Latest On Reuben Foster
On Sunday, Reuben Foster was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on charges relating to domestic violence. On Monday, The Mercury News’ Robert Salonga and Cam Inman report that his girlfriend accused Foster of physically dragging her during an argument in a home in Los Gatos. 
According to their sources, the incident left the woman injured but the extent of those injuries were not disclosed. She also told police during a 911 call that he owned semiautomatic rifles, and officers recovered a SIG Sauer 516 short-barreled rifle. Foster was booked on suspicion of domestic violence, making criminal threats, and possessing an assault weapon. He was later released after he posted $75,000 bail.
If found guilty of domestic violence, Foster could face one to four years in jail. Another year or more could be tacked onto that for the assault weapon, Inman reports.
This is Foster’s second arrest within the last month. The 2017 first-round pick was arrested on second-degree marijuana possession charges in mid-January. That arrest figures to void some of Foster’s guarantees. This one could well affect his availability for the 2018 season. A six-game suspension is in play for Foster, even if he’s not ultimately convicted.
Foster went into the team facility and met with team officials today following his arrest, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported (Twitter link). He adds that a resolution will not happen quick, as the team plans to go through a fact-finding process.
The current San Francisco power structure has acted swiftly in the past when dealing with domestic violence incidents. Although charges against Tramaine Brock were later dropped, the 49ers cut the productive cornerback the day after he was arrested last April. It’s extremely unlikely they’ll take this route with Foster, however, given his standing within the organization. But the second-year player is now probably on much thinner ice with his team.
The rookie played in 10 games in 2017, making 72 tackles. The 49ers traded back into the first round to draft him at No. 31 after the Alabama product fell from a high first-round pick due to injury concerns.
Colts Expected To Pursue Anthony Hitchens
After the hiring of former Cowboys linebackers coach Matt Eberflus as the team’s new defensive coordinator, the Colts are expected to make a play for Dallas linebacker Anthony Hitchens once free agency opens, Ed Werder speculates (Twitter link). 
Werder goes on to say Eberflus values him as a high-quality player who can help others learn the system. Though Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones has made re-signing Hitchens one of the team’s top priorities in free agency, the team isn’t expected to have much cap room to work with assuming it works out a deal or places the franchise tag on defensive end Demarcus Lawrence.
Though it is just speculation, the move makes plenty of sense and Werder is among the most well-connected reporters working around the Cowboys. No one should be better at setting Hitchens’ value than the Colts new defensive coordinator, who coached the linebacker since he entered the league in 2014.
Hitchens has started 48 of his 60 career games, with the majority coming at middle linebacker. He is versatile, however, and is capable of playing just about anywhere in Eberflus’ 4-3 scheme. Despite missing four games in 2017, Hitchens made 84 tackles.
Colts Request OC Interview With Chargers’ Nick Sirianni
The Colts have participated in one of the strangest coaching searches in recent memory, but they concluded the process of identifying a head coach upon hiring Frank Reich earlier on Sunday. Now, they’re moving on to addressing key assistant positions.
Reich is targeting Chargers wide receivers coach Nick Sirianni for his offensive coordinator post, with Albert Breer of SI.com reporting (on Twitter) the Colts have submitted a request to meet with Sirianni.
The Chargers will grant this request, Breer reports (on Twitter).
Reich has a history working with Sirianni. The Bolts’ OC from 2014-15, Reich oversaw Sirianni’s work as San Diego’s quarterbacks coach. Over the past two seasons, Sirianni has worked with the Chargers’ wideouts.
The Colts have gone through some names in this complex search. Initially, the would-be Josh McDaniels-led staff was thought to feature former Raiders assistant Jake Peetz as OC. The franchise also has Darrell Bevell on its radar, repeatedly bringing up the ex-Seahawks OC’s name during interviews. Bevell is a coaching free agent, and although he’s linked to the Giants’ job as well, he would not require any permission to interview.
However, Reich’s history with the 36-year-old Sirianni probably shouldn’t be underestimated. Sirianni worked with the Chiefs during Scott Pioli‘s four years in Kansas City, serving as assistant QBs coach in 2010, before relocating to San Diego prior to the 2013 season.
This is, however, the first time Sirianni’s name has come up in a coordinator search. He was on the quality control level as recently as the 2013 season, when Reich was the Chargers’ QBs coach during a 9-7 campaign that doubled as the franchise’s most recent playoff appearance.
Reuben Foster Arrested On Domestic Violence-Related Charges
Reuben Foster is currently being held in Santa Clara County Jail after being booked Sunday on charges relating to domestic violence, Sarah Ravani and Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle report.
The 23-year-old 49ers linebacker remains in jail, according to the Chronicle writers. Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News tweets Foster is being held on $75,000 bail. The 49ers are aware of the arrest and gathering information, per Branch (on Twitter).
In addition to the domestic violence allegation, Foster was also booked on suspicion for possessing an assault rifle, Robert Salonga of the Mercury News reports (via Twitter).
This is Foster’s second arrest within the last month, although this one appears far more serious.
The 2017 first-round pick was arrested on second-degree marijuana possession charges in mid-January. That arrest figures to void some of Foster’s guarantees. This one could well affect his availability for the 2018 season. A six-game suspension is in play for Foster, even if he’s not ultimately convicted. Branch tweets it’s unknown if league discipline will be levied for the January marijuana arrest.
Foster’s draft stock fell because of injuries and potentially his being kicked out of the Combine last year. While the 49ers look to have drafted a high-ceiling talent, with Foster playing well when available during his rookie season, the former Alabama stalwart has some potentially significant off-field baggage to surmount.
The current San Francisco power structure has acted swiftly in the past when dealing with domestic violence incidents. Although charges against Tramaine Brock were later dropped, the 49ers cut the productive cornerback the day after he was arrested last April. It’s extremely unlikely they’ll take this route with Foster, however, given his standing within the organization. But the second-year player is now probably on much thinner ice with his team.
Colts Hire Frank Reich As Head Coach
The Colts have hired Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich as their new head coach, the club announced today. It will be a five-year deal for Reich, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (Twitter link), who first reported Reich had agreed to terms with Indianapolis. Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com indicated earlier today that Reich was the favorite for the Colts’ vacancy.
Indianapolis, of course, was forced to restart its head coaching search last week after Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels — who’d already been announced as the club’s choice — rejected the Colts’ offer. Reich was one of three candidates interviewed by general manager Chris Ballard, who also met with Saints tight ends coach Dan Campbell and Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub was expected to be a candidate for the Colts, but was never interviewed.
Reich will reportedly utilize several of McDaniels’ staff choices as his assistants, as the Colts are expected to honor their contracts for defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo, and defensive line coach Matt Phair, all of whom inked deals with Indy before McDaniels spurned the club. On the offensive side of the ball, the Colts are high on ex-Seahawks OC Darrell Bevell, but it’s unclear if Reich will hire the free agent play-caller.
After helping lead a Philadelphia offense which ranked third in scoring, seventh in yards, and eighth in DVOA, Reich was expected to garner head coaching interest this offseason, but he didn’t receive a single interview request until the Colts called. It was a similar story last year, when Reich was thought to have a meeting lined up regarding the Bills open HC job, but never formally spoke with the club. Reich last interviewed for head coaching vacancies in 2015 when he met with both Buffalo and New York.
The 56-year-old Reich, who is perhaps best known for leading the Bills offense back from a 32-point deficit in a 1993 playoff game, has worked as an NFL coach since 2008. After spending time with the Colts and Cardinals, Reich was the Chargers’ offensive coordinator from 2014-15 before joining the Eagles the following year.
Philadelphia has now lost its top two offensive assistants from its Super Bowl-winning staff, as quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo is now the Vikings’ offensive coordinator. Running backs coach Duce Staley could be the favorite to take over as the Eagles’ OC, as Philadelphia is not expected to allow the division-rival Giants interview Staley for the same role on their staff.
Frank Reich Favorite For Colts’ HC Job
Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich has emerged as the favorite to become the Colts’ next head coach, as Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com report. The two sides still have to work out contractual details, but Indianapolis wants to bring Reich aboard.
The Colts, of course, were left at the altar when their previous top choice, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, spurned Indy’s offer at the eleventh hour. After the McDaniels debacle, the Colts interviewed Reich, Bills DC Leslie Frazier, and Saints tight ends coach Dan Campbell. In all, the team has interviewed eight candidates for the position, several of whom accepted head coaching jobs elsewhere before the Colts’ “second search” commenced.
Reich was a hot name at the beginning of this year’s coaching cycle, which makes sense considering how effective the Eagles’ offense was in 2017. However, over time, quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo wound up garnering more attention from teams with HC vacancies thanks to his role in Carson Wentz‘s development (DeFilippo, of course, wound up taking the Vikings’ offensive coordinator position). Reich’s candidacy may also have been hurt by the fact that Doug Pederson is the play-caller in Philadelphia.
Reich, a former third-round pick from the University of Maryland, was an NFL quarterback for 13 seasons, though he started only 20 games during that time (posting a 5-15 record in the process). His playing career ended in 1998, and his coaching career began in 2006 as an intern with the Colts. He eventually moved up Indianapolis’ coaching ranks and served as the team’s WRs coach in 2011. He served in the same capacity with the Cardinals in 2012 and worked as the Chargers’ quarterbacks coach in 2013 before being named the Bolts’ OC in 2014. He worked in that role for two seasons before becoming the Eagles’ OC in 2016.
Speaking of the Eagles, this leaves the Super Bowl champs in a bit of a lurch. They are on the verge of losing two well-respected offensive coaches in Reich and DeFilippo, which means that current running backs coach Duce Staley could be in line to become the team’s new OC. Staley was also rumored to be the Giants’ current top choice for OC, so Big Blue will be left scrambling if Philadelphia does not let Staley get away.
In the end, the Colts may well get a Super Bowl LII OC, just not the one they expected. However, as Schefter and Mortensen note, neither GM Chris Ballard nor the team had any comment Sunday about this latest development. Given what Indianapolis just went through with McDaniels, no announcement will be made until after a contract is fully executed with a new coach, a source said.
Vikings Deny Giants Permission To Interview Kevin Stefanski
The Giants are going to have to look elsewhere for an offensive coordinator, because the Vikings don’t plan to open the door for Kevin Stefanski to leave the Twin Cities.
The Vikings denied the Giants permission to interview their quarterbacks coach for their OC job, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (Facebook link). This comes even after the Vikings hired Eagles QBs coach John DeFilippo to replace Pat Shurmur.
Shurmur will now have to move on to other candidates to fill the OC post in New York. DeFilippo’s arrival in Minnesota certainly makes the franchise preventing Stefanski from becoming an OC interesting, especially after the Eagles granted DeFilippo permission for the Vikings interview, but the defending NFC North champions did interview Stefanski for their OC job and clearly don’t want to lose him just yet.
The Giants are also believed to be considering Eagles running backs coach Duce Staley and former Seahawks OC Darrell Bevell for the position. But with Stefanski’s ties to Shurmur, he was the logical favorite to be the new Big Blue HC’s right-hand man on offense.
No interviews have commenced for this position, with Stefanski apparently set to be the first. Meetings about this job figure to occur soon, though, now that Stefanski won’t be going to the Big Apple.
Stefanski, 35, has been with the Vikings for 12 seasons. He was already an assistant quarterbacks coach by age 27, when then-starting passer Brett Favre was 40, illustrating how the franchise views him. Stefanski’s moved from tight ends coach to running backs instructor to QBs coach over the past four years, and it looks like he’ll stay on for a second season developing Minnesota’s signal-callers — now under DeFilippo’s direction.
Shurmur and Staley have an extensive history, with the former running back being a player during Shurmur’s first Philadelphia stint and then a coach during his second, whereas Shurmur and Bevell have never coached on an NFL staff together. However, Shurmur looks to be seeking an OC with experience coaching quarterbacks, and Staley has yet to serve in that role since breaking into the coaching ranks. Former Cardinals OC Harold Goodwin has also been mentioned as a candidate.
Staley will require Eagles permission to interview with the Giants, whereas Bevell and Goodwin are coaching free agents.
Lynch, Gruden Have Met Multiple Times
Though it had been reported that Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch had been “blowing off” new head coach Jon Gruden, the veteran back’s agent Doug Hendrickson dispelled those rumors on Twitter on Friday. 
Hendrickson tweeted: “To all the couch potato non verified media ppl speaking on Marshawn Lynch-get a real job and check sources! #beastmode.” The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Michael Gehlken confirmed as much with his sources (Twitter link).
Lynch is signed through the 2018 and possesses a cap number of $6 MM. Though some have speculated the pair might butt heads, it appears the two are working to find a fit for the running back in the team’s new system.
After a year away from football, Lynch returned to the gridiron with the Raiders and produced 891 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 207 carries. Though Oakland suffered a disappointing campaign, the five-time Pro Bowl back proved he had plenty left in the tank.
Reactions To Jimmy Garoppolo Contract
On Thursday, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo signed the richest contract in the NFL when the 49ers inked him to a five-year, $137.5MM deal. The Niners’ new signal-caller talked to reporters on Friday and said he wanted to get a deal done as fast as possible.
“This is where I want to be, honestly,” he said. “It’s only going to help our team going forward, going into free agency, and it’s 75 degrees out here. It’s not a snowstorm like Chicago.”
San Francisco’s chief contract negotiator Paraag Marathe said the deal was a simple one. “John [Lynch] and Kyle [Shanahan] decide if he’s the man. If he’s the man, then we pay the man.” Though they were aggressive with the deal, 49ers general manager John Lynch said they were “going to be aggressively prudent” going forward, the Sacramento Bee’s Matt Barrows writes.
Here’s a look at some of the others reactions to the deal:
- Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio said Garoppolo could’ve gotten more from the 49ers by “forcing two or three years of the tag, especially since 2021 and 2022 would have been the first two years of a market-value contract, not the below-market back end of a five-year deal.”
- Andrew Brandt of The MMQB is a fan of the deal for the 49ers (Twitter link). He says that despite the leverage Garoppolo held in the situation, San Francisco still made out with a “two years and we’ll see” deal.
- Marathe also said the team has between $62-63MM in cap space, NBC Sports’ Mike Maiocco tweets. Though Lynch said the team will be conservative, San Francisco is set up to spend big if it wants to make an immediate push.
- ESPN’s Dan Graziano also thinks this is a steal for the 49ers. “But beyond this year, the only remaining guarantee is $7.5 million of his $17.2 million 2019 salary. … Basically, the Niners, who were projected to have about $100 million in cap space this year, used $37 million of it by front-loading this deal now, when they can afford to pay anything.”
John DeFilippo Sheds Light On Minnesota Plans
Friday morning, former Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo was hired as the offensive coordinator in Minnesota to replace Pat Shurmur, who took the head-coaching gig with the Giants. In the afternoon, he addressed his plans for the team’s offense and noted a few opportunities in the league that were presented to him. 
The 39-year-old coach said he interviewed for head-coaching positions in Arizona and Chicago and was requested by a few teams for the offensive coordinator positions, Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. “When the Minnesota Vikings want to talk to you, that’s a whole different ball game,” DeFilippo said. “It was obviously a special opportunity to work for Coach Zimmer and learn from him and work for another great head coach and another opportunity for myself to call plays.”
DeFilippo hasn’t called plays since serving as the Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2015. There was an opportunity for him to become the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia if current offensive coordinator Frank Reich became head coach in Indianapolis. He, however, would not call plays due to head coach Doug Pederson fulfilling that role.
With Sam Bradford, Case Keenum and Teddy Bridgewater all preparing to enter free agency, DeFilippo said athleticism in the pocket is a must, Tomasson reports (Twitter link). None of those passers are really known for their athleticism, but Keenum did show an ability to sidestep the rush during his breakout 2017 campaign.
DeFilippo also said he will incorporate elements of the Eagles offense while keeping the aspects that Minnesota did well in 2017, the Star Tribune Ben Goessling tweets.