Bills Could Adjust QB Josh Allen’s Contract In Offseason
Bills QB Josh Allen will square off against Ravens QB Lamar Jackson in a highly-anticipated divisional round matchup today. This offseason, Allen may receive a bump that puts his pay more in line with his Baltimore counterpart and his other peers in the top tier of the league’s signal-callers.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network (video link), Buffalo could offer Allen a contractual adjustment in the coming months, which sounds as if it would take the form of a raise. The Bills restructured their franchise passer’s deal last March – a standard maneuver that converted salary to signing bonus for cap purposes – though Allen subsequently said he was not looking for an increase in pay.
That is despite the fact that the six-year, $258MM deal Allen signed in 2021 is looking more and more like a team-friendly accord. Not only is Allen under club control through 2028 – he is the only non-Patrick Mahomes passer to have signed for more than five years since the Chiefs icon’s pact was finalized – but his $43MM AAV currently ranks 14th in the league’s QB hierarchy, behind a number of less-accomplished players like Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love, among others. His $100MM in full guarantees is now outside the top-10.
On the other hand, Allen’s cap charge increases from just over $30MM in 2024 to over $43MM in 2025, and then it spikes to a perhaps untenable ~$64MM in 2026. Some sort of reworking could serve the dual purpose of smoothing out those cap hits while bringing Allen closer to the top of the market.
And he has certainly earned it. While it remains to be seen whether the Wyoming product will land the first MVP award of his career for his 2024 efforts, his consistently excellent play has transformed the Bills from one of the AFC’s doormats to a conference powerhouse.
Since Allen entered the league in 2018, he has piloted Buffalo to a 76-34 regular season record, and the team has reached at least the divisional round of the playoffs in each of the past five years. Like Jackson, his fellow 2018 draftee, the lone knock on Allen is the fact that his club has not yet secured a conference championship, a shortcoming that one of those players will be able to address next week.
In 2024, Allen compiled his lowest passing TDs (28) and passing yards (3,731) totals since 2020, but he led the league in QBR (77.5) and was eighth in traditional quarterback rating (101.4), largely because he was much more careful with the football. He threw just six interceptions – compared to 18 picks in 2023 – and fumbled just five times (the lowest mark of his career). He remained an invaluable asset in the running game, racking up 531 rushing yards (on a 5.2 yards-per-carry average) and 12 rushing scores. That production was in spite of the fact that Allen played through a fractured non-throwing hand for most of the season.
As Rapoport notes, Allen has a great relationship with the Bills, and a revised deal benefiting both parties makes plenty of sense.
Raiders To Interview Lance Newmark For GM Position
The Raiders will interview Commanders assistant general manager Lance Newmark for their GM post today, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. It was reported just a few days ago that Newmark had a “leg up” on the competition for the Las Vegas job even though the club had not yet formally requested an interview as of the date of that report.
The timing of the interview could be telling. Newmark spent 26 years as a Lions scout/executive before leaving for Washington last year, and as Schefter notes, he has a strong relationship with Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn (both of whom have already interviewed virtually with the Raiders). Since the Lions lost to the Commanders in last night’s divisional round bout, both Johnson and Glenn are free to have sit-down interviews with any team, a development that could set off a chain reaction of coaching hires around the league.
The Bears and Jaguars reportedly remain in the Johnson sweepstakes, though there have been increased rumblings connecting the coveted OC to the Raiders. Schefter’s ESPN colleague, Jeremy Fowler, reiterates that the prospect of a Newmark-Johnson tandem in Las Vegas has been gaining traction in league circles. That is particularly true since Johnson has made plain his desire for “alignment” with whatever GM he works with, a desire that may have made Tom Telesco a one-and-done GM with the Raiders.
Newmark has already met with the Jets about their vacant GM post – he interviewed for the same position back in 2019 before Gang Green hired Joe Douglas – and while he lost out on the Lions’ most recent GM search to Brad Holmes, he remained in Detroit as the team’s senior director of player personnel before being poached by the new Washington regime. The success that the Lions have had over the past several seasons and the success that the Commanders have enjoyed this year have obviously boosted Newmark’s credentials.
Courtesy of our GM search tracker, here is the current status of the Raiders’ pursuits:
- Chad Alexander, assistant general manager (Chargers): Interviewed; to conduct second interview 1/20
- Brandon Brown, assistant general manager (Giants): Interviewed; to conduct second interview 1/20
- Lance Newmark, assistant general manager (Commanders): Potential frontrunner?; interviewed 1/19
- John Spytek, assistant general manager (Buccaneers): To interview
- Jon-Eric Sullivan, director of player personnel (Packers): Interview requested
- Sheldon White, director of pro scouting (Steelers): Interview requested
Steelers QB Russell Wilson Reiterates Desire To Re-Sign With Team
JANUARY 13: Wilson repeated his desire to land a new Steelers contract on Monday, although he noted (via Pryor) no talks have taken place with the team yet. Needless to say, how interested Pittsburgh is in entertaining another year (or more) of Wilson in the fold will make for one of the team’s most significant offseason storylines.
JANUARY 12: Back in March, mere days after the Steelers signed quarterback Russell Wilson to a one-year contract covering the 2024 campaign, there were already reports indicating that player and team were planning to discuss a multiyear accord in the 2025 offseason. After Wilson took over the QB1 role from Justin Fields in Week 7, the on-field results engendered more such reports, with multiple outlets reiterating that Pittsburgh intended to re-sign Wilson and keep him as the starter.
Wilson, 36, was likewise interested in extending the relationship, and Baker Mayfield’s three-year, $100MM contract with the Buccaneers was seen as a logical comparable for Wilson’s camp to shoot for in negotiations. However, the Steelers’ season ended in a tailspin, as the club lost the final four games of the regular season to cede control of the AFC North to the Ravens, and then they lost their wildcard-round matchup with Baltimore last night to bring their year to a close.
After posting quarterback ratings of at least 101.1 in five of his first seven games under center for the Steelers – a stretch in which the team went 6-1 – Wilson failed to record a rating above 94.5 during the next four games. And while his surface-level statistics in the playoff loss look strong – he connected on 20 of 29 pass attempts for 270 yards and two TDs – Pittsburgh mustered less than 60 yards of offense in the first half and were trailing 21-0 at halftime.
To be fair, the Steelers’ schedule over what became a five-game losing streak to end the season – Philadelphia, Baltimore, Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Baltimore – was a challenging one. It is nonetheless reasonable to wonder if the team’s thoughts about Wilson’s future in Pittsburgh have changed over the last month.
For his part, Wilson remains steadfast in his desire to hammer out a new contract with the Steelers. In his postgame presser following the wildcard-round defeat, the veteran signal-caller confirmed that he intends to continue his playing career – “I’ve got so much more ball left in me,” he said – and made it plain that he hopes to stay put (X links via ESPN’s Brooke Pryror).
“It’s been one of the best years for me personally to be a Pittsburgh Steeler,” he said. “And obviously I hope I’m here and everything else.”
Wilson added, “it’s a special, special place. And I know God brought me here for a reason” (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk).
As Florio observes, head coach Mike Tomlin declined to address the future of his team’s quarterback position after the game, merely indicating that Wilson’s performance “wasn’t good enough” while lauding the QB’s efforts in rallying the offense after the dismal first half.
Fields, who led the team to a 4-2 mark before being demoted in favor of Wilson, is also an impending free agent, but he is nearly 11 years younger than his senior colleague, and he has earned plenty of fans in the building. Indeed, Tomlin previously indicated that the decision to insert Wilson into the starting lineup over Fields was entirely his own, and that he went against the grain in making the call.
For a time, it appeared to be the right move. Now, though, the organization will have a number of difficult decisions to make regarding the most important position in sports.
Patriots Hire Mike Vrabel As Head Coach
To no surprise, the Patriots have named Mike Vrabel as their next head coach. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com was the first to report that the hire was imminent.
Just yesterday, we learned that New England and Vrabel were engaged in contract discussions, a clear sign that a deal was forthcoming. Now, just over a year after he was dismissed as head coach of the Titans, Vrabel is back in the HC ranks at the helm of the team with which he won three Super Bowls as a player.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Vrabel is the seventh person to become the head coach of a team that he once helped win a Super Bowl as a player. The sixth person on that list, Jerod Mayo, was fired by New England last week after just one season in the top job.
Mayo was owner Robert Kraft‘s hand-picked successor to Bill Belichick, and for a long time, it appeared that Mayo would be given at least another year in charge. After all, he inherited a team that was clearly in the early stages of a rebuild, and despite a few public missteps, it would have been easy to justify allowing him to return for 2025.
Last week, however, it was reported that those public “gaffes” — in conjunction with a locker room culture that may not have been as strong as some players portrayed it to be and an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Chargers in Week 17 — were conspiring to drive Mayo out of Foxborough. He was canned later that same day, shortly after the Pats’ regular season finale.
Speculatively, Vrabel’s availability may well have clinched Kraft’s decision to hand Mayo his walking papers. During his time as the Titans’ head coach, Vrabel established himself as one of the league’s better bench bosses, and he is highly-regarded for his game management and his ability to develop a strong culture predicated on accountability. The Titans posted a winning record in each of Vrabel’s first four seasons in Nashville, which included three playoff appearances and a trip to the AFC title game. He earned Coach of the Year honors following the 2021 campaign, but things took a turn for the worse over the 2022-23 seasons.
A seven-game losing streak to close out the 2022 season left Tennessee with a 7-10 record after a division title seemed to be in the cards, and the team slipped to a 6-11 mark in 2023. During that 2023 campaign, Ran Carthon‘s first as Titans GM following Jon Robinson‘s surprising firing, there was reportedly tension between Vrabel and Carthon (a situation that may have been exacerbated by the fact that the Titans hired Carthon instead of Ryan Cowden, who was Vrabel’s preferred Robinson successor).
Vrabel may have also wanted more input in personnel matters in Tennessee, a situation that will bear monitoring in New England. The Pats have already announced that they will retain executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and top front office executive Alonzo Highsmith, though as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com wrote this morning, the roles of those two men are to be determined. Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports reports that Cowden, who is currently serving as a personnel advisor for the Giants, will likely be added to the Patriots’ personnel department in a non-GM capacity, though he believes Wolf will retain final authority.
Another situation worth monitoring will be whom Vrabel chooses as his offensive coordinator. Josh McDaniels, a familiar face for Patriots fans, has been named as an obvious choice, and the defensive-minded Vrabel will need to get that hire right in order to maximize the potential of young quarterback Drake Maye. Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 draft, showed flashes as a rookie and is one of the reasons why the New England HC job was generally seen as a desirable one, and his continued development will be a top priority.
Indeed, as Reiss points out, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson — one of the most respected offensive minds in the game — was New England’s second choice. If they had offered Johnson the job, and if Johnson had accepted, the Pats would have had an ideal coach-QB pairing, but unlike Vrabel, Johnson has never had to create his own team culture. Vrabel, on the other hand, does have that experience, and the Pats are banking on his ability to properly fill out his staff.
As our head coaching search tracker shows, Vrabel was connected to each of the six teams in need of a new HC this year, further underscoring the strength of his candidacy. Per Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the Bears and Jets made “consistent and late pushes” to land him, and Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic believes New York had a real shot at him until the Patriots’ job became available. Meanwhile, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports that, despite the Raiders‘ (and minority owner Tom Brady‘s) interest in Vrabel, Brady’s former teammate declined a Las Vegas interview because he knew he would be accepting the New England gig (video link).
Despite the Patriots’ 4-13 record in 2024, the presence of Maye, the hiring of Vrabel, and the prospect of the most salary cap space in the league will surely create plenty of excitement in New England in the coming months.
Bears Want To Interview Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman
Back in November, we heard that Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was generating HC buzz in NFL circles, and subsequent reporting indicated that Freeman could be a dark horse candidate for the Bears’ top job. Per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, Chicago indeed wants to interview Freeman (video link).
Part of Freeman’s appeal is that he has led the Fighting Irish to the CFP National Championship Game, which will be played on January 20. As Pelissero notes, it is unlikely that Freeman will want to take an NFL interview prior to that game, so Chicago – which reportedly pushed hard for Mike Vrabel before he accepted the Patriots’ head coaching gig today – could slow play the process if it truly wants a shot at Freeman.
Of course, it is eminently possible that Freeman does not want to leave South Bend at all. He recently agreed to a four-year extension with Notre Dame, a deal that will keep him in place for another six seasons. It is unclear what the buyout structure on his contract with the Fighting Irish looks like, but it sounds as if the Bears are at least entertaining the idea of buying him out.
Freeman, 39, has been Notre Dame’s HC since 2022, and he has led the team to an overall record of 33-8. The Bears actually selected him in the fifth round of the 2009 draft, though he never suited up for a regular season game at the NFL level.
Per Pelissero, Chicago has done extensive research on Freeman over the past several months as part of its wide-ranging search. Courtesy of our head coaching tracker, here is what that search looks like as of the time of this writing:
- Bill Belichick, head coach (North Carolina): Expressed interest
- Joe Brady, offensive coordinator (Bills): Interview requested
- Thomas Brown, interim head coach (Bears): Interview expected
- Matt Campbell, head coach (Iowa State): Interview expected
- Pete Carroll, former head coach (Seahawks): Interviewed 1/9
- Brian Flores, defensive coordinator (Vikings): Interview requested
- Marcus Freeman, head coach (Notre Dame): Team wants to interview
- Aaron Glenn, defensive coordinator (Lions): Interviewed 1/11
- Ben Johnson, offensive coordinator (Lions): Interviewed 1/11
- Mike Kafka, offensive coordinator (Giants): Interviewed 1/9
- Kliff Kingsbury, offensive coordinator (Commanders): Interview requested
- Mike McCarthy, head coach (Cowboys): Interview blocked
- Todd Monken, offensive coordinator (Ravens): Interview requested
- Drew Petzing, offensive coordinator (Cardinals): Interviewed 1/8
- Ron Rivera, former head coach (Commanders): To interview
- David Shaw, senior personnel executive (Broncos): Interview requested
Giants Likely To Retain DC Shane Bowen
Brian Daboll will remain in place as the Giants’ head coach in 2025, and both of his top lieutenants could stay with him. Despite rumors that offensive coordinator Mike Kafka could be dismissed if team ownership elected to retain Daboll, that has not happened yet. So unless Kafka lands a head coaching gig, it looks like he is on track to see out his thru-2025 contract with Big Blue.
Likewise, Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network reports that defensive coordinator Shane Bowen appears likely to stay on Daboll’s staff for the 2025 campaign (video link). Bowen’s job security was called into question by the harsh evaluation that owner John Mara recently gave of his club’s defense, and the fact that the Patriots just hired Mike Vrabel as their head coach immediately created some speculation that Bowen could join him in Foxborough.
Bowen, 38, worked with Vrabel on the Texans’ defensive staff over the 2016-17 seasons, and when Vrabel took the Titans’ head coaching job in 2018, Bowen followed him to Tennessee to become the club’s linebackers coach. Bowen was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2021, a role he held for three seasons.
His first year on the job was his best, as the Titans finished 12th in total defense and sixth in scoring defense in 2021 en route to an AFC South title and an appearance in the divisional round of the playoffs. Thanks in part to injury troubles, Bowen’s unit was unable to replicate that performance over the next two seasons, and after Vrabel was dismissed last January, Bowen took an interview with the Giants (who had just parted ways with former DC Wink Martindale in the wake of highly-publicized friction between Martindale and Daboll).
Bowen’s first Giants defense finished in the bottom-10 in terms of yardage and just outside the bottom-10 in terms of points allowed, so he did not necessarily make a compelling case to stick around (to say nothing of the fact that he was not the Giants’ top choice to serve as Martindale’s successor in the first place). However, like the rest of New York’s top staffers, it appears he will be given a mulligan and will return in 2025, though Garafolo does leave open the possibility that the Giants could allow Bowen to leave the club and reunite with Vrabel if he wants to.
Jayden Daniels’ Presence Could Dissuade Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury From Taking HC Job
Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is once again a prominent name in head coaching rumors, thanks in large part to the work he has done with Washington’s rookie phenom, Jayden Daniels. The presence of the young passer could compel Kingsbury to remain in the nation’s capital and to eschew possible HC opportunities.
When asked earlier this month if he was ready to field questions related to his head coaching candidacy, Kingsbury smiled and said, “it would take a lot to leave this kid” (via ESPN’s John Keim). Of course, the “kid” in question is Daniels, who was effusive in his praise for his OC.
“He’s meant a lot, obviously, for my development and my growth from the day I stepped foot here to this point now,” Daniels said. “Just to be able to see and get to learn the type of person Kliff is on and off the field, it’s only helped our relationship grow.”
Keim’s expansive piece is well-worth a read for Commanders fans in particular, and in it, Kingsbury offers a few candid remarks as to why his first head coaching job with the Cardinals went south. He also says that working under Washington HC Dan Quinn has driven home the lessons he learned from his struggles in the desert.
“I don’t think I set the foundation [in Arizona] the way I would do it after watching [Quinn] and how he set the foundation from day one,” Kingsbury said. “These are the standards, this is what we want, this is what we’re going to be. I definitely could have done a better job of that.”
Following his Arizona ouster, Kingsbury travelled for several months and realized that, despite the struggles he endured at the end of his Cardinals tenure, he wanted to return to football. He served as a senior offensive analyst at the college level for USC in 2023 before accepting the Commanders’ OC gig this past offseason.
As Keim observes, Kingsbury’s role allows him to focus on running an offense and building a relationship with players, which are the aspects of the coaching profession that he enjoys the most. And the success that he and the club have had in the first year of the Daniels era – Washington posted a 12-5 record and qualified for the postseason – have led some to wonder whether he would want to dive back into the head coaching ranks so soon.
Indeed, reports from earlier this month suggested that, while Kingsbury does want to be a head coach again at some point, he may not be in a rush to leave his current position. And subsequent reporting noted that HC-needy clubs were gauging just how much interest Kingsbury has in accepting a new top job in this year’s cycle.
The Bears and Saints nonetheless submitted interview requests for Kingsbury, who has reportedly received interest from at least two other clubs. Per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Kingsbury will move forward with the Chicago and New Orleans interviews this week (video link).
The Chicago post in particular has been rumored as a logical one for Kingsbury, as his one season at USC doubled as Caleb Williams’ final year at the school, and the two built a solid relationship during that time. Naturally, one of the Bears’ top priorities moving forward will be coaxing high-end production out of Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft.
Even if the Bears, Saints, or some other team were to extend an offer, it is far from certain that Kingsbury would accept it. Like Lions OC Ben Johnson, whose performance over his time in Detroit has allowed him to be highly selective as to if and when he accepts an HC offer, Kingsbury is in a comfortable situation that has allowed him to rebuild his stock in a short amount of time. With Daniels looking every bit like the franchise passer Washington has sought for so long, the 45-year-old coach seemingly feels no pressure to leave his young protégé.
Browns Fire OC Ken Dorsey, OL Coach Andy Dickerson; HC Kevin Stefanski, GM Andrew Berry To Be Retained
Hours after their dismal 3-14 campaign came to an end, the Browns have made major changes to their offensive staff. The team has fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and offensive line coach Andy Dickerson, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network was first to report.
Dorsey, 43, appeared in five games at quarterback for the Browns between the 2006 and 2008 seasons, and he began his coaching career as a quarterbacks coach for the Panthers in 2013, a role he held for five years. He took the same job with the Bills in 2019, and his work with Buffalo QB Josh Allen encouraged the club to promote him to offensive coordinator ahead of the 2022 campaign, following Brian Daboll‘s departure to become head coach of the Giants.
Dorsey’s first season in charge of the Bills’ offense went as well as could be expected, as the team finished second in the league in terms of both yards per game and points per game. In 2023, however, the unit appeared to stagnate, and Dorsey was given his walking papers at a time when Buffalo was 5-5 (even though the team was still in the top-10 in total and scoring offense).
Despite the midseason ouster, the former Miami (Fla.) standout generated OC interest last offseason. With a roster that otherwise appeared playoff-worthy, the Browns hired Dorsey to replace Alex Van Pelt in the hopes that the former could work the same magic with Deshaun Watson that he had with Allen in Buffalo and Cam Newton in Carolina. Of course, those hopes were unrealized, as Watson struggled before succumbing to a season-ending injury in October.
Immediately after Watson’s injury, head coach Kevin Stefanski — who had been calling offensive plays up to that point — handed the reins to Dorsey. When the switch happened, Cleveland was 1-6 and was 29th in the league in scoring and last in total offense (h/t Zac Jackson and Larry Holder of The Athletic (subscription required)). And while there was some improvement when Jameis Winston was inserted into the lineup, including upset wins over division rivals Baltimore and Pittsburgh, Winston himself was benched in the wake of a familiar spate of interception-laden contests, and the team played out the last three games of the season with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Bailey Zappe under center.
Clearly, Dorsey is not the primary reason for Cleveland’s failures this season, but Stefanski has proven that his offense — whose concepts did not mesh well with Dorsey’s — can work with anyone other than Watson at quarterback, and as Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network confirms, the head coach will remain in place in 2025 (the same is true of GM Andrew Berry). Watson, by virtue of his albatross contract that was recently restructured yet again, will also be back with the Browns, though the team is expected to pursue another starter-caliber passer in the coming months.
A compelling plan in that regard will likely be necessary to convince a coveted external candidate to come to Cleveland, as it would be surprising to see a coach with other options hitch their wagon to Watson at this point. Should the Browns choose to promote from within, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports names tight ends coach Tommy Rees as a name to watch. The team could have competition for Rees, as he has been mentioned as a possible OC hire for Mike Vrabel if Vrabel — who just wrapped his consulting gig with the Browns — should become a head coach in the upcoming cycle.
Dickerson, 42, also lasted just one season in Cleveland. He had big shoes to fill when former O-line coach Bill Callahan left to join son Brian Callahan‘s first staff in Tennessee, and the difficulty of his job was compounded by the numerous injuries that the Browns’ front five sustained this year. As Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Jounral notes, left guard Joel Bitonio was the only OL who did not miss time in 2024.
By season’s end, Vrabel was also working quite a bit with the O-line, at which point the writing was on the wall for Dickerson.
49ers Unwilling To Authorize Top-Of-Market Extension For QB Brock Purdy?
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will be eligible for an extension at season’s end, and a report from last month indicated that San Francisco wants to hammer out a new deal for its starting signal-caller this offseason. Earlier this week, Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports reported that the team could wait on a Purdy extension – perhaps with an eye towards franchise-tagging him in 2026 if need be – but Robinson confirms the Niners would prefer to strike a multiyear accord in the coming months.
[RELATED: Purdy’s Elbow Injury Not Long-Term Concern]
After all, the QB market continues to boom, even for players below the top tier of the position. Although Purdy has regressed from his excellent 2023 performance and has been more inconsistent in 2024 – while also turning the ball over 15 times – players like Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence arguably had not proven as much as Purdy when they entered their own negotiations, which culminated in $55MM/year contracts for the former first-rounders.
It therefore stands to reason that Purdy could command at least that much in his impending talks with the 49ers, and according to Robinson, the success of the contract discussions will depend on how ambitious Purdy’s camp plans to be. If 2022’s Mr. Irrelevant shoots for the top of the market – in other words, if he aims for Dak Prescott’s record-smashing $60MM AAV or Joe Burrow’s $146.51MM in full guarantees – then San Francisco could balk (even though Purdy has had more postseason success than Prescott, the Cowboys’ passer had unique leverage due to his prior contractual dealings with Dallas).
On the other hand, if Purdy is more “reasonable” in his demands and would be willing to accept a deal akin to Love’s (four years, $210MM, with $100MM in fully guaranteed money), the Niners may be willing to play ball. Since Purdy, as a seventh-round pick, has made less than $3MM over his first three years in the league, even a payout on Love’s level would doubtlessly be quite tempting.
That said, the Iowa State product continues to be a QBR darling, as he presently ranks seventh in the metric after leading the league in that regard, along with “traditional” quarterback rating, in 2023. He ranks 13th in quarterback rating among regular starters in 2024 (coincidentally, one spot behind Love). This is despite the fact that invaluable skill-position players Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey have played a combined 11 games, with future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams also missing significant time.
Plus, Purdy has compensated for his downturn in passing output with an improvement in his efforts as a runner, as he has carried the ball 66 times for 323 yards (4.9 yards per carry) and five scores. He is not a perfect player, and he may need more talent surrounding him than a truly elite passer might, but when it comes to quarterbacks, clubs are understandably reluctant to pass on a bird in the hand, no matter the cost. The Niners’ competitive window still appears to be wide open, and unlike the Cowboys during their first round of extension talks with Prescott, they may want to lock down their QB1 before the market continues to soar.
Vikings Not Planning Kevin O’Connell Trade
6:52pm: Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has been informed by a source inside the Vikings’ building plainly stating an O’Connell trade will not take place. That update may not dissuade interest from potential suitors, but it points further in the expected direction of a long-term Minnesota tenure being on tap for O’Connell.
12:33pm: The consensus seems to be that Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel are the top two candidates in this year’s HC cycle. But if he were available, Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell would be at the top of many wishlists, and Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that multiple teams are considering trying to trade for the Coach of the Year candidate (video link).
O’Connell’s contract with Minnesota expires at the end of the 2025 season. While a report last month indicated that the team is expected to discuss an extension with him, those talks had not commenced as of the time of the report, and Glazer says nothing has changed in that regard over the last 30 days. Because the 39-year-old is entering a theoretical lame duck campaign, rival clubs apparently feel it is at least worth making an overture to the Vikes to gauge trade interest.
Needless to say, it would be borderline shocking if Minnesota did not retain O’Connell. Over his first three seasons as the Vikes’ HC, O’Connell has posted a 34-16 record, including a 14-2 mark this season (and, if the team wins today’s regular season finale against the Lions, it will have captured the NFC’s No. 1 seed). He has also been lauded for the proficiency of his offensive system, which has coaxed quality performances out of Kirk Cousins and an out-of-the-blue Pro Bowl showing from Sam Darnold – who was signed merely as a bridge option last offseason – in 2024.
Indeed, Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com says ownership is thrilled with O’Connell’s performance, and while the third-year coach is due for a hefty raise, the only way he is not with the Vikings in 2025 is if he for some reason wants to leave (and there is no indication that’s the case). Likewise, despite the lack of urgency to get a deal done before now, Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star Tribune reports that ownership has every intention of talking contract with O’Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah whenever the team’s season draws to a close.
Perhaps, as Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com posits, Glazer’s report stemmed from O’Connell’s camp as a way to increase the coach’s leverage in impending negotiations. Regardless, barring a major turn of events, it seems that teams in need of a new HC will need to turn their attention elsewhere.