Titans DC Dean Pees Retires
The NFL is losing a prominent assistant coach. Titans defensive coordinator Dean Pees announced his retirement during a press conference Monday.
Pees, 70, started coaching college football in 1979 and has been in the NFL since 2004. The Titans just lost secondary coach Kerry Coombs to Ohio State earlier today, so Mike Vrabel will have some work to do retooling his defensive staff. Pees got his NFL start with the Patriots, where he served as Vrabel’s linebackers coach and defensive coordinator. Pees left New England after the 2009 season, and went to Baltimore. He served as linebackers coach and then defensive coordinator with the Ravens for the next eight seasons, winning Super Bowl XLVII with the team.
Pees has been on the staffs of some legendary head coaches, including Nick Saban, Lou Holtz, and Bill Belichick. He initially retired after the 2017 season, but that retirement lasted only a few weeks. After Vrabel landed the job in Tennessee, he quickly lured his old coach out of retirement. Tennessee’s defense was up and down during the regular season, but Pees had them playing really well in the playoffs. He was able to put together a gameplan that completely shutdown Lamar Jackson and the vaunted Ravens running game in the divisional round.
Coaching Notes: Giants, Bengals, Titans
The Giants’ offensive line has been a bit of a mess the past few years, so who rookie head coach Joe Judge decides to hire as his O-line coach is a crucial call. One familiar name is getting consideration, as Dan Graziano of ESPN.com tweets that New York will interview Dave DeGuglielmo for the vacant job. DeGuglielmo has been in the NFL for the past 15 years, and was Miami’s offensive line coach this past season. The year before that he coached Indy’s league-best offensive line, but was surprisingly let go after the season. As Graziano points out, DeGuglielmo coached alongside Judge with the Patriots in 2014-15, so there’s plenty of familiarity there.
Here’s more from the coaching ranks:
- The Bengals have a new cornerbacks coach, and it’s coming at the expense of the Jets. Cincinnati is hiring Steve Jackson to coach their cornerbacks, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post (Twitter link). Jackson had previously served as the Jets’ assistant defensive backs coach for the past two years. Jackson played with the Oilers/Titans for nine seasons from 1991-1999. He’s served as safeties coach for the Redskins and Titans in the past.
- The Titans are also losing an assistant coach. Kerry Coombs, Tennessee’s secondary coach, is leaving to become the defensive coordinator at Ohio State, per Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports (Twitter link). There are plenty of connections between the two teams, as Titans head coach Mike Vrabel played at Ohio State and was an assistant coach with the Buckeyes before returning to the NFL. He brought a lot of guys from OSU with him to Tennessee, including Coombs.
- In case you missed it, ESPN analyst and former backup NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky is drawing interest as a coach.
Extra Points: Johnson, Stefanski, Browns
Chad Johnson’s time as a pro football player might not be finished after all. The legendary former NFL receiver will tryout as a kicker with the XFL on Monday, he announced on Twitter. The tryout in Houston is indeed legit, Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com confirmed with a source. Johnson is 42 now, and hasn’t appeared in a game since the 2011 season. He’s a huge soccer fan, and has often expressed an interest in kicking. Back during the 2009 preseason when he was still with the Bengals, he converted an extra point and handled a kickoff. Johnson became a six-time Pro Bowler with Cincinnati and was a first-team All-Pro selection three times. One of the best receivers in the league for a long stretch, he finished with 11,059 yards and 67 touchdowns. He also briefly played in the CFL a handful of years ago. It still seems like more of a publicity stunt than anything else, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
Here’s more from around the football world:
- The Browns settled on a new head coach in Kevin Stefanski, but they’re still searching for a new general manager. One potential candidate is Vikings assistant GM George Paton, but he’s apparently hard to pin down. Paton has been very picky with interviews in recent years, and the Browns still haven’t gotten a firm commitment from him on whether or not he’ll interview, according to Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). It was initially reported that Paton had agreed to interview, but that turned out not to be true. Eagles executive Andrew Berry and Patriots exec Monti Ossenfort are also candidates.
- Whoever Cleveland selects to be their next GM, Stefanski will have a lot of input in the front office. The rookie head coach “will have a large say in roster decisions,” writes Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Kay Cabot thinks they wouldn’t want his help hiring the new general manager if he wasn’t going to have a lot of power once they’re hired. Stefanski is still only 37 and last season was his first full one as a coordinator, but the Haslam family clearly has a lot of trust in him.
- Stefanski still has some staffing decisions to make, even after it appears he settled on Joe Woods to be his new defensive coordinator. He won’t be hiring a new special teams coordinator, as sources told Kay Cabot that he’s going to keep Mike Priefer as a rare holdover from Freddie Kitchens’ staff. Priefer was Minnesota’s special teams coordinator for eight seasons while Stefanski was with the Vikings, so they have a lot of familiarity with one another. Priefer had previously been STC for the Chiefs and Broncos.
Texans Fire Exec Chris Olsen
The Texans’ strange front office situation just got even more muddled. Houston has fired executive Chris Olsen, sources told Mark Berman of Fox 26 (Twitter link).
He might not be a household name, but this is a highly significant move. Olsen, who had the official title of senior VP for football administration, had been with the organization for the past 13 years. When the Texans originally fired general manager Brian Gaine last summer, Olsen took over on an interim basis. As their unusual plan developed, Olsen became one of a few key execs who split front office duties with head coach Bill O’Brien. O’Brien has been consolidating his power lately, and we recently received confirmation that Houston wouldn’t be hiring a new GM anytime soon.
Olsen had been handling contract negotiations and salary cap matters before getting canned. It’s unclear exactly why he was fired now, or if he clashed with O’Brien. Texans owner Cal McNair has been putting all his chips in the B’OB basket, even though the playoff results have been underwhelming. Most recently, the Texans blew a 24-point lead over the Chiefs in the divisional round. O’Brien appears to have full control over the team, and will continue to remake it in his image.
Dan Orlovsky Getting Coaching Interest
Plenty of former NFL coaches end up at ESPN as analysts, but now that formula could be working in reverse. ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky has received calls from teams to “gauge his interest in leaving the network for an offensive coaching job,” sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
According to Schefter, Orlovsky also had interest from the Packers last year about joining their staff. Orlovsky told Schefter that it “would have to be a perfect mix of circumstances” to get him to leave his in-studio gig. A journeyman quarterback in the league for a little over a decade, Orlovsky retired in 2017. He quickly pivoted to becoming an analyst, and joined ESPN last year. While there, he’s received a lot of praise for his work breaking down quarterback play.
A Connecticut product, he was drafted by the Lions in the fifth-round back in 2005. He started seven games for Detroit in 2008 and five for the Colts in 2011, the only starts of his career. He also spent time with the Texans, Buccaneers, and Rams as a backup. Only 36, he’s got plenty of time to make the jump if he wants.
Raiders GM Mike Mayock On Antonio Brown, Jon Gruden, Derek Carr
Antonio Brown‘s time with the Raiders didn’t go as planned, to put it mildly. Oakland traded a couple of picks to acquire him from the Steelers, and he never ended up playing a game in the silver and black. Brown got into a very public spat with Raiders GM Mike Mayock, reportedly threatening to punch him and calling him a “cracker.” Although head coach Jon Gruden has final say on personnel matters, Mayock still caught a lot of flak for his handling of the situation. Now in an interview with Vic Tafur of The Athletic, Mayock reflected on the whole ordeal at length for the first time.
“I put that on me,” Mayock said. “My anticipation was that he was coming off a situation in Pittsburgh where he wants to prove everybody wrong and he wants to ride into the Hall of Fame. That he was going to come in with Jon Gruden and Derek Carr and our offense and lead the way. … I really thought we were going to get the best out of Antonio Brown and we didn’t.”
The Raiders ended up cutting Brown on September 7th, a couple of days after the blowup in the locker room. “We weren’t able to get anything out of him. So, at the end of the day, in hindsight, we lost a third-round pick and a fifth-round pick, and I can’t tell you how much pain that causes me,” Mayock continued. Gruden initially welcomed Brown back into the locker room the day after the altercation, which led to some speculation that the coach had taken the player’s side over his GM’s, and that Mayock wasn’t long for the franchise.
Mayock denied there were any issues between him and Gruden, and he didn’t seem concerned about his job security. “Jon and I are good,” Mayock said. “Jon and I talk everything through.” The Raiders are moving to Las Vegas this offseason, and rumors have swirled that they could be in the market for a new quarterback as they make the transition. Mayock spoke positively of Carr, saying “Derek stepped forward in Year 2 under Jon Gruden,” but he also hedged.
“As far as what the future holds, I’m gonna tell you the same thing I told you last year. About every position. And that is, my job is to evaluate every position and try and make us better. And if I can, I will, and if I can’t, I won’t. And that holds true at every position.” Spoken like a true GM. Carr was inconsistent once again this year, and it wouldn’t be a shock if the Raiders decide to make a splash at the position.
Mayock also talked about defensive end Clelin Ferrell, who the Raiders surprisingly drafted fourth overall last April. Ferrell got off to a slow start, and Mayock acknowledged as much. “I thought he was solid,” Mayock said. “Early in the year, we probably asked him to do too much. He had never played inside and he was splitting reps inside and outside. He lost weight, he was sick in London … those aren’t excuses, they’re facts.”
“After London, when he got his weight back up, I thought the season began to build for him. We asked him to play one position and I thought he got better and better each week, and we’re excited about him,” he continued. The former NFL Network analyst also revealed that he thinks the impending move will help attract free agents. “There is definitely a buzz about our move into Las Vegas,” he said. “Could be one of the big stories of free agency.” The Raiders will be one of the most interesting teams to watch in 2020.
Minor NFL Transactions: 1/17/20
Here are today’s minor moves:
Denver Broncos
- Released: S Dymonte Thomas
A 2017 undrafted free agent from Michigan, Thomas appeared in 12 games for the Broncos in 2018, playing mostly on special teams. He spent all of 2019 on injured reserve.
Giants To Hire Jason Garrett As OC
Jason Garrett wasn’t out of a job too long. The Giants are planning to hire Garrett as their new offensive coordinator, a source told Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Garrett staying in the division and getting to face the Cowboys twice a year will provide a lot of drama and entertainment, if nothing else. Garrett met with Giants brass a couple of days ago, and apparently everything went well. He caught a lot of flak his last few years in Dallas, but he will be a solid veteran presence to lean on for rookie head coach Joe Judge in New York.
Garrett, who played quarterback in the league for nearly 15 years, will now be tasked with helping to develop Daniel Jones. He spent four years with the Giants as a backup, so this is a homecoming of sorts for him. He’ll surely be excited about the opportunity to take on Jerry Jones and his old team. He started his coaching career as the quarterbacks coach with the Dolphins for a couple of years before moving on to Dallas.
Garrett went a perfect 6-0 against the Giants the past three years, which couldn’t have hurt his cause with New York’s ownership. He was the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys for four seasons before serving as head coach for the past nine. Still only 53, the 2016 NFL Coach of the Year surely has his sights set on becoming a head coach again sometime in the near future. If he can get Jones to take the next step and develop like Dak Prescott did, that opportunity could come relatively soon.
The Giants are entering a new era of football, as they finally appear set to move on from Eli Manning. They fired Pat Shurmur after the season ended and brought in Judge, the Patriots’ receivers/special teams coach, to replace him. Judge’s staff is starting to fill out, as he already hired away defensive coordinator Patrick Graham from the Dolphins. We heard earlier today the Giants were planning on speaking with Scott Linehan, who worked under Garrett as his OC in Dallas. A reunion could be in the works there.
Kyler Murray Contractually Can’t Play Baseball
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray caused a bit of a kerfuffle earlier this week when he indicated he still had interest in playing baseball at some point. “I think I could. … Athletically, I think yeah, I could do it. I’ve been playing both my whole life. I would love to add that to the resume,” he told Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link).
Fortunately for Cardinals fans, they don’t have to worry about that anytime soon. Murray’s NFL contract specifically bars him from pursuing his other sport in any form, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). Rapoport reviewed the language of Murray’s deal, which rules out “any baseball related activity, tryout, workout, scrimmage, any exhibition, from any baseball team in any baseball league.”
Murray, of course, was previously a two-sport athlete. He was drafted early in the first round by the Oakland Athletics a few years ago, and until he took over for Baker Mayfield as Oklahoma’s starting quarterback, it was widely assumed he would pursue a MLB career. Then he ended up exceeding all expectations in his one season of college football, winning the Heisman Trophy. After leaving his future up in the air for a while, Murray eventually fully committed to football and announced he would withdraw from his deal with Oakland back in February of last year.
A couple months later, the Cardinals drafted him first overall. Murray had an up and down rookie season in his first year playing under Kliff Kingsbury, but he showed plenty of flashes. The potential Rookie of the Year, he finished with 24 total touchdowns and had some huge games. It isn’t totally unheard of for a player to compete in both sports, as Deion Sanders famously played in the NFL and MLB at the same time. That being said, it would be much tougher for a quarterback to attempt such a thing. Maybe one day Murray will find his way back to the diamond, but it doesn’t sound like it’ll be anytime soon.
LSU’s Thaddeus Moss Declares For Draft
Thaddeus Moss just became a national champion, and now he’s ready to take the next step in his career. The LSU tight end declared for the 2020 draft on Friday, he announced on Twitter.
Moss initially was well-known for being the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss, but he quickly made a name for himself. After starting his career at N.C. State and playing sparingly, he transferred to LSU and enjoyed a breakout season this past year. He ended up catching 47 passes for 570 yards and four touchdowns, and had the 14th-most yards of any tight end in the nation. In the title game against Clemson this past week he played a pivotal role, reeling in two touchdowns from Joe Burrow.
Matt Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote that he “is an accomplished run-blocker and physical player over the middle of the field,” as well as a “three-down talent.” Moss isn’t going to go in the first round like his father did back in 1998, but he has the chance to rise up some draft boards as he wasn’t known to too many before this season. As a previously unknown prospect with some intriguing tools, he has the potential to be a late riser in the process.