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Tom Donatell

Commanders To Hire Anthony Lynn, Sharrif Floyd; Team To Retain Bobby Engram

February 14th, 2024 at 10:10am CST by Sam Robinson

Dan Quinn continues to add high-profile names to his Commanders staff. The latest comes after a background with new football ops president Adam Peters.

Anthony Lynn will join Peters in making a San Francisco-to-Washington trek. The 49ers assistant head coach will join the Commanders as the team’s run-game coordinator, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The Commanders pursued the former Chargers HC last year, interviewing him for their OC job, but went with Eric Bieniemy. Despite an ownership change and staff overhaul, Schefter notes Lynn is close with Peters and Quinn. This certainly makes sense as the veteran coach’s next landing spot.

In addition to Lynn, Washington will bring ex-Quinn assistant Sharrif Floyd over from Dallas. Floyd will join the Commanders as their assistant defensive line coach, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. The former Vikings first-round pick was in place as a Cowboys assistant under Quinn last season. Despite new Cowboys DC Mike Zimmer having coached Floyd in Minnesota, the latter is following Quinn to Washington.

The Commanders, however, will not let their wide receivers coach go. Bobby Engram will stay in that role, per the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala. The former NFL wideout joined Washington’s coaching staff last year. Although Engram was a Ron Rivera addition, he will stay on under Quinn. Outside interest in the veteran assistant emerged, Jhabvala adds.

Lynn, 55, made the most to San Francisco after washing out as Lions OC. Dan Campbell booted Lynn after one season, having taken play-calling duties away. The longtime running backs coach has since played a role in boosting the 49ers’ ground attack. The 49ers hired Lynn to aid their run game, and he received an unexpected personnel boost midway through the 2022 season (via the Christian McCaffrey trade). As a result, San Francisco’s ground attack has enjoyed dominant stretches.

This will be Lynn and Quinn’s first time on the same staff; Peters was with the 49ers for both of Lynn’s seasons in the Bay Area. Lynn, who has been an NFL coach since 2000, went 33-31 as Chargers HC from 2017-20. Lynn joins Kliff Kingsbury as former head coaches on Quinn’s Commanders staff.

Engram, 51, broke into coaching just after his lengthy playing career wrapped. He joins Lynn in having never coached with Quinn. Prior to coming to Washington in 2023, Engram served as Wisconsin’s OC. He was on John Harbaugh‘s Ravens staff from 2014-21, however. Floyd served as the Cowboys’ assistant D-line coach last season. He will follow DC Joe Whitt to Washington.

The Commanders are also hiring Tom Donatell as their defensive backs coach, The Athletic’s Ben Standig tweets. The son of veteran DC Ed Donatell, Tom spent the past three seasons with the Chargers. The Bolts promoted Tom Donatell to defensive pass-game coordinator last year. Quinn and Ed Donatell worked together with the Jets back in the 2000s. The team is also hiring David Raih as its tight ends coach, Schefter adds. Raih worked as the Cardinals’ wide receivers coach under Kingsbury from 2019-20, becoming Vanderbilt’s OC in 2021. He spent last season on the Buccaneers’ staff.

Chargers’ Renaldo Hill Joining Dolphins’ Staff; Derrick Ansley Promoted To DC

February 27th, 2023 at 11:56am CST by Adam La Rose

FEBRUARY 27: The Chargers announced a number of previously reported coaching moves on Monday, including confirmation that Ansley is the team’s new defensive coordinator. He will enter his first season as a coordinator at the NFL level with significant expectations, given the team’s playoff roster and the presence of Staley on the sidelines. The latter’s decision to allow Hill’s departure and thus pave the way for Ansley to ascend to this position will no doubt be the subject of considerable scrutiny, depending on the unit’s performance.

FEBRUARY 20: The Chargers are undergoing a significant shake-up on their defensive staff. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill is leaving the team to take on a position with the Dolphins (Twitter link). To fill his absence, Los Angeles is promoting Derrick Ansley as its new DC, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets.

Hill, 44, will take on the role of defensive passing game coordinator in Miami. This move will allow him to work under new DC Vic Fangio once again; the pair worked together in Denver in 2019 and 2020. Hill was Fangio’s top target for his new defensive staff, Schefter adds, and Chargers head coach Brandon Staley is signing off on what is a demotion in title to allow him this reunion.

Hill had spent the past two seasons at the helm of the Chargers’ defense. His first campaign saw the team put up underwhelming numbers across the board, especially in the run game. That was met with a slew of offseason moves aimed at bolstering the unit, though the team’s return on those investments proved to be less fruitful than hoped. Los Angeles still ranked below-average in a number of categories in 2022, and their season came to an end on the back of a major second-half collapse against the Jaguars in the wild card round.

Now, Hill will take on a lesser role under Fangio, working with a unit whose secondary was an issue in 2022. The Dolphins ranked 27th in the league in passing yards allowed last season, and recorded only eight interceptions. That drove their efforts to replace Josh Boyer after three seasons overseeing the team’s defense, and the celebrated move of bringing Fangio aboard. Expectations will be raised on that side of the ball for the team heading into 2023 with their new-look staff.

Pelissero notes that, in addition to Ansley, Tom Donatell is being promoted. His new title will be secondary coach and passing game coordinator. Staley had been eyeing ways to give both Ansley and Donatell a larger workload on the team’s defense, per Pelissero (Twitter link), and Hill’s departure will allow him to do just that. The former joined the Chargers’ staff in 2021, working as defensive backs coach. That came after several coaching stops, mostly in the college ranks.

The 41-year-old worked as the Raiders’ DBs coach in 2018, before a two-year stint as DC at the University of Tennessee. This posting will be his first opportunity to lead a defense at the NFL level. Donatell received an interview request from the Dolphins earlier this month, but will now take on a larger role after choosing to remain in Los Angeles.

Today’s news means the Chargers will have new offensive and defensive coordinators in 2023. LA hired Kellen Moore as their OC immediately after his Cowboys tenure came to an end. While that has led to increased expectations on offense, questions will be raised about their prospects of taking a step forward defensively with a new (albeit familiar) face in place on that side of the ball.

AFC Coaching Rumors: Broncos, Henry, Texans, Donatell

February 15th, 2023 at 8:14pm CST by Ely Allen

As has been expected for a little while now, Saints offensive assistant Declan Doyle will be departing New Orleans to join Sean Payton‘s new staff in Denver, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. The original reports about Doyle indicated that he was in consideration for a first-time position coaching role leading the tight ends for the Broncos, but Underhill’s recent report didn’t specify what his role would be.

The Broncos made another minor coaching staff addition today, hiring someone who has a bit of a different connection to New Orleans, as reported by Zach Barnett of Football Scoop. While not a former Saints staffer, new Broncos passing game quality control coach Logan Kilgore was the offensive coordinator for new Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning during their time together at the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. Kilgore was set to rejoin head coach Butch Jones at Arkansas State as the Red Wolves’ tight ends coach after working as an offensive analyst with the team in 2021. Instead, Kilgore is headed to Denver, where he will work with many other former New Orleans coaches.

Here are a few other coaching rumors from around the AFC, starting with a new assistant coaching hire in Buffalo:

  • The Bills have hired a veteran to their staff in longtime wide receivers coach Adam Henry, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Newtork. Henry has coached the position at McNeese State, LSU, and Indiana at the college level, serving, as well, as offensive coordinator at McNeese State, passing game coordinator at LSU, and co-offensive coordinator at Indiana. At the NFL level, Henry’s first position coaching role was as tight ends coach under Tom Cable in Oakland. Since then, he has coached receivers for the 49ers, Giants, Browns, and Cowboys. An interesting aspect of this hire is Henry’s connection to free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Henry coached both Beckham and Jarvis Landry when the two were at LSU and in Cleveland.
  • The Texans have made a number of decisions recently for new head coach DeMeco Ryans‘s staff, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. First, Houston hired former Browns defensive line coach Chris Kiffin as their new linebackers coach. The younger brother of Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and former NFL defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, Chris formerly worked alongside Ryans during their time together in San Francisco. Second, the team chose to retain defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire from Lovie Smith‘s staff. Under Cesaire, the defensive line saw surprising contributions from defensive ends Jerry Hughes and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and defensive tackle Maliek Collins. Third, former 49ers defensive passing game specialist and secondary coach Cory Undlin is expected to reunite with Ryans as the Texans defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach. Finally, fourth, after choosing not to retain offensive line coach George Warhop, Colts offensive line coach Chris Strausser has emerged as the leading candidate to replace him.
  • The Dolphins have requested to interview Chargers assistant secondary coach Tom Donatell for the secondary coaching position in Miami, according to a tweet by Pelissero. The son of Vikings defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, Tom is making his own way up through the coaching ranks of the NFL.