But of the remaining vacancies, McCarthy was only interested in New York, so he’s now likely to wait until 2020 to find another head coaching gig.

Matt Rhule Will Remain At Baylor

January 9th, 2019 at 6:33pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Baylor head coach Matt Rhule has indicated to his coaching staff that he won’t be leaving for the NFL, where the Jets had interviewed him for their head coaching position, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.

The Jets wanted Rhule to agree to hire assistants the team’s front office would procure, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter links). New York had concerns that Rhule, who has spent almost the entirety of his career in the college ranks, wouldn’t be able to form a staff. But Rhule had no interest in hiring coaches with whom he wasn’t familiar, per Mehta.

Besides a brief 2012 stint as the Giants’ offensive line coach, Rhule has spent the majority of his career in the NCAA. Rhule was head coach at Temple for four seasons, where he led the Owls to their only back-to-back 10-win seasons in school history. He joined Baylor in 2017 and didn’t see similar results, as the Bears finished with a 1-11 record during his first season. However, Baylor improved in 2018, finishing 7-6.

Despite his lack of an NFL track record, Rhule has been mentioned as an NFL head coaching candidate in the past. He interviewed for the Colts’ top job last offseason before Indianapolis selected Josh McDaniels as its initial head coach (before moving to Frank Reich once McDaniels spurned the club).

New York was the only NFL team known to be considering Rhule as a head coaching candidate, so it will need to move on to other candidates. As PFR’s Head Coaching Search Tracker indicates, Gang Green has interviewed a number of other coaches:

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/9/19

January 9th, 2019 at 6:13pm CST by Dallas Robinson

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:

Kansas City Chiefs

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC East Notes: Dolphins, Rizzi, Bills, Jets

January 9th, 2019 at 5:48pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Dolphins are one of three teams which still has yet to hire a new head coach, but they will meet with another potential Adam Gase replacement this week. Incumbent special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi will interview for the position on Friday, tweets Mike Garafolo of NFL.com. As Garafolo adds, other candidates that Miami has met with are still coaching in the postseason, so the club may not announce its next head coach any time soon. A former collegiate head coach at New Haven and Rhode Island, Rizzi is the only internal candidate the Dolphins are considering. Rizzi, 48, has been with the Dolphins since 2010, and last year led Miami to a No. 21 ranking in special teams DVOA.

Here’s more from the AFC East:

  • Ex-Falcons special teams coach Keith Armstrong recently interviewed for the same role with the Bills, reports Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Armstrong, who had been Atlanta’s ST coach since 2008, was fired last week as the Falcons cleared out each of their coordinator roles. Based purely on performance, Armstrong posted a strong effort in 2018, as Atlanta ranked 10th in special teams DVOA. The 55-year-old Armstrong took two interviews for the Cardinals’ head coaching job last season, and was one of two candidates Bruce Arians personally recommended as a successor (the other being incumbent DC James Bettcher). He’s also been linked to Tampa Bay, where Arians is now head coach.
  • Quincy Enunwa‘s four-year extension with the Jets is worth $33.4MM in total and contains $10MM in full guarantees, per Rich Cimini of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The 26-year-old wide receiver received a $9MM signing bonus, meaning his remaining guarantee will likely come via his 2019 base salary. Enunwa will collect a $6MM base salary in 2020, but that figure — for the time being — guaranteed for injury only. It’ll become fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2020 league year.
  • In case you missed it, Cowboys defensive backs coach Kris Richard may not be a serious contender for the Jets‘ head coaching job, but he could the favorite to land the top gig with the Dolphins.

Cardinals Interested In Dom Capers For DC?

January 9th, 2019 at 5:26pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Longtime NFL defensive coordinator Dom Capers‘ name has been “kicked around” by the Cardinals and new head coach Kliff Kingsbury, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (Twitter link).

Kingsbury is just 39 years old and has never coached at the NFL level in any capacity, leading Arizona general manager Steve Keim to remark that landing a veteran DC would be an “ideal” outcome (Twitter link via Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com). Moreover, given their history and personnel on defense, the Cardinals are interested in hiring a coordinator who will primarily deploy a 3-4 front.

Capers would fit both of those parameters. At age 68, he’s nearly 30 years older than Kingsbury, and he’s been coaching in the NFL since 1986 (with ample collegiate experience dating back to 1972). Not only has Capers served as a defensive coordinator for multiple clubs, but he’s been a head coach at two stops (Panthers, Texans), meaning he could presumably offer counsel to Kingsbury as the latter enters his first pro job.

Capers also runs a 3-4 scheme, and did so during the duration of his most recent NFL gig, a nine-year stint as the Packers’ DC. Green Bay’s defense admittedly struggled near the end of Capers’ run: in 2017, the Packers ranked just 22nd in total defense and 20th in defensive DVOA.

Arizona’s defense, meanwhile, ranked 17th in DVOA last season, and that figure may be even more impressive that it initially looks. Opposing offenses — on average — started their drives against the Cardinals on their own 29.5-yard line, the seventh-easiest starting position in the NFL. Additionally, Arizona’s offense’s drives were the shortest in the league in terms of elapsed clock (two minutes, sixteen seconds on average), meaning the club’s defense was constantly on the field.

Kingsbury will be calling offensive plays, tweets James Palmer of NFL Network, so he’ll need an established defensive mind in place. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, Kingsbury’s collegiate background could mean he doesn’t have the pro connections required to build out a staff. With that in in mind, Kingsbury says he’ll lean on Keim as he formulates his inaugural coaching group, per Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

Browns To Part Ways With Several Coaches

January 9th, 2019 at 4:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although the Browns kept a key part of their 2018 late-season setup in place, promoting Freddie Kitchens to head coach, they are going to be looking for a largely new staff.

In addition to letting interim HC Gregg Williams go, the Browns are ending the Cleveland tenures of several coaches, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

Among them are quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese, special teams coordinator Amos Jones, offensive line coach Bob Wylie, tight ends coach Greg Seamon and special teams assistant Josh Cribbs. The Browns, as could be expected, will ax linebackers coach (and late-season play-caller) Blake Williams, Cabot notes.

Expected to stay are wideouts coach Adam Henry and DBs coach DeWayne Walker, Cabot adds, with running backs coach Ryan Lindley — a Cardinals quarterback during Kitchens’ time as Arizona’s QBs coach — could remain as well.

This Browns team lost fewer games than the franchise had since its 2007 season, but the Kitchens regime will involve many new faces at the Berea, Ohio, facility. This should not be incredibly surprising, considering these assistants arrived during Hue Jackson‘s tenure.

Jones finished his first season as ST coordinator, while Zampese took the QBs job last year as well. He’d previously served as the Bengals’ OC before being fired early in the 2017 season. Seamon served on all three Jackson staffs, finishing his tenure under Gregg Williams. Wylie, of Hard Knocks fame, came to Cleveland in 2017 after a CFL stint. Known obviously for his special teams brilliance in Cleveland, Cribbs broke into coaching this season.

Also let go: assistant DBs coach Jerod Kruse, offensive assistant Bob Saunders, assistant offensive line coach Mark Hutson and quality control coaches Brian Braswell and Eric Sanders.

Clemson DL Dexter Lawrence Declares For Draft

January 9th, 2019 at 4:05pm CST by Sam Robinson

Clemson’s loaded defensive line did not have Dexter Lawrence during the Tigers’ two College Football Playoff games, and the defending national champions will say goodbye to the junior interior defender early.

A projected first-round pick, Lawrence will forgo his final season and enter the 2019 draft, announcing his decision on Twitter.

Lawrence and multiple other Tigers were suspended because of failed drug tests ahead of the Clemson-Notre Dame game. Nevertheless, Lawrence will likely join teammates Clelin Ferrell and Christian Wilkins as first-round picks come April.

Ranked 13th in Todd McShay’s most recent prospect hierarchy, Lawrence finished his career with 10 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. He played for two national championship teams and will be part of a loaded 2019 glut of defensive linemen expected to go off the board early.

East Rumors: Foles, Woods, Jets, Bills

January 9th, 2019 at 3:23pm CST by Sam Robinson

Nick Foles played a major role in ensuring the Super Bowl champions could attempt to defend their title in this year’s playoffs, and the Eagles want to compensate him accordingly. The veteran quarterback came four plays short of a $1MM bonus in Week 17, and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com notes the Eagles are trying to find a solution to pay him that bonus. The Eagles sweetened Foles’ deal this past offseason, after he’d led the franchise to its first Super Bowl title. One of these incentives would have triggered had the Eagles made the playoffs with Foles playing 33 percent of the snaps. With Carson Wentz‘s backup being required to start and finish the season, that became attainable. But Foles went down during the Eagles’ Week 17 win over the Redskins.

Here is the latest from the Eastern front:

  • Jay Gruden will remain in Washington, but one of his assistants will not. The Redskins are letting secondary coach Torrian Gray go, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. Washington appears to have two-year Denver defensive coordinator Joe Woods in mind for this job, but the Jaguars are also eyeing Woods, per Mike Klis of 9News (on Twitter). The Broncos’ hiring of Vic Fangio would appear to point to Woods being free to seek work elsewhere. Gray coached Washington’s DBs the past two years.
  • The Bills extended in-season quarterback acquisitions Derek Anderson and Matt Barkley recently, and the Buffalo backups’ salaries are now known. Barkley signed a two-year extension that will produce non-guaranteed base salaries of $1.25MM in 2019 and $1.5MM in 2020, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com notes, adding Barkley will receive a $600K signing bonus ($200K of which counts against Buffalo’s 2018 cap). Near-$1MM incentives exist in each season of this deal, too. Anderson signed a one-year extension for the veteran minimum ($1.03MM), per Rodak (on Twitter). He received a $90K signing bonus.
  • Jets tight end Chris Herndon pleaded guilty to a New Jersey DWI charge, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com tweets. This comes from a June 2018 arrest following a car accident. This will likely result in a 2019 suspension for the Jets’ top tight end.

Todd Bowles To Choose Buccaneers

January 9th, 2019 at 2:31pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Buccaneers will have a key component of Cardinals Southeast in the fold. Todd Bowles will, in fact, choose Tampa Bay over Chicago.

Bowles and the Bucs worked out offset language in his contract, Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link), adding the recently fired Jets coach will become the Bucs’ defensive coordinator.

A possible Bruce Arians-Bowles reunion had been planned for around six weeks, assuming the Jets did follow through on firing the latter and that the former received a head coaching job, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News tweets.

Arians will be taking Bowles, Byron Leftwich and Harold Goodwin with him to Tampa Bay. More former Arizona assistants may well be en route. But when the Broncos hired Vic Fangio to be their head coach, Bowles — who has known Matt Nagy for decades — the Bears entered the equation. However, Bowles will be following Arians, leaving the Bears with a DC vacancy.

One of those assistants will be former Jets DC Kacy Rodgers, per Mehta (on Twitter). Rodgers will coach the Bucs’ defensive line. Bowles tabbed Rodgers to follow him for more than a month, Mehta notes. Rodgers dealt with health concerns this year but returned to the Jets’ sideline shortly after taking a leave of absence. He does not have a history with Arians, coming to the Jets from Miami when Bowles was hired.

Bowles will replace Mike Smith as Tampa Bay’s full-time DC. He oversaw two top-10 defenses in Arizona before taking the New York HC job. After a brief period of uncertainty, the 55-year-old coach can again go light on winter-gear packing.

Kevin Stefanski To Return To Vikings

January 9th, 2019 at 2:18pm CST by Zachary Links

After the Browns chose Freddie Kitchens as their new head coach, runner-up Kevin Stefanski has decided to return to the Vikings as their offensive coordinator, sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Stefanski has been involved in meetings with Mike Zimmer throughout the interview process, so it appears that the Vikings were his fallback option all along.

The Vikings announced the decision.

As shown in PFR’s Head Coaching Search Tracker, Stefanski was not under consideration for any head coaching vacancy outside of the Browns. However, if the Vikings can take full advantage of their offensive weapons in 2019, it’s a safe bet that he’ll be in the mix for HC jobs next offseason.

Stefanski’s contract with Minnesota recently expired, so he theoretically could have made a lateral move and signed on as an OC elsewhere. But, with serious potential in Minnesota and a good working relationship with the people there, it made little sense for him to flee.

Stefanski, 36, was the youngest candidate involved in John Dorsey‘s search. Just last year, he was passed over for the Vikings’ OC job by John DeFilippo, but Stefanski impressed after his in-season promotion to the role.

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