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Tiquan Underwood

Cowboys Making Coaching Hires

February 7th, 2025 at 8:11pm CST by Ely Allen

The Mike McCarthy-era is over in Dallas, and the time has arrived for Brian Schottenheimer to lead the Cowboys. Despite hiring his new head coach from within, the lack of urgency from owner Jerry Jones allowed for the contracts of all of his assistants to expire along with that of McCarthy.

Schottenheimer has already made the two most important hires in his first career head coaching gig, bringing on Klayton Adams as offensive coordinator and Matt Eberflus as defensive coordinator. Now, both coordinators have begun building their new staffs.

On offense, the team has hired Derrick Foster as their new running backs coach, per Nick Harris of the Star Telegram. Foster first came to the NFL after three years as a running backs coach at Iowa. He began in Los Angeles, where he coached Austin Ekeler through his two best seasons as a Charger, before spending last year in New Orleans coaching Alvin Kamara. He’ll inherit a running backs group that returns Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, and Malik Davis, though his position has certainly been bookmarked as one needing improvements in the offseason, potentially through the draft.

We saw the Cowboys interview one of its former running backs, Tashard Choice, for the position, as well. According to Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS, Choice will be staying in his current role with the Longhorns. Though he was also in consideration for roles with the Raiders and Saints, a raise in excess of $800K will keep Choice in Austin.

While Adams brings plenty of offensive line experience to the offense, the Cowboys have brought in Kansas State co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Conor Riley as their new offensive line coach, per Hill. Riley has been an extremely well-respected position coach in the college coaching ranks with his other stop being at North Dakota State. He’ll make his NFL coaching debut in 2025.

Also on offense, we saw wide receivers coach Robert Prince depart for Miami. While his replacement has not yet been hired, Tiquan Underwood will be on hand after getting hired as assistant wide receivers coach, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. He takes over the position after holding the same job with the Patriots last year.

On the defensive side of the ball, ESPN’s Todd Archer reports that a slew of former Bears assistants have followed Eberflus to Dallas. We already saw reports on the arrival of defensive pass-game coordinator Andre Curtis and linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi with Eberflus, but Archer adds that David Overstreet will follow as assistant defensive backs coach and Bryan Bing will join as assistant defensive line coach. Both Overstreet and Bing held those same positions on Eberflus’ defense in Chicago.

There are still some vacant positions on the Cowboys staff to fill out, but Dallas is working quickly to make some big hires after getting a late start to the market. With Schottenheimer’s inexperience as an NFL head coach, the supplemental ability of his coaching staff will be crucial.

Patriots Notes: Glaser, Coaching Changes, Bowen

January 18th, 2025 at 12:46pm CST by Ben Levine

As the Patriots kick off a new era under Mike Vrabel, they’ll do so without a long-time executive. Robyn Glaser, New England’s executive vice president of football business, informed the organization that she is resigning, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss. Glaser plans to work for the organization through mid-February.

[RELATED: Mike Vrabel To Control Patriots’ Roster?]

Glaser has spent nearly two decades in New England, starting as a senior adviser to ownership in 2007. She gradually climbed the organizational ladder before earning the role of “senior vice president, business affairs and chief administrative officer of football” in 2022. As Reiss explains, Glaser was tasked with “all league business and legal relations, including league compliance.” Glaser took on even more responsibility (and media scrutiny) in 2024 when she was named a senior adviser to Jerod Mayo.

While this departure will open a significant hole in New England’s front office, Vrabel is actively clearing his coaching staff as he prepares for new hires. Reiss passes along a number of staff members who won’t be back with the Patriots in 2025: Bob Bicknell (tight ends), Taylor Embree (running backs), Tyler Hughes (wide receivers), Keith Jones (defensive coaching assistant), Joe Kim (director of skill development), and Tiquan Underwood (assistant wide receivers).

Per Reiss, Vrabel has started the process of interviewing potential candidates for his staff. We’ve already heard that the organization is eyeing Chargers passing game coordinator Marcus Brady and interim Bears HC Thomas Brown for their OC job, and the team is also considering old friend Josh McDaniels. While the Patriots have only been connected to OC interviews, it sounds like they’re also considering options on defense. Connor Hughes of SNY.tv believes Vrabel is looking to bring Shane Bowen to New England.

Vrabel and Bowen worked alongside each other during their stops in Houston, and Vrabel brought Bowen along to Tennessee. The assistant eventually worked his way up to the defensive coordinator job during the duo’s final three seasons with the organization. After the Titans cleaned house last offseason, Bowen was hired as the Giants new defensive coordinator.

Patriots Finalize Coaching Staff

February 19th, 2024 at 9:23pm CST by Ely Allen

With new head coach Jerod Mayo taking over after over two decades of Bill Belichick at the helm, the Patriots have solidified the entirety of their new coaching staff.

We already knew about the hires of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney, running backs coach Taylor Embree, offensive line coach Scott Peters, and senior offensive assistant Ben McAdoo on the offensive side of the ball and defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery, outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins, and inside linebackers coach Dont’a Hightower, as well as the retention of cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino and safeties coach Brian Belichick., on the defensive side, but below is the update on the rest of next season’s staff.

We were aware that former Rams assistant special teams coach Jeremy Springer had been going through an interview process, interviewing twice for the special teams coordinator position, but now we know that he will be heading special teams going forward in New England, replacing Cameron Achord in that role. He will be backed up by new special teams assistant coach Tom Quinn and special teams assistant and quality control coach Coby Tippett, after former assistant Joe Houston departed for the University of Florida. Quinn, a former long-time coordinator for the Giants, more recently spent last year on the Titans’ staff. Tippett was a coaching assistant in New England’s 2023 training camp and spent last season coaching cornerbacks at Tufts University.

On the defensive side of the ball, a few familiar faces stuck around and a few more were hired or promoted. The only new names here were defensive coaching assistants and quality control coaches Vinny DePalma and Jamael Lett. DePalma just finished his sixth year of playing linebacker for the Eagles at Boston College. He makes an extremely quick jump from playing in college to his first coaching position in the NFL. Lett most recently spent 2023 as a special teams analyst at the University of North Carolina. He has a litany of experience at other schools like South Alabama, Akron, Samford, Ohio, and Tennessee-Martin, but this will be his first NFL opportunity, as well. Last year, V’Angelo Bentley and Keith Jones held similar roles on the defense as fellows, but neither seems to have been retained.

Most of the new faces here are on the offensive staff. First, with former tight ends coach Will Lawing taking the offensive coordinator job at Boston College, former Saints senior offensive assistant Bob Bicknell will take his place. Bicknell’s extensive experience coaching the wide receiver, offensive line, and tight end positions sets him up well for his new role, though he hasn’t coached tight ends since 2011. Joining Bicknell in coaching receiving targets will be new wide receivers coach Tyler Hughes and assistant wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood.

Hughes returns to the Patriots after a year as an offensive quality control coach at the University of Washington. Before that he had spent three years as an offensive assistant with New England. Underwood’s first NFL job came as an offensive quality control coach for the Dolphins back in 2019. Since then, he’s been coaching receivers at Rutgers and Pitt. The two replace the last two coaches for the position, Ross Douglas, who will coach the same position at Syracuse, and Troy Brown, who was not retained on the new staff.

Now, we did know that Robert Kugler would be joining the staff in some capacity about ten days ago, but now we have confirmation that he will come into the assistant offensive line coach position, the same one he held with the Panthers last year. This seems to indicate that last year’s assistant offensive line coach, Billy Yates, has not been retained after essentially taking over the position last year. Lastly on offense, the team will add Michael McCarthy to the staff as an offensive coaching assistant and quality control coach. McCarthy used to be an NFL assistant coach with the Browns and Lions but has spent the last five years as offensive line coach at Brown.

Finally, with Mayo’s younger brother, Deron Mayo, being promoted to the head of strength and conditioning, meaning that the former head, Moses Cabrera, will not be returning, the Patriots have hired Brian McDonough to fill his place as assistant strength and conditioning coach. McDonough has been a consultant for the team for over 20 years, but he’ll now accept his first full-time role with New England.

There you have it: the Patriots 2024 coaching staff. The last few years of regression following Tom Brady‘s departure are now the last chapters of a previous book. It will be up to Mayo and company to write the first chapter of a new one in the 2024 NFL season.

AFC East Notes: Pats, Gordon, Chung, Fins

February 6th, 2019 at 7:39pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Patriots wide receiver Josh Gordon could return to the field by training camp, although that’s far from a certainty, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Gordon was banned indefinitely from the NFL in December after violating the terms of his conditional reinstatement under the league’s substance abuse policy and is still in a rehabilitation facility. While it’s unclear when Gordon will leave rehab, it could be in the near future, at which point he plans to train in Florida. New England is supporting Gordon and paying for his treatment, so a return to the club is certainly possible. From a contractual standpoint, Gordon will be a restricted free agent this offseason.

Here’s more from the AFC East:

  • After suffering a broken forearm in the Super Bowl, Patriots defensive back Patrick Chung will undergo corrective surgery on Thursday, a source tells Jeff Howe of The Athletic (Twitter link). Chung will have another operation in roughly three weeks to fix a shoulder issue, per Howe. That latter surgery will likely keep Chung out of organized team activities, although he’s expected to be ready for training camp. The 31-year-old Chung appeared in 15 games for New England last year, playing on roughly 85% of the club’s defensive snaps. Pro Football Focus graded Chung — who’s under contract through 2020 — as the NFL’s No. 30 safety.
  • Josh McDaniels received a new contract from the Patriots after spurning the Colts last offseason, and Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com reports McDaniels is being paid roughly $4MM per year. While coordinator and head coach salaries are often difficult to unearth, it’s hard to imagine any other coordinator in the NFL is collecting $4MM annually. After turning down the Colts in 2018, McDaniels has reportedly become even more selective regarding his head coaching prospects. This year, he only took one interview (with the Packers) and rejected a request from the Bengals.
  • As part of a contract extension he signed last summer, Dolphins cornerback Bobby McCain had $3.018MM of his $5.475MM 2019 base salary fully guaranteed this week, tweets Joel Corry of CBSSports.com. McCain, 25, inked a four-year deal in July that guaranteed him nearly $10MM. With an average annual value of $6.75MM, McCain is one of the NFL’s highest-paid slot corners.
  • Former NFL wide receiver Tiquan Underwood is joining the Dolphins‘ staff as an offensive quality control coach, per Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The ex-Rutgers speedster spent time with the Patriots in 2011 and 2012, which is where he first met new Miami coaches Brian Flores and Chad O’Shea.

NFC South Notes: Winston, Underwood, Wilson

April 3rd, 2015 at 9:42pm CST by Rob DiRe

No one from the Buccaneers, the NFL, or any other NFL team has reached out to Jameis Winston‘s rape accuser for background information, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). Given the climate of the NFL in the wake of the scandals surrounding Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, and Greg Hardy, Cole expected teams to reach out to the alleged victim. Winston, meanwhile, could still face civil action from that accuser and a second accuser could come forward with a civil suit and/or testify for the first alleged victim in her case.

Here are some other notes from around the NFC South:

  • Former Buccaneers receiver Tiquan Underwood signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The speedy wide receiver also previously spent time with the Patriots and Jaguars.
  • In today’s mailbag, Katherine Terrell of the The Times-Picayune writes that she isn’t so sure that the Saints‘ locker room leadership situation has really improved this offseason. The Saints didn’t necessarily ship out “problem children” and they also lost the likes of Pierre Thomas and Curtis Lofton.
  • The Saints signed former Jets cornerback Kyle Wilson to a one-year deal earlier this week, and it will pay him $825,000, writes Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter). The contract includes an $80,000 signing bonus.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

AFC East Notes: Jets, Dolphins, James

September 16th, 2014 at 5:46pm CST by Zachary Links

The Jets were busy working out a number of players today, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post (on Twitter). Rex Ryan & Co. auditioned linebackers Pat Angerer and Desmond Bishop, wide receivers Tiquan Underwood and David Gettis, and quarterback Pat Devlin. Here’s more out of the AFC East…

  • The Dolphins worked out former 49ers running back LaMichael James, a league source tells Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). James was unhappy with his situation in San Francisco, asked for his release, and secured it earlier this month. Miami, obviously, could use some help at RB. The former Oregon star wasn’t signed after the workout but it’s still a possibility and the sides have discussed a deal, tweets Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
  • Former Mizzou tight end Eric Waters also worked out for the Dolphins today, tweets Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post Dispatch (on Twitter). The 6’5″, 245 pound tight end was cut loose by the Steelers in advance of their cutdown to a 75-man roster.
  • The Dolphins may not benefit from the new drug policy, writes Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. Safety Reshad Jones and defensive end Dion Jordan are both suspended, but multiple sources say the new rules won’t get Jordan’s suspension revoked. The same sources were not in agreement whether Jones would be returned to the Dolphins’ active roster.

Minor Moves: Sunday

August 24th, 2014 at 4:00pm CST by Rory Parks

Here are Sunday’s minor transactions from around the NFL, with the latest moves added to the top of the page throughout the day:

  • The Falcons have placed G Mike Johnson and LB Marquis Spruill on their injured reserve list, per ESPN.com’s Vaughn McClure (Twitter links).
  • The Bears have cut return man Darius Reynaud, tweets Wilson. Reynaud was signed by Chicago on August 18.
  • CB Vernon Kearney has been cut by the Chiefs, according to Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter).

Earlier Updates:

Extra Points: Lions, Saints, Panthers, Redskins

August 2nd, 2014 at 10:29pm CST by Ben Levine

Let’s take a look at some leftover notes on this Saturday evening…

  • Even though the Lions re-signed Brandon Pettigrew and drafted Eric Ebron, incumbent tight end Joseph Fauria is confident there will be enough targets and snaps to go around. “We’re all going to complement each other,” Fauria said (via Justin Rogers of MLive.com). “There’s a bunch of pieces to the pie. Maybe one week one guy will have a big game with a lot of catches, and the next weekend, it will be a different guy. It’s an interesting situation in this offense and it will be awesome to see how it plays out.”
  • 56 of the 90 players on the Saints roster are between 23 and 27-years-old, and Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com writes that the team is full of breakout candidates.
  • Joe Person of The Charlotte Observer suggests that the Panthers pursue a free-agent wide receiver instead of sticking with Tiquan Underwood or Marvin McNutt.
  • Redskins president Bruce Allen noted some differences under new coach Jay Gruden. “It’s a different style,” Allen said (via John Keim of ESPN.com). “Each coach and each team takes on the personality of its coach and Jay has been very involved with the guys. His evening meetings really set the tone for the next day’s work.”

NFC South Notes: Underwood, McCown, Cooks

June 27th, 2014 at 9:23pm CST by Dallas Robinson

After losing several key contributors from their 2013 receiving corps, the Panthers made Kelvin Benjamin their first-round pick and signed veterans Jason Avant and Jerricho Cotchery. But, as ESPN.com’s David Newton writes (within a preview of the NFC South), there’s one promising Carolina pass-catcher who isn’t garnering much attention: 27-year-old Tiquan Underwood. A seventh-round pick of the Jaguars, Underwood spent last year with the Buccaneers, catching 24 passes for 440 yards and four touchdowns, but ranked as just the 87th-best receiver in the league according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Newton believes that Underwood will act as the Panthers’ deep threat, a role that Ted Ginn Jr. played last season.

  • The Buccaneers signed veteran quarterback Josh McCown this offseason, and at least one Tampa Bay player is pleased with McCown’s play so far. “…Don’t take anything from Glennon; he’s just only in his second year,” linebacker Jonathan Casillas told WEPN-FM in New York (link via Chris Wesseling of NFL.com). “But McCown looks like he’s played a couple of years in this game. It’s a strong comparison, but he reminds me of Drew (Brees), not just the way he throws the ball, but his approach to the game. The first one in, last one out. You know, he’s always around. He’s very (communicative), very personable. And you can tell he’s a born leader.”
  • Presuming that Carl Nicks fails to get healthy, the Buccaneers will be looking for two starting offensive guards, writes Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times in a piece examining Tampa Bay’s position battles. Jamon Meredith and rookie Kadeem Edwards have the early edge, but experienced veteran Oniel Cousins is also an option.
  • Eric Dellaratta of PewterReport.com examines the running back rotation in Tampa Bay, noting that he believes the Buccaneers will end up keeping Doug Martin, rookie Charles Sims, Bobby Rainey, and Jeff Demps (who offers value in the return game).
  • Earlier today, we passed along Doug Farrar of Sports Illustrated’s positive assessment of Brandin Cooks; Knox Bardeen of Bleacher Report concurs, noting that the Saints rookie will help New Orleans overcome the loss of Darren Sproles.
  • Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com thinks the Falcons need to rely on Matt Ryan and the passing game in order to rebound from last year’s abysmal season. However, the Falcons ranked a decent 11th in terms of passing DVOA (per Football Outsiders), but ranked 21st in rushing DVOA, so perhaps an improvement in the running game would be the better way to ameliorate Atlanta’s woes.

Extra Points: Tannehill, Burnett, Panthers

June 7th, 2014 at 10:44pm CST by Ben Levine

Here are some assorted NFL notes on this Saturday evening…

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