Jim Irsay ‘Reluctantly’ Extended Frank Reich In 2021; Latest On Jeff Saturday
JANUARY 1, 2023: Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com report that Saturday will “absolutely” be a candidate for the full-time gig, despite recent reports to the contrary. Irsay remains a “big fan” of Saturday, and if the surprising head coach can assemble a quality staff, he will have a real shot to have his interim tag removed. Given Indianapolis’ traditional power structure — the head coach reports to the GM, who reports to the owner — the team’s HC post may not appeal to high-profile candidates who want more personnel control. Indianapolis’ uncertain quarterback situation won’t help matters either.
DECEMBER 29, 2022: Jim Irsay‘s experiment to replace Frank Reich with Jeff Saturday has not gone well. The Colts won their first Saturday-coached game but have lost five straight, with the past two outings being the low point in a wildly disappointing season. Irsay has repeatedly said he will keep Chris Ballard on as GM, but the team’s head-coaching situation will be in the spotlight.
Reich will be on the Colts’ payroll for a while, having signed a four-year extension which is believed to be worth $9MM per year. Despite saying at the time the team had “as great a general manager-head coach combination as there is in the NFL,” Irsay said during an ESPN interview this week (via the New York Post) he was not ready to extend Reich and did so “reluctantly.”
Although the summer 2021 Reich re-up may have been reluctant, Irsay was effectively out of time to hammer out that deal. Reich’s original contract was for five years, and not extending him during the summer of ’21 would have meant the Colts would have been close to having their head coach — who had ventured to two playoff brackets in three years, the second of which without Andrew Luck — moving toward a lame-duck year. Such arrangements are uncommon in the modern NFL, and Irsay provided Reich a second contract. Obviously, the Colts have changed course this year.
Irsay took on a lead role after the team’s 2021 collapse, insisting on a trade of Carson Wentz and then instructing Ballard to complete the Matt Ryan deal. Irsay then drove Ryan’s midseason benching for Sam Ehlinger and fired Reich soon after. Had Saturday not agreed to take over, Irsay said this week Reich would have stayed on longer this season. When asked if he would have fired Reich had Saturday passed on the offer, Irsay said he would have given Reich a bit more time.
Saturday accepting Irsay’s offer led to full-scale blowback against the Colts, who made one of the most shocking interim hires in NFL history. The Colts are coming off back-to-back nationally televised losses, including the Vikings breaking Reich’s near-30-year-old record by erasing a 33-point deficit in Week 15. Irsay said before this week’s Chargers loss Saturday will be competitive for the full-time job and remains “an outstanding candidate.” But execs around the league do not expect Saturday to stick around beyond this season.
The Colts allowing 33 fourth-quarter points to the Cowboys, in the second of their nationally televised Saturday losses, and blowing the lead in Minnesota have execs “convinced” the team will move on from Saturday at season’s end, per Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post. Irsay previously said he was looking forward to interviewing a host of candidates for the position, making that comment weeks after indicating hope Saturday would do enough to stay on full-time.
Jim Harbaugh is believed to be on the Colts’ radar for 2023. The Colts’ last HC search produced two hires, with Reich taking over after Josh McDaniels bailed, raising the stakes for this upcoming process. This will be a pressure-packed hire for Irsay and Ballard, with the Colts closing out a chaotic year.
Jets Not Looking To Move On From Zach Wilson?
The Jets have no plans to shop embattled quarterback Zach Wilson this offseason, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports. “We’re not going to quit on him,” head coach Robert Saleh said in the wake of New York’s Week 16 loss to the Jaguars, a game in which Wilson completed nine of 18 passes for 92 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception. Per Rapoport, the organization’s other top decisionmakers share those sentiments, despite recent reports that Gang Green is prepared to part ways with Wilson at season’s end.
Wilson’s uninspiring play has compelled the Jets to turn back to Mike White for their critical Week 17 matchup against the Seahawks. Of course, the club had benched Wilson in favor of White in Week 12, and Wilson got his job back for a brief time only because White was dealing with multiple fractured ribs. Indeed, Wilson’s performance in the Jacksonville contest was so poor that he was replaced in the third quarter by Chris Streveler, a 2018 UDFA who had thrown a grand total of 17 regular season passes.
In his 22 games under center since being drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in 2021, Wilson sports an 8-14 record and has completed 55.2% of his passes for 15 touchdowns against 18 picks, which amounts to a dismal QB rating of 70.9. While growing pains and a general lack of talent around him in his rookie campaign can certainly excuse some of his first-year difficulties, his lack of progress is alarming.
However, as Wilson’s rookie contract is fully-guaranteed, releasing him this offseason is not realistic, and even a trade would result in a negative cap charge if it were consummated prior to June 1. So from a financial perspective alone, it makes sense for the Jets to continue their efforts to develop the BYU product and generate something of a positive return from their investment of premium draft capital.
White, meanwhile, has had several impressive games over the past two years, but his rate stats are not much better than Wilson’s. Still, one agent who represents prominent quarterbacks tells Rich Cimini of ESPN.com that White, who will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in March, has enough quality tape to appeal to teams looking for a bridge passer. If he plays well over the remainder of the season, the former fifth-round pick of the Cowboys could land a short-term deal worth at least $10MM-$12MM per year. While the Jets may consider re-signing White, it seems likely that they will at least explore more established options like Derek Carr or Jimmy Garoppolo before going that route, especially since they appear to be putting their rebuilding phase behind them.
In addition to a new quarterback, the club may be looking for a new offensive coordinator. Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post — who, incidentally, is among those who believe Wilson will be jettisoned in the coming months — cites one high-ranking executive who says owner Woody Johnson will want to fire current OC Mike LaFleur. La Canfora believes Johnson could consider even more dramatic coaching or front office shakeups, and while Cimini concedes that Johnson’s patience will be put to the test if the Jets finish the season on a six-game losing streak, the ESPN scribe thinks the owner will realize his organization is in generally good shape under Saleh and GM Joe Douglas (the QB situation notwithstanding).
If the Jets do look to trade Wilson, La Canfora reports that they will not receive more than a fifth-round pick in return.
Broncos Prepared To Be “Ultra Aggressive” In HC Search
Having fired Nathaniel Hackett before the rookie head coach could finish his first year at the helm, the Broncos are finishing out their deeply disappointing 2022 campaign with Jerry Rosburg as interim HC. Unsurprisingly, it does not appear that Rosburg — who was pulled out of retirement earlier this year to assist Hackett with gameday management — is a candidate for the permanent head coaching gig.
Adam Schefter of ESPN.com writes that the Broncos’ new Penner-Walton ownership group, which paid $4.65 billion to purchase the club last offseason, is prepared to do “whatever it takes” to land the head coach it wants and plans to be “ultra aggressive” in its pursuit. Of course, that presumably means that the cash-flush group will pony up a significant salary to entice a top-flight candidate, and in light of recent reports that Denver’s next head coach will report directly to ownership rather than GM George Paton, it appears the new sideline general could have considerable personnel power as well.
Schefter does not specify what candidates the club is targeting. Former Saints HC Sean Payton may be the most sought-after HC on the market, and if the Broncos are truly prepared to be “ultra aggressive,” they will not be deterred by the fact that they will need to complete a trade with New Orleans to acquire Payton’s rights and then give Payton a market-topping contract. However, Payton is reportedly uninterested in the Denver job.
Indeed, the team’s quarterback situation could deter other top candidates from considering the Broncos’ post. 2022 trade acquisition Russell Wilson, who was supposed to lead the team on a championship run, is one of this year’s worst quarterbacks, and Denver cannot escape his contract anytime soon. We previously heard that, in addition to Payton, names like Frank Reich, Jim Harbaugh, and Dan Quinn could also be on Denver’s shortlist, but an in-demand coach may not want to hitch his wagon to the Broncos right now (depending, perhaps, on just how generous ownership is willing to be in contract talks).
Speaking of Wilson, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports that the 34-year-old passer is prepared to overhaul his entire offseason and in-season routine in an effort to get back to his previous level of performance. The faith that the Broncos’ potential interviewees have in Wilson’s ability to do that will likely dictate the success of the team’s upcoming HC search.
Panthers Expected To Pursue QB Addition This Offseason
JANUARY 1, 2023: David Newton of ESPN.com hears from multiple executives that Darnold is playing himself into a short-term deal worth between $10MM-$12MM per year. Though Carolina’s difficult salary cap situation will be an obvious factor in its quarterback plans this offseason, Newton expects the club to have interest in a reunion if the price is right. Presumably, that would not preclude using a high draft choice on a collegiate passer.
DECEMBER 25, 2022: The 2022 season has seen plenty of turbulence for the Panthers with a coaching change taking place and the team being wrought with uncertainty at the quarterback position. The encouraging play from the team under interim head coach Steve Wilks is unlikely to change their aggressiveness in finding a long-term signal-caller in the coming offseason, though.
Carolina entered this spring with Sam Darnold under contract on his fifth-year option, but they were widely 
expected to add at the position after the former first-rounder’s underwhelming performance in 2021. That resulted in an active pursuit of Deshaun Watson, though the maligned passer was wary of Matt Rhule‘s uncertain future with the organization. Those concerns proved to be well-placed, as the latter was fired five weeks into the campaign, one which started off in disastrous fashion for the Panthers’ offense in particular.
That brought on criticism for Baker Mayfield, who had been under center for each of those games. Acquired in July from the Browns long after the Panthers’ interest in him became clear, the former No. 1 pick struggled mightily in his first year in Charlotte. That resulted in his being benched for XFL alum P.J. Walker, and – after Darnold’s return from a preseason ankle sprain – dropped to third place on the depth chart.
In a relatively unsurprising move, Mayfield was waived just under three weeks ago, which led to a season-ending starting role for him with the Rams. Darnold, meanwhile, has served as the Panthers’ starter in each of the past four games, a stretch which has included three wins to give the team a chance of winning the NFC South. The potential for a strong finish from the USC alum could lead to a deal keeping him in Carolina, but a new quarterback is still expected to be acquired soon.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano report that owner David Tepper is thought to be eyeing a move which “solve[s] his quarterback room once and for all.” That likely would not entail a long-term extension for Darnold, and 2021 third-rounder Matt Corral has missed his entire rookie campaign due to a Lisfranc injury. The Ole Miss product will therefore be expected to fill in strictly as a backup in 2023, regardless of who emerges as the starter.
With Carolina currently projected to be in a worse cap situation than most in the upcoming offseason, the draft represents the obvious avenue for the team to add a new No. 1 QB. However, Fowler and Graziano’s colleague David Newton notes that Darnold’s play could “open the possibility” the Panthers at least wait until after the first round of April’s draft to select a signal-caller. Carolina’s Day 2 and 3 set of picks was bolstered midseason by the Christian McCaffrey trade, giving them plenty of options with respect to adding at least another developmental passer.
The failed experiment with Mayfield is simply the latest in a long line of moves the Panthers have made in recent years which underline their need for a long-term solution under center. The spring of 2023 will represent another opportunity to solve the issue, with the team’s decision regarding retaining or replacing Wilks likely to have a significant impact on their plans.