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Chiefs Eyeing Steve Spagnuolo For DC

By | at January 23, 2019 3:00 pm

Former Giants defensive coordinator and interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo has emerged as the favorite to replace Bob Sutton as the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, sources tell ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Spagnuolo and Andy Reid worked together in Philadelphia and share the same agent, so this would be a pretty natural pairing in Kansas City. 

Sutton was fired this week after the Chiefs’ heartbreaking exit in the AFC Championship Game. Soon after, the loud and lovable Rex Ryan was connected to the job, but it sounds like the former Giants coach has a leg up over the ex-Jets coach.

Spagnuolo didn’t coach in 2018, but he is highly respected around the NFL for his work as the Giants’ DC. The 59-year-old also comes with head coaching experience, as he led the Rams from 2009-11. We haven’t heard his name much in this cycle, but he was connected to the Broncos’ DC job at one point.

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Chiefs To Consider Rex Ryan For DC Job?

By | at January 22, 2019 2:15 pm

Former Jets and Bills head coach Rex Ryan is a name to watch for the Chiefs’ newly vacant defensive coordinator position, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Schefter notes that Ryan has been approached about other DC openings in recent years. 

[RELATED: Chiefs Fire DC Bob Sutton]

This may be a report to take with a grain of salt. It’s not clear whether Chiefs sources indicated the team’s interest to Schefter, or whether Schefter has received word from others around the situation such as Ryan himself, who is a fellow ESPN employee. Nonetheless, Ryan offers the kind of strong defensive pedigree and boisterous energy that the Chiefs may require.

Last year, the Chiefs tied for the NFL lead with 52 sacks, but they was unable to pressure Tom Brady when it really counted on Sunday. On Tuesday, the Chiefs axed veteran DC Bob Sutton, opening up one of the most appealing DC jobs in the NFL.

In late December, Ryan was said to be contacting potential assistants in the event that he were to become the Dolphins’ new head coach. Those talks, apparently, were premature – Ryan never landed an interview in Miami.

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Chiefs Fire DC Bob Sutton

By | at January 22, 2019 1:51 pm

The Chiefs fired defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, according to a team announcement. Sutton was rumored to be on the hot seat after the Chiefs’ heartbreaking exit in the AFC Championship Game. 

One can’t help but wonder whether Sutton would still be in charge if Dee Ford hadn’t accidentally lined up in the neutral zone prior to the Patriots’ snap. In any event, Sutton is out, and the team’s overall inconsistent defense this past season is the main reason for his ouster.

“Bob is a good football coach and a great person,” head coach Andy Reid said in a statement. “He played an integral role in the success of our team over the last six seasons. I’ve said before that change can be a good thing, for both parties, and I believe that is the case here for the Chiefs and Bob. This was not an easy decision, but one I feel is in the best interest of the Kansas City Chiefs moving forward.”

Despite the Chiefs’ defensive struggles in 2018, the gig is viewed as one of the most valued defensive jobs in the game. With a world-class offense, the Chiefs should be right back in the Super Bowl mix in 2019, and the continued health of star safety Eric Berry should go a long way towards helping the cause.

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Chiefs Weighing Defensive Staff Changes

By | at January 21, 2019 4:33 pm

The Chiefs scored 24 points in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s AFC championship game but still could not beat a Patriots team that had dropped five road contests this season. A day later, they are discussing potential staff changes.

The team is weighing whether or not to shake up its defensive staff, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com notes (video link), adding these conversations include defensive coordinator Bob Sutton‘s position.

Kansas City tied for the NFL lead with 52 sacks but was unable to pressure Tom Brady, and Monday’s discussions involve possible issues making proper adjustments. Andy Reid said Monday the Chiefs are evaluating all aspects of their team, but Garafolo stresses the most scrutinized facet in these evaluations is the defensive staff.

Production getting to the quarterback notwithstanding, the Chiefs ranked 31st in pass defense this season. On Sunday, they allowed the Patriots to convert 13 of 19 third downs in a game that featured 524 New England yards. The Chiefs, who featured one of the most explosive offenses in NFL history (No. 3 all time in points with 565), gave up more than 500 yards on four occasions this season.

Sutton has been Kansas City’s DC since Reid arrived in 2013; his past three units have ranked in the bottom third in total defense. Though, the Sutton-era Chiefs have bent more than they’ve broken in that span, with the team being better at deterring points than yardage. This season ended with 37 points allowed — the fifth time this defense yielded at least 37 points — and the Patriots’ final drive prevented Patrick Mahomes from seeing the field after the overtime coin toss. This came after Dee Ford‘s neutral-zone infraction nullified a likely game-clinching interception.

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Eric Berry Likely To Need Offseason Surgery

By | at January 20, 2019 1:42 pm

Though he is slated to return to the field for today’s AFC Championship matchup with the Patriots, Chiefs safety Eric Berry is likely headed for offseason surgery on his heel, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweets. 

Sidelined by the injury for the majority of the season, the three-time First Team All-Pro selection has been limited to just two games this season and hasn’t played since a Week 16 tilt vs. the Seahawks. He will give it a go today, however, hoping to fight through the pain to deliver Kansas City to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1969 season.

Earlier in the season, Berry was diagnosed with a Haglund’s deformity in the achilles. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo gave a synopsis of the issue in late September:

“He’s got what’s called a Haglund’s deformity in that Achilles,” Garafolo said. “That’s a bone spur that basically digs into the Achilles. Shaun O’ Hara, our colleague at NFL Network, he had it. I spoke to him this week. He said it is extremely painful. He actually used a more colorful word that I won’t use here.”

Should he undergo the surgery, a timetable for his recovery will be available at a later date.

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Chiefs Plan To Extend Patrick Mahomes After 2019; Mahomes Could Earn $200MM+

By | at January 20, 2019 11:28 am

The Chiefs are expected to pursue extensions for a few key members of their roster this offseason, and it makes sense for the club to get those commitments out of the way, because it will have a particularly big order of business to take care of after the 2019 season. At that point, quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be eligible for a long-term extension of his own, and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that Kansas City is expected to work out a second contract with him before the 2020 campaign.

That contract, per Schefter’s sources, could be the league’s first $200MM deal. If that’s the case, Mahomes would dwarf Matt Ryan‘s recent extension with the Falcons, which has a total value of $150MM, and Schefter suggests that Mahomes’ new pact would include an average annual value that far eclipses Aaron Rodgers‘ $33.5MM mark.

Mahomes is also expected to become much more visible this offseason, according to his agent, Leigh Steinberg. Mahomes will likely be named the league’s MVP this season, but Steinberg has instructed Mahomes to keep a low public profile to this point. Now that his client has taken the football world by storm, Steinberg says that Mahomes is in line for multiple marketing deals and television commercials.

Speculatively, Kansas City could attempt to frontload expected extensions for players like Tyreek Hill and Chris Jones to create more flexibility when Mahomes cashes in. Mahomes, just 23, passed for 5,097 yards and a league-leading 50 touchdowns in 2018, and he will lead the Chiefs against the Patriots in a much-anticipated AFC title game this afternoon.

A Super Bowl appearance or two will only increase Mahomes’ otherworldly asking price.

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Chiefs To Prioritize Extensions For Tyreek Hill, Chris Jones; Latest On Dee Ford

By | at January 20, 2019 10:55 am

The Chiefs are presently benefiting from having star quarterback Patrick Mahomes playing under his rookie contract, which means they will have some money to sign other key members of their roster to long-term deals. Per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network (video link), Kansas City plans to explore an extension for wide receiver Tyreek Hill this offseason, and a new deal for Hill is perhaps the team’s top offseason priority.

Hill could hardly have had a better start to his professional career, having earned three Pro Bowl nods and two First Team All-Pro selections in his first three seasons in the NFL. The former fifth-round pick out of West Alabama is under contract through the 2019 campaign and will be eligible for an extension for the first time this offseason. His current deal would pay him a $720K base salary next season, which is laughably low for someone of his caliber. Indeed, Rapoport suggests that Hill could become the highest-paid receiver in the NFL, and it would not be surprising to see him land a contract paying him $18MM or more per season with a $40MM+ guarantee.

The Chiefs are also expected to pursue an extension for third-year defensive end Chris Jones, a significant part of the team’s fearsome pass rush who racked up 15.5 sacks this season in a true breakout performance. Given the ever-increasing price tag for quality pass rushers, particularly ones who are just entering the primes of their careers, Jones will also be in line for a major payday.

Another pillar of Kansas City’s pass rush, Dee Ford, is eligible for unrestricted free agency this offseason. Ford had something of an up-and-down career before 2018, but his 13 sacks this year will put him in high demand should he reach the open market. We heard just last week that Ford would have the opportunity to explore free agency, as the Chiefs are not planning to put the franchise tag on him, but Rapoport hears differently. Rapoport says the team has not ruled out putting the tag on Ford, and they certainly have enough cash to do so.

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Chiefs Activate LDT, Cut Parker

By | at January 15, 2019 10:01 am

The Chiefs activated guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif in advance of Sunday’s AFC Championship tilt against the Patriots (Twitter link via Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star). To make room for him on the roster, the Chiefs cut safety Ron Parker. 

Duvernay-Tardif was forced to go on injured reserve in early October with a fractured fibula. In late December, however, he was designated for return.

Andrew Wylie has been Kansas City’s primary starter in Duvernay-Tardif’s absence. Things have gone well enough with Wylie in the front five, but the Chiefs’ best offensive line configuration has LDT, a recent medical school graduate, in the mix.

Parker, 31, has been with the Chiefs since 2013, although his KC run was briefly interruped in the offseason when he was released from a five-year, $30MM deal and later brought back at a lesser rate.

In the 2018 regular season, Parker wound up starting 14 of his 15 games and amassed 77 tackles, two interceptions, and a sack.

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2019 Offensive/Defensive Coordinator Tracker

By | at January 13, 2019 5:07 pm

While eight NFL teams are making a head coaching change this offseason, the number of clubs replacing offensive and/or defensive coordinators figures to be much higher than that. In addition to all those teams hiring new head coaches, who may want to bring in their own assistants, several clubs also figure to make changes on one side of the ball or the other after getting disappointing results in 2018. And, of course, the teams whose coordinators landed head coaching jobs will need to replace them.

With reports circulating on potential candidates, interview requests, and actual meetings, we’ll use the space below to keep tabs on all the latest updates on teams hiring new offensive and/or defensive coordinators. This post, which will be updated daily, can be found under the “PFR Features” menu on the right-hand side of the site.

[Updated: 2/21/19, 4:58pm CT]

Offensive Coordinators

Arizona Cardinals (Out: Byron Leftwich)

Atlanta Falcons (Out: Steve Sarkisian)

Baltimore Ravens (Out: Marty Mornhinweg)

  • Greg Roman, assistant head coach/tight ends (Ravens): Promoted

Cincinnati Bengals (Out: Bill Lazor)

Cleveland Browns (Out: Freddie Kitchens)

  • Todd Monken, former offensive coordinator (Buccaneers): Hired
    • Head coach Freddie Kitchens will call plays.
  • Jim Bob Cooter, former offensive coordinator (Lions): Interviewed

Dallas Cowboys (Out: Scott Linehan)

Denver Broncos (Out: Bill Musgrave)

  • Rich Scangarello, quarterbacks coach (49ers): Hired
  • Gary Kubiak, former head coach (Broncos): Will not be hired

Detroit Lions (Out: Jim Bob Cooter)

  • Darrell Bevell, former offensive coordinator (Seahawks): Hired
  • Nathaniel Hackett, former offensive coordinator (Jaguars): Interviewed
  • Todd Monken, former offensive coordinator (Buccaneers): Interviewed
  • Steve Sarkisian, former offensive coordinator (Falcons): Mentioned as candidate

Green Bay Packers (Out: Joe Philbin)

  • Nathaniel Hackett, former offensive coordinator (Jaguars): Hired
    • Head coach Matt LaFleur will call plays.
  • Mike McDaniel, run game coordinator (49ers): Mentioned as candidate
  • Todd Monken, former offensive coordinator (Buccaneers): Interviewed

Houston Texans 

  • Tim Kelly, tight ends coach (Texans): Promoted

Jacksonville Jaguars (Out: Scott Milanovich)

Miami Dolphins (Out: Dowell Loggains)

  • Chad O’Shea, wide receivers coach (Patriots): Hired

Minnesota Vikings

New York Jets (Out: Jeremy Bates)

  • Dowell Loggains, former offensive coordinator (Dolphins): Hired
    • Head coach Adam Gase will call plays.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Out: Todd Monken)

Tennessee Titans (Out: Matt LaFleur)

  • Arthur Smith, tight ends coach (Titans): Promoted

Washington Redskins (Out: Matt Cavanaugh)

  • Kevin O’Connell, quarterbacks coach (Redskins): Promoted
    • Cavanaugh re-assigned as senior offensive assistant.

Defensive Coordinators

Arizona Cardinals (Out: Al Holcomb)

Atlanta Falcons (Out: Marquand Manuel)

Chicago Bears (Out: Vic Fangio)

Cincinnati Bengals (Out: Marvin Lewis)

Cleveland Browns (Out: Gregg Williams)

Denver Broncos (Out: Joe Woods)

  • Ed Donatell, secondary coach (Bears): Hired

Kansas City Chiefs (Out: Bob Sutton)

Miami Dolphins (Out: Matt Burke)

  • Patrick Graham, linebacker coach/run game coordinator (Packers): Hired
  • Bret Bielema, consultant to the head coach (Patriots): Mentioned as candidate

New England Patriots (Out: Brian Flores)

  • Greg Schiano, former defensive coordinator (Ohio State): To be hired

New York Jets (Out: Kacy Rodgers)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Out: Mark Duffner)

  • Todd Bowles, former head coach (Jets): Hired
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2019 Proven Performance Escalators

By | at January 13, 2019 1:42 pm

According to the NFL’s contractual bargaining agreement, players drafted in rounds three though seven are entitled to raises during the fourth year of their respective rookie contracts. The pay bumps are tied to playing time — a player must have played in 35% of his team’s offensive or defensive snaps in two of his first three seasons, or averaged 35% playing time cumulatively during that period.

If one of these thresholds is met, the player’s salary is elevated to the level of that year’s lowest restricted free agent tender — that figure should be around $2MM in 2019. Players selected in the first or second round, undrafted free agents, and kickers/punters are ineligible for the proven performance escalator.

Here are the players who will see their salary rise in 2019 courtesy of the proven performance escalator:

Bears: RB Jordan Howard, LB Nick Kwiatkoski

Bengals: LB Nick Vigil

Broncos: G Connor McGovern, S Will Parks, S Justin Simmons

Browns: S Derrick Kindred, LB Joe Schobert

Buccaneers: G Caleb Benenoch, DE Carl Nassib, CB Ryan Smith

Chargers: LB Jatavis Brown

Chiefs: CB Kendall Fuller, WR Tyreek Hill, S Eric Murray, WR Demarcus Robinson

Colts: QB Jacoby Brissett, T Joe Haeg

Cowboys: CB Anthony Brown, DT Maliek Collins, QB Dak Prescott

Dolphins: RB Kenyan Drake

Eagles: CB Jalen Mills, T Halapoulivaati Vaitai

Falcons: LB De’Vondre Campbell, TE Austin Hooper, G Wes Schweitzer

Jaguars: DE Yannick Ngakoue

Jets: LB Jordan Jenkins, CB Rashard Robinson, T Brandon Shell

Lions: C Graham Glasgow

Packers: LB Kyler Fackrell, DE Dean Lowry, LB Blake Martinez, LB Antonio Morrison

Patriots: G Joe Thuney, LB Elandon Roberts

Rams: G Austin Blythe, TE Tyler Higbee

Ravens: DE Matt Judon, OL Alex Lewis, CB Tavon Young

Saints: DT David Onyemata

Steelers: DT Javon Hargrave

Texans: DT D.J. Reader

Titans: S Kevin Byard, WR Tajae Sharpe

OverTheCap.com was essential in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. 

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