Todd Wash - Pro Football Rumors

Jaguars Promote Todd Wash To DC

January 21st, 2016 at 3:15pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jaguars conducted an extensive search for their new defensive coordinator, interviewing multiple outside candidates, but ultimately the team decided to stay in-house to fill the position. According to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union (Twitter links), Jacksonville has promoted defensive line coach Todd Wash to DC, and will hold a press conference on Friday to announce the decision.

Wash, who came to the Jaguars in 2013 from the Seahawks, along with head coach Gus Bradley, has served as the defensive line coach for the team since then, and also had run game coordinator added to his title for the 2015 season.

Before making the decision to hire Wash to replace former defensive coordinator Bob Babich, the Jaguars looked into several outside options, bringing in Falcons secondary coach Marquand Manuel, Dolphins interim defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, and Cowboys secondary coach Jerome Henderson for interviews.

The Jaguars also reportedly interviewed Jim Schwartz, and were one of at least three teams that had interest in him, along with the Browns and the Eagles. Schwartz landed in Philadelphia, and it’s not clear if he might have been Jacksonville’s pick if he hadn’t been hired by another team first.

In any case, Wash will take over a unit that finished 25th in the NFL in 2015 in yards allowed per game (375.0), and ranked 26th in terms of DVOA, per Football Outsiders. The new defensive coordinator will have the benefit of getting back Dante Fowler, the club’s 2015 first-round pick, whose rookie season was lost due to a torn ACL.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Coaching Notes: Bills, Bucs, Jags, Texans

January 20th, 2016 at 7:05pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Bills have made a groundbreaking hire, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, as they’ve named Kathryn Smith a special teams quality control coach. Smith is the NFL’s first-ever full-time female assistant coach. She previously served in lesser roles under Rex Ryan with both the Jets and Bills.

Regarding Smith’s hiring, Ryan said, “She has proven that she’s ready for the next step, so I’m excited and proud for her” (Twitter link via The Buffalo News’ Tyler Dunne).

Other coaching news from around the NFL . . .

New Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter will call the team’s offensive plays, but he still plans to hire an O-coordinator (Twitter link via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times).
The Jaguars expect to have a defensive coordinator in place by Monday, tweets Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union. The front-runner for the job is defensive line coach Todd Wash, per O’Halloran (Twitter link). As PFR’s Coordinator Tracker shows, Jacksonville has also shown interest in some currently available outside candidates, having interviewed Jerome Henderson, Marquand Manuel and Lou Anarumo for the job.
In other Jaguars news, assistant coach coach Doug Marrone will return for a second season with the club, per O’Halloran. Marrone interviewed for four different head coaching vacancies in recent weeks, but those teams hired other candidates.
Paul Pasqualoni has stepped down as the Texans’ defensive line coach after just one season because of family reasons, according to Mark Berman of FOX 26 (on Twitter). Anthony Weaver, who coached Cleveland’s D-line the past two seasons, could take Pasqualoni’s spot.
The Colts have named Greg Williams their secondary coach, reports Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Williams was San Diego’s assistant secondary coach the previous three seasons.
With Terry Robiskie on his way to Tennessee, the Falcons’ wide receivers coach position is open. Atlanta will likely promote offensive assistant Mike McDaniel to take Robiskie’s place, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. McDaniel previously coached wideouts in Washington (2013) and Cleveland (2014).
Changes are coming to the Lions’ strength and conditioning staff, as the club has fired coordinator of physical development Jason Arapoff and assistant strength coach Ted Rath, writes Tim Twentyman of the team’s website.

Sunday Roundup: Manziel, Forsett, Jags

January 17th, 2016 at 12:50pm CST by Rory Parks

As the Panthers have their way with the Seahawks in the early going of this afternoon’s Divisional Round matchup, let’s take a look at some news and notes from around the league:

We heard just a few days ago that new Browns head coach Hue Jackson was prepared to move on from Johnny Manziel, and the comments he made during a Bleacher Report interview this morning reaffirmed that sentiment. Per Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jackson told Bleacher Report that if Manziel was, in fact, in Las Vegas during the season finale, that would indicate to him that Manziel is not starter material. Jackson then went on to say, “I do believe that this team does need a quarterback.”
Although it’s certainly not a lock, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com believes the Ravens will bring back Justin Forsett next season. The team would gain only $900K of salary cap space by cutting Forsett, and although the other backs on the team’s depth chart have shown some promise, they have significant flaws and are largely unproven.
Packers WR Randall Cobb suffered a bruised lung in last night’s heartbreaking loss to the Cardinals, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Jason Wilde of ESPN.com tweets that the team does not yet have an update on Cobb.
Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley has finally begun his search for a new defensive coordinator in earnest, bringing in Marquand Manuel and Lou Anarumo for interviews last week. Per Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union, Bradley hopes to have the search wrapped up by January 25, and Manuel and/or Anarumo could join the Jacksonville coaching staff even if they don’t land the coordinator position. O’Halloran adds that current defensive line coach Todd Wash could still be promoted to DC.
In a separate piece, O’Halloran looks at the issues facing the Jaguars‘ new DC, whoever it may be, including what to do with Jonathan Cyprien and whether the team should pursue an elite corner like Prince Amukamara or Greg Toler in free agency or if it can afford to look for a second-tier option.
Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com offers his breakdown of the Titans‘ cap situation and free agency outlook.
Mark Maske of the Washington Post observes that the teams looking for a new head coach this offseason were thinking offensively. Of the seven new hires, five were offensive coordinators, and the other two (Mike Mularkey and Chip Kelly) are of course offensive-minded.

Jaguars Notes: Blackmon, Marrone, Olson

February 5th, 2015 at 7:31pm CST by Zachary Links

The Jaguars overhauled the coaching staff underneath head coach Gus Bradley this offseason. Jacksonville added years of high-level NFL experience to the offensive side but, as we know, sometimes too many cooks can spoil the broth. At a press conference earlier today, the Jaguars discussed the breakdown of responsibilities for their coaches heading into 2015 and much more. Here’s a look at the highlights and other news out of Jacksonville..

Jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon has made some progress towards his reinstatement but still has a ways to go, according to Albert Breer of NFL.com (Twitter links). Blackmon still has to satisfy criteria within the drug program and then apply for reinstatement.
New Jags offensive line coach Doug Marrone told reporters, including Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com, that he left the Bills without any guarantees of landing a head coaching gig elsewhere.
Marrone has taken heat for his departure from Buffalo but he defended himself from that criticism while emphasizing that he wants to move forward. “At the end of the day, I had two outstanding years in Buffalo,” Marrone said, according to DiRocco. “I think that Terry and Kim Pegula, they’re going to be outstanding. I really can’t say enough for the people within the organization, from the trainers, from the PR department, from the equipment people. They were outstanding. At the end of the day, I had a three-day window on my contract, which was obviously difficult because of the time aspect of it. My family and I made a decision to leave.”
The challenge, Bradley says will be ensuring that offensive coordinator Greg Olson, Marrone, and quarterbacks coach Nathaniel Hackett all work together cohesively, DiRocco tweets. All three men are former offensive coordinators. Bradley added that he doesn’t want to run the Raiders offense or the Bills offense – he wants to put together what’s best for his players (via Vito Stellino of The Florida Times-Union on Twitter).
Bradley said he didn’t know much about Marrone before he started talking to him, according to John Oehser of Jaguars.com (on Twitter). The head coach did talk extensively before hiring him, however.
Bradley said he didn’t talk much to Marrone about how things ended in Buffalo, Stellino tweets. Marrone originally came by just to discuss football philosophy and not to interview, which is why they didn’t get in depth on that (via DiRocco on Twitter).
New offensive coordinator Greg Olson said that he had a good experience in Jacksonville in 2012 and is appreciative of the chance to return, according to DiRocco (on Twitter). He was also surprised by the number of different faces that he saw since he was with the Jags in 2012 under Mike Mularkey (link).
Adam Gase, Olson, and Marrone all interviewed with the team at the same time, DiRocco tweets.
Olson said he talked to the Bears and Rams about offensive coordinator openings, but he didn’t officially interview, Ryan O’Halloran of The Florida Times-Union tweets.
The Jaguars have made a few tweaks to their coaching staff, moving quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo to senior offensive assistant and adding the title of run-game coordinator to defensive line coach Todd Wash’s job, according to O’Halloran (Twitter links).