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Author: Ely Allen

Jets Fire Several Assistant Coaches; Tanner Engstrand’s Future Unclear

By | at January 24, 2026 9:00 pm

9:00pm: Engtrand’s future with the Jets remains unclear at this time, Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic confirms. He adds Glenn has reached out to “multiple offensive assistants” about calling plays. An external OC search could be forthcoming, but a number of internal decisions will need to be made first.

3:25pm: The first year of Aaron Glenn‘s tenure as head coach of the Jets has come and gone, and with it, several coaches from his first assembled staff in New York have reportedly hit the road.

Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports quarterbacks coach Charles London, passing game coordinator Scott Turner, defensive line coach Eric Washington, linebackers coach Aaron Curry, and defensive assistants Roosevelt Williams and Alonso Escalante have all been let go after their first year under Glenn in New York. Despite the dismissal of several key offensive assistant coaches, offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand notably remains in place, after Glenn dismissed defensive coordinator Steve Wilks midseason.

While it’s not uncommon for first-time head coaches to make adjustments to their staff after a first attempt, this is a pretty large amount of turnover for Glenn. After letting go of one coordinator in December, hanging on to Engstrand might have been a necessity, but per Wilson, after Engstrand’s unit finished 29th out of 32 teams in both total points and total yards, a change in structures, roles, and responsibilities was expected. That structure has yet to be strictly defined, but with the dismissal of London and Turner, it’s clear a change in the approach to the passing game is a top priority.

The Jets will obviously be looking to add a quarterback for 2026, and they’ll rely on Engstrand to build a strong support staff to either develop a young draft pick or implement a new veteran addition. New York has assembled a group of pass catchers that features Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, and tight end Mason Taylor, but with free agency and the draft still to determine much of how the rest of the offense will look moving forward, putting together the right staff around the pieces they know are in place becomes a crucial consideration.

The dismissal of multiple defensive staffers was mostly expected. The unit was handicapped by the front office a bit after trades that removed star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and star cornerback Sauce Gardner from the picture, and injury issues surely didn’t help. Still, the Jets defense allowed the second-most points of any defense in the NFL, allowed the most touchdowns through the air of any team in the NFL, and became the first defense in NFL history not to record a single interception (since interceptions became a stat).

Turning around this Jets team was already going to be a struggle for Glenn and Co., and that job got harder with the loss of some top talent over the course of Glenn’s first season. Now, New York is hitting a bit of reset in Year 2 of the 53-year-old head coach, who now needs to hire a defensive coordinator and fill three position coach openings. Once the staffing is complete, the Jets will turn their attention towards reinforcing their depleted roster with what Overthecap.com says is the fifth-most cap space in the league and two first-round picks.

15 comments New York Jets

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/24/26

By | at January 24, 2026 7:37 pm

Here are today’s minor moves, including standard gameday practice squad elevations for the Conference Championship teams not covered in larger posts:

Los Angeles Rams

Seattle Seahawks

Following a season-ending ACL tear to RB2 Zach Charbonnet, the Seahawks are calling up Akers and Jones to assist recently activated running back George Holani in backing up Kenneth Walker for the NFC Championship game.

0 comments Los Angeles Rams Seattle Seahawks Transactions

Broncos Activate C Luke Wattenberg From IR; RB J.K. Dobbins Ruled Out

By | at January 24, 2026 5:47 pm

After losing him for the final couple weeks of the regular season and missing him in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, the Broncos have activated starting center Luke Wattenberg off their injured reserve in time for tomorrow’s Conference Championship. In a corresponding move, the team placed quarterback Bo Nix on IR following his season-ending ankle injury.

After playing every snap of the season through 15 games for the Broncos, Wattenberg appeared on the injury report leading into Week 17 with a shoulder issue. Ultimately, it was determined that he would need to be placed on IR with the possibility that he may be able to make a return at about this point of the playoffs.

Denver turned to backup center Alex Forsyth, a third-year lineman taken out of the seventh round from Oregon, to take over in Wattenberg’s absence. Forsyth had previous subbed in as a starter for four games that Wattenberg missed in 2024, as well. In his role as the backup center, Forsyth ended up having some injury issues himself. In both his Week 18 and Divisional Round starts, third-string center Sam Mustipher was tasked with filling in for a couple snaps in place of Forsyth.

Now Wattenberg returns to close out the season for the Broncos, who are limping along at this point after the injury to Nix. The team is also without veteran running back J.K. Dobbins, who was officially ruled out yesterday and will remain on IR, per Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette. Additionally, second-leading wide receiver Troy Franklin seems to be trending in the wrong direction as he attempts to work through a hamstring injury.

As a result, the Broncos are utilizing their two standard gameday practice squad elevations to call up wide receivers Michael Bandy and Elijah Moore for Sunday’s game. Moore was called up last week, as well, but has still yet to make his Broncos debut. According to Tomasson, Moore was aware that he wouldn’t be playing last week and that the elevation was just a way of rewarding him with a full game check. Franklin’s hamstring issue opens the door, though, to some potential playing time for taxi squad pass catchers.

Though the offense isn’t at 100 percent, it’s the Broncos defense that’s gotten them this far. They’ll need that side of the ball to hold off the visiting Patriots enough to allow for backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, rookie running back RJ Harvey, and the rest of the offense to find success at this most crucial point of the season.

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Miami T Francis Mauigoa Declares For Draft

By | at January 24, 2026 4:59 pm

Considered one of the top lineman prospects for the 2026 NFL Draft and a consensus first-round talent, Miami (FL) offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa announced this week on his Instagram that he will forgo his senior year of college and declare for the draft. Following in the steps of last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Mauigoa projects as a potential top 10 pick after a strong finish to his college career under the brightest of lights.

Unlike Cam Ward, who started out as a zero-star prospect and arrived in Coral Gables by way of Incarnate Ward and Washington State via transfer portal, Mauigoa arrived at the U as a consensus five-star prospect. Born in American Samoa, Mauigoa first got the attention of the recruiting world as a stellar two-way lineman at Aquinas HS (CA). He went back home for his sophomore year at Tafuna HS in American Samoa before transferring to the prestigious IMG Academy (FL), a school near Tampa known for bringing in top high school players from around the country to develop for college.

Mauigoa’s offers came early and often, rising him quickly to five-star status as the top schools in the country fought for his signature. After taking official visits to Alabama, Florida, USC, Miami, and Tennessee, Mauigoa committed to first-year Miami head coach Mario Cristobal before his senior year and became the headliner of the Hurricanes’ signing class. By the end of the recruiting cycle, 247Sports composite ranking listed him as the ninth-best overall recruit and the top offensive tackle in the nation.

As an early enrollee, Mauigoa got a headstart on his ability to make an impact as a true freshman but surprised many when he was named the starting right tackle in his first year with the team. He showed a ton of promise in his first season with the Hurricanes with elite size — listed at 6-foot-6, 335 pounds as a true freshman — and impressive strength for his age, but he still had plenty of room for improvement in his technique.

He improved with each season he played in Coral Gables, getting named second-team All-ACC as a sophomore before leaving no doubt as a consensus All-American in Year 3. For much of his junior campaign, draft pundits assessed that his skillset was more aligned for a role on the interior of the offensive line, but as each piece of game film came through, those pundits became a bit more bullish on the idea of Mauigoa sticking at tackle in the NFL. The view of him as an NFL tackle started to solidify more and more on his team’s run through to College Football Playoff, which ended with a home loss to the Hoosiers in the Playoff’s final game. Still, though, against some of the NCAA’s top competition, including several of the draft’s top pass rushing prospects, Mauigoa continued to shine with everyone watching, allowing just one sack and two pressures in 16 games.

Of some of those major draft pundits, Dane Brugler of The Athletic’s midseason ranking of Mauigoa as the 16th-best overall prospect and second-best offensive tackle is currently his lowest major ranking. ESPN contributors Mel Kiper Jr. and Matt Miller both have Mauigoa as their top offensive tackle prospect, with Miller ranking him as the seventh-best overall prospect and Kiper slotting him in at No. 8.

After a stellar 2025 season, Mauigoa has likely cemented his first-round status. Plenty of teams will be open to adding a top offensive line prospect with a high floor and potential to start at tackle or guard. Though not likely, if the Jets were to take him No. 2 overall, it would reunite Mauigoa with his older brother, Francisco Mauigoa, a rookie linebacker taken by New York in the fifth round last year. With the elder Mauigoa’s first name encompassing all the letters of younger brother’s, the two go by “Kiko” and “Sisi” to avoid confusion.

2 comments 2026 NFL Draft

Raiders Interview Brian Daboll For HC

By | at January 24, 2026 1:46 pm

The number of open head coaching positions and top coaching candidates are both starting to dwindle as six of the 10 open positions this offseason have been filled. Having seen two of the three candidates they invited for second interviews land jobs elsewhere, the Raiders continue to expand their board. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, former Giants head coach Brian Daboll interviewed for the open job in Las Vegas today.

Since his midseason dismissal from New York, Daboll has remained a name to watch for head coaching jobs in this cycle. He was one of 18 coaches interviewed for the top job in Tennessee, and just recently interviewed for the Bills‘ open job. With his latest interest from the Raiders, Daboll only has two options available, but if Vegas thinks they’re ready to hire Daboll, they may want to move fast to make it happen, considering the 50-year-old made it known that Buffalo was his preferred destination. His four years as offensive coordinator with the Bills was what got him a head coaching opportunity in the first place, after all.

Daboll hasn’t just been getting head coaching interest coming out of his first tenure in a lead position. With some programs remembering the work he did as OC in Buffalo before he landed in New York, he’s garnered some offensive coordinator interest, as well. Daboll was set to interview for the open job with the Chargers before it became known that the team was expected to hire former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel to the role, and he did interview this past week for the OC role in Philadelphia. McDaniel’s continued availability for other positions may mean that job isn’t quite closed to Daboll, though.

Daboll was also mentioned as a candidate for the Titans’ OC job, but he has yet to interview for it. Similar to what he said with a head coaching opportunity in Buffalo, Daboll made it known that the OC opportunity in Nashville would be his preferred destination, if he’s unable to land a head coaching gig.

As for Vegas, former Chargers DC Jesse Minter landed with Baltimore as head coach after two rounds of interviews with the Raiders, and former Packers’ DC Jeff Hafley came off the board before he could make it out to his scheduled second interview in Vegas, landing the job in Miami. The only candidate who has completed two interviews with the Raiders who is still available is another defensive coordinator in Carolina’s Ejiro Evero. After other candidates either landed elsewhere or withdrew from consideration for the position, Las Vegas has nine candidates, other than Daboll, with whom they’ve conducted a preliminary interview.

Here’s how the Raiders’ coaching search is shaping up at this latest point of the process:

9 comments Las Vegas Raiders

New 18-Game Season Proposal Comes With International Guarantee

By | at January 23, 2026 10:55 pm

Despite having signed a 10-year collective bargaining agreement in 2020, the NFL and the league’s ownership group have been pushing relentlessly for what they’ve insisted is an “inevitable” addition of an 18th game to the NFL regular season schedule. The newest update on the owners’ 18-game proposal comes with an international twist, as well.

The NFL’s 2020 CBA expanded the regular season from 16 to 17 games, reducing the preseason from four to three games, and added the standard gameday practice squad elevation rules that allow for NFL teams to call up two taxi squad players each week to be active on a gameday roster. It also altered the postseason, bringing in a third wild-card team for each conference and eliminating the first-round bye for the No. 2 seed of each conference, creating two more games for the first round of the playoffs.

The news of a shorter preseason runup to the regular season and extra games in the regular season and playoffs brought mixed reactions from the players. While the extra games meant extra paychecks, the altered schedule brought questions of health considerations after the NFL Players Association had done so much to advocate for player safety in prior years. So, as the NFL immediately began to bang the table for the addition of an 18th game, the NFLPA and the players it represents made it clear that they were not fans of the idea.

This week, though, the newest updates came out of New England, when Patriots owner Robert Kraft appeared on 98.5 The Sports Hub and gave the crew the lowdown on the owners’ current plan. The plan, as it currently stands, is to expand the regular season from 17 to 18 games, shortening the preseason from three to two games, while also guaranteeing that each team will play an international game, expanding the international schedule to 16 games.

“I want to tell you guys that we’re going to push like the dickens now to make international (games) more important with us,” Kraft informed them. “Every team will go to 18 (regular season games) and two (preseason games) and eliminate one of the preseason games, and every team every year will play one game overseas.”

He went on to expound on what it would mean for the players, but the only topic he really touched on was money. Not offering any considerations for player health, Kraft spoke to the additional revenue that increased international presentations and additional regular season home games would bring to the league and how that would help the owners “to grow the cap and keep (their) labor happy.” As long as players and the NFLPA continue to push back on any notion of altering the existing CBA, though, the league and owners will be forced to wait until the CBA expires in 2031.

If the league and ownership is able to get a regular season expansion, though, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk claims that postseason change could, once again, follow. In each of the past two years, the final week of the regular season has featured a game in which two teams in the same division are playing for the No. 1 seed, with the losing team being forced to go on the road against a division winner with a significantly worse record. Per Florio, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and some teams have been pushing behind the scenes for teams to be seeded in the postseason regardless of division, eliminating home games for the league’s worst division-winners.

At the urging of the NFL, the Lions — one of the four teams to play in those Week 18 games — proposed the new rule, but the proposal never made it to a vote. Regardless, of the pushback from the players and NFLPA, the league and owners are going to continue working towards their 18-game goal, and Florio claims that some “in key circles” believe the postseason seeding change could tag along with the potential addition of an 18th game.

46 comments NFL Players Association

Ian Cunningham Favorite For Falcons’ GM Position?

By | at January 23, 2026 9:55 pm

The Falcons announced the completion of general manager interviews for four candidates today as the team seeks a total reload of team leadership this offseason. They hired former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski to fill the same position in Atlanta last weekend, and now, according to Josh Kendall of The Athletic, Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham is considered the frontrunner to be named general manager.

Cunningham was one of the four to interview for the GM job today, but it wasn’t his first interview with the Falcons. Earlier in their offseason, there were reports that Atlanta was expected to hire former MVP quarterback Matt Ryan to a front office job. Presumably reasoning that the position they intended to hire him into would require Rooney Rule compliance, they quickly scheduled interviews with four other candidates, of which Cunningham was one.

Kendall asserted today that, ever since Cunningham interviewed for the president of football job that went to Ryan, he’s been considered the favorite to land the general manager job. Cunningham wasn’t the only president of football candidate to be brought back for GM interviews, though. San Francisco’s director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams has also been a candidate for both positions. Williams also interviewed today, and his experience working with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan — Ryan’s old offensive coordinator in Atlanta — should provide him some confidence in his ability to work with Ryan.

The other two GM candidates to interview today were Chiefs assistant general manager Mike Bradway and Eagles senior personnel director/advisor to the general manager Joe Douglas. Bradway has been tied to the Chiefs for five years and the Eagles for the 10 years before that. The son of former Jets general manager Terry Bradway, he just recently started to garner interest that could lead to him following in his father’s footsteps to become an NFL general manager. Douglas is a year removed from serving as the Jets general manager himself. Of the six candidates who have interviewed, he’s the only one with actual GM experience, serving six years in the role in New York.

The other two candidates, Steelers assistant general manager Andy Weidl and Texans assistant general manager James Liipfert, interviewed for the job yesterday. With all six named candidates having interviewed, it seems the Falcons may be well on their way to announcing their decision. If Kendall’s views of the race are accurate, Cunningham, who’s long been viewed as an up-and-coming name around front offices in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chicago, could finally land a role as a general manager.

Assuming the team is through interviewing new candidates, here’s one more look at the list of potential GMs:

9 comments Atlanta Falcons

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 1/23/26

By | at January 23, 2026 8:49 pm

Here is today’s only practice squad transaction:

New England Patriots

A former part-time starter as a second-round pick with the Seahawks, Taylor racked up 21.5 sacks in his first three seasons. He’s struggled to maintain that success ever since in stops at Chicago, Houston, and now New England, where he failed to appear in a game.

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Minor NFL Transactions: 1/23/26

By | at January 23, 2026 8:36 pm

Here are today’s only minor moves heading into Championship weekend:

Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks are bringing in some reinforcements at the right time. Following the loss of Charbonnet to a torn ACL, Holani returns after months away dealing with a hamstring injury. They’ll also see the return of their third-round rookie Arroyo, who was running as TE2 before getting placed on injured reserve after a Week 14 injury.

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