Titans, Cardinals Eyeing Gus Bradley For Defensive Coordinator
Less than two weeks ago, it appeared 49ers assistant head coach Gus Bradley was poised to replace the departed Robert Saleh as the team’s defensive coordinator. While Kyle Shanahan called Bradley an “obvious” candidate for the position in late January, the head coach hired Raheem Morris to run the 49ers’ defense on Sunday.
Bradley is still on the 49ers’ staff, but other defensive coordinator jobs are on the table for the 59-year-old. Both the Titans and Cardinals are interested in Bradley, Albert Breer of SI.com reports. Landing with either team would give Bradley a fifth chance to serve as an NFL defensive coordinator.
Bradley previously led defenses with the Seahawks (2009-12), Chargers (2017-20), Raiders (2021) and Colts (2022-24). He was particularly successful from 2011-12, the beginning of Seattle’s dominant “Legion of Boom” era, which convinced the Jaguars to hire him as their head coach.
The Bradley era couldn’t have gone much worse for Jacksonville. The Jags gave Bradley nearly four full seasons, but after he managed just 14 wins in 62 games, the team pulled the plug in December 2016.
Bradley’s Jaguars tenure produced disastrous results, though he garnered more working experience with Saleh after the two coached on the same staff in Seattle from 2011-12. They reunited in San Francisco this past season, but Saleh left last month to become the Titans’ head coach. There’s now a chance Bradley and Saleh will work together with a fourth different franchise in 2026.
Although Bradley’s relationship with Saleh is a plus, the latter will call the defensive plays in Tennessee. Conversely, Bradley would work as the Cardinals’ play-caller, and that could tip the scales in their favor, according to Breer. Bradley and just-hired Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur have no previous experience together. Nevertheless, bringing in Bradley would give the offensive-minded, first-time head coach a grizzled complement on the other side of the ball.
Despite the presence of a defensive-minded head coach in Jonathan Gannon, LaFleur’s predecessor, the Cardinals ranked a subpar 27th in yards allowed and 28th in points surrendered in 2025. The Titans, 21st and 28th in those categories, endured similar struggles under defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson. Saleh is now eyeing Bradley to take over for the fired Wilson, but he’ll have to fend off the Cardinals for his services.
John Harbaugh Tried To Talk Todd Monken Into Taking Giants’ OC Job
When John Harbaugh was nearing an agreement to become the Giants’ head coach in mid-January, all signs pointed to then-Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken taking the same position in New York. Monken, who worked under Harbaugh in Baltimore from 2023-25, was in discussions with the Giants on a contract as recently as last week.
To Harbaugh’s chagrin, his plan went out the window when Monken became the Browns’ head coach last Wednesday. While Harbaugh told Bob Brookover of NJ Advance Media he’s “proud of [Monken],” he’s nonetheless disappointed the two didn’t reunite with the Giants
“I tried to talk him out of it,” Harbaugh said. “That’s my job, right. I really thought he was coming with us, but Cleveland was in there all along and he had been there before in 2019 as the offensive coordinator, so they knew him and he wanted this opportunity”
With Monken out of the picture, the Giants are still without an offensive coordinator in early February. However, Harbaugh believes there are still “a lot of really good candidates” out there. Harbaugh’s history of O-coordinator hires suggests he’ll opt for someone who has called plays before, Brookover notes. All seven OCs Harbaugh worked with in Baltimore from 2008-25 came with prior play-calling experience.
“Proven guys are always probably the most interesting, but then proven guys also have scars,” he told Brookover. “Sometimes people don’t want to live with the scars. But if you don’t have any scars you haven’t been in any fights.”
So far, the Giants have either interviewed or considered interviews with Brian Callahan, Jim Bob Cooter, Shane Day, Kliff Kingsbury, Robert Prince and Alex Tanney. Prince is no longer in the running, having joined the Falcons as their wide receivers coach last week.
Day and Tanney are left as the only members of the group who have not called plays in the NFL. Unless Harbaugh veers from his typical approach, it seems likely Callahan, Cooter, Kingsbury or a yet-to-be-named candidate who’s an established play-caller will serve as the Giants’ top offensive coach in 2026.
Cowboys, WR George Pickens Have Not Held Contract Talks
George Pickens enjoyed a highly productive debut season with the Cowboys. He is on track for free agency at the moment, although the franchise tag looms as an option for Dallas to prevent a departure. 
The alternative of a long-term contract remains one the team has shown interest in. As things currently stand, however, there is considerable progress still to be made on the negotiation front. Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News confirms no contract talks have taken place yet with Pickens’ camp.
Acquired via trade from the Steelers last offseason, Pickens quickly made it clear he was comfortable playing out the 2025 season without an extension in hand. As Watkins notes, a second contract averaging at least $30MM annually was the target before the start of the campaign. Pickens certainly helped his earning potential by setting new career highs in several categories.
The former second-rounder finished eighth in the NFL in receptions (93), third in yards (1,429) and tied for fourth in touchdowns (nine). Pickens will thus have a very strong case for joining the $30MM-per-year club at the WR position. There are currently nine receiver contracts with an average annual value at or above that figure; Ja’Marr Chase‘s Bengals extension tops the market at $40.25MM per season. He and Justin Jefferson (Vikings) are the only two wideouts whose contracts contained more guarantees at signing than the Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb commitment.
The investment made in Lamb (four years, $136MM) in the summer of 2024 obviously represents a challenge for the Cowboys as they plan out future spending on offense. Having Lamb and quarterback Dak Prescott on the books for years to come is something which must be weighed by Dallas. The team enjoyed a strong showing from running back Javonte Williams, and to little surprise a new Cowboys pact will be sought out in his case prior to free agency. Talks with Williams have taken place.
Pickens is represented by Athletes First, the agency led by David Mulugheta which also has Micah Parsons as a client. Direct negotiations between Parsons and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did not yield the desired results last offseason, but Jones expects to speak directly with Pickens this spring. It will be interesting to see how that plays out once negotiations begin.
The franchise tag for receivers is projected to cost roughly $28.82MM next season. Teams have until March 3 to apply the tag. That comes just before the onset of free agency and the start of the new league year. Before that point, updates on the Pickens situation will be worth watching for closely.
Dolphins To Retain Joe Barry, Austin Clark
The Dolphins a have a new head coach in Jeff Hafley, but his first staff will include some holdovers from the Mike McDaniel era. The team is retaining inside linebackers coach/run game coordinator Joe Barry and defensive line coach Austin Clark, per reports from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Barry, who signed a multiyear deal to stay in Miami, will enter his third season with the club in 2026. He joined McDaniel’s staff after a three-year run as the defensive coordinator in Green Bay. The Packers fired Barry on the heels of a January 2024 loss to the 49ers in the divisional round.
Interestingly, it was Hafley who replaced Barry as the Packers’ defensive coordinator. Two years later, Barry will work under Hafley and new Dolphins DC Sean Duggan in South Florida.
Clark is now set to serve under his third HC since he became the Dolphins’ OLBs coach in 2020. Brian Flores originally hired Clark, who’s coming off his fifth season leading their defensive line.
Clark will continue coaching the likes of Zach Sieler, Kenneth Grant and Jordan Phillips in 2026. The Dolphins invested heavily in Grant, the 13th overall pick in last year’s draft, and spent a fifth-rounder on Phillips. Neither Grant nor Phillips offered great production as rookies, but they finished second and third, respectively, in snaps among Dolphins D-linemen.
Elsewhere on the Dolphins’ staff, they’re adding former Georgia Tech OLBs coach Darius Eubanks as an assistant special teams coordinator (via Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 and Pete Nakos of On3). Brock Olivo, a special teams analyst with Missouri from 2023-25, is also heading to Miami as an assistant ST coach, according to agent Paul Sheehy of ProStarSports. The move will reunite Olivo with new Dolphins special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who held the same position with the Bears from 2018-21. Olivo assisted Tabor in Chicago from 2018-19.
While Eubanks and Olivo are on their way in, the Dolphins are not expected to retain assistant HC/tight ends coach Jon Embree, Jackson reports. The 60-year-old is a longtime McDaniel confidant who worked with him in San Francisco from 2017-21 and moved to Miami when the latter became its head coach in 2022.
With 88 catches, 884 yards and eight touchdowns, Jonnu Smith had a career year under Embree in 2024. No other Dolphins tight end exceeded 35 catches during Embree’s four years on the staff, though Darren Waller was productive during an injury-limited 2025. Waller came out of a one-year retirement to record 24 catches, 283 yards and six TDs in nine games. It’s unknown if the 33-year-old Waller will return to Miami next season, but he’ll have a different position coach if he does.
NFL To Continue Playing Games In Madrid; Paris Debut Coming In 2026
10:30am: Announcements from the league and the Saints have since confirmed the report. New Orleans will indeed play in the NFL’s first ever Paris game during the 2026 season.
9:02am: The NFL played its first ever game in Madrid this season. The league will continue to visit the Spanish capital in 2026 and beyond. 
A multi-year partnership has been reached which will see the NFL stage regular-season contests at the Bernabéu Stadium, per a league announcement on Monday. Games will continue to be played at the home stadium for Real Madrid, as this year’s Dolphins-Commanders matchup was in November. The iconic venue will host another game in 2026, adding further to the list of international markets confirmed for next year.
The NFL will once again play three games in London during the 2026 season. Munich and Rio de Janeiro will each be the site of one contest, and the league will also make its debut in Melbourne. Continued international expansion has long been known as a major goal for the NFL, with a growing list of markets serving as hosts for games and global investments being made in the development of flag football. Expansion to an 18-game regular season is expected to be accompanied by a setup which sees all 32 teams play overseas once per year.
The Dolphins are among the teams which hold international marketing rights in Spain, which made them a logical choice to take part in the debut Madrid contest. The Eagles and Bears also hold rights there, so it would come as no surprise if one of them were to make the trip to Spain in 2026. It is already known the Rams will be participating in the Melbourne game next season.
The NFL is regularly exploring new markets, and Paris has long been on the league’s radar. A regular-season game being played there as early as 2026 was raised as a possibility in November, and it appears as though that will indeed be the case. A weekend report from RMC Sport indicates the Saints and Browns are set to play against each other at the Stade de France in October of next season. Nothing has been confirmed by the NFL at this point, however.
New Orleans is the NFL’s only team which currently has marketing rights in France. That makes the Saints an obvious candidate to participate in the league’s Paris debut. An announcement confirming their inclusion in the 2026 international series will be something to watch for this offseason.
Steelers To Hire Danny Crossman As Special Teams Coordinator
The Steelers have landed on a choice for their special teams coordinator vacancy. Danny Crossman is expected to be hired, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports.
Pittsburgh lost longtime STC Danny Smith last month when he took the same position in Tampa Bay. The team has searched for a replacement ever since, with an interview request recently being submitted for Bubba Ventrone (who ultimately joined the Rams). The Steelers also spoke with Matthew Smiley as part of their interview process.
In the end, it will be Crossman taking charge of Pittsburgh’s special teams. He will bring considerable experience to the position. Crossman entered the NFL coaching ranks with the Panthers in 2003. He was eventually promoted to special teams coordinator in 2007, a role he held in Carolina for three years. That was followed by multi-year stints in Detroit and Buffalo in the same capacity.
Crossman joined the Dolphins’ staff in 2019 as special teams coordinator. The 59-year-old took on the additional title of assistant head coach for 2021, but that only wound up lasting one season. Once head coach Mike McDaniel arrived in 2022, Crossman returned to the role of special teams coordinator, remaining in Miami for another two years. After one season out of coaching, he will join Mike McCarthy for the coming season.
The Steelers have undergone a number of changes on the sidelines recently, highlighted of course by Mike Tomlin‘s resignation. A new defensive coordinator (Patrick Graham) is now in place, and the Crossman hire will fill another important vacancy. Attention for McCarthy and Co. will increasingly turn toward replacing Arthur Smith at the offensive coordinator spot as the hiring cycle continues to play out.
Cardinals Hire Mike LaFleur As HC
Once the news broke about Klint Kubiak’s agreement to join the Raiders after the Super Bowl, one head coaching vacancy remained. That has not proven to be the case for very long. 
The Cardinals are working to hire Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur as their new head coach, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter. No deal has been finalized at this point, Schefter adds. The sides are nevertheless working toward a five-year agreement. A team announcement has since been made confirming the news.
LaFleur has long loomed as a strong candidate for this position. He was among the staffers who conducted an in-person interview with Arizona, a team which saw several others withdraw from consideration. Upon learning of Kubiak’s decision, the Cardinals were left with a trio of finalists. According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, LaFleur, along with Raheem Morris and Anthony Weaver, were left waiting to hear from the team as of Sunday afternoon. The Cards have clearly gotten in touch with LaFleur in short order.
“We had the opportunity to speak with an outstanding group of candidates during this very thorough process and gathered tremendous insight from each of them,” a statement from owner Michael Bidwill reads. “At the end of that process, it was clear that Mike LaFleur possesses all the traits necessary to lead this team to success as its head coach. He is highly intelligent with an exceptionally sharp, creative football mind. Mike is also a dynamic and innovative leader and exactly the type of person we were looking for to guide our team as its head coach.”
This will be LaFleur’s first opportunity to be a head coach at the college or NFL levels. He has thus become the latest member of the Sean McVay coaching tree to take charge of an NFL staff. The Cardinals had a HC with a defensive background for the past three years in the form of Jonathan Gannon. As Arizona hoped, his replacement will arrive with a track record of work on the offensive side of the ball.
LaFleur has spent the past three years as an offensive coordinator with the Rams. He did not call plays during that stretch, but he was the Jets’ playcaller in 2021 and ’22. The 38-year-old has also been an OC in college and a pass-game coordinator with the 49ers before. This hire will see him work for a third NFC West franchise. Coming off a year where the Cardinals were the division’s only team to fall short of the postseason, quick improvement on a number of fronts will be sought out.
Arizona won four games during Gannon’s first year in place alongside fellow 2023 hire Monti Ossenfort. That HC-GM combo oversaw an improvement to eight wins last year, something which suggested another step forward could be possible in 2025. Instead, an injury-riddled Cardinals team finished the campaign on a nine-game losing streak. That led to Gannon’s ‘Black Monday’ firing, with Ossenfort remaining in place.
The Cardinals have a number of staffing vacancies at the moment, and former offensive coordinator Drew Petzing is among the staffers who now need to be replaced. It will be interesting to see if LaFleur will call plays on offense upon taking over head coaching duties for the first time. In any event, his attention will turn toward building a staff.
For the Rams, meanwhile, the search for a new offensive coordinator will begin once again. McVay has tapped external candidates for the gig in previous years, but an obvious in-house candidate looms for 2026. Pass-game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase was among the most popular staffers who did not receive a head coaching opportunity, and his stock has risen quickly in short order. It would come as little surprise if, after a search which satisfies the Rooney Rule, Scheelhaase wound up being promoted to OC.
The Cardinals’ QB situation is unsettled at the moment, with Kyler Murray uncertain to be retained. Sorting out his situation will be a top priority for LaFleur and Co as the offseason unfolds. Regardless of how the team proceeds on that front, Arizona will look for needed improvement on offense and a stronger showing defensively, something which could be sparked in large part by better injury luck.
LaFleur is now joined by his older brother Mike as an NFL head coach, although the two will not meet head-to-head during the 2026 regular season. With this hire now official, all 10 HC vacancies around the league have been filled.
NFL-ESPN Deal Approved By Government Regulators
Back in August, it was announced that the NFL had come to an agreement with ESPN to sell them NFL Network and other media assets (including RedZone and NFL Fantasy) in exchange for a 10-percent equity stake in ESPN. Today, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, government regulators approved the “billion-dollar” acquisition, and the two sides were able to close the deal late last night. 
The NFL had been looking to take advantage of the streaming capabilities ESPN has boasted for years now with apps such as ESPN Watch, ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+ — all owned by the Disney company. ESPN also had been looking to expand past the streaming and cable bundles by providing customers with a direct-to-consumer platform that began selling in the fall for $29.99 per month, allowing viewers access to ESPN without needing to purchase a separate streaming or cable subscription. With the new deal, NFL Network will now be incorporated into the direct-to-consumer product by the start of the 2026 NFL season.
By gaining linear rights to the RedZone Channel and the RedZone brand, ESPN reportedly hopes to expand that format of broadcasting to other sports. This does pose challenges with some sports. While most NHL games are broadcast through ESPN, several are exclusive to NHL Network and TNT/HBO Max. The same is true for most NBA games, while college sports also see different conferences and teams having individual deals apart from ESPN. Additionally, aside from college football and baseball, other sports don’t dedicate single days of the week to games, making a RedZone-type service much more useful some days than others.
NFL Network will still be available in participating cable bundles; it will just now be grouped in the cadre of other ESPN offshoot networks, including ESPN2, the SEC Network, and the ACC Network. This does mean that more NFL games will be appearing on ESPN in 2026, as well. ESPN will continue to broadcast the Monday Night Football games, though they will reportedly “do away with the…doubleheaders” on Monday nights, and they will take on seven more games from NFL Network — three games that the NFL Network was already allotted then four more that were expected to be sold out to the other streamers. ESPN will also broadcast the Super Bowl for the first time next year, bringing the event back to ABC, as well, for the first time since 2006.
As was mentioned in August, this does pose a concern for the other streamers in the market for NFL games for the future. The NFL is already in 11-year deals worth over $110BB with its network and streaming partners, though Marchand notes that it has a potential opt-out clause in its contracts at the end of the decade. YouTube TV owns the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, while ABC/ESPN/Disney/NFL Network, FOX, CBS/Paramount/Nickelodeon, NBC/Peacock, Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube all have individual rights to air certain games throughout the season.
The league seems eager, though, not to wait for the end of the decade, hoping to begin renegotiating those deals starting this year. It will be interesting to see what renegotiations have to offer for the other networks, as it seems fairly obvious that the NFL will be incentivized to give more content to the network of which it now owns 10 percent. One has only to look at how the league handled those four games that were expected to be sold out for next season.
Additional controversy could stem from the reporting arm of ESPN. Per Marchand, starting in April, NFL employees will officially become a part of ESPN, meaning reporters like ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, usually competing to break stories, will now essentially be working for the same outlet. And when scandal strikes in the NFL, as it frequently does, it will be interesting to see just how critical ESPN reporters opt to be when covering the league that now owns 10 percent of their employer.
Without the NFL Network, the league will continue to own and operate its retained media businesses such as NFL Films, NFL+, NFL.com, the NFL Podcast Network, the NFL FAST Channel, and the official websites for all 32 teams. The NFL Fantasy Football application will merge with ESPN’s, and ESPN will maintain the service. Some changes may not be happening as soon as April, when the league emp0loyees will begin to get processed over to ESPN, but most are expected to be in place by the start of the next regular season.
Broncos Expected To Promote Davis Webb To OC
10:59pm: Webb has now conducted a formal interview for the OC spot, Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette reports. That makes him the third candidate to speak with Denver about the position and paves the way for a promotion to officially take place.
8:00am: One of this year’s popular coaching candidates appears to be staying put. Multiple sources tell Mike Klis of 9News.com that Broncos quarterbacks coach Davis Webb will remain in Denver and will become the club’s new offensive coordinator following Joe Lombardi’s dismissal.
The Broncos narrowly missed advancing to this year’s Super Bowl despite being forced to start Jarrett Stidham under center in the AFC Championship Game due to QB1 Bo Nix’s fractured ankle. Nix has been the team’s starting passer in each of the last two years, and although Denver booked two playoff berths during that time and secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed in 2025, head coach Sean Payton felt an OC change was necessary.
There could be another fundamental shift on the horizon. As Troy Renck of the Denver Post writes, Webb has developed a reputation as an “offensive wizard, and quarterback whisperer,” and recent reports suggested Payton may have to cede his play-calling duties to Webb in order to keep his young protege on his staff. Payton has called the offensive plays since arriving in Denver in 2023 and held the same responsibility as the Saints’ HC for many years before that.
Payton sounded amenable to such a change several weeks ago.
“As you get older, you think about all the ramifications. It was said as you get older, maybe you don’t drive in the rain at night. You begin to… I can’t let that happen as a play caller,” Payton said (via Renck). “That’s something that I have to mentally make sure it’s quick.”
Teams around the league are intrigued by Webb’s upside as an offensive guru. The Giants and Eagles were interested in him as a play-calling OC in this year’s coaching carousel, and though he just turned 31, he took head coaching interviews with the Bills, Raiders, and Ravens. He was even considered a finalist for the Las Vegas gig before he withdrew from consideration.
That withdrawal suggested Webb would stay with the Broncos for at least the 2026 season, and signs are pointing in that direction. Whether he will have the opportunity to begin building his play-calling resume remains to be seen. Thus far, as Renck observes, Webb has called plays just once: during a preseason game in August.
In 2025, the Broncos finished 10th in total offense and 14th in scoring. As our coordinator tracker shows, they have also interviewed Bills quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry and Commanders pass-game coordinator Brian Johnson for the OC post.
49ers To Hire Raheem Morris As DC
Raheem Morris was a finalist for the Cardinals’ head coaching position. With that gig going to Mike LaFleur, the ex-Falcons HC found himself in need of a new opportunity. 
In the wake of the LaFleur news, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported Morris was a strong candidate to join the 49ers. Indeed, he will make a return to the NFC West for 2026. San Francisco is hiring Morris for the defensive coordinator position, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The 49ers brought back Robert Saleh as their DC for the 2025 season. His success in that role resulted in another head coaching opportunity, with a Titans hire recently being worked out. That created the need for head coach Kyle Shanahan to find a Saleh replacement once again in San Francisco. In Morris, he has tapped a very familiar staffer for the gig.
Shanahan and Morris worked alongside each other in Tampa Bay (2004-05), Washington (2012-13) and again in Atlanta (2015-16). This latest reunion will see Morris return to coordinator duties. He has previously worked as a DC with the Rams and with the Falcons during his first Atlanta tenure. Morris returned to the Falcons as their head coach in 2024, but his second stint with the team did not meet expectations.
Coming off a second straight 8-9 season, Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot were dismissed immediately after the campaign ended. A number of interviews for head coaching openings followed, but only the Cardinals emerged as a serious suitor. With that opportunity coming and going, Morris will look to once again deliver a strong coordinator showing.
For the 49ers, stability at the D-coordinator position would be welcomed. Morris represents the fifth different hire in as many years Shanahan has made. Remaining in place could prove to be key for San Francisco, a team which dealt with a number of major injuries on defense in 2025. Missing the likes of Nick Bosa and Fred Warner for most of the season proved detrimental, although Saleh still guided his unit to a 13th-place finish in total defense. The 49ers will have Bosa and Warner healthy next year, and Morris will face high expectations in his latest coordinator gig.
Via PFR’s OC/DC Tracker, here is a final look at San Francisco’s DC search:
- Gus Bradley, assistant head coach (49ers): Interviewed
- Raheem Morris, former head coach (Falcons): Hired
- Jim Schwartz, defensive coordinator (Browns): Rumored candidate
- Joe Woods, defensive backs coach (Raiders): Interviewed