HEADLINES

Roy Istvan

AFC Coaching Notes: Dickerson, Browns, Bills, Addae, Day, Chargers, Dolphins, Colts

February 9th, 2024 at 4:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Browns allowed Bill Callahan out of his $3MM-plus contract to join son Brian in Tennessee. Given Bill Callahan’s status as one of the NFL’s best O-line coaches, this left a void on Cleveland’s staff. The team will fill it with one of the candidates it interviewed for its OC post. Seahawks O-line coach Andy Dickerson will take the same position with the Browns, SI.com’s Albert Breer tweets. Set to work under Ken Dorsey, Dickerson was one of the ex-Sean McVay staffers who followed Shane Waldron to Seattle. The Seahawks promoted Dickerson to their O-line coach in 2022. Upon removing Pete Carroll from his longtime HC post, the Seahawks let their assistants speak with other teams. Additionally, the Browns are adding Roy Istvan as their assistant O-line coach, per the Associated Press’ Tom Withers. Istvan was most recently the Eagles’ assistant O-line coach under acclaimed staffer Jeff Stoutland; Istvan had been in that role for five seasons.

Here is the latest from the AFC coaching ranks:

  • Recently retired safety Jahleel Addae will return to the NFL as a coach. The former Chargers starter will join the Bills as their cornerbacks coach, ESPN.com’s Pete Thamel tweets. Addae, 34, had been on the Miami Hurricanes’ staff. Addae started 63 games during his nine-year career, with most of the starts coming as a Charger.
  • The Bills are not bringing back DBs coach John Butler, Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News tweets. Butler had been Buffalo’s DBs coach since 2018. With the Bills moving Bobby Babich to DC, some changes are being made. Another will be the hire of Matt Edwards as assistant D-line coach. The team recently bumped up Marcus West to D-line coach, replacing the departed Eric Washington. Edwards previously worked as a Raiders defensive assistant, concentrating on the team’s pass rush.
  • Shane Day is coming back to Los Angeles. Spending two seasons as the Chargers‘ QBs coach under Joe Lombardi, Day was with the Texans as a senior offensive assistant. Jim Harbaugh will bring Day back to the Bolts as their QBs coach, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo tweets. Justin Herbert became the AFC’s Pro Bowl starter under Day in 2021, and Garafolo adds the star QB enjoyed working with Day. Though, Brandon Staley fired both Lombardi and Day following the Bolts’ wild-card collapse in Jacksonville. The veteran assistant was with the 49ers on two separate occasions, though neither was during Harbaugh’s San Francisco run.
  • The Chargers are also hiring Sanjay Lal as their wide receivers coach, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Lal has been coaching wide receivers in the NFL since the late 2000s. One of those tenures — 2015-16 with the Bills — overlapped with new Bolts OC Greg Roman. Lal was most recently the pass-game coordinator and WRs coach with the Seahawks.
  • Recent Titans assistant Ryan Crow will move to Miami. The Dolphins are hiring Crow as their outside linebackers coach, Breer adds. The Vikings, Seahawks and Giants showed interest as well, per Breer. The Browns also interviewed Crow last month, but he will instead work with the likes of Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips in Miami. Crow’s former boss, Shane Bowen, is now in New York, explaining the Giants’ interest. Crow will replace Ryan Slowik, who interviewed for the DC job that went to Anthony Weaver. But Slowik is set to stay with the Dolphins in a different capacity, according to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. The older brother of Texans OC Bobby Slowik, Ryan has been an NFL assistant for more than 15 years. Although Mike McDaniel hired him in 2022, the two were low-level staffers in Denver in 2005.
  • The Colts found their next D-line coach at the college level. Charlie Partridge, who spent the past seven seasons as Pitt’s D-line coach, will take the same position under Shane Steichen in Indianapolis, Fox59’s Mike Chappell notes. The former Florida Atlantic HC, Partridge has never coached in the NFL previously, spending more than 25 years in the college ranks. Partridge coached recent first-round pick Calijah Kancey at Pitt and was J.J. Watt‘s position coach at Wisconsin.

Staff Notes: Bills, Taylor, 49ers, Ryan, Eagles

February 2nd, 2019 at 4:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

Another former Panthers assistant will land a job on the Bills‘ coaching staff. Buffalo hired Ken Dorsey to be its quarterbacks coach. A former Miami Hurricane standout, prior to his days with the 49ers and Browns, Dorsey spent five seasons as the Panthers’ QBs coach. In 2018, the 37-year-old coach was on Appalachian State’s staff. Dorsey will take over for David Culley, who is now on Baltimore’s staff. The Bills also promoted Chad Hall to wide receivers coach. The 32-year-old former NFLer spent his first two seasons in coaching as a Bills offensive assistant. Another hire the Bills announced this week: bringing in Terry Heffernan to be their assistant offensive line coach. Heffernan has NFL coaching experience, being a Lions staffer earlier this decade, but spent the past three years at Division I-FCS Eastern Kentucky. Heffernan coached under new Bills offensive line coach Bobby Johnson in Detroit.

None of the offensive coaches who have been hired or promoted have a direct tie to second-year OC Brian Daboll, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com tweets. Here is the latest from the coaching carousel:

  • Two teams have yet to hire their head coaches, but the Bengals will look to finalize their agreement with Zac Taylor soon after Super Bowl LIII. The Rams’ quarterbacks coach will travel to Cincinnati on Monday, with NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweeting the parties will make their pending partnership official.
  • Rob Ryan initiated the process that ended with him becoming the Redskins‘ new inside linebackers coach. The former defensive coordinator said Kirk Olivadotti‘s decision to take a job with the Packers prompted him to reach out to the Redskins about a job, Ryan said on NBC Sports Washington‘s Redskins Talk podcast. Ryan interviewed with the Redskins twice in the past but has never worked with the franchise.
  • Kyle Shanahan was a bit surprised teams aggressively pursued members of his coaching staff, considering the 49ers went 4-12 this season. “It was a little unexpected,” Shanahan said during an interview with KNBR (via NBC Sports Bay Area). “I didn’t think our staff was going to get raided after a 4-12 year, so that caught me off a little bit.” The Broncos did the main raiding, hiring Rich Scangarello and T.C. McCartney. The Packers also hired Adam Stenavich to become their offensive line coach. Shanahan also denied permission for the Vikings and Packers to interview Mike LaFleur and did not allow Mike McDaniel to speak with the Cardinals, citing neither offensive assistant being up for a play-calling role with one of those teams.
  • San Francisco also lost another assistant, but this time to the college ranks. Defensive backs coach Jeff Hafley will become the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State.
  • The Eagles will swap out assistant offensive line coaches. After Eugene Chung‘s contract expired, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Dave Zangaro notes the Eagles will hire Roy Istvan to replace him. Istvan will come all the way up from the NAIA level, having coached most recently at Florida’s Keiser University. However, he spent time with Philadelphia offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland in the distant past, playing for Stoutland at Southern Connecticut in the 1980s and then breaking into coaching during Stoutland’s stay as that program’s OC. This will be Istvan’s first NFL job.