Kevin Carberry

Buccaneers Announce Finalized 2025 Coaching Staff

February 22nd, 2025 at 5:11pm CST by Ely Allen

With former offensive coordinator Liam Coen departing for his first head coaching role in Jacksonville, there was bound to be some changes along the Buccaneers coaching staff. Todd Bowles and company announced all their planned changes for the staff yesterday, and we’ll break them down here.

We already knew that, with Coen out, Josh Grizzard was promoted to offensive coordinator. Hiring an internal candidate into the role allowed Tampa Bay to retain several assistants, as well. After being interviewed for the offensive coordinator job in Houston that went to Nick Caley, quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis was retained to his position, as were running backs coach Skip Peete, wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon, tight ends coach Justin Peelle, and offensive consultant Tom Moore. We’ve also already reported on the hiring of Kefense Hynson to fill Grizzard’s role as pass game coordinator and the promotion of Brian Picucci from assistant offensive line coach to offensive line coach.

The unreported changes to the staff see Jordan Somerville, who has served as assistant quarterbacks coach for the team, add the role of pass game specialist to his existing responsibilities. Additionally, former offensive quality control coach Jeff Kastl has been promoted to assistant tight ends coach. Lastly on offense, we had reported initially that former offensive line coach Kevin Carberry had added the assistant head coach title to his duties, but the team’s announcement grants him the additional title of run game coordinator instead.

On defense, where Bowles acts as a sort of de facto coordinator, only a few changes were necessary. Cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross, safeties coach Nick Rapone, assistant secondary coach Tim Atkins, and defensive quality control coach Joey Fitzgerald all return to their same roles for 2025, and we’ve already reported on the addition of Charlie Strong as defensive line coach, replacing Kacy Rodgers who departed for the same role in Detroit. We also reported that former pass game coordinator/inside linebackers coach Larry Foote would be retained after interviewing for the Lions defensive coordinator job that went to internal candidate Kelvin Sheppard in Detroit, but today’s announcement tells us that both titles have changed for Foote as he will now serve as run game coordinator/outside linebackers coach.

With Foote taking outside linebacker duties, former outside linebackers coach George Edwards will now serve as pass game coordinator after being mentioned as a defensive coordinator candidate in New Orleans. Taking Foote’s inside linebackers coaching role will be Mike Caldwell, who was hired for the job after not being retained by the Raiders this offseason. Lastly on defense, Rashad Johnson, the former NFL safety who served as defensive assistant last year, has been promoted to serve alongside Atkins as assistant secondary coach.

No changes were required on special teams, where Thomas McGaughey and Keith Tandy return as special teams coordinator and defensive/special teams assistant, respectively.

That will be the 2025 coaching staff for the Buccaneers. Bowles and Grizzard did a good job retaining a decent number of staffers, utilizing a few promotions where necessary, and filled out the holes effectively. They’ll hope to bring back similar success to take them to the postseason for the sixth season in a row.

Coaching Notes: Faulk, Del Rio, Ryan, Bucs

February 7th, 2025 at 5:33pm CST by Sam Robinson

His Cowboys and Raiders connections in the past, Deion Sanders is still at the controls at Colorado following his son’s exit for the draft. The Hall of Fame cornerback is hiring one of his Canton brethren to coach running backs. Buffaloes backs will be taking instruction from Marshall Faulk next season, the school announced. This will be Faulk’s first foray into college coaching. A superstar at San Diego State in the early 1990s, Faulk enjoyed a Hall of Fame run with the Colts and Rams, winning a Super Bowl and an MVP award in successive seasons. He had enjoyed a lengthy tenure on the media side following his career, but the 51-year-old RB legend will join Sanders’ staff. Faulk’s addition makes Colorado a three-Hall of Famer staff, as Warren Sapp remains as a quality control analyst.

Here is the latest from the coaching ranks:

After being fired from his Commanders post late in the 2023 season, Jack Del Rio was not in the NFL this past season. The veteran DC and two-time HC will resurface in an unexpected place. He is taking over as head coach of the Paris Musketeers of the European League of Football. The league has been in existence since fall 2020, and the Paris franchise has played two seasons. Del Rio had coached in the NFL from 1997-2017 but took two seasons off before Ron Rivera hired him in Washington. The team did sport two top-seven defenses under Del Rio, but his last Commanders unit fell to 32nd at the time of his firing. Del Rio, 61, spent last season as an advisor to Wisconsin HC Luke Fickell.
Staying with well-known NFL staffers leaving the league, USC has hired Rob Ryan as linebackers coach. Ryan had been onboard as a senior defensive assistant for the Raiders since 2022. Ryan, 62, enjoyed two tours with the Raiders, having been their DC from 2004-08. The four-time NFL DC has not coached at the college level since being Oklahoma State’s DC in the late 1990s.
Out of the NFL since a two-year Texans stay ended in January 2023, Pep Hamilton will return to coaching in a prominent role. Maryland has hired the veteran assistant as its OC, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. An NFL Network contributor, Hamilton had other options, per Rapoport, but will join his son Jackson with the Terrapins. A high school QB, Jackson Hamilton signed with Maryland in December. Coaching Justin Herbert and Andrew Luck in the pros, Pep Hamilton previously coached in college under Jim Harbaugh at Stanford and Michigan.
Moving back to current NFL staffs, the Buccaneers have given title bumps to the two coaches they blocked from Jaguars interviews. Kevin Carberry added an assistant HC title to go with his O-line duties, while the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud adds assistant O-line coach Brian Picucci is now in position as O-line coach. The Bucs’ setup seemingly remains the same, but as they have long been reported not to be open to allowing Liam Coen to poach anyone under contract, his two initial targets will be taken care of.
The Giants are adding ex-NFL cornerback Jeff Burris to work as their CBs coach, Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz tweets. The former NFL starter has been a college assistant in recent years, working at both Louisiana and Louisiana Tech since 2018. He previously spent three seasons as the Dolphins’ assistant DBs coach, being a Joe Philbin hire in 2013.

NFC South Notes: Bucs, Brooks, Saints

January 30th, 2025 at 2:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

As the post-Super Bowl LV offseason showed and last year reaffirmed, the Buccaneers are high on retaining talent. Those waves of re-signings and extensions involved numerous core players staying, and last year’s effort included Mike Evans re-signing on a third contract. Evans’ deal preceded the Bucs drafting Jalen McMillan in the third round. Tasked with a bigger role after Chris Godwin‘s season-ending ankle injury, McMillan impressed down the stretch — to the point the Bucs could use a rookie-contract wideout to replace their longtime WR2. But it does not appear Tampa Bay has given up on keeping their long-running wideout tandem intact.

Multiple execs informed ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler they expect the Bucs to attempt to re-sign Godwin, who played out a three-year, $60MM deal. Tampa Bay had twice franchise-tagged Godwin, giving him an extension in 2022, but has seen him suffer two major injuries. Then again, the Bucs re-upped the talented Evans sidekick — the second-leading receiver in franchise history — months after an ACL tear. Godwin, 28, would stand to have a nice market if he hit free agency for the first time. The Bucs have until March 10 to prevent that, but the team has also done very well — as the Shaquil Barrett, Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean deals show — to re-sign players even if they do test the market.

Here is the latest from the NFC South:

After Liam Coen avoided contact with Bucs brass during his secret negotiations with the Jaguars, a report indicated Tampa Bay was unlikely to do its former OC any favors regarding assistant coaches. The Bucs are not prepared to let contracted staffers follow Coen to Jacksonville, and ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes the team blocked O-line coach Kevin Carberry from interviewing for the same position with the Jags. Carberry worked with Coen in Los Angeles and came to Tampa last year, but unless a promotion to OC would be in the offing, the Bucs can block interview requests involving assistants.
Jonathon Brooks re-tore the right ACL he injured in college, and the Panthers running back is not expected to be ready to start the 2025 season. The 2024 second-round pick may not factor prominently into that campaign. Brooks underwent surgery last week, per The Athletic’s Joe Person, who adds the Panthers hope the running back would be ready to return before season’s end. A definitive timeline is not yet in place, but Carolina will not be expecting an Adrian Peterson-like recovery from a player who now has sustained two ACL tears since November 2023. It took Brooks until November 24 to debut for the Panthers. He suffered the latest tear Dec. 8. Two years of Brooks’ four-year rookie contract figure to be dominated by missed time.
Chris Olave suffered two concussions during the season; the second knocked him out for the Saints‘ eight games. The former first-round pick visited specialists, and while he did not don a game uniform again, he did return to practice. Olave said he is now symptom-free, per ESPN.com’s Katherine Terrell, and ready for a full offseason. That represents good news for a Saints team searching for a new head coach. One year remains on Olave’s rookie contract, though the Saints can extend it through 2025 by exercising the Ohio State alum’s fifth-year option by May.
Cam Jordan wants to play a 15th NFL season, but something might have to give in order for that to happen. The Saints used Jordan as an inside defender on 22.7% of his snaps last season, Terrell notes, and Jordan wants to come back exclusively as a D-end. The decorated sack artist’s production has declined in recent years. After totaling at least 7.5 sacks every season from 2012-22, Jordan registered four in 2024 — after a two-sack 2023. Jordan is due a $12.5MM base salary in his contract year, but as one of the many Saints prior restructures, this contract contains four void years. It would cost New Orleans $23.9MM in dead money to dump Jordan ahead of his age-36 season.

Buccaneers Hire Thomas McGaughey As ST Coordinator

February 7th, 2024 at 10:00pm CST by Ely Allen

After the Giants fired long-time special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey a month ago, the veteran coach became a hot name around the league for different vacancies. After interviewing at a few other spots, McGaughey will reportedly land with the Buccaneers as their new special teams coordinator, per Jordan Raanan of ESPN.

The Buccaneers spared no effort in their attempts to find Keith Armstrong‘s replacement. On the day the team interviewed McGaughey, the Buccaneers also confirmed an interview with former Titans special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman, according to Buccaneers senior writer/editor Scott Smith. Smith also reported that Tampa Bay gave defensive/special teams assistant Keith Tandy an opportunity to interview for the coordinator job, as well. Seahawks special teams coach Larry Izzo also was confirmed to have interviewed, per Smith.

Interview reports continued to roll in over the last two days, with Aditi Kinkhabwala of CBS Sports posting that Saints assistant special teams coach Phil Galiano would get to interview for a potential return to Tampa Bay, where he coached back from 2012-13. Jenna Laine of ESPN unveiled the most recent interviewee yesterday to be University of Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods.

McGaughey is a respected special teams veteran who has spent significant time coaching at the college and professional level. After starting as a graduate assistant at the University of Houston, McGaughey first broke into the NFL as a Bill Walsh Minority Fellow for the Chiefs in 2001. He earned the assistant special teams coordinator job the following year but left in 2003 to become the special teams coordinator back at his alma mater in Houston.

After two years back with the Cougars, McGaughey returned to the NFL for assistant special teams coordinator jobs with the Broncos and Giants. Once again, he would depart for a coordinator gig at the collegiate level, this time heading to LSU. After three years in Baton Rouge, McGaughey finally got his first NFL coordinator position with the Jets in 2014. He followed that up with a one-year stint in the same position for the 49ers and a two-year stint with the Panthers.

In 2018, McGaughey returned for his second job with the Giants, this time as the official special teams coordinator. He held the position for six years despite multiple hurdles along the way. The position group he inherited was a mess, he was diagnosed with periampullary cancer in 2020, and injuries decimated his unit this past season, leading to his eventual dismissal.

Despite the poor results at times in New York, many teams were interested as soon as he became available. McGaughey interviewed for the job in New England and was an interviewee in Tennessee, as well, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. In the end, though, he’ll end up replacing Armstrong, who made the move to retire a little over a week ago after five years in Tampa Bay.

The team made two other adjustments to their staff in the last few days. Dan Graziano of ESPN reported that Saints assistant offensive line coach Kevin Carberry would be joining the Buccaneers staff as the team’s new offensive line coach. Additionally, defensive assistant Mike Chiurco, who previously served as assistant to the head coach under Bruce Arians, is no longer with the team, per Greg Auman of The Athletic.

NFC South Notes: Bucs, QBs, Maye, Panthers

February 15th, 2023 at 10:26am CST by Sam Robinson

Tom Brady‘s retirement shoved the Buccaneers‘ void-years bill to 2023, and the $35.1MM cap hit will complicate the team’s plans to replace the all-time great. Tampa Bay is more than $55MM over the cap, as of Wednesday, and has upper-crust cornerback Jamel Dean on track for free agency. While the rest of the NFC South is being connected to quarterbacks, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweets the Bucs should not be considered players for top-tier QB free agents. This would include Jimmy Garoppolo and almost definitely Derek Carr, and while Stroud adds the team will look at the market, the Bucs’ price range could be considered in the midlevel area.

Former second-rounder Kyle Trask, whom Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes Bucs players are high on as a player who can compete for the starting job (after two years in development), is the only quarterback left on the roster. The team holds the No. 19 overall pick. Here is the latest from the NFC South:

The Saints have been the team most closely connected to Carr. They will need to complete their usual batch of winter restructures to be in position to pay him, though there are not as many avenues available to the crafty organization compared to recent years. But the Saints started their path to cap compliance Wednesday. They restructured Marcus Maye‘s deal, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. By moving $6.07MM of Maye’s salary into a signing bonus, the team created $4.85MM in cap space. Baby steps. The Saints are still more than $50MM over the cap.
Another Matt Rhule-era hire is no longer with the Panthers. The team parted ways with VP of player personnel Pat Stewart, Joe Person of The Athletic tweets. Stewart, who worked with Rhule at both Western Carolina and Temple, joined the Panthers in 2020.
New Panthers HC Frank Reich will bring in ex-Rams assistant Jonathan Cooley, Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic tweets. Cooley is set to join the Panthers as their defensive backs coach. He and new Carolina DC Ejiro Evero worked together in Los Angeles, with the Rams promoting Cooley after Evero left for Denver last year. The Rams, despite blocking Cooley from interviewing with the Vikings in 2022, fired him just after this past season ended.
Another Rams staffer fired along with Cooley in January will catch on in the NFC South. The Saints are hiring Kevin Carberry to be their assistant offensive line coach, Yates adds (on Twitter). Carberry served as the Rams’ offensive line coach during their Super Bowl LVI-winning 2021 season and last year. He will replace Zach Strief, who is now the Broncos’ O-line coach.
When Ryan Jensen went down during a July practice, he tore his MCL and PCL fully but only partially tore his ACL. This allowed for the veteran Buccaneers center to avoid surgery, Dan Pompei of Athletic notes (subscription required). Jensen also suffered meniscus damage, per Pompei, who adds retirement was a consideration for the injured blocker. Jensen took out a $5MM insurance policy in the event of a career-ending injury. A stem cell treatment in Antigua, however, made a difference in Jensen’s recovery. The 31-year-old blocker managed to make it back to practice late in the season and played in Tampa Bay’s wild-card loss to Dallas. Two years remain on Jensen’s three-year, $39MM contract.
Eddy Pineiro came to Charlotte as a Zane Gonzalez replacement, but the ex-Bears kicker fared well. Pineiro made 33 of 35 field goals, including a 15-for-16 mark from beyond 40 yards, and Person views him as the most likely Panthers kicker in 2023. Gonzalez suffered a preseason quad injury, leading to a full-season IR stay. The Rhule signee is under contract through 2023, while Pineiro is a free agent. But the latter has ties to special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, whom Person adds Reich is retaining. Tabor coached Pineiro in Chicago as well.

Rams Part Ways With ST Coordinator Joe DeCamillis, OL Coach Kevin Carberry, Others

January 18th, 2023 at 4:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

Sean McVay‘s return for a seventh season was believed to trigger staff changes, and the Rams are moving in that direction Wednesday. The team dismissed five assistants, including special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

The Rams also parted ways with offensive line coach Kevin Carberry, defensive backs coach Jonathan Cooley and assistants Skyler Jones and assistant Lance Schulters, Yates adds. With offensive coordinator Liam Coen having left recently, the Rams now have extensive work to do on finalizing their 2023 staff. McVay informed the staffers of the decisions shortly after recommitting to the team late last week, Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic tweets. The team also will not bring back linebackers coach Thad Bogardus, Rodrigue adds (via Twitter), noting Bogardus’ contract was up.

All but one of these coaches, Jones being the exception, was on Los Angeles’ staff during the team’s Super Bowl LVI-winning season. Following the Rams’ 5-12 2022 campaign — the worst record by a defending Super Bowl champion and by far the worst mark under McVay — the team will reassemble its staff. An NFL special teams coach since the late 1980s, DeCamillis joined the Rams in 2021. Carberry and Schulters came aboard then as well, with Cooley having been on staff since 2020. DeCamillis, who has been an ST coach role for the past 35 seasons, collected a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos in 2015.

This marked Carberry’s first run as an NFL team’s top O-line coach. He had worked as an assistant O-line coach in Washington, serving under then-Washington OC McVay during the first of those seasons (2016). Pro Football Focus rated L.A.’s O-line 25th. Then again, the Rams dealt with rampant health trouble up front. Following third-round rookie Logan Bruss‘ ACL tear, the Rams struggled to keep almost all of their O-linemen healthy. That obviously affected the team’s offense, which ranked 32nd in yardage — miles below any other McVay-coached Rams season.

Bogardus had been with the Rams throughout McVay’s tenure, working with both the D-line and linebackers under McVay. Cooley became the Rams’ replacement for Ejiro Evero last year, moving from the quality control level into a gig as the team’s top DBs coach. Evero did not hold the Rams’ DBs coach title until his fifth and final year with the team. McVay had previously blocked Cooley from an interview to join Kevin O’Connell‘s Vikings staff last year, and Rodrigue notes a dismissal now caught some among the team by surprise (Twitter link). Formerly a long-tenured NFL safety, Schulters worked as a Rams fellow in 2021 but became a defensive assistant this season. Jones was the team’s assistant defensive line coach, coming aboard in 2022 after a stay as Norfolk State’s D-line coach.

Prior to McVay informing Rams brass he would return, the team indicated it would not block its position coaches from interviewing for jobs elsewhere. The Rams will now have to replace two of their three coordinators — potentially all three if DC Raheem Morris lands a head coaching job — this offseason. The team had already lost running backs coach Ra’Sheed Samples, who took a job at Arizona State.

Coaching Notes: Giants, Rams, Ravens

February 21st, 2021 at 5:33pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Giants have added a big name to Joe Judge’s second staff. New York has officially hired Jeremy Pruitt to be a defensive assistant, the team announced. Pruitt is coming off a high profile job after serving as the head coach at Tennessee the past three seasons. He was fired by the University last month as part of a housecleaning after an investigation found major recruiting violations took place. A former Nick Saban protege who was the defensive coordinator at Alabama before taking the Tennessee job, Pruitt has never coached in the NFL before. Judge was a special teams assistant at Alabama from 2009-11 while Pruitt was on staff, so there’s some familiarity here.

Here’s more from the coaching ranks on a quiet Sunday:

The Rams parted ways with highly regarded offensive line coach and run game coordinator Aaron Kromer a few days ago, and they aren’t wasting any time replacing him. Los Angeles will hire Kevin Carberry to be their new O-line coach, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). The speed with which Sean McVay made this move would seem to indicate it had been in the works for a while. Carberry was the run game coordinator at Stanford before taking this gig. As Pelissero points out, Carberry was on staff in Washington with McVay. He was Washington’s assistant O-line coach under OC McVay in 2016.
Those two coaches are leaving the college ranks for the pros, but we’ve also got a pro to college to pass along. Ravens running backs coach Matt Weiss is leaving to become the quarterbacks coach at Michigan, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Weiss will go from coaching under John Harbaugh to his brother Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. As running backs coach in Baltimore the past two years, Weiss helped orchestrate one of the best ground games in the league.
The Steelers are undergoing a lot of change this offseason, including to Mike Tomlin’s staff. He’ll have a new secondary coach in 2021, as the team has hired Grady Brown to fill that role, they announced. He’s been the defensive coordinator at small schools McNeese State and Old Dominion in recent years. This is his first full-time coaching gig in the NFL.

East Notes: Cowboys, Cable, ASJ, Redskins

January 14th, 2018 at 3:22pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Having fired Frank Pollack last week, the Cowboys are casting a wide net as they search for a coach to lead an offensive line that was considered the NFL’s best as recently as 2016. Dallas has already interviewed former Bengal OL coach Paul Alexander last week, while incumbent Cowboys assistant offensive line coach Marc Colombo is reportedly “in the mix” for the vacancy, according to Todd Archer of ESPN.com. Meanwhile, Dallas had interest in meeting with former Seahawks OL coach Tom Cable before he was hired by the Raiders, but no formal interview was ever arranged, per Archer, who adds the Cowboys also plan to meet with Giants offensive line coach Mike Solari.

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

In addition to finding a new offensive line coach, the Cowboys are also looking for a new coach to head up the club’s wide receivers. Former Colts wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal is interviewing to replace Derek Dooley, who was fired last week, as Archer reports. Lal, 48, originally joined the NFL ranks with the Raiders in 2007, and has since coached wideouts for Oakland, New York, and Buffalo. At present, the only other candidate to interview for the Cowboys’ WRs coach job is former Dallas pass-catcher Miles Austin, who is currently a scout for Dallas but has never coached in the NFL.
While the Jets have interest in re-signing pending free agent tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, general manager Mike Maccagnan & Co. have no intent of “going crazy” to retain the 25-year-old, as Rich Cimini of ESPN.com writes. Seferian-Jenkins, a former second-round pick who has overcome substance abuse issues, posted the best season of his career in 2017 by posting 50 receptions for 357 yards and three scores. While ASJ did tail off near the end of the year (he managed only 11 catches for 69 yards in New York’s final five games), his age and pedigree should allow him to garner a multi-year pact.
Stanford has hired former Redskins assistant offensive line coach Kevin Carberry as its new run game coordinator and offensive line coach, tweets Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports. To replace Carberry, Washington has inked ex-Broncos assistant Phil Rauscher as its next assistant OL coach, per Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post (Twitter link).

Staff Notes: 49ers, Washington, Rams, Cowboys, Vikes

February 17th, 2016 at 4:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

The latest coaching staff updates from around the NFL:

The 49ers’ Chip Kelly is hiring Dana Bible as a senior advisor, according to ESPN’s Adam Caplan (Twitter link). Bible’s last NFL experience came as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator in 1998. He hasn’t worked since 2012, when he was an assistant at North Carolina State.
Washington has hired Kevin Carberry as assistant offensive line coach and Shane Waldron as offensive quality control, Tarik El-Bashir of CSNMidAtlantic.com tweets.
The Rams hired former Georgia tight ends coach John Lilly to the same position, sources tell Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
The Cowboys are hiring Michigan defensive backs coach Greg Jackson to coach the safeties while Joe Baker will coach cornerbacks, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
The Vikings have named Brent Salazar their strength and conditioning coach, Chris Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. Salazar was previously the Chiefs’ assistant strength coach for nine seasons. He’s replacing the fired Evan Marcus in Minnesota.

Connor Byrne contributed to this post.