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Coaching/GM Notes, Pt. 2: Arians, Gase, Wolf

January 1st, 2017 at 11:48am CST by Rory Parks

Here is Part 2 of our coaching/GM rumors post. Part 1 can be found here.

  • Despite his health concerns, Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians expects to return in 2017, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). Schefter tweets that one of Arians’ top assistants, offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin, is expected to interview for a head coaching job with the Rams, Jaguars, and Bills.
  • As the 49ers get prepared to search for a new head coach and GM, a ghost from the past has reared its ugly head. According to Jay Glazer of FOX Sports (via Twitter), San Francisco was prepared to hire current Dolphins head coach Adam Gase two years ago. The team informed Gase that he was the choice, but GM Trent Baalke intervened at the last moment and convinced ownership not to hire Gase. The 49ers chose Jim Tomsula instead, and it has been all downhill from there.
  • The Packers are not expected to make major coaching changes–although offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett could get head coaching interviews–but GM Ted Thompson could step aside and become a senior scouting adviser, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. One reason, according to Rapoport, is that Director of Football Operations Eliot Wolf is a highly-coveted football mind, and if he’s not promoted soon, Green Bay could lose him.
  • The Bengals are not expected to fire Marvin Lewis, who is signed through 2017, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. However, Lewis is not expected to get another one-year extension this offseason, which means that another disappointing campaign in 2017 could spell the end of his tenure as Cincinnati’s head coach.
  • Jets head coach Todd Bowles will likely be back for a third season, but offensive coordinator Chan Gailey is expected to be fired, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post.
  • The Ravens are expected to part ways with OC Marty Mornhinweg, and assuming they do, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Greg Roman is someone to “keep an eye on.”
  • Browns coaches have “deep concerns” with the direction of the team’s personnel department and are expected to push owner Jimmy Haslam for changes in that regard, according to La Canfora. While head coach Hue Jackson is not planning to request the removal of top football man Sashi Brown, the coaching staff would like a proven, old-school talent evaluator involved in player selection to provide something of a checks-and-balance system to Brown’s analytics-based approach.
  • La Canfora suggests that, if the Lions miss the playoffs this season, GM Bob Quinn could at least think about a coaching change, and his Patriots ties could lead him to consider Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia, with whom he established strong relationships during his time in New England. While I personally could imagine Quinn’s being interested in McDaniels, I cannot see Patricia as a legitimate head coaching candidate at this point.

Bills Notes: McCoy, Roman, Ryan

December 20th, 2016 at 3:50pm CST by Zachary Links

Did Bills players help influence the team’s decision to push out former offensive coordinator Greg Roman? LeSean McCoy seemed to be hinting at that yesterday. “They actually listen to the players. The whole thing with [Roman], they were very involved, which was cool,” McCoy said (Twitter link via Tom Martin of News 4).

Here’s more from Buffalo:

  • People within the Bills front office feel it’s unfair that Rex Ryan is on the hot seat while GM Doug Whaley is reportedly safe this offseason, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). The Bills’ aggressive trade up for Sammy Watkins, the ill-advised extension for Marcell Dareus, and the team’s failure to identify a franchise quarterback have left the Bills with significant holes, they argue. Ryan is in his second season in Buffalo.
  • Will the Bills renegotiate Tyrod Taylor‘s contract this year to keep him? Mike Rodak of ESPN.com explains that Taylor would have leverage against such a move and wouldn’t be inclined to go along with it. If he reaches free agency, there will be multiple teams searching for a quarterback and it would probably behoove him to explore those options instead of returning to Buffalo on a discount.
  • Over the weekend, one report indicated that the Bills are preparing to move on from Ryan.

Breer’s Latest: Kaep, Tannehill, Ravens, Bills

October 13th, 2016 at 8:31pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick is set to return to the 49ers’ starting lineup this week, but his NFL future was in doubt as recently as last year. At least two teams that looked into Kaepernick as a potential trade acquisition had questions about whether he wanted to continue playing, reports Albert Breer of TheMMQB. Kaepernick ended up staying in San Francisco, of course, and will now take over head coach Chip Kelly‘s offense. If Kaepernick fails under Kelly, the league might not regard the 28-year-old as a viable option anymore, writes Breer, who notes that his career hangs in the balance. “This offense gives him the best chance, no doubt,” one 49ers source said of the mobile Kaepernick, who could become a free agent at season’s end.

More from Breer:

  • After last season, when it looked as if the 49ers would trade Kaepernick, the relationship between him and general manager Trent Baalke “couldn’t have been worse,” a source told Breer. Kaepernick has never trusted Baalke and views himself as a Jim Harbaugh draft pick, relays Breer. Baalke and Kaepernick went months without speaking to one another amid trade rumors last offseason and then met during the summer to clear the air. It doesn’t seem their meeting was productive, however, as sources close to Kaepernick see his relationship with Baalke as “irreparable,” per Breer.
  • Considering all the problems on their roster, the Dolphins aren’t sure if they can properly evaluate fifth-year quarterback Ryan Tannehill this season, Breer suggests. As a result, Breer doesn’t expect the Dolphins to move on from Tannehill during the offseason. Releasing the 2012 first-round pick before March would save Miami all but $3.5MM of his $17.98MM salary for 2017. The 28-year-old is under team control through 2020 on the six-year, $96MM extension he signed in May 2015.
  • Marc Trestman‘s pass-first philosophy helped bring an end to his tenure as the Ravens’ offensive coordinator, according to Breer. Baltimore fell from eighth in rushing under previous O-coordinator Gary Kubiak in 2014 to 26th last season with Trestman. Those ground woes have continued early this year for the Ravens, who rank 28th in rushing, though Terrance West has averaged an outstanding 5.0 yards per carry on 65 attempts. West picked up 95 yards in the Ravens’ 16-10 loss to the Redskins last Sunday, but he only amassed 11 carries in Trestman’s final game at the helm. “The players lost faith in [Trestman] last year, and he never got it back,” a Baltimore source said.
  • Trestman wasn’t the first offensive coordinator to lose his job this year. That description belongs to Greg Roman, whom the Bills ousted after Week 2. Buffalo has won three straight since replacing Roman with Anthony Lynn, though the Bills’ defense has played a larger role in the turnaround than their offense. Still, one Bills veteran explained to Breer the key difference in the offense since Lynn took the reins, saying, “We’re running the same plays that we did under G-Ro. It’s just that with Roman, we had a huge playbook and we could run absolutely anything from week-to-week. Anthony’s all about matchups… He played [in the NFL], so he knows matchups are huge.”

AFC East Notes: Bills, Roman, Jets, Patriots

September 18th, 2016 at 9:37pm CST by Zachary Links

Here’s the latest from the AFC East:

  • A recent report indicated that former Bills offensive coordinator Greg Roman has hard feelings towards Rex Ryan and felt that being associated with the outspoken coach would be damaging to his career. For what it’s worth, Roman went on the record with Alex Marvez of The Sporting News and denied any issues with Ryan. “I have nothing but respect for coach Ryan and I thought we had a great working relationship,” Roman said. “We met and he informed me of his decision. I thought it was handled very professionally. We then discussed how we could best make this work for everybody moving forward.”
  • After Brandon Marshall landed awkwardly on Thursday night, Jets coach Todd Bowles told reporters that the wide receiver was “fine.” Apparently, that’s not entirely the case. Marshall suffered an MCL injury and while the team believes that he’ll be ready to go against the Chiefs, it’s not a guarantee, a source tells Mike Florio of PFT. It’s an injury worth keeping an eye on as Marshall is arguably Gang Green’s greatest weapon. Through two games this year, Marshall has nine catches for 133 yards. In 2015, Marshall had 109 receptions for 1,502 yards and 14 touchdowns – arguably his strongest season to date.
  • Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has once again established himself as a hot head coaching candidate, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano writes. The Pats have now gone 2-0 without Tom Brady or Rob Gronkowski and they even survived on Sunday afternoon without Jimmy Garoppolo for much of the game. “I was more so worried if (Garoppolo) was going to be OK or not,” running back LeGarrette Blount said. “As far as how we were going to do as an offense, I wasn’t worried about that.” McDaniels went 11-17 as the head coach of the Broncos before he was fired late in the 2010 season.
  • Speaking of Garoppolo, he’ll likely miss New England’s game against the Texans on Thursday because of a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder. That would open the door for third-round rookie Jacoby Brissett to make his first NFL start.

AFC East Rumors: Roman, Dolphins, Patriots

September 17th, 2016 at 7:18pm CST by Sam Robinson

Greg Roman‘s early-season dismissal has generated consistent fallout since the Bills and their OC parted ways on Friday. The latest comes from Bills sources who are glad the firing occurred.

“I haven’t talked to anybody that isn’t excited about the move,” a Bills source told Tom Pelissero of USA Today.

According to the sources, Bills players believed their offense lacked an identity, even as the team raced to the top of the NFL in rushing in 2015. They saw an offense that would change randomly from week to week instead of building on what was working, per Pelissero, leaving the team prone to three-and-outs when big plays didn’t occur.

Here’s the latest from the AFC East.

  • The Dolphins did not appear to like DeVante Parker‘s approach to healing a troublesome hamstring this offseason, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald writes. The second-year wideout’s nutritional habits were less than ideal, per Salguero, who adds the projected starter perhaps wasn’t doing enough in practice to prepare his muscles for game speed. Parker missed Week 1 with a hamstring injury.
  • Similarly, the team has soured somewhat on Jay Ajayi. The second-year ball-carrier was a healthy scratch against the Seahawks and, per Salguero, did not like being deployed in Miami’s fourth preseason game. Another undetermined Ajayi action at the Dolphins’ facility helped lead to Adam Gase leaving him off the travel list for Seattle, Salguero reports, and Gase wanted to send him a professionalism-fueled message. The first-year coach told media Ajayi showed more maturity since the benching, but the 2015 fifth-round pick who was the starter before Arian Foster‘s arrival delivered the same response to nine questions Friday in a two-minute interview, Salguero reports.
  • The Patriots paid out varying injury settlements to defensive lineman Frank Kearse, running back Tyler Gaffney and linebacker Kevin Snyder, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports. Kearse received $201K for what amounts to eight weeks of pay, with Gaffney’s Pats divorce netting the running back $117K, or six weeks’ salary, Volin reports. Snyder’s was just $25K (one week). The trio released from the Pats’ IR cannot sign with another team until their settlements pay out.
  • Former New England executive Michael Lombardi has indeed resurfaced in the media, accepting a position with Fox Sports. On a Friday appearance on the Bill Simmons Podcast, the former Pats front office staffer and Browns GM categorized Jimmy Garoppolo as a superior deep-ball thrower to Tom Brady. “[Garoppolo] does things really well and in the right scheme, in the right system, he can be really effective. He throws the ball vertically down the field better than [Brady] does,” Lombardi told Simmons (via Doug Kyed of NESN.com). “And he can make throws all over the field. He can move around.” Kyed points out the 39-year-old Brady ranks 36th of 45 qualified quarterbacks with at least 100 deep attempts since 2012.

Extra Points: Roman, Giants, Jets, Saints

September 16th, 2016 at 9:10pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Former Bills offensive coordinator Greg Roman, whom the team fired Friday, issued a statement to the Buffalo News’ Vic Carucci, saying, “I just want to thank the Pegulas for the opportunity to work in Buffalo, Russ Brandon, Doug Whaley, Rex Ryan and the entire Bills organization — all the great players and coaches I got to work with. I want to thank all the great fans of Buffalo for all and we love the community of Buffalo. I wish the Bills’ organization the best moving forward.”

The Bills’ decision to fire Roman came as a surprise to him, per Carucci, who tweets that the coach was working on an offensive game plan for the club’s Week 3 matchup with the Cardinals when he received the news. Carucci reported earlier Friday that Roman was not a big Ryan fan and had hoped to head elsewhere at the end of the season.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

  • Rookie Sterling Shepard, who caught three passes for 43 yards and a touchdown in the Giants’ Week 1 win over the Cowboys, has the chance to be the team’s next great wide receiver, argues Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com. Former Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara had one workout session with the second-round pick from Oklahoma this summer and came away impressed with his skill set. “His confidence and raw skills … he’s just confident in his ability that he’s going to beat the man across from him,” Amukamara said. “And he’s very sudden at the line, meaning he’s quick. He has a combination of [Victor] Cruz and Odell [Beckham Jr.]’s skill set.” Recently, PFR’s scouting guru Dave-Te Thomas praised Shepard in his rundown of the Giants’ rookie class.
  • Jets receiver Quincy Enunwa could end up as the lone bright spot from ex-general manager John Idzik‘s failed 2014 draft class, opines Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. Enunwa, a sixth-rounder that year, has begun the season in terrific fashion, having hauled in 13 catches on 14 targets for 146 yards and a touchdown in the Jets’ first two games. The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder appeared in 12 contests last year and failed to find the end zone while amassing 22 receptions on 46 targets. Now, along with the excellent tandem of Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker, Enunwa’s early 2016 breakout has given quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick another quality option in the passing game. “That’s what we didn’t have last year. We didn’t have a No. 3 guy. We didn’t have a No. 4 guy,” said Marshall. “Quincy is our unsung hero.” Fitzpatrick targeted Enunwa six times in the Jets’ 37-31 win over Buffalo on Thursday. Enunwa caught all six passes for 92 yards.
  • The Saints‘ defensive line couldn’t get any kind of pass rush going against the Raiders in Week 1 and one reader asked Herbie Teope of The Times-Picayune if Paul Kruger can be fairly labeled as a bust signing. Kruger can’t be written off as a bad addition, nor can he be blamed for the lack of pressure on Derek Carr, Teope contends. While Kruger was in on 53 percent of the team’s defensive plays on Sunday, he was restricted somewhat by the team’s defensive game plan along with the rest of the front seven. Carr’s mobility kept the Saints from getting too aggressive, but Teope expects to see a much different plan of action against Eli Manning and the Giants in Week 2. Earlier this month, the Saints signed Kruger to a three-year deal that can be voided after one year. The deal comes with a $2.1MM signing bonus and base salaries of $900K, $1MM, and $1MM.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Latest on Bills’ Firing Of Greg Roman

September 16th, 2016 at 4:51pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Bills’ front office forced Rex Ryan to shake up his coaching staff after the team’s 37-31 loss to the Jets on Thursday dropped it to 0-2, reports the Sporting News’ Alex Marvez. That led Ryan to fire offensive coordinator Greg Roman on Friday and replace him with assistant head coach/running backs coach Anthony Lynn.

Greg Roman (vertical)

Ryan disputed the notion that the decision to make a change came from his superiors, telling reporters that he informed Bills ownership of his desire to move on from Roman on Friday morning. Bills owners Terry Pegula and Kim Pegula were supportive, Ryan said (Twitter link via Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News), and Carucci writes that the Pegulas hadn’t been happy with Roman’s offense going back to last season. They expressed their concerns to Ryan on Friday, and he then took action, according to Carucci, who tweets that Roman was not a Ryan fan and had hoped to leave the Bills at season’s end.

“This was my move, 100 percent,” insisted Ryan (Twitter link via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com).

Ryan denied that he scapegoated Roman, per Rodak, but the head coach did distance himself from his ex-assistant’s run-first philosophy (Twitter link).

“I want to be multiple. I want to be able to throw the football,” stated Ryan, who called dual-threat quarterback Tyrod Taylor a “rare talent” and expressed a need to “showcase” his abilities (Twitter link via Carucci).

Thanks in part to Taylor’s legs, the Roman-led Bills had the top-ranked running attack in the NFL last season at 152 yards per game. That number has been more than cut in half in 2016, though, as Buffalo averaged a meager 75.5 rushing yards per contest in losses to the Ravens and Jets.

As a passer, Taylor – whom the Bills signed to a contract extension last month – completed 18 of 30 passes for 297 yards, three touchdowns and an interception Thursday. On paper, those are excellent numbers, but the bulk of Taylor’s success came on scoring tosses to receivers Marquise Goodwin and Greg Salas. He otherwise had difficulty connecting on short and intermediate routes.

Doug Whaley, the general manager who extended Taylor, is now “on notice,” as is the rest of the football operations department, according to Albert Breer of TheMMQB (via Twitter). The long-struggling Bills showed some progress in Whaley’s first two seasons at the helm en route to a 17-15 record, but they’re now on track to miss the playoffs for a league-worst 17th consecutive year.

The chief reason for the Bills’ failures dating back to 2015 has been Ryan’s defense, not the Roman-coached offense. For his part, Ryan admitted Friday that the unit “has to improve” (Twitter link via Breer). The Bills’ defense was a below-average group last season after establishing itself as one of the league’s elite under ex-coordinator Jim Schwartz in 2014. Journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick carved up the unit Thursday, hitting on 24 of 34 passes for 374 yards and a touchdown, and the beleaguered Bills will next have to deal with Carson Palmer and the Cardinals’ high-octane offense.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bills Fire Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman

September 16th, 2016 at 12:33pm CST by Zachary Links

After losing to the Jets on Thursday night, the Bills are shaking up their coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman has been fired, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). The Bills have appointed Anthony Lynn, their running backs coach, as their new OC (Twitter link via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com). The Bills have confirmed the news via press release.Greg Roman (vertical)

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Roman’s firing is a shocker for a number of reasons. Of course, it’s pretty rare that a team will can a coordinator two games into the season. Also, the Bills’ offense wasn’t necessarily the problem in Thursday night’s loss to the rival Jets. The Bills defense was picked apart all night by Ryan Fitzpatrick and Matt Forte and the shortcomings on D can partially be chalked up to the missing pieces in Buffalo’s front seven. The Bills lost to the Jets 37-31, dropping them to 0-2.

Roman, hired in January of 2015, was the NFL’s highest paid offensive coordinator. The 44-year-old was expected to be the offensive counterbalance to head coach Rex Ryan, but Buffalo apparently wasn’t satisfied with what they’ve seen so far. While the Bills have not been an offensive juggernaut over the last year-and-change, Roman did help mold Tyrod Taylor into one of the league’s more promising quarterbacks. One could also argue that the offense has not been operating at full strength as Sammy Watkins played through injuries last year.

Lynn, meanwhile, is a rising star in coaching circles. This past offseason, Lynn interviewed for a number of other gigs, including the 49ers and Dolphins head coaching jobs. If Lynn can help improve the Bills’ offense, he will be a top candidate for vacancies around the league in the spring.

The Browns, Rams, Buccaneers, and other clubs had interest in hiring Roman prior to the 2015 season, but Buffalo outbid them all. Roman came with the reputation as an offensive guru even though his play-calling was suspect towards the end of his tenure with the Niners.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: Murray, Morris, Bills, Dolphins

February 4th, 2016 at 3:26pm CST by Luke Adams

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com wrote earlier today that the Eagles and DeMarco Murray are headed toward a “stare-down” this offseason, but even though that may be the case, the running back likely isn’t going anywhere, says Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice.com. Rapoport’s report suggested that the Eagles hanging onto Murray is the most likely outcome, and Kempski goes into a little more detail explaining why that’s the case, despite the fact that it might not be the preferred outcome for both sides.

If Murray is released or traded at some point this year, it sounds like we can count Dez Bryant among those who would like to see the ex-Cowboy return to Dallas. “Come on home D.Moe,” Bryant wrote this afternoon in a tweet directed to Murray, Jason Witten, and Tony Romo.

  • Washington general manager Bruce Allen appears prepared to let Alfred Morris depart as a free agent this winter, as Liz Clarke of the Washington Post writes. “Free agency is going to be a great test for him,” Allen said of Morris, during an appearance on ESPN 980. “If he gets a great contract, we’re going to applaud him. If not, we’ll see what happens with us.”
  • The Bills don’t have a ton of cap flexibility this offseason, and are expected to simply focus on re-signing their own free agents rather than bringing in outside veterans. If the team needs to free up a little space though, it could potentially do so by extending the contract of cornerback Stephon Gilmore, lowering his $11.082MM cap number and ensuring that a talented player at a premium position remains in the fold. Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News explores the possibility – and the importance – of a Gilmore extension.
  • Bills offensive coordinator Greg Roman didn’t draw any head coaching interest this offseason, but veteran tight end Vernon Davis, who played under Roman in San Francisco, believes his former OC will make a “great head coach one day,” as Dunne writes in a separate Buffalo News piece.
  • With 2015 first-rounder DeVante Parker waiting in the wings to take Rishard Matthews‘ spot in the Dolphins‘ lineup, James Walker of ESPN.com believes it’s unlikely that the free agent receiver will re-sign with Miami, putting the odds at just 20%.

Coach Rumors: Gase, Giants, Roman, Saints

January 7th, 2016 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

Although nothing is scheduled yet, the Eagles remain interested in meeting with Adam Gase for a second time about their head coaching job, reports Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. A source familiar with Gase’s thinking tells McLane that the Bears‘ offensive coordinator came away from the eight-hour meeting with a “favorable opinion” of Eagles executive Howie Roseman.

With the Eagles and Dolphins both reportedly strongly considering Gase for their respective head coaching jobs, the Chicago OC is in the right place at the right time, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Florio suggests that Gase is particularly appealing to teams because he doesn’t appear to have much of an ego, meaning he’ll be more likely to stay in his lane and stick to coaching rather than pursuing any sort of other agenda.

While we wait to see where Gase lands, here are a few more of this afternoon’s coaching updates:

  • The Giants confirmed today in a press release that they’ve now interviewed defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo for their head coaching job, in addition to OC Ben McAdoo. New York’s interviews continue today, as the team meets with Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.
  • Bills offensive coordinator Greg Roman has received interest for head coaching roles in the past, but admits “it’s been pretty quiet on that front” this year, writes Mike Rodak of ESPN.com. During an appearance on WGR 550 in Buffalo, Roman said the lack of interest is “somewhat strange, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
  • While head coach Sean Payton is staying with the Saints, it looks like at least a couple of his assistants – secondary coach Wesley McGriff and quarterbacks coach Mike Neu – are headed for college jobs. Mike Triplett of ESPN.com has the details.
  • Former NFL head coach Brian Billick, writing for NFL.com, views the Giants‘ and Eagles‘ head coaching jobs as the two most appealing openings this offseason. The 49ers‘ and Browns‘ positions are the least appealing, in Billick’s view.
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