Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Houston Texans
- Signed off Chargers’ practice squad: S A.J. Hendy
- Placed on IR: Mike Tyson
Here are Wednesday’s practice squad decisions:
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: S Dexter McCoil
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: DT Henry Mondeaux
- Cut: QB J.T. Barrett
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: S Marwin Evans
This season did not produce the uptick in Marcus Mariota production the Titans wanted, but part of the reason for that was the starting quarterback’s multiple injuries. Elbow troubles plagued Mariota for much of this season, but he is not expected to need offseason surgery, Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com tweets. A nerve issue affected Mariota (11 touchdown passes, eight interceptions, 2,528 passing yards) this season and cost him a chance to help the Titans back into the playoffs, forcing Blaine Gabbert back into action in Week 17. Mariota is attached to a $20.9MM fifth-year option in 2019.
As the 2019 hiring period ignites, here’s the latest from the South divisions a
- Dirk Koetter‘s interview for his old job as Falcons offensive coordinator will occur Saturday, Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com reports. The Falcons’ OC from 2012-14, Koetter is a free agent again after being fired by the Buccaneers. He may well be the leading candidate to succeed Steve Sarkisian running Atlanta’s offense. Matt Ryan has praised Koetter in the recent past. Mike Mularkey, Atlanta’s OC from 2008-11, and Darrell Bevell are the other known candidates.
- The Jaguars voided the $7.1MM in remaining guarantees in Leonard Fournette‘s rookie contract. He has 50 days to file a grievance, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes Fournette surely will. Florio argues the contract does not include language addressing the voiding of guarantees for on-field misconduct, and such an omission will be key for the former top-five pick keeping those guarantees in his four-year deal.
- Although the Jets are believed to be ready to make a run at Le’Veon Bell, Albert Breer of SI.com does not see that pursuit winning out. Instead, Breer said during an interview with Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd (via the Tampa Bay Times) the Buccaneers are his best guess as to who will be signing the running back’s checks in 2019. This would be interesting because of the Jets’ cap-space advantage ($106MM-plus to $17MM-plus, though the Bucs can clear a substantial amount of room without incurring dead money) and the fact Tampa Bay used a 2018 second-round pick on Ronald Jones.
- Kyle Allen was not the first player summoned to action when Cam Newton was shut down, but he ended the season as the Panthers‘ quarterback. His short stay as the Panthers’ first-stringer earned him a legitimate chance to be Newton’s backup next season, Breer notes. Allen was a UDFA but came to college as a five-star recruit. He threw two touchdown passes and no interceptions in Carolina’s season-finale win over New Orleans.
- Alex Okafor stood to miss a $400K bonus because he fell one sack short of the incentive’s five-sack threshold, but, interestingly, the Saints paid him the bonus anyway, per NOLA.com’s Luke Johnson. This could be a key component of the starting defensive end’s upcoming decision on whether or not to opt out of his contract. Okafor signed a two-year deal with a player option to stay in New Orleans and has until the final day of the 2018 league year to decide on the option.
Jim Caldwell became the second candidate to interview for the Browns’ head coaching job, doing so on Wednesday. The Browns announced this meeting took place; it follows interim HC Gregg Williams‘ interview.
Caldwell has also interviewed for the Packers’ HC job and will meet with the Jets about their job opening.
The former Colts and Lions head coach did not work in the NFL in 2018, joining John Fox and Chuck Pagano — also fired after the ’17 season — in that regard. The Lions took a step back after Caldwell’s exit, falling from back-to-back 9-7 seasons to 6-10 in Matt Patricia‘s first year.
The Browns are slated to interview interim OC Freddie Kitchens, Mike McCarthy, Brian Flores, Kevin Stefanski and Dan Campbell. They are expected to meet with Mike Munchak, with Colts coordinators Nick Sirianni and Matt Eberflus receiving interview requests.
While Caldwell, 63, has been fired twice, and served less than five years in both Indianapolis and Detroit, he has a career record of 62-50 and was the first head coach to guide the Lions to multiple playoff berths since Bobby Ross in the late 1990s.
At least one team has scheduled a meeting with Cowboys defensive backs coach Kris Richard. The Buccaneers have planned an interview with Richard, according to the NFL network (via the Tampa Bay Times).
Teams are not allowed to meet with assistants whose teams are preparing for first-round games, but the Bucs have scheduled a summit with Richard for after the Cowboys’ wild-card game.
Both the Dolphins and Jets submitted interview requests to Richard, but it’s not known if any meetings are scheduled yet. The Bucs interviewed Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy in Kansas City on Wednesday.
Richard, 39, was viewed as a possible HC candidate last year. He oversaw the 2015 Seahawks’ No. 1 scoring defense and was the Legion of Boom’s position coach the previous three seasons, which also featured Seattle housing No. 1 scoring defenses. The Seahawks fired Richard after the 2017 campaign, leading him to Dallas.
Richard took over play-calling duties from Dallas DC Rod Marinelli this season. The Cowboys’ defense improved slightly, ranking sixth in points allowed. Tampa Bay’s defense struggled again, allowing the second-most points in the league.
Sean Payton‘s longtime right-hand man, Pete Carmichael has not been a fixture on recent coaching carousels. The Packers, though, want to amend that.
Green Bay requested an interview with New Orleans’ offensive coordinator, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports (on Twitter). The meeting will take place Saturday, ESPN.com’s Mike Triplett reports (on Twitter).
Carmichael has been with the Saints since Payton’s 2006 arrival, ascending to the role of offensive coordinator in advance of New Orleans’ 2009 Super Bowl season. The 47-year-old assistant is the league’s longest-tenured OC. Payton being the architect of the Saints’ perennially explosive offenses, teams have not made Carmichael a priority in coaching searches.
The Packers have already interviewed Chuck Pagano and Jim Caldwell and are scheduled to meet with Saints tight ends coach Dan Campbell, Titans OC Matt LaFleur, Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores and Patriots OC Josh McDaniels. Interim HC Joe Philbin is also set to get a look. They are also trying to land a meeting with Northwestern HC Pat Fitzgerald.
New Orleans’ offenses have ranked in the top 10 in both scoring and total yardage in nine of Carmichael’s 10 years, the one outlier being an 11th-place points ranking in 2010. During Payton’s Bountygate suspension season, 2012, the Saints ranked second in yardage and scored the third-most points.
Adam Gase will be conducting two head coach interviews this week. After his Cardinals meeting, Gase will head to the Big Apple to discuss the Jets’ HC vacancy, Jeff Darlington of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).
The recently fired Dolphins coach will meet with the Jets on Friday. He is currently in Arizona for the Cards meeting.
After the Dolphins cut the cord with Gase on Monday, word quickly surfaced other teams were interested in sitting down to discuss the three-year Miami head coach’s qualifications for a quick rebound. While the Broncos and Browns passed on that prospect, the Cardinals and Jets will not. And the 40-year-old coach is in the thick of another coaching carousel.
Gase’s career took off when he enhanced the Peyton Manning-era Broncos offense, leading the 2013 team to an NFL scoring record. An injury-plagued Manning also threw 39 touchdown passes a year later, but the Broncos pivoted toward Gary Kubiak, routing Gase to Chicago. He became the Dolphins’ HC in 2016, but despite rumors he would be safe and get a fourth season leading the Dolphins, Stephen Ross kept front office fixtures Mike Tannenbaum and Chris Grier, with some job-title reorganization, and axed Gase.
The Jets are also set to interview Mike McCarthy, Eric Bieniemy and Kliff Kingsbury. New York requested summits with Kris Richard, Todd Monken and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, the latter of whom turning down the Jets. But a fourth confirmed interview appears to be in the works.
The Falcons’ offensive coordinator search now brings the opportunity for two reunions. After the team scheduled an interview with former OC Dirk Koetter, it is now interested in Koetter’s predecessor’s 2019 fit.
Mike Mularkey interviewed for the Falcons’ OC position, Alex Marvez of Sirius XM Radio reports (on Twitter). The former head coach was Matt Ryan‘s first NFL offensive coordinator, holding Atlanta’s play-calling job from 2008-11. Teams have been eyeing the 57-year-old coach for OC jobs or position-coaching gigs, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter), who adds the Falcons meeting occurred Wednesday.
While Koetter presided over one of the Falcons’ playoff-qualifying offenses, Mularkey was there for three, using it as a springboard to land the Jaguars’ HC job in 2012. Though, Mularkey has now been given three shots at being a head coach — in Buffalo, Jacksonville and Tennessee.
The Titans took a step back on offense under Mularkey in 2017, but he coached three top-10 Falcon attacks in his four years in Georgia. Those teams did not win a playoff game, however, the 2010 team being a one-and-done with a No. 1 seed.
Koetter, Mularkey and former Seahawks OC Darrell Bevell are in the mix for this job, though Koetter may be the favorite.
On Tuesday, we received conflicting word on whether Antonio Brown has requested a trade from the Steelers. For what it’s worth, head coach Mike Tomlin says that Brown has not requested a trade. 
Of course, if Brown did request a trade, it wouldn’t behoove the Steelers to confirm that’s the case. What is clear, however, is that Tomlin is angry with his star receiver. Tomlin explained that Brown was benched on Sunday against the Bengals after failing to report to the team on Saturday. When asked if he thought Brown quit on the Steelers, Tomlin said, “You can call it what you want to call it,” (via ESPN.com).
“The bottom line is we were playing a significant game and he didn’t do a good enough job of communicating or being available in the hours leading up to that performance,” Tomlin said. “Obviously, there are some things within that you can infer.”
Brown signed a four-year, $68MM extension with the Steelers in 2017 and has been playing at a Hall of Fame level for several years. This year, JuJu Smith-Schuster took a giant leap forward and the two players formed a top-tier tandem. With three seasons to go on Brown’s deal, the Steelers are probably not inclined to trade him, and the wide receiver could very well cool off in the coming weeks.
Even Tomlin, who is clearly annoyed, wants to get things worked out.
“There’s disappointment, there’s no denying that,” said Tomlin about his history with Brown. “On a personal level, man, I’ve just learned over the course of time, forget my personal feelings. Or the challenges that come with the position. I don’t spend a lot of time focused on that. I better not.”
Brown, 31 in July, had 104 catches for 1,297 yards plus a career-high 15 touchdowns. Those numbers put him in the Pro Bowl, but they’re actually a step back from his finest work, which includes 1,500+ yards in 2017 and 1,800+ yards in 2015. Brown was an All-Pro every year from 2014-2017, but was unable to make the cut this year.
Could Hue Jackson return to the head coaching ranks? The Bengals are at least interested in hearing him out and could interview him as early as Wednesday, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). 
The Bengals have a long history with Jackson and quickly scooped him up after he was fired by the Browns in 2018. Jackson has the support of longtime former head coach Marvin Lewis, which likely helped him secure a head coaching interview with the Bengals.
The Bengals have already interviewed in-house candidates Darrin Simmons and Bill Lazor for the gig, so they’re doing their homework internally before casting a wide net elsewhere. Old friend Vance Joseph will have a two-day chat with the Bengals this week and a meeting with Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is on tap for Friday. Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Rams assistant Zac Taylor are also among the names in the mix.