Scott Cohen

Ravens Updates: Urban, Departures, Hewitt

After leading the league in scoring defense and finishing sixth in yards allowed this season, the Ravens saw their defensive staff get dismantled as several other teams around the league decided to provide opportunities for upward mobility to several assistants. Now begins the process of hiring replacements on new defensive coordinator Zach Orr‘s staff.

The first two new additions we see in Baltimore come from the college football ranks. First, University of Michigan defensive analyst Doug Mallory makes the move from one Harbaugh to another, per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. After working with Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor, Mallory heads to Charm City to work with his former coach’s older brother, John Harbaugh. Mallory will be taking the defensive backs coaching job, a role he previously held at the NFL level with the Falcons. He replaces Dennard Wilson, who now holds the defensive coordinator position in Tennessee.

Orr’s former position of inside linebackers coach will be filled by another former college staffer. Former University of Kansas defensive analyst Mark DeLeone is expected to fill his new boss’s former job coaching inside linebackers, according to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic. DeLeone has coached the same position group with the Chiefs, Bears, and Lions over the years.

With those two positions filled, and Chuck Smith perhaps staying as outside linebackers coach, the sole vacant position remaining to fill would be the defensive line coaching gig vacated by new Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.

Here are a few other coaching updates for the AFC runner ups:

  • We already knew of the departures of Wilson, Weaver, and defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec provided an update on a few other staffers who aren’t expected to return in 2024. On the offensive side of the ball assistant quarterbacks coach Kerry Dickson and assistant offensive line coach Mike Devlin will not be back next season. Devlin is set to serve as the Chargers‘ new offensive line coach. On special teams, assistant T.J. Weist is also not expected to return. Additionally, senior analysts James Urban and Craig Ver Steeg and director of football research Scott Cohen will not retain their roles in 2024.
  • With all the loss and new additions, longtime staffer Chris Hewitt has been rewarded once again for his longevity. A Ravens coaching assistant since 2012, Hewitt has moved through the ranks from assistant special teams coach to assistant secondary coach to defensive backs coach to pass defense coordinator to pass game coordinator and secondary coach. While Hewitt will remain the team’s pass game coordinator on defense in 2024, he will do so with the additional moniker of assistant head coach, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. The title was previously held by Weaver.

2021 NFL General Manager Search Tracker

This year’s NFL GM carousel figures to be more active than usual. The Falcons, Lions, Panthers, Texans, and Jaguars are all on the hunt for a new front office leader. And that’s only the official list. The real tally shows six clubs looking for a GM, since the Washington Football Team is expected to install a GM to work alongside head coach Ron Rivera. By mid-January, we could easily see a couple more jobs opening up — that’d put ~25% of the NFL on the market.

We’ll keep track of the GM candidates for each club here, along with their current status. If and when other teams decide to make general manager changes, they’ll be added to this list. Here’s the current breakdown:

Updated 1-19-21 (7:02pm CT)

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers 

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Washington Football Team

Texans Request Scott Cohen, Trent Kirchner Interviews

The Texans’ GM search is heating up. On Monday, the team requested interviews with Ravens director of football research Scott Cohen and Seahawks vice president of player personnel Trent Kirchner, as NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo tweets.

[RELATED: Texans To Interview Matt Eberflus]

Kirchner started out as the Seahawks’ assistant director of pro personnel in 2010. After a series of promotions, he was elevated to Vice President of Player Personnel in September. Along with co-lieutenant Scott Fitterer, he’s been a hot candidate for GM jobs for a long time. He’s viewed as an integral part of the Seahawks’ success, and a valuable asset for Seahawks GM John Schneider. In 2017, the Panthers, Colts, and 49ers were all connected to the longtime Seattle exec. This time around, the Texans are exploring multiple candidates from the Seahawks, though Garafolo notes that search firm Korn Ferry is strongly pushing Kirchner.

Cohen, meanwhile, has been with the Ravens since 2015. Before that, he spent time with the Buccaneers, Jets, Eagles, and Jaguars. His first 23 years were spent in player personnel. Over the last six years, he’s worked with the team’s coaching staff on week-to-week scouting.

Ravens Rumors: Frazier, Cullen, Front Office

Leslie Frazier will join the Ravens’ coaching staff as the team’s secondary coach, Jeff Zreibec of the Baltimore Sun reports (Twitter links).

The former Vikings head coach was dismissed recently, when the Buccaneers opted to not pick up his option to remain on staff as their defensive coordinator.

Frazier and the Ravens do not have a contract in place yet, but a verbal agreement’s been established, per Zreibec (on Twitter).

Although Frazier, the Vikings’ head coach from 2011-13, coached the Colts’ defensive backs during their Super Bowl campaign in 2006, his title was assistant head coach. A defensive coordinator or head coach since the Bengals hired him in 2003 to run their defense, the 56-year-old Frazier hasn’t been purely a position coach since presiding over the Eagles’ secondary from 1999-2002.

The Bucs’ defense ranked 25th and 23rd the past two seasons, respectively.

Here are some more items regarding the Ravens’ coaching staff and front office.

  • Joe Cullen will move alongside Frazier from the Bucs to the Ravens, joining John Harbaugh‘s staff as defensive line coach, per Zac Jackson of Pro Football Talk. Cullen coached the Bucs’ defensive line last season and guided the Jaguars’ defensive line from 2010-12. He was arrested in 2006 as a member of the Lions’ coaching staff for driving through a Wendy’s drive-thru naked. The Ravens’ previous defensive line coach, Clarence Brooks, will serve as a senior defensive assistant, per Zreibec (on Twitter). Brooks will undergo surgery in January or February for esophageal cancer but is expected to be ready for the 2016 season.
  • Chris Hewitt will assist Frazier in coaching the Ravens’ secondary after being in charge of the group this season, Zreibec tweets. The 41-year-old Hewitt also served in this capacity in 2014.
  • Matt Weiss will transition from cornerback coach to a job working with the linebackers under Don Martindale, who’s been the Ravens’ inside linebacker coach since 2012, Zreibec tweets. Outside linebacker coach Ted Monachino recently signed on as the Colts’ defensive coordinator.
  • Lastly, the Ravens retained and promoted Scott Cohen, who the Browns sought for a front office position, according to Zreibec (via Twtter). He’ll remain in Baltimore and work with opponent analysis.

AFC Rumors: Broncos, Ravens, Bills

Facing a suddenly thin defensive end situation, with Derek Wolfe‘s recent PEDs suspension and Malik Jackson‘s calf strain, the Broncos are in need of some good news on their line.

They’ll have to settle for Antonio Smith being able to practice and hoping his being investigated in a child sex-abuse complaint doesn’t deter his time in Denver. The Broncos previously excused him from OTAs in late May once word of this allegation emerged.

I have faith in the end it’s going to be all right,” Smith told Arnie Stapleton of the Associated Press. “I love football. I love my teammates more than I love the game. To be away from them was definitely a hard situation.”

GM John Elway permitted the 33-year-old end who he signed as a depth piece earlier this offseason to practice since he hasn’t been arrested or charged.

Here’s some more news out of Denver and as well as the Broncos’ AFC brethren’s training camps.

  • A second consecutive preseason and third straight season for Broncos wideout Kyle Williams looks to have been marred by a severe injury, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. Williams, who suffered his previous injuries with the 49ers and Chiefs, confirmed on his Instagram page a knee injury sustained Saturday will end his 2015 season. The Broncos signed Williams to a futures contract in Dec. 2014 despite his missing the last six games of the 2013 season and all of the 2014 campaign with ACL and shoulder maladies. Most known for the fumble that propelled the Giants into the Super Bowl past the 49ers in overtime of the 2011 NFC championship game, the 27-year-old Williams has to be considered questionable at best to resume his career.
  • 2014 Bills second-rounder Cyrus Kouandjio‘s second chance appears to still be in full bloom, with Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News reporting the Bills’ right tackle job is his to lose despite a slow rookie year. Per Dunne, when Rex Ryan‘s staff arrived, they cleaned the slate of the former Alabama starter. This could mean a demotion for 16-game starter Seantrel Henderson, a 2014 seventh-rounder. “That absolutely could be his job,” Ryan said of Kouandjio. “That’s competition. Seantrel, I hope will feel differently. He’s going to think ‘I’m going to battle to win that job.’ But right now, he’s running with the 1’s so look at it any way you want.”
  • Scott Cohen will join the Ravens as a consultant after the Buccaneers fired him earlier this year, reports Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. Cohen previously worked as Mike Tannenbaum‘s assistant GM for five years with the Jets.