Friday’s reserve/futures deals:
Washington Commanders
A former undrafted free agent out of Maryland, Jones had found a home for the past four years in Cincinnati as a reserve linebacker and special teamer. After getting waived in final preseason roster cuts this past August, Jones sat out the 2023 season. He’ll now head to the Commanders and attempt to find a depth spot there.
One minor move to pass along today:
Washington Commanders
Both of the 2023 UDFAs spent the majority of their rookie seasons on Washington’s practice squad. Allen made a name for himself at UCLA, hauling in 12 touchdowns in 38 games. He was also a collegiate sprinter, making him a natural candidate for return duties.
Picking up draft capital in exchange for young edge rushers became one of the defining aspects of the 2023 Commanders’ season, which skidded off the rails following the trades of Montez Sweat and Chase Young. The team also looks to have been monitoring an edge player on another roster.
Washington joined a number of teams in contacting Carolina regarding Brian Burns‘ availability before the October 31 deadline, The Athletic’s Joseph Person notes (subscription required). The Panthers, as they have done at a few junctures over the past 14 months, squashed trade overtures for Burns.
The Jaguars, Falcons and Ravens inquired about Burns last year, with the Bears and 49ers — the teams that eventually landed the Commanders’ trade chips — also involved in the second deadline pursuit of the Panthers Pro Bowler. This was only the second-most notable deadline Burns pursuit, as the Rams’ two-first-rounder proposal will be difficult to beat. No team approached the Rams’ 2022 Burns offer last year. Though, it is certainly interesting the Commanders checked in.
With Josh Harris believed to be a central part of the course change, the Commanders made the surprising choice to trade both Young and Sweat at last year’s deadline. The new owner emphasized picking up draft assets, doing so before pushing out the team’s fourth-year HC/top decision-maker (Ron Rivera) after the trades helped drive the team to a 4-13 record and the No. 2 overall draft slot. For Washington to also be interested in Burns would seem to run counter to the newly established mission.
Then again, the organization’s Panthers ties could explain this effort. Rivera was in place as Carolina’s HC when Burns went off the 2019 draft board in the first round. Marty Hurney was as well, working in his second stint as Panthers GM when the team chose Burns 16th overall. Hurney worked under Rivera in Washington, serving as the team’s executive VP of player personnel previously. While Harris sacked Rivera, Hurney and former GM Martin Mayhew remain with the organization in different roles.
It would seem unlikely Harris would have signed off on a blockbuster Burns acquisition, but given the Panthers’ stance on the former Rivera/Hurney investment, it is a moot point anyway. In addition to turning down the aforementioned Rams offer, former Panthers GM Scott Fitterer refused to include Burns in the 2023 trade for the No. 1 overall pick. That led to D.J. Moore being sent to Chicago last March. The Burns trade developments have only emboldened the upper-crust sack artist on the contract front, and another chapter — this time involving new Panthers GM Dan Morgan — looks set to begin soon.
The Panthers remain likely to use their franchise tag on Burns, Person adds. The two-time Pro Bowler sought a $30MM-per-year deal during the 2023 offseason. At the time, that would have established a new position record. T.J. Watt held that distinction for two years, via his $28MM-AAV Steelers re-up, but Nick Bosa topped it on the $34MM-per-year accord the 49ers gave him in September. Burns has not proven to be in the Watt or Bosa class, but the Panthers have armed him with considerable leverage. Bosa’s extension will certainly impact the Panthers’ talks with Burns, which were effectively paused during the latter’s contract year.
Burns, who stands to be Carolina’s first tag recipient since Taylor Moton in 2021, said he wants to stay with the Panthers. But it will clearly be costly for the team to retain him. It will be interesting to see if Fitterer’s successor affects these talks. Though, Morgan was in place as Carolina’s assistant GM from 2021-23. A tag, which will cost approximately $22.7MM, will buy the Panthers more time. They would have until July 15 to extend Burns, though a trade can be worked out beyond that point.
The Commanders centered their 2023 offseason on Sam Howell, who had played all of one game as a rookie. While the second-year passer showed some encouraging signs, the team was prepared to bench him for Jacoby Brissett late in the season. Howell did become the first Washington quarterback to go wire to wire as the starter since Kirk Cousins in 2017, but the team lost eight straight games to end the season. It remains likely the Commanders draft a QB at No. 2 overall rather than turn to Howell and perhaps another Brissett-level vet as competition, ESPN.com’s John Keim writes.
Washington held the No. 2 overall pick in 2020 but had just taken Dwayne Haskins in the 2019 first round. This effectively took them out of the Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert sweepstakes, joining the Giants (who had chosen Daniel Jones in 2019) in that regard. Washington then took Chase Young. Timing was an issue for the team then, but Howell’s presence — especially with a new owner, HC and football ops boss in town — is unlikely to represent a sufficient deterrent to impede a QB investment this year. Two years remain on Howell’s rookie contract.
Here is the latest from the NFC East:
Mike Zimmer is bringing in some familiar faces to work on his first Cowboys defensive staff. Former Zimmer assistants and at least one of his former players in Dallas will be part of the group.
Part of Zimmer staffs in Cincinnati and Minnesota, former DC Paul Guenther will have another chance in the league. The Cowboys are hiring Guenther to be their run-game coordinator on defense, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill. Dallas will also bring in veteran assistant Jeff Zgonina to coach its defensive line, the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala tweets; Zgonina will replace Aden Durde, who agreed to leave for the Seattle DC job last week.
Former Cowboys pass rusher Greg Ellis will also make a major leap in the coaching ranks. Serving as the head coach of a Texas-based NAIA school last season, Ellis will join Guenther and Zgonina in his old stomping grounds. Zimmer is bringing the former Cowboys sack artist aboard as his assistant D-line coach, Hill adds.
Guenther, 52, coached alongside Zimmer with the Bengals and eventually succeeded him as Cincinnati’s DC under Marvin Lewis. Finishing his Cincy run with Zimmer as the team’s linebackers coach, Guenther linked up with his former boss in Minnesota in 2021; the Vikings brought him in as a senior defensive assistant during what turned out to be Zimmer’s final year running the show in the Twin Cities. Guenther, who served as the Raiders’ DC from 2018-20, has not been in the NFL since that Vikings one-off.
After a 17-year career as a D-lineman, Zgonina has been a regular assistant around the NFL. While Dan Quinn has poached multiple Cowboys assistants — including Joe Whitt as DC — Dallas will hire Zgonina after a Washington stay. Zgonina, 53, has worked with the Texans, Giants, 49ers and Commanders over the past 11 years. He served as D-line coach in San Francisco and Washington, holding that job on Ron Rivera‘s staff over the past two years. The Commanders effectively cut Zgonina’s legs out from under him at the trade deadline, moving Montez Sweat and Chase Young off the roster. Both contract-year players were off to strong starts before being dealt.
Ellis, 48, will make the most interesting move. He served as head coach at Southwestern Assemblies of God University from 2022-23, going 11-10 in that time. Ellis resigned his post in November; he previously served as head coach at another NAIA school (Texas College). Ellis has also devoted time to the theater since retiring from the NFL, directing multiple plays and founding a multimedia company. This will represent a key step for the former Cowboys defensive end, who spent most of his time in Dallas playing under Zimmer.
The Cowboys drafted Ellis eighth overall in 1998, and he became a regular starter for the next decade. The team gave Ellis a six-year extension in 2003; the North Carolina alum registered 77 sacks as a Cowboy from 1998-2008, making the Pro Bowl and earning Comeback Player of the Year acclaim in 2007. Ellis tallied a career-high 12.5 sacks that season.
Additionally, the Cowboys reached an agreement to retain wide receivers coach Robert Prince, Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets. Prince has been with the Cowboys for the past two seasons, overseeing the development of CeeDee Lamb in the wake of the Amari Cooper trade.
This offseason showed the turnover that can take place at the offensive coordinator position. As a result of several decisions in January and February, the NFL no longer has an OC who has been in his current role for more than two seasons. Various firings and defections now have the 2022 batch of hires stationed as the longest-tenured OCs.
One of the longest-tenured coordinators in NFL history, Pete Carmichael is no longer with the Saints. The team moved on after 15 seasons, a stay that featured part-time play-calling duties. The Browns canned their four-year non-play-calling OC, Alex Van Pelt, while three-year play-callers Arthur Smith and Shane Waldron are relocating this winter. Brian Callahan‘s five-year gig as the Bengals’ non-play-calling OC booked him a top job.
The recent lean toward offense-oriented HCs took a bit of a hit of a hit this offseason, with five of the eight jobs going to defense-oriented leaders. Callahan, Dave Canales and Jim Harbaugh were the only offense-geared candidates hired during this cycle. But half the NFL will go into this season with a new OC. Following the Seahawks’ decision to hire ex-Washington (and, briefly, Alabama) staffer Ryan Grubb, here is how the NFL’s OC landscape looks:
Although this sextet now comprises the senior wing of offensive coordinators, this still marks each’s first gig as an NFL OC. Three of the six received HC interest this offseason.
Johnson’s status back in Detroit has been one of the offseason’s top storylines and a development the Commanders have not taken especially well. The two-year Lions OC was viewed as the frontrunner for the Washington job for weeks this offseason, and when team brass did not receive word about Johnson’s intent to stay in Detroit (thus, waiting until at least 2025 to make his long-expected HC move) until a Commanders contingent was en route to Detroit for a second interview, a back-and-forth about what exactly broke down took place. Johnson should be expected to remain a high-end HC candidate next year, but Dan Campbell will still have his services for 2024.
Kafka interviewed for the Seahawks’ HC job, and the Giants then blocked him from meeting with the NFC West team about its OC position. Rumblings about Kafka and Brian Daboll no longer being on great terms surfaced this year, with the latter yanking away play-calling duties — given to Kafka ahead of the 2022 season — at points in 2023. Taylor may also be on the hot seat with his team. Doug Pederson gave Taylor the call sheet last season, and Trevor Lawrence did not make the leap many expected. After a collapse left the Jaguars out of the playoffs, the team had begun to look into its offensive situation.
Only nine of the 15 OCs hired in 2023 are still with their teams. One (Canales) moved up the ladder, while others were shown the door following that organization canning its head coach. The Eagles were the only team who hired an offensive coordinator last year to fire that staffer (Brian Johnson) after one season. Nick Sirianni fired both his coordinators following a wildly disappointing conclusion.
Hackett may also be drifting into deep water, given what transpired last year in New York. Rumblings of Robert Saleh — who is on the hottest seat among HCs — stripping some of his offensive play-caller’s responsibilities surfaced recently. This marks Hackett’s fourth chance to call plays in the NFL; the second-generation staffer did so for the Bills, Jaguars and Broncos prior to coming to New York. After the 2022 Broncos ranked last in scoring, the ’23 Jets ranked 31st in total offense. Hackett’s relationship with Aaron Rodgers has largely kept him in place, but 2024 may represent a last chance for the embattled coach.
Of this crop, Monken and Slowik were the only ones to receive HC interest. Neither emerged as a frontrunner for a position, though Slowik met with the Commanders twice. The Texans then gave their first-time play-caller a raise to stick around for C.J. Stroud‘s second season. Stroud’s remarkable progress figures to keep Slowik on the HC radar. Monken, who is in his third try as an NFL OC (after gigs in Tampa and Cleveland), just helped Lamar Jackson to his second MVP award. The former national championship-winning OC did not stick the landing — as Jackson struggled against the Chiefs — but he fared well on the whole last season.
Schottenheimer is on his fourth go-round as an OC, while Lombardi is on team No. 3. The latter’s job figures to be more secure, being tied to Sean Payton, compared to what is transpiring in Dallas. With the Cowboys having Mike McCarthy as the rare lame-duck HC, his coordinators probably should not get too comfortable.
The 49ers do not employ a traditional OC; 16 of the 31 teams that do recently made a change. Most of the teams to add OCs this year, however, did so without employing play-calling coaches. This naturally raises the stakes for this year’s batch of hires.
Retreads became rather popular. Dorsey, Getsy, Moore, Van Pelt and Waldron were all OCs elsewhere (Buffalo, Chicago, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Seattle) last season. Smith will shift from calling the Falcons’ plays to running the show for the Steelers. Dorsey, Getsy and Van Pelt were fired; Moore and Waldron moved on after the Chargers and Seahawks respectively changed HCs. Moore and Smith will be calling plays for a third team; for Moore, this is three OC jobs in three years.
Coen, Kingsbury and Roman are back after a year away. Kingsbury became a popular name on the OC carousel, having coached Caleb Williams last season. This will be his second crack at an NFL play-calling gig, having been the Cardinals’ conductor throughout his HC tenure. This will be Coen’s first shot at calling plays in the pros; he was Sean McVay‘s non-play-calling assistant in 2022. Likely to become the Chargers’ play-caller, Roman will have a rare fourth chance to call plays in the NFL. He held that responsibility under Jim Harbaugh in San Francisco; following Harbaugh’s explosive 2015 49ers split, Roman moved to Buffalo and Baltimore to work under non-offense-oriented leaders.
Grubb, Holz, Idzik, Pitcher and Robinson represent this year’s first-timer contingent. Grubb has, however, called plays at the college level. Robinson is the latest McVay staffer to move into a play-calling post; he was a Rams assistant for five years. A host of teams had Robinson on their OC radar, but Raheem Morris brought his former L.A. coworker to Atlanta. Pitcher appeared in a few searches as well, but the Bengals made the expected move — after extending him last year — to give him Callahan’s old job.
* = denotes play-calling coordinator
The Commanders unveiled their first coaching staff under new head coach Dan Quinn on Thursday. Many of the additions have already been reported, but a pair of ex-players have found a spot on the staff. 
[RELATED: Commanders Add Lance Newmark As AGM, Reassign Mayhew, Hurney]
David Blough has elected to hang up his cleats to take on the role of assistant QBs coach. Blough entered the league as a UDFA with the Browns, but he was dealt to the Lions in 2019. He spent much of his playing career in Detroit, making seven of his starts and nine of his appearances with the team from 2019-21.
The Purdue alum found himself in Arizona for the 2022 campaign, and he made a pair of starts that year. Blough was among the Cardinals’ final roster cuts last summer, however, which led him back to the Lions. He resided on the team’s taxi squad, and made it clear he was eyeing a transition to coaching at some point. He will work alongside returnee Tavita Pritchard in overseeing the Commanders’ signal-callers, a group which could very well include a rookie added with the second overall pick in April’s draft.
Blough will make his first foray into coaching in 2024, and William Gay will likewise take on a full-time NFL sideline position for the first time in his career. The latter, a Steelers cornerback for 10 years with a one-year Cardinals stint in between, saw his final regular season and playoff action in 2017. He took a deal with the Giants in 2018, but he failed to make New York’s roster. The following year, Gay served as a Steelers coaching intern.
The former Super Bowl winner worked as a defensive backs coach at Missouri State in 2020, and he will take on the title of assistant DBs coach with the Commanders. Gay, 39, will pair with Tommy Donatell and Jason Simmons (defensive backs coach and pass-game coordinator, respectively) as the Commanders aim to improve on their league-worst finish against the pass in 2023.
Brian Johnson, added after his tenure as OC of the Eagles, will take on the post of assistant head coach. As Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post notes, though, Johnson will not have a direct play-calling role with respect to the team’s offense. He will instead take on a more general role with a potential future head coaching opportunity in mind.
Among the updates is the title for ex-Chargers and Raiders defensive coordinator John Pagano. He will work as a senior defensive assistant rather than serving as a position coach. Sarah Hogan, meanwhile, will leave the Falcons to work as coaching chief of staff during Quinn’s first season at the helm. He, new OC Kliff Kingsbury and DC Joe Whitt Jr. will be tasked with overseeing improvement from last year’s 4-13 campaign.
The Commanders‘ new coaching staff under head coach Dan Quinn is starting to take shape as he and his coordinators continue to hire new assistant coaches. The most recent of which sees yet another former 49ers staffer in assistant defensive line coach Darryl Tapp find his way to the nation’s capital to serve as Quinn’s new defensive line coach, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Following a long playing career that saw him travel the NFC in places like Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, New Orleans, and Tampa Bay, Tapp went straight into coaching, taking a defensive quality control coaching job at Central Michigan. He followed that up with two more year-long stints as a special teams quality control coach at Vanderbilt and a co-defensive line coach at Virginia Tech.
Tapp got his first NFL coaching opportunity when offered his current position of assistant defensive line coach in San Francisco. He’s held the position for the past three years, helping Kris Kocurek coach up some of the best defensive linemen in the game of football. It didn’t take long for Tapp to get his first opportunity to coach the position on his own.
Washington traded away two of their better defensive linemen this past season in Chase Young and Montez Sweat, but the team still has some extremely talented pieces in Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen. Tapp got to work a bit with Young after the former second-overall pick was traded, so he may have a bit of insight on how to connect with the Commanders defensive line.
Here are a few other staff updates coming out of Washington:
As the Commanders transition to the Adam Peters regime, this new era will involve a longtime Lions executive holding a key position. In place since the 1990s, Lance Newmark will leave the Lions for the Commanders.
The Commanders are hiring Newmark as their assistant GM, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. Newmark finished his Lions tenure as the team’s senior director of player personnel. Newmark’s Lions stay overlapped with Martin Mayhew‘s. With Mayhew sticking around in Washington despite Peters displacing him atop the front office, he will reunite with Newmark.
While Newmark showed a tremendous commitment to Detroit and was onboard for this Brad Holmes-overseen rebuild effort, he had been tied to some GM pursuits in the past. The Lions interviewed him for the job that went to Holmes, and the Jets considered him for their GM post — a race Joe Douglas won — back in 2019. Newmark served as the Lions’ senior player personnel director for two years, being part of the team’s ascent that nearly produced a Super Bowl berth.
It is interesting this will be Newmark’s move up the ladder, considering the time he put in with the Lions. Newmark has come up on the scouting side, working his way up from the area-scouting tier. Newmark held multiple scouting director positions during his run in Detroit, serving as the team’s assistant director of college scouting for seven years.
Arriving in Detroit in 1998, Newmark joined the team under Chuck Schmidt‘s GM tenure — one that covered Barry Sanders‘ career. While Sanders’ arrival predated Newmark’s, the latter was in place when the Lions chose Calvin Johnson. Detroit, of course, missed on other first-round receivers during Matt Millen‘s GM tenure. This helped lead to Mayhew’s turn in charge. The team crafted a turnaround with Johnson and Matthew Stafford leading the way, and the Lions keeping Newmark despite four GM hires (Millen, Mayhew, Bob Quinn, Holmes) illustrated the organization’s respect for the veteran exec.
Given his relationship with Peters, Mayhew sticking around was not too surprising. Though, teams obviously do not make a habit of retaining GMs after hiring a new FO boss. Washington’s GM from 2021-23, Mayhew will now work as an advisor to Peters. The Commanders’ new personnel chief had not worked with Newmark previously, though Mayhew has an extensive past alongside Newmark.
Although Mayhew spent time with Peters in San Francisco, he is mostly known for his Detroit and Washington GM stays. Mayhew did elevate the Lions following the Millen years, as the team booked playoff berths in 2011 and 2014 on his watch. But it is interesting Josh Harris will make two staffers from a Lions organization mostly known for modern-era futility as key lieutenants.
The Lions hired the former NFL cornerback in 2001, and he climbed to the assistant GM role in 2004. Mayhew and Newmark worked together for 15 years in Detroit, making the former’s presence a presumable draw for the entrenched Lions staffer. Peters will have final say on personnel matters, representing a pivot after Washington had Ron Rivera in that role. Newmark and Mayhew figure to be key parts of that process as the team attempts to craft its own rebuild operation.
The Commanders also announced Marty Hurney will remain with the team as an advisor. This certainly represents an interesting path for the team, which has fired Rivera but kept his top two personnel staffers in place.
A two-time Panthers GM, Hurney rejoined Rivera in Washington in 2021. He had served as the team’s executive VP of player personnel under Rivera. Following Rivera’s ouster, Hurney and Mayhew stood in limbo as the organization evaluated their statuses. An NFL staffer since beginning his career under Hall of Famer Bobby Beathard — an ex-Washington Super Bowl-winning GM — with the Chargers in 1990, Hurney served as Panthers GM from 2002-12 and again from 2017-20. Newmark also received his start as a Chargers staffer under Beathard in the ’90s, overlapping with Hurney during that period.
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.