Phil McGeoghan - Pro Football Rumors

Bills Interview Ex-Titans OC Terry Robiskie

February 13th, 2018 at 6:19pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Bills have interviewed former Titans offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie for their now vacant wide receivers position, according to Alex Marvez of the Sporting News (Twitter link). Longtime NFL wide receivers coach Jimmy Robinson has also met with Buffalo, per Marvez.

Under Robiskie, the 2017 Titans offense ranked 13th in yards, 17th in points, and 18th in DVOA. But the club’s play-calling and handling of mobile quarterback Marcus Mariota was often questioned, as Robiskie & Co. seemingly failed to put the former No. 2 overall pick in the best situations. Tennessee finished just 28th in situation neutral offensive pace, a notably slow speed given Mariota’s collegiate success in Chip Kelly’s quick-game offense.

The 63-year-old Robiskie has been since an NFL coach since 1982, and wide receivers have been his calling card. He’s led wideouts in Washington, Cleveland, Miami, and Atlanta over the past 30 years, and experienced great success with the Falcons, with whom he coached stars such as Roddy White and Julio Jones.

Robinson’s coaching career dates back almost as far as Robiskie’s, but the 65-year-old has been out of the league for the past two seasons. After stops with Atlanta, Indianapolis, New York, New Orleans, and Green Bay, Robinson spent the 2011-15 campaigns with the Cowboys before transitioning into a consultant role.

The Bills are seeking to replace former wide receivers coach Phil McGeoghan, who today took the same position with the Chargers. McGeoghan and Buffalo reached a “mutual decision” to let him out of his contract, tweets Mike Rodak of ESPN.com.

Coaching Rumors: Pats, Chargers, Texans

February 13th, 2018 at 5:55pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Patriots are currently the only club without a defensive coordinator in place, and New England could follow in the footsteps of the Eagles — who may not hire an OC — and not officially name a new coordinator, as Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com speculates (via Twitter). Incumbent linebackers coach Brian Flores is viewed as the favorite to succeed Matt Patricia on the Patriots’ staff, but as Breer notes, Bill Belichick has given former assistants time to grow before placing them in coordinator roles. Patricia, for one, called New England’s defensive plays for two seasons before being given the DC title. Additionally, current offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels called plays for the Patriots in 2005 despite not having the official coordinator moniker.

Here’s more from the 2018 coaching carousel:

Jerry Schuplinski had been expected to follow McDaniels to Indianapolis, but now that that ship has sailed, Schuplinski will return to the Patriots‘ staff as assistant quarterbacks coach, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. Reports earlier this offseason indicated Schuplinski had an “outside chance” to succeed McDaniels as New England’s offensive play-caller, but a path to the Colts had seemed more likely as of last week. Now, Schuplinski — who has been with the Patriots since 2013 — will work with Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer, and possibly another signal-caller if New England selects a passer in the upcoming draft.
The Chargers have announced several new hires, including the addition of former Bills wide receivers coach Phil McGeoghan in the same role. McGeoghan, who spent only one season in Buffalo, will replace Nick Sirianni, who is now the Colts’ offensive coordinator. He’ll get to work with a receiving corps that includes Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Travis Benjamin. Additionally, Los Angeles has hired Keith Burns (assistant special teams) and Addison Lynch (defensive quality control).
Two AFC South clubs — the Titans and Texans — have finalized their 2018 coaching staffs and announced a few hires that hadn’t been previously reported. Tennessee has retained Luke Steckel (offensive assistant) and hired Matt Edwards (assistant special teams), Scott Booker (defensive assistant), Ryan Crow (defensive assistant) , while Houston had added Will Lawning (offensive assistant/offensive line) and Matt O’Donnell (defensive quality control).
The Cardinals have hired former University of Findlay offensive coordinator Troy Rothenbuhler as an offensive quality control coach, reports Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Rothenbuhler had spent his entire coaching career in the collegiate ranks, and spent the past seven years as Findlay’s play-caller.

Extra Points: Raiders, 49ers, Falcons, Bears

January 30th, 2017 at 9:08pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson decided Monday to rescind his offer to help the relocation-minded Raiders pay for a stadium in Las Vegas, but that’s not going to faze the franchise. The Raiders issued a statement in response to Adelson’s choice to withdraw support, saying: “The Raiders deeply appreciate the efforts of the Adelson family to bring the Raiders to Las Vegas. We know this project could not have advanced to this point without them. The Raiders remain steadfast in honoring Mark Davis’ commitment to Governor Sandoval and the State of Nevada to pursue relocation to Las Vegas” (via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com).

Without Adelson, who had planned to give the Raiders $650MM toward a proposed $1.9 billion facility, the team plans to invest $1.15 billion and accept operating responsibilities, Sandoval’s office told the Associated Press (Twitter link via Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle). The Raiders could receive help from Goldman Sachs to make that happen.

Now the latest from the NFC:

Rookie general manager John Lynch declared Monday he’ll “aggressively pursue” people he has relationships with to join him in the 49ers’ front office (Twitter link via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com). That won’t include rumored candidate and longtime NFL head coach Mike Shanahan, whom Lynch played for in Denver from 2004-07 and who’s the father of soon-to-be 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. Lynch expects to listen to the elder Shanahan’s advice, but he’s not going to take an official role with the 49ers, tweets Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports.
Kristin Campbell, the agent for Falcons running back Devonta Freeman, publicly pushed for a lucrative contract extension for her client Monday afternoon. Campbell has since spoken again on Freeman’s future, telling D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she and Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff “are on the same page” and will engage in extension talks during the offseason. Campbell will seek top three running back money for the 24-year-old Freeman, a back-to-back Pro Bowler. “Who was the last running back to go to back to back Pro Bowls?” Campbell said. “Adrian Peterson. Adrian is considered one of the most prolific backs of the past 10 years, wouldn’t you say?” Peterson’s current contract pays him an average of $14MM per year, which easily tops his position.
Wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson turned down a new contract to return the Bears for a second season and is mulling taking a position with a different team, reports Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. Johnson could return to New Orleans, where he coached from 2006-11, Biggs suggests. The Saints are in the market for a WRs coach, having lost John Morton to the Jets over the weekend.
The Bills will hire Phil McGeoghan to coach their receivers, relays ESPN’s Adam Caplan (Twitter link). McGeoghan, who was the Dolphins’ assistant receivers coach from 2012-15, spent last season coaching East Carolina’s wideouts.
Contrary to a report from last week, the Eagles and personnel executive Rick Mueller have not yet parted ways. Mueller is working from home and will join the Eagles at next month’s scouting combine, though his contract is up in May, per Geoff Mosher of 97.5 The Fanatic (Twitter link).

Extra Points: Forte, Bears, 2016 Draft

December 23rd, 2015 at 9:13pm CST by Zachary Links

Bears running back Matt Forte indicated to reporters, including Adam Jahns of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter links) that he would like to stay in Chicago, if possible.

“I always look at staying home and being here where I’ve been the past 8 years. That’s a major factor,” the pending free agent said. While admitting that it might not be a given that he can return to the Bears in 2016, Forte did seem open to the possibility of taking less money to stay put. “At this point. I’m not worried about earning powers and all that stuff. I’ve made money,” he said.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

UCLA coach Jim Mora says that offensive lineman Alex Redmond has left the team and already signed with an agent for the upcoming NFL draft, Jack Wang of the Los Angeles Daily News tweets. It remains to be seen where Redmond will go in the draft, but he is not viewed as a first-round talent. Redmond, a junior, was the team’s starting right guard and started ten games in 2015. By leaving the team, Redmond will not participate in the Foster Farms Bowl against Nebraska.
Clemson defensive end Kevin Dodd is leaning toward entering the NFL Draft, as Matt Miller of Bleacher Report tweets. If Dodd opted to stay in school, he would be a 25-year-old senior, so it makes sense for him to go pro. Dodd stands at 6’5″, 275 pounds and runs a 4.8 second 40-yard-dash.
Former Falcons coach Mike Smith won’t let his dismissal hold him down, as FOX Sports’ Alex Marvez writes. Smith admits that he lost his way while coaching the Falcons, but he also says that he will not allow that to happen again if given another head coaching opportunity in the NFL. Recently, Smith wrote about the lessons he learned in a new book titled “You Win in the Locker Room First.” In 2013 and 2014, Atlanta finished with a combined 10-22 record, leading to his firing. Smith seemed to have opportunities to serve as a defensive coordinator somewhere this season, but he opted to take the year off and spend time with his family instead. It remains to be seen how much head coaching interest he might draw this offseason.
Dolphins wide receivers coach Phil McGeoghan is leaving the team to become the new wide receivers coach/passing coordinator for East Carolina University, a source tells Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated (on Twitter).

AFC East Notes: Gronk, Hightower, Dolphins

November 30th, 2015 at 9:07am CST by Luke Adams

It’s been an eventful 24 hours in the AFC East, where the Dolphins fired their offensive coordinator and the Patriots lost their undefeated season, along with key players on both sides of the ball. We’ve got updates on those injuries sustained by New England players on Sunday night, so let’s dive in and round up the latest from out of the AFC East….

As first reported late last night by Dianna Marie Russini of ESPN (Twitter link), Rob Gronkowski‘s knee injury isn’t believed to be as serious as it initially looked. Many reporters have since echoed that notion, with one source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link) that “we think he is going to be OK.” The star tight end still has to undergo tests today, but Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that the Patriots don’t think there’s any structural damage to Gronkowski’s knee, and hope he won’t miss much time.
On the defensive side, the early diagnosis for Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower is an MCL sprain, per Albert Breer of the NFL Network (Twitter link). If there’s no further damage to Hightower’s knee, that injury shouldn’t end the linebacker’s season, though he’d probably have to miss some time — a sprained MCL generally results in a recovery time of two to four weeks.
An ESPN report on Sunday suggested that Quinton Coples was involved in an incident on the Jets‘ flight back from Houston last week, which was part of the reason for his release. However, Coples and Jets head coach Todd Bowles both denied that was the case, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post. “I don’t know where that came from,” Coples said. “Only thing is I didn’t fit with the defense.”
Before this morning’s firing of Lazor, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald wrote that the Dolphins are in trouble “from top to bottom,” calling this year’s team the worst for the franchise since 2007.
In addition to the other changes to the Dolphins‘ coaching staff today, the club has also promoted Phil McGeoghan to wide receivers coach, according to the team (Twitter link).