Redskins Meet With DeAngelo Hall
- The 2018 season marked the first NFL campaign without DeAngelo Hall‘s involvement since 2003. The recently retired Redskins safety may be eyeing a return to the league as a coach. Hall said (via Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan, on Twitter) he interviewed for a position as Redskins secondary coach on Tuesday. The team, though, went with Ray Horton to oversee its defensive backs. Hall, 35, also could begin his coaching career at the college level, indicating he interviewed for a job on Maryland’s staff as well. After Hall passed on the Terrapins’ offer, in hopes of pursuing the Redskins’ position, the Big Ten program went in another direction (Twitter link via Brendan Darr of 106.7 The Fan). So, Hall remains an interesting coaching free agent.
Redskins Hire Ray Horton
The Redskins have hired former Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton as their new defensive backs coach, according to John Keim of ESPN.com. Washington is retaining incumbent DC Greg Manusky, but the club has spent the offseason meeting with other defensive minds such as Gregg Williams, Steve Wilks, and Todd Bowles. Horton, unlike those three, doesn’t have prior head coaching experience, but he has been a defensive play-caller for the Cardinals, Titans, and Browns (two stints). Horton, who didn’t coach in the NFL in either of the past two seasons, is replacing Torrian Gray, who was let go earlier this month.
Bruce Allen Does Not Expect Foster Ban
Bruce Allen and the Redskins took plenty of heat earlier this season when they were the only team to submit a claim for Reuben Foster, who was soon placed on the commissioner’s exempt list.
But months after the linebacker’s latest arrest, his playing future looks more promising than it did when the 49ers waived him. Foster saw another domestic violence charge dropped, and Allen now expects his controversial waiver claim to be cleared for Week 1.
“The league is still finishing their investigation of it,” Allen said, via Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “I don’t know why we would expect a suspension, but we’ll let the league finish up.”
During the 2018 offseason, Foster was arrested twice — the latter for an alleged domestic assault — but ended up evading legal trouble in both cases. The NFL suspended Foster for two games. The league’s current investigation may be more complicated.
Elissa Ennis, Foster’s ex-girlfriend who was the alleged victim in multiple 2018 incidents, said in December she was not being truthful when she recanted her allegation of domestic abuse from Feb. 2018. Ennis said during the same interview she was stunned the Redskins claimed Foster, whom she claims struck her on three separate occasions. This came days after another arrest for alleged domestic violence, which prompted the 49ers to cut ties with Foster. Since Foster’s most recent suspension, a 911 call came because of what a neighbor described as a “loud disturbance” from Foster’s Santa Clara, Calif., home in October. Ennis was with Foster that night.
The Redskins’ statement said the team talked to Foster’s ex-Alabama teammates for character references, but multiple players soon said they were not asked about Foster. Allen now said that was by design.
“Yeah, we do talk to our players quite a bit. We don’t want our players discussing what we discuss with them,” Allen said, via Phillips. “We’ve talked about players in this upcoming draft, and they won’t discuss it. We’ve talked to people at Alabama. We’ve talked to a number of people.
“Not going to get into what we investigated, but we felt comfortable that we knew the player and the person involved. Reuben has demonstrated since he’s been with us that he wants to play football, he wants to do things the right way, and he wants to be a valuable member not only of the Redskins on the field but off the field as well.”
Foster still resides on the exempt list. Two years remain on his rookie contract. Another ban, potentially lengthier than 2018’s, remains possible for the 24-year-old defender.
Redskins Seeking Pass-Game Coordinator
- A series of leg surgeries have Alex Smith‘s career in doubt, but the Redskins quarterback made his first public appearance since the injury Monday at the Wizards-Pistons game (via NBC Sports Washington, on Twitter). The 34-year-old passer’s injured right leg was heavily supported by an apparatus, with the quarterback also using crutches at the game. Smith underwent nearly six operations because of his severe leg injuries and a subsequent infection.
- Former Redskins secondary coach will Torrian Gray resurface at Florida, where he will become the Gators’ DBs coach, John Keim of ESPN.com tweets. Washington wants its new hire to become the passing-game coordinator, Keim adds (via Twitter). The Redskins also let linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti leave for the Packers, so Greg Manusky‘s new staff will look a bit different next season.
- Jason Peters has one more season and a $10.66MM cap number left on his Eagles deal. The reigning Super Bowl champions are navigating the NFL’s worst cap situation, being one of two teams projected to be over the cap (at $14MM-plus over). Despite the team being able to save $8MM by releasing Peters, Reuben Frank of NBC Sports Philadelphia expects the Eagles’ longtime left tackle starter to be back for one more season. Noting seventh-round project Jordan Mailata being too raw to deploy in Peters’ place, Frank sees the Eagles cutting costs elsewhere and bringing back Peters for his age-37 season. While Andrew Whitworth turned 37 last month, no other NFL tackle has played past his 37th birthday since Ray Brown — a full-time guard starter until age 42, when he shifted to tackle, who retired at 43 with the 2005 Redskins.
Dan Snyder Put Full-Court Press On Todd Bowles; Opinion On Jay Gruden
- Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports believes that the Redskins‘ failed pursuit of Todd Bowles and Gregg Williams does not bode well for head coach Jay Gruden‘s future in Washington. La Canfora writes that owner Dan Snyder put the “full-court press” on Bowles, and if Bowles had said he would only join the Redskins as a head coach, Snyder may have gone for it. Gruden will return in 2019, but if he does not lead the Redskins to a playoff berth, La Canfora would not be surprised if Snyder reaches out to Bowles and Williams again, perhaps to discuss a head coaching position.
Redskins Hire Nate Kaczor As ST Coordinator
The Redskins announced yesterday that they’ve hired Nate Kaczor as their new special teams coordinator. The long-time coach had interviewed with the organization earlier this week.
Latest On Packers’ Coaching Staff
The Packers made several moves today to help fill out new coach Matt LaFleur’s inaugural staff. First the team hired 49ers assistant offensive line coach Adam Stenavich to be their offensive line coach, sources told Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports (Twitter link). We heard a couple of days ago Green Bay was granted permission to interview him, and now they’ve made the move. Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News tweeted several hours before Maiocco broke the news that the Jets also had interest in Stenavich to be their offensive line coach. Stenavich was on the Packers’ practice squad in 2006 during his playing days as an offensive tackle.
The team is also hiring Kirk Olivadotti to be their linebackers coach, tweets Jim Owczarski of the Milwuakee Journal Sentinel. Up until now Olivadotti had served in the same position with the Redskins. LaFleur served on Washington’s staff as quarterbacks coach while Olivadotti was there, so the hire makes sense. LaFleur will also be retaining Jason Simmons, the secondary coach who has been on the staff in Green Bay since 2011, tweets Rob Demovsky of ESPN.
In a separate tweet Demovsky notes that the Packers completed their interview with Luke Getsy. A source told Demovsky that Getsy interviewed for both the quarterbacks and receivers coach openings, but left town without signing a contract. Jason Wilde of ESPN followed up with a tweet of his own, saying that quarterback Aaron Rodgers “thinks very highly of Getsy and has a lot of respect for him.”
Getsy served on the Packers’ staff under Mike McCarthy from 2014-17 before leaving to take a job as Mississippi State’s offensive coordinator last year. The Packers have been making a bunch of moves to bring guys in from different organizations, and are now close to filling out LaFleur’s staff.
Redskins Plan To Keep DC Greg Manusky
Greg Manusky isn’t going anywhere after all. The Redskins explored other candidates for their defensive coordinator position, but they now plan to retain Manusky instead, according to Les Carpenter of the Washington Post. 
Over the last couple of weeks, the Redskins have been reportedly mulling ex-head coaches Gregg Williams, Todd Bowles, and Steve Wilks for the DC job. They talked to all three men, but ultimately decided to keep Manusky in order to maintain consistency in the locker room. Someone with knowledge of the Redskins’ plans told Carpenter that head coach Jay Gruden was simply looking for “different perspectives” in those conversations, but it sounds like they would have liked to replace Manusky with Williams.
The Redskins’ D showed promise in 2018, but things fell apart on both sides of the ball after the club’s 6-3 start (of course, Alex Smith‘s injury played a significant role in their drop-off). According to Carpenter’s person in the know, the Redskins are aiming to keep the momentum moving for defensive tackles Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen, Matt Ioannidis, and other young defenders in 2019, despite the occasional hiccups experienced last year.
In 2018, the Redskins allowed the 17th-most yards in the NFL but were tied for tenth in turnovers with 26. Both were improvements over 2017, so things are trending up for Manusky’s unit.
Packers Notes: Staff, Jefferson, Dennison
New Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is interested in Dolphins assistant head coach/offense Shawn Jefferson, reports Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter links). If hired, Jefferson would likely join Green Bay as receivers coach, a role for for which Jets WRs coach Karl Dorrell has already interviewed. The Packers allowed their former wideouts coach — David Raih — to join the Cardinals’ new staff earlier this offseason. Jefferson, meanwhile, started his coaching career in 2006 with the Lions before moving on to Tennessee in 2013 and Miami in 2016.
Here’s more from Green Bay:
- The 49ers have granted the Packers permission to interview Adam Stenavich for their offensive line coach vacancy, according to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link). Stenavich, currently San Francisco’s assistant OL coach, joined the 49ers in 2017 after spending time in the NCAA ranks with Michigan, Northern Arizona, and San Jose State. Green Bay is on the hunt for a new offensive line coach after allowing James Campen, who’d been with the franchise since 2007, to take an assistant head coach/OL job with the Browns.
- In addition to Stenavich, Green Bay has interest in longtime NFL offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Rick Dennison, tweets Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. Dennison has long been a Gary Kubiak disciple, but surprisingly hasn’t followed him to Minnesota, where Kubiak is now an offensive advisor. Indeed, Dennison’s presence may have been a primary reason for Kubiak not becoming the Broncos’ OC, as Josina Anderson of ESPN.com indicated last week (via Twitter). Dennison spent 2017-18 with the Bills and Jets, respectively.
- The Packers will also interview Redskins linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti for the same role, tweets Grant Paulsen of NBC Sports Washington. Olivadotti, 45, has essentially been a Redskins lifer: he joined the club in 2000 as a defensive quality control coach, and has worked for the team in various roles ever since, save for a 2011-13 stint at the University of Georgia. He’s familiar with LaFleur, as the two worked together in the nation’s capital in 2010 while LaFleur was Washington’s quarterbacks coach.
- LaFleur will retain incumbent defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery and running backs coach Ben Sirmans, per Demovsky. At present, it appears Montgomery, Sirmans, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, and tight ends coach Brian Angelichio will be the only holdovers from previous head coach Mike McCarthy‘s staff. However, it’s unclear if Montgomery and Angelichio will remain in their current roles or take on new responsibilities.
- Despite spending the 2018 campaign as the Titans’ offensive coordinator, LaFleur will not bring any members of the Tennessee staff to Green Bay, tweets Paul Kuharsky of PaulKuharsky.com.
Bengals Interested In Bill Callahan
- Bengals head coach-to-be Zac Taylor is “very interested” in having Redskins offensive line coach Bill Callahan join his new staff in Cincinnati, reports Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). The only problem? Callahan is still under contract in Washington, so the Redskins would need to permit the move. The Bengals parted ways with OL coach Frank Pollack earlier this week, so they’re looking for a new coach to lead their front five. Taylor played quarterback under Callahan at Nebraska, so the two certainly have a familiarity.