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John Donovan

NFC Rumors: Toney, Packers, Hainsey, Ragnow

April 23rd, 2022 at 7:42pm CST by Ely Allen

With the news early this morning that Giants wide receiver Kadarius Toney is on the trading block after only one season in New York, questions have arisen about the value Toney commands. According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, interest in Toney covers the gamut across the NFL.

Howe reports that some teams have absolutely no interest, while other teams believe that giving him a chance to develop in their system will allow his talent and ability to shine. Toney showed explosive ability in college at Florida, scoring on big plays and showing elite ability after the catch. The Giants looked past several off-field concerns during his time in Gainesville when drafting Toney at 20th overall. Unfortunately for New York, Toney’s off-field issues continued into Year One of his NFL career.

Howe thinks that New York has potentially been trying to move Toney for a while now with little success. He posits that the upcoming 2022 NFL Draft will create some urgency either for receiver-needy teams looking for a young boost to their pass-catching group or for New York to accept a lesser price to get any value out of their failed first-round experiment from 2021.

Here are some other rumors from around the NFC, starting with a new name in Green Bay:

  • According to the Packers’ website, Green Bay finalized their staff this week with the addition of John Donovan as a senior analyst. After 19 years in college football culminating in offensive coordinator jobs at Vanderbilt and Penn State, Donovan first entered the NFL as an offensive quality control coach for the Jaguars. He left Jacksonville to return to college for the offensive coordinator job at the University of Washington. After two years in that role, Donovan will give the NFL another try, this time in Green Bay.
  • Former third-round pick Robert Hainsey played offensive tackle at Notre Dame before working through his rookie year in Tampa Bay at center. Greg Auman of The Athletic believes Hainsey could split the difference and compete for a starting job at guard this year. With Ali Marpet retiring and Alex Cappa signing in the offseason with the Bengals, the Buccaneers will need to replace both spots. They addressed one position, signing former-Patriots guard Shaq Mason to slot in at right guard. They also re-signed Aaron Stinnie who has been a reliable backup in Tampa Bay, but has only started one game in his four-year career. Expect Hainsey to get a chance to compete for the starting spot this offseason.
  • After suffering a season-ending toe injury in a Week 4 loss to the Bears last season, the Lions have reported that Frank Ragnow is feeling strong, healthy, and ready to return to his role as a leader in the middle of the Lions’ offensive line. The Lions will look forward to getting Ragnow back to lead an impressive-sounding group that includes Jonah Jackson, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Taylor Decker, and Penei Sewell.

South Rumors: Colts, Panthers, Bucs, Saints

January 16th, 2019 at 9:54pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Colts parted ways with offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo earlier this week, a move which raised eyebrows around the NFL given the excellent play of Indianapolis’ front five in 2018. Head coach Frank Reich is reportedly searching for his “own guy” to coach the position, while the Colts also want someone who is “stronger at teaching fundamentals,” according to Stephen Holder of The Athletic (Twitter link). DeGuglielmo is more of a motivator than an instructor, per Holder. Either way, the Colts’ 2018 results are hard to dispute, as they ranked as a top-five club in both adjusted line yards and adjusted sack rate per Football Outsiders., while DeGuglielmo has historically performed well wherever he’s gone, according to research done by Justis Mosqueda of Optimum Scouting.

Here’s more from the NFL’s two South divisions:

  • The Panthers have hired Bills/Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell as their new defensive backs coach, the club announced. Fewell, who served as Buffalo’s interim head coach for seven games in 2009, worked with Carolina coach head coach Ron Rivera in Chicago in 2005. The Panthers still have Richard Rodgers in place as a secondary coach, but they’ve lost multiple defensive backs coach within the past year. Curtis Fuller resigned as the team’s secondary coach last summer, while assistant Jeff Imamura was fired as part of a housecleaning in early December.
  • Former Steelers wideout Antwaan Randle El will join the Buccaneers‘ coaching staff as an offensive assistant, the club announced today. New Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians coached Randle El — who is now embarking on his first NFL coaching gig — for one season (2010) with the Steelers. Kacy Rodgers, whose role with Tampa was up in the air, is officially the team’s defensive line coach, while former Browns special teams coordinator Amos Jones is in tow as assistant ST coach.
  • In addition to announcing the hiring of new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, the Jaguars have made a number of other coaching moves. Jason Rebrovich has been promoted to defensive line coach, Joe Danna is now Jacksonville’s safeties coach, and John Donovan was promoted to assistant running backs coach.
  • Before signing veteran defensive lineman Tyrunn Walker to help replace Sheldon Rankins, the Saints also worked out fellow DLs Jarvis Jenkins, Chris Okoye, and Sealver Siliga, tweets Field Yates of ESPN.com. The Colts also held a late season audition, taking a look at linebacker Richard Jarvis, per veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer (Twitter link).

Jaguars Notes: Kiffin, Draft, Hurns, Beachum

March 21st, 2016 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jaguars made a big-name addition to their coaching staff today, formally announcing that veteran NFL coach Monte Kiffin would be joining the team as a defensive assistant. Kiffin, formerly the defensive coordinator in Dallas, Tampa Bay, New Orleans, and Minnesota, served in 2014 and 2015 as an assistant head coach for the Cowboys. In 2016, he’ll work with a unit that will be adding Malik Jackson, Prince Amukamara, and 2015 first-rounder Dante Fowler Jr., among others.

Here’s more on the Jaguars:

  • In addition to hiring Kiffin, the Jaguars also announced a couple more coaching changes, adding John Benton as assistant offensive line coach and John Donovan as offensive quality control coach.
  • GM Dave Caldwell is open to the idea of moving down in the draft, suggesting to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union that he’d be willing to go from No. 5 overall to “somewhere in the early teens.” Caldwell’s comments suggest that the Jags probably feel the top of the draft is fairly deep, and that the team will keep an eye out for opportunities to add another early pick.
  • Caldwell acknowledged that the Jaguars may look into a contract extension for wide receiver Allen Hurns this offseason now that he’s eligible for a new deal. “I think we’ll wait until after the draft to see where we’re at,” Caldwell said, per O’Halloran. “And if we did anything, it would be before the season.” I’d be surprised if Jacksonville gets anything done with Hurns this year, since he won’t be eligible for unrestricted free agency until 2018.
  • Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle provides several details on the Kelvin Beachum contract (all Twitter links). The deal is worth $5MM in year one, with a $2.5MM salary and up to $1MM in per-game roster bonuses. $1.5MM of that $5MM comes in the form of a guaranteed roster bonus. After the 2016 season, the Jaguars will have until 22 days prior to the start of the 2017 league year to decide whether or not to exercise Beachum’s $5MM option bonus for 2017-2020, when his salaries would range from $7.5MM to $10MM.