Jay Rodgers

Ken Zampese, Ike Hilliard, Barrett Ruud Join Falcons’ Staff; Team Retains Jerry Gray

February 6th, 2024 at 1:52pm CST by Sam Robinson

In Zac Robinson and Jimmy Lake, Raheem Morris installed two first-time NFL coordinators as his top lieutenants. The returning Falcons leader will backstop the OC-DC tandem with some experienced staffers in key posts.

The Falcons hired Ken Zampese as a senior offensive assistant, and the team is retaining defensive assistant Jerry Gray. The latter, an Arthur Smith hire, agreed to an extension to stay under Morris, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo notes. Zampese worked as the Bengals’ OC from 2016-17, while Gray has multiple stints of DC experience. The veteran staffer served as the Bills’ DC in the 2000s and led the Titans’ defense from 2011-13. Gray will continue in an assistant HC/defense capacity.

Gray, 61, came to Atlanta after philosophical differences with then-Green Bay DC Joe Barry keyed a Wisconsin exit. The former decorated DB has been an NFL assistant for the past 27 seasons. A second-generation NFL assistant, Zampese brings 24 years of experience at this level. The 56-year-old staffer is best known for his 15 seasons on Marvin Lewis‘ Bengals staff, most of which coming as the team’s QBs coach. Zampese was in that role for the past four seasons under Ron Rivera in Washington.

Ike Hillard also joined the Falcons as their wide receivers coach. This will mark a return to the league for the former Giants starter. Hilliard, 47, did not coach in 2022 and was last in the NFL as the Steelers’ receivers coach from 2020-21. An NFL receivers coach from 2011-21, Hilliard was at Auburn in 2022. The Falcons also added Kevin Koger as their tight ends coach. Koger was on the radar for OC positions in 2022, interviewing for the Broncos and Packers’ jobs. Koger, 34, spent the past three years as the Chargers’ TEs coach. These appointments will be rather important, given the investments the Falcons made in Drake London and Kyle Pitts.

As Hilliard settles in, the Falcons will shift T.J. Yates from receivers coach to quarterbacks coach. The former NFL QB spent three seasons on Smith’s staff, arriving during the 2021 offseason in which Morris left for Los Angeles. This will be his first season as a team’s top QBs coach, though it is not yet known exactly who Yates will be developing. Morris is also keeping Dwayne Ledford as offensive line coach, adding the role of run-game coordinator to his title. Smith brought Ledford out of the college ranks in 2021. Pro Football Focus ranked the Falcons’ O-line fourth last season. The Falcons retained assistant Steven King but will move him from an offensive staffer to assistant special teams coach.

Multiple Rams staffers will follow Morris as well. Tim Berbenich, a 2023 Rams assistant, signed on as a Falcons pass-game specialist. He will also hold game management responsibilities. Lance Schulters, whose DB career included a stop in Atlanta, joined Morris’ staff as a defensive assistant. He last coached with the Rams in 2022. Nick Jones, a three-year Rams staffer, is signing on with the Falcons as assistant O-line coach. Offensive assistant K.J. Black will also come to Georgia after spending time on McVay’s staff.

Jay Rodgers, whom the Chargers fired shortly after dismissing Brandon Staley, will receive another opportunity as part of this staff. The Falcons hired Rodgers as their D-line coach. Rodgers has been an NFL D-line coach for the past 12 years, serving in that capacity for the Broncos and Bears ahead of his L.A. stay. Justin Hood will move up to DBs coach, after spending 2023 on the quality control level in Green Bay.

Former NFL linebacker Barrett Ruud will also make his coaching debut in the pros, being hired as Atlanta’s ILBs coach. Ruud coached at Nebraska, his alma mater, from 2018-22. The Falcons will keep Michael Pitre as their running backs coach. Helping Tyler Allgeier to a 1,000-yard rookie year, Pitre has held this role for the past two seasons.

Rounding out the staff, the Falcons are hiring the son of longtime Patriots O-line coach Dante Scarnecchia. Steve Scarnecchia is onboard as the Falcons’ chief of staff, coming over from the Jets. Ex-Bolts assistant John Timu is now on Lake’s defensive staff. Chandler Whitmer, in place as a pass-game specialist, will join Rodgers, Timu and Koger incoming from the Chargers’ staff.

Chargers Waive DL Sebastian Joseph-Day

December 22nd, 2023 at 9:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

Not long after the Chargers fired Tom Telesco and Brandon Staley, one of the duo’s key defensive investments will follow the power duo out the door. The Chargers are waiving defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. The team has since announced the move.

The team gave Joseph-Day, a former Rams regular, a three-year, $24MM deal in 2022. No guaranteed money remained on the contract post-2023. This move will undoubtedly generate interest among contending teams, though Joseph-Day’s vested-veteran status will not keep him off the waiver wire due to the trade deadline having passed. It will cost the Bolts more than $3MM to cut the sixth-year veteran now.

Joseph-Day, 28, has started throughout his Chargers tenure, proving durable along a defensive front that has lost pieces in each of the past two seasons. Joseph-Day has started 30 games as a Charger. This season, the veteran interior D-lineman has matched his career-high with three sacks while establishing a new career-best mark with 11 QB hits. The latter number betters Joseph-Day’s previous top mark by five.

Pro Football Focus grades Joseph-Day as a mid-pack interior D-lineman, slotting him just outside the top 60 at the position. That represents an improvement from his 2021 placement but comes after he played a key role alongside Aaron Donald in Los Angeles. A former sixth-round pick, Joseph-Day boosted his free agent stock by starting for multiple Rams teams. Though, a chest injury kept Joseph-Day out of action for much of their Super Bowl-winning 2021 season. Joseph-Day returned in time to be activated for Super Bowl LVI but only played three defensive snaps that night. That did not blunt his offseason momentum much.

Joseph-Day resided as one of the NFL’s better run defenders prior to his 2021 injury, leading to the Chargers’ investment. Staley had pushed the front office to supply him with defensive upgrades in 2022. A number of regulars came in. Joseph-Day joined Khalil Mack and J.C. Jackson as high-profile additions, while Kyle Van Noy and Bryce Callahan came over and played regularly as well. But it is safe to say the Chargers will be making major changes to their non-Justin Herbert setup going forward.

This move comes shortly after the Chargers fired their defensive line coach. The team axed D-line coach and run-game coordinator Jay Rodgers not long after the Staley and Telesco firings. The Chargers, who have again seen Joey Bosa miss a stretch due to injury, rank 29th defensively. They are better against the run, ranking 18th (as opposed to 30th against the pass), and have seen a rejuvenated Mack notch 15 sacks; that matches the former Defensive Player of the Year’s career-high total. But Staley’s troops could never be relied upon during his tenure, ranking outside the top 20 on the whole in each of his three seasons.

Joseph-Day is due a nonguaranteed $7.5MM in 2024. The Chargers have paid out most of his $6.5MM base salary this season; only $1.15MM remains on the contract for the season’s remainder. While that might give some teams pause, Joseph-Day’s track record and a manageable 2024 salary may not allow him to reach free agency. Joseph-Day joins Justin Houston, Jason Pierre-Paul and Marcus Peters as longtime defensive starters waived recently.

Staley hired Rodgers in 2021, bringing him over from Chicago, where he served as the Bears’ defensive line coach for six years. Rodgers also resided as the D-line coach under John Fox in Denver, coaching in Super Bowl XLVIII. The ex-Fox/Vic Fangio lieutenant will be in search of a new team for the 2024 season.

Coaching Notes: Bieniemy, Texans, Falcons

January 16th, 2021 at 4:59pm CST by Sam Robinson

With the Eagles requesting an interview with Eric Bieniemy, the Chiefs offensive coordinator is now 7-for-7 in meeting requests during this hiring period. However, the third-year OC has again run into issues on the interview circuit. Despite being Andy Reid‘s right-hand man during the most successful period in Chiefs history, Bieniemy may go a third cycle without landing a coaching job. It is trending in that direction, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports tweets. Bieniemy did not interview well on the whole last year and has encountered similar issues during this cycle, according to Tony Pauline and Benjamin Allbright of ProFootballNetwork.com.

Although the Texans changed course and submitted a request to speak with Bieniemy, as they deal with a disgruntled Deshaun Watson, CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora notes that interview is doubtful to commence. With the Chiefs’ bye week over, any team wishing to meet with Bieniemy going forward must wait until Kansas City’s season ends. If the No. 1-seeded Chiefs make it back to the Super Bowl, the remaining jobs may be filled by then. Three teams have filled their positions; the Lions are soon expected to hire Saints assistant Dan Campbell; the Chargers may be zeroing in on Bills third-year OC Brian Daboll. This would leave only the Houston and Philadelphia jobs available. Though Bieniemy not being his team’s primary play-caller makes him an atypical HC candidate from the offensive side of the ball, it would certainly be strange if he exited another offseason without landing a coaching gig.

Here is the latest from the coaching circuit:

Staying with the Texans, they will interview another Bills coordinator this weekend. They will speak with Buffalo DC Leslie Frazier on Sunday, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Frazier, who has been Buffalo’s defensive play-caller, has re-emerged on the HC radar after four seasons as Buffalo’s DC under Sean McDermott. Support is building for Frazier with the Texans, La Canfora notes. Since the Vikings ended Frazier’s three-plus-year run as their head coach after the 2013 season, he has been a coordinator for two teams (the Bucs and Bills) and coached the Ravens secondary in between.
In hiring Arthur Smith, the Falcons almost certainly have their offensive play-caller in place. But they have identified a Smith right-hand man in Bears passing-game coordinator Dave Ragone. The Chicago assistant has emerged as an early favorite to become Atlanta’s OC, with ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler tweeting a Smith-Ragone partnership running the Falcons’ offense has a “good chance” of happening. Ragone has been with the Bears since 2016.
Now that Chuck Pagano has retired, the Bears are on the lookout for a new defensive coordinator. Defensive line coach Jay Rodgers and safeties coach Sean Desai stand to be the top internal candidates to succeed Pagano, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). Rodgers served as D-line coach under John Fox in Denver and followed him to Chicago in 2015. Rodgers’ contract expires next week, and Rapoport notes he is expected to be a DC candidate for other teams as well in the coming days.
Marion Hobby will make a move to another AFC team’s defensive staff. The Bengals are hiring the veteran assistant as their D-line coach, Ben Baby of ESPN.com tweets. Hobby, who spent six seasons as Clemson’s co-defensive coordinator under Dabo Swinney, coached the Dolphins and Jaguars’ D-lines in the four seasons since. Hobby was with Jacksonville when the team’s “Sacksonville” D-line drove a run to the AFC title game.

North Rumors: Ryan, Lions, Newman, Bears

January 29th, 2019 at 9:48pm CST by Sam Robinson

The coaching carousel brought plenty of rumors Tuesday. Here is the latest from the North divisions on that front:

Sean Ryan was connected to multiple North-division offensive coordinator openings last year, but both the Browns and Vikings went in different directions. A year later, though, the Lions will bring the Texans’ quarterbacks coach north. Ryan will replace George Godsey as Detroit’s QBs coach, the team announced. Godsey will join Brian Flores‘ staff in Miami. This will be Ryan’s third gig instructing QBs. He first held that post with the Giants from 2012-13. The past two years, he worked with Deshaun Watson in Houston.
Following changes at OC and quarterbacks coach, more turnover will occur in Detroit. Lions running backs coach David Walker will step away from coaching. He coached the Lions’ running backs for the past three seasons. Walker coached at the college and pro levels for 22 years. This will be another place Patricia makes a hire. Only wide receivers coach Robert Prince remains as an offensive position coach from the Jim Caldwell era.
Terence Newman transitioned from the NFL’s oldest active defensive player to a Vikings coach at this season’s outset. The Vikings want him back for another year, but Newman is not certain to keep coaching, according to Darren Wolfson of KSTP.com (via Twitter). The 40-year-old coach is no longer listed among Minnesota’s coaches on the team website.
One of Bob Sutton‘s Chiefs staffers will migrate to Chicago. Matt Nagy will hire Mark DeLeone to coach the Bears‘ inside linebackers, per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. DeLeone and Nagy worked together in Kansas City from 2013-17, and DeLeone stayed on with the Chiefs this season. Sutton’s firing, though, figures to force relocations from some of his position coaches. Vic Fangio‘s departure is having the same effect in Chicago, with only defensive line coach Jay Rodgers expected to return under Chuck Pagano.
Deuce Schwartz will be part of Freddie Kitchens‘ Browns staff as a defensive quality control coach, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Schwartz spent two seasons as an assistant in New Orleans, primarily working with the Saints’ specialty units.

Coaching Notes: Wilks, Bears, Chiefs, Cards

January 8th, 2018 at 1:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

Steve Wilks has set up three interviews for this week. The Giants will receive the first opportunity to meet with the Panthers’ DC, with ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson reporting (on Twitter) Wilks will trek to New Jersey to meet with the Dave Gettleman-led group on Tuesday before flying to Arizona to meet with the Cardinals on Wednesday. Following those meetings, the Colts will host Wilks on Thursday, Mike Wells of ESPN.com tweets. These aren’t the only teams interested in securing a sitdown with Wilks. The Lions remain interested in doing so as well, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets.

The Giants will complete both Wilks’ and Eric Studesville‘s interviews by Wednesday, with the former Broncos running backs coach set for a Wednesday powwow, per ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan (Twitter link). This duo will mark the fifth and sixth interviews the Giants will have conducted. After these summits, Big Blue management could be ready to make a decision. With the Eagles still in the playoffs and no Jim Schwartz interview conducted, it could put the Giants to a decision: wait on Schwartz and risk losing some of these aforementioned candidates or hire one of them instead.

Here’s the latest from the coaching circuit.

A possible favorite has already emerged to replace Matt Nagy as the Chiefs‘ OC. Running backs coach Eric Bieniemy will be “strongly considered,” Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The 48-year-old Bienemy served as Colorado’s OC from 2011-12 and has coached the Chiefs’ running backs since Andy Reid‘s arrival in 2013. Bienemy could have a clearer path to this job with former K.C. OC Brad Childress planning to retire.
Nagy wants to retain Vic Fangio with the Bears, both Peter Schrager of NFL.com and the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs note (Twitter links). But Fangio has interest elsewhere — from the Bengals and Packers — and could opt to depart Chicago after being passed over for the HC job.
Chicago may also look to retain a few assistants who worked under John Fox. Quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone is a candidate to stay under Nagy despite the new HC making his NFL name by working with QBs. The Bears respected Ragone’s work with Trubisky, Rich Campbell of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets, and adds Nagy and Ragone share an agent. Biggs tweets tight ends coach Frank Smith and defensive line coach Jay Rodgers are candidates to stay put as well.
The Browns‘ interviews with OC candidates Ken Zampese and Sean Ryan will take place this week. Rapoport reports (via Twitter) Zampese will receive the first meeting, which will occur today, with Ryan’s interview scheduled for Wednesday. A second-generation NFL assistant, Zampese spent the past 15 seasons with the Bengals before his second year as OC ended after just two games. A nine-year Giants staffer who is currently the Texans’ QBs coach, Ryan does not have any history with Hue Jackson like Zampese does.
Ron Rivera does not anticipate the Panthers making any staff changes beyond possibly replacing Wilks, David Newton of ESPN.com notes. This would mean OC Mike Shula is in line to return for a sixth season.
Falcons special teams coach Keith Armstrong‘s Cardinals interview is set for Monday in Atlanta, Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com reports. Armstrong is allowed to interview under NFL rules despite the Falcons winning in the wild-card round.

Coaching Notes: LeBeau, Bills, Raiders, Bears

January 25th, 2015 at 8:25pm CST by Rob DiRe

Former Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau is no longer in the running to join the staff of the Cardinals, reports Kent Somers of AZCentral.com. Since he resigned from his long time post with the Steelers, the Cardinals seemed like a logical option for the 77-year old Hall of Fame coach. While it was thought that LeBeau would only be interested in coordinator positions, he was reportedly set to be a senior assistant and serve as the Cardinals linebacker coach.

With the Cardinals out of the mix for his services, the only other organization with which he has been linked is the Titans, where he could also serve as a senior assistant in some capacity.

The Cardinals are expected to promote from within to fill their defensive coordinator role vacated when Todd Bowles was hired as head coach of the Jets.

Here are some other coaching notes from around the NFL, with more recent news added to the top:

The Bills are expected to hire Chris Palmer to their coaching staff as a senior offensive assistant, reports Adam Caplan of ESPN (via Twitter). Palmer’s long career most recently brought him to the Titans, where he served as offensive coordinator from 2011-2012.
The Raiders have also added former Lions assistant offensive line coach Bobby Johnson to their staff, reports Thayer Evans of SI.com (via Twitter). Johnson will be the Raiders tight ends coach.
The Bears have brought Jay Rodgers onto the staff to coach the defensive line, reports Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter). Rodgers is the older brother of special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers.

Earlier Updates:

The Broncos have not tried to hide the fact that they would like to hire Bengals secondary coach Vance Joseph as their defensive coordinator, but they may not get a chance until after the Bengals are able to secure another coach, writes Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com. The Bengals reportedly have their eye on former Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, and would likely allow Joseph out of his contract if they are able to hire Fewell. The Broncos are willing to wait to see if Fewell is hired by the Bengals before moving on to their next option.
While there have been no official announcements made, the Raiders have reportedly added Bernie Parmalee as their running backs coach and Rob Moore as their wide receivers coach, reports Jerry McDonald of InsideBayArea.com (via Twitter). He also notes that defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson is the only member of the staff set to return so far.
The Falcons are planning on hiring Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their head coach after the Super Bowl, and reports have it that Quinn will be targeting former Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris as part of his staff. However, Mike Jones of the Washington Post writes that Morris is being considered for an assistant head coach/passing game coordinator position, and not defensive coordinaor (via Twitter). Jones reports that the deal is not finished, but it is close (via Twitter).