NEW ORLEANS

The Saints with an injury at tight end.  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

Saints tight end Juwan Johnson is dealing with a leg injury.

Johnson suffered an injury to his lower leg and will miss “a good amount of time,” according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. The nature of the injury and Johnson’s status when the regular season starts in three months is unclear.

Last year Johnson was the Saints’ top tight end, finishing the season with 37 catches for 368 yards and four touchdowns. It would be a major concern if he has to miss games in the regular season.

The news of Johnson’s injury came just hours after tight end Jimmy Graham said he would be open to returning to the Saints this season. Graham is currently a free agent but could be an option for the Saints if they need another tight end with Johnson hurt.

Foster Moreau would be the top tight end on the Saints’ depth chart while Johnson is out.

TAMPA BAY

Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com was at Buccaneers camp and he is impressed on Twitter/X:

@PriscoCBS

Watched the Bucs practice this week at minicamp and a lot of people are sleeping on that team. They will win the division again. Much bigger and tougher on the offensive line, and Baker Mayfield is settled in at QB. The players love him from what I am told.

Bucs rookie WR Jalen McMillan, a player I loved and was on my Better-Than team, will be an immediate contributor. He caught a TD pass Tuesday from Mayfield. Knows how to get open.

The Bucs have to run the ball better, but that is a focus of the offense going into the season. Graham Barton will help that in the middle of their offensive line. TE remains a soft spot, but they aren’t awful there.

McCollum and Dean will be good outside at corner, while nickel will be a battle. Keep an eye on rookie Tykee Smith, who has impressed. Rush will come from Ya-Ya Diaby, but they might have to manufacture it with different pressure looks.

Pete Prisco

BALTIMORE

QB AARON RODGERS has forfeited $100,000+ to go on an unspecified trip.  Now, word that QB LAMAR JACKSON didn’t need $750,000.  He didn’t even try to fulfill an offseason workout bonus provision in his contract.  Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com:

The most elusive move by Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson came after Wednesday’s minicamp practice.

Asked why he forfeited a $750,000 workout bonus this spring, Jackson replied, “I never discuss my contract up here. I’m not about to start today.”

Jackson signed a five-year, $260 million deal last year that included bonuses for participating in 80% of the team’s offseason program. This year, the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player skipped four of Baltimore’s first five voluntary organized team activities, which cost him $750,000. This was first reported by Pro Football Talk.

This season, Jackson will earn $14.25 million in base salary, which ranks seventh among quarterbacks.

“I’m focusing on just getting better and focusing on tomorrow,” Jackson said. “We just had a great practice. We’re just trying to keep it going. Then, when [training] camp comes, camp is going to come.”

After missing a chunk of the spring practices, Jackson attended the last week of voluntary OTAs and has participated in the first two days of mandatory minicamp. He has had an uneven minicamp, throwing a couple of interceptions Tuesday before having a more solid practice Wednesday, which included a touchdown pass to a leaping Zay Flowers.

Jackson was noncommittal on whether he would get together with his wide receivers and tight ends before training camp, which starts in late July.

“I would love to do that, but some guys don’t want to leave their state,” Jackson said. “They’re going to have to come to South Florida. They’re going to have to do it. We have to. We’re trying to get to the Super Bowl, and for us to do that, we have to grind. We have to build chemistry.”

Jackson is coming off a season in which he set career highs with 3,678 yards passing and a 67.2% completion rate. In games that Jackson has been the Ravens’ starting quarterback, Baltimore is 58-19 (.753), averaging 28.3 points per game.

The Ravens have to replace three starters on their offensive line, but they return all of their starting skill players on offense.

“I believe our offense is taking steps in the right direction right now,” Jackson said. “We don’t really know who the guys are going to be right now. We’re not in camp. We’re not close to the first game or anything like that. But right now, I feel like we’re taking steps in the right direction. Guys are moving good, running great routes, catching the ball, blocking good. We look pretty smooth.”

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

Jackson separately addressed whether he’ll be working out with teammates during the break between the offseason program and the start of training camp. His response carried more than a whiff of irony.

“I would love to do that, but some guys don’t want to leave their state,” Jackson said. “They’re going to have to come to South Florida. They’re going to have to do it. We have to. We’re trying to get to the Super Bowl, and for us to do that, we have to grind. We have to build chemistry.”

Yes. And that’s what the offseason program is for.

You know, the one that would have paid Jackson $750,000 if he’d shown up for at least 80 percent of it.

NEW ENGLAND

Chad Graff of The Athletic with a full recap of Tom Brady’s big night:

Tom Brady’s eyes watered. The stadium and fan base to which he brought so many wins roared.

Robert Kraft had just announced that no player will ever wear the No. 12 again for the New England Patriots. His number was being retired. Brady didn’t say anything, but tears filled his eyes.

This night at a packed Gillette Stadium was billed as the enshrinement of Brady into the Patriots Hall of Fame but turned, Kraft said, into a “once-in-a-lifetime ceremony for a one-of-a-kind player.”

Kraft also announced that the Patriots commissioned a 12-foot bronze statue of Brady that will be placed outside Gillette Stadium.

Brady wore his new red jacket as part of his enshrinement when he finally took the mic toward the end of a lengthy ceremony and paused before speaking, soaking in the standing ovation from the crowd.

“It feels good to be home,” Brady said. “It marks 20 years playing for you — the greatest fans in the NFL.”

On a night of surprises, the No. 12 jersey retirement was the most meaningful reveal. Brady’s number is the eighth that the franchise has retired and the first since offensive tackle Bruce Armstrong in 2001.

The three-hour event highlighted Brady’s career and path to six Super Bowls with the Patriots and his road to becoming the most decorated player in NFL history. It took place at a sold-out Gillette Stadium with more than 200 of Brady’s former teammates in attendance. Brady was on the stage for much of the night for various roundtable discussions with NBC’s Mike Tirico serving as the host. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the event.

Belichick’s return

For the first time since his split from the Patriots, Bill Belichick returned to Gillette Stadium and got a standing ovation and a massive cheer from the fans in attendance.

He spoke of some of Brady’s best on-field moments, noting if he mentioned them all, “we’d be here all night, probably until the middle of next week.” Belichick also mentioned that what was “underappreciated was how very few bad plays” Brady had.

“The thing about Tom that I think is so unbelievably impressive — and what he did for us for 19 years — is he avoided bad plays,” Belichick said. “We had a couple sayings here that I’ve used with teams: ‘You can’t win until you keep from losing,’ or ‘More games are lost than are won.’ If you don’t go out there and screw it up, you have a pretty good chance to win.

“Of all Tom’s great qualities, that’s one of the greatest.”

Belichick’s return was notable for more than just his appreciation of Brady. It was a meaningful moment for a Patriots fan base that finally got to shower Belichick with love after his difficult breakup with the team in January. His ovation was the second biggest of the night behind Brady.

Belichick and Brady didn’t have the best relationship by the end of their time together in New England, but it was clear on this night that was well in the past. Belichick thanked Brady “for all you’ve done for me and thank you for the example you’ve been on a daily basis for 20 years. You’re unbelievable.”

Brady also took a moment to voice his appreciation for his former coach.

“It wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. It was us. … There is no coach I would rather play for,” he said.

Peyton Manning surprises Brady

The first surprise guest of the night was Peyton Manning, who sat with Brady and Tirico and talked about the rivalry they had during their storied playing careers.

“The hardest thing about playing Tom Brady is if you were down by four or a field goal and you were going for a winning drive, I remember coach (Tony) Dungy would say, ‘We want to score, but only do it with six seconds left so Tom Brady doesn’t get the ball back.’

“Real easy, Coach.”

Manning joked about the positive reaction he got Wednesday night after years as a rival of the Patriots.

“They like me here (now) because I always lost here,” Manning said with a laugh.

Tom the backup

One of the roundtables featured several players who shared the team’s quarterback meeting room with Brady: Brian Hoyer, Josh McDaniels, Matt Cassel and Drew Bledsoe.

Bledsoe joked that he’d be nicer than the last time they spoke (a crack referencing the Brady roast) then had a quip about Brady taking his job in 2001.

“You were the worst backup quarterback in the history of the NFL,” Bledsoe said. “You never learned when I got healthy that you were supposed to go sit back down.”

Brady gets emotional

Brady took the stage for the first time shortly into the event to thunderous chants of “Brady, Brady, Brady.” He wiped away tears as he talked about what his family meant to him and talked about driving down the Mass Pike on Tuesday night thinking about his 20 years in this region. He called himself an “adopted New Englander.”

“It is so difficult to put into words what this night means to me and our entire family,” Brady said.

Brady shouts out teammates

The first roundtable featured Brady alongside defensive standouts from his career: Ty Law, Willie McGinest, Richard Seymour and Devin McCourty. Brady went down the row, complimenting their work in helping the Patriots win Super Bowls while making him better as a quarterback. He also shouted out Bledsoe as a key reason for his development.

“When I walked into this organization, I had Drew Bledsoe sitting in the quarterback room with me Day 1,” Brady said. “Damn right I was going to be developed.”

Moss gets emotional

At the start of a roundtable featuring some of Brady’s most prominent offensive teammates, former wide receiver Randy Moss got emotional after Gillette Stadium gave him one of the biggest ovations of the night.

“I apologize because this is really not my night, it’s 12’s night, but I thank you,” Moss said.

Moss told the story of arriving in New England in 2007 after years of wanting to play for the Patriots.

“I always wanted to be a member of the New England Patriots,” Moss said. “I studied the team, I studied Bill Belichick, I studied Tom Brady.”

Musical performances

Jay-Z kicked off the festivities by playing “Public Service Announcement,” the song Brady came out to before every home game. It was a fitting performance for a quarterback who for so long was synonymous with the song in this stadium.

Kenny Chesney also performed.

Interesting that we think of the Patriots uniform as being primarily dark blue and silver, but the Hall of Fame jacket is red.

NEW YORK JETS

Coach Robert Saleh again addressed the unexcused absence of QB AARON RODGERS, without revealing where he was.  Brian Costello of the New York Post:

Jets coach Robert Saleh did his best to calm the storm surrounding Aaron Rodgers’ unexcused absence from the team’s mandatory minicamp Wednesday.

“Aaron and I are on the exact same page,” Saleh said. “There’s no issue between Aaron [and I] or his teammates for that matter. We addressed it [Tuesday]. It’s more of an issue for everyone outside the building than it is inside. That’s about it.”

Saleh said he did not speak to Rodgers after revealing to the media Tuesday that Rodgers would miss the team’s two-day minicamp, which ended Wednesday.

It has not surfaced where Rodgers is.

Tuesday, Saleh said Rodgers had informed him before OTAs that he would miss minicamp to attend an event that was “very important to him.”

The only other Jets player missing from the minicamp is defensive end Haason Reddick, who is believed to be staying away because he wants a new contract.

Does Colin Cowherd know the secret?  Doric Sam of Bleacher Report:

While New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh said on Tuesday that star quarterback Aaron Rodgers is skipping mandatory minicamp this week to attend an event, one report suggests that’s not the case.

Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd said during Wednesday’s episode of The Herd that he was informed that Rodgers’ absence is simply a planned getaway for the 40-year-old.

“An event? I was told last night from a source I trust, Aaron’s on vacation, and it’s overseas,” Cowherd said. “I’m also told, you’ll learn about where he’s at tomorrow.”

Saleh told reporters on Tuesday that Rodgers would not be present for this week’s minicamp because he’s attending an event that’s “important to him.” While the team knew about this ahead of time, Saleh added that this is an unexcused absence that would leave the veteran signal-caller subject to potential fines.

Cowherd went on to add that he believes it was a misstep for Saleh to divulge as much as he did, as Rodgers potentially won’t take kindly to having to explain what caused him to miss minicamp.

“You kind of know that with Aaron, you gotta coddle him a little, you gotta give him the guys he wants, that’s just part of the game with Aaron,” Cowherd said. “But I think going up and saying it’s unexcused, and then you have to say he’s at an event, well, now that puts pressure on Aaron. People are gonna ask Aaron about what’s the event. What if Aaron doesn’t want to talk about the event? It’s just odd to me. It’s just more noise than you need.”

Russ Weekland of the Daily Mail with whispers from behind the scenes (and buddies Pat McAfee and AJ Hawk profess not to know):

The New York Jets organization is contemplating ‘tightening’ Aaron Rodgers’ leash following his inexcusable absence from practice this week.

The quarterback, who is facing more than $100,000 in fines, skipped the team’s mandatory minicamp in favor of a mystery ‘event’ he wanted to attend.

‘The Jets organization and coaching staff are trying to play it off that Aaron’s absence wasn’t a big deal, but they are p*ssed that Aaron didn’t show up to mandatory training camp,’ a source close to the team told Mail Sport on Wednesday.

‘It is an eyesore for the team that will be forgotten only if they win this season and Aaron plays and doesn’t get injured again,’ they went on.

‘But until then, everything Aaron does from this point on will be extra scrutinized and picked at because he is supposed to be the captain and the way he does business should be the way the Jets want things to go down.’

‘The relationship might get strained. They’re hoping it isn’t the tip of the iceberg,’ per a source

The insider noted that Rodgers ‘has some leeway’ because of his high profile but ‘if he continues to do things on his own terms … that affect the team and the chemistry, his leash will be tightened.’

‘Their relationship might get strained, the source added, explaining that the ‘Jets are hoping this isn’t the tip of the iceberg.’

Rodgers has been involved in the team’s offseason practices over the last few weeks and was at the Jets practice facility on Monday before skipping Tuesday’s mandatory workout.

Head coach Robert Saleh confirmed Rodgers told him he was missing practice in advance, however he continued to stoke speculation by telling reporters his absence was due to an event ‘that was important to him.’ 

Rodgers communicated the upcoming absence to his coach but is still likely to get fined

Pat McAfee and his crew poked fun at Saleh’s comment, suggesting he should have left Rodgers’ reason for missing practice out of the press conference without elaborating on the details.

‘I just don’t know. I have not talked to any sources close to the situation with the quarterback of the Jets,’ McAfee said.

‘What’s the life event? Because obviously Saleh heard it and was like, “Nah I don’t think so.”‘

Later in the program, Rodgers’ friend AJ Hawk joined and said, ‘I have no idea where he could be. The opportunities are endless.’

Hawk went on, ‘He could be anywhere on the planet right now. We don’t know what that could be. Google “cool things happening over the next three days.” He might be there. I have no clue where he is either.’

Snark from Mike Florio:

In two separate sessions with the tough-questions-only New York media, no one asked Jets coach Robert Saleh this question: If Aaron Rodgers didn’t show up for mandatory minicamp, where is he?

If asked the question, Saleh likely wouldn’t have disclosed Rodgers’s whereabouts.

The Jets have declined to provide that information, on or off the record. Saleh, if pressed on the issue, would have said (I believe) something along the lines that it’s the quarterback’s personal business, and it’s for him to say what it was.

The next question is whether Rodgers will disclose where he was, when asked. He undoubtedly will be. Even if the safest of safe-space podcasts, he needs to be asked what was more important than showing up for mandatory minicamp.

It also will be interesting to see what Rodgers thinks about how the Jets handled the situation. There’s a chance he keeps that to himself. There’s also a chance, as we saw during his first press conference of training camp in 2021, he’ll go off on the team.

Despite their private characterization to multiple reporters that the Jets believed excusing the absence would set a precedent that could be used against them later, they could have excused the absence. They didn’t.

The Jets would argue that, even if they had, it still would have been a big deal. Others would argue that, if Saleh had simply said on Tuesday morning that Rodgers has been present for all of the voluntary offseason program and he’s an excused absence for the two-day minicamp, it would have been a story — but it wouldn’t have been the story of the week.

Regardless, unless Rodgers says something between now and the start of training camp, we won’t know what was more important than showing up for mandatory minicamp until he meets with reporters at the outset of preseason practices.

Unless he has someplace better to be then, too.

THIS AND THAT

A PEAK AT BRADY THE ANALYST

Charles Robinson of YahooSports.com with a long take on Tom Brady’s take on the level of QB play in the NFL, with an eye to how he will be as an analyst:

Every year, we fascinate over what we’re going to get from highly touted rookie NFL quarterbacks. We debate them and scrutinize them, doubt them and project them. It’s all in an effort to anticipate what they can be — or more often than not, can’t be — at the next level.

In some respects, this is the reception that awaits elite NFL players who are making the transition to the broadcast booth. Can they be efficient? Will they understand the fundamentals of the job? Can they carry skills over from one landscape to the next? Can they “wow” us? And perhaps most important of all: Can they be great?

For the first time in decades, Tom Brady is facing these questions again.

In roughly three months, we’ll start to get answers when Brady enters the booth for his first game as an NFL analyst on Sept. 8, taking the lead chair for Fox in a season-opening matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns. That will be the moment when the seven-time Super Bowl winner officially pushes off into his football career after his football career, definitively taking his first shot at a pressing question: What will this next iteration of Brady be?

Of course, the journey through his “gap year” from his playing days to the booth hasn’t come without some breadcrumbs along the way. There were moments that included Brady lamenting the “mediocrity” he believes has crept into the NFL, as well as posting a critical social media comment about quarterbacks needing to “throw the ball to the right places” after Indianapolis Colts wideout Michael Pittman Jr. was leveled on a less-than-ideal pass from Gardner Minshew against the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. For those who have paid attention, Brady has showcased a willingness to share blunt opinions about the state of the league and its quarterback play, possibly foreshadowing what can be expected in his broadcasting career.

And he was no less candid Wednesday, when he spoke to Yahoo Sports while making the rounds for his forthcoming “Let’s Go!” marketing partnership with Hertz, which kicks off this week. During the visit, Brady touched on a handful of topics, including reflecting on his year off between jobs and what can help New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye through his rookie plunge into the NFL. And when the topic of quarterbacking in the NFL came up — and what the next 20 years of development might look like at the position — Brady again went right into the marrow.

“I think the quarterbacking has gone backwards a little bit in the NFL,” Brady told Yahoo Sports, just a few hours before he was to be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame. “I don’t think it’s improved. I don’t think the teaching’s improved. I think maybe the physical fundamentals might be a little bit improved because there’s better information out there for quarterbacks to study on mechanics. But I don’t think quarterbacks really are really field generals right now like they used to be.

“It’s a broad statement, certainly. But I had total control. I had all the tools I needed. I was coached that way. I was developed to have the tools that I needed to go on the field so that whenever something came up, I had the right play, the right formation, the right audible, the right check at the line — to ultimately take control of the 11 guys on offense and get us into a good, positive play.”

‘There’s this try-to-control element from the sideline between the coaches’

The well of experience Brady was drawing upon in the moment wasn’t difficult to understand. His history as a college player at Michigan — where he patiently learned behind Brian Griese and then clawed his way to the top of the depth chart and beat back a challenge from highly touted recruit Drew Henson — is a well-known part of the Brady lore. But what is now coming into sharper focus, and what might shape him as a critical analyst, was how his work ethic and quarterback patterning took shape early in his career. His elite peers as a young player arguably had far more autonomy at the line of scrimmage to run an offense as they saw fit. Think: Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, Steve McNair and others.

Now Brady sees more young quarterbacks coming into the league from simplified college offenses that are often called or adjusted from the sideline. He sees those same players walking into some NFL buildings where staffs are embracing the movement of control away from the line of scrimmage and into the hands of a coach. All the while, he’s seeing less of a mandate to make quarterbacks grow and push outside of their comfort zone while taking on more responsibility. And that’s leading Brady to an opinion that things are getting worse at the position.

“I think now, there’s this try-to-control element from the sideline between the coaches, where they want to have the control,” Brady said. “And they’re not teaching and developing the players the right tools so that they can go out on the field and make their own decisions that are best suited for the team. When I looked at Peyton Manning, he was a guy that I looked up to because he had ultimate control. And I think the game’s regressed in a little bit of that way, based on what’s happened in high school football, college football and then the NFL’s getting a much lesser developed quarterback at this point.”

So what’s the fix?

Well, Brady sees it as complicated and multi-level. Quarterbacks in the NFL can’t come into the league and demand control, let alone be capable of handling it, especially when lower levels of football appear to have less linear learning processes than ever. Unlike his high school and college path to growth in the 1990s, there is more “program hopping” at the position. Whether it’s elite high school football or the transfer portal in college, it’s becoming more of an accepted norm for quarterbacks — and even coaches — to seek out a symbiotic relationship that is predicated on skill fit rather than skill development.

The result: It becomes harder for the NFL to advance the position into new plateaus of development, either because players are coming in less equipped to grind and learn, or they simply don’t have the time to deviate from doing what produces the quickest results.

“It’s on everybody,” Brady said. “It’s on players, it’s on coaches, it’s on the league, it’s on the colleges. Think about it: There’s no continuity anymore. Not even in high school. Not even in college. There’s no programs that are developing [quarterbacks] in college. They’re just teams now. So you play one year here, one year here, one year here. Well, how can you be good at something in a job if you’re only working at one place for one year, then going to another place for one year, then to another place for one year?”

“Coaches are doing the same thing,” Brady continued. “So they’re trying to go in and develop a program and develop people, but they don’t have the time because of the pressure from social media and the pressure from media to get it fixed right away. So now they’re saying, all right — rather than draft a quarterback and say I want to develop you — they’re saying, ‘We’re going to draft a quarterback and ask the quarterback, what do you do well? We just gotta do that so I can try to win some games so I don’t get fired.’”

Is this what we should expect from Tom Brady the broadcaster?

It’s not a soft stance from Brady, or contrived for effect. When he talks about it, his belief in it resonates. And if that’s where his career as an analyst is headed, it will likely resonate with his audience, too. Not unlike the experience of watching Manning’s open-vein reactions during a weekly “Manningcast.” The value in the viewership experience is the acceptance of authenticity. And when Brady talks about quarterbacks right now, that’s what he’s laying on the table. It’s how he sees the position from decades of elite success, and where it’s breaking down. Maybe it will come off as a late-40s ex-player shouting at clouds — but, well, sometimes the clouds are asking for it.

At the very least, what Brady seems to be teasing right now is a lot of blunt quarterback evaluation from someone who wants the position — and the guys playing it — to reach for something better, rather than something that is a more convenient fit or style of play. And that’s something that came through when he spoke about Maye, the third overall pick in April’s draft.

“I’m very fortunate to be around him and I like him a lot,” Brady said of Maye. “I’ve heard great things about him. But his opportunity is going to be really what he makes of it and how he wants to develop it and how he wants to attack his profession — like we all do. It’s not where you’re at when you’re 22. It’s who you’re around when you’re 22. Who inspires you to be better? Who develops you? I was so fortunate. I look at my career, I was looking around at other competitors like Peyton Manning, like Steve McNair, Vinny Testaverde was playing for the [New York] Jets. Brett Favre was playing.”

“I was looking around at quarterbacks who were unbelievable,” Brady said. “And I had coaches that were unbelievable. The competition was tough. My coaches were tough. I had to grow and develop. I would want those [young] guys to have the same thing. I just don’t see it the same way that I saw it back then [in my career]. I see a lesser developed player, lesser developed coaches. They’re not teaching anymore. There’s less time to teach. There’s a lot of reasons why. … First of all we’ve got to become aware of it, and then we need to put some things in place to make those changes.”

More often than not, change is sparked through observation, conversation, criticism and actions that ensue. Come September, Brady will be conveniently seated in a prominent spot in that crossroads. And how he approaches it will go a long way toward answering what he will be in this next football life.

BLACK/MINORITY COACHES

It was a good hiring season for Black coaches.  Tashan Reed of The Athletic explores what could lie ahead.

When Raheem Morris was fired in 2012 after three seasons as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he didn’t think he would get a second chance at the top job elsewhere. That still hadn’t changed when, after several stops as an assistant, he was hired as the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator in 2021, nearly a decade later.

Morris’ predecessor, Brandon Staley, had just been hired as the Los Angeles Chargers’ head coach after just one season on the job. Rams president Kevin Demoff felt confident Morris could follow a similar path.

“I remember telling Raheem, ‘You’ll be next,’” Demoff said recently. “And what he said to me has always stuck out in my mind, and it was the driving force of a lot of what happened. He goes, ‘Kevin, people like me don’t get second chances.’”

When the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI that season, Demoff was certain Morris would be proven wrong. But after that hiring cycle passed without Morris landing a head-coaching job, Demoff had to accept a troubling reality.

“To watch Brandon have his choice of jobs — which I’m not saying was unfair for Brandon — and to watch Raheem struggle to get second interviews, it says something about where we’re at as a league,” Demoff said.

Black assistant coaches have historically faced a tougher path to becoming head coaches than their White counterparts. The 2024 hiring cycle, however, represented a sudden shift.

After five consecutive seasons in which just three NFL head coaches identified as Black, the number doubled after the New England Patriots hired Jerod Mayo, the Las Vegas Raiders hired Antonio Pierce and the Atlanta Falcons hired Morris. The Carolina Panthers also hired Dave Canales, who is of Mexican descent, giving the NFL a league-record nine head coaches of color.

Despite the headway made, there remains doubt that the level of diversity that currently exists in NFL leadership positions is here to stay. The Athletic spoke to several executives, coaches, agents and league office employees, some of whom were granted anonymity so they could speak freely.

“To be frank, I think sometimes there may be too much optimism,” a Black NFC executive said. “I think there’s still not enough evidence to show that this is going to lead to a wholesale change.”

“I think there is some tempered optimism,” a Black AFC executive said. “It’s a little wait-and-see. You want to see if there’s just been a push given the initiative and then once a couple of guys cycle off, it returns to what it was. Because, quite honestly, the last time we had this spike, that’s pretty much what happened. Let’s see how this plays out.”

The number of Black head coaches surged after the 2003 adoption of the Rooney Rule, which originally required NFL teams to interview at least one diverse candidate — a woman and/or person of color — for head-coaching vacancies. By 2006, there was an NFL-record seven Black head coaches, and following that season, Tony Dungy (Indianapolis Colts) and Lovie Smith (Chicago Bears) became the first Black head coaches to meet in the Super Bowl.

There were either six or seven Black head coaches every year from 2006-11, as well as successful Black GMs in Ozzie Newsome (Baltimore Ravens) and Jerry Reese (New York Giants). But by 2013, the number of Black head coaches fell to three. After rising back to seven in 2017, it once again went back down to three in 2019.

“We always have to hit upon the need to continue to have the foot on the pedal,” said Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s chief diversity and inclusion officer. “Just as easily as you make progress, you can revert.”

Morris’ story may represent a massive win for Black head coaches, 11 of whom have been hired more than once — sixty-four white head coaches have had multiple shots at the top job, with Jim Harbaugh (Chargers) and Dan Quinn (Commanders) being the most recent.

After spending six years as a defensive assistant with Tampa Bay, Morris was hired to be the Buccaneers’ head coach at age 32. He was fired after going 17-31 and missing the playoffs in each of his three seasons, then worked as the defensive backs coach for the Washington Commanders from 2012-14. He moved on to Atlanta in 2015, handling offensive and defensive duties before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2020.

When then-Falcons head coach Quinn was fired after an 0-5 start, Morris got the interim job. He went 4-7 but had strong support from the players and was interviewed for the full-time position. After being passed over for Arthur Smith, Morris landed with the Rams, and that three-year gap served as a period of instrumental growth.

“The Falcons, they talked about how much they thought he had grown in his time in L.A.,” said Demoff, who worked with Morris in Tampa and L.A. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we made a mistake three years ago letting him out of the building.’ It was, ‘The difference we see in him now versus then makes us want to hire him as our head coach.’ And I think that’s a great testament to Raheem.

“It’s easy when you’ve been a head coach and when you’ve been part of the cycle to just say, ‘It’s not my time.’ For someone to relentlessly work on themselves and keep improving and to go make sure they get that second shot and it’s deserved and earned is such a credit to Raheem and what he’s done.”

The NFL is broadly focused on improving overall diversity, but there’s a specific reason there’s so much attention placed on Black representation in leadership positions. The league thrives off player labor, and the majority of those players are Black — according to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida (TIDES), 53.5 percent of NFL players were Black in 2023 — but the percentage of Black people in the league’s positions of power has never come close to aligning with the representation among players.

The NFL’s recent hiring practices may signal a potential shift in the way owners are thinking. In 2023, TIDES gave the NFL a B+ for its hiring practices, the best grade the league has ever received.

“They’ve been feeling the pressure,” TIDES founder Richard Lapchick said. “I think that they have seen stories where Black head coaches have been successful along with other coaches of color. And this is 2024, after all. There definitely have been some owners who have opened up.”

In addition to six Black head coaches, the league has 13 Black defensive coordinators and six Black special teams coordinators but zero Black offensive coordinators.

NFL personnel departments are typically much larger than coaching staffs, which means more potential opportunities for diverse candidates. Before this offseason, there were seven diverse team presidents and nine general managers of color.

“It’s starting to become more than guys just scouting and evaluating; guys are actually in the process of being in more leadership and managerial roles,” a Black AFC executive said. “For a long time, it was just like, ‘You deal with the players … but that’s it; let us pick the players. I think now guys have come up and gotten more positions of influence and are being exposed to doing more from the managerial and executive standpoint.”

There’s a belief that a strong pipeline for continued growth among Black executives could ensure that more individuals in positions of power will be more open to hiring Black head coaches. The NFL doesn’t have any Black principal owners, but there are five Black team presidents and seven Black GMs. Among the positions that most frequently lead to GM jobs — assistant GM, vice president of player personnel, director of player personnel, director of college scouting, etc. — Black representation is growing, according to TIDES. That has created a greater depth of diverse candidates ready to fill jobs when they open.

“There’s been a ton of intentionality behind building up that pipeline and making sure we put African-Americans in positions,” a Black AFC executive said, citing Browns GM Andrew Berry, Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Lions GM Brad Holmes as examples. “I think in general we’re just being a little bit more intentional on our side of making sure we go find people.”

The NFL’s front office, general manager and coach accelerator programs have been particularly effective at the executive level, providing opportunities for diverse candidates to network with team owners, team presidents and other chief decision-makers.

“These owners are looking at the GM job as more than just being football-oriented,” a Black NFC executive said. “So, you get to reach outside of the good-old-boy network from that standpoint because they’re looking for people who are more well-rounded. They want people who can lead an organization, make decisions and collaborate across departments.”

Changes to the Rooney Rule may be helping as well. Teams are now required to interview at least two outside diverse candidates for GM, head coach and coordinator positions and at least one outside diverse candidate for quarterback coach positions. Teams that develop diverse candidates who get hired as GMs or head coaches elsewhere are awarded two third-round compensatory picks.

“For what everybody says, I do think the Rooney Rule has a lot to do with it,” a Black NFC executive said. “They are making teams cast a wider net.”

To the Rams, it was clear Morris was head-coaching material.

He might be known as a defensive coach, but his superpower is leadership. His ability to connect with others is what has truly resonated with those who’ve worked alongside him. As the Rams went through a disastrous season in 2022, Morris played a vital role in holding the team together. He had fostered genuine relationships with players on both sides of the ball and could help ensure that the players, coaches, front office members and support staffers were on the same page.

“I was watching Raheem step up and help carry the team through it,” Demoff said. “He was the light in our building in a really dark year.”

The Rams could have focused on keeping him in their building, but this offseason, key figures including Demoff, GM Les Snead, head coach Sean McVay and several notable players openly advocated for him to get a head-coaching job elsewhere.

“The most important thing in head-coaching hires is, ‘Do the players believe in the head coach?’” Demoff said. “He just has amazing people-connection abilities. … I remember having one conversation with a team over the past few years that had interviewed him and didn’t hire him. And, basically, they’re like, ‘Nobody can have that much energy,’ and thought it was all kind of an act. And I’m like, ‘No, that’s him every day.’”

Morris displayed that energy in the Falcons’ first team meeting of their offseason program in April. “I want to be world-class in everything we do,” Morris said. “You can’t just worry about football, man. … It starts and ends with our relationships.”

NFL teams may be changing their approach in terms of what types of head coaches they hire. Morris, Pierce and Mayo all have defensive backgrounds but are most lauded for their interpersonal skills. Focusing less on whether a coach has an offensive or defensive specialty could result in more diverse hires.

“When you talk about (former NFL linebackers) myself, Mayo and DeMeco Ryans, you’re talking about guys that were captains and were the leaders,” Pierce said recently. “I know we all talk about the quarterback, but what the hell do you think I did when I played? I ran the show. Those guys ran the show. So they know what it’s like to be a leader. They know what it’s like to be in front of a team, in front of a huddle, speak to guys and getting them to do what they want to do.”

This offseason’s shift toward defense — five of the eight head coaches hired came from that side of the ball — came after years of teams across the league pilfering hot-shot offensive minds from the coaching trees of McVay and San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. It may have helped that three of the eight head coaches who won playoff games last season had defensive backgrounds.

“I think owners are going to start to realize that the offensive guru thing is very much overplayed, and there are plenty of defensive head coaches who have had success with young quarterbacks,” a Black NFC executive said. “If you look at DeMeco in Houston right now, that’s a good example. He’s done an awesome job with (quarterback C.J.) Stroud.

“I think the more you see that, the more owners will be open to hiring people who are not just the ‘offensive gurus,’ but leaders of men, motivators, connectors and people who have a specialty that might not necessarily be the X’s and O’s on offense.”

Increasing the number of Black offensive-minded coaches remains a priority, and the NFL is making efforts to do so. The league now requires each team to employ a full-time diverse offensive assistant, and, to create opportunities for more diverse quarterback coaches, it launched an annual quarterback coaching summit.

There are currently eight Black quarterback coaches and 10 quarterback coaches of color, along with five Black passing game coordinators, another position that frequently leads to an offensive coordinator role. Some believe there’s a hesitancy among Black head coaches in particular to hire what’s perceived to be too many Black assistants on their staff.

“I think that people sometimes are afraid of hiring a lot of Black people,” a Black AFC executive said. “I think when White guys get jobs, they can hire guys who have been fired multiple times to do whatever. When Black people get jobs, if one of your Black friends has been fired, then it’s like, ‘Why did you hire him?’”

Even when Black offensive coordinators have been immensely successful, it has remained difficult for them to land head-coaching roles. Eric Bieniemy helped the Chiefs win two Super Bowls as their offensive coordinator from 2018-22 but was constantly passed over for head-coach jobs. A narrative emerged that he needed to call plays to prove himself, so he left Kansas City to do just that. After a rough season with the Commanders, Bieniemy was not retained when Washington hired Quinn in February. Bieniemy is now back in the college ranks, serving as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at UCLA.

“It’s a double standard, but that’s the way, in my opinion, a large part of what life has been for Black people,” a Black AFC executive said. “There’s always those obstacles, and the goalposts can seem to constantly be moving, but that’s the challenge.”

Despite the challenge, there is a belief among Black leaders in the league that their success will ultimately result in more opportunities for colleagues.

“I do think the marketplace still ends up coming back to productivity,” a Black AFC executive said. “Are there a few people who probably have not had that opportunity in the past no matter how capable they were? Sure. But I don’t think these owners are crazy. They want to win, and they want to make money and they want to be viewed as the best. I don’t think they’re going to just pick a White face if there’s somebody who’s that much better.”

How does the NFL get to 9 “minority” head coaches?

6 Black   –  Raheem Morris, Atlanta

Jerod Mayo, New England

Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas

Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh

Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay

DeMeco Ryans, Houston

1 Biracial – Mike McDaniel, Miami

1 Hispanic – Dave Canales, Carolina

1 Other      – Robert Saleh, Jets