Lunda Wells

Cowboys Block Commanders From Interviews With Al Harris, Lunda Wells

February 8th, 2024 at 8:35am CST by Sam Robinson

Dan Quinn has agreed to bring Joe Whitt with him to Washington, moving the former Dallas secondary coach up to defensive coordinator. The Cowboys are not allowing their former DC to poach other assistants for lesser roles.

The Cowboys have now prevented the Commanders from interviewing two of their staffers. They are blocking the Commanders from interviewing defensive backs coach Al Harris, ESPN.com’s Todd Archer tweets. This comes after the team nixed a Washington meeting with tight ends coach Lunda Wells, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport.

Quinn sought Wells as his next offensive line coach, per Rapoport. Wells, 40, was in place as the Cowboys’ tight ends coach before Quinn arrived in 2021. Mike McCarthy hired Wells in 2020; he previously worked on the Giants’ staff under multiple head coaches.

Harris, 49, also predates Quinn in Dallas. McCarthy brought the former cornerback in as his DBs coach in 2020 as well. Harris had previously worked as a six-year Chiefs assistant under Andy Reid, making a transition into the coaching ranks after a lengthy playing career.

Harris has drawn consideration for the Cowboys’ DC post, but in the days since his name emerged in that mix, the Cowboys have interviewed bigger names. Ron Rivera, Mike Zimmer and Rex Ryan have met with the team about its defensive play-calling gig. They join D-line coach Aden Durde and Jets safeties coach Marquand Manuel in the mix for that position. Whitt was believed to be the Cowboys’ initial DC choice, but he opted to follow Quinn elsewhere in the NFC East.

The NFL has moved to prevent teams from blocking staffers at moves to the coordinator ranks in recent years, but while the team could not block Whitt from leaving for Washington (a move that is now official), clubs can still prevent assistants under contract from making lateral moves. Whitt will call the Commanders’ defensive plays, putting Quinn in place as a CEO coach in Washington.

The Cowboys are not standing in the way of multiple other assistants following Quinn, however. They will not nix Commanders interviews with assistant defensive line coach Sharrif Floyd or quality control staffer Pete Ohnegian, Archer adds. A former first-round Vikings draftee, Floyd joined McCarthy’s Cowboys staff in 2023.

Cowboys Make Staff Changes

February 8th, 2020 at 3:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

In announcing their coaching staff, the Cowboys revealed more new names coming to join Mike McCarthy in his first season.

Although this offseason featured a few ex-Cowboys assistants going to New York to follow Jason Garrett, McCarthy hired former Giants staffer Lunda Wells to be his tight ends coach. Wells joins assistant offensive line coach Jeff Blasko and first-year coach Scott Tolzien as the latest additions to McCarthy’s first Dallas staff.

However, the most notable move may be a holdover changing roles. Doug Nussmeier will move from tight ends coach to leading the Cowboys’ quarterbacks.

This marks a notable promotion for the two-year tight ends coach, but this new position will mark a return to the kind of responsibilities the longtime college assistant enjoyed. Nussmeier served as QBs coach and offensive coordinator at several major college programs — Washington, Alabama, Michigan and Florida among them — from 2009-17. In between, he served as the Rams’ QBs coach under Scott Linehan from 2006-07. Linehan helped bring Nussmeier to Dallas before the 2018 season.

The Cowboys retained Kellen Moore as their OC, and Nussmeier’s role with the franchise grew last year after the team transitioned from Linehan to Moore in that job. Nussmeier was also a candidate to be Dallas’ OC. His rise within the organization continues, with McCarthy tabbing Moore and Nussmeier to be his top voices on the offensive side of the ball. Nussmeier, 49, will replace Jon Kitna as QBs coach.

Set to move into Nussmeier’s previous role, Wells spent the past eight seasons with the Giants — seven of those coaching Big Blue’s offensive line or tight ends. Blasko worked under James Campen in Cleveland last year. Blasko worked with McCarthy in Green Bay.

Given starts with the Packers and Colts, prior to a stay in the Alliance of American Football, Tolzien will transition to coaching. The 32-year-old ex-quarterback spent three seasons with McCarthy in Green Bay before moving to Indianapolis to be one of Andrew Luck‘s backups in 2016.

East Notes: Giants, Foles, Patriots

January 28th, 2018 at 9:46am CST by Rory Parks

New Giants head coach Pat Shurmur and GM Dave Gettleman — in stark contract to their predecessors at this time last year — recognize that Big Blue needs to make significant improvements to its O-line in order to return to contention in 2018, as Paul Schwartz of the New York Post writes. Schwartz views the rapid improvement that the Vikings’ O-line made from 2016 to 2017, in large part due to heavy free agent and draft investment, as an indication that New York will be able to make a similar jump under Shurmur.

Justin Pugh and Weston Richburg are unrestricted free agents and there is no guarantee that either will be re-signed, John Jerry can be cut without many salary cap implications, and the new regime has no connection to Ereck Flowers, so the Giants’ line will be in for a major overhaul, and Schwartz thinks Shurmur is the right man to lead that change.

Now for more notes from the league’s east divisions:

Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets that Shurmur was able to retain Giants assistant offensive line coach Lunda Wells, who also garnered interest from the Raiders and other teams. New York will promote Wells to tight ends coach. In addition, the team is expected to retain RB coach Craig Johnson, per Schwartz (via Twitter).
Carson Wentz believes he will be ready for the start of the 2018 season, which is already leading to speculation as to what the Eagles will do with Nick Foles, who has guided the team to a berth in Super Bowl LII in Wentz’s absence. Jimmy Kempski of the PhillyVoice says the team’s medical staff also believes Wentz will be available when Week 1 of the 2018 season rolls around, and Foles will count for $7.6MM against the cap in 2018, the last year of his current deal. Rather than let Foles leave in free agency after 2018, Kempski speculates that Philadelphia could trade Foles to a QB-needy team this offseason. Of course, the Eagles have the luxury of simply holding onto one of the best backups in the league if they do not get an offer they like.
Patriots QB Tom Brady had an appointment earlier this week to remove the 12 stitches on his throwing hand that he played with in the AFC Championship Game last Sunday, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Brady is expected to be fully healthy for Super Bowl LII.
James Harrison has given the Patriots‘ defense a nice boost since joining the team on December 26, and the 39-year-old said he does not intend to retire at the end of the season. Per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, Harrison says he may want to play for up to two more years.
Assuming the Jets are not able to land Josh Rosen or Sam Darnold in this year’s draft, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com believes Gang Green would prefer Josh Allen over Baker Mayfield (Twitter link). Although Allen may be more raw than Rosen or Darnold, some believe he has the highest ceiling of any signal-caller in the draft.