HEADLINES

Month: January 2025

Jaguars Fire GM Trent Baalke

January 22nd, 2025 at 10:14pm CST by Adam La Rose

This Jaguars coaching search has seen two top candidates — Ben Johnson and Liam Coen — bow out. With Trent Baalke‘s presence again rumored to be causing issues during a head coaching hunt, Shad Khan has changed course.

Despite keeping the GM on to lead the search, Khan is firing Baalke, according to a team announcement. Baalke stayed on for five years in Jacksonville, moving to the GM role in his second offseason with the team. Although he looked to have survived after Doug Pederson‘s firing, the veteran exec is out.

[RELATED: Coen Backs Out Of Second Jags HC Interview]

“Following several discussions with Trent Baalke this week, we both arrived at the conclusion that it is in our mutual best interests to respectfully separate, effective immediately,” a statement from Khan reads in part. “Trent leaves us with my deepest appreciation for his efforts over the past five seasons. Ethan Waugh will serve as interim general manager and play an important role, with others, as we continue the process of interviewing candidates to serve as our new head coach.”

Baalke’s job security was a talking point during the campaign, one for which Khan held very high expectations. The Jags finished jut 4-13, though, creating an expectation that he would simply clean house in advance of the 2025 campaign. Pederson was dismissed on Black Monday, but many were surprised to see Baalke remain in place. On the other hand, Bovada’s Josina Anderson and The Athletic’s Dianna Russini note Khan was believed to be willing to still make a GM change this late in the hiring cycle under the right circumstances.

Baalke was viewed as a potential deterrent for the top head coaching candidates, and the fact Johnson and Coen have both elected not to take the job in Duval County is certainly an indication that proved to be true. In any case, those two (along with Mike Vrabel and Aaron Glenn) are off the market while the Jags prepare to take a different approach to their coaching search. Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and former Jets head coach Robert Saleh recently scheduled in-person interviews for the position.

In the aftermath of firing Pederson, Khan offered another vote of confidence in Baalke. The 60-year-old had GM experience prior to his Jacksonville arrival as a result of his time with the 49ers. Baalke served as San Francisco’s VP of player personnel in 2010 before a six-year run as general manager. He notably won a power struggle with head coach Jim Harbaugh during that time following the team’s run to Super Bowl XLVII. His Jags spell did not feature a repeat of that success.

During the four years with Baalke in place as GM, the Jaguars managed one playoff appearance and twice won fewer than five games. The fact he was authorized to make long-term commitments to the likes of Trevor Lawrence, Josh Hines-Allen and Walker Little suggested he still had runway to continue in his current position. Instead, Khan will pivot to new GM; Ian Rapoport of NFL Network confirms a head coach will likely be in place before a front office hire is made given the timing of this situation (video link). Rapoport adds coaches whose teams are still playing could be on Jacksonville’s radar, meaning the HC move may not be strictly down to Graham and Saleh.

Two of the NFL’s general manager vacancies have already been filled, with the Titans and Raiders landing new personnel to lead their respective front offices. The Jets do not have a new GM at the moment, but it appears Lance Newmark is on track to land that position. The Jaguars’ next general manager will likely report directly to Khan, with the same being true of the new head coach. Once that tandem is in place, it will be interesting to see what direction the franchise moves in since Lawrence’s presence will no doubt eliminate the option of a long-term rebuild.

Waugh spent time alongside Baalke in San Francisco, so it came as little surprise when he was hired to take on assistant general manager duties with Jacksonville in 2022. Waugh (who has a background in player personnel departments) will now have a role in the Jaguars’ search for a new general manager, something Khan will also be heavily involved in. A organizational setup will be in place in time for next season, but the means by which it will have been put together will no doubt remain a point of scrutiny for the franchise moving forward.

Sam Robinson contributed to this post.

Jets Hire Aaron Glenn As HC

January 22nd, 2025 at 10:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

After a spree of rumors, Aaron Glenn is signing up to lead the Jets. The parties have a deal in place, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports. This will bring the former Jets first-round pick back to New York. Glenn’s hire is now official, per a team announcement.

Bovada’s Josina Anderson reported earlier today Glenn had informed the Lions he would be leaving for New York, barring a snag. No snag ultimately took place, and Glenn will cancel his second Saints interview to take over as the next Jets HC. News developed Tuesday that Glenn had become the Jets’ favorite, and the team is believed to have offered a substantial deal to entice the former cornerback. This will be a five-year agreement, per Schefter.

Glenn, 52, spent the past four seasons leading Detroit’s defense and had been on the past three coaching carousels — despite the Lions not impressing statistically on that side of the ball until this season. Glenn managing to keep the Lions a top-10 defense this season, after Aidan Hutchinson‘s season-ending injury occurred in Week 6, burnished his HC credentials, and the Jets will be the team that commits to the veteran assistant.

Lions quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell — a Jets Mark Sanchez backup in the early 2010s — has been linked as a potential OC option, while NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo pinpoints Steve Wilks as a “strong” DC candidate. Wilks had come up as a Jets option Tuesday, as the Glenn-to-New York buzz circulated, and resurfaced on the DC carousel earlier this month. Glenn has been linked to wanting an experienced DC option, which is interesting since that is his side of the ball, and Wilks would match that description. The former Panthers interim HC also led the Cardinals for a season and served as the defensive play-caller for the 49ers and Panthers as well.

The Jets chose Glenn 12th overall in 1994, Pete Carroll‘s lone season as their HC, and he stayed with the team for eight years. Glenn became a Pro Bowler with the Jets under Bill Parcells, helping their 1998 team reach the AFC championship game. The Jets later left Glenn exposed in the 2002 Texans expansion draft, where he was selected. After Glenn played eight more NFL seasons to stretch his career to 16 years, he returned as a Jets scout. More than a decade later, the team — despite having hired a defensive coach (Robert Saleh) in 2021 — will turn to him at a critical point. Parcells helped vouch for Glenn with the Jets’ Mike Tannenbaum-led search committee, Fox Sports’ Peter Schrager notes.

Earlier this month, the Jets made a late push for Mike Vrabel. But the ex-Patriot chose an offer to return to New England. Glenn, who intercepted 24 passes with the Jets, now returns to the Big Apple to help a team likely to begin a transition. The Jets are expected to release Aaron Rodgers, though the future Hall of Famer is not 100% out the door just yet. That said, Rodgers is not committed to even playing in 2025. Meanwhile, Glenn will head up a Jets defense that still features some young talent. The longtime secondary coach will get to work on mentoring Sauce Gardner, while his OC hire will be vital as the Jets likely search for a young quarterback after several recent misses.

New York has not enjoyed a steady quarterback presence since Glenn’s playing tenure, when the team crafted a Vinny Testaverde-to-Chad Pennington baton pass. Several draft choices have missed, and the Rodgers trade backfired, with the 2024 team somehow winning fewer games with the ex-Packers legend than Saleh’s 2022 and ’23 squads did with Zach Wilson at the helm. Woody Johnson‘s decision to fire Saleh after five games also proved the wrong call, as interim leader Jeff Ulbrich — who has since left to become the Falcons’ DC — did not generate a boost.

This is Johnson’s first HC hire since Todd Bowles in 2015. The oft-criticized owner had been part of Donald Trump’s first presidential administration, as ambassador to the United Kingdom, when the Jets hired Adam Gase and then Saleh. Johnson bought the Jets during Glenn’s playing tenure, but his reputation has steadily worsened since — with some hits coming recently. Johnson has been accused of meddling on a regular basis, to the point Madden ratings and his sons’ involvement in decisions and presences in the locker room have come under fire. Glenn is not walking into the most stable situation, but his history with the organization probably played a significant role in him signing on.

Vrabel being turned off by Johnson’s presence came up during this search, and the Jets were not expected to receive an audience with Glenn colleague Ben Johnson. Ex-Glenn Lions coworker Lance Newmark, however, has been closely linked to coming over from Washington — where he has served as assistant GM over the past year — to lead the Jets’ front office. It would be Newmark who would be positioned to work more closely with Johnson compared to Glenn. That partnership did not end well for Joe Douglas, who lost respect for the owner and lobbed anonymous criticism his boss’ way as his tenure progressed.

These developments, along with the quarterback matter, may raise the degree of difficulty for Glenn. The Lions, however, completed this decade’s premier rebuild effort after climbing from 3-13-1 to the NFC championship game in a two-season span. Detroit followed that up with a 15-2 record this season. The Lions’ divisional-round loss allowed for Johnson (Bears) and Glenn to be hired this week, as opposed to the No. 1-seeded team’s top assistants potentially needing to wait until after Super Bowl LIX to be appointed — like the Eagles’ coordinator duo two years ago.

Glenn helped develop Hutchinson, and safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph made substantial leaps under the former secondary coach this season. This came after Glenn helped groom the likes of Marshon Lattimore and Marcus Williams in New Orleans.

The Lions, however, ranked 31st, 28th and 23rd defensively in Glenn’s first three seasons; their defense collapsed in a loss to the 49ers in last season’s NFC championship game. Glenn helped generate a rebound this year (seventh), and his defenses never finishing above 19th in yards allowed did not impede his candidacy.

As the Lions will need new coordinators and potentially some new position coaches, depending on who Johnson and Glenn take with them, the Saints lost one of their finalists. New Orleans still has Mike Kafka and Anthony Weaver second interviews scheduled. But Glenn came up in every HC-needy team’s search this offseason. He met with five teams, declining a Patriots interview as it became clear Vrabel was heading to Foxborough.

While the Saints refocus, the Jets have landed one of the bigger names available as they attempt to end what has become by far the NFL’s longest active playoff drought (14 seasons). The Lions will obtain two future third-round picks because of Glenn’s hire, due to the Rooney Rule.

Raiders To Add John Spytek As GM

January 22nd, 2025 at 10:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

With the Raiders going in a different direction after Ben Johnson chose the Bears, they are circling back to a GM candidate not tied to the Chicago-bound coach. Tom Brady will turn to one of his college teammates to join him in Las Vegas.

Mentioned as a candidate early in this process, John Spytek landed the job. The Buccaneers’ assistant GM is finalizing a deal to join Brady in Vegas, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports. Spytek and Brady overlapped at Michigan in the late 1990s and with the Bucs. This will be a five-year deal, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com adds.

Although the Raiders became connected to pairing Johnson with former Lions coworker-turned-Commanders AGM Lance Newmark, the young assistant’s Monday choice changed that path. But Spytek has been on the Raiders’ radar for a bit longer. Earlier this month, when it became clear Brady was the lead voice in the Raiders’ GM search as well as their HC interview process, the team became tied to Spytek. The latter has been with the Bucs since 2016 and has been an NFL staffer for 21 years.

Spytek, 44, trekked to Ann Arbor a few years after Brady. The two only overlapped in 1999, before Brady’s NFL journey began, but Spytek crossed paths with the former Wolverines quarterback in 2020. Spytek was in place as Tampa Bay’s director of player personnel when the Bucs signed Brady in free agency. He remained one of Jason Licht‘s top lieutenants during Brady’s three-year tenure and climbed to an assistant GM post in 2023. Both Spytek and Mike Greenberg held that title in Tampa; Greenberg is still in the mix for the Jets’ job, but Newmark — especially after Aaron Glenn accepted the HC job — may be the most likely to land it.

As the Titans recently reminded via their Mike Borgonzi hire, not all GM posts are designed equally. As Borgonzi prepares to work with another exec (Chad Brinker) who holds final-say responsibilities in Tennessee, Spytek will walk into a situation that has changed significantly since NFL owners approved Brady as a minority Raiders stakeholder. Mark Davis has since given the all-time great/lead FOX analyst carte blanche in Vegas, entrusting him to lead the HC and GM searches and then perhaps do the same when it comes time to identify a quarterback. Spytek will now rejoin his former teammate and coworker to bring in HC and QB answers.

The Raiders have now hired three GMs since January 2022, and the most recent dismissal came due to Brady seeking alignment to go with the team’s next head coach. While Tom Telesco equipped Brady’s team with All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers, the ex-Chargers front office boss was shown the door in an effort to start fresh following the Antonio Pierce firing. The Raiders have one half of their next duo in place, but the other will probably be more significant — especially when considering how involved Brady figures to be on the personnel side.

With this GM job potentially a second-in-command post to Brady, the Raiders need a head coach after their Johnson push failed. Going by early favorites can lead to shaky ground — as the Jaguars’ search most recently reminded — but Pete Carroll has suddenly moved into serious contention for the job. The ex-Seahawks leader would be the oldest head coach in NFL history, at 73. No head coach older than 66 has ever been hired. It would mark a wild swing for the Raiders to zero in on a 38-year-old staffer only to hire a coach 35 years older soon after.

Spytek was in Tampa when the Bucs acquired Bruce Arians‘ rights in 2019, being part of the Bucs’ roster-building mission that eventually attracted Brady. The Bucs built a team that rolled to four playoff wins to close out the 2020 season, the last a dominant Super Bowl LV win that has aged well thanks to the Chiefs’ rebound effort. Spytek also played key roles in Tampa Bay reaching the playoffs with a $70MM-plus dead money bill, largely created by Brady’s retirement, and the team reaching agreements with Mike Evans, Baker Mayfield, Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tristan Wirfs this past offseason. Those re-ups helped produce the Bucs’ fourth straight NFC South title.

The Raiders have not formed cores strong enough for mass retention projects in a while, and their plans to replace Derek Carr fizzled quickly. Brady and Spytek will certainly make that continued effort their centerpiece task this offseason, as the Raiders have seen the AFC West strengthened by the arrivals of Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh. This duo improving the fortunes of the Broncos and Chargers has made life more difficult for the Raiders, who have been looking up at the two-time reigning champion Chiefs for many years.

After the Telesco-Pierce and Josh McDaniels-Dave Ziegler regimes failed, Davis will entrust Brady and Spytek to take a crack at restoring the Silver and Black to a consistent contender for the first time in more than 20 years.

Liam Coen Bows Out Of Jaguars’ HC Search, Agrees To Bucs Extension

January 22nd, 2025 at 10:06pm CST by Sam Robinson

Entering Wednesday as the rumored favorite for the Jaguars’ head coaching job, Liam Coen is prepared to pass. The young offensive coordinator will stay with the Buccaneers.

Coen will sign a new Bucs contract that makes him one of the game’s highest-paid coordinators, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This deal comes with an extension but not a coach-in-waiting clause, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones adds. Robert Saleh and Patrick Graham remain Jags finalists, but after Coen-to-Jacksonville buzz had steadily built, this could certainly be labeled a setback for the AFC South franchise. The deal is believed to be in the $4.5MM-per-year neighborhood, per the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud.

Ben Johnson recently showed this path can be effective. The former Lions OC backed away from a potential Panthers hire in 2023 and then informed the Commanders last year he was out of that mix as well. Johnson remained a top candidate and just accepted a Bears offer. Coen’s profile checks in south of Johnson’s, however, and he was only in the mix for the Jags job. While this could be deemed a risk by a coordinator who has yo-yoed between the pro and college ranks this decade, it also could represent hesitancy involving the Jaguars.

Today was to be Coen’s second Jags interview (and first in-person meeting with team brass), but the Stroud reports the Bucs’ OC did not board the plane for Jacksonville. Coen, 39, was negotiating with the Bucs as well. He will stick around and continue to work with Baker Mayfield, after the two enjoyed a promising start that resulted in another NFC South title for the Bucs.

This marks the second time this week a coveted candidate has exited the Jags’ search. Johnson was believed to be considering the Jags (and a Trevor Lawrence partnership), but the high-profile play-caller was not overly thrilled about the franchise’s setup. We heard shortly after Black Monday that the Jags’ decision to retain GM Trent Baalke, who is running their HC search, had influenced some candidates to steer clear. For a second HC cycle, Baalke’s presence appears to be affecting the Jags’ viability as a destination.

In 2022, the Jags appeared close to a deal with Byron Leftwich. Baalke’s presence impacted that search, leading to the Doug Pederson hire. Pederson had also expressed apprehension regarding Baalke, and as last season progressed, the three-year Jags HC was not on good terms with his top coworker. Many expected Baalke to be fired along with Pederson, but Shad Khan retained the polarizing exec. Rumors about Baalke being kicked to another position within the organization emerged, but Johnson and Coen’s decisions may not point to that actually happening.

Coen had been the Rams’ 2022 OC, with that stay sandwiched between two seasons as Kentucky’s play-caller. Helping Will Levis to a breakthrough 2021 season with the Wildcats, Coen did not impress as L.A.’s non-play-calling OC — albeit during an injury-plagued Rams season — and returned to the SEC program in 2023. After the Wildcats again improved under Coen, the Bucs hired him.

Mayfield soon took steps forward this past season, throwing 41 touchdown passes — 13 more than his previous career-high mark — and powered Todd Bowles‘ team to a 10-7 record and a fourth straight division championship. After losing Dave Canales to the Panthers, the Bucs still ranked fourth in scoring offense. This will mark Mayfield’s first instance of play-caller carryover since his 2020-21 Browns seasons.

Graham is slated to interview for the Jacksonville post Thursday, while Saleh is heading to Duval County on Friday. Saleh has a history with the Jags, being their linebackers coach from 2014-16, but has also met with the Cowboys and Raiders. It will be interesting if Jacksonville adds another finalist now that Coen is out, as both Saleh and Graham are defensive-minded leaders. The Jags have also interviewed OCs Joe Brady, Todd Monken and Kellen Moore. Kliff Kingsbury was believed to be on the team’s radar, but teams will have to wait until the Commanders’ season ends to meet with the resurgent play-caller.

Jets Conducting Second GM Interviews With Trey Brown, Darren Mougey

January 22nd, 2025 at 10:03pm CST by Ely Allen

After the Titans and Raiders filled their general manager positions, the Jets were the only team still looking to fill a vacancy at that position, until the Jaguars made the move to fire their GM today. Now, the Jets have a bit more pressure on the clock if they want to make sure their top candidate doesn’t get hired away to Jacksonville. To that effort, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported today that Broncos assistant GM Darren Mougey and Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown will be brought in for second interviews with New York tomorrow.

Mougey and Brown both interviewed with the Jets on the same day for their first interview, as well. Mougey has been a fast riser in Denver, working his way up from intern to assistant GM. He’s provided the front office with a bit of continuity over the past few years, as he is one of the few executives to work under both former general manager John Elway and current general manager George Paton.

A Kansas City-area native, Brown is 39 but has been in the NFL ranks since 2010. Brown got his front office start in New England before joining Philly’s operation in 2013. He ended up spending six years with the Eagles, working his way up to director of college scouting. After a few years in the AAF and XFL, he landed with the Bengals in 2021. Brown was already popular during last year’s cycle, with the executive earning an interview with the Raiders while also landing on the Patriots’ short list of candidates, as well.

They join Commanders assistant GM Lance Newmark as the only candidates who will have received second interviews so far. Newmark had been trending along with new head coach Aaron Glenn as the likely hire, but Pelissero notes that the team bringing in Mougey and Brown does not rule out Newmark as a candidate. Newmark was in the building with Glenn on Monday, and the team may just want Glenn to get facetime with a couple more candidates before making their decision.

Here’s how the Jets’ general manager search is shaping up so far:

Saints Planning On Second Interviews With Joe Brady, Kellen Moore

January 22nd, 2025 at 9:18pm CST by Ely Allen

As other head coaching gigs around the league are starting to fill up, the Saints are continuing on with the process to fill their vacancy. The team recently reported their intent to schedule second interviews with Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, as well as a first meeting with former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network added today that New Orleans will also be looking to meet for a second time with Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady and Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Both coaches interviewed with the team last week before their respective divisional matchups in the playoffs. With both coaches advancing, the Saints’ opportunity to interview each coach again may have to wait until after this weekend’s conference championship games, when one or both coaches either will be eliminated from the playoffs or will have a two-week break before the Super Bowl.

Brady has been on staff in New Orleans before, though he did not hold a high-ranking post during his past stint with the team. He served as a Saints offensive assistant from 2017-18. Brady has since been on the rise, a climb that began when he served as pass-game coordinator for LSU’s unbeaten 2019 national champion team. After being fired from his post as Panthers OC, Brady has rebounded in Buffalo. Josh Allen has submitted his best all-around season, piloting the Bills to a third straight AFC No. 2 seed under Brady. The Bills ranked second in scoring this season and have beaten both the Lions and Chiefs.

Moore just completed his first regular season as Philly’s offensive coordinator. While the Eagles failing to improve on their 2023 offensive rankings, they still matched an impressive offensive output (seventh in points, eighth in yards). Under Moore, Saquon Barkley had an historic season. Moore has previously been lauded for his offensive approach in stops with the Chargers and Cowboys, as well.

While Moore’s first interview with the Saints was his first of the current interview cycle, he isn’t a stranger to the head coaching interview circuit. He’s earned interviews in each of the past three offseasons, including meetings with the Chargers (2024), Panthers (2023), Broncos, Dolphins, Jaguars, and Vikings (2022). He’s since interviewed with the Jaguars and Cowboys this offseason, and he is considered a frontrunner for the job in Dallas.

Here’s how the head coaching search is shaping up in the Big Easy:

Bears Request To Interview Aubrey Pleasant For DC

January 22nd, 2025 at 7:31pm CST by Ely Allen

With Ben Johnson taking over as the new head coach in Chicago, it appears that a complete staff overhaul is likely underway. While there hadn’t been an announcement on whether or not defensive coordinator Eric Washington would be returning for a second year with the team, that question was seemingly answered when the Bears requested to interview Rams assistant head coach & passing game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant for Washington’s position, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

In Washington’s second tenure as an NFL defensive coordinator, he led a bend-but-don’t-break defense that finished 27th in the league in yards allowed but 13th in points allowed. His first DC job was at Carolina from 2018-19 after seven seasons as the Panthers defensive line coach. He led a middling group in his first season before the team’s success on defense plummeted the following year. While he may be considered as a candidate to keep his job, it seems that Johnson is beginning the process by looking for an outside candidate.

That search will start with Pleasant, who has been in Los Angeles for the last two years. Pleasant has bounced around a bit since entering the NFL coaching ranks as an intern for the Browns in 2013. He worked for four years after that in Washington as both an offensive assistant and a defensive quality control coach. The next four years covered his first stint in Los Angeles as the Rams cornerbacks coach. He left that role to serve as defensive backs coach & passing game coordinator in Detroit before the Lions fired him after two years. He finished out that year as an offensive consultant for the Packers before getting rehired by the Rams in his current role.

Pleasant is considered a major part of the team’s defensive success late in this past season despite the team’s continued reliance on rookies and other young contributors. He’s never been a defensive coordinator, so this would be his time calling plays in the NFL. He was a rumored candidate for the DC position in Green Bay last year and was expected to interview for the Rams’ open job, but nothing materialized, and he found himself in his current role.

He’s not the first candidate we’ve heard mentioned in connection to Johnson. Former Saints head coach Dennis Allen and former Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo were both rumored candidates to join Johnson wherever he went. While Allen may soon receive an invitation of his own, Anarumo has been hired as the Colts’ new DC. For now, Pleasant is the only candidate for whom we’ve seen reports of an interview request.

Here’s a look at how the early prospects for the position are shaping up:

  • Dennis Allen, former head coach (Saints): Rumored candidate
  • Lou Anarumo, former defensive coordinator (Bengals): Rumored candidate; hired by Colts
  • Aubrey Pleasant, assistant head coach & passing game coordinator (Rams): Interview requested

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/22/25

January 22nd, 2025 at 5:59pm CST by Adam La Rose

Wednesday’s minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Detroit Lions

Philadelphia Eagles 

Both Spector and Covey now have up to 21 days to practice before being activated. It will be interesting to see if either of them are brought back in time for this weekend’s divisional round matchups. Buffalo and Philadelphia both have four IR activations remaining with as many as two games remaining in the teams’ respective seasons.

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