Bill Belichick “Absolutely” Will Stay With Patriots
Bad news for those of you who were hoping that the Patriots dynasty would be coming to an end this year. Bill Belichick told reporters on Monday morning that he “absolutely” plans to continue as the Patriots’ head coach into the 2018 regular season. 
Last week, an explosive piece from ESPN.com detailed a major rift within the Patriots organization. Belichick reportedly was forced to trade Jimmy Garoppolo during the season at the behest of owner Robert Kraft, perhaps with some urging by Tom Brady. Meanwhile, Brady and Belichick were said to be at odds over the constant presence of Brady’s trainer and his meddling with the recovery methods of other players on the roster. The events of the past year have led some within the building to wonder if this is Belichick’s final year on the New England sideline, according to the report.
For now, Belichick is putting such talk to rest. The Patriots begin their bid for yet another championship on Saturday when they take on the Titans.
Bengals Negotiating DC Deal With Teryl Austin
A sought-after name on the HC interview circuit in recent offseasons, Teryl Austin may be backing off those pursuits for the time being.
While he interviewed for the Lions’ HC job, the Bengals are negotiating with Austin to become their next defensive coordinator, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, adding the deal is not yet finalized but that could be imminent.
The Bengals interviewed Austin on Friday; he’s the only candidate the franchise has interviewed thus far in the process. The Lions blocked Austin from interviewing with the Packers but did not stand in the way of their DC speaking with Cincinnati representatives.
Rapoport notes (via Twitter) Austin is not yet eliminated for the Lions’ HC job, but he’s likely headed to western Ohio if he doesn’t get that job. Matt Patricia‘s viewed as the Detroit favorite.
The 52-year-old assistant’s been the Lions’ DC for the past four seasons. Prior to that, he spent three seasons in command of the Ravens’ secondary. Austin, who also oversaw the Seahawks’ and Cardinals’ secondaries during the 2000s, conducted a whopping 12 HC interviews over the past three offseasons. He spoke with the Rams and Chargers last season only to see those teams move in different directions.
Austin’s Lions defenses have not been top-tier units over the past three seasons. Statistically, they topped out at No. 18 in 2015 and ’16 in total defense before dropping to 27th in that category this season. In 2014, though, the Lions finished second in total defense to put Austin on the HC map.
The Bengals had hoped to keep Paul Guenther in charge of their defense, but he plans to join Jon Gruden’s staff in Oakland. Cincinnati also sought Bears DC Vic Fangio, but it appears Bengals brass is ready to hire Austin.
Johnny Manziel Offered CFL Contract
Former NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel has been offered a contract by the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, as the club announced today.
The CFL announced in late December that a Manziel contract would be approved for the 2018 season, opening a 10-day window during which the Tiger-Cats — the club which has controlled Manziel’s contractual rights for some time — could ink the former Browns signal-caller. Now that Hamilton has indeed offered a deal to Manziel, it’s up to the ex-first-round pick to decide if he wants to head north of the border.
There’s every indication that Manziel does indeed want to join the CFL, as Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reported last September that Manziel “very much wants” to sign with the Tiger-Cats or another CFL club. Manziel, whose original workout with Hamtilton reportedly didn’t go well, has evidently met the conditions set by the CFL in order to be approved for a contract. Those parameters included an in-person interview, a legal review, and an independent assessment of past off-field accusations against Manziel.
Manziel is still only 25 years old, but he hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2015 campaign. In eight career starts for the Browns, the former Heisman trophy winner completed 57% of his passes for 1,675 yards, seven touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
Packers To Hire Brian Gutekunst As GM
The Packers are promoting their director of player personnel, Brian Gutekunst, to general manager, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that it will be a five-year deal for Gutekunst.
Gutekunst is highly respected in scouting circles, and Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com writes that Gutekunst is the most well-rounded scout in Green Bay’s personnel department. Demovsky adds that Gutekunst dazzled Packers’ brass in his recent interview with the club.
Green Bay elected to hire Gutekunst, who has a strong personnel background, as opposed to fellow internal candidate Russ Ball, who is more of a salary cap guru (despite the fact that Ball was seen as the frontrunner throughout much of this process). In addition to Ball, the team also interviewed director of football operations Eliot Wolf, who for years was seen as the heir apparent to longtime GM Ted Thompson. Thompson, of course, stepped down to a different role within the organization at the beginning of the month, thereby triggering the team’s search for a replacement. It will be interesting to see what will become of Wolf and Ball now.
The Packers also expressed interest in Vikings assistant GM George Paton — though Minnesota denied Green Bay’s request to interview Paton — Seahawks GM John Schneider, and Ravens assistant GM Eric DeCosta. But in Gutekunst, they get an executive who was been with the club for 19 years — he started his Packers tenure as a collegiate scout — and who appears ready for his chance to run a franchise. Indeed, he had an excellent interview with the 49ers last offseason and nearly became San Francisco’s GM.
As Ed Werder tweets, an internal hiring like this one may be good news for Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, whose long-term future with the team could be bolstered with Gutekunst’s promotion.
Gutekunst was scheduled to interview with the Texans for Houston’s GM job today. Per John McClain of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter), Gutekunst did travel to Houston yesterday and had dinner with Texans head coach Bill O’Brien, but Green Bay never gave him the chance to interview with with the Texans.
The Texans, meanwhile, are likely to hire Bills VP of player personnel Brian Gaine as their next GM, according to multiple sources.
Mike Mularkey To Return To Titans In 2018
After guiding his team to a thrilling playoff win over the Chiefs yesterday, Titans head coach Mike Mularkey received assurance that he will be back in Tennessee next season, as Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com writes.
Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk issued the following statement on the matter:
“Our mantra all season has been to take things week by week and not get ahead of ourselves and it obviously has served us well. I regret that outside rumors gained a life of their own. No one has been a bigger supporter of Mike Mularkey than I have over the last two plus seasons. Mike and [GM] Jon [Robinson] have changed the culture of our team and organization and I am so happy we have been able to bring success on the field to our fans – winning 19 games over the last two seasons, including our first playoff win in nine years. Just to eliminate any distractions moving forward, Mike Mularkey is our head coach and will be our head coach moving forward. We still have work to be done, including this week, but I am looking forward to the journey.”
Mularkey, of course, was rumored to be on the hot seat even though the Titans made the playoffs this year. If his team had lost yesterday, he may have been fired, as the team was reportedly frustrated with the way QB Marcus Mariota was progressing. Mariota did indeed take a step backwards in 2017 after an excellent 2016, but he played well yesterday in guiding the Titans to a comeback victory. Had Mularkey been fired, Patriots OC Josh McDaniels was said to be Tennessee’s top choice to replace him.
Following underwhelming stints in Buffalo and Jacksonville, Mularkey replaced Ken Whisenhunt as the Titans head coach midway through the 2015 season. He went 2-7 during the remainder of that campaign, but he’s led his team to 9-7 records over the past two seasons. He faces exceedingly long odds to take Tennessee back to the Super Bowl, but even if he cannot achieve that goal this year, he will get another shot next season.
ESPN’s Field Yates tweets that the Titans’ players immensely respect and appreciate Mularkey, which certainly helped secure his return.
Pat Shurmur Could Bring Case Keenum If Hired As HC
Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is one of the more sought-after head coaching candidates this year, and as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com writes, one of the reasons for that is that he could bring current Vikings QB Case Keenum with him.
Shurmur has interviewed with four different clubs already, and two of those teams — the Cardinals and Giants — could be classified as “quarterback-needy.” Keenum, of course, is one of this season’s feel-good stories, stepping in for the injured Sam Bradford to lead Minnesota to a first-round bye. He is 11-3 as a starter this season, completing 67.6% of his passes, throwing for 22 touchdowns against just seven interceptions, and posting a 98.3 quarterback rating in the process.
Luckily for Keenum, and for teams in search for a quarterback, the Houston product will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. As Schefter writes, Keenum and Shurmur have developed a close working relationship and think very highly of each other, leading league sources to believe that the two men could depart Minnesota as a package deal.
The Vikings will take on the winner of today’s Saints-Panthers matchup next week.
Chiefs Expected To Trade Alex Smith
Just yesterday, we learned that the Chiefs would be open to trading QB Alex Smith this offseason, but that they would not actively seek out trade partners.
But a lot can change in a day. Ian Rapoport, who reported yesterday that Kansas City would be willing to listen to offers on Smith, says today that the Chiefs, who suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Titans less than 24 hours ago, are likely to deal the Utah product in the coming months (video link).
As Rapoport observes, Smith’s value is as high as it can be after a strong 2017 campaign. He set several career-highs in 2017, including passing yards (4,042) and touchdowns (26). He also completed 67.5% of his passes and threw only five interceptions, leading to some early-season MVP rumblings. He also led the league in quarterback rating (104.7).
Plus, Smith has a very tradeable contract, as he is owed a relatively low (for a good QB) $17MM in 2018, the last year of his current deal. Rapoport notes that any new team would need to give Smith a new contract, but money should not be an obstacle to actually acquiring him.
Rapoport named a number of teams that could be interested in Smith in yesterday’s report, but today he specifically mentioned the Browns as a potential landing spot — new GM John Dorsey has already traded for Smith once in his career — and he named the Cardinals as another logical destination. Mike Jurecki of 98.7 FM confirms that Arizona will indeed have interest in Smith, though they would still likely draft a QB even if they land him (Twitter links).
Smith himself is not ready to talk about his future, as Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk (citing the Kansas City Star) writes.
Raiders Hire Jon Gruden As Head Coach
It’s officially official. The Raiders have announced that Jon Gruden is their new head coach. They’ll (re) introduce Gruden to Oakland media in a Tuesday press conference.
Recently, Gruden admitted there is a “good chance” that he’ll become the next coach of the Raiders. However, he denied reports indicating that he will wind up with a piece of team ownership as part of the deal. Even without minority ownership, this is a colossal deal for Gruden. It’s a ten-year contract likely to be worth about $100MM, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
The sum of Gruden’s contract is jaw-dropping, but he provides a great deal of value to the Raiders outside of football. His presence will keep the fanbase in Oakland engaged for the next two years before the move to Las Vegas. Once they arrive in Nevada, Gruden’s popularity could boost ticket sales and the value of local media rights packages.
From a football perspective, Gruden offers familiarity with team ownership and a winning pedigree. It’s also an opportunity for the Raiders to rewrite history. Under Gruden, the Raiders reached the playoffs twice, ascending to the AFC Championship game in the 2000 season before their heartbreaking loss to the Patriots in the following year. In 2002, the Raiders traded Gruden to the Buccaneers for a whopping package that included two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and $8MM in cash. That season, of course, gave us the Gruden Bowl. Gruden’s Bucs blew the doors off of the Raiders and won by a score of 48-21.
One can’t help but wonder how the late Al Davis would feel about all of this. The Raiders owner always had a pension for defying popular thought, but his reluctance to dole out exorbitant salaries to coaches is what led to Gruden’s departure in the first place. Fifteen years later, Gruden is back in Oakland with a record-breaking contract.
Unlike the Cardinals, Bears, Lions, Colts, and Giants, the Raiders did not cast a wide net in their coaching search. This week, the team interviewed incumbent tight ends coach Bobby Johnson and met with one other unknown candidate to fulfill the Rooney Rule. With that obligation out of the way, the Raiders are set to announce the signing of the only coach they were ever interested in hiring.
Already, Gruden’s staff is taking shape. The Raiders will hire Rams quarterbacks coach Greg Olson as their offensive coordinator and former Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther as their new DC, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). And, as previously reported, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia will be moving from Dallas to Oakland.
The deals for each coordinator will be four years in length, giving them two years in Oakland and two years in Las Vegas, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The deals will also be backloaded in order to capitalize on the absence of state income taxes in Nevada, Michael Gehlken of the Journal-Review tweets.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lions Likely To Hire Matt Patricia
It sounds like Matt Patricia is ready to leave the nest. The Patriots are bracing for their defensive coordinator to leave, most likely to become the next head coach of the Lions, a source with knowledge of the situation tells Mike Florio of PFT. 
As shown in PFR’s Head Coaching Search Tracker, Patricia is up for three jobs with the Lions, Cardinals, and Giants all showing interest. If the Lions are indeed hiring him, they’ll have to wait until the Patriots’ season is officially over to put pen to paper. However, they could reach a handshake agreement with him before that point.
Patricia has been praised for his defensive acumen and his pre-existing relationship with GM Bob Quinn gives him an advantage over others who are up for the job. If Patricia is the hire in Detroit, it will have a ripple effect across the league and possibly displace incumbent coordinators Jim Bob Cooter (offense) and Teryl Austin (defense). Both Austin and Cooter met with the team about a potential promotion to HC.
The Patriots’ postseason gets underway next Saturday in the divisional round.
Chiefs Would Consider Trading QB Alex Smith This Offseason
[UPDATE: Chiefs Expected To Trade Alex Smith]
It sounds like trade rumors will hound quarterback Alex Smith once again. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Chiefs will be open to trading the signal-caller this offseason. The reporter notes that the front office won’t “actively seek out trade partners,” but they’ll listen to any inquiries.
Considering the veteran’s age and the presence of 2017 first-rounder Patrick Mahomes, Smith was mentioned in trade rumors last offseason. At the time, head coach Andy Reid and ownership offered their public support for the aging quarterback, and Smith responded with one of the best seasons of his career. The 33-year-old set several career-highs in 2017, including passing yards (4,042) and touchdowns (26). He also completed 67.5-percent of his passes and threw only five interceptions, leading to some early-season MVP rumblings.
Of course, Smith is set to make $17MM next season, and Mahomes looked solid during his Week 17 start (22-of-35 for 284 yards). As Rapoport mentions, the team could surely receive more than the pair of second-rounders they gave up when they acquired Smith from San Francisco in 2013. Still, the Chiefs earned the four seed in the AFC this season, and the reporter warns that the team could hold on to Smith if they make a run to the Super Bowl. In other words, trade talks surely won’t heat up under Kansas City’s season is officially over.
Rapoport lists a number of teams that could have interest in the veteran quarterback, including the Jets, Broncos, Jaguars, Bills, Browns, and Cardinals. He specifically notes that Arizona had interest in Smith back when he was on the 49ers, and he says the Broncos have already considered a pursuit.