NFC Staff Updates: Cardinals, 49ers, Cowboys, Lions, Buccaneers
New Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur quickly hired Nathaniel Hackett as his offensive coordinator, and he is now looking for coaches to run his defense and special teams.
Arizona is interviewing a number of candidates for defensive coordinator, while Giants special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial has emerged as a leading candidate to take over as special teams coordinator, per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan.
Ghobrial, 37, has spent the last two years with the Giants. Before that, he served as the Jets’ assistant special teams coordinator on Robert Saleh‘s staff, overlapping for two years with LaFleur. Ghobrial previously worked for a number of college programs as well as the Lions in 2017.
The Giants had a solid year on special teams in 2025. They ranked fifth in yards per kickoff return (27.7) and 10th in average starting field position (31.3). Cornerback Deonte Banks also recorded one of the NFL’s five kick return touchdowns last year.
Here is the latest from the coaching ranks across the NFC:
- Elsewhere in the NFC West, the 49ers are hiring former Dolphins offensive assistant Roman Sapolu to their staff, according to KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson. He previously served as Hawaii’s offensive coordinator and Fresno State’s run game coordinator. He is also the son of former NFL offensive lineman Jesse Sapolu, who won four Super Bowls with the 49ers between 1983 and 1997.
- The 49ers also promoted team president Al Guido to Chief Executive Officer, per a press release. Guido first arrived in San Francisco in 2014 as the Chief Operating Officer before his promotion to president.
- The Cowboys are retaining Jamel Mutunga, who spent the 2025 season in Dallas via the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. He will be the team’s assistant running backs coach moving forward, per ESPN’s Todd Archer.
- The Lions are promoting assistant offensive line coach Steve Oliver to tight ends coach, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. He will replace Tyler Roehl, who left Detroit to become Iowa State’s offensive coordinator.
- The Buccaneers are making internal promotions to replace cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross (fired) and safeties coach Nick Rapone (retired), according to Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds. Rashad Johnson will take over Ross’ role while Tim Atkins will succeed Rapone. Both served as assistant secondary coaches in 2025.
2026 NFL Offseason Outlook Series
Pro Football Rumors is breaking down how all 32 teams’ offseason blueprints are shaping up. Going forward, the Offseason Outlook series is exclusive to Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers, and that link provides details on how to sign up for an annual membership.
This post will be updated as more Outlooks are published.
AFC East
- Buffalo Bills
- Miami Dolphins
- New England Patriots
- New York Jets
AFC North
- Baltimore Ravens
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Cleveland Browns
- Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South
- Houston Texans
- Indianapolis Colts
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Tennessee Titans
AFC West
- Denver Broncos
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Las Vegas Raiders
- Los Angeles Chargers
NFC East
- Dallas Cowboys
- New York Giants
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Washington Commanders
NFC North
- Chicago Bears
- Detroit Lions
- Green Bay Packers
- Minnesota Vikings
NFC South
- Atlanta Falcons
- Carolina Panthers
- New Orleans Saints
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC West
- Arizona Cardinals
- Los Angeles Rams
- San Francisco 49ers
- Seattle Seahawks
Bills Hire DL Coach Terrance Jamison
The Bills are set to hire Illinois co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Terrance Jamison as their DL coach, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. Jamison will replace Marcus West, who joined the Buccaneers in the same role last week.
Like new Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, Jamison played college football at Wisconsin. Their careers with the Badgers didn’t overlap, but they were on the Illinois coaching staff together in 2023. Leonhard left after one season to join the Broncos’ staff.
An assistant at a handful of colleges since 2008, Jamison coached Bengals star pass rusher and soon-to-be free agent Trey Hendrickson at Florida Atlantic from 2014-16.
More recently, Jamison spent the past half-decade at Illinois. The 38-year-old helped develop defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton, now with the Commanders, into a 2024 second-round pick. Jamison also assisted with edge rusher Gabe Jacas‘ 11-sack effort in 2025. After earning first-team All-Big Ten honors, Jacas could come off the board sometime in the first few rounds of April’s draft.
Now heading to Buffalo for his first job in the pros, Jamison will work on a staff that will likely implement a 3-4 base defense in 2026. The Bills ran a four-man front under former head coach Sean McDermott and ex-defensive coordinator Bobby Babich.
Jamison stands to inherit linemen Greg Rousseau, Ed Oliver, Deone Walker and T.J. Sanders, though it’s not yet clear if Leonhard regards all of those players as fits for his scheme. Meanwhile, after combining for upward of 1,400 snaps in 2025, Joey Bosa, A.J. Epenesa and DaQuan Jones are scheduled to reach the open market in March. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see all three walk in free agency.
Elsewhere on the Bills’ staff, rookie head coach Joe Brady will retain several of McDermott’s former assistants, per Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic. Kelly Skipper (running backs), Rob Boras (tight ends), Austin Gund (assistant offensive line), DJ Mangas (quality control/assistant wide receivers coach), Mark Lubick (passing game specialist/game management) and Kyle Shurmur (offensive quality control) will return in 2026. Brady, the Bills’ offensive coordinator before they promoted him to replace McDermott, is already familiar with all of those coaches.
Buccaneers To Hire Chandler Whitmer As Quarterbacks Coach
After winning a national championship as Indiana’s co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2025, Chandler Whitmer is heading to the NFL. Whitmer has agreed to become the Buccaneers’ QBs coach, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports.
Fresh off a perfect season at Indiana, where he helped quarterback Fernando Mendoza to a Heisman Trophy, Whitmer received multiple NFL offers, per Pelissero. A late-January report connected the 34-year-old to the Raiders, who will likely use the No. 1 pick in April’s draft on Mendoza. Instead, though, Whitmer will work with Buccaneers starter Baker Mayfield in 2026.
Whitmer, a former college QB at Illinois, Butler Community College and UConn, began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Ohio State in 2019. He went on to hold the same position at Clemson in 2020 before jumping to the pros as a quality control coach with the Chargers.
After three seasons on former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley‘s staff, Whitmer worked as a pass game specialist with the Falcons in 2024. Zac Robinson, who became the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator last month, was in charge of the Falcons’ offense then. Whitmer is now the latest ex-Falcons staffer to reunite with Robinson in Tampa Bay, joining senior offensive assistant Ken Zampese and passing game coordinator T.J. Yates.
Although Mayfield enjoyed the best three-year stretch of his career under previous quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis, the Bucs moved on after the signal-caller’s numbers declined this past season. Mayfield posted career highs in completion percentage (71.4), yards (4,500), touchdowns (41) and passer rating (106.8) over 17 games in 2024. The 30-year-old logged perfect attendance again in 2025, but he completed a far less impressive 63.2% of throws for 3,693 yards, 26 TDs and a 90.6 rating.
Buccaneers Add Ken Zampese, T.J. Yates To Offensive Staff
With Zac Robinson taking over as their offensive coordinator, the Buccaneers recently made two other key hires on that side of the ball, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. Ken Zampese will serve as a senior offensive assistant, and former NFL QB T.J. Yates will work as the Buccaneers’ passing game coordinator.
Yates is replacing Kefense Hynson, the Bucs’ passing game coordinator in 2025, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports. Hynson’s expected to coach elsewhere next season.
Considering Robinson’s history with Zampese and Yates, it’s no surprise they’re accompanying him to Tampa Bay.
Zampese was a senior offensive assistant in Atlanta during Robinson’s run as the Falcons’ offensive coordinator from 2024-25. Yates was the Falcons’ QBs coach in 2024 before moving to passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach this past season.
Zampese is now set to reunite with Buccaneers signal-caller Baker Mayfield, whom the Browns took first overall in the 2018 draft. Mayfield spent his first NFL season with Zampese, then the Browns’ QBs coach, and finished second in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting.
With Mayfield entrenched as Tampa Bay’s starter eight years later, Robinson, Zampese and Yates are walking into a better QB situation than they had in Atlanta. The Falcons made huge investments in free agent signing Kirk Cousins and first-round pick Michael Penix Jr. heading into the 2024 campaign, but neither lived up to expectations over the past two seasons.
While Cousins and Penix combined to throw for the fifth-most yards in 2024, they put up a below-average passer rating (86.6) and tossed just two more touchdowns (21) than interceptions (19). The Cousins-Penix tandem dramatically lowered their INT total to eight in 2025, but they plummeted to 19th in yards and only threw 19 TDs.
The Buccaneers finished one spot worse than the Falcons in passing yards this season, though a slew of costly injuries contributed to Mayfield’s drop in production from a career-best 2024 showing. Wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan combined to miss 30 games. Stalwart offensive linemen Tristan Wirfs, Luke Goedeke and Cody Mauch combined for 26 absences.
Godwin, McMillan, Wirfs, Goedeke and Mauch are sure to return to Tampa Bay next season, though Evans and tight end Cade Otton are a little over a month from reaching free agency. Evans and Otton are important parts of the Buccaneers’ passing attack, but it’s anyone’s guess if Yates will have an opportunity to work with either of them in 2026.
Evans’ exit would still leave the Bucs with Godwin, McMillan and Emeka Egbuka atop their receiving corps. Nevertheless, losing the franchise icon after 12 years would be a significant blow.
Up front, Wirfs, Goedeke, Mauch and the rest of the Buccaneers’ offensive linemen will have a new assistant OL coach in Andrew Mitchell, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN. An NFL lineman from 2010-12, Mitchell spent 2025 as Oklahoma State’s O-line coach. Mitchell blocked at Oklahoma State for Robinson, then the team’s QB, from 2008-09. Seventeen years later, Robinson is giving Mitchell his first pro coaching position. Mitchell will work under offensive line coach Kevin Carberry in Tampa Bay.
Buccaneers Interview Indiana OC Chandler Whitmer For QB Coach
The Buccaneers made some changes to their offensive coaching staff in January and have been in the process of hiring replacements. Former Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson has made the in-division move to replace Josh Grizzard in the same role, and now Tampa Bay is looking at Indiana co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer to fill the role left vacant after they dismissed Thad Lewis, per Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network.
After only a year away from the NFL, Whitmer could be headed right back. A former college quarterback who spent time at Illinois, Butler Community College, and UConn, Whitmer didn’t start his coaching career until five years after his playing career ended, working as a graduate assistant at Ohio State and Clemson in 2019 and 2020, respectively. From there, he got his first NFL opportunity as a quality control coach with the Chargers in 2021. He spent three years in Los Angeles before getting hired by the Falcons in 2024 to serve as Atlanta’s pass game specialist.
Whitmer made the move to join Curt Cignetti‘s staff at Indiana after Tino Sunseri departed for the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach job at UCLA. Whitmer stepped into his co-OC title, shared with offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Mike Shanahan. In doing so, Whitmer ended up tying himself to transfer quarterback (by way of Cal) Fernando Mendoza.
Working with Cignetti and Whitmer, Mendoza would go on to lead the NCAA in passing touchdowns (41), finish third in the NCAA in completion percentage (72.0), and fourth in the country in yards per attempt (9.3). The team’s success resulted in the Hoosiers winning their first ever national championship game, and Mendoza took home the top individual prize when he won the Heisman Trophy and became the favorite to be selected No. 1 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Mendoza was certainly a talented player when he came in, but it seems clear the system designed by Cignetti and Whitmer contributed to his huge leap in 2025. Tampa Bay could be looking to pair Whitmer with another Heisman-winner after Baker Mayfield had a down 2025 campaign. Whitmer interviewed with the team this week and could return to the NFL just a year after leaving.
Buccaneers Talked To Sean McDermott About Position On Staff
While it seems likelier than not that Sean McDermott will sit out the 2026 campaign, that won’t stop teams from approaching the former Bills head coach about new opportunities. That includes the Buccaneers, who recently talked to McDermott about joining Todd Bowles‘ staff, per Greg Auman of FOX Sports.
Despite Tampa Bay’s interest, Auman notes that McDermott isn’t expected to coach in 2026. Instead, the 51-year-old is expected to re-assess his options during the 2027 offseason. This echoes a report from the other day that indicated that McDermott could sit out the upcoming campaign, although there were some previous rumblings that he could dive right back into coaching.
Tampa Bay would be a logical landing spot for McDermott. Bowles hasn’t employed a traditional defensive coordinator since he earned a promotion from that role in 2022, with the head coach still preferring to call plays on that side of the ball. However, the team could have still eyed McDermott for a significant role on the staff, especially after the Buccaneers saw three defensive coaches depart this offseason (cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross and defensive line coach Charlie Strong were fired while safeties coach Nick Rapone retired).
McDermott also has some connections to the organization. He overlapped with current Buccaneers GM Jason Licht when the two worked for the Eagles, and he also interviewed for the head coaching job in 2016.
McDermott does have coordinator experience, as he was responsible for the defense during stints with the Eagles and Panthers. More likely, he’ll garner some head coaching interest next offseason. After getting fired by the Bills, the coach reportedly received “positive reviews” from those who took a year off from coaching following their ousters, and it appears that McDermott is planning on following the same path.
Coaching Notes: Titans, Cowboys, Leonhard, Packers, Eagles, Jaguars
Robert Saleh did not retain Titans OC Nick Holz or DC Dennard Wilson, but the new Tennessee HC kept special teams coordinator John Fassel. Saleh will also have some other Brian Callahan holdovers back. He is retaining running backs coach Randy Jordan, tight ends coach Luke Stocker and cornerbacks coach/defensive pass-game coordinator Tony Oden, according to veteran Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky.
Jordan, 55, coached Washington’s running backs for 10 seasons before joining Callahan’s staff last year. Ron Rivera previously retained him from the Jay Gruden staffs. An 11-year veteran tight end who last played in 2021, Stocker initially jointed the Titans’ staff in Mike Vrabel‘s final year and has been promoted in each of the past two offseasons, rising to TEs coach in 2025.
Oden, 52, has been an NFL staffer since 2004. Of the trio known to be staying, Oden is the only one to overlap with Saleh in the past. That history is extensive. Saleh’s first NFL job — as a Texans intern in 2005 — overlapped with Oden’s Houston stint. Oden broke into the NFL with the Texans a year prior to Saleh but stayed on Dom Capers‘ staff for one more season. Saleh then worked with Oden on the 2020 49ers and brought him to New York for his Jets staff. Oden served as a senior defensive assistant who worked with the team’s corners from 2021-24. He caught on with the Titans last year.
Here is the latest from the coaching ranks:
- The Packers had eyed Jim Leonhard for their DC opening back in 2021, but the then-Wisconsin coordinator was believed to have received an offer. Leonhard did not factor into the Pack’s search to replace Joe Barry in 2024, but it was believed he was back on the team’s radar this year. Matt LaFleur was expected to talk with Leonhard, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein. While Leonhard is now free to interview, Green Bay hired Jonathan Gannon shortly before the Broncos’ AFC championship game tilt. A 2024 report indicated Leonhard was LaFleur’s top choice in 2021, so it is interesting the Packers did not formally interview him this time.
- Leonhard remains on the Broncos’ staff as DBs coach but may well receive more DC consideration. The Cowboys interviewed him before hiring Christian Parker, a previous Denver DBs coach. Dallas made the Parker hire Thursday, with the Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins indicating the team did not feel it could wait out Leonhard. Had the Broncos booked a Super Bowl LX berth, the Cowboys could not have hired Leonhard until after that game.
- The Cowboys set up interviews with recent Vikings staffer Marcus Dixon and Eagles assistant linebackers coach Ronnell Williams, according to ESPN.com’s Todd Archer. Dixon worked with Parker on the Broncos’ staff from 2022-23, serving as the team’s D-line coach. Dixon spent the past two years as the Vikings‘ D-line coach, and ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert notes his contract has expired. While Minnesota could work out a new deal as it did with Brian Flores, Dixon is scheduling interviews elsewhere. Dixon was with the Cowboys as a player from 2008-10. Williams has worked with the Eagles since 2023, overlapping with Parker over the past two seasons. Williams is still under contract with the Eagles, per Watkins.
- Philadelphia made an in-house promotion after losing Parker to Dallas. The Eagles are elevating safeties coach Joe Kasper to DBs coach/defensive pass-game coordinator, NFL.com’s Cameron Wolfe tweets. Interest came in from elsewhere, per the Philadelphia Inquirer’s EJ Smith, but the Eagles will retain Kasper by promoting him. Kasper followed Vic Fangio from Miami in 2024; he served as Dolphins safeties coach in 2023. Kasper, however, is in his second stint with the Eagles; he was on Nick Sirianni‘s staff from 2021-22.
- The Jaguars are adding Brian Picucci from the Buccaneers’ staff. Picucci is joining Liam Coen‘s staff as the Jags’ run-game coordinator on offense, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. The Bucs blocked Coen from poaching Picucci last year, after Coen’s acrimonious Tampa exit, but the two have an extensive history. Picucci followed Coen from Kentucky to Tampa in 2024; he served as the Bucs’ O-line coach in 2025, after Tampa Bay had blocked him from interviewing for that job in Jacksonville.
Buccaneers Hire Zac Robinson As OC
The Buccaneers have landed on their new offensive coordinator. Zac Robinson is headed to Tampa Bay, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The move is now official, per a team announcement.
This news will reunite Robinson with quarterback Baker Mayfield. Mayfield made a “big push” for Tampa Bay to acquire Robinson, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network adds. Shortly after a follow-up interview with the Buccaneers, a deal has been struck.
Robinson was among not only the candidates who spoke once with the team for the OC gig but the finalists as well. He conducted a second interview yesterday, and Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reports an agreement was reached late last night. After two years leading the Falcons‘ offense, Robinson will now take on the same responsibility in Tampa Bay.
Per Rapoport, senior offensive assistant Ken Zampese along with pass-game coordinator T.J. Yates are among the names to watch regarding Falcons staffers who could join Robinson with the Bucs. Nothing is official on that front at this time, but it is of course common for new hires to bring familiar faces with them when changing teams.
Leading up today’s news, Robinson’s future was unclear even though his Atlanta departure was expected. The Falcons cleaned house immediately after the end of the regular season, dismissing head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot. On Wednesday, it was learned new HC Kevin Stefanski is expected to bring Tommy Rees with him from Cleveland to Atlanta to handle offensive coordinator duties. That confirmed Robinson would be heading elsewhere during this year’s hiring cycle.
In addition to his Bucs interviews, Robinson met with the Lions and Eagles regarding their OC openings. Detroit’s vacancy has been filled, but Philadelphia’s list of candidates has now been thinned. Robinson will become the latest in an increasingly long line of coordinators tasked with leading Mayfield and Co. in Tampa Bay. Josh Grizzard became a one-and-done staffer in that role when he was fired following the end of the 2025 season.
Prior to Grizzard’s brief tenure, Liam Coen and Dave Canales were each in place for only one year. Both of them parlayed strong campaigns as a coordinator into head coaching opportunities. Stability would be welcomed at the OC spot for the Buccaneers, a team looking to bounce back from their highly underwhelming end to this season. Grizzard’s unit ranked 21st in total offense and 18th in scoring during his lone campaign leading it.
Robinson, 39, led Atlanta to a sixth-place finish in total offense during his first season in place. The Falcons regressed in a number of ways on offense in 2025, though, prompting the sweeping changes made throughout the organization. Prior to his Atlanta stint, Robinson spent five seasons with the Rams. That included his time as Los Angeles’ quarterbacks coach in 2022, the year in which Mayfield briefly played for Los Angeles. All parties involved will hope a reunion between the two will help bring Tampa Bay back into the postseason in 2026.
Bucs Set Second OC Interview With Brian Callahan
The Buccaneers are taking another step towards hiring a new offensive coordinator by kicking off their second round of interviews.
Former Titans head coach Brian Callahan is set for a second meeting with the team, per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, which will take place tomorrow. The 41-year-old previously spent five years as the offensive coordinator on Zac Taylor’s staff, playing a major role in Joe Burrow‘s development and the overall development of Cincinnati’s offense into one of the best in the league.
However, balance often eluded Callahan’s units. He put together the Bengals’ high-flying passing attack, but could not budge their running game out of a bottom-10 ranking in his five years in Cincinnati. He also struggled to construct a consistent offensive line.
So, when Callahan arrived in Tennessee and downgraded from Burrow to Will Levis at quarterback, the cracks began to show. He no longer had one of the best QB-WR duos in the league, and he could not find a way to help Levis progress. A 3-14 record got the Titans the No. 1 pick, which they used on Cam Ward, but a 1-5 start to the 2025 season
The Buccaneers may be wondering if Callahan will be able to find more success with their talented offense. Tampa Bay already has an established quarterback, a strong offensive line, and several offensive weapons. That would allow Callahan to focus less on development and more on application of the team’s talent as they seek a return to the top of the NFC South.
Here are the rest of the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator candidates:
- Brian Callahan, former head coach (Titans): Second interview scheduled for 1/22
- Mike Kafka, former interim head coach (Giants): Interviewed
- Mike McDaniel, former head coach (Dolphins): Interviewed 1/16
- Todd Monken, offensive coordinator (Ravens): Interviewed
- Dan Pitcher, offensive coordinator (Bengals): Interviewed 1/21
- Zac Robinson, offensive coordinator (Falcons): Interviewed 1/10
- David Shaw, pass-game coordinator (Lions): Interviewed 1/10
- Israel Woolfork, quarterbacks coach (Cardinals): Interviewed 1/10