February 11th, 2019 at 11:09am CST by Zachary Links
One of the league’s most respected special teams coaches is headed to New Orleans. The Saints have hired former Dolphins ST coordinator Darren Rizzi, according to Aditi Kinkhabwala and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). New Orleans has officially announced Rizzi’s hiring.
This week, the Saints chose to move on from their previous special teams staff, which was headed by veteran guru Mike Westhoff. Rizzi will now step in after courting interest from multiple clubs around the league, including the the Bills, Jets, Lions, Packers, and Vikings.
In addition to serving as the Dolphins’ ST coordinator, Rizzi also carried the title of Assistant Head Coach. After the firing of Adam Gase, the Dolphins interviewed Rizzi for the job. When Rizzi didn’t get the gig, he resolved to move on.
The Saints’ dismissal of Westhoff was surprising to many, including Westhoff himself. In 2017, Westhoff’s first year with the team, the Saints’ ST unit improved from 25th in the league to 14th, per Rick Gosselin’s annual rankings. In 2018, they ranked second overall.
February 11th, 2019 at 9:06am CST by Dallas Robinson
The Falcons have hired former Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton as a senior assistant, the club announced today.
Atlanta fired DC Marquand Manuel earlier this offseason but doesn’t plan on hiring a new coordinator to replace him. Instead, head coach Dan Quinnwill call defensive plays going forward. Sutton, who was relieved of his Kansas City duties following the Chiefs’ AFC Championship Game loss, will handle “in-game strategy, clock management, time-out usage and replay review,” per the Falcons’ press release.
Indeed, Sutton appears to be taking over game day responsibilities that were originally intended for Kyle Flood, Atlanta’s former assistant offensive line coach. Flood was supposed to be tasked with assisting Quinn with in-game management, but he’s since departed for Alabama’s offensive line coach job. Sutton, 68, is a former collegiate head coach at Army and has held multiple DC jobs in the NFL, so he’ll offer another set of eyes and ears for Quinn.
If Quinn at any point during the 2019 season decides to give up-play calling, Sutton would become a logical candidate to take over those obligations. The only other coach on the Falcons’ staff with defensive play-calling experience is Raheem Morris, and he’s been coaching on the offensive side of the ball since 2016.
One of the NFL’s top centers over the past four years, Matt Paradis is a month away from free agency. The four-season Broncos starter continues to rehab a broken fibula sustained in November, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets Paradis is ahead of schedule. Prior to going down midway through this season, Paradis had not missed a snap since debuting in the Denver starting lineup at the 2015 season’s outset. He is probably the Broncos’ top in-house priority, with the Bradley Roby–Shaquil Barrett–Shane Raydefensive troika likely set to depart. But Paradis is believed to want to test the market rather than re-signing to stay in Denver before hearing other teams’ pitches. If the 29-year-old snapper does hit free agency, there is a reasonable chance he will become the NFL’s highest-paid center. Ryan Jensen, a free agent last year who struggled in 2018, holds that distinction presently with a $10.5MM-per-year deal.
Here is the latest from Denver:
Case Keenum‘s first Broncos season did not do much to dispatch the notion his Vikings emergence was a fluke. He finished 31st in Total QBR, 29th in DYAR and 28th in quarterback DVOA. Keenum led the NFL in DVOA in 2017. But the $10MM dead-money hit the Broncos would take if they jettisoned their 2018 starter, coupled with the team’s hope Keenum can improve under new OC Rich Scangarello, points to the 30-year-old passer having a decent chance at sticking around for 2019, Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic notes (subscription required). Keenum is on the Broncos’ books at $21MM for next season.
John Elway going after another veteran, thus further delaying a long-term plan the Broncos whiffed on with Paxton Lynch, would not be out of character given the GM’s stance on rebuilding. If the Eagles do not follow through on franchise-taggingNick Foles, whom the Broncos bypassed in the 2012 second round to select Brock Osweiler, Jhabvala can envision Elway considering the Super Bowl LII MVP to replace Keenum. The Broncos would obviously run the risk of gambling on one system-dependent quarterback to potentially doing the same thing a year later, but if they do not have to surrender a third-round pick to the Eagles, it would make more sense than giving up assets and Keenum dead money for Foles. The Jaguars’ situation and John DeFilippo hire make them a more logical Foles destination, but the Broncos hold far more cap space.
Denver passed on double-dipping in quarterback investments last year. After signing Keenum, they selected Bradley Chubb over Josh Allen and Josh Rosen. But Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com’s bold prediction is the Broncos both signing a UFA passer and using a high pick to bring in a rookie. This scenario would lead to an astounding number of Broncos quarterback solutions conjured up post-Peyton Manning.
The Broncos added a pair of entry-level coaches recently, appointing Justin Rascati and Mike Hiestand to their staff as offensive and defensive quality control coaches, respectively, Jhabvala tweets.
With Eli Manning going into a contract year, and the 15-year veteran’s status not completely certain for 2019, the Giants will be connected to quarterbacks this offseason.
While the Giants could take their chances with Manning for one more season with an eye on an as-of-now-promising 2020 group of passer prospects, the team may not be willing to wait another year. The Giants are “looking hard” at this year’s crop of quarterbacks, a source informed Ralph Vacchiano of SNY, adding it would be a surprise at this point if they did not draft a signal-caller in the first two rounds.
The Giants, whose top two picks sit at Nos. 6 and 37, obviously made one of the more controversial decisions in recent draft history by taking all-world running back talent Saquon Barkley over Sam Darnold. While Barkley won offensive rookie of the year honors, the Jets have a potential long-term passer while the Giants remain without a Manning heir apparent.
Manning is still expected to return as Big Blue’s starter next season, but Vacchiano adds the franchise appears more serious about finding his successor this year than it was in 2018. The Giants entered their ’18 war room without a clear consensus on the draft’s top passer and were not blown away by any of them.
No known Manning dialogue has commenced between the Giants and Manning’s agent, Tom Condon, yet. The Giants, however, are not expected to wade into the free agency waters for a quick-fix solution, Vacchiano adds. Their 2019 starter options would appear to be Manning, who just turned 38, or a first- or second-round draft choice. Of course, the historically durable Manning could groom a younger passer chosen this year.
Sam Darnold spoke with Adam Gase before the Jets ended up hiring him. The Jets‘ second-year quarterback said during an interview with SI.com he “interviewed” Gase prior to the team naming him as Todd Bowles‘ successor. Darnold and Gase share an agent, CAA’s Jimmy Sexton. Rich Cimini of ESPN.com wonders how much of a factor that was in the Jets going with Gase, positing that this connection should not be dismissed in tracing how the Jets arrived on Gase. CAA client Peyton Manning also called Jets CEO Christopher Johnson to endorse Gase, Cimini notes. Gase was Manning’s OC for two years in Denver. A previous report indicated Gase’s interview distinguished him from the other candidates. Gase and Darnold will now go about attempting to revive the Jets.
On the first of many Sundays without NFL games, here is the latest from the AFC East:
Although Isaiah Crowell set the Jets’ single-game rushing record with a 219-yard performance against the Broncos in October, Cimini does not expect the team to keep the veteran running back around for 2019. Crowell tied his career-high yards-per-carry figure with 4.8 but only amassed 685 rushing yards last season. The Jets can save $3MM by releasing Crowell before March 15, when $2MM of his $4MM 2019 base salary becomes guaranteed. The Jets have been the team most linked to Le’Veon Bell, and the team now has $99MM-plus in cap space.
Patrick Chung recently underwent surgery to repair a broken forearm, but the Patriots safety will go back under the knife soon. Chung will undergo an additional procedure to address a shoulder issue that bothered him during the season, Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports (subscription required). It’s the shoulder issue, and not the forearm break, that is expected to sideline Chung for a while. The 31-year-old defender is not expected to participate in Patriots OTAs or minicamp.
The Patriots are going to have to make moves to address their wide receiver situation. Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett and Cordarrelle Patterson are UFAs-to-be, and Josh Gordon‘s return should not be considered likely at this point. Hogan was a key contributor for the Patriots in 2016 and ’17 but could not re-establish himself as a reliable option down the stretch this season. Hogan finished the campaign with a six-target, zero-catch Super Bowl after compiling just 58 receiving yards in the AFC playoffs, and Howe expects the Pats to allow him to depart in free agency.
While there could be significant roster turnover in New England, with several coaches already leaving as well, Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston notes this offseason is expected to feature far less drama than last year’s did. Last year featured more fallout from the Jimmy Garoppolo trade, a lengthy Tom Brady absence and Rob Gronkowski considering retirement. After the Pats’ latest Super Bowl title, their situation looks more stable, even if Gronk is once again pondering leaving the game.
The Bills made multiple moves in order to trade up and land Josh Allen in the 2018 first round, but Brandon Beane may be looking to move back this year. The third-year Bills GM said recently the team does not need to pick in the top 10, and Mike Rodak of ESPN.com expects Buffalo to engage in trade-down discussions from its No. 9 overall slot.
February 10th, 2019 at 4:39pm CST by Dallas Robinson
Gronk to make a retirement decision soon. Fresh off winning Super Bowl LIII, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski won’t make everyone wait on his NFL fate. The four-time All-Pro says he’ll make a decision on his possible retirement within the next “week or two.” Gronkowski, of course, reportedly mulled retirement at various points during the 2018 offseason, and reportedly threatened to hang up his cleats after nearly being traded to the Lions last year. He didn’t pass the eye test this past year, appearing slow while posting his worst full-season production since his rookie campaign. Gronk is scheduled to earn a $10MM base salary in 2019, the final year of his contract.
Official hires made in Miami…The Dolphins formally announced their hiring of former Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores as head coach, bringing to South Beach the man who helped craft New England’s Super Bowl game plan. He’s bringing in ex-Patriots coach Chad O’Shea as offensive coordinator, while former Packers linebackers coach Patrick Graham is his DC. Longtime NFL coach Jim Caldwell will come aboard as assistant head coach/QBs coach, while former Packers DC Dom Capers is reportedly in contention to join the staff, as well.
…and in Cincinnati.Zac Taylor is officially the Bengals’ new head coach after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant for the Rams. While Taylor has made some notable hires on the offensive side of the ball, including former Raiders quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan as offensive coordinator, he’s had trouble landing a defensive play-caller. Experienced options such as Capers, Jack Del Rio, and Dennis Allen have rebuffed overtures, and the only coach with an interview lined up to this point is Rams cornerbacks coachAubrey Pleasant. Cincinnati is casting a wide net, however, and is seeking to arrange meetings with several collegiate DCs.
Falcons began making cuts. Atlanta has historically been gracious to its cut candidates, releasing veteran players well in advance of the free agent period in order to give them the best opportunity to land elsewhere. This year has been no different, as Atlanta parted ways with kickerMatt Bryant, cornerbackRobert Alford, and edge defenderBrooks Reed during the first week of February. Alford and Reed have already landed new deals (both withthe Cardinals), while Bryant should find a new home in short order.
February 10th, 2019 at 3:46pm CST by Dallas Robinson
The Bengalsrequested permission to interview Rams cornerbacks coach Aubrey Pleasant for defensive coordinator last week, and Cincinnati has now been granted that opportunity, according to Vincent Bosnignore of the Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter link). Pleasant, regarded as a rising star in the coaching ranks, worked for the Browns and Redskins before joining Los Angeles in 2017. The Bengals’ DC job is the only vacant coordinator position remaining in the NFL, and a number of candidates (Dom Capers, Jack Del Rio, Dennis Allen) have bowed out of the running to become a top aide to head coach Zac Taylor. Other coaches who have been linked to the job include Saints linebackers coach Mike Nolan, former Falcons defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel, Texas A&M DC Mike Elko, Florida DC Todd Grantham, and Saints defensive backs coach Aaron Glenn.
Here’s more from the 2019 coaching carousel:
The Bears have continued to fill out their staff under new defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano, announcing that defensive quality control coach Sean Desai has been promoted to safeties coach, while fellow defensive QC coach Bill Shuey was promoted to pass analyst/assistant linebackers coach. Additionally, DeShea Townsend, who was originally hired as Chicago’s defensive backs coach in January, has had his title changed to secondary coach. The Bears’ defense ranked first in scoring, third in yardage, and posted the best defensive DVOA since the 2015 Broncos, but they’ll have to fight off regression and adjust to new coaches in order to repeat as NFC North champions.
Former Panthers pass-rusher Everette Brown has re-joined the club as assistant linebackers coach, tweets Field Yates of ESPN.com. Carolina selected Brown with the 43rd pick of the 2009 draft, but he collected only six sacks over two seasons before being released. Brown, now 31 years old, subsequently spent time with the Chargers, Lions, Eagles, Cowboys, Redskins, and Browns, but played in only 16 more games after leaving the Panthers. He served as a coaching intern for Carolina last summer.
In case you missed it, expected Chiefs linebackers coach Matt House will instead stay on as the University of Kentucky’s defensive coordinator. The Wildcats were previously willing to allow House to leave a buyout, but apparently changed their minds as the hiring process unfolded.
February 10th, 2019 at 1:59pm CST by Dallas Robinson
The original content and analysis produced by the PFR staff during the past week:
Antonio Browndemanded a trade from the Steelers following the end of the regular season, and while no known deep discussions have yet occurred with other clubs, it’s entirely possible that Brown won’t be on the Pittsburgh roster in 2019. Steelers ownership has, at various times, seemed to have indicated Brown’s time with the club is up while, at other times, leaving open the possibility that Brown could return next year. Pittsburgh would take on roughly $21MM in dead money if it trades Brown before June 1. With all that said, Zach Links asked PFR readers if Brown will be with the Steelers in 2019, and nearly two-thirds of respondents said “no.”
The Patriots nearly tradedRob Gronkowski to the Lions last offseason, leading the veteran tight end to threaten retirement. Reports indicated Gronk could hang up his cleats even before that near-deal to Detroit was disclosed, and there’s no reason to think he won’t consider retirement this offseason coming off a Super Bowl victory. PFR readers are nearly split in their predictions on Gronkowski’s future, with 52% of respondents in Sam Robinson’s poll saying they think Gronk will return.
There is a definite post-Super Bowl lull in the NFL world right now, and while we will soon be talking about free agent rumors and the April draft in earnest, today is not that day. But there is still professional football to watch if you’re interested, and there are a few NFL items of note to discuss, so let’s get to them:
Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic examines how the Rams might address some of their biggest needs this offseason. The club is projected to have about $41MM in salary cap space, and Bonsignore suggests that LA must find a dominant edge rusher to take some pressure off of Aaron Donald. Luckily, this year’s draft features quite a bit of pass rushing talent if the Rams choose to steer clear of the pricey free agent market for edge defenders.
Todd Gurley will obviously be back with the Rams, but given his history of knee problems, and the impact that his most recent knee injury had on the team’s playoff run, Bonsignore says LA will think long and hard about adding another back to share the load (we learned last week that the club is interested in bringing back C.J. Anderson). He also suggests that the Rams could bring back Ndamukong Suh on a two-year deal, and that Mark Barron could be a cap casualty.
The Bengals will hire Jemal Singleton as their running backs coach, per Jeremy Rauch of Fox 19 (via Twitter). Singleton previously served in the same capacity with the Colts from 2016-17 and with the Raiders in 2018.
Jenna Laine of ESPN.com examines a few free agents that the Buccaneers might consider, a list that includes safety Tyrann Mathieu — who of course has a history with new head coach Bruce Arians — and kicker Matt Bryant.
After the recent exodus of coaching talent, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com names a few Patriots coaching assistants who could be elevated to position-coach roles. Cole Popovich, Mike Pellegrino, DeMarcus Covington, and Brian Belichick could all be promoted in short order.
Pro Football Focus released its list of the top 10 players eligible for free agency in March and projected the contracts those players might land. Five of the top six players are edge rushers, including Jadeveon Clowney, the top player on the list, whom PFF expects to land a six-year, $135MM deal with $85MM in guarantees. Clowney, of course, is expected to be hit with the franchise tag, so if he gets a contract of that size this year, it will likely come from the Texans.
Back in December, a slight majority of our readership voted that the newly-formed Alliance of American Football (AAF) would be the most successful of the new spring football leagues. Its primary competitor, the XFL, is not scheduled to kick off until 2020, so by getting underway last night, the AAF got a sizable head start.
And the early returns were promising. Although neither of the league’s first two games were particularly competitive — the Orlando Apollos defeated the Atlanta Legends 40-6 and the San Antonio Commanders defeated the San Diego Fleet 15-6 — most observers agree that the contests were largely entertaining and that the quality of play was good enough to be watchable.
That alone is a win for the fledgling league, as most other challengers to the mighty NFL proved pretty quickly that they would not be able to sustain success. But the AAF, which was founded by Charlie Ebersol and long-time NFL executive Bill Polian, and whose leadership board features well-respected former NFL stars, never seemed like a fly-by-night operation. Several head coaches of the league’s eight teams are also quite recognizable to even casual fans — Mike Singletary and Steve Spurrier, for example — and as Matt Miller of Bleacher Report tweets, almost all of the AAF’s players were good enough to be considered by NFL clubs at some point or another, even if they never suited up at the game’s highest level. And the fact that many such players see the AAF as a springboard to the NFL means that the games should be intensely-contested affairs.
In that vein, last night’s opening matchups featured a few hard (but clean) hits that were not flagged, although similar plays in the NFL generate plenty of penalties these days. That will certainly make purists happy, and even though observers like Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk likened the overall quality of play to the second half of a preseason NFL game, that might be good enough for fans who just enjoy watching competitive football at a reasonably high level.
The very nature of the league means that there will be plenty of intriguing storylines to follow, and Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com details a few of the early ones. And the fact that every AAF player is on a non-guaranteed three-year contract worth $250K lends credence to the league’s belief that it represents football in its purest form.
Still, a common refrain in recent years is that there is simply too much football and that interest in the game has waned because the NFL has created a year-round news cycle and has otherwise oversaturated its fans. But if last night’s ratings are any indication, there are plenty of people willing to give the AAF a chance. The first game of the AAF on CBS beat the NBA on ABC in overnight ratings, and the generally positive reviews suggest that those who missed last night’s contests will want to see what they missed. Two more games will be televised today, one on the CBS Sports Network at 4pm ET and one on the NFL Network at 8pm ET, and the CBS Sports Network will televise one AAF game each week going forward (the season is 10 weeks long).
So, what do you think? Will you give the AAF a shot, or are you planning to taking a break from football games for a little while? Let us know in the poll and in the comments section.
