Here are today’s practice squad transactions:
Denver Broncos
- Released: WR Kaden Davis, LB Olakunle Fatukasi, OL George Moore
Only one minor move to pass along this evening:
Minnesota Vikings
- Designated for return: OT Blake Brandel
Brandel suffered an MCL injury in December that forced him to miss the final four games of the season. The 2020 sixth-round pick saw an increase in playing time prior to his injury, starting three games while filling in for Christian Darrisaw. Brian O’Neill is currently down with an injury, perhaps opening an opportunity for Brandel to play in the postseason.
It sounds like Adam Peters will be staying in San Francisco. The 49ers assistant general manager has declined GM interviews with the Titans and Cardinals, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter). While Peters “has great respect for those organizations, his focus is on supporting the 49ers during their playoff run,” per Rapoport.
Peters spent eight years in Denver before joining San Francisco in 2017. After starting as vice president of player personnel, the Bay Area native was promoted to assistant GM in 2021, with the 49ers collecting 23 regular season wins during his two years in the role. According to Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter), Peters has widely been viewed as the successor to general manager John Lynch.
Still, that sentiment hasn’t stopped teams from pursuing Peters. After being loosely connected to GM vacancies for a few years, the executive made it to the second round of interviews with the Panthers in 2021 (prompting his promotion to 49ers assistant GM) and the Giants in 2022. Peters has clearly been turning into a hot name on the GM circuit, and with two requests this offseason, it was only a matter of time until he got the gig. However, he appears to be more content to stay in San Francisco, where he could eventually become GM.
Steve Keim permanently stepped away from the Cardinals due to health-related reasons, leading to a vacancy in Arizona’s front office. Meanwhile, the Titans made the surprising move to fire GM Jon Robinson in early December.
In addition to the previously reported player gripes about the state of the Commanders‘ offense, John Keim of ESPN.com notes others in the organization expressed frustration about the inconsistencies within the team’s offensive philosophy. Washington fired three-year OC Scott Turner on Tuesday, despite having signed him to a three-year extension, and signs point to the team making a more concerted effort to focus on its run game. Ron Rivera and GM Martin Mayhew expressed a desire to run more, even after the Commanders ranked fourth in rushing attempts (538). But Keim adds a litany of complaints surfaced about the nature of the offense — from the team deviating from effective plays to Turner’s scheme being difficult for quarterbacks to digest. Concern about the offense emanated inside the building throughout the year, per Keim, who adds Rivera sat in on offensive meetings at points amid the unrest.
The Commanders’ issues at quarterback and on their O-line, a unit full of veterans, hamstrung Turner’s unit. So did injuries, as the team planned to have Brian Robinson play a major role from the start. The two gunshot wounds he sustained in August derailed those plans, and Carson Wentz barely ended up playing with the third-round rookie this season. While outside candidates will be interviewed, Keim adds the Commanders generally like their offensive scheme. QBs coach Ken Zampese, a second-generation NFL assistant who was previously the Bengals’ OC, will likely be an in-house candidate.
Here is the latest from the coaching ranks:
- The Cardinals fired Kliff Kingsbury after four seasons and did so less than a year after signing him to an extension that ran through 2027. While Kingsbury firing rumors had been brewing for months, CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson notes (via Twitter) the young HC did not appear to be expecting it. When a “surprised and distraught” Kingsbury addressed his staffers, he mentioned some of them could be retained. One of them might be DC Vance Joseph, who has been connected to a possible promotion. The former Broncos HC served as Kingsbury’s DC throughout his four-year tenure.
- One of Frank Reich‘s Colts staffers earned an interview for the team’s HC vacancy. Special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone met with Jim Irsay and Co. about the position Wednesday, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. Ventrone, 40, broke into coaching after 10 NFL seasons as a player. After spending time on Bill Belichick‘s staff, Ventrone joined Reich’s staff in 2018 and has been in position as Indy’s ST coordinator since. This is his first interview for a head coaching gig. The Colts can interview their own staffers, unattached coaches and Eagles or Chiefs staffers this week but must wait until midway through next week to begin meeting with candidates from teams playing on wild-card weekend.
- Although Brandon Staley guided the Chargers to the playoffs, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com does not get the sense the second-year HC’s job is 100% safe. A loss to the Jaguars may prompt Chargers ownership to change course. Sean Payton lurking may well affect Staley’s standing, should the Jags prevail. The Bolts job came up several months ago for Payton, who already lives in Los Angeles, and this potential partnership has been a poorly kept secret in NFL circles.
- Brian Flores will interview for the Browns‘ DC job Thursday, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets, though the Steelers linebackers coach is believed to have other teams interested. Flores’ discrimination lawsuit is ongoing, but the former Dolphins HC just wrapped a season on Mike Tomlin‘s staff. The Browns are also interviewing Jim Schwartz and Sean Desai, with a Jerod Mayo request out there as well.
- Two more Panthers assistants have left to join Matt Rhule at Nebraska. Rob Dvoracek and Garett McGuire have left the Panthers to become the Cornhuskers’ linebackers and wide receivers coaches, respectively, Joe Person of The Athletic tweets. Both were in low-level assistant roles with Carolina and each played for Rhule — Dvoracek at Temple, McGuire at Baylor. These exits follow Terrance Knighton‘s; Knighton departed the Panthers in-season.
Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft met this week to discuss the franchise’s outlook, and although rumors of the owner and legendary coach not being on the same page regarding staffing circulated during the season’s final weeks, NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran reports the two are believed to be in step when it comes to the coaching situation.
Patriots staffers have not been informed of any changes yet, Albert Breer of SI.com notes, but Curran adds that Kraft did not need to issue any ultimatums to Belichick to shake up his staff after a strange plan helped produce a disappointing season. Following a season that featured Matt Patricia as the Pats’ primary offensive play-caller, changes will be coming to New England’s offensive staff. Several coaches are under consideration to join the offensive staff, per Curran.
[RELATED: Belichick Confirms Return For 24th Patriots Season]
Bill O’Brien has been linked to a New England return, but Curran tweets the Pats and the current Alabama OC have not been in contact yet. That said, Breer adds O’Brien likely “would love” to return to his home state to aid the Patriots. O’Brien was on Belichick’s staff from 2007-11, finishing that stay as the team’s offensive coordinator during Josh McDaniels‘ three years away. Although O’Brien was not on board as the Crimson Tide’s OC until the 2021 season, Breer mentions Mac Jones helped bring the incoming play-caller up to speed on the program’s offense. Robert and Jonathan Kraft are O’Brien fans as well, per Breer.
Belichick has also done some homework on Kliff Kingsbury, whom he drafted in the 2003 sixth round. The recently fired Cardinals HC spent just more than a year in New England, before being waived, but Breer adds Belichick placed the former Texas Tech QB in a de facto quality control role during a rookie year on IR. That said, Kingsbury may be readier to take a break compared to diving back into a high-pressure situation, Breer and ESPN.com’s Josh Weinfuss (Twitter link) offer. Tight ends coach Nick Caley came up previously as a potential McDaniels heir apparent, and he earned increased responsibility — in Year 6 coaching the Pats’ tight ends — following McDaniels’ departure.
It does not appear Patricia and Joe Judge will need to be too worried about losing their places on Belichick’s staff. The Patriots are expected to find roles for both of their de facto offensive coordinators, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com adds. Belichick thrusting both ex-head coaches into new roles impacted the Pats’ fortunes this season. The Pats plummeted from sixth to 17th in scoring offense, from 15th to 26th in total yards and from ninth to 24th in DVOA. It should be expected whoever calls Patriots plays in 2023 will have at least done it before.
Micah Hyde‘s season may not be over just yet. The Bills designated the veteran safety for return Wednesday. Hyde has been out since suffering a neck injury in Week 2.
The Bills have three weeks to activate Hyde. Initially thought to be done for the year, Hyde has progressed to the point the prospect of a late-season return surfaced a few weeks ago. The Bills will gauge his form this week in practice. The team has also opened the practice window for Jamison Crowder, who has been out since October with a fractured ankle. Neither Crowder nor Hyde will play against the Dolphins on Sunday, Sean McDermott said (via the Buffalo News’ Jay Skurski).
Having saved most of their IR activations, the Bills are in good shape if they see enough to activate either player during the playoffs. Hyde’s injury brought Damar Hamlin into Buffalo’s lineup in September. Hamlin made 14 starts this season, though the 14th did not end up counting for historical purposes because of the frightening injury the second-year defender sustained in Cincinnati last week. Hamlin has progressed to the point he has returned home from the hospital, but it is not known if he can resume his football career. The Bills placed Hamlin on IR last week.
Hyde has been a Buffalo mainstay since joining the team as a free agent in 2017. McDermott added both Hyde and Jordan Poyer on midlevel contracts during his first year in charge. Both moves provided tremendous value for the Bills, who have used the Hyde-Poyer tandem since. Poyer booked his first Pro Bowl honor this year. Hyde has one such nod as well. Having Hyde (81 Bills starts) back in uniform would be a boon for a Buffalo secondary that has not been whole all season. Tre’Davious White did not debut until Thanksgiving, while Poyer has also missed some time.
The Crowder addition — on a one-year, $2MM deal — gave the Bills a deep receiving corps, but the veteran slot player did not last long this season. Rumblings about a late-season Crowder return, however, also surfaced a few weeks back. In the wake of Crowder’s injury, the Bills greenlit reunions with John Brown and Cole Beasley. Both veterans have made contributions in recent weeks, with Brown hauling in a diving touchdown catch in the Bills’ Week 18 win over the Patriots.
Although Crowder only caught six passes in his four-game start to the season, the well-traveled vet posted 800-plus-yard seasons in Washington and New York. Hyde has two five-interception campaigns on his resume, the second coming in 2021. It will be interesting if one or both players can return for the Bills this season.
JANUARY 11: Hamlin is heading home. He is being discharged from the Buffalo hospital, the Bills announced (on Twitter). After a series of tests Tuesday, Bills medical personnel and the staff at the Buffalo hospital determined Hamlin has progressed to the point he can continue his rehab at home and at the team facility.
JANUARY 9: Damar Hamlin left the University of Cincinnati Medical Center on Monday, announcing (via Twitter) a return to Buffalo a week after his frightening injury brought the NFL world to a halt. Hamlin will now receive treatment at Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute.
The Bills safety continues to make significant strides. Hamlin, who needed to be resuscitated last week at Paycor Stadium after suffering cardiac arrest during the since-cancelled Bills-Bengals game, has resumed walking and is undergoing physical therapy, his Cincinnati doctors announced (via ESPN.com’s Alaina Getzenberg). Sean McDermott and GM Brandon Beane visited the second-year player Monday in Buffalo.
“Grateful for the awesome care I received at UCMC,” Hamlin said (via Twitter). “Happy to be back in Buffalo. The docs and nurses at Buffalo General have already made me feel at home!”
The Bills placed Hamlin on IR late last week. Although Hamlin’s progress has been a tremendous development, doctors said last week it is too soon to know if he will be able to play football again. As Hamlin recovers, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes the Bills reached an agreement with the NFL and NFLPA to pay his full salary while he is on IR (Twitter link).
Hamlin, 24, has earned most of his $825K base salary this season. An standard IR split would have resulted in nearly $21K less last week, Rapoport tweets. This arrangement carrying over to 2023 would result in Hamlin earning his full $940K base if he is placed on an injured list to start next season, but it is obviously too early to determine if that will be necessary. Hamlin’s four-year, $3.64MM rookie contract runs through 2024.
Although the Giants have received somewhat surprising production from a largely unknown cast of wide receivers, the resurgent team is not heading into the playoffs with much of note at that position. That situation has persisted for most of this season.
The team brought in a veteran for potential help Wednesday morning. After a workout, the Giants are signing James Washington, Aaron Wilson of KPRC tweets. The Cowboys waived the former second-round pick recently.
This is a practice squad agreement, but Washington will join a team that has relied on the likes of Isaiah Hodgins and Richie James complementing Darius Slayton for much of the year. It will be interesting to see if the Giants, who have seen some in-season additions play big roles for them under Brian Daboll, make a move to bump the former Steelers target up to their active roster.
Both Jaylon Smith and Fabian Moreau have played key roles for the Giants on defense, despite neither being with the team at the start of the season. Ditto Landon Collins, who reunited with his original NFL team early in the year. Collins has become a more integral piece for the rebuilding team down the stretch. Both Moreau and Collins came to the Giants as practice squad players. Hodgins also did not start the season with the team, being claimed off waivers from the Bills midway through the season.
Washington, 26, was unable to carve out a role in Dallas. A broken foot harpooned the former Oklahoma State standout’s season. Following the training camp injury, Washington did not make his debut until Week 14. He ended up playing in just two games (15 total offensive snaps) for the Cowboys, who signed T.Y. Hilton after an extensive Odell Beckham Jr. flirtation. The latter also visited the Giants, who have changed up their receiving situation since Week 1.
Hodgins and James are playing major roles because of injuries to Sterling Shepard and Wan’Dale Robinson and an October trade of Kadarius Toney. Although Kenny Golladay scored a touchdown against the Eagles, the former Lions Pro Bowler has been a massive disappointment as a Giant. They will kick the tires on Washington, who does have a 700-plus-yard receiving season — back in 2019, when college teammate Mason Rudolph was mainly the one throwing passes his way — on his resume. He also scored five touchdowns in 2020. The Steelers minimized Washington’s role during the second half of his rookie contract, however, leading to the low-cost Cowboys deal.
Tom Brady still has at least one more game to play for the Buccaneers, but that hasn’t stopped pundits (and, potentially, other NFL teams) from considering where he could play next season. During an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show (Twitter link), Albert Breer of TheMMQB said the Raiders are “unequivocally” looking into the possibility of adding the future Hall of Famer.
The Brady/Raiders comment was preceded by a question about Jimmy Garoppolo, with Breer noting that the Raiders are also doing their due diligince on the 49ers QB. In fact, Breer believes Derek Carr was thrown into a de facto competition with the two impending free agents, with Josh McDaniels, Dave Ziegler, and co. ultimately deciding they could squeeze more out of the quarterback position from someone else.
As Breer explains, when the current regime initially signed Carr to an extension, they thought they were locking in their equivalent of Alex Smith in Kansas City. In other words, the Raiders thought their veteran QB would be able to guide them to postseason performances while the front office identified their play-caller of the future. At 31, Jimmy G could allow the Raiders to continue with that plan, while Brady would obviously force the organization to go in a completely different direction as they load up for temporary contention.
With McDaniels and Ziegler having both worked alongside Brady and Garoppolo in New England, the connections are obvious, and it really wouldn’t be surprising if one of these QBs reunites with their former coach in Las Vegas. At the moment, the big question is which of these two quarterbacks is atop the Raiders’ wish list.
Elsewhere in Raiders QB news, the organization is set to meet with Carr soon. As Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal explains, the QB and the Raiders agreed to meet after the season to “discuss the situation and all the various options.”
The Broncos’ second HC search in as many years is producing bigger headlines compared to their 2022 process, with Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh regularly connected to the team. A Payton interview is expected, and the longtime Saints coach has spoken with the team. But Harbaugh is further along.
The Michigan coach interviewed with the Broncos virtually Monday, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com notes (video link). The team has sent out other interview requests, and its long-expected interview with defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero occurred Tuesday. But Harbaugh might have an early leg up. The eight-year Michigan HC is the early leader here, Troy Renck of Denver7 tweets.
This pushes back on Payton-to-Denver being a done deal, despite the Broncos and Saints having agreed on compensation for the current FOX analyst’s rights. A Payton move — believed to cost a first-round pick and more — would further deplete Denver’s draft arsenal, which the Russell Wilson trade already affected. The Broncos acquired a first-rounder in the Bradley Chubb trade but do not have a second-rounder this year. Denver did not make a first-round pick last year, with the Seahawks obtaining it for Wilson. Harbaugh, nor any of the other known Broncos candidates, would not cost any draft capital.
Despite Harbaugh’s proclamation that he expects to coach Michigan again in 2023, The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner notes (via Twitter) the former 49ers HC is believed to be eager to return to the NFL. Harbaugh, 59, said he has unfinished business in the league, and the belief is he will strongly consider a return to the league this year. Harbaugh is interested in taking the Denver job, Mike Sando of The Athletic adds (subscription required).
Harbaugh was supposed to interview with the Broncos later this week, but Renck notes the parties bumped it up, making him the first to meet with Denver’s new ownership about the position. Harbaugh certainly carries a feather-ruffling reputation, and Renck adds some among the Broncos have bristled at the notion Harbaugh could become the team’s next coach. A clash with GM Trent Baalke helped lead Harbaugh out of San Francisco eight years ago.
The Panthers are no longer believed to be pursuing Harbaugh, per Sando and The Athletic’s Joe Person, and the Colts — rumored to have interest — have not set up an interview with the ex-Indianapolis QB. These developments clear an early path for the Broncos. Harbaugh interviewed for the Vikings job last year but was not offered, and a recent ESPN report indicated Michigan is under investigation for potential violations. That could help explain Harbaugh’s urgency to give the NFL another shot.
Payton would bring more to the table from an offensive scheming standpoint, something that will be critical as the Broncos attempt to move Wilson back on track. But Harbaugh’s .695 win percentage — in four 49ers seasons — ranks sixth in NFL history. Evero also worked with Harbaugh during each of his four seasons in San Francisco, opening the door — barring the first-year DC landing another HC job; the Colts and Texans are interested — for the Nathaniel Hackett hire to stay on in his current post. The Broncos have also sent out interview requests for 49ers DC DeMeco Ryans, Cowboys DC Dan Quinn and Rams DC Raheem Morris. The two-year Rams defensive boss is set to interview Jan. 17, which doubles as the earliest date the Broncos can meet with Payton.