GM Notes: Colts, Ballard, Jets, Douglas, Broncos, Kelly, Texans, Khan, Jaguars, Fontenot
We’ve been passing along a ton of notes on GM interviews and searches, so we thought we’d switch things up a little bit with a couple of non-vacancy related GM items. First off, Colts GM Chris Ballard has done a great job leading Indy through some bumpy times, and it sounds like he’s about to be rewarded. The Colts intend on extending his contract, which runs through May of 2022, before training camp starts in July, owner Jim Irsay told Zak Keefer of The Athletic. Head coach Frank Reich is under contract longer so his situation isn’t as pressing, but Irsay also told Keefer that Reich isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, which obviously isn’t surprising.
Even after Josh McDaniels famously backed out of taking the head coaching job at the last minute, and even after Andrew Luck retired right before the start of last season, Ballard has done a commendable job keeping things steady and under control. He’s also made some great middle round draft picks, his blockbuster trade for DeForest Buckner has worked out really well, and his bold move to sign Philip Rivers this offseason resulted in an 11-5 record and a playoff berth. The Colts have a few question marks, but things seem well set up for the future, and Ballard will be the architect for a long time it sounds like.
Here’s more from front offices around the league:
- The Jets fired Adam Gase this week, and when they hire a new head coach, there could be a change in the hierarchy to go with it. Recently Jets coaches and GMs have both reported directly to owners/chairman Woody and Christopher Johnson, which has led to a fair bit of drama and chaos. Now with Joe Douglas as GM, that might no longer be the case. Christopher raved about Douglas during his end of year media availability, and said “a change in structure is under consideration, no question,” meaning the new head coach may work under Douglas and report to him, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY tweets. It looks like Douglas is cementing his grip on power in the building this offseason, and the new head coach might not have as much clout within the building as guys like Gase, Todd Bowles, and Rex Ryan did.
- Ok, now back to interviews. As soon as the Broncos announced their major shakeup yesterday with John Elway hiring a GM and giving up roster control, people highlighted Champ Kelly as a name to watch. Kelly, currently an exec with the Bears, was in Denver from 2007-14. Now the interest is official, as the team has requested an interview with him, Mike Klis of Denver 9 News tweets. It’s early in the process, but by all accounts Kelly is one of the favorites for the job. The most interesting thing to come out of this search though might be the dynamic between the new GM and Elway, who will still be lingering over the whole operation as president of football ops. It has the potential to get messy.
- The Texans continued their search as they start from scratch in the post-Bill O’Brien era, interviewing Steelers exec Omar Khan on Monday. Khan has been in Pittsburgh in various roles since all the way back in 2001, and currently serves as their chief contract negotiator. He’s received a bit of GM buzz in the past, but not a ton.
- Meanwhile, the Jaguars have requested to interview Saints assistant GM Terry Fontenot, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets. We’ve already heard that Fontenot will interview with the Lions and Falcons, so he appears to be a hot candidate this time around. We heard yesterday that Fontenot is a “very strong” candidate for the Detroit job.
Texans, Falcons, Chargers To Interview Panthers OC Joe Brady For HC Openings
There’s been a trend around the league in recent years of teams with head coach openings going after young and innovative offensive minds, and there’s no reason to believe it’s slowing down. To that end, Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady is starting to get a lot of buzz.
Brady received interview requests from the Texans, Falcons, and Chargers, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Houston already completed their interview on Tuesday with the 31-year-old, the team announced. The man running Matt Rhule’s offense has seen a meteoric rise through the ranks in the past handful of years, and as recently as 2016 he was only a graduate assistant at Penn State.
He then became and offensive assistant with the Saints for two years before landing the gig as LSU’s passing game coordinator for the 2019 season. We all know what happened then, as he turned LSU’s offense into a juggernaut, helped Joe Burrow win the Heisman and become the first overall pick, and helped LSU win a national title.
After just one season at LSU, Rhule plucked him to be on his inaugural staff in Carolina. The Panthers were a mixed bag this year, but they did get pretty creative on offense even while missing Christian McCaffrey for pretty much the entire season. Even by today’s standards Brady would be pretty young and inexperienced, but more and more teams are learning that fortune often favors the bold. Even if he doesn’t land a job this cycle, Brady will be a candidate next year and the one after.
Jets Request Interviews With Rams DC Brandon Staley, Giants DC Patrick Graham
The Jets will have a young quarterback under center one way or another come Week 1 of 2021, but they apparently aren’t limiting their coaching search to offensive minds. New York has requested an interview with Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, Adam Schefter tweets, and with Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Both Staley and Graham oversaw units that made major leaps in 2020. We’ve heard a little bit of buzz about Staley but there hasn’t been as much head coach talk about Graham, so that one is pretty notable. Staley is only 38, and is looking to become the next man to land a head coaching job after serving as an assistant to Sean McVay. He was plucked out of relative anonymity by McVay this past offseason, as he was previously outside linebackers coach for the Broncos.
Staley has been widely praised for his innovative schemes, and the Rams finished first in total defense by a relatively wide margin, allowing only 281.9 yards per game. The Giants finished 12th in that same metric, a pretty impressive feat considering they were 25th last year.
At 41, Graham is pretty young himself. He broke into the league as an assistant with the Patriots in 2009, and spent the next seven years on Bill Belichick’s staff. Connections to Belichick and McVay are an annual tradition for seemingly nearly every head coaching candidate. Graham was the Dolphins’ DC in 2019, his first year as a coordinator, but was allowed to leave for New York since Brian Flores was the one still in charge of the defense in Miami. The Jets are clearly conducting an exhaustive search.
Minor NFL Transactions: 1/4/21
It’s been a busy day of firings, interviews, retirements, and even arrests, but that doesn’t mean we won’t make time for some minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Cut: CB Nate Brooks
Carolina Panthers
- Re-signed: TE Colin Thompson
Cleveland Browns
- Signed off Bengals’ practice squad: CB Brian Allen
New York Giants
- Re-signed: DB Madre Harper, OT Jackson Barton
Philadelphia Eagles
- Re-signed: DT T.Y. McGill
All 6 Teams With HC Openings To Interview Titans OC Arthur Smith
Well it wouldn’t really be possible for Arthur Smith to be in higher demand right now. All six teams with head coach vacancies either already have or will request to interview the Titans offensive coordinator, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Those six teams, of course, are the Chargers, Jets, Jaguars, Lions, Falcons, and Texans. The Jags and Texans are both in the same division as Smith. Teams can’t prevent an assistant from interviewing for a promotion to head coach, so Smith can make the rounds if he so chooses. Still only 38, Smith has seen his stock take a meteoric rise in league circles the past couple of seasons even though just two years ago he was a tight ends coach who had never called plays before.
Smith joined the Titans as a quality control coach in 2011, and was so highly regarded within the building that he was able to survive multiple head coach regimes. After Matt LaFleur was hired to be the Packers head coach after the 2018 season, Mike Vrabel promoted Smith to offensive coordinator, and the rest is history.
Ryan Tannehill has had a sudden resurgence to become one of the league’s most efficient quarterbacks under Smith’s tutelage, and the running game led by Derrick Henry has been unstoppable at times. Whether it’s this year or not, it seems like only a matter of time before Smith lands a head coaching gig and becomes the next young offensive mind to lead a team alongside the likes of Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, and LaFleur.
Falcons QB Matt Schaub To Retire
Assuming the Falcons bring back Matt Ryan next year, they’ll need to find a new clipboard holder for him. Veteran quarterback Matt Schaub is retiring following the 2020 season, Atlanta owner Arthur Blank revealed during his end of season media availability Monday.
It’s a relatively quiet end to a very interesting rollercoaster of a career. A Virginia product, Schaub began his career as a third-round pick of the Falcons all the way back in 2004. Taken in the same class as Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Philip Rivers, he only started two games during his three seasons in Atlanta due to the presence of Michael Vick. He showed flashes in limited action though, and it was enough for the Texans to trade two second-round picks for him before the 2007 season.
He went on to spend the next six and a half seasons as Houston’s quarterback, and had some real success there. He made the Pro Bowl twice in 2009 and 2012, and led the NFL in passing in 2009 with 4,770 yards. He suffered a handful of injuries with the Texans and his play fell off a cliff in the 2013 season, after which he was traded to the Raiders. He lost that starting job to a rookie Derek Carr.
Despite an accomplished run with the Texans, he would start just three games the rest of his career after leaving Houston. Two of those came with the Ravens in 2015 in place of an injured Joe Flacco. In 2016 he reunited with the Falcons, and spent the past five years backing up Ryan.
The last start of his career came last season in spot duty, when he threw for 460 yards in a loss to the Seahawks. He didn’t attempt a pass this season, and will now hang up his cleats at the age of 39. The only other quarterback on Atlanta’s roster is 2018 UDFA Kurt Benkert, and they’ll likely add one in the draft at the very least. All of us here at PFR wish Schaub nothing but the best in retirement.
Raiders To Interview Gus Bradley For DC, Latest On Search
The Raiders fired defensive coordinator Paul Guenther with a few games left in the season, and now that 2020 is over Jon Gruden needs to find a replacement. The day after Week 17, the search is already heating up.
Las Vegas is interested in Chargers DC Gus Bradley and has requested an interview with the former Jaguars head coach, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). With Los Angeles firing Anthony Lynn Monday, it appears unlikely Bradley will be back with the Chargers in 2021, so it’d be surprising if they blocked the interview. Rapoport calls him a “top candidate” for the job of turning around the Raiders’ lackluster defense.
Bradley’s defenses have played at a high level at times during his four years with the Chargers, but they also severely underperformed their talent this season. Of course he was also dealt some unlucky blows, like the significant injuries to guys like Derwin James, Chris Harris, Melvin Ingram, and Joey Bosa. Bradley had an uninspiring run as the Jags’ head coach from 2013-16, where he went 14-48. He initially received recognition for coordinating the Seahawks’ impressive defense from 2009-12.
If Bradley doesn’t end up with the gig, Rapoport identifies a couple of other potential candidates as well. That being Falcons interim head coach Raheem Morris and Rams linebackers coach Joe Barry. As Rapsheet notes, Morris could land a head coaching job this cycle.
Interestingly, Morris coached under Gruden in Tampa Bay, and then took over as the Bucs’ head coach in 2009 when Gruden was fired. Barry was also on Gruden’s Tampa Bay staff, and has been an assistant head coach/linebackers coach under Sean McVay the past four seasons.
Jets Request Interview With Bills OC Brian Daboll
Adam Gase is officially out the door, and the Jets’ coaching search will start to heat up as a result. It looks like the team may be targeting an offensive mind, and to that end New York has requested an interview with Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Teams can’t block assistants from interviewing for head coaching positions, so Daboll will be able to do it if he wants. We heard last week that Daboll is expected to be the hottest coordinator candidate out there. Considering the work he’s done with Josh Allen this season, it’s not hard to see why. Allen was a bit erratic his first two years in the league, but now in his third full season under Daboll’s tutelage he’s playing at a near MVP level.
Daboll broke into the league as an assistant with the Patriots in 2000, and after spending seven years on Bill Belichick’s staff he also had stints as an OC with the Browns, Dolphins, and Chiefs. He was back in New England from 2013-16 before spending a year under Nick Saban at Alabama.
Sean McDermott then recruited him to be his coordinator in Buffalo. Whether it’s Sam Darnold or a rookie the Jets will have a very young quarterback under center in Week 1 2021, and a young offensive mind (Daboll is still only 45) would seem to be a good fit.
Broncos Shake Up Front Office, John Elway To Hire GM
Major shakeup out of Denver, as John Elway is giving up personnel control of the Broncos. In a surprising move, Elway will move to President of Football Operations, and will hire a GM who is in control of the roster, the team announced Monday.
“As part of a transition I’ve thought about for a long time, I have made the decision to step up into an elevated role and hire a general manager to lead our personnel and football staff. While I’ll continue to be President of Football Operations in 2021, the GM will have final say on the draft, free agency and our roster. This person will be empowered to make all football decisions, working in partnership with Vic,” Elway said in a statement.
Under the new structure, both the new GM and Vic Fangio will report to Elway. Obviously the legendary former quarterback isn’t going anywhere, bu he is giving up a huge amount of power, and this feels like a way for the organization to bring in a new front office head without having to deal with the ordeal of firing Elway.
Elway took over in Denver in 2011, and obviously had quite a bit of success his first handful of years after luring Peyton Manning to the Broncos. That culminated in a win in Super Bowl 50, but things went downhill quickly after Manning and head coach Gary Kubiak retired.
The team has now endured four losing seasons in a row, and they have an unsettled quarterback situation with Drew Lock looking iffy his first two years in the league. Elway’s hire of Vance Joseph to replace Kubiak didn’t work out, and he’s drawn a lot of criticism for failing to stabilize things under center ever since Manning left. His one big swing in the draft, taking Paxton Lynch out of Memphis in the first-round, was an abject disaster.
There are now a whopping seven GM vacancies across the league. Elway’s top deputy has been Matt Russell, and he had an opportunity to interview for the GM job but declined and elected to retire, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
Russell will stay on for the time being to help Elway with the GM search, Schefter says. Bears exec Champ Kelly, 49ers exec Adam Peters (who has been linked to several other openings), and Bucs exec John Spytek are all names to keep an eye on for this search, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network says (Twitter video link). Spytek previously was a national scout under Elway in Denver, Peters was with the Broncos from 2009-16, and Kelly was with the organization from 2007-14.
Raiders RB Josh Jacobs Arrested For DUI
The Raiders just wrapped up a disappointing season that saw the team miss the playoffs again, and now they’re getting more bad news. Starting running back Josh Jacobs has been arrested for DUI, according to Kevin Bolinger of FOX 5 Vegas (Twitter link).
Las Vegas police confirmed that Jacobs was in a single car accident at the airport at 4:42 AM, and that police suspected impairment. He was then taken to the hospital to be checked out, so it sounds like he suffered at least some minor injuries. Jacobs has since been released from custody and has a court date set for March 8th. Obviously it’s very early in the process but if the details are confirmed, Jacobs could be looking at a short suspension for a personal conduct policy violation.
Lawyers for Jacobs quickly released a statement after the news broke, saying “No complaint has been filed against our client and there are no blood test results to support a suggestion of impairment. We intend to enter a not guilty plea on behalf of Mr. Jacobs if he is ever charged.”
The Raiders didn’t offer much, saying in a statement of their own “The Raiders are aware of the situation involving Josh Jacobs. The organization takes these matters seriously and we have no further comment at this time.”
The 24th overall pick of the 2019 draft, Jacobs made the Pro Bowl for his play this past season. He became the Raiders’ featured back as a rookie, starting all 13 games he played in and rushing for 1,150 and seven touchdowns. This past year he rushed for 1,065 yards and 12 touchdowns in 15 games.
His efficiency dipped in 2020, as he averaged only 3.9 yards per carry, down from 4.8 as a rookie. That wasn’t all his fault though, as Vegas’ offensive line wasn’t quite as sharp and Jacobs also played through significant injuries in the second half of the season. He was also more involved in the passing game, drawing 45 targets, up from 27 the year before. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more on this situation.