Jim Harbaugh To Meet With Vikings, Patrick Graham Gets Second Interview
We’re starting to get even more clarity on the Vikings head coaching search. According to Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune (on Twitter), Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham will get a second interview with Minnesota. Meanwhile, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter), Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh will visit Minnesota for an in-person interview on Wednesday.
Serving as New York’s defensive play-caller during Joe Judge‘s tenure, Graham improved the unit considerably in 2020. The Giants ranked ninth in scoring defense, after their 2019 unit ranked 30th. But the team regressed this season, falling back to 23rd. DVOA slotted Graham’s second Giants defense 18th, however.
Harbaugh had a chat with the Vikings on Saturday, and there have been reports that the Vikings wanted an in-person interview with the current Michigan coach. They’ll ultimately get their wish, and Harbaugh will take another major step in returning to the NFL. Harbaugh, 58, spent four seasons with the 49ers before leaving for Ann Arbor after the 2014 season. He has been connected to various teams in the past, but this year represents the closest link to the former NFC champion coach returning to the NFL.
Meanwhile, Pelissero notes (on Twitter) that 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans has declined a second interview with the Vikings, with Ryans looking to “further his development in San Francisco.” That leaves four candidates for the job: Graham, Harbaugh, and Rams coordinators Kevin O’Connell and Raheem Morris.
Giants Intend To Keep Patrick Graham; Will Retain Two Key Execs
As Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll begin their respective tenures as the general manager and head coach of the Giants, they have made clear a desire for stability at a number of positions in the organization. As Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports (via Twitter), the team plans on retaining defensive coordinator Patrick Graham if he doesn’t get a HC gig elsewhere. As well, his colleague Mike Garafolo tweets that assistant GM Kevin Abrams and director of football operations Ed Triggs will be staying with the team. 
Graham, as Rapoport notes, recently interviewed with the Vikings for their HC vacancy. That came after he met with the Giants for the same position; while he obviously didn’t get the top job in New York, the team has let it be known they respect his work as DC.
In his inaugural press conference on Monday, Daboll – who worked alongside Graham for three seasons in New England – said, “I have had a good relationship with Pat for some time in this league. He’s very diligent. He’s smart. I think the players respect him. I have a good working relationship with him. Selfishly, I would love him to be here“. As the Athletic’s Dan Duggan tweets, defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson is expected to be retained as well.
As for Abrams, it appears he will be staying in New York, but quite possibly with a new title. As Duggan tweets, he has “offered to give up” the assistant GM label if it helps Shoen bring in a more familiar right-hand-man. Having been with the Giants since 1999, Abrams was a candidate for the GM opening, but the team stuck to its stated intention of hiring externally.
Triggs, meanwhile, has held his current role since June 2020 and like Abrams, has a plethora of front office experience with the Giants. Clearly, Shoen and ownership want to keep key elements of the existing executive structure in place, as opposed to clearing house as other teams have done in the past.
Updated 2022 NFL Draft Order
Championship Sunday has come and gone, and with it, we now know the matchup for Super Bowl LVI. The Rams’ win on Sunday guarantees that the Lions’ other first round pick will be in the bottom two, slightly devaluing it relative to if they had lost. Still, it is one of the bargaining chips they hold if they were to attempt to move up into the top spot, from their current position of second. As one of four teams with multiple picks in the opening round, Detroit will certainly be a squad to keep an eye on in April.
For non-playoff teams, the draft order is determined by the inverted 2021 standings, plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule. For playoff teams, the order is determined by their postseason outcome and regular season record.
Here is the updated order after this weekend’s results:
- Jacksonville Jaguars: 3-14
- Detroit Lions: 3-13-1
- Houston Texans: 4-13
- New York Jets: 4-13
- New York Giants: 4-13
- Carolina Panthers: 5-12
- New York Giants(via Bears)
- Atlanta Falcons: 7-10
- Denver Broncos: 7-10
- New York Jets (via Seahawks)
- Washington Football Team: 7-10
- Minnesota Vikings: 8-9
- Cleveland Browns: 8-9
- Baltimore Ravens: 8-9
- Philadelphia Eagles (via Dolphins)
- Philadelphia Eagles (via Colts)
- Los Angeles Chargers: 9-8
- New Orleans Saints: 9-8
- Philadelphia Eagles: 9-8
- Pittsburgh Steelers: 9-7-1
- New England Patriots: 10-7
- Las Vegas Raiders: 10-7
- Arizona Cardinals: 11-6
- Dallas Cowboys: 12-5
- Buffalo Bills: 11-6
- Tennessee Titans: 12-5
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 13-4
- Green Bay Packers: 13-4
- Miami Dolphins (via 49ers)
- Kansas City Chiefs: 12-5
- Cincinnati Bengals: 10-7*
- Detroit Lions (via Rams)
* = Remaining playoff teams
NFC East Notes: WFT, Quinn, Cooper
The Washington Football Team moniker will soon be a thing of the past. As Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post tweeted earlier this month, WFT’s new name and “brand identity” will be revealed on The Today Show on February 2. During its two years as the Washington Football Team, the franchise put together a 14-19 regular season record, though it did capture the NFC East title in 2020 and came close to defeating the eventual-Super Bowl champion Buccaneers in last year’s wildcard round.
As we get set to usher in a new era of football in the nation’s capital — or at least a differently-named era — let’s take a look at some other NFC East items:
- Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was the hottest name in this year’s head coaching cycle, but it appears the job he really wanted was the Giants‘ HC gig, per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post (via Twitter). When Quinn realized that Big Blue had narrowed its search to Brian Daboll and Brian Flores — the post ultimately went to Daboll — he withdrew his name from HC consideration and signed an extension with Dallas shortly thereafter.
- There has been a fair amount of speculation about WR Amari Cooper‘s future with the Cowboys, speculation that ramped up following some of owner Jerry Jones‘ recent comments on the matter. While the club could save $16MM in cap space by cutting the 27-year-old wideout before his $20MM base salary for 2022 becomes fully-guaranteed on the fifth day of the league year in March, Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network says that most sources he has spoken with expect Dallas to retain Cooper.
- Eagles TE Tyree Jackson, a former collegiate QB who also spent some time in the XFL, saw action in nine games for Philadelphia in 2021, and in the club’s regular season finale, he secured three catches for 22 yards and his first NFL touchdown. Unfortunately, he also tore his ACL in that game, and as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweets, Jackson recently underwent successful ACL reconstruction surgery. The Eagles have high hopes for the 24-year-old, who — depending on how his recovery goes — could operate as their TE2 in 2022.
- In addition to Jackson, Eagles OL Brett Toth, who signed with Philadelphia as a UDFA in 2020 after receiving late permission from the U.S. Army to join the NFL, has also gone under the knife. Toth announced on Instagram (via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer on Twitter) that he recently had knee surgery that would require nine months of recovery. That timeline obviously puts the start of the 2022 season in jeopardy, if Toth is even on the roster at that point.
Updates To Eberflus’ New Bears’ Staff
New head coach Matt Eberflus has wasted no time in starting to piece together his new coaching staff in Chicago. 
The Colts’ former defensive coordinator will bring some familiar names with him from Indianapolis on the defensive side of the ball. According to Zak Keefer, of The Athletic, it’s been confirmed that linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi will follow Eberflus to Chicago to retain the same position. Borgonzi has played a crucial role in the development of players like Darius Leonard, Anthony Walker, and Bobby Okereke. Rumors have been circulating that cornerbacks coach James Rowe and defensive line coach Rod Marinelli could soon follow in Borgonzi’s footsteps.
On the offensive side of the ball, Eberflus will have to build a new system. We’ve already seen Eagles’ passing-game coordinator Kevin Patullo’s name surface as a potential coordinator, especially being a former coworker of the Bears’ new skipper in Indianapolis. We’ve also seen Packers’ quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy‘s name mentioned as the favorite candidate to land the coordinator job.
Still nothing has been announced, but Sanjay Lal, who has coached wide receivers for six different NFL teams, most recently in Jacksonville, is reportedly interviewing today for the offensive coordinator job, according to Jane Slater of NFL Network. A London-native, Lal started out coaching in a California high school for about six years before earning opportunities to coach at a few local colleges, culminating in a position as the quarterbacks coach at the University of California, Berkeley. Lal got his first NFL opportunity joining Lane Kiffin‘s Oakland Raiders staff in 2007 as a quality control coach, getting promoted to wide receivers coach in 2009. The journeyman coach then spent time as a wide receivers coach for the Jets, Bills, Colts, and Cowboys before not being retained in Dallas when Mike McCarthy took over. After spending a year as a senior offensive assistant in Seattle for a year, Lal got another chance to coach wide receivers for the Jaguars under Urban Meyer, where he spent the past season.
The only other offensive position we’ve heard about comes from Sports Mockery writer Erik Lambert who reports that Eberflus and the Bears will pursue Browns’ offensive line coach Bill Callahan. Callahan has coached a laundry list of Pro Bowl players over the years and has two connections to the Bears’ job. Firstly, he worked with Eberflus in Dallas for about three seasons, and, second, Callahan was born and raised in Chicago.
Two names have surfaced so far at the special teams coordinator position. Lambert mentions Raiders’ interim-head coach Rich Bisaccia as the favorite to take over the special teams unit in Chicago as it becomes less and less likely that he’ll be retained as the head ball coach in Las Vegas. The other name mentioned came from Jordan Raanan who covers the Giants for ESPN. Ranaan tweeted out that Giants’ special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey is scheduled to interview for the same position with the Bears tomorrow. McGaughey has already interviewed for the Chargers’ special teams coordinator job and has not ruled out remaining with the Giants.
It’s an impressive potential lineup for Eberflus as he attempts to put together his first full staff as a head coach. Updates should be expected shortly as all the names mentioned so far are no longer participating in the playoffs.
Ken Dorsey To Be Considered For Bills, Giants OC Jobs
Following Brian Daboll‘s hiring in New York, another Bills coach will likely be getting a promotion. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter), Bills passing-game coordinator and QB coach Ken Dorsey will likely earn a promotion to OC.
As Schefter notes, that opportunity could come from two places. Dorsey could easily slide in to the OC vacancy with the Bills, and ESPN’s Dan Graziano tweets his believe that Dorsey will ultimately get the job in Buffalo. However, as Lindsay Jones of The Athletic tweets, the Rooney Rule will require the organization to interview at least one minority candidate for the job, so Dorsey won’t be a shoo-in.
Alternatively, the coach could join Daboll in New York and become the Giants new OC. Dorsey worked alongside Daboll for three seasons in Buffalo.
Dorsey has been an NFL QBs coach since 2013. He spent five years with the Panthers before following the pipeline up north, joining his former bosses in Buffalo. Dorsey was with Carolina during the franchise’s most recent Super Bowl season, when Cam Newton soared to MVP honors in 2015. Since then, he’s raised his stock even further, taking Josh Allen from an inaccurate prospect to an MVP candidate.
Giants To Hire Brian Daboll As Head Coach
The league’s third head coaching hire has reportedly been made. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets that the Giants are hiring Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as their new HC. 
Daboll was thought to be the favorite for the job when he became the first candidate to receive a second interview in New York. That, along with the obvious connection to newly-hired GM Joe Shoen, had many speculating that the position was his to lose.
Of course, the Giants weren’t the only suitor for the 46-year-old’s services. He was named as one of three finalists for the Dolphins’ HC vacancy, and recently considered the favorite in Miami. Rapoport’s colleague, Tom Pelissero, tweets that the Saints also wanted to interview him.
Instead, he will be replacing Joe Judge in an attempt, along with Schoen, to reset the Giants on an organizational level. The two hires prove that the franchise’s stated goal of looking from outside New York to find its next HC and GM has been fulfilled.
Daboll will be tasked first and foremost with improving the Giants’ lackluster offense in what could very well be a make-or-break year for quarterback Daniel Jones. His job developing Josh Allen would certainly represent cause for optimism on that front.
Meanwhile, this news drops the number of remaining candidates set for second interviews with the Dolphins down to two: Mike McDaniel and Kellen Moore, the OCs for the 49ers and Cowboys, respectively.
Here’s a final look at the Giants’ coaching search:
- Lou Anarumo, defensive coordinator (Bengals): Interviewed 1/23
- Brian Daboll, offensive coordinator (Bills): Hired
- Brian Flores, former head coach (Dolphins): Interviewed 1/27
- Leslie Frazier, defensive coordinator (Bills): Conducted second interview 1/28
- Patrick Graham, defensive coordinator (Giants): Interviewed 1/26
- Dan Quinn, defensive coordinator (Cowboys): Interviewed 1/24; remaining in Dallas
Vikings To Interview Patrick Graham; Giants DC Gig Still On Table?
Despite the Giants’ late-season nosedive, their defensive coordinator will meet with another team about its top coaching job. The Vikings are set to interview Patrick Graham on Saturday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (Twitter link).
Graham has also interviewed with the Giants and remains interested in sticking around as their defensive coordinator, provided someone else lands their HC job. The Giants are also expected to be open to Graham staying on as DC under a new coach, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY notes, adding that ownership will play a role in determining how Big Blue’s next HC proceeds here.
Serving as New York’s defensive play-caller during Joe Judge‘s tenure, Graham improved the unit considerably in 2020. The Giants ranked ninth in scoring defense, after their 2019 unit ranked 30th. But the team regressed this season, falling back to 23rd. DVOA slotted Graham’s second Giants defense 18th, however. The Graham-overseen improvement also caught the Steelers’ attention, with an interview request coming Graham’s way. Pittsburgh is expected to promote Teryl Austin to fill that role, however.
It is not the norm for prior regimes’ coordinators to stick around, and Graham has ties to both of the Giants’ top HC candidates. He was Brian Flores‘ first defensive coordinator in Miami and worked with both Flores and Brian Daboll in New England. Despite Flores letting Graham make a lateral move to New York, Graham said in December the two remain close friends. Nevertheless, ownership insisting on a partnership between the next Giants HC and Graham would be interesting.
Graham, 43, has been on the Vikings’ radar for a bit now. Minnesota’s coaching search figures to pick up steam in the coming days, with GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah now on board. Here is how that search looks:
- Todd Bowles, defensive coordinator (Buccaneers): Interviewed 1/21
- Jonathan Gannon, defensive coordinator (Eagles): Interviewed 1/20
- Aaron Glenn, defensive coordinator (Lions): Mentioned as candidate
- Patrick Graham, defensive coordinator (Giants): To interview 1/29
- Nathaniel Hackett, offensive coordinator (Packers): Interviewed 1/16; hired by Broncos
- Kellen Moore, offensive coordinator (Cowboys): Interviewed 1/19
- Raheem Morris, defensive coordinator (Rams): Interviewed 1/21
- Kevin O’Connell, offensive coordinator (Rams): Interviewed 1/21
- Doug Pederson, former head coach (Eagles): Interview requested
- Dan Quinn, defensive coordinator (Cowboys): Interviewed 1/19; remaining in Dallas
- DeMeco Ryans, defensive coordinator (49ers): Interviewed 1/23
NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/27/22
Today’s reserve/futures deals around the NFL:
Green Bay Packers
- DL Jack Heflin
Miami Dolphins
- WR DeVonte Dedmon
New England Patriots
- G Drew Desjarlais
New York Giants
Steelers Request Interview With Joe Whitt For DC Position
Another name has been added to the list of Steelers targets for their vacant defensive coordinator role. Joe Whitt, the passing game coordinator/secondary coach for the Cowboys, has become the third external candidate for the position, according to Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper. 
The team has recently asked to meet with Kris Richard, the Saints’ defensive back coach, to replace the now-retired Keith Butler. Prior to that, Giants DC Patrick Graham received an interview request from the Steelers as well.
Whitt is generating interest with multiple teams. Both the Seahawks and Ravens have put in requests to meet with the 43-year-old for their respective DC vacancies. The experienced DB coach has served on the staff of five different teams during his NFL coaching career, never holding a title higher than pass game coordinator. His role in helping the Cowboys’ defense become one of the league’s better units – rather than a liability, as it had been in recent years – has obviously earned him opportunities for a promotion either elsewhere, or perhaps in Dallas if DC Dan Quinn takes one of the many HC jobs he has interviewed for.
The Steelers still have secondary coach Teryl Austin as an option if they prefer to promote from within. While that is certainly a possibility at this point, the team is clearly doing its due diligence with regards to outside candidates.