Jimmy Garoppolo Draws Two-Game Suspension; Raiders Expected To Cut QB
Expected to be released by the Raiders, Jimmy Garoppolo will not be able to suit up for his next team until Week 3 of the 2024 season. The veteran quarterback received a two-game suspension Friday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Garoppolo will be banned under the league’s PED policy, per Schefter, who indicates this penalty is believed to stem from the veteran quarterback using a prescription medication without a therapeutic use exemption. Garoppolo will not appeal the ban.
During what turned out to be Josh McDaniels‘ final offseason running the show, the Raiders gave Garoppolo a three-year, $72.75MM contract hours into the legal tampering period. This came after a foot fracture ended Garoppolo’s 49ers career. More injury trouble emerged for the ex-Patriots draftee in Las Vegas, but the Raiders benched their starter immediately after firing McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler. Garoppolo spent the second half of the season backing up Aidan O’Connell. That setup always pointed to a release; Friday’s suspension will ensure Garoppolo will be a Vegas one-and-done.
The suspension stands to help the Raiders, who will be eyeing other QB options this offseason. Garoppolo is due an $11.25MM guarantee, which covers his 2024 base salary. This ban will reduce the dead money that would come the Raiders’ way in the event of release. Cutting Garoppolo will now only cost the Raiders $17.1MM, as opposed to $28.4MM, according to OverTheCap. That will help the Antonio Pierce-Tom Telesco regime as it determines its 2024 QB path. The suspension will void the guarantee, per CBS Sports’ Joel Corry, who notes Garoppolo’s contract includes language indicating a PED ban would trigger a void.
This continues a downward trend for Garoppolo, who was at the controls for the start of what turned out to be a seminal 49ers win streak during the 2022 season. A December 2022 Jones fracture ended Garoppolo’s season, introducing Brock Purdy to the NFL world. The 49ers did not make an attempt to re-sign Garoppolo, despite the team reaching a resolution to retain him as Trey Lance insurance just before the ’22 season. Garoppolo still commanded a decent market in 2023, fetching $33.75MM guaranteed from the Raiders. Part of that guarantee will not come his way.
Garoppolo, 32, started six games for the Raiders last season. Given a less QB-friendly setup in Las Vegas compared to the one he enjoyed under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, Garoppolo struggled. He finished his six-game run with nine INTs compared to seven TD passes. The Raiders, who had included an injury waiver in Garoppolo’s deal in case he did not heal properly from offseason foot surgery, parked the 10th-year passer on the bench after a dismal Monday-night showing in Detroit — one that preceded the firings of McDaniels, Ziegler and OC Mick Lombardi. With Pierce and Bo Hardegree in charge, Garoppolo was no longer part of the plan.
Although Garoppolo was coming off a benching that was set to cut into his 2024 market, a few teams are in need of at least a bridge option at QB this offseason. This suspension will further reduce Garoppolo’s negotiating leverage. While Garoppolo joins Russell Wilson as experienced starters expected to be cut by an AFC West team, the former’s injury history and newly discovered unavailability will hurt the former Super Bowl starter as a street free agent. A team wanting a bridge QB would ideally need that passer to be available to start the season, potentially as a rookie develops.
The 2023 Raiders agreement showed other teams pursued Garoppolo, who has made 63 career starts. Of course, he has also missed 32 starts due to injury over the course of his career. This suspension stands to help the markets of some stopgap-type passers on this year’s market. Beyond top UFA QBs Baker Mayfield and Kirk Cousins, a glut of midlevel vets — from Ryan Tannehill to Jacoby Brissett to Gardner Minshew to Sam Darnold — loom as options for teams unable to land the top two signal-callers. Justin Fields also likely will be an option via trade. Considering the Raiders’ Luke Getsy hire, they should at least be viewed as a possible destination for the three-year Bears starter.
Pierce’s past with Heisman winner Jayden Daniels has already come up this offseason, with the former Arizona State recruit’s name being mentioned during the Raiders’ OC search. It would likely take a big haul for the Raiders to move up from No. 13 into Daniels territory, however. O’Connell still resides as a possible Week 1 starter for Las Vegas, but once Garoppolo is cut, the now-Telesco-led team may also seek a veteran — should it determine a trade-up for a prized rookie too pricey — to compete with the 2023 fourth-round pick for the 2024 gig.
Buccaneers Likely To Use Franchise Tag On S Antoine Winfield Jr.
Baker Mayfield‘s resurgence gives the Buccaneers a host of tasks to complete this offseason, as a handful of cornerstone players are less than a month from hitting the open market. One of them is unlikely to have that option, regardless of how extension talks play out.
The Bucs are likely to use their franchise tag on Antoine Winfield Jr., according to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones. The tag window opens Feb. 20 and closes March 5, giving teams the customary two-week period to work out a deal before the tender price goes on their cap sheet. With the safety number on the lower end, Winfield makes more sense as the Bucs’ tag recipient than Mayfield or Mike Evans.
[RELATED: Bucs Eyeing Mayfield Deal Before Free Agency]
Suggested here as the likely Bucs franchise player months ago, Winfield closed out his season with a value-cementing stretch. The second-generation NFL DB scored a first-team All-Pro nod, despite being left off the Pro Bowl roster, and will be in line for top-market money at the position. Derwin James‘ $19MM-per-year pact still holds the No. 1 AAV spot at safety, and Jones notes the Bucs will need to give Winfield a deal on that level to lock him down. Unless the sides can reach a monster extension by 3pm CT on March 5, the tag is likely coming out for the former second-round pick.
The safety tag is on track to check in around $17.2MM this year. That is a more reasonable scenario than tagging Mayfield at nearly $36MM. A Bucs-Mayfield resolution, one both sides want to reach, will need to be agreed to by 11am March 11; the legal tampering period’s launch will allow the Bucs QB to negotiate with other teams. Although Mayfield may not be worth that tag, the Bucs would run the risk of losing him if they cannot agree to terms by that March 11 point.
Winfield broke through with a dominant contract year. The Minnesota alum finished with six sacks and an NFL-leading six forced fumbles, including a goal-line strip of DJ Chark that allowed the Bucs to hold off the Panthers in Week 18 — a win vital to the team’s eventual journey to the divisional round. The 25-year-old defender also established new career-high marks in tackles (122) and interceptions (three) last season. There is not much more he could have done to make a case to become the NFL’s new highest-paid safety.
Last year’s free agency divided the top safeties into two tiers: Jessie Bates and the field. The Falcons gave Bates a four-year, $64MM deal. That could serve as Winfield’s floor in Bucs talks. The top of the safety market has not moved since James’ summer 2022 deal, one that came in just north of Minkah Fitzpatrick‘s 2022 Steelers re-up ($18.2MM per year). The Seahawks erred by giving Jamal Adams a monster extension in 2021 — a $17MM-per-year deal that moved the market considerably — but the Chargers, Steelers and Broncos (Justin Simmons) have benefited from authorizing high-end safety accords. Bates also made an impact in his first Atlanta season.
A starter since Day 1 with the Bucs, Winfield played a key role in Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl LV romp over Kansas City — a win that has aged particularly well in light of the Chiefs’ recent success. He joins Tristan Wirfs in that regard. Tampa Bay’s other impact 2020 draftee is signed through 2024, via the fifth-year option, but looks to be in range to reset the tackle market. Unless the Bucs want to move into a tag situation with Wirfs in 2025, their best bet will be to hammer out a big-ticket extension this offseason. Two market-setting extensions and a major Mayfield raise suddenly changes the equation for the Bucs.
The Bucs have done well to keep their homegrown DBs in recent years. They re-signed cornerbacks Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean in 2022 and 2023, respectively, letting each test the market briefly. While eager to keep Winfield paired with the veteran corners, the Bucs do not look ready to let the dynamic safety talk with other teams come March. Thanks to using void years to restructure Winfield’s rookie contract last summer, a small dead-money bill ($1.6MM) will arrive Monday, Jones adds.
Mayfield and Winfield join Evans and Lavonte David as free agents the Bucs are interested in re-signing. The team holds just more than $36MM, but Jason Licht has been one of the more active GMs on the restructure front in recent years. This was due largely to the team’s effort to load up around Tom Brady and then create necessary cap space after the retired QB’s void years-driven bill came due in 2023. Brady’s contract is now fully off the Bucs’ books, opening the door for the team to pursue new deals with its in-house UFAs-to-be.
L’Jarius Sneed Wants To Stay With Chiefs
Chris Jones emphatically stated he is not eager to leave Kansas City. Though, the Chiefs may need to wade into uncharted waters if they want to keep their star defensive tackle off the market. Thanks to Jones being tagged in 2020, the price of a second tag would come in north of $32MM. In the franchise tag’s 31-year history, only the Ravens (Lamar Jackson, $32.4MM) have tagged a player in that neighborhood.
The tag would be a more logical option for the defending champions when it comes to L’Jarius Sneed. The cornerback tender price is expected to come in just above $18MM. But the Chiefs have been rigid at corner for most of Andy Reid‘s tenure. Sneed said during an appearance on Up & Adams he wants the Chiefs to be the team that pays him, but when pressed by host Kay Adams, the four-year veteran doubted the team had the resources to re-sign both he and Jones (video link).
[RELATED: Chiefs Engaged In Early Sneed Extension Talks]
Sneed delivered a borderline-dominant contract year for the Chiefs, regularly covering No. 1 wide receivers and allowing just a 56.2 passer rating as the closest defender. This did not garner the former fourth-round pick an All-Pro nod or a Pro Bowl honor, to the surprise of many, but he has now started for two Super Bowl-winning teams and been a regular defender in three Super Bowls.
Sneed, 27, has also shown the ability to play in the slot. Although the slot corner market remains in a strange place, Sneed has proven himself on the perimeter and will be one of the top UFAs this year — if the Chiefs let him hit the market. Kansas City holds barely $15MM in cap space, before restructures and other maneuvers inflate that total. With cornerback being one of the game’s most valuable positions, the Louisiana Tech find is close to scoring a payday that tops what his former CB teammates received in free agency.
The Chiefs have methodically kept costs low at corner since Sean Smith‘s contract came off the books nearly 10 years ago. Kansas City traded Marcus Peters in 2018. Since then, starters Steven Nelson, Kendall Fuller and Charvarius Ward have scored their paydays with other teams. Ward, who earned an All-Pro honor in his second 49ers season, signed a three-year deal worth $40.5MM. Spotrac expects Sneed to better that, projecting his second-contract AAV to come in beyond $16MM. That is top-10 cornerback money. The Chiefs going from a rookie-deal-only protocol at corner to authorizing such a pact will be asking a lot, given the success they have had with this formula.
Jones has been far more critical for Kansas City’s Steve Spagnuolo-orchestrated defensive resurgence compared to Sneed, but a reality exists in which the back-to-back champions lose both defenders. Seventh-year GM Brett Veach will aim to avoid this, but the Chiefs have younger corners who can be kept on rookie deals through at least 2025. All-Pro Trent McDuffie would anchor a post-Sneed group, and and part-time contributors Joshua Williams and Jaylen Watson— respectively obtained in the 2022 fourth and seventh rounds — have supplied competent work thus far. Pro Football Focus ranked all four of Kansas City’s regular corners in the top 45 this season.
While the prospect of a Sneed tag has been floated, the Bears being set to cuff Jaylon Johnson would only benefit the impact Chiefs defender. If/when Johnson is tagged, Sneed will likely be the top CB available. The Chiefs have until March 5 to decide on unholstering their tag.
NFC Coaching Notes: Eagles, Clay, Pettine, Vikings, Panthers, Giants, Lions, Rams
The Eagles‘ changes at offensive and defensive coordinator show how quickly job security can evaporate in the NFL, and Nick Sirianni‘s seat has heated up as a result. But the Eagles are not changing out all their coordinators. They will extend special teams boss Michael Clay, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. This marks the second straight year in which the Eagles have extended Clay, who is going into his fourth season as their ST coordinator. Just 32, Clay has been a special teams coach in the NFL since 2015, serving as the 49ers’ assistant ST coach for five years. Clay debuted with the Eagles, however, joining Chip Kelly‘s staff in 2014. The Eagles vaulted from 31st to 10th on Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings in 2023.
Philly is adding former Titans inside linebackers coach Bobby King to their staff, ESPN.com’s Tim McManus tweets. While Brian Callahan kept a handful of Mike Vrabel assistants, he did not retain King. Under King’s guidance last season, Titans free agency pickup Azeez Al-Shaair tallied 163 tackles — the most by anyone during the franchise’s 25-season Titans period.
Here is the latest from the coaching ranks:
- Fired as the Jaguars’ defensive pass-game coordinator last month, Deshea Townsend has another gig lined up. The Lions are hiring the former NFL cornerback in the same capacity, Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz tweets. Townsend, who won two Super Bowls during his 12-year Steelers run as a player, has been in coaching since his 2011 retirement. Prior to his two-year Jacksonville stay, Townsend coached DBs with the Bears, Giants and Titans and Cardinals. The Lions recently lost DBs coach Brian Duker to the Dolphins.
- After working as a Vikings senior defensive assistant over the past two years, Mike Pettine will have a more defined role this year in Minnesota. The Vikings announced the veteran DC and ex-Browns HC will be their outside linebackers coach in 2024. Still carrying an assistant HC title, Pettine worked with the Vikes’ OLBs under Brian Flores last season. This will be the 57-year-old coach’s 22nd season in the NFL.
- The Vikings also hired Marcus Dixon to be their defensive line coach. Brought over from the Broncos, Dixon was a Nathaniel Hackett hire in Denver. Ejiro Evero took Dixon with him from the Rams in 2022; he served as the Broncos’ D-line coach for two years. The Broncos are losing their only two pre-Sean Payton defensive assistants this offseason, seeing DBs coach Christian Parker rejoin Vic Fangio in Philadelphia. Evero tried to take both Parker and Dixon with him to the Panthers last year, per 9News’ Mike Klis, but the Broncos blocked the effort and kept them around to work under Vance Joseph.
- The Giants are doling out some new titles. QBs coach Shea Tierney and DBs coach Jerome Henderson will respectively serve as the team’s offensive and defensive pass-game coordinators. Henderson has been with the Giants since 2020, while Tierney came over from the Bills with Brian Daboll. The Giants also moved former safety Mike Adams from assistant secondary coach to assistant DBs coach.
- Additionally, Big Blue hired Charlie Bullen to replace Drew Wilkins as outside linebackers coach. Daboll fired Wilkins, a longtime Don Martindale right-hand man, and that choice keyed an explosive conclusion to the Daboll-Martindale relationship. Wilkins is now with the Patriots. Bullen spent last season as Illinois’ OLBs coach; he spent the previous four years coaching linebackers with the Cardinals. The veteran assistant previously worked with Dolphins LBs under Joe Philbin and Adam Gase.
- The Rams recently interviewed former Packers pass-game coordinator Greg Williams for their inside linebackers coach gig, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones notes. This is not the ex-St. Louis Rams DC better known for Bountygate; the two-G Greg Williams spent time with the Broncos and Cardinals prior to spending last season in Green Bay.
Chiefs Extend ST Coordinator Dave Toub
The Chiefs employ three coordinators who were once on the head coaching radar only to have settled in as veteran assistants. After extending Steve Spagnuolo earlier this week, the two-time reigning champions have locked down their special teams coordinator.
Dave Toub has signed a new deal with the Chiefs, the team announced. This will allow the longtime Andy Reid assistant to coach a 12th season with the team. Reid brought Toub to Missouri upon taking the job in 2013. His new deal will cover three years, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets.
Special teams coaches rarely find their way into HC consideration, John Harbaugh‘s 15-plus-year Ravens stay notwithstanding, but Toub was on that radar several years ago. The Broncos and Chargers met with him in 2017, and after the Colts’ Josh McDaniels choice fizzled a year later, Toub emerged on Indianapolis’ radar. None of those connections produced a hire, keeping one of the league’s top ST coaches in Kansas City.
The Chiefs checked in at 14th on Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings in 2023. After being ranked last in that cumulative score in 2022, Kansas City came through with two special teams plays to make its Super Bowl LVII win possible. Skyy Moore‘s punt return late in the fourth quarter against the Bengals helped a gimpy Patrick Mahomes — with a notable assist from Joseph Ossai‘s ensuing late hit — do enough to move the Chiefs into field goal range in the 2022 AFC championship game. Kadarius Toney then set a Super Bowl record with a 65-yard punt return, setting up a walk-in Moore score in the fourth quarter against the Eagles.
Toub, 61, initially coached with Reid on the Eagles from 2001-03. He spent the following nine season as the Bears’ STC. The Chiefs now have Spagnuolo going into his sixth season as DC and Matt Nagy — who joined Spagnuolo in not being tied to any HC jobs this year — set for his fourth year (over two stints) as OC. With the Chiefs set to eye the first threepeat in the Super Bowl era, Reid and his top lieutenants will all be back for that push.
Saints To Hire Rick Dennison
New Saints OC Klint Kubiak is bringing a familiar staffer with him to New Orleans. Rick Dennison will return to coaching, re-emerging after two seasons out of the league.
The Saints are hiring Dennison as their run-game coordinator on offense, Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz tweets. Dennison has an extensive past with Gary Kubiak and Mike Shanahan, who played the lead roles in shaping the offense that has caught on thanks to the rises of Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.
Dennison, 65, will head to New Orleans as a four-time offensive coordinator. While Dennison’s OC days are probably over, his commitment to join Klint Kubiak with the NFC South team provides a fairly strong indication into the type of offense the new OC plans to implement. Dennison worked with both Kubiaks in Minnesota, being the Vikings’ O-line coach and run-game coordinator from 2019-20. He was on as a senior offensive assistant in 2021.
Mike Shanahan employed Dennison as an assistant throughout his 14-year stay as Broncos HC. The former Broncos linebacker was not in place as offensive line coach when a dominant Denver O-line helped Terrell Davis to the Hall of Fame, though he was in that role as the back half of the team’s assembly line of 1,000-yard rushers formed under Shanahan. The Broncos promoted Dennison to OC in 2006, and he rejoined Gary Kubiak in Houston in 2010. Dennison’s stay as Texans OC overlapped with Arian Foster‘s ascent, which included a rushing title, with the Texans.
Dennison carries three Super Bowl rings from his Broncos days, picking up No. 3 as Gary Kubiak’s non-play-calling OC in 2015. The Bills employed Dennison as a play-calling OC in Sean McDermott‘s first season (2017) but fired him after one season, leading to the Brian Daboll hire. The Bills ranked 22nd offensively under Dennison but sixth on the ground, as LeSean McCoy motored to another Pro Bowl in Buffalo. Dennison came under fire in 2021, refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Vikings were believed to have kept Dennison on staff but moved him out of his role as O-line coach as a result, as coaches needed to be vaccinated to work directly with players that year.
The Saints are also hiring former Chargers assistant Derrick Foster as their running backs coach, 247Sports.com’s Matt Zenitz tweets. They recently interviewed Keith Williams for their wide receivers coach position as well, NewOrleans.football’s Nick Underhill adds. Williams worked as the Ravens’ assistant wideouts coach last season, being hired during Greg Roman‘s OC tenure but moved to that job under Todd Monken. Williams was also on Pat Hill’s Fresno State staff from 2009-11, a period that overlapped with Derek Carr‘s years with the program.
Panthers Hire Nate Carroll, Pat McPherson, Daren Bates
Nate Carroll and Pat McPherson enjoyed rare stability as assistant coaches, remaining with the same team for 14 years. The Seahawks kicking Pete Carroll to an unspecified advisory role changed both staffers’ paths, but each will have another chance with one of the longtime HC’s former staffers.
Dave Canales will reunite with both McPherson and Nate Carroll. The Panthers hired McPherson as their tight ends coach, while Nate Carroll is coming aboard as Carolina’s pass-game coordinator. Nate is Pete’s son; this will be the younger Carroll’s first coaching gig outside of Seattle. While Pete Carroll’s background is on the defensive side, his son has come up through the offensive ranks.
Canales and Nate Carroll worked together for 12 years. That is quite the extended stretch for assistants, given the turnover the NFL’s coaching carousel brings. Pete Carroll’s longevity allowed for that, and his son will benefit and become a key part of the Panthers’ second go-round developing Bryce Young.
Nate, 36, moved up the ladder in Seattle, shifting from an offensive assistant to working as assistant wide receivers coach under Canales, who served as the Seahawks’ wideouts coach from 2010-17. Nate Carroll slid to a senior offensive assistant post over the past two seasons but will have a chance at his most significant role to date in Charlotte. The Panthers are still pot-committed with Young, and their complex developmental effort — which featured the blending of Frank Reich and then-OC Thomas Brown‘s concepts, with QBs coach Josh McCown a key voice — sputtering in 2023.
Whereas Nate Carroll bounced around on his father’s staff, Pete kept McPherson in one job throughout his Seattle stay. McPherson, 54, coached the Hawks’ tight ends from 2010-23. This represents remarkable consistency in the modern NFL. McPherson, though, does have a pre-Carroll past. He coached the Broncos’ quarterbacks from 2003-06, with that span covering Jake Plummer‘s four-year Denver career. Mike Shanahan shifted McPherson to tight ends in 2007, setting him up for a long run in Seattle coaching the likes of Jimmy Graham, Will Dissly and Noah Fant.
The Panthers are also hiring former linebacker Daren Bates as their assistant special teams coach and adding Keli’i Kekuewa as their assistant O-line coach. Bates operated as a backup for the Rams, Raiders, Titans and Falcons from 2013-21, focusing on special teams. He broke into coaching last season with the Seahawks. Continuing the Seattle-to-Charlotte theme, Kekuewa served as the Seahawks’ assistant O-line coach during each of Shane Waldron‘s three seasons as OC. There for two of those seasons, Canales will bring another ex-Seattle staffer with him on a staff that will feature considerable familiarity.
Canales’ staff certainly will not be light on restaurant recommendations for Seattle or Tampa trips. The new Panthers HC already identified a few Buccaneers assistants, including OC Brad Idzik, for his first staff.
Cowboys To Add Paul Guenther, Jeff Zgonina, Greg Ellis To Staff
Mike Zimmer is bringing in some familiar faces to work on his first Cowboys defensive staff. Former Zimmer assistants and at least one of his former players in Dallas will be part of the group.
Part of Zimmer staffs in Cincinnati and Minnesota, former DC Paul Guenther will have another chance in the league. The Cowboys are hiring Guenther to be their run-game coordinator on defense, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill. Dallas will also bring in veteran assistant Jeff Zgonina to coach its defensive line, the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala tweets; Zgonina will replace Aden Durde, who agreed to leave for the Seattle DC job last week.
Former Cowboys pass rusher Greg Ellis will also make a major leap in the coaching ranks. Serving as the head coach of a Texas-based NAIA school last season, Ellis will join Guenther and Zgonina in his old stomping grounds. Zimmer is bringing the former Cowboys sack artist aboard as his assistant D-line coach, Hill adds.
Guenther, 52, coached alongside Zimmer with the Bengals and eventually succeeded him as Cincinnati’s DC under Marvin Lewis. Finishing his Cincy run with Zimmer as the team’s linebackers coach, Guenther linked up with his former boss in Minnesota in 2021; the Vikings brought him in as a senior defensive assistant during what turned out to be Zimmer’s final year running the show in the Twin Cities. Guenther, who served as the Raiders’ DC from 2018-20, has not been in the NFL since that Vikings one-off.
After a 17-year career as a D-lineman, Zgonina has been a regular assistant around the NFL. While Dan Quinn has poached multiple Cowboys assistants — including Joe Whitt as DC — Dallas will hire Zgonina after a Washington stay. Zgonina, 53, has worked with the Texans, Giants, 49ers and Commanders over the past 11 years. He served as D-line coach in San Francisco and Washington, holding that job on Ron Rivera‘s staff over the past two years. The Commanders effectively cut Zgonina’s legs out from under him at the trade deadline, moving Montez Sweat and Chase Young off the roster. Both contract-year players were off to strong starts before being dealt.
Ellis, 48, will make the most interesting move. He served as head coach at Southwestern Assemblies of God University from 2022-23, going 11-10 in that time. Ellis resigned his post in November; he previously served as head coach at another NAIA school (Texas College). Ellis has also devoted time to the theater since retiring from the NFL, directing multiple plays and founding a multimedia company. This will represent a key step for the former Cowboys defensive end, who spent most of his time in Dallas playing under Zimmer.
The Cowboys drafted Ellis eighth overall in 1998, and he became a regular starter for the next decade. The team gave Ellis a six-year extension in 2003; the North Carolina alum registered 77 sacks as a Cowboy from 1998-2008, making the Pro Bowl and earning Comeback Player of the Year acclaim in 2007. Ellis tallied a career-high 12.5 sacks that season.
Additionally, the Cowboys reached an agreement to retain wide receivers coach Robert Prince, Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets. Prince has been with the Cowboys for the past two seasons, overseeing the development of CeeDee Lamb in the wake of the Amari Cooper trade.
Cowboys Targeted Former Head Coach For DC Role; Mike Zimmer Received Other Offers
In place on the Cowboys’ coaching staff for 13 years, Mike Zimmer was a valued assistant in Dallas over a few HC regimes. The former Vikings leader will join a staff that resides on unstable ground, but familiarity drew the veteran back to Texas.
Zimmer is joining a coaching staff that centers around one of his longtime NFC North rivals. He and Mike McCarthy coached against each other for five seasons while tied to the Vikings and Packers. McCarthy will call on Zimmer to help save his job. Although the Cowboys were believed to want to promote Joe Whitt and interviewed D-line coach Aden Durde, it appears their qualifications did not meet McCarthy’s target. Expected to go into the 2024 season a lame duck, McCarthy said he prioritized a defensive coordinator with HC experience.
[RELATED: Giants Block Cowboys From Andre Patterson Interview]
“I think the importance of the leadership role on defense, outside of scheme, calling games and coaching players, there is so much more that goes on as far as an assistant coaches,” McCarthy said, via ESPN.com’s Todd Archer. “I think it’s important. Mike’s had experience and success he’s had at every level is what makes this a great fit.”
The Cowboys’ interview list matches up with this preference. The team met with Ron Rivera and Rex Ryan, with the latter drawing some 11th-hour buzz during the process. Zimmer’s deal took a few days to finalize, but he had emerged as the frontrunner. The eight-year Minnesota coach becomes the second former HC McCarthy has hired to run his defense in Dallas, following Dan Quinn. McCarthy went in this direction with two of his DC hires in Green Bay as well, bringing in Dom Capers (2009) and Mike Pettine (2018).
Zimmer, 67, was only connected to the Cowboys this offseason and only mentioned as interviewing with the Broncos in 2023. The longtime NFL staffer, however, said (via Archer) he had options to return to the league since the Vikings fired him in January 2022. Zimmer chose the Cowboys due to trust. Considering how long his first Dallas tenure lasted, it is unsurprising he holds the organization in high regard.
Debuting as an NFL assistant on Barry Switzer‘s first staff back in 1994, Zimmer stayed on through the Chan Gailey, Dave Campo and Bill Parcells regimes. Parcells went as far to leave Zimmer — promoted to defensive coordinator under Campo — in place as his DC throughout his four-year tenure, which ended in 2006. Zimmer left to become Bobby Petrino‘s defensive coordinator in 2007, landing his launching-pad role as Bengals DC following Petrino’s quick Atlanta exit. After the Vikings stay, Zimmer helped ex-Cowboys charge Deion Sanders out at both Jackson State and Colorado. This will be Zimmer’s fourth NFL DC gig.
Unlike Quinn, Zimmer probably will not be a candidate to become a head coach again. As Steve Spagnuolo has shown in Kansas City and as Wade Phillips demonstrated in Denver and Los Angeles, value can come from hiring an accomplished coordinator who is not a true HC candidate. McCarthy will bet on Zimmer to help keep Dallas’ defense among the NFL’s best. Although the bar will be higher for the fifth-year Cowboys HC, given what he has already accomplished in Dallas, Zimmer rolling out a strong defense would certainly help McCarthy’s cause.
Kevin Warren Addresses Justin Fields’ Status
The Bears’ journey to determining their 2024 starting quarterback continues. After the team reached an agreement to trade the No. 1 overall pick to the Panthers before free agency started last year, fans should be on the lookout for a Justin Fields move soon. The Bears trading their three-year starter and keeping the pick remains the likely path, but they have not yet committed one way or another here.
It would surprise to see Chicago trade the top pick for a second straight year, given the buzz Caleb Williams has generated as a prospect. The team could, however, fetch more in a trade for that draft pick than it could obtain in a Fields swap. That adds intrigue to the team’s decision, with contractual matters a key factor as well.
“I’m a supporter of Justin because I got a chance to work with him when I was commissioner of the Big Ten conference,” Bears president Kevin Warren said during a WGN interview (via NBC Sports Chicago). “He is incredibly talented. He is smart. He works hard. And he wants to be a great NFL football player. And now he just needs to make sure he has the support around him.
“… Justin has a rare combination of intelligence, of size, of strength and speed. You forget how big of a man he is until you’re up on him. He’s not a small man. I just think every year he’s going to continually get better.”
Warren, who initially observed Fields during his two-year run as Ohio State’s starter, represents an important part of this process. Although GM Ryan Poles runs the Bears’ front office, Warren serves as the bridge between ownership and the team’s football ops. Poles said last month the Bears were in a unique situation with regards to their quarterback decision. It is not known how much input Warren will provide the third-year GM on this front. Given Poles’ job description, any pushback from the second-year president would be notable.
“One of the things about Ryan and I’s working relationship is the fact that we’re in this together,” Warren said. “I know he’s spending every single day thinking about not only that decision but also who to draft at No. 9 and our current roster and what we’re gonna do in free agency, what we’re doing from a contract negotiation standpoint. I’m sure he’s already starting to play out the draft in his mind.
“I look forward to going to the Combine here later this month and then getting the chance to spend some time together because we’re in a very, very unique space in time in the Bears.”
The Bears hired Warren in January 2023, bringing him in a year after hiring Poles and HC Matt Eberflus. While Warren was initially described as a strictly business-side addition, rumblings about the former Lions and Vikings exec playing a part on the football side emerged. Warren did not shake up the Poles-Eberflus partnership this offseason, and the former Big Ten commissioner is believed to have a good relationship with the team’s GM. It would be fascinating if the two power brokers disagreed regarding this seminal decision, but nothing on that front has surfaced during the Bears’ latest will-they/won’t-they saga associated with trading a No. 1 overall pick.
This franchise has not made a No. 1 overall draft choice since 1947, and a weekend report indicated it would take a “historic haul” for a team to pry this year’s top choice from the Bears. Chicago punted on drafting Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud or Anthony Richardson last year. Poles made Fields his offseason centerpiece. Though Poles did not draft Fields, his 2023 offseason choice will matter. With the Bears having secured the top pick once again — thanks to the Panthers’ 2-15 season — Poles has another chance.
A few teams are in need at quarterback but lack a top-three pick. The Falcons (No. 8), Broncos (No. 12) and Raiders (No. 13) are the three that do not currently have exclusive negotiating rights with a starter-caliber option (Russell Wilson‘s status notwithstanding; he remains on track to be released); the Vikings (No. 11) and Buccaneers (No. 26) do. Leading up to last year’s free agency, Poles engaged in talks with a few teams — most notably discussing a three-team deal with Houston and Carolina — before dealing the pick to the Panthers.
The Bears are weighing Fields’ trajectory and upcoming fifth-year option price against what a future with Williams — the 2022 Heisman winner who has been the clubhouse leader to go No. 1 overall for over a year — would bring. The USC product being on a rookie contract for at least three years would naturally appeal to the Bears, who could fetch at least one Day 2 pick — perhaps more, given the needs of the above-referenced teams — for Fields.
A scenario in which the Bears draft a quarterback at 1 and keep Fields also surfaced as an option recently, but this has long looked like an either/or situation. Warren’s pro-Fields comments should be expected at this juncture, but this remains a central 2024 NFL storyline to follow.