A handful of reserve/futures deals to pass along:
Jacksonville Jaguars
- TE Shawn Bowman, CB Christian Braswell, WR Joshua Cephus, OL Dennis Daley, OL Dieter Eiselen, CB Zech McPhearson, WR Austin Trammell
Washington Commanders
- CB Bobby Price
One minor transactions to pass along:
Chicago Bears
- Claimed off waivers (from Chargers): OL Jordan McFadden
The Bears claimed Jordan McFadden off waivers from the Chargers exactly one month ago today. However, since the team didn’t have any remaining games on their schedule, the move was deferred until the first business day after the Super Bowl. So, while McFadden had been destined to land in Chicago, the move was only made official today.
A 2023 fifth-round pick, McFadden saw a reduced role playing for a new coaching staff in 2024. As a rookie, the Clemson product got into 12 games (two starts), but he was limited to only a single appearance this past season.
Chukwuma Okorafor‘s time with the Patriots has come to a predictable end. ESPN’s Field Yates reports that the organization has released the offensive tackle.
Okorafor’s stint in New England effectively ended in September, when he voluntarily left the team. That followed a Week 1 cameo where he allowed six QB pressures on each of his six pass-blocking opportunities. Okorafor started that game but was pulled after only 12 snaps.
At the time of his departure, the veteran was described as “checked out mentally,” and he was reportedly “contemplating his future in football.” The Patriots subsequently placed him on the exempt/left squad list, and Okorafor didn’t make another appearance during the 2024 campaign.
New England handed the former Steelers OT a one-year, $4MM deal last offseason that could hit $8MM via playing time incentives. The veteran was set to earn $3.125MM in guarantees, but his departure provided the front office with an opportunity to recoup some of that money. It’s uncertain where the two sides ultimately landed, and perhaps their negotiations culminated in today’s transaction (although that’s just my speculation).
Today’s transaction is notable because Okorafor was an impending free agent. The Patriots showed some goodwill towards the veteran by cutting him early, meaning he can get a head start on finding his next home. According to Yates, the 27-year-old is motivated to find a new landing spot before the start of free agency.
Considering his questionable stay in New England, it’s uncertain how much interest Okorafor will truly garner. In his defense, he was playing out of position at LT during his disastrous Week 1 showing, and the veteran made a name for himself as a steady RT in Pittsburgh. Okorafor will surely have to settle for another prove-it deal, but he should be relatively enticing as a low-risk option for OL-needy squads.
FEBARUARY 9: With Graham active for tonight, Huff is amongst the Eagles’ healthy scratches. The latter had played in two of Philadelphia’s postseason games, and after signing a $17MM-per-year pact the fact he is not in the team’s Super Bowl lineup is a rather notable development. Most of Huff’s 2025 compensation is guaranteed, but his next action for Philadelphia will come next year.
FEBRUARY 8: The biggest game of the year will take place tomorrow night as the Chiefs are looking to threepeat for the first time in NFL history. The Eagles, on the other hand, are looking to avenge their Super Bowl loss to Patrick Mahomes and company from just two years ago. As has been the case all year, each team is allowed to elevate two players from their practice squad. Philadelphia has also taken the additional step to activate defensive end Brandon Graham from injured reserve. 
Graham suffered a triceps tear in November, and it immediately became clear that he would not play again during the regular season. Triceps tears come with lengthy recovery timetables, and the 36-year-old said in the aftermath of the game in which his took place that he would be out for the rest of the year. As the season went on and the postseason drew nearer, hope began to rise that Graham would be able to make a return if the Eagles could last long enough to play in the Super Bowl.
To add on to that, Graham, who has spent his entire 15-year tenure in Philadelphia, said in July that he would retire following the 2024 campaign. If he is going to hold true to his word, he needed the team to keep winning in order to play one more game in green.
Luckily for Graham, his team held up their end of the bargain, and now, he’ll be able to hold up his. A Graham comeback will be significant for the Eagles, who have dealt with injuries to both he and Bryce Huff this season. Huff has since returned, though he is playing behind starters Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith in Vic Fangio‘s defense. At the time of his injury, Graham had already topped his 2023 full-season totals for sacks and QB hits in 11 games this season. The longest-tenured player in Eagles history was sitting on 3.5 and seven, respectively, in those categories when he went down against the Rams.
In order to make room on the roster, the Eagles have placed backup center Nick Gates on injured reserve. For their two practice squad callups, the Eagles have tabbed fullback Khari Blasingame and linebacker Nicholas Morrow. Blasingame has been elevated for all three of the team’s playoff games so far, while Morrow has been elevated for each of the last two.
The Chiefs only made standard gameday practice squad elevations today. Linebacker Swayze Bozeman and cornerback Steven Nelson will join the active roster for the final game of the season. Bozeman has played in two playoff games already for Kansas City, while Nelson will be making his 2024 debut.
With the new league year approaching, teams on currently on pace to be over the 2025 salary cap have work to do on the cost-cutting front. The Seahawks are among them, and they have manufactured some breathing room through simple means. 
Seattle has restructured defensive lineman Leonard Williams‘ contract, as detailed by Over the Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald. The team converted $18.75MM in base salary into a bonus while adding two void years to the pact. As a result, Williams’ 2025 cap charge has been lowered from $29.1MM to $14.06MM.
The Seahawks pulled off a midseason trade for Williams in 2023, and he had a strong 10-game run to close out the campaign with his new team. That resulted in a three-year, $64.5MM deal being worked out last offseason to keep him in the Emerald City. The former Jet and Giant delivered a strong season in 2024, racking up 11 sacks and 16 tackles for loss en route to the second Pro Bowl nod of his career.
Given his production, Williams represented a logical candidate for such a financial move aimed at creating immediate cap space. The downside to this reworking, of course, is the effect it will have next offseason. Williams is now set to carry a 2026 cap hit of $29.64MM, something which could lead the team down the restructure path once again or lend itself to an extension. A decision on that front will be informed by the 30-year-old’s level of play on a defensive line which also includes veteran Dre’Mont Jones and 2024 first-rounder Byron Murphy.
While this Williams move helps Seattle’s immediate financial outlook, the team is still projected to be more than $13MM over the cap for 2025. More maneuvering will therefore be needed, especially once the official cap ceiling for next season is unveiled.
Along with the hiring of new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel came the addition of two new coordinators, as well, in offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Terrell Williams. Each coordinator went about building their new staffs, with lots of new names arriving in New England over the past few weeks. ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported the final lineup today. 
On offense, we had already heard about the hirings of quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant, wide receivers coach Todd Downing, and offensive assistant Riley Larkin. We had also been informed that Thomas Brown, Doug Marrone, and Jason Houghtaling had been hired, but we weren’t yet made aware of their positions. Reiss’ report tells us that Brown will serve as tight ends coach and passing game coordinator, Marrone will be offensive line coach, and Houghtaling will be assistant offensive line coach under Marrone.
New information tells us that, joining Houghtaling as an assistant offensive line coach under Marrone, Robert Kugler has been retained from last year’s staff. Kugler held the same position with the Texans and Panthers before joining the Patriots as an assistant offensive line coach last year. We also learned that Tony Dews has been hired as running backs coach. Dews served the same position under Vrabel during his tenure in Tennessee (including one year as tight ends coach) before spending last year as running backs coach for the Jets. Lastly on offense, Chuckie Keeton‘s coaching journey continues in New England after he debuted for the Seahawks as an offensive assistant last year.
On defense, we had already heard of the hirings of Zak Kuhr, Scott Booker, and Clint McMillan, as well as the retention of Ben McAdoo, but thanks to Reiss, we now know that Kuhr will serve as inside linebackers coach, Booker as safeties coach, and McMillan as defensive line coach. McAdoo served last year as a senior offensive assistant for the team, and in 2025, he will switch sides of the ball as a senior defensive assistant. Reiss also informed us that defensive assistant Vinny DePalma was retained in the same role. Last year was his first year in the NFL — or coaching period — after finishing his collegiate playing career as a linebacker at Boston College.
Reiss also reported four defensive hirings. We had heard that the Patriots were targeting Colts assistant defensive backs coach Justin Hamilton, and Reiss has him listed as the team’s new safeties coach. Hamilton held a defensive quality control coaching role on the Titans during Vrabel’s last year in Tennessee before landing his role in Indianapolis last year. The Patriots have also hired Mike Smith as outside linebackers coach. Smith has held the same role previously with the Chiefs, Packers, and Vikings but spent last year away from coaching. Lastly, the Patriots announced the hirings of Milton Patterson and Kevin Richardson as defensive assistants. Patterson makes his NFL coaching debut after five seasons as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Florida A&M. Richardson is likewise debuting as a coach in the NFL following two seasons as assistant defensive backs coach at Illinois.
Finally, on special teams, we learned that Tom Quinn has been retained as assistant special teams coach. We knew that special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer had been retained, and while we don’t know his exact fate, Coby Tippett, a special teams assistant coach last year, was not included in today’s staff announcements. We also learned that Deron Mayo was retained as strength and conditioning coach despite his brother’s dismissal as head coach.
There you have it: the Patriots 2025 coaching staff. There are lots of areas that need improvement in order for the Patriots to see success next season, but it all starts with the coaching staff. Vrabel returns with head coaching experience under his belt, and he will try to bring some of the success he had as head coach at Tennessee with him to New England.
About two weeks ago, the Texans announced that they were parting ways with team president Greg Grissom after 23 years with the franchise. It didn’t take long for Houston to identify his replacement, announcing early the following week that Mike Tomon would be stepping into the role.
Tomon was a 2015 winner of the Sports Business Journal’s “40 under 40” award and was recognized as a Top 500 Business Leader by Dallas Magazine in 2024. Before all that, Tomon held senior roles with three NBA franchises (the Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Bobcats, and Phoenix Suns) with a focus on premium ticketing, partnerships, and strategy, before serving as senior vice president of global partnerships at AEG. All of this led to his addition to Legends in 2014.
At Legends, where Tomon most recently served as co-president & chief operating officer, he was responsible for global operations, including domestic and international revenue generation. His time at Legends saw the company establish partnerships with soccer brands Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and FIFA, as well as the Rugby World Cup. He’s also been involved in commercial engagements for NFL venues like SoFi Stadium, Allegiant Stadium, Highmark Stadium, and The Star in Frisco. He also lent a hand with the 2024 Olympics in Paris and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Tomon’s myriad business experience will serve him well in his new role atop the team’s business operations. As team president, Tomon will be tasked with overseeing the direction and management of said operations, specifically with marketing, communications, broadcasting, ticket sales and services, event services, corporate sponsorship, community relations, accounting, legal, human resources, and general administration.
In addition to the announcement of their new team president, Ian Rapoport reported yesterday that assistant offensive line coach Cole Popovich has been promoted to offensive line coach and run game coordinator. This was a predictable outcome following the team’s firing of former offensive line coach Chris Strausser. Popovich had drawn offensive line coach interest a year ago from other teams, but the Texans were able to hold on to him as assistant offensive line coach with a “revamped contract.”
Lastly, we saw news yesterday from Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 that Rams senior offensive assistant Jerry Schuplinski is expected to be hired by Houston. Schuplinski is most notably known as a former assistant quarterbacks coach with the Patriots over Tom Brady. Since leaving New England, Schuplinski has bounced around with time as the Dolphins assistant quarterbacks coach, the Giants quarterbacks coach, and the Raiders tight ends coach before landing in Los Angeles last year. His experience could be valuable to a talented, young offensive group in Houston.
Wednesday’s only reserve/futures deal around the NFL:
Cincinnati Bengals
- CB Jalen Davis
The veteran undrafted cornerback has spent the last five years in Cincinnati after originally signing with the Dolphins and spending a year with the Cardinals, as well. He’s served mostly as a depth corner and special teamer in the past, and spent last year on the practice squad, getting elevated twice for game action.