Today’s reserve/futures deals:
Arizona Cardinals
New Orleans Saints
Tennessee Titans
A handful of minor moves to pass along:
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
After a tumultuous year and change operating as both the Texans’ head coach and GM, Bill O’Brien will return to the college ranks — for the highest-profile team.
Alabama hired O’Brien as its offensive coordinator Thursday. O’Brien is back at the Division I-FBS level for the first time since 2013, when he was Penn State’s initial post-Joe Paterno head coach. In between his Patriots and Texans stays, O’Brien led the Nittany Lions for two seasons.
Nick Saban has been big on hiring NFL coaches to run his offense in recent years. Bills OC Brian Daboll rebounded while working as the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator in 2017, and short-tenured Falcons OC Steve Sarkisian served in that capacity for the past two seasons. Sarkisian recently became the Texas Longhorns’ head coach.
“Bill is one of the brightest offensive minds in football, an outstanding teacher and excellent recruiter,” Saban said. “He will strengthen our coaching staff and give our players the best possible chance to be successful.”
While O’Brien took considerable heat for his moves while in the Texans’ GM chair, he did lead the team to four playoff berths in six full seasons. O’Brien piloted Houston to the postseason with Brian Hoyer and Brock Osweiler as his primary quarterbacks in 2015 and ’16, though the Texans went just 9-7 in each season, and had the 2018 and ’19 Deshaun Watson-driven squads in the postseason as well. Houston won two playoff games under O’Brien, the most recent coming in 2019, but was fired early this past season.
The Colts are moving swiftly to fill Nick Sirianni‘s position. Frank Reich intends to promote quarterbacks coach Marcus Brady to offensive coordinator, Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com tweets.
Sirianni left after three seasons in this role to become Eagles head coach. Brady, 41, has been with the Colts throughout Reich’s three-year tenure as well. This marks the second promotion for Brady since he arrived in Indianapolis. Reich bumped him up from assistant quarterbacks coach in 2019.
While this will be Brady’s first time as an NFL OC, he served in this capacity for the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts from 2012-17. Reich works as Indianapolis’ play-caller, but he and Brady will soon be in charge of working with a new starting quarterback. Philip Rivers retired earlier this week, and Jacoby Brissett will be a free agent in March.
During his time as Colts QBs coach, Brady has worked with three starting QBs — Rivers, Brissett and Andrew Luck. The Colts ventured back to the playoffs, with Rivers completing a bounce-back campaign, and surprised most of the football-following world in 2018 when Luck returned and spearheaded an Indy return to the postseason. The Jaguars were also interested in Brady, requesting an interview, but they are set to hire Darrell Bevell for that post.
Previously rumored Falcons plans came to fruition Thursday. Arthur Smith will bring Dave Ragone aboard as his offensive coordinator, and the first-year Falcons coach has a big role planned for the recently retired Dean Pees.
The former Titans defensive coordinator will again come out of retirement, committing to become the Falcons’ DC. The Falcons are also hiring Marquice Williams as their special teams coordinator.
While Pees and Smith served as Titans coordinators together in 2019, this will be Ragone’s first run as OC. Working as Bears QBs coach for the past five years, this will represent a move up for the ex-quarterback — the first known target for this post.
Ragone, 41, will not, however, have an immediate path to a play-calling role. Smith’s play-calling chops helped him draw interest from all seven head coach-seeking teams this year, and he confirmed he will call plays in Atlanta.
For Pees, this marks unretirement No. 2. Mentioned early as a likely to join Atlanta’s staff, Pees will skip any advisory or consulting roles and jump back into the play-calling fire.
Pees left his post as Ravens DC after the 2017 season but re-emerged as the Titans’ defensive boss ahead of the ’18 campaign. Pees, 71, stuck to retirement for a season this time around — which coincided with a Titans defensive regression — but will return to lead a fourth team’s defense. Pees served as Patriots defensive coordinator from 2006-09 and led the Ravens’ defense for six seasons beginning with their Super Bowl-winning 2012 slate. Of Pees’ 12 defenses, only one has ranked outside the top 12 in points allowed.
Williams has worked as assistant special teams coach with the Chargers and Lions, working in that capacity with Detroit for the past two seasons.
Darrell Bevell may soon land on his feet. The veteran offensive coordinator and recent interim Lions head coach has spent multiple days in Jacksonville this week, according to the Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett, who tweets the Jaguars are close to hiring him as OC.
The partnership is expected to take place. Urban Meyer intends to hire Bevell, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo of NFL.com report (on Twitter). With Meyer not planning to call plays in Jacksonville, Bevell will be thrust into a crucial role with the rebuilding team — which is expected to draft Trevor Lawrence in April.
The former Seahawks and Vikings OC spent the past two years in Detroit and interviewed for the Lions HC position that went to Dan Campbell. Bevell, 51, was in the mix for the job and has been an NFL offensive coordinator in all but one season since 2006.
His most notable role came in Seattle, when Bevell served as the play-caller for the Russell Wilson– and Marshawn Lynch-centered offenses that helped the Seahawks rise to back-to-back Super Bowls. While the ending to the second of those Super Bowls brought tremendous scrutiny, Bevell remained with the Seahawks through the 2017 season.
Under Bevell in 2019, Matthew Stafford ranked sixth in QBR at the midseason point — prior to going down with a season-ending injury. The Lions ranked 20th in points and yards this season and went 1-4 under Bevell as interim HC. Detroit’s offense, however, encountered key injuries — most notably to Stafford and Kenny Golladay, who missed most of this season — in each of Bevell’s two years in charge. He is set for an interesting opportunity in Jacksonville, being tasked with developing Lawrence.
Longtime Packers general manager Ted Thompson died Wednesday at his home in Texas. He was 68.
Thompson stepped down from his post as Green Bay’s GM after the 2017 season, moving to a different role with the franchise. In 2019, it was revealed Thompson was battling a autonomic disorder. This development had led the former Packers front office leader away from his GM job, with former Thompson lieutenant Brian Gutekunst rising to succeed him.
After 10 seasons as an Oilers linebacker, Thompson moved into the front office. He began as a Ron Wolf staffer, working his way up to director of player personnel under the Hall of Fame Green Bay GM in the late 1990s, and joined Mike Holmgren in Seattle in 2000 as the team’s VP of football ops. Cornerstones for the Seahawks’ 2005 Super Bowl team — Shaun Alexander, Steve Hutchinson and others — arrived during Thompson’s Seattle stay. The Packers hired him as GM in 2005.
Thompson’s first Packers draft choice became one of the modern NFL’s defining moves. The Packers chose Aaron Rodgers in the 2005 first round and gave the future Hall of Famer the reins after three more Brett Favre seasons. Thompson proceeded to build a championship team around Rodgers. The Packers won Super Bowl XLV in the quarterback’s third season as a starter and went 15-1 in 2011. Their eight straight playoff appearances under Thompson (from 2009-16) is tied for fourth in NFL history. Rodgers has won two MVP awards and is on track to win a third this season.
While Thompson was not big on free agency, with a few notable exceptions — a short list headlined by 2006 signing Charles Woodson — he identified numerous Pro Bowlers in Green Bay and helped stock the current Packers No. 1-seeded team. David Bakhtiari and Davante Adams, who each earned first-team All-Pro acclaim this season, arrived outside of Round 1 under Thomson. Executives who spent time working in Green Bay under Thompson also went on to become GMs. Gutekunst, John Dorsey, John Schneider and former Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie landed top front office jobs after spending part of their Green Bay tenures working with Thompson.
After hiring Aaron Glenn as defensive coordinator, the Lions are moving fast on their offensive coordinator job. Two more candidates have emerged for Detroit’s play-calling post.
Former Chargers HC Anthony Lynn and current Bills QBs coach Ken Dorsey are on Detroit’s radar for this position, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press notes. New Lions HC Dan Campbell said he has interviewed four OC candidates already, per Birkett (on Twitter). Ravens QBs coach James Urban and Steelers wide receivers instructor Ike Hilliard are in the mix for the gig.
This makes two OC positions to which Lynn has been connected. He has also engaged in discussions with Pete Carroll regarding Seattle’s play-calling role. Lynn, 52, spent the past four seasons as the Chargers’ head coach. The Bolts fired him shortly after the season ended, moving to Brandon Staley.
Lynn took the Chargers to the playoffs in 2018, with a 12-4 record, and oversaw Justin Herbert‘s rapid development this past season. However, Lynn was not the Bolts’ primary play-caller. He spent most of the 2016 season calling plays in Buffalo, after an early-season promotion to offensive coordinator.
A former decorated college quarterback, Dorsey has been an NFL QBs coach since the 2013 season. He is one of many players and staffers to migrate from Charlotte to Buffalo, working as Panthers QBs coach for five seasons before signing on with the Bills to work in that same role in 2019.
The centerpiece of Dorsey’s credentials for a coordinator move will obviously be Josh Allen‘s rise from inaccurate prospect to MVP candidate over the past year. However, Dorsey was also with Carolina during the franchise’s most recent Super Bowl season — when Cam Newton soared to MVP honors in 2015. Dorsey, 39, interviewed for the Bills’ OC position in 2017 but has worked under current Buffalo play-caller Brian Daboll over the past two seasons.
Veteran NFL wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard will have an opportunity to interview for a coordinator role. The Lions are bringing him in for an OC interview, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer (on Twitter).
Hilliard just wrapped up his first season as the Steelers’ wide receivers coach. This will be the former NFL wideout’s first known interview for a coordinator position. Hilliard, 44, joins Ravens QBs coach James Urban as candidates for Detroit’s OC role.
The former Giants first-round wideout played 12 seasons, from 1997-2008 with the Giants and Buccaneers, and has coached receivers since 2011. His most notable role came as Washington’s wideouts coach from 2014-19. Under Hilliard, the Steelers unearthed yet another receiving prospect in Chase Claypool this season. Terry McLaurin also played under Hilliard as a rookie.
With the Lions hiring Dan Campbell as head coach, their next offensive coordinator will be the team’s play-caller. That obviously raises the stakes for the Lions’ interview process. It can be expected more names will join Urban and Hilliard in the franchise’s search.
Justin Britt has not played during the 2020 season, with his April Seahawks release sending him to what has become a lengthy free agency stay. But the Chiefs are investigating the former Seahawks offensive line starter.
The Chiefs brought Britt in for a visit Thursday, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Britt underwent knee surgery in 2019 and has not played since Week 8 of that season. But the 29-year-old blocker brings five-plus seasons’ worth of starting experience and, if healthy, profiles as an interesting depth option or starting candidate for a team.
Britt played his high school and college ball in Missouri, becoming a second-round pick out of Mizzou in 2014, and has spent an entire season at each of the three primary O-line positions as a pro. The Seahawks used Britt as a tackle, guard and center. The center role became Britt’s long-term NFL spot, with the Seahawks using him as their starting snapper from 2016-19. Britt played right tackle as a rookie, starting there in Super Bowl XLIX, and left guard in Year 2. He was a starter in every game he played with Seattle.
The Chiefs have endured some setbacks up front this season, losing veteran guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif to a COVID-19 opt-out and seeing replacement Kelechi Osemele suffer a season-ending injury early in the season. Ironman right tackle Mitchell Schwartz also went down early. Schwartz remains on Kansas City’s IR.