Andrew Breiner - Pro Football Rumors

Jaguars Retain Bob Sutton, Make Several Additions To Coaching Staff

February 17th, 2022 at 4:36pm CST by Sam Robinson

Bob Sutton caught on with the Jaguars during Urban Meyer‘s nine-month run as head coach, but the former defensive coordinator also has a history with Doug Pederson. The Jags will keep Sutton on Pederson’s first staff.

The former Chiefs and Jets DC will stay on as a senior defensive assistant with the Jaguars, helping out Mike Caldwell, who will be a first-time coordinator. The Jags hired Caldwell from the Buccaneers last week. Sutton, 71, worked with Pederson in Kansas City from 2013-15; the two were Andy Reid‘s coordinators during that span.

Additionally, the Jags announced several new hires. One of them, offensive line coach Phil Rauscher, was believed to have another job lined up. Rather than join the Bills as their O-line coach, Rauscher signed up to hold that same position with the Jags. Rauscher, 36, coached the Vikings’ O-line last season — his first overseeing a position group — and was given permission to explore other jobs after Minnesota changed regimes. The Jags are keeping Todd Washington on staff as assistant O-line coach.

Jacksonville is hiring Heath Farwell as its special teams coordinator. A 10-year NFL vet, Farwell moved into coaching immediately after retiring. He spent the past three years as Buffalo’s ST coordinator; he left that job to join Pederson’s staff. The Jags are bringing in Luke Thompson to be their assistant ST coach. Thompson is a Pederson Philadelphia transplant, having worked as the Eagles’ assistant ST coach during Pederson’s final two seasons in Philly.

Andrew Breiner will work under Mike McCoy as assistant quarterbacks coach; Breiner was with the Eagles during Pederson’s tenure. Chris Jackson is on board as Jacksonville’s wide receivers coach. He comes over from Chicago, having worked with ex-Pederson coworker Matt Nagy for the past four seasons. Caldwell is bringing Cody Grimm with him from Tampa; Grimm will be Jacksonville’s safeties coach. The Jags are also retaining Tony Gilbert, who will be their inside linebackers coach next season. Gilbert was on Doug Marrone‘s final staff and Meyer’s 2021 group.

AFC Coaching Notes: Broncos, Jaguars, Chiefs

February 5th, 2022 at 9:47am CST by Ben Levine

As Nathaniel Hackett continues to build his staff with the Broncos, the new head coach interviewed many of the team’s holdover position coaches this week, reports Mike Klis of 9News in Denver (via Twitter). The majority of these coaches are “pretty much on hold,” but a handful of coaches are starting to get clarity on their job security.

As Klis notes, defensive backs coach Christian Parker is one of the coaches who will return next season. The 30-year-old has had a rapid rise through the coaching ranks. Prior to getting hired as the Broncos DBs coach in 2021, he spent time as the defensive quality control coach with the Packers. Of course, Hackett was on that Green Bay staff, so there’s already familiarity between the two.

Meanwhile, long-time coach Reggie Herring won’t be retained (per Klis on Twitter). The linebackers coach had been with the organization since their Super Bowl-winning 2015 campaign. He previously spent time as the linebackers coach with the Bears, Texans (two stints), and Cowboys.

More coaching notes out of the AFC:

The Jaguars won’t be retaining special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen, reports Aaron Wilson (via Twitter). The former player was added to Urban Meyer’s staff last offseason. The 43-year-old previously spent time with the Seahawks, serving as assistant ST coach, assistant defensive backs coach, and secondary coach.
SiriusXM’s Adam Caplan tweets that Andrew Breiner could be a candidate for Doug Pederson’s new Jaguars staff, potentially as quarterbacks coach. Breiner was last in the NFL in 2020 when he was the passing game analyst for the Eagles, and he spent the 2021 campaign in the college ranks as the offensive coordinator at FIU.
The Chiefs have hired Joe Cullen as their new defensive line coach, with former DL coach Brendan Daly moving to linebackers coach (per a team announcement on Twitter). Cullen spent last season as the Jaguars defensive coordinator, and he had talks with the Ravens and Colts about their DC vacancies. He was a DL coach for more than a decade during stints with the Lions, Jaguars, Browns, Buccaneers, and Ravens. Daley had spent the past three seasons as the Chiefs DL coach.
The Bills are expected to hire Vikings offensive line coach Phil Rauscher in the same role, reports ESPN’s Courtney Cronin (via Twitter). Rauscher was one of several Vikings coaches who were given permission to seek other coaching opportunities. The 36-year-old had previous NFL coaching gigs with the Broncos and Washington.
Former Texans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly is in talks to join the Titans staff, reports ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler (via Twitter). Only 35, Kelly had a quick rise through the Texans organization. After starting as an offensive quality control coach in 2014, Kelly was eventually promoted to assistant offensive line coach, tight ends coach, and (ultimately) OC. He was fired by the organization after the season. Kelly has ties to Titans coach Mike Vrabel stemming from their stints in Houston.

NFC East Notes: Okudah, Groh, Heath, Jones

March 1st, 2020 at 1:58pm CST by Marc Delucchi

While there’s still plenty of time until the NFL Draft, but murmurs around the combine are tying the Giants to cornerback Jeff Okudah, according to Ryan Dunleavy of the NY Post. Okudah is considered the best defensive back prospect in the draft class and is expected to be a top-five pick. In his final season at Ohio State, Okudah recorded three interceptions, nine passes defended, 34 tackles, and, perhaps most impressive of all, zero holding or defensive pass interference penalties.

Here are some more notes from around the NFC East;

The Eagles made a number of changes on their coaching staff following a disappointing season. Most notably, Philadelphia fired offensive coordinator Mike Groh, but sources familiar with the situation tell Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer that head coach Doug Pederson told Groh he would be retained for a third season. Instead, the team fired Groh alongside offensive assistants Rich Scangarello and Andrew Breiner. While there’s no direct consequence, it’s not the ideal way to conduct business.
Longtime Cowboy safety and defensive back Jeff Heath has received interest from a number of teams, including Dallas, as he nears free agency, per Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. Watkins notes that things will pick up after the league and NFLPA resolve their CBA negotiations.
As previously reported, the Giants officially hired Amos Jones to join Joe Judge‘s coaching staff. Jones’ position on the staff had not been previously known. According to Ralph Vacchiano of SNY, Jones will serve as an “assistant coach/special projects and situations.”

East Notes: Rivers, Jets, Ogletree

February 9th, 2020 at 11:57am CST by Rory Parks

The Patriots drafted edge rusher Derek Rivers in the third round of the 2017 draft, but the Youngstown State product has played in just six regular season games over his first three years in the pros. His entire rookie campaign was wiped out due to a torn ACL, he had a limited workload in 2018, and he sustained a knee injury during a preseason game in August that landed him on IR for all of 2019.

But as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes, Rivers still features heavily in New England’s plans. Reiss says Rivers remains a constant presence at the team’s facility, and if the team cannot retain free agent Kyle Van Noy — which is quite possible, given the amount of cap space that will need to be devoted to the offensive side of the ball, including the quarterback position — Rivers will need to step up.

Now for more from the league’s east divisions:

Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv takes a look at a few Jets who could be cap casualties this offseason. Most of them — like CB Trumaine Johnson, whom we recently discussed as a release candidate — are obvious choices, but players like Jonotthan Harrison and Avery Williamson are more difficult calls. Vacchiano believes the club would be wise to retain Harrison at least as a depth option, and he suggests Williamson could be back on a reworked contract.
In a separate piece, Vacchiano names a few players the Jets should target in free agency, assuming their current teams don’t retain them. Unsurprisingly, he believes Gang Green should target the top of the O-line (Brandon Scherff, Jack Conklin) and WR (Amari Cooper, Emmanuel Sanders) markets.
Vacchiano undergoes the same exercises for the Giants that he did for the Jets. For Big Blue, he names LB Alec Ogletree as the most likely player to be cut on his list of seven names, and he also believes Conklin would be a perfect fit for the G-Men.
Sheil Kapadia of The Athletic summarizes the changes to the coaching staff that the Eagles recently made official. We had previously passed along most of those names, though Kapadia’s list also includes Andrew Breiner (hired as pass game analyst) and Dino Vasso (promoted to assistant defensive coordinator). He also offers his take on the changes, including his observation that the offensive staff now includes coaches who have very different schematic backgrounds, which suggests that Philadelphia will try to incorporate a wide variety of looks in 2020.