NFL Draft Rumors: Hooker, Ross, Mahomes
Here’s the latest draft news:
- Ohio State safety Malik Hooker announced that he is leaving school to enter the 2017 draft. Hooker, a redshirt sophomore, had seven interceptions and returned three of those picks for touchdowns. Scouts are high on him, but he has only one year of starting under his belt. Hooker is widely projected to be a first-round pick.
- Washington wide receiver John Ross III is skipping his senior year and entering the draft, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Despite two knee surgeries which cost him the 2015 season, Ross has maintained his blazing speed and figures to be one of the first receivers to come off the board this spring. This year, he hauled in 81 receptions for 1,150 yards and 17 touchdowns.
- Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes II is going pro and he has signed with an agent, Alex Marvez of The Sporting News tweets. Mahomes has gaudy numbers, but he comes with a few asterisks. For starters, the Texas Tech offense tends to lend itself to inflated totals. Secondly, Mahomes has been battling shoulder issues for the last year and he recently had wrist surgery. Right now, the consensus seems to be that Mahomes’ draft stock is a tier below fellow QBs like Mitch Trubisky, DeShone Kizer, and Deshaun Watson.
- The 2017 draft order has been set for about two-thirds of the NFL.
Dolphins To Release DL Mario Williams
The Dolphins will waive defensive lineman Mario Williams this offseason, a source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. It has been long expected that the Dolphins would drop Williams. 
[RELATED: Teams Request Permission To Interview DC Vance Joseph]
If Williams were to remain on the roster on the fifth day of the 2017 league year, he would have $3.5MM of his scheduled $8.485MM base salary guaranteed. The Dolphins have no interest in paying out his salary after a year in which he declined sharply. Williams was relegated to the bench in his first season with Miami and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph even slammed him publicly for a perceived lack of effort. Lately, he has been squeezed out of the gameplan altogether. Williams was a healthy scratch in Week 17 and he’ll likely be squeezed out on Sunday when the Dolphins face the Steelers in the first round of the playoffs.
Of course, this isn’t what the Dolphins had in mind when they signed Super Mario to a two-year, $17MM deal this spring. Williams had only five sacks in 2015, but in the year prior he piled up 14.5 sacks. The Dolphins felt that a change of scenery and a return to a 4-3 system would benefit him, but he instead turned in the worst season of his career. Now on the verge of his 32nd birthday, Williams will be a free agent and will have to take a drastic pay cut if he wants to continue playing.
Ravens To Keep OC Marty Mornhinweg
Contrary to speculation around the league, Ravens coach Jim Harbaugh announced that offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg will return in 2017. Same goes for defensive coordinator Dean Pees and special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg. 
[RELATED: Ravens Sign Six To Reserve/Futures Contracts]
Baltimore promoted Mornhinweg from quarterbacks coach to OC after firing Marc Trestman in October. Since then, however, the Ravens haven’t seen much in the way of improvement. On the whole, the Ravens finished 17th in total yards gained and 24th in Football Outsiders’ DVOA metric this season. A new hire would have made six OCs in six years for the Ravens.
While the coordinators will be staying on board, Harbaugh indicated that there could be other changes elsewhere on the staff.
A.J. Hawk To Retire
A.J. Hawk is calling it a career. The linebacker tells Albert Breer of The MMQB (on Twitter) that he plans on filing retirement paperwork this offseason. 
[RELATED: Steve Smith Announces Retirement]
Hawk anchored the Packers’ linebacking core for years and barely missed a game from 2006 through 2014. While he never had gaudy sack numbers, he was a tackling machine and an integral part of the Packers’ Super Bowl winning team in the 2010 season. When he lost a step on the other side of 30, he parted ways with the Packers and found his way to the Bengals in 2015. This season, he hooked on with the Falcons, but he wound up playing in just one game.
We here at PFR wish Hawk the best in retirement.
Bengals CB Adam Jones Arrested
Bengals cornerback Adam Jones was arrested for three misdemeanors and a felony last night, as Paul Dehner Jr. and Kevin Grasha of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes. Jones, through his attorney during arraignment, said he “vehemently denies” the accusations brought against him. 
[RELATED: Bengals QB A.J. McCarron Wouldn’t Oppose Trade]
It’s alleged that Jones assaulted a man by “pushing and poking” him in the eye. Cops say he refused to stop when ordered to and he refused to enter the cop car as he was kicking and head-butting officers. The misdemeanor charges against him are for his alleged assault, disorderly conduct, and obstructing of official business. The felony charge is for “harassment of a member of the medical staff in the justice center with a bodily substance,” which is for spitting on a nurse at the jail.
Given Jones’ history, these charges could have serious legal ramifications and could lead to a lengthy suspension for the 2017 season. Jones is under contract with the Bengals through 2018 after signing a three-year, $22MM deal in March.
Coaching Notes: Joseph, Bills, Rams
It’s been a busy day around the NFL, especially when it comes to coaching rumors. We’re keeping track of all of those interviews, and you can find our tracker here.
In the meantime, let’s take a look at some more coaching whispers from around the NFL…
- The Rams, Bills, and Chargers are requesting permission to speak with Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). We learned earlier today that the 49ers have also expressed interest in Joseph.
- If Joseph indeed gets a head coaching gig, linebackers coach Matt Burke is likely to replace him as the Dolphins defensive coordinator, Jeff Darlington of ESPN.com tweets. Burke joined the Dolphins last offseason after having previously served as the linebackers coach with the Bengals and Lions.
- The Bills are expected to interview Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich for their head coaching opening, sources tell Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News (via Twitter). Prior to his time in Philly, Reich was the offensive coordinator for the Chargers.
- The Bills have done some homework on Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard, Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports tweets. Richard just completed his second season in that role.
- All Rams assistants have been told they are free to seek other employment, freelance NFL reporter Michael Silver tweets. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise since the next coach in L.A. will probably want to bring in a lot of his own guys. Even if the next head coach wants to keep some of the current assistants, it wouldn’t be fair to hamstring them while the search continues.
- The Rams, Jaguars, Broncos, and 49ers will all interview Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan between Friday and Saturday, reports Rapoport (via Twitter).
- The Rams are planning on interviewing Panthers secondary coach and assistant head coach Steve Wilks for their head coaching gig, reports Rapoport (via Twitter). The 47-year-old has been in the NFL since 2008, and he’s also coached for the Bears and Chargers.
Ben Levine contributed to this post.
49ers Ask To Interview Chiefs’ Chris Ballard
7:55pm: According to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter), Ballard will not be taking the interview with the 49ers. The executive believes he’s in an excellent situation in Kansas City and has a great relationship with general manager John Dorsey.
8:21am: The 49ers’ general manager search is underway and it sounds like Chris Ballard is a priority candidate. The Niners have reached out to the Chiefs for permission to interview the exec, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (on Twitter). 
It seems likely that the Chiefs will grant permission for the interview since Ballard has been a GM candidate for some time and was allowed to interview for the Titans job last offseason. Ultimately, that job went to Jon Robinson, partially because Ballard’s assessment of coach Mike Mularkey didn’t align with that of team ownership.
Ballard, who just completed his third season with Kansas City, has been an NFL personnel man for 16 years. This offseason, he could interview for multiple vacancies and this could be the year that he breaks out from John Dorsey‘s shadow.
2017 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker
Several NFL teams are currently hunting for a new head coach, and amidst reports about interview requests and potential candidates, it’s easy to lose track of the latest updates in the shuffle. So we’ll use this space – which will be updated until every team has hired a new head coach – to keep track of the most recent news and rumors. It can be found on the right-hand sidebar under “PFR Features.”
Listed below are the head coaching candidates that have been linked to each of the teams with vacancies, along with their current status. If and when other teams decide to make head coaching changes, they’ll be added to this list. Here’s the current breakdown:
Updated 2-7-17 (10:22am CT)
Buffalo Bills
- Sean McDermott, defensive coordinator (Panthers): Hired
- Harold Goodwin, offensive coordinator (Cardinals): Interviewed
- Frank Reich, offensive coordinator (Eagles): Was expected to interview; no request submitted
- Kris Richard, defensive coordinator (Seahawks): Interviewed
- Vance Joseph, defensive coordinator (Dolphins): Interview requested; hired first by Broncos
- Anthony Lynn, offensive coordinator/interim head coach (Bills): Interviewed
Denver Broncos
- Vance Joseph, defensive coordinator (Dolphins): Hired
- Kyle Shanahan, offensive coordinator (Falcons): Interviewed 1/7; prefers Denver’s job to others
- Dave Toub, special teams coach (Chiefs): Interviewed
- Anthony Lynn, interim coach (Bills): Could be interviewed; no meeting requested as of 1/5
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Doug Marrone, interim head coach (Jaguars): Hired
- Tom Coughlin, former head coach (Giants): Interviewed
- Harold Goodwin, offensive coordinator (Cardinals): Interviewed
- Chip Kelly, former head coach (49ers): Interviewed
- Mike Smith, defensive coordinator (Buccaneers): Interviewed
- Josh McDaniels, offensive coordinator (Patriots): Interviewed
- Kyle Shanahan, offensive coordinator (Falcons): Interviewed
- Anthony Lynn, offensive coordinator/interim head coach (Bills): Expected to interview; hired first by Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
- Sean McVay, offensive coordinator (Redskins): Hired
- Teryl Austin, defensive coordinator (Lions): Interviewed
- John Fassel, interim head coach (Rams): Interviewed
- Harold Goodwin, offensive coordinator (Cardinals): Interviewed
- Josh McDaniels, offensive coordinator (Patriots): Interviewed
- Matt Patricia, defensive coordinator (Patriots): Interviewed
- Sean Payton, head coach (Saints): Rams have interest in trading for him
- Kyle Shanahan, offensive coordinator (Falcons): Interview now unlikely
- Steve Wilks, assistant coach/secondary coach, (Panthers): Interviewed
- Mike Vrabel, linebackers coach (Texans): Permission granted for interview
- Vance Joseph, defensive coordinator (Dolphins): Was to be interviewed 1/13; hired by Broncos
- Anthony Lynn, interim head coach (Bills): Will receive second interview
- Doug Marrone, interim head coach (Jaguars): Interviewed
San Diego Chargers
- Anthony Lynn, interim head coach (Bills): Hired
- Teryl Austin, defensive coordinator (Lions): Interviewed
- Matt Patricia, defensive coordinator (Patriots): Interviewed
- Mike Smith, defensive coordinator (Buccaneers): Interviewed; signed extension to stay as Bucs’ DC
- Dave Toub, special teams coach (Chiefs): Interviewed
- Vance Joseph, defensive coordinator (Dolphins): Was to be interviewed; hired by Broncos
- Sean McDermott, defensive coordinator (Panthers): Was set for second interview, hired as Bills’ HC
San Francisco 49ers
- Kyle Shanahan, offensive coordinator (Falcons): Hired
- Tom Cable, offensive line coach (Seahawks): Interviewed; withdrew from search
- Vance Joseph, defensive coordinator (Dolphins): Was to be interviewed; hired by Broncos
- Anthony Lynn, interim head coach (Bills): Interviewed
- Doug Marrone, interim coach (Jaguars): Team has interest
- Josh McDaniels, offensive coordinator (Patriots): Interviewed; withhdrew from search
- Sean McDermott, defensive coordinator (Panthers): Hired as Bills’ HC
- Sean McVay, offensive coordinator (Redskins): Interviewed
Chargers Ask To Interview Pats’ Matt Patricia
The Chargers have requested permission to interview Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Patricia is the first known target of the Bolts in their coaching search. 
Patricia has also been linked to the Rams’ head coaching vacancy and he’s a popular name this offseason, even if he’s not as hyped up as colleague Josh McDaniels. The Chargers just fired an offensive-minded head coach in Mike McCoy, so Patricia could offer a change in philosophy. The Pats finished the regular season with the fewest points allowed of any team in the league. Meanwhile, the Bolts allowed 423 points, the fourth-highest in the NFL.
The Chargers are one of six teams now in search of a new head coach.
No Surgery For Cardinals RB David Johnson
Cardinals running back David Johnson only suffered an MCL sprain in the regular season finale, coach Bruce Arians says (Twitter link via Cardinals PR man Mark Dalton). That means no surgery for the Cardinals star, only rehab and rest. 
[RELATED: Cardinals Willing To Franchise Tag Chandler Jones]
The Cardinals are thrilled to learn that Johnson will not have to go under the knife after suffering a gruesome-looking injury in Week 17. An MCL sprain is no walk in the park, but a more serious knee injury such as an ACL tear could have sidelined Johnson for a good chunk of next season.
Johnson, 25, ran for more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage while scoring 20 total touchdowns. While this was a down year for the 7-8-1 Cardinals, Johnson had a tremendous individual season and asserted himself as one of the very best running backs in the NFL.
In other Cardinals news, three teams in search of a head coach have asked to speak with offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin. Also, the draft order is set for the top 20 and Arizona holds the No. 13 overall pick.