Some teams were interested in hiring Vrabel as a defensive coordinator, Russini adds, but the six-year NFL HC has not been connected to any specific coordinator jobs. With not many DC positions left, Vrabel seems likely to join Bill Belichick as coaches on the outside looking in this year. Vrabel may stand to have a better chance of landing another HC job moving forward, with Belichick set to turn 72 in April. For now, however, he is out of the league. The reports about Vrabel clashing with Titans ownership may have impacted his chances as well.
Here is the latest from the coaching ranks:
After the departure of assistant offensive line coach Austin King to join Sean Payton‘s new staff in Denver under the same title, Chicago hired longtime Titans assistant Luke Steckel to fill the role. This will be Steckel’s first time working specifically with offensive linemen in the NFL. After four years in Cleveland as an assistant to the head coach, Steckel joined the Titans in 2013 as an offensive assistant/special assistant to the head coach. He cycled through other roles with the team over the years including assistant wide receivers coach and his most recent role of the past two seasons as tight ends coach.
Steckel is credited with having contributed to the success of wide receiver A.J. Brown during his rookie season in Tennessee and quarterback Ryan Tannehill in the year that he won Comeback Player of the Year. As a tight ends coach, Steckel worked with newcomer Austin Hooper and rookie Chigoziem Okonkwo. Both finished with similar statistics, combining for 894 yards and five touchdowns. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Hooper had the 12th-best receiving grade of any tight end in the NFL while Okonkwo finished third behind only Travis Kelce and George Kittle. Steckel will now be assisting with coaching an offensive line that utilizes strong youth pieces like Teven Jenkins and Braxton Jones.
Here are a few more coaching updates from around the NFC:
Watson is a Brown, and Matt Ryan is now a Colt, leaving the Falcons with a record dead-money total and a rebuild to orchestrate. “We’re taking it on the chin this year,” Falcons GM Terry Fontenot said of the $40MM Ryan cap hit (via ESPN’s Michael Rothstein, on Twitter), but noted that the outlook will brighten in 2023. Here is the latest from the NFC South:
The Rams still have an offensive coordinator position up for grabs. Currently, the favorite to land the job is University of Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen. Coen worked on the Rams’ offensive staff for three years before spending last year in Lexington. He’s turned down multiple job offers recently to remain at Kentucky, but the opportunity to rejoin Sean McVay in Los Angeles may be too good to pass up.
Here are a few more coaching notes from the NFL starting with another note from the Super Bowl LVI champions:
Here is the latest on the NFL’s navigation of the coronavirus pandemic:
Here’s more from the coaching ranks:
Longtime defensive end Andre Carter will come aboard as Gang Green’s defensive line coach. This will be Carter’s first chance at leading a position group. The 39-year-old former 13-year NFL veteran broke into coaching as the Dolphins’ assistant D-line instructor the past two seasons.
Gase hired John Dunn as tight ends coach. Dunn spent last season as the University of Connecticut’s assistant head coach. He’d previously worked with Jets OC Dowell Loggains in Chicago as an offensive assistant, his lone NFL experience to date.
Mentioned as another Miami-to-New York relocation candidate, Frank Bush will coach the Jets’ inside linebackers and carry an assistant HC title. Bo Hardegree will serve as an offensive assistant, and Eric Sanders will follow Gregg Williams from Cleveland to the Big Apple and work as a defensive assistant. The Browns jettisoned Sanders and the Williamses from their staff last month.
Gase will retain a few Todd Bowles-era coaches, most notably the special teams (Brant Boyer and Jeff Hammerschmidt) and defensive backs staffs (Dennard Wilson and Steve Jackson) will remain intact. Every other position group will have new leaders.
]]>Dennison, a longtime NFL coach and play-caller, was fired earlier this month after spending only a single season as Buffalo’s OC. He hasn’t generated any other known interest, but he’d add experience to a Jets coaching staff that will continue rebuilding a young roster in 2018. Dennison also enjoys a relationship with new New York offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates, as the two overlapped with the Broncos from 2006-08.
If Dennison does land with the Jets, he’ll take over an offensive line that struggled immensely last season. New York’s front five ranked just 27th in adjusted sack rate and 29th in adjusted line yards a year ago, and could be playing a new center in 2018. Wesley Johnson, who started 15 games for Gang Green last season, will hit unrestricted free agency in March.
In other Jets staff news, New York is hiring former Titans coach Steve Jackson as their new assistant defensive backs coach, per Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com.
]]>Here’s more from the 2018 coaching carousel: