Bruce Arians - Pro Football Rumors

NFC Coaching Notes: Eberflus, Bucs, Panthers, Giants, Packers

February 5th, 2022 at 4:22pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although Matt Eberflus landed the Bears job because of the Colts’ defensive performance, Chicago’s new HC is planning more of a CEO-type role for himself. Eberflus is not planning to call defensive plays for the Bears this season, via The Athletic’s Adam Jahns (on Twitter). Instead, new Chicago DC Alan Williams will handle that responsibility. Williams, 52, has previous DC experience, working under Leslie Frazier in Minnesota in the early 2010s, and has enjoyed a few tours as a DBs coach. This will be an interesting transition for Eberflus, a first-time HC. It will not be a notable transition for the Bears, who spent much of the past two seasons with their head coach operating in a CEO-type capacity. Matt Nagy handed off play-calling duties to then-OC Bill Lazor in each of the past two seasons.

Here is the latest from the NFC coaching carousel:

The Buccaneers are set to go through a major transition, with Tom Brady‘s retirement ending a brief but successful era that likely doubled as the second-highest peak in franchise history. But Bruce Arians is not eyeing a rebuild. The fourth-year Bucs HC denied a report that indicated the team would allow assistants to pursue other jobs even if the new positions were not promotions, per The Athletic’s Greg Auman (on Twitter). It looks like Arians will keep both coordinators — Byron Leftwich and Todd Bowles — for the 2022 season, so Tampa Bay will still feature considerable continuity despite Brady’s departure and the presumptive exits of some key free agents.
Circling back to the Bears, the team made some additional hires in recent days. New OC Luke Getsy‘s right-hand man on the Justin Fields front will be Andrew Janocko, Chicago’s new quarterbacks coach. Janocko spent the past seven seasons with the Vikings, ending the run by serving as their QBs coach in 2021. He also worked as the Vikes’ receivers coach and assistant O-line coach at points during his long Minnesota tenure. The Bears also hired James Rowe as their secondary coach. Rowe will come over after serving as the Colts’ cornerbacks coach. David Overstreet, Indianapolis’ assistant DBs coach, will also follow Eberflus and fill the same position with the Bears. Overstreet moved up from the quality control level with Indy in 2021.
Former Packers offensive line coach James Campen landed a job as the Panthers‘ O-line coach, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Following a 12-year tenure in Green Bay, Campen will begin the 2022 season with a new team for the fourth straight year. He coached the Browns, Chargers and Texans’ O-lines from 2019-21.
Giants running backs coach Burton Burns is expected to retire, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post tweets. Burns, 69, began coaching in 1981 and spent the past two years as the Giants’ RBs coach — his only NFL position during his career. Fellow college-staff veteran Kevin Sherrer is expected to follow Burns on the way out, per Dunleavy. Sherrer served as the Giants’ linebackers coach last season and migrated to the NFL level, like Burns, for the first time in 2020.
To replace tight ends coach Justin Outten, who made a big leap to become the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, the Packers promoted John Dunn. Although this is a promotion, after Dunn spent the 2021 season as an offensive analyst in Green Bay, he coached Jets tight ends from 2019-20.

Saints Have Stake In Payton’s Future

January 30th, 2022 at 9:31pm CST by Ely Allen

When Saints’ former head coach Sean Payton retired, he left the door open for a return. Although he made it clear that he has no intention of coaching during the 2022 NFL season, Payton didn’t rule out a return later on.

“My plans are not to be coaching in 2022,” Payton said. “I still have a vision for doing things in football and, I’ll be honest with you, that might be coaching again at some point.”

Because Payton is under contract with the Saints through the 2024 NFL season, this “mini-retirement” means that whichever team wants to sign him for the 2023 season will have to negotiate with the Saints to do so. Even though Payton told radio personality Dan Patrick that he heard two teams reached out through back channels, those channels never reached Saints’ general manager Mickey Loomis, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen. This means that whatever the level of interest those two teams had, it didn’t rise to the point where they were ready to talk compensation.

Mortensen goes on to explain that, should another team reach out to see what it would take to sign Payton, New Orleans has their compensation chart ready on hand. The chart would be based on past similar transactions setting an estimated value through precedent.

The most recent example would be when the Buccaneers pulled Bruce Arians out of his recent retirement from coaching the Cardinals three seasons ago. This is a precedent the Saints’ would stray away from as Arians lack of success in Arizona led to the Cardinals essentially nudging him into retirement. When the deal was made to send Arians to Tampa Bay, the Cardinals received a sixth-round pick and gave the Buccaneers Arians and a seventh-round pick.

Payton is currently considered in much higher demand than Arians was at the time. Mortensen laid out three past transactions that he considers a little more on par with Payton’s current value. The most pricey example was about 20-years ago when the Buccaneers gave the Raiders two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and $8MM cash in exchange for Jon Gruden, who lead his new team to a Super Bowl victory over his old team. The Gruden deal differs a bit from the Arians deal because Gruden wasn’t thinking of retiring and there was really no threat to his job. Raiders’ owner and general manager Al Davis had some questions over Gruden’s value, but there was never talk that his job was in jeopardy.

Another similar deal came back in 1997, when Bill Parcells decided he didn’t want to coach for the Patriots anymore. Parcells’ contract restricted him from coaching anywhere else, so the Jets attempted to circumvent the restriction by hiring a key Parcells’ assistant, Bill Belichick, as their head coach and hiring Parcells as an “advisor.” After the Patriots threatened legal action, the commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, helped the two sides come to an agreement wherein the Patriots would send Parcells to the Jets in exchange for a first-, second-, third-, and fourth-round pick (spread over the following three years). Even though this deal doesn’t include any “mini-retirements,” it follows the current situation a little more closely than the Gruden deal.

Belichick’s return to New England had a very similar ring to his arrival in New York. After the Jets arranged for Belichick to succeed Parcells as head coach, Belichick went to his press conference and, instead of introducing himself as the new head coach, he introduce his resignation from the franchise. The Patriots soon requested permission to interview Belichick to replace Pete Carroll, but the Jets pulled the reverse card and demanded compensation, as Belichick was still under contract. Tagliabue stepped in, once more, and the Patriots sent New York a first-round pick in exchange for the coaching rights of Belichick.

All these examples, despite their different situations, provide a basis for the Saints to use in determining what they think they are due when another team inevitably comes calling. As a Super Bowl champion and long-tenured head coach, Payton is sure to fetch quite a price for whichever team decides to hire him.

Bucs To Start Post-Brady Rebuild?

January 29th, 2022 at 9:03pm CST by Ely Allen

With three-time MVP quarterback Tom Brady announcing his retirement earlier today, speculation has already started on the future of the Buccaneers’ franchise. Brady’s retirement has experts wondering about the futures of tight end Rob Gronkowki and head coach Bruce Arians. Both have flirted with retirement before.

Contributing to the postulation on Arians’ situation is head coaching interest in the Buccaneers’ coordinators on both sides of the ball. Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich recently had his second interview for the Jaguars open coaching position. Reportedly, talks have stalled as Leftwich has expressed issues with current general manager Trent Baalke continuing in that position, with Leftwich preferring Cardinals’ vice president of pro scouting Adrian Wilson to replace the polarizing GM. The Saints have requested an interview with Leftwich, who previously received interest from the Bears before they hired Matt Eberflus. Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles has interviewed with the Bears, Jaguars, Raiders, and Vikings. With the Bears’ job taken, Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels being the presumed frontrunner in Las Vegas, and Jacksonville having conducted multiple second interviews Bowles’ opportunities for a head coaching job are starting to dwindle, as well.

More cause for speculation has risen from an article from Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. In the article Wilson reports that Arians has informed the entire coaching staff that they have permission to seek jobs around the league regardless of whether or not the new position would be a promotion. With the potential exit of the two New England-legends and the impactful group of Buccaneers heading into free agency, this permission could potentially be an opportunity to abandon ship before the start of a Tampa Bay rebuild.

In terms of those free agents, joining free-agent-to-be Gronkowski are three other significant role players: wide receiver Chris Godwin, center Ryan Jensen, and cornerback Carlton Davis. Godwin is expected to be the top free agent priority in Tampa Bay after he received the franchise tag for this past season. Jensen came over three years ago from the Ravens on what then made him the highest paid center in the NFL. Davis was a key contributor due for a big contract year on defense before being placed on IR after Week 4 of the season and missing eight weeks during a crucial year.

The domino-effect of Brady’s retirement is already looming large over the Buccaneers’ prospects for the 2022 NFL season. Tampa Bay has the entire offseason to navigate these obstacles and mitigate the potential fallout. After winning a Super Bowl just last year, the departure of Brady could be as game-changing to the Buccaneers as his arrival was nearly two years ago.

Tom Brady’s Non-Answer About Return

January 23rd, 2022 at 8:39pm CST by Ely Allen

Tom Brady‘s 2021 season is over. Following a thrilling loss to the Rams in which the Buccaneers just fell short of their comeback bid, Brady was asked about how he will contemplate whether to come back or not. Brady’s thoughts were clearly still centered on the loss he had endured moments before.

“I haven’t put a lot of thought into it. So, we’ll just take it day by day and see where we’re at,” Brady replied. He continued, “Truthfully, guys, I’m thinking about this game and not thinking about anything past 5 minutes from now.”

Our staff writer, Rory Parks, expanded quite a bit on Brady’s non-committal attitude going into the Divisional Round game, and it appears his attitude has not changed quite yet.

As a result of the one-year extension Brady signed last March, he is under club control through 2022, and he affirmed several months after he put pen to paper that he would honor his commitment. Indeed, he has long said that he wants to play until he is 45, and 2022 would be his age-45 season.

In brighter news for the Buccaneers, head coach Bruce Arians has already spread the news that he is not retiring. Through three years in Tampa Bay, Arians has already added a Lombardi Trophy to the case. The 69-year old plans to coach until he can’t anymore. He also told reporters (before today’s loss) that he would be “shocked” if Brady called it quits after this season. We’ll have to wait a bit longer to see just how well Arians knows his veteran quarterback.

Buccaneers’ Bruce Arians Won’t Retire

January 23rd, 2022 at 5:53pm CST by Zachary Links

The Buccaneers are done, but head coach Bruce Arians isn’t. Moments after the Bucs’ heartbreaking loss to the Rams, the Bucs head coach confirmed that he’ll be back this fall (Twitter link via Sara Walsh of FOX Sports). That jibes with what Arians has been saying for years now, including his latest comments just last week.

“I’m coaching till I can’t,” said Arians, who will celebrate his 70th birthday in October (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport).

However, it remains to be seen whether Arians will have Tom Brady under center next season. For what it’s worth, Arians told reporters on Friday (before today’s loss) that he would be “shocked” if Brady calls it quits.

“The way he was at practice, I would be shocked if he didn’t (play next year),” Arians said (via the Tampa Bay Times). “You know they have that Friday quarterback challenge, and he came flying out of the locker room, sprinting two or three fields away and couldn’t wait to get into the challenge. He was like a little kid. I would be shocked.”

Meanwhile, Arians may need to make some new hires to his coaching staff. Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich are both up for head coaching jobs and they could be poached as soon as this week.

Latest on Antonio Brown, 1/5/22

January 5th, 2022 at 10:09pm CST by Ely Allen

It’s only been three days since Buccaneers’ wide receiver Antonio Brown walked off the field mid-game to much animosity, but the numerous updates have been nearly as dramatic as his exit.

By now, I certainly don’t need to recap the origin of this conversation, but, in case you’ve been living under a rock, you can read about how Brown left the field mid-game due to a disagreement over playing with a lingering ankle injury and how head coach Bruce Arians made his stance clear that he wanted Brown off the team, but, up to this point in time, Tampa Bay has not released him in order to keep him from joining an opposing team.

In case this soap opera was not entertaining enough, the NFL washed their hands of the matter today, according to a tweet from Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud, claiming that Brown is not subject to the league’s personal conduct policy.

In the same day, Brown appeared on the team’s injury report with the designation “Not Injury Related – Personal,” while Arians said Brown’s roster status is a management decision, making it clear that Brown is not part of the team going forward.

If this is too much drama for you, I’ve got bad news. Later in the day, Brown’s attorney, Sean Burstyn, posted a Twitter thread wherein he, on behalf of his client, accused Tampa Bay of the fairly serious acts of ordering his client to play with a known and documented injury and then attempting to cover up their malfeasances by asking Brown to take the blame off of them and to put it on mental illness. He calls out the team for disowning his client while still retaining his client’s rights and promises a future statement from Brown, which came about an hour later.

Adam Schefter, of ESPN, tweeted out the typed-up statement that details the entire confrontation, as well as its precursors and after-effects, from Brown’s point-of-view. Brown pulls no punches in the statement, doubling down on his lawyer’s accusations and painting a portrait of a domineering organization that has no regard for his physical or mental health.

There’s sure to be a rebuttal from Tampa Bay, but, usually in media, the loudest voice is the most recent. And just like he says his “business” will be next season when he’s healthy, right now, Brown’s voice is “BOOMIN!”

Bruce Arians Clears COVID-19 Protocols

January 1st, 2022 at 7:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

Bruce Arians will be on the sidelines for the Buccaneers on Sunday in New Jersey. The defending Super Bowl champions’ head coach cleared COVID-19 protocols Saturday, Jenna Laine of ESPN.com notes.

A three-time cancer survivor, Arians contracted COVID-19 earlier this week. Arians, 69, is fully vaccinated and experienced mild symptoms, Laine adds. Assistant head coach Harold Goodwin served as the Bucs’ acting HC this week. Wide receivers coach Kevin Garver cleared virus protocols as well Saturday.

The Bucs saw a few other starters test positive this week, but the NFL changing its protocols once again has made it easier for players to return after submitting positive tests. Mike Evans, Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean are back on Tampa Bay’s active roster. Evans is questionable for Week 17 due to a hamstring injury. Both Dean and Murphy-Bunting traveled separately to New Jersey due to their late activations.

While the Bucs will at least have their head coach and key corners back, they will be without top pass rushers Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul due to injury. Tampa Bay also has Leonard Fournette and Lavonte David on IR. Antonio Brown is questionable to face the Jets after aggravating an ankle injury in practice. Brown has not practiced since tweaking his ankle Wednesday.

Latest On Bucs’ Antonio Brown

December 13th, 2021 at 2:19pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Buccaneers are getting closer to the point where they will need to make a decision regarding wide receiver Antonio Brown. According to head coach Bruce Arians, however, it’s all still up in the air.

As reported by ESPN’s Jenna Laine, Arians said, “I haven’t made that determination yet, but we’ll see how it goes” when asked about the seven-time Pro Bowler. Brown’s three-game suspension for producing a fake COVID-19 vaccination card will end after this week, but it remains to be seen if the Buccaneers will allow him to carry on with the team.

The ban — also given to safety Mike Edwards — is the latest in off-field issues surrounding Brown. His latest suspension was for eight games in 2020 for violating the league’ personal conduct policy. Laine adds that Arians informed Brown “there will be no second chances” when he joined the team last season.

In his absence, Tampa Bay has had no issues scoring, as they lead the league with 31.5 points per game. Still, the NFC South leaders would welcome back Brown’s production: 42 catches for 418 yards and four touchdowns in just five games.

The Bucs host the Saints on Sunday night in Week 15.

Latest On Buccaneers’ WR Antonio Brown

December 5th, 2021 at 1:55pm CST by Ely Allen

Questions have arisen over Antonio Brown‘s future with the Buccaneers after comments made by head coach Bruce Arians. Brown and safety Mike Edwards recently received a three-game ban following a report indicating that Brown had acquired a fake COVID-19 vaccination card.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that when asked if Brown and Edwards will remain on the team after their suspension is over, Arians answered, “We’ll address their future at that time,” fueling speculation that there may be reason to doubt their current job safety. When asked to clarify his comments, Arians doubled down, stating, “Nothing’s been decided, no.”

The four-time First-team All-Pro has had his share of controversies over an eleven-year career in the NFL. When Brown was signed to a free agent deal with the Buccaneers, Arians commented that, despite entering the NFL midway through the 2020 season, he didn’t anticipate any issues with Brown having to deal with the COVID-19 protocols. Arians also indicated that Tampa Bay wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of Brown were he to return to his controversial behavior, saying, “He’s been a model citizen, if and when he’s not, we’ll move on.”

The star wide receiver has been impressive this year in the five games he’s played, totaling 42 catches for 418 yards and 4 touchdowns. Brown’s decision to accept his suspension without an appeal was an easy one, as he was expected to miss two more games anyway with an ankle injury, and he was lucky for a shorter suspension, considering the league was looking into a suspension around 6-8 games.

It will be interesting to see how Arians and the Buccaneers proceed with handling Brown and Edwards. Arians was one of the more vocal and proud coaches in his team’s efforts to get to 100% vaccination status. Both Brown and Edwards have since been vaccinated, but the damage may already be done.

Bucs Extend GM Jason Licht, HC Bruce Arians

June 7th, 2021 at 2:00pm CST by Zachary Links

The Super Bowl architects are staying put. The Buccaneers have agreed to extend the contract of GM Jason Licht (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Meanwhile, they’ve also revised Bruce Arians‘ contract to give the head coach a pay bump.

Licht took over as the Buccaneers’ GM in 2014. The club went 27-53 in his first five years at the helm, but that didn’t stop the club from inking him to a five-year re-up just before the 2019 season. Today, they’re happy they stuck with him. Licht spearheaded the recruitment of Tom Brady, replacing the interception-prone Jameis Winston with a future Hall of Famer. And, together with Brady, Licht brought in a slew of stars, including Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown. For the reigning champs, the decision to extend Licht was a no-brainer.

Arians still has several years to go on the original deal he inked in 2019. And, all along, he’s said that he’ll honor the contract and coach until he’s truly had his fill.

“Oh yeah, that’s the plan. I don’t have any plans on retiring,” Arians said of finishing out his contract during an appearance on the Pewter Report Podcast. “It’s just, when do I not want to go back to work? When I’m not excited about going back to work then I’m cheating somebody. I’m cheating the Glazer family, I’m cheating my players. Right now I can’t wait to get back to work.”

Arians is the third-oldest head coach in the NFL, after only Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick. A three-time cancer survivor, Arians has already cemented one of the best comeback stories in NFL coaching history.