49ers To Name Head Coach Soon?
Although the 49ers aren’t likely to name a new head coach today, their search does appear to be wrapping up, and a new hire could be named “fairly soon,” sources tell Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com. Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson (whose interview is now complete, a source tells Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee on Twitter) still looks like the favorite for the job, and Maiocco reports that today’s meeting between Jackson and San Francisco management was “productive.”
[RELATED: 49ers fire Jim Tomsula]
As our head coaching search tracker shows, Jackson is the fifth candidate to interview with the 49ers, joining Anthony Lynn, Chip Kelly, Dirk Koetter, and John DeFillipo (the latter’s meeting may have been geared toward’s San Francisco’s offensive coordinator position). Additionally, Mike Shanahan is expected to interview at some point, while Mike Shula and Mike Holmgren have also been mentioned as candidates.
The Niners’ hunt for a new coach appears to be decidedly offensive in nature, as every coach mentioned above has a history on the offensive side of the ball. Jackson definitely fits that bill, but he also has other options, as he’s expected to meet with the Browns today as well. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported earlier today (Twitter link) that if Jackson’s interview went well, he could be named San Francisco’s head coach by the end of today. While it doesn’t look like that announcement will come today, there’s no denying the strong link between Jackson and the 49ers.
One last interesting note: As Raiders head coach, Jackson was apparently a big fan of Colin Kaepernick when the quarterback was entering the 2011 draft, according to Rand Getlin of the NFL Network (Twitter link), and pushed for Oakland to draft the Nevada QB. If that’s the case, maybe the appeal of salvaging Kaepernick’s career could be alluring to Jackson.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
PFR Originals: 1/3/16 – 1/10/16
The original content and analysis produced by the PFR staff during the past week:
- In last week’s Community Tailgate, Luke Adams asked for your predictions for Wild Card weekend. Stay tuned for all the newest Community Tailgates, where we’ll post a topic for discussion and ask for your opinions in the comments section.
- PFR’s Zach Links joined David Schultz on 103.7 The Game to discuss all the latest head coaching rumors. Take a listen at the link!
- Zach rounded up the best of the football blogs in the latest edition of Pigskin Links.
Vikings’ Chad Greenway Expects To Play In ’16
The Vikings suffered a devastating loss to the Seahawks earlier today, as kicker Blair Walsh missed a chip shot field goal that would have put Minnesota ahead with just seconds remaining in the contest. The defeat was so painful that it appears to have affected the plans of veteran Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway, who spoke about his NFL future after the game.
“I’ve got to play one more year,” Greenway told reporters, including Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link). “I can’t let it end like this.”
If Greenway makes good on his intentions to return, he’ll be entering his 11th NFL season, all of which have been spent with the Vikings after they selected him in the first round of the 2006 draft. This isn’t the first we’ve heard of Greenway wanting to return for the 2016 campaign (he said as much in late December), but it sounds as though today’s loss has reinforced those wishes.
Of course, the feeling would need to be mutual, as the Vikings also have a decision to make on Greenway. The 32-year-old isn’t signed for next season — he earned a base salary of $3.4MM this season after accepting a pay cut, and he’d likely have to take even less than that to return. With Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr dominating the snaps at linebacker, Greenway only saw the field in base packages, playing in about 58% of Minnesota’s snaps.
Photo courtesy of USA Sports Images.
Bills Extend GM Doug Whaley
4:01pm: The extension will align Whaley’s contract with that of Ryan’s, meaning both men are now locked up though 2019, according to Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News (Twitter link).
3:25pm: It’s a multi-year extension for Whaley, not a one-year “band-aid,” reports Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
3:03pm: The Bills have agreed to an extension with general manager Doug Whaley, team owner Kim Pegula announced today (via Twitter). Reports indicated last week that the two sides were working on a deal that would keep Whaley in Buffalo beyond 2016, and it appears that a contract did ultimately come together.
[RELATED: Bills plan to cut Mario Williams in offseason]
Whaley had just one year left on his contract before today’s agreement, and a report last week that owner Terry Pegula had issued an ultimatum to both Whaley and head coach Rex Ryan — win in 2016, or find new employment. That report was later refuted by other scribes and sources, but there’s no doubting that both the front office and coaching staff is under pressure to succeed next season. As PFR’s Luke Adams noted in the post linked above, the Pegulas spent $1.4 billion to purchase the franchise in 2014, so they probably wouldn’t worry about eating a few million dollars to replace a GM and/or head coach.
Whaley, who has been Buffalo’s GM since 2013, will certainly have his hands full during the upcoming offseason. He’ll need to consider extensions for offensive lineman Cordy Glenn and Richie Incognito, and perhaps most importantly, decide if his club will go forward with Tyrod Taylor as its starting quarterback.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Week In Review: 1/3/16 – 1/10/16
The headlines from the past week at PFR:
For all the latest on coaching news, be sure to follow our 2016 Head Coaching Search Tracker.
Coaching:
- The Dolphins have found a new head coach, hiring former Bears OC Adam Gase and signing him to five-year deal.
- After 12 years, the Giants parted ways with head coach Tom Coughlin.
- In a surprising move, the Buccaneers fired head coach Lovie Smith after two seasons.
- The Browns fired head coach Mike Pettine after two years.
- The 49ers fired Jim Tomsula after one season at the helm.
- Sean Payton will return as the Saints‘ head coach in 2016.
- The Bengals plan to retain head coach Marvin Lewis for a 14th season.
- The Colts extended head coach Chuck Pagano through 2019.
- Not wanting a lame duck coach, the Chargers extended Mike McCoy through 2017.
Front Office:
- The Lions hired former Patriots executive Bob Quinn as their new general manager.
- The Dolphins promoted Chris Grier to GM.
- The Browns promoted executive Sashi Brown to EVP of football operations while hiring MLB’s Paul DePodesta as chief strategy officer.
- The Titans parted ways with GM Ruston Webster.
- The Browns fired general manager Ray Farmer.
- The Colts extended general manger Ryan Grigson through 2019.
- The Falcons will retain general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
Extended:
- Chiefs – Demetrius Harris, TE (through 2018)
Signed:
- Washington – Cary Williams (link)
Other:
- Calvin Johnson considering retirement (link)
- Rams, Chargers, Raiders apply for LA relocation (link)
Lions Hire Ernie Accorsi As Special Advisor
After acting as a consultant during the Lions’ search for a new general manager, Ernie Accorsi‘s time with the club won’t be coming to an end just yet, as Detroit has hired the longtime NFL executive as a special advisor to team president Rod Wood, according to Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com.
[RELATED: Lions hire Bob Quinn as GM]
Accorsi, who also consulted with the Bears during their GM hunt last offseason, will bring a wealth of experience to the table as he works alongside Wood and first-time general manager Bob Quinn. The 74-year-old Accorsi has worked in the NFL since 1970, but his most memorable time came with the Giants, with whom he was employed from 1994-2007 (acting as GM from 1998 onward).
The move to bring in Accorsi could have wide-ranging implications for the Lions as a whole, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link), who says that Accorsi’s hiring should indicate that head coach Jim Caldwell is likely safe, as Accorsi has been very pragmatic regarding head coaches in the past. However, Accorsi himself told reporters, including Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com (Twitter link), that he will have nothing to do with Caldwell’s fate, as that decision will be left entirely to Quinn.
In other Lions news, Quinn will be officially be introduced as the club’s next general manger at a 2pm ET press conference tomorrow afternoon, tweets Twentyman.
Bengals Plan To Retain Marvin Lewis
Despite falling to 0-7 in the playoffs with a loss to the Steelers in the Wild Card round last night, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis is likely to return for a 14th season in 2016, as Adam Schefter of ESPN reports (Twitter link). Per Schefter, Cincinnati has no plans to make a coaching change at this time, and Lewis’ future with the club “really isn’t much of an issue.”
[RELATED: 2016 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker]
Reports this morning indicated that Lewis could be on the proverbial hot seat following last night’s loss. Not only did the defeat leave the coach still winless in the postseason, but the nature in which the Bengals lost was particularly embarrassing, with personal fouls in the final seconds of the contest ultimately costing Cincinnati a chance to move forward in the tournament.
Still, for a team that has preached continuity above all else, today’s report shouldn’t be particularly surprising. Under owner/GM Mike Brown, the Bengals aren’t a team to make reactionary decisions, as evidenced by Lewis being the second-longest tenured NFL head coach. It’s not as if Lewis hasn’t had success in the Queen City — he’s posted a career record of 112-92 — but until his team finally wins in the postseason, calls for him to be replaced aren’t likely to die down.
Cincinnati’s coaching staff is expected to undergo wholesale changes, however, at least on the assistant side of things. Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson is interviewing today with the Browns and the 49ers, and is said to be the leading candidate for the San Francisco job. Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has drawn interest from both the Eagles and the Browns, while defensive backs coach Vance Joseph appears likely to become the Dolphins’ DC.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Sunday Roundup: Wood, Burfict, Koetter
As the Vikings and Seahawks do battle in frigid Minneapolis, let’s take a look at some links from around the league:
- New Lions president Rod Wood admits to not having any football experience, but no one was especially concerned about that, as Wood is expected to handle the business side of the club while new GM Bob Quinn will handle the football side. But as Kyle Meinke of MLive.com writes, Detroit’s press release announcing Quinn’s hire noted that Quinn would report to team ownership and to Wood, which suggests that Wood could be wielding more power than initially believed.
- Unsurprisingly, Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict is facing a suspension for his hit on Antonio Brown last night, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter).
- ESPN’s Ed Werder believes it is “unlikely” that the Bengals will part ways with head coach Marvin Lewis (Twitter link), and Mark Maske of the Washington Post lays out the reasons for his belief that Lewis should stay.
- Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel believes the Packers‘ efforts this season have been hampered by GM Ted Thompson‘s lack of in-season roster moves to address the team’s weaknesses. Since 2010, Green Bay has been awarded just two players on waivers, and Thompson has gone to the practice squad 70% of the time to fill vacancies on the 53-man roster.
- Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune tweets that Dirk Koetter is still the leading candidate for the Buccaneers‘ head coaching job, though Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that Koetter “really impressed” the 49ers during his interview with San Francisco yesterday. Tampa Bay also interviewed Panthers DC Sean McDermott yesterday.
- Gus Bradley is taking his time with the Jaguars‘ search for a new defensive coordinator and has yet to establish a deadline for the decision, according to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida-Times Union.
- Texans unrestricted free agents Ben Jones and Jared Crick both expressed their desire to remain in Houston, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).
- Meanwhile, two notable players have declared that they will enter the NFL draft: Arkansas RB Alex Collins (Twitter link via ESPN’s Joe Schad) and Utah State LB Nick Vigil (Twitter link via Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net).
East Notes: Dolphins, M. Smith, Coughlin
In a fascinating post from Armando Salguero this morning, the Miami Herald scribe dives into the Dolphins‘ front office drama that the team hopes will come to an end in the Adam Gase era. In 2013, Salguero writes that the relationship between then-Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin and then-GM Jeff Ireland was on the rocks, and owner Stephen Ross ultimately chose to fire Ireland. Ross also debated firing then-offensive coordinator Mike Sherman, and in order to save his assistant and friend, Philbin privately blamed the team’s offensive struggles on quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
Although Philbin continued to toe the company line publicly, reaffirming his faith in Tannehill on numerous occasions–with one or two notable exceptions–his internal discussions had a much different tone. Philbin urged the team to draft Derek Carr in the first round of the 2014 draft, and even after Tannehill enjoyed a relatively successful 2014 campaign, Philbin continued to take out his frustrations on Tannehill, a trend that continued into the team’s difficult start to the 2015 season. Ultimately, that situation was one of the factors that led the Dolphins to hire Gase, who they expect to forge a relationship with the quarterback they’ve committed to and to make him the best player he can be.
Now let’s dive into a few more notes from the league’s east divisions, beginning with more out of South Beach.
- James Walker of ESPN.com affirms that Dan Campbell‘s future with the Dolphins will be determined by Gase, but Walker does add that Ross would like to keep Campbell on the team’s coaching staff. In a separate piece, Walker writes that Gase will be calling the team’s offensive plays.
- Mike Smith will interview with the Giants for their head coaching vacancy tomorrow, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter).
- Mike Garafolo of FOXSports tweets that there were “rumblings” that the Giants would interview Hue Jackson for their head coaching job, but they may not get that chance, as there are multiple reports suggesting that the 49ers could hire Jackson as early as today.
- Zach Berman of The Philadelphia Inquirer says former Giants head coach Tom Coughlin will meet with the Eagles tomorrow to discuss their head coaching vacancy. Interestingly, Berman calls the meeting an “interview,” and not a “feeling-out” as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com suggested yesterday.
- Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News compiles an offseason to-d0 list for the Bills, a list topped by an extension for GM Doug Whaley and a release of Mario Williams.
- David Moore of the Dallas Morning News looks into why the Cowboys have been unable to land an adequate backup quarterback for Tony Romo, and Moore says head coach Jason Garrett should bear as much responsibility for that failing as owner Jerry Jones.
Marvin Lewis Back On The Hot Seat?
On the heels of a gut-wrenching loss to the hated Steelers on Saturday night–a loss that dropped his overall playoff record as a head coach to 0-7–there is speculation that Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis could be on the outs in Cincinnati. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes that the loss–or, more specifically, the way in which the loss unfolded–might have put Lewis firmly on the hot seat. 
By now, the game has been dissected ad nauseum. With a 16-15 lead late in the game, Bengals RB Jeremy Hill lost a fumble deep in Steelers territory as his team was attempting to run out the clock, giving Pittsburgh one last gasp. Although the Steelers were able to convert a fourth down to keep their hopes alive, they were still well outside of field goal range with time running out when Vontaze Burfict was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty for a brutal hit laid on Antonio Brown after a Ben Roethlisberger pass sailed over Brown’s head. As Brown was being tended to by Pittsburgh’s medical staff, the Bengals were hit with another 15-yard penalty when Adam Jones bumped into an official while jawing with Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter (who was doing a fair amount of chirping in his own right, and who should not have been on the field at that time).
In any event, the thirty yards’ worth of penalties put the Steelers squarely in field goal range without having to run another play, and after kicker Chris Boswell split the uprights on a 35-yarder, the game was essentially over and the Bengals had suffered the type of loss that will leave permanent scars on the Queen City. And, as the man in charge of a team renowned for its volatility, Lewis may be forced to pay the price.
Lewis, of course, is no stranger to the hot seat. Despite an otherwise admirable coaching tenure in which he has turned one of the league’s laughingstocks into a yearly contender, Lewis has yet to deliver a playoff win, and rumors regarding his job security seem to spring up to at least some degree each offseason. But if team owner Mike Brown sees last night’s debacle as a direct reflection of Lewis’ control over his team, then he could finally decide to go in a different direction.
If he does, offensive coordinator Hue Jackson–who is expected to land a head coaching gig of his own anyway–could be offered a promotion to the top job, although Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets that defensive coordinator Paul Guenther would be the top internal candidate. For all of his flaws, Brown has at least recognized that maintaining continuity at the head coaching position is generally the appropriate strategy, but after a loss like last night’s, maybe it’s time for a change.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.