Tyrone McKenzie - Pro Football Rumors

Dolphins To Add Sam Madison To Staff

February 16th, 2022 at 10:59pm CST by Sam Robinson

Sam Madison is set to return to Miami. The former Pro Bowl Dolphins cornerback agreed to join their coaching staff Wednesday night, per ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter).

A Chiefs assistant for three seasons, Madison will join Mike McDaniel‘s Dolphins staff as a passing-game specialist and cornerbacks coach. Madison played nine seasons as a Dolphins cornerback, earning four Pro Bowl bids and notching first-team All-Pro honors twice.

Madison originally came to Miami in 1997 as a second-round pick, starting 127 games — most by a corner in Dolphins history — before signing with the Giants in 2006. His 31 interceptions rank third in franchise history. Madison, 47, spent three years coaching the Chiefs’ cornerbacks — a group featuring mid- or late-round picks or low-cost free agents throughout Madison’s tenure — and is in line to oversee high-priced corners Xavien Howard and Byron Jones in 2022. Madison will also follow ex-teammate Wes Welker back to Miami. The Dolphins hired Welker as their wide receivers coach last week.

This move comes shortly after previous Dolphins cornerbacks coach Charles Burks agreed to join the Bengals in a similar role, Schefter tweets. Despite Burks being a holdover from Brian Flores‘ staff, the Dolphins were planning to retain him.

The Dolphins are also hiring Tyrone McKenzie as their new outside linebackers coach, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. McKenzie, 36, coached the Titans’ inside linebackers from 2018-19 and headed up the Lions’ linebackers in 2020.

Coaching Notes: Titans, Lions, Browns, Panthers

January 29th, 2020 at 9:50pm CST by Ben Levine

The Titans have fired linebackers coach Tyrone McKenzie, according to veteran reporter Paul Kuharsky (via Twitter). The 2009 third-rounder will be moving on to a role on the Lions staff (via Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com).

Following an underwhelming playing career, McKenzie joined the Rams as an assistant special teams coach during the 2017 season. He joined the Tennessee coaching staff prior to the 2018 campaign, and he’s been in the role for the past two seasons.

The 45-year-old has plenty of familiarity with Lions head coach Matt Patricia, as Patricia served as the Patriots linebackers coach during McKenzie’s stint as a player in New England. He’ll presumably take on a role with the linebackers in Detroit.

Let’s check out some more coaching notes from around the NFL…

The Browns are hiring Jeff Howard as their passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach, reports NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter). Howard, who spent the previous seven seasons with the Vikings organization, has worked with head coach Kevin Stefanski. He’ll be joining a defensive coaching staff that’s expected to be helmed by 49ers defensive backs coach Joe Woods, who’s expected to be named defensive coordinator.
After spending the past three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Baylor, Phil Snow recently joined the Panthers in the same position. The veteran coach spoke with media members yesterday, and he discussed the role that new Panthers head coach (and former Baylor head coach) Matt Rhule played in his hiring. “Well, I’ve known Coach Rhule since 2001, and our roles have completely changed,” Snow said (via the team’s website). “He was my graduate assistant when I was a defensive coordinator at UCLA, and now I’m working for him. We’ve got great respect for each other, he’s really a good football man, really a good head football coach. Players like him, he gets to know them, but we’ve just had a great relationship. When he took the Carolina job, he asked me if I’d come as a coordinator and I said yes, so here we are.”
We learned yesterday that veteran Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia had decided to retire.

Coaching Notes: Lions, Vikings, Colts, Titans

January 30th, 2018 at 7:12pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Dean Pees “retired” as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator earlier this year before joining the Titans in the same role on Monday, but Tennessee wasn’t the only club that expressed interest in the veteran coach over the past several weeks. The Lions, who are expected to formally hire Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia following the Super Bowl, also discussed a job offer with Pees, tweets Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. Pees and Patricia have a working relationship, as they coached together in New England from 2004-09, so the connection makes sense. Detroit, which is expected to revamps its entire defensive staff once Patricia officially comes on board, is reportedly interested in hiring Boston College defensive line Paul Pasqualoni as its new defensive coordinator.

The Vikings are unlikely to announce their new offensive coordinator until after the Super Bowl, according to Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press (Twitter link). Former Seahawks OC Darrell Bevell, Vikings quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski, Saints tight ends coach Dan Campbell, and Texans quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan are the known candidates to have interviewed to replace Pat Shurmur, who recently became the Giants’ head coach. Ben McAdoo has also been linked to Minnesota’s search but hasn’t been interviewed, while the Vikings also reportedly had interest in Mike McCoy before he signed on with the Cardinals.
Although the Colts don’t officially have a head coach, they do have a new offensive line coach, as the club has agreed to terms with Dave DeGuglielmo to lead their front five, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. DeGuglielmo coached the Patriots’ offensive line (with mixed results) from 2014-15, so he has a familiarity with presumptive Indy head coach Josh McDaniels. Last season, DeGuglielmo was hired as a Dolphins assistant after OL coach Chris Foerster was fired after an inappropriate video was published. DeGuglielmo also has experience with the Jets, Giants, and Chargers.
In addition to poaching offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur, the Titans have also hired assistant special teams coach Tyrone McKenzie away from the Rams, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link). McKenzie, 32, will coach inside linebackers for Tennessee. Like new Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, McKenzie is a former Patriots linebacker, although the two never overlapped in New England, as Vrabel was traded prior to 2009, the season McKenzie joined the club. McKenzie, also a former Buccaneer and Viking, has only one season of coaching experience.

Titans Notes: Moore, McKenzie, Coombs

January 24th, 2018 at 9:18pm CST by Dallas Robinson

New Titans head coach Mike Vrabel swung and missed on each of his first two tries at hiring a coordinator, as Ohio State’s Ryan Day opted to stay in the collegiate ranks rather than become Tennessee’s offensive play-caller, while former Cardinals defensive coordinator James Bettcher chose the Giants over the Titans. Vrabel still needs to fill out a staff, however, and he’s been busy making potential additions today.

Here’s the latest from Tennessee:

Former Raiders wide receivers coach Rob Moore interviewed for the same position with the Titans, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link). Moore, who got his start in NFL coaching with the Bills in 2013, had been with Oakland since 2015 but wasn’t retained by new head coach Jon Gruden. 2016 was a banner year for Moore, as both Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree topped 1,000 yards, but both wideouts took a large step backwards in 2017.
Rams assistant special teams coach Tyrone McKenzie interviewed for an unidentified role on the Titans’ staff, per Pelissero. Like Vrabel, McKenzie is a former Patriots linebacker, although the two never overlapped in New England, as Vrabel was traded prior to 2009, the season McKenzie joined the club. McKenzie, also a former Buccaneer and Viking, has only one season of coaching experience.
Vrabel is dipping into his Ohio State ties — he played in Columbus before coaching there from 2011-13 — as he formulates his Titans coaching staff, and OSU defensive backs/special teams coach Kerry Coombs will be joining Tennessee, tweets Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports. There’s no word yet as to what Coombs’ role will be, but given that he’s never coached in the NFL before, he’s likely to keep leading the Titans’ secondary. Coombs began his collegiate coaching career with Cincinnati in 2006, and joined Ohio State in 2011.
Texans defensive assistant Shane Bowen is another candidate to join Vrabel with the Titans, reports Cameron Wolfe of ESPN.com. Bowen not only worked under Vrabel in Houston during the past two seasons, but also spent the 2012 campaign coaching alongside the new Tennessee head coach at Ohio State. A Georgia Tech alum, Bowen coached linebackers at Kennesaw State University from 2013-15.

NFC Notes: 49ers, Cowboys, Redskins, Rams

March 26th, 2017 at 6:03pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

General manager John Lynch confirmed Sunday that the 49ers have met with Buccaneers restricted free agent defensive end Jacquies Smith, though they haven’t offered him a contract (via Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area). The Niners did have Smith take a physical during his visit, as the 27-year-old missed nearly all of last season with a torn ACL. “We wanted to get him checked out medically, and we’ll see,” said Lynch. If the 49ers do sign Smith to an offer sheet and the Bucs don’t match it, Tampa Bay won’t receive compensation because it only gave the former undrafted free agent an original-round tender.