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Month: January 2026

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 1/8/26

By | at January 8, 2026 7:30 pm

A handful of playoff teams shuffled their practice squads today. We’ve listed all of the moves below:

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Houston Texans

New England Patriots

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Minor NFL Transactions: 1/8/26

By | at January 8, 2026 7:25 pm

One minor move to pass along:

Houston Texans

A rookie sixth-round pick, Reed has spent half of the 2025 season on the sideline. He started the season on PUP thanks to a knee injury, but he managed to make his NFL debut in late October. He ended up getting into seven games (one start) for Houston, collecting 14 tackles (12 of which came in one game) in 73 defensive snaps. He landed on injured reserve in December after suffering a forearm injury that required surgery. The Texans will be able to use him as an extra practice body for much of the postseason.

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Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese Declares For Draft

By | at January 8, 2026 6:28 pm

Arvell Reese is heading to the NFL. The Ohio State edge rusher/linebacker announced that he’s declared for the 2026 draft, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Reese is generally considered the top defensive prospect in this year’s draft, with some pundits even considering him as the top player in the class. While he might not be selected in the top-two considering the Raiders’ and Jets’ need for a franchise QB, he’ll surely be selected within the top-five picks. ESPN’s Jordan Reid recently had Reese going fourth-overall to the Titans, but there’s a chance he may not fall past the Cardinals at No. 3.

Reese mostly played linebacker this season at Ohio State, although many teams would likely target him for an edge role in the NFL. Despite only getting into 97 snaps at the position in 2025, Reese still ranked seventh in the FBS in pressure rate (18.5%). Scouts have lauded his explosiveness and physicality, and his versatility could prove to be an asset as a professional.

The prospect had a rapid rise up the draft rankings in 2025. While his 2024 campaign put him on the NFL map, he solidified himself as a top prospect with a breakout performance this past year. He ultimately finished the season with 69 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and 6.5 sacks, earning him a consensus All-American nod and the Big Ten Linebacker of the Year award. He was also a finalist for the Butkus Award, which is given annually to the top linebacker in college.

As ESPN’s Jake Trotter notes, Reese joins wide receiver Carnell Tate and safety Caleb Downs as Buckeye players who have declared for the draft this week. Both Tate and Downs are also expected to hear their names called in the first half of the first round.

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Titans To Interview Mike McCarthy For HC Job

By | at January 8, 2026 5:51 pm

Mike McCarthy is now officially a candidate for two head coaching jobs. After scheduling his interview with the Giants, the former Packers and Cowboys head coach is also set to interview for the Titans vacancy, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The interview is scheduled for next Saturday.

Besides being one of the most experienced head coaching options on the market, McCarthy also has a connection to Titans leadership. Tennessee’s President of Football Operations Chad Brinker worked alongside McCarthy during their decade-plus tenures in Green Bay. Brinker worked his way up from a scouting intern to football administration executive. He left to be the Titans assistant GM in 2023, and he was given full control of the team’s roster in 2024 following Ran Carthon‘s ouster.

Following a 7-10 showing in 2024, McCarthy wasn’t retained as the Cowboys head coach. He still remained in the HC circuit last offseason, interviewing for open positions with the Bears and Saints. He obviously didn’t get either of those two gigs, and he ended up spending the 2025 campaign out of the NFL.

McCarthy made a name for himself as an offensive-minded coach while working with the likes of Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and Dak Prescott. That would make him a natural fit for the Titans, who are looking to maximize 2025 first-overall pick Cam Ward. In 18 years as a head coach, McCarthy only had five seasons where he finished with a losing record. This would surely be alluring for a Titans organization that hasn’t finished above .500 since the 2021 season.

As mentioned, the Titans aren’t the only team eyeing McCarthy. The coach is set to interview for the open Giants job next week. New York will have the first opportunity to speak to the long-time coach, with that interview scheduled for Tuesday.

McCarthy joins a growing list of candidates for the Titans gig. The current list of definitive and potential targets includes:

More to come…

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Giants To Interview Darren Rizzi For HC; Team Prioritizing Experience In Search

By | at January 8, 2026 4:45 pm

It is certainly not a secret any longer the Giants are quite interested in John Harbaugh. They are not the only ones, and they may not have the best sales pitch to make. Though, the recently fired HC is believed to hold at least some interest in the position.

The Giants are still moving through their candidate list, however. The latest is Darren Rizzi, the current Broncos special teams coordinator. Big Blue requested a Rizzi HC meeting, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. Rizzi has worked under Sean Payton on multiple occasions in Denver and New Orleans, but he has a lengthy history with Giants GM Joe Schoen. Rizzi is the third coach on the Broncos’ staff to receive an interview request, joining Vance Joseph and Davis Webb. Both are on the Giants’ radar.

Schoen and Rizzi were both in Miami from 2009-16. Rizzi served as the Dolphins’ assistant ST coach and then ST coordinator (2010-16) during that span, as Schoen was in the front office before leaving for Buffalo in 2017. Rizzi, 55, is also a New Jersey native. The interview is expected to take place Friday or Saturday, per Outkick.com’s Armando Salguero.

Rizzi received consideration for the Saints’ job, one a few candidates — Kliff Kingsbury, Joe Brady, Mike McCarthy — withdrew from. Some Rizzi momentum developed, but Kellen Moore ended up being the hire. Rizzi also interviewed for the Jets’ HC post last year. Payton had offered Rizzi the Broncos’ ST coordinator position as a fallback option.

Rizzi spent 2019-24 as the Saints’ ST coordinator, finishing last season as New Orleans’ interim HC post-Dennis Allen. Rizzi went 3-5 as the Saints’ interim boss, with most of that stint coming after Derek Carr was shut down.

This Giants search now includes seven former head coaches or interim leaders, with Rizzi and Mike Kafka checking the latter box. Experience matters during this Giants search, per the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy. The team went with two former coordinators with its past two hires — Brian Daboll, Joe Judge — but whiffed on second-chance HC option Pat Shurmur in 2018.

The Giants were obviously successful when they last hired a retread, with Tom Coughlin guiding the team to two Super Bowl championships during his 12-year tenure. Still, it would be a major surprise if Rizzi landed the job. ST coordinators almost never rise to the HC level. And this is one of the few teams that tried that route, with Judge faceplanting as the Patriot Way brand sustained a series of hits during this time.

Assuming the Giants move on from Kafka, his interim DC — Charlie Bullen — is expected to draw coordinator interest elsewhere, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo tweets. The Giants’ defense improved under Bullen, though the team’s two wins did come against fairly unmotivated teams (Raiders, Cowboys) to close the season. Bullen, 41, coached with Rizzi in Miami before stops in Arizona. Daboll hired him to succeed Drew Wilkins as outside linebackers coach in 2024.

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Ravens Request Robert Saleh HC Meeting

By | at January 8, 2026 3:52 pm

Baltimore has both sent the most qualified coach onto the market while also having probably the top job available among the current lot of HC-needy teams. The Ravens’ search is starting to take shape.

After sending out a Brian Flores interview request today, the Ravens are aiming to meet with Robert Saleh. The 49ers’ defensive coordinator received an interview slip from Baltimore, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. Among the NFL’s highest-paid coordinators, Saleh can interview virtually beginning three days after the 49ers’ wild-card game.

Saleh’s dance card is filling up. He has now received interview summons from the Ravens, Cardinals and Falcons and mentioned as a candidate with other teams. Saleh’s work with the Jets looks a bit better after seeing what happened after his early-season dismissal in 2024, and he has helped the 49ers back to the playoffs despite major injuries on his side of the ball. Saleh has a loose connection to the Ravens, having worked with ex-Baltimore front office exec (and Eric DeCosta coworker) Joe Douglas for nearly four years.

The 49ers have been without Nick Bosa since September and Fred Warner since October. The team also lost first-round defensive end Mykel Williams midway through the season. The 49ers rank 13th defensively, though both yardage (20th) and EPA per play (24th) slot the unit lower. The team holding the Seahawks to 13 points in Week 18 proved impressive under the circumstances, considering San Francisco’s offensive futility in that matchup.

Saleh, 46, also did well to ignite the Jets’ defense during his time in New York. After ranking last in Saleh’s 2021 debut, New York’s defense rocketed to fourth in both points and yardage in 2022. Saleh’s third Jets defense ranked 12th in points — during a 2023 season in which Zach Wilson needed to replace Aaron Rodgers in Week 1 — but third in yards yielded. The unit cratered following the ousters of Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich, with the Aaron Glenn-Steve Wilks unit struggling before the Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams trades.

The Ravens have already sent out eight interview requests. Via PFR’s Head Coaching Search Tracker, here is how Baltimore’s process looks less than two days in:

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Ravens, Titans Request HC Meetings With Kliff Kingsbury

By | at January 8, 2026 3:16 pm

Connected to both the Ravens and Titans this week, Kliff Kingsbury now has a path to interviewing with both teams. Each sent out a request to the newly available coach, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports.

The Titans were believed to be in on Kingsbury before his Commanders exit, making it all the more unusual Washington let him go. The Ravens came up as a potentially interested party shortly after firing John Harbaugh. This market did not initially have much in terms of offense-oriented talent, but some changes have shaken things up a bit.

[RELATED: 2026 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker]

Although Harbaugh is the top prize, the Browns and Dolphins respectively firing Kevin Stefanski and Mike McDaniel adds two more experienced play-callers for teams to study. Kingsbury received extensive interest last year, and even though the Commanders’ season tanked thanks largely to Jayden Daniels‘ three-injury year, the two-year Washington play-caller is a notable name to watch now that he’s free to meet with teams without restrictions.

The Ravens certainly have an interesting position to offer based on Lamar Jackson‘s status. Kingsbury has done quite well with dual-threat quarterbacks, overseeing both Kyler Murray Pro Bowl years before being at the controls for Daniels’ Offensive Rookie of the Year slate that produced Washington’s first NFC championship game berth since 1991. In between, Kingsbury coached Caleb Williams during his final USC season. The Ravens are searching for someone to maximize Jackson, with team brass pushing Harbaugh to move on from OC Todd Monken despite the QB’s back-to-back first-team All-Pro appearances on the play-caller’s watch.

The Titans have been preparing for a full-on overhaul for months, firing Brian Callahan in October. A host of candidates are on Tennessee’s radar in what is shaping up as a thorough search. The team has yoyoed between offensive and defensive coaches lately, going from Mike Mularkey to Mike Vrabel to Callahan. It certainly appears Titans ownership made a mistake in firing Vrabel, a Coach of the Year frontrunner. But a new voice is running this search; now holding roster control, Mike Borgonzi is at the controls of the latest Tennessee HC hunt.

Kingsbury, 46, can interview in-person at any point moving forward. These are his first two interview summons on this year’s carousel. His stock high after Daniels’ breakthrough season, Kingsbury opted not to take any interviews in 2025. He preferred to stay in Washington and mentor Daniels, but disagreements between he and GM Adam Peters — among some overarching concerns about front office-coaching staff friction — helped lead him out of town with one season left on his contract. The former four-year Cardinals HC will be a strong candidate, like McDaniel, for OC positions. But with offensive play-callers still the gems of the coaching market, opportunities to land a second-chance HC job first have come up.

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Lions Eyeing Mike McDaniel For OC Job

By | at January 8, 2026 2:40 pm

Hours after the Dolphins bailed on a potential plan to give Mike McDaniel a fifth season as head coach, the experienced play-caller is drawing offensive coordinator interest.

The Lions reached out to McDaniel about their OC vacancy, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. Detroit fired John Morton after one season. McDaniel figures to be a coveted commodity on the OC carousel, and it should not be deemed out of the question HC-needy teams express interest.

There will be competition for McDaniel’s services on the OC market, should he drop below the HC level during this cycle. A number of teams and prospective HCs have the newly available coach on their OC list, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo adds. The Lions, however, do present a favorable option for play-callers given their offensive personnel and recent success.

While the Lions have not used anyone from the Mike/Kyle Shanahan tree since Anthony Lynn — whom Dan Campbell demoted during his first season calling plays (2021) — it is clear the team is interested in a potential transition. McDaniel learned under Kyle Shanahan at multiple stops, and considering the popularity of this genre of offense leaguewide, such a transition certainly shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for the Lions. After all, Jared Goff developed under Mike Shanahan disciple Sean McVay in Los Angeles.

McDaniel (feat. Tyreek Hill) reignited Tua Tagovailoa‘s career upon arrival in Miami four years ago. The former No. 5 overall pick led the NFL in yards per attempt and passer rating in 2022, paced the league in passing yardage in 2023 and in completion percentage in 2024. Miami’s offense steadily declined under McDaniel, however, sinking from second (2023) to 22nd (2024) to 25th (’25). This period ended with Tagovailoa’s benching and both McDaniel and GM Chris Grier being fired.

The Dolphins were believed to be more likely to retain McDaniel, but a Wednesday report indicated GM candidates were being asked for their thoughts about working with him. Despite some ex-McDaniel coworkers in the mix, the Dolphins moved on and will align their GM and HC positions this offseason. The Lions have an established head coach in Campbell, who also spent time in Miami during Stephen Ross‘ ownership tenure (and with Grier in the front office), but they swung and missed on Morton.

Detroit did not conduct a thorough search upon hiring Morton. With McDaniel in demand, the Lions will likely reach out to more candidates this time around. With McDaniel a minority candidate, however, the Lions would not need to interview a second option. The Rooney Rule only mandates one external minority candidate be interviewed for coordinator positions — as opposed to two for HC and GM posts. Though, the team still will be likely to meet with multiple candidates given the moving parts here.

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Ravens To Interview Brian Flores For HC Vacancy

By | at January 8, 2026 2:10 pm

The Ravens are planning to interview Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores for their head coaching vacancy, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz and Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.

Flores, 44, has led Minnesota’s defense for the past three seasons. After solid efforts in 2023 and 2025, the unit posted top-five numbers in 2025, making him one of the hottest defensive coaches on the market. His contract with the Vikings is set to expire, and though the team would prefer to retain him, Flores is looking for a second chance as a head coach after a controversial stint in Miami.

Flores was hired by the Dolphins in 2019 after rising through the ranks of the Patriots’ coaching staff under Bill Belichick. However, Flores never had a coordinator job before taking the head coaching gig in Miami, an early sign that he may not be prepared for the top job. The Dolphins went 5-11 in his first year before improving to 10-6 in his second. Regression to 9-8 – as well as a fraught relationship with Tua Tagovailoa and clashes with owner Stephen Ross – led to Flores’ departure from Miami after the 2022 season. The latter conflict, along with subsequent supposed ‘sham’ interviews with other teams, were the basis of Flores’ ongoing lawsuit against the NFL and several teams.

That will be Flores’ main roadblock to landing a head coaching gig. Not only are there some questions about his leadership in Miami, but teams may be hesitant to hire a coach with an open case against the league. The Giants are one of the teams he is suing, ruling him out of consideration for that job, but the Ravens are not on that list. Owner Steve Bisciotti may be cautious of a coach who revealed past private conversations with an owner, though part of Flores’ issue with Ross was Ross’ alleged desire for the Dolphins to tank for Tagovailoa in 2019.

Otherwise, Flores seems to be a fine fit for Baltimore. He spoke glowingly of Lamar Jackson before the two squared off earlier this season, suggesting he could could get along better with the two-time MVP than he did with Tagovailoa. Flores’ scheme also creates pressure rather than relying on a four-man pass rush, which has been a weakness in Baltimore for a few years. While general manager Eric DeCosta will surely look to upgrade his pass rush this offseason, Flores would offer an immediate path to opposing quarterbacks. Solidifying the Ravens defense while finding an offensive coordinator to work with Jackson could be a path for the team to immediately return to Super Bowl contention in 2026. Flores’ connections to Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell

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