James Rowe

NFC North Notes: Lions, Jenkins, Udoh, Lowe

January 8th, 2023 at 3:46pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Lions enter Week 18 with a chance to head to the postseason for the first time since 2016, needing a win tonight and help from the Rams this afternoon. Securing a playoff spot would be a testament to their turnaround from a 1-6 start, owing in large part to the play of their offense.

On the other side of the ball, though, Detroit has struggled across the board. The Lions rank last in total defense and are tied for 29^th in the NFL in terms of points per game allowed (25.7). That has led to the expectation that a number of offseason moves aimed at shoring up the unit will be among their top priorities.

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press identifies the secondary as an area of particular focus with respect to improving on defense (subscription required). A number of starters on the backend (including cornerbacks Jeff Okudah and Jerry Jacobs, as well as safeties Kerby Joseph and Tracy Walker) are already on the books for next season, but many others could be headed elsewhere. Among the notable names of pending free agents is corner Amani Oruwariye, who seemed poised for an extension last spring but has not started a game since Week 8 this season amidst a shift to more of a special teams role. That included being benched in Week 5, a sign pointing to a parting of ways come the new league year.

Here are some other notes from around the NFC North:

The Packers took care of an important piece of business recently by extending o-lineman Elgton Jenkins on a four-year deal which could be worth up to $74MM. As a result of the new pact, Green Bay was able to adjust the 27-year-old’s base salary for this season, and reap financial benefits down the road. As Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel details (on Twitter), the Packers’ structuring of the deal will see Jenkins carry a cap hit of only $6.8MM in 2023, a season in which the team is projected to have very little financial wiggle room due to cap spikes from the deals such as those for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, left tackle David Bakhtiari and cornerback Jaire Alexander.
Jenkins has a new deal, and could wind up with a new position at some point. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said (via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, on Twitter) that the Pro Bowler could play at any spot along the o-line “down the road.” Jenkins has returned to his familiar left guard spot this year after adding to his time spent as a right tackle earlier in the campaign; he also has experience at center and left tackle dating back to previous seasons.
Oli Udoh had been facing misdemeanour charges stemming from an incident in October, but the Vikings guard is now in the clear. Odoh was charged with resisting an officer without violence and disorderly conduct after he was removed from a nightclub during the team’s bye week, but those charges have been dropped, as noted by ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. A statement from his attorney reads in part, “The video evidence and eyewitness testimony we presented to the prosecutor made clear that the allegations in the police report were completely fabricated and Oli was unlawfully arrested.” Udoh had been relegated to backup duty in 2022, but he could see starter’s snaps at right tackle moving forward in the absence of Brian O’Neill.
The Bears are set to lose a member of their coaching staff with the regular season coming to a close. Defensive backs coach James Rowe is leaving the team, per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin (Twitter link). This had been his first season in Chicago, after he had also spent time in similar roles with Washington and Indianapolis amidst several college stints. Rowe will head back to his alma mater, UCF, to serve as their new defensive passing game coordinator.

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.

Updates To Eberflus’ New Bears’ Staff

January 29th, 2022 at 7:12pm CST by Ely Allen

New head coach Matt Eberflus has wasted no time in starting to piece together his new coaching staff in Chicago.

The Colts’ former defensive coordinator will bring some familiar names with him from Indianapolis on the defensive side of the ball. According to Zak Keefer, of The Athletic, it’s been confirmed that linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi will follow Eberflus to Chicago to retain the same position. Borgonzi has played a crucial role in the development of players like Darius Leonard, Anthony Walker, and Bobby Okereke. Rumors have been circulating that cornerbacks coach James Rowe and defensive line coach Rod Marinelli could soon follow in Borgonzi’s footsteps.

On the offensive side of the ball, Eberflus will have to build a new system. We’ve already seen Eagles’ passing-game coordinator Kevin Patullo’s name surface as a potential coordinator, especially being a former coworker of the Bears’ new skipper in Indianapolis. We’ve also seen Packers’ quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy‘s name mentioned as the favorite candidate to land the coordinator job.

Still nothing has been announced, but Sanjay Lal, who has coached wide receivers for six different NFL teams, most recently in Jacksonville, is reportedly interviewing today for the offensive coordinator job, according to Jane Slater of NFL Network. A London-native, Lal started out coaching in a California high school for about six years before earning opportunities to coach at a few local colleges, culminating in a position as the quarterbacks coach at the University of California, Berkeley. Lal got his first NFL opportunity joining Lane Kiffin‘s Oakland Raiders staff in 2007 as a quality control coach, getting promoted to wide receivers coach in 2009. The journeyman coach then spent time as a wide receivers coach for the Jets, Bills, Colts, and Cowboys before not being retained in Dallas when Mike McCarthy took over. After spending a year as a senior offensive assistant in Seattle for a year, Lal got another chance to coach wide receivers for the Jaguars under Urban Meyer, where he spent the past season.

The only other offensive position we’ve heard about comes from Sports Mockery writer Erik Lambert who reports that Eberflus and the Bears will pursue Browns’ offensive line coach Bill Callahan. Callahan has coached a laundry list of Pro Bowl players over the years and has two connections to the Bears’ job. Firstly, he worked with Eberflus in Dallas for about three seasons, and, second, Callahan was born and raised in Chicago.

Two names have surfaced so far at the special teams coordinator position. Lambert mentions Raiders’ interim-head coach Rich Bisaccia as the favorite to take over the special teams unit in Chicago as it becomes less and less likely that he’ll be retained as the head ball coach in Las Vegas. The other name mentioned came from Jordan Raanan who covers the Giants for ESPN. Ranaan tweeted out that Giants’ special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey is scheduled to interview for the same position with the Bears tomorrow. McGaughey has already interviewed for the Chargers’ special teams coordinator job and has not ruled out remaining with the Giants.

It’s an impressive potential lineup for Eberflus as he attempts to put together his first full staff as a head coach. Updates should be expected shortly as all the names mentioned so far are no longer participating in the playoffs.

Coaching Notes: Eagles, STC, Bears, Seahawks, Colts

February 1st, 2021 at 5:37pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Nick Sirianni continues to flesh out his inaugural Eagles staff, and it’s a young one. The team has hired Michael Clay to be their special teams coordinator, they announced over the weekend. Clay, still only 29, has been the assistant special teams coordinator with the 49ers since 2016. Philly’s new offensive coordinator Shan Steichen is only 35, new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is only 37, and Sirianni himself is 39. As such, it may be the youngest staff in the league. Clay got his coaching start with the Eagles as an assistant under Chip Kelly. When Kelly was fired by the Eagles Clay went with him to San Francisco and was then retained by Kyle Shanahan after Kelly was fired there.

Here are more coaching notes from around the league:

The Bears recently promoted Sean Desai to defensive coordinator to replace the retiring Chuck Pagano, and now they’re adding to his staff. The team has hired Bill McGovern to be inside linebackers coach, a source told Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). McGovern coached in the college ranks for a couple decades, spending some time as Boston College’s defensive coordinator, before becoming a linebackers coach with the Eagles in 2013. He then was as a linebackers coach with the Giants from 2016-19.
The Seahawks hired Rams quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Shane Waldron to be their new OC after firing Brian Schottenheimer, and Waldron wasn’t the only one they poached from Sean McVay. Waldron is taking Andy Dickerson with him to be the run game coordinator in Seattle, the team announced. Dickerson had spent the past nine seasons as an assistant offensive line coach with the Rams.
Another addition to the Eagles’ staff, as they’ve hired Dennard Wilson to be their secondary coach, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com tweets. Wilson held the same position with the Jets most recently, and was also New York’s passing game coordinator. Philly will also be keeping wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead as a holdover from Doug Pederson’s staff, Geoff Mosher tweets, so there will at least be a little bit of continuity on offense.
To replace Gannon, who had been the Colts’ cornerbacks coach, Indy has hired James Rowe to fill the same role, according to Joel Erickson of the Indianapolis Star. Rowe was most recently the cornerbacks coach at Appalachian State, and had previously been an assistant with Washington.

Redskins Notes: Cousins, WRs, Baker, Staff

February 9th, 2017 at 6:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

Washington’s seen turnover on its coaching staff and has a potentially contentious negotiation with Kirk Cousins forthcoming. Here’s the latest emerging out of the nation’s capital, courtesy of the Washington Post’s Mike Jones.

The Redskins would prefer to keep Cousins on a long-term deal, with Jay Gruden “standing on the table” for the sixth-year quarterback. Jones notes, though, Cousins is “a little salty” and is well aware of the differing opinions on him that exist within the organization. There aren’t any indications the sides could be closer together on terms, and Jones adds a $24MM franchise tag looms as a high likelihood despite more than five months remaining until the extension deadline. A tag for Cousins basically ensures he’s not with the Redskins in 2018, Jones writes. A tag then — at 144 percent of his 2017 salary — would come out to roughly $35MM, and the quarterback in this scenario could see the Redskins as having no faith in him if a second tag is the reality come mid-July.
DeSean Jackson is likely to depart as a free agent, with Jones noting the deep threat is too inconsistent for the Redskins brass’ taste. The team has a higher opinion of fellow 30-year-old UFA Pierre Garcon, who has said he wants to stay in Washington. But with other teams seeking receiver help and many performers who could have been on the 2017 market (Emmanuel Sanders, Doug Baldwin, Allen Hurns, etc.) being extended, Garcon is one of the top pass-catchers available. That could complicate his return. The Redskins have not entered into negotiations with Garcon or Jackson, but that’s not necessarily seen as a deviation from the norm nor should it signal that neither wideout will return.
Washington hired James Rowe as its new assistant defensive backs coach, per Jones. This comes a day after the Redskins announced the hiring of Torrian Gray as their top secondary boss. Rowe comes straight out of the Division II ranks, having served as Valdosta State’s defensive coordinator in 2016.
Prior to moving toward Gray, the Redskins wanted now-Rams assistant Aubrey Pleasant to serve in Gray’s capacity. Money served as an issue that led to an irked Pleasant departing, with the move to Los Angeles coming after the Redskins previously blocked teams from interviewing their coveted assistant. Jones also notes league insiders wonder if Gray will be able to gel with some Redskins veterans who preferred Pleasant and avoid being given the “inflexible” tag previous secondary coach Perry Fewell was upon being fired along with DC Joe Barry.
Washington does not view defensive end Chris Baker as a high priority, instead being “lukewarm” on the lineman, Jones writes. He’s expected to want more than the Redskins are willing to pay. A Redskins starter for three seasons, Baker notched 10.5 sacks in 2015-16.