AROUND THE NFL
Daily Briefing
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As Tuesday morning dawns there are six coaching openings (if you count Las Vegas, a team in the playoffs with a still-interim coach).
Chicago, Minnesota, Denver and Miami came officially open on Monday.
David Culley in Houston is still the coach there. Joe Judge has not been terminated with the Giants.
Judy Bautista of NFL.com ranks the openings (including three that aren’t open):
A quick glance at the playoff field gives a pretty good idea of why there is such volatility in NFL coaching offices. Philadelphia Eagles first-year head coach Nick Sirianni has his team in the playoffs. Zac Taylor, in just his third season, took the Cincinnati Bengals from the basement of the league to the AFC North title.
Whether inducing a dramatic turnaround or a substantial boost, such upgrades are the stuff owners’ dreams are made of at this time of year. With 14 teams in the postseason, the other 18 brain trusts are left to wonder, “What if?” The Jacksonville Jaguars’ debacle with Urban Meyer is the looming cautionary tale as the hiring cycle begins — owners should beware of falling in love with star candidates without doing a thorough search (looking at you, too, Raiders).
After several years of dispiriting results, a very close eye is being kept on opportunities for coaches of color. Nothing about this is particularly new. Last year, just two of the seven open head jobs went to minority candidates (the Jets’ Robert Saleh and the Texans’ David Culley). There are many people, in teams and at the highest level of the NFL, making good-faith efforts and engineering systems to get more minority coaches in the pipeline, to provide lists of vetted candidates, to get them in front of decision-makers, to slow down the hiring process to encourage broader searches and more interviews. There are several big-name minority candidates who should get interviews for multiple jobs — people like Eric Bieniemy, Byron Leftwich, Todd Bowles, Leslie Frazier, Jerod Mayo and more.
All of it, though, comes down to decisions by ownership, where the real change must take place. Last year saw progress on general manager hires, three of which went to minority candidates. The NFL has another chance to get it right this year.
Here are the jobs they’ll be hiring for, with the things that make them attractive — and the stuff that will make candidates queasy — as the coaching job fair opens.
THE OPEN JOBS
1 Las Vegas Raiders
One thing the Raiders learned in the wake of the early-season resignation of Jon Gruden: They have a resilient team, which just earned a playoff berth after an incredible finish on Sunday night. Interim coach Rich Bisaccia deserves serious consideration just for navigating so much drama and trauma. The success also speaks well of the talent level despite some questionable recent draft decisions, and that will make this an attractive job.
The Raiders have the best quarterback situation of any of the available jobs with Derek Carr under center. A big question is what becomes of general manager Mike Mayock. But the Raiders remain one of the most popular franchises in football, with a fantastic new stadium and a devoted fan base.
2 Denver Broncos
The big problem that plagued Vic Fangio with the Broncos is one that will shape the search for his successor: Denver hasn’t rostered a reliable quarterback since Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl and retired six years ago. The next coach will be the Broncos’ fourth since that title was won, and they haven’t been to the playoffs since. There is a bigger uncertainty on the horizon, too: The Broncos could have a new owner by the time next season starts. That could give pause to candidates who have other options.
But the Broncos job has plenty of upside. There is a core group of young players, led by Patrick Surtain II and Javonte Williams, to build around. Denver has a stout defense and talented players at the skill positions. There is cap space. There are extra draft picks. And this is one of the NFL’s greatest football towns. A quick turnaround is possible, especially because the offseason focus will be on finally fixing the quarterback position. All of that will make this one of the most attractive jobs available.
3 Jacksonville Jaguars
When you have the first overall draft pick for the second year in a row, it says something about the talent level of a team. Still, the Jaguars have plenty going for them in the search. Trevor Lawrence had a rough rookie year but is still considered a gem of a prospect. There are some young pieces. The Jaguars are flush with cap space. There is that first overall pick. And Shad Khan is a generous and supportive owner, who is constructing a state of the art team facility.
Now, the issues. The Jaguars need to rebuild the defense and offensive line. The next coach will have to rid the place of the stench of failure left behind by the Urban Meyer experiment. And if Khan intends to keep general manager Trent Baalke — Baalke is assisting with the search — it will likely limit the candidate pool. There is a lot of work to be done in Jacksonville and it seems likely the Jaguars will target a coach from the offensive side of the ball who can develop Lawrence.
4 Miami Dolphins
The stunner of this cycle, Brian Flores lost a power struggle after just three seasons despite turning around a moribund team, finishing with a winning record the last two years and sweeping the Patriots this season. He cycled through coordinators, though, and did not handle the Tua Tagovailoa situation that deftly. That said, Flores was also believed to be a big reason why Deshaun Watson wanted to be traded to the Dolphins. Whoever gets hired inherits some young talent and an enormous decision about Tagovailoa — as well as whatever becomes of Watson, and whether he even wants to join the Dolphins now that Flores is gone. If Miami still ends up getting Watson, the team becomes an immediate force in the AFC, but such an acquisition could have significant fallout, depending on how the quarterback’s legal situation plays out.
It’s also worth wondering: What is owner Stephen Ross looking for in a coach, considering he allowed general manager Chris Grier to stay while sending Flores packing?
5 Chicago Bears
A 6-11 campaign sealed the fate of head coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace, both of whom were relieved of their duties on Monday. Now the Bears will presumably target an offensive-minded coach who believes Justin Fields can be a high-level starting quarterback. There are some issues here. Work needs to be done to shore up the offensive line, defense and receiving corps. The Bears do not currently have a first-round draft pick this year.
But there is cap space. And the Bears are a legendary team with patient owners and an ardent fan base that would go wild with a return to glory. And if Aaron Rodgers should leave the Packers and the NFC North in the offseason, this division would be wide open for a new champ.
6 Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota’s not a bad team, but after a second straight sub-.500 season, the Vikings cleared house by firing head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman. Zimmer just completed his eighth season in Minnesota, while Spielman had been with the franchise going back to 2006, so it’s a brand new day for the Vikings.
Players like Dalvin Cook and Justin Jefferson — plus patient, stable ownership — will make this job enticing. The big question for a new coach: What does he think of Kirk Cousins? The 33-year-old is better than the quarterbacks on most of the other teams on this list, but he has an expensive contract and the Vikings have been to the playoffs just once in his four seasons — and that makes his future with Minnesota uncertain. The Vikings invested a load of guaranteed money in their defense last offseason and it underperformed, which means it will likely have to be retooled. And the Vikings are among the teams with the least amount of cap space.
THE POSSIBLE CHANGES
Houston Texans
David Culley was given a virtually bare cupboard and outperformed expectations. His firing would suggest that he was never more than a lame duck and that would be a blight on the franchise. Culley addressed his status on Monday, telling reporters that as far as he knows, he’s the head coach of the Texans “right now” and he’s “moving forward” with that mindset.
A new coach would take over a team that appears to be set to trade the franchise quarterback who didn’t want to be there. Deshaun Watson is expected to draw a load of picks that will be the foundation of the rebuild, but it is a long climb up with very real questions about ownership. This would be Cal McNair’s second head coach hire in as many years and any candidate would have to wonder about who has McNair’s ear. The presence of Nick Caserio as general manager means Josh McDaniels’ name is going to circulate around this job, but this would be the least desirable gig of the ones mentioned in this file.
New York Giants
Just a few weeks ago, it seemed nearly certain that Joe Judge would return, even with general manager Dave Gettleman’s impending retirement, which became official on Monday. The Giants did not want to fire a third coach in a row after just two years.
But, the G-Men were embarrassed in the last six games of the season, losing all six by a combined tally of 163-56, scoring an average of 9.3 points per game, and Judge has had to address his own status in recent weeks.
If Judge goes, the next coach has a lot to sort through. Does he believe in Daniel Jones? Saquon Barkley? Got any ideas about the offensive line? All of that with a new general manager, who will have two top-10 draft picks but a less-than-ideal cap situation to work with. The Giants have long been viewed as one of the gold-standard franchises in the NFL, but they are at their lowest point since the pre-Parcells days of the 1970s. What kind of coach do they need? A home run hire.
THE POTENTIAL SURPRISE
Seattle Seahawks
Could Pete Carroll go? NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported it would only be if he and other members of team brass are not on the same page about the team’s plans.
If Carroll does go — and Russell Wilson stays, as Garafolo reported — this would be a coveted landing spot. This is the first losing season in a decade in Seattle and part of it can be attributed to Wilson’s finger injury. The presence of a Super Bowl-winning superstar quarterback should attract the interest of every top candidate. Predicting what team chairwoman Jody Allen has planned, though, is difficult. She took over the team upon the death of her brother, Paul Allen, in 2018, so this would be her first coaching search.
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NFC NORTH
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CHICAGO
NFL.com lists these known interviews for the two open positions – GM and Coach:
Head coach:
Brian Daboll, Bills offensive coordinator
Leslie Frazier, Bills defensive coordinator
Doug Pederson, former Eagles head coach
General manager:
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Browns VP of football ops
Morocco Brown, Colts director of college scouting
Glenn Cook, Browns executive
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DETROIT
As was foreshadowed when Coach Dan Campbell took over the play-calling in November, OC Anthony Lynn will be moving on. Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press:
On the surface, it seemed like the perfect fit. In reality, it was anything but.
The Detroit Lions and offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn mutually agreed to part ways Monday, the day after the Lions finished their season with a 37-30 win over the Green Bay Packers.
“It just wasn’t a fit,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said in his end-of-season news conference. “We just, you want it to be, but I think it just, we never found our groove or our rhythm, if you will and it’s hard to really, truly pinpoint (why). It just, sometimes it just doesn’t work out the way you want and that’s really the best answer I can give you.”
The two spent one season together with the Dallas Cowboys in 2005, when Campbell was a player and Lynn was the team’s running backs coach, and share similar philosophies when it comes to the offensive side of football.
But the Lions struggled in their first eight games with Lynn calling plays, and Campbell assumed those duties during the team’s Week 9 bye, after it became apparent something there was a disconnect between Lynn and quarterback Jared Goff.
The Lions went 0-8 with Lynn as play caller averaging 16.8 points and 321.1 yards per game.
In nine games with Campbell calling plays, the Lions went 3-5-1 and averaged 21.2 points and 323.9 yards per game.
Lynn’s demotion — he still oversaw the Lions running game the final nine weeks of the season, while tight ends coach Ben Johnson became a pseudo pass game coordinator — coincided with the return of left tackle Taylor Decker from injury and the addition of wide receiver Josh Reynolds off waivers from the Tennessee Titans. But Goff’s play also picked up over the final two months.
Goff threw eight touchdowns with six interceptions and had an 85.4 pass rating with Lynn as play caller, and had 11 touchdowns and two interceptions with a 101.8 passer rating with Campbell calling plays.
“Felt like this is just best for both of us,” Campbell said. “And look, he came here, took a leap of faith with us and under the impression that he would be calling plays so it was not going to go that direction. That wasn’t fair to him, either. So I wish him the best and he’s been a true pro. He works his tail off and he gave us everything he had so I appreciate him for that. He is, he’s a pro.”
Lynn expressed his disappointment at the arrangement on multiple occasions late in the season but declined to address his future last week.
Campbell said it’s too early to know what other changes could be coming to his staff — the Lions are expected to return most if not all of their top defensive assistants — and to pinpoint a role for Johnson in the future.
A former walk-on quarterback at North Carolina who has never called plays at any level, Johnson earned praise from Goff and several other Lions late in the season.
“Ben really stepped in there about halfway through the year and became very involved in having a lot of ideas and installing things and having his hand in a lot of the stuff the quarterback was doing and really every position, wide receivers, and really tightening everybody,” Goff said Monday. “His ceiling is, the sky’s the limit for him. I’m excited to hopefully have him back, and we’ll see where that goes”
Campbell said Johnson “did a hell of a job for us,” but acknowledged for the second time in a week that he is considering keeping play calling duties in 2022.
“I think everything’s go to start with I think somewhat me deciding what I want to do and do I want to continue to call — want to is not the right word, it’s what I think is best for us and as a team, and I need to time to think about that,” Campbell said.
“I think the pros are that I’ll only continue to get better as an offensive play caller, and I’ll get better at both, being both, as far as game management and a play caller. I think those are the pros. I think the cons can be that, man, you’re not as invested defensively and special teams or the totality of your players that you might — than you would be able to be if you weren’t so invested in the offense. So I think that’s the pros and cons. And I’ve got to decide that. I got to weigh it. Look, I got time. I’m not in a hurry, that’s for sure. I’m not in some hurry to do something here. I feel pretty good one way or another about what we’re going to do, cause I do know we’re going the right direction offensively, I do believe that.”
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NFC EAST
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NEW YORK GIANTS
GM Dave Gettleman is departing in what his begin said to be a retirement. NFL.comlists these interviews:
New York Giants
General manager
Ran Carthon, 49ers director of player personnel
Ryan Cowden, Titans vice president of player personnel
Monti Ossenfort, Titans director of player personnel
Adam Peters, 49ers assistant general manager
Joe Schoen, Bills assistant general manager
Adrian Wilson, Cardinals vice president of pro personnel
Ian O’Connor of the New York Post does not want to see any more of Joe Judge on the Giants sideline – and thinks it is a pretty obvious call.
Fifteen years ago, John Mara the human being versus John Mara the football man was a much easier fight for the football man to win. The Giants owner was debating whether to fire Tom Coughlin, who had gone one-and-done in the playoffs for a second straight year and had displayed a great talent for pissing off the players and the press.
Mara wanted more production out of the offense and more consistency out of young Eli Manning, but above all he wanted his head coach to stop making life miserable for everyone around him. The day after the 2006 season ended, when it appeared Coughlin wasn’t embracing the urgency of the moment, one team official heard Mara raise his voice in anger about potential consequences.
If Coughlin didn’t agree to make substantial changes in his draconian approach and become more user-friendly, Mara told me years later, he would have fired him. Coughlin ultimately informed his boss that he wanted to install a leadership council of veteran players to help him connect with the locker room. “If I could do cartwheels,” Mara said, “I would’ve done one that day.”
But in the end, Coughlin’s record on the field made him worth the trouble. He had done some big-time winning as a pro and college head coach (Jacksonville Jaguars, Boston College), and he’d already won the Giants a division title (at 11-5) in his first three seasons. He had earned the benefit of the doubt.
Joe Judge has earned no such thing. He had never held the top job anywhere when the Giants hired him out of left field two years ago, at age 38, as a former apprentice under Bill Belichick and Nick Saban who spoke of building a physically tenacious Giants program that would make Coughlin and Bill Parcells proud.
Two seasons later, his vision of fielding a team that would “punch you in the nose for 60 minutes” has been reduced to a punch line. He lost a starting quarterback who was 4-7 on the year, and 12-25 overall, and yet his team completely fell apart. The Giants were everything their coach swore they wouldn’t be — easy to block and easier to tackle. So it was fitting that Judge ran two clown-show plays in a season-ending loss to Washington, the division rival he’d called a clown-show organization.
Truth is, Judge fired himself Sunday. He had the job for 2022, and he handed it right back. Mara was ready to allow him to finish 4-13 on top of last year’s 6-10, ready to give him a competent GM to work with in Year 3, and then Judge showed a shocking lack of judgment and awareness by running those damn quarterback sneaks.
The fans had been through hell for the better part of a decade, and after promising them a team that would mirror the blue-collar ethos of the region, Judge played a cruel hoax on them. He quit on those people rather than call for a couple of traditional handoffs and a punt, and in the process made a laughingstock of the franchise and the men who own it.
Those men, Mara and Steve Tisch, pressed Judge for explanations in a Monday afternoon meeting that was expected to lead to additional deliberations Tuesday. In an earlier press release announcing Dave Gettleman’s forced retirement, Tisch offered up the harshest quote of the bunch when he said, “It is an understatement to say John and I are disappointed by the lack of success we have had on the field.”
An Oscar-winning film producer, Tisch is tired of being embarrassed in front of his rich and famous friends. His presence in Monday’s meeting was worth noting. He is an equal partner, and he did once stop Mara’s brother Chris from becoming the team’s GM. If John doesn’t like Steve as much as his father Wellington liked Bob Tisch, he does respect Steve and does listen to him.
In the end, by the terms of their partnership, Mara will make the call on Judge. He will either fire the coach, keep him for another year, or keep him waiting until the new GM decides yes or no in the coming weeks.
Meaning this is now another case of Mara’s human side wrestling with Mara’s football side. A lot of owners would have fired Judge before he made it out to the parking lot Sunday night, just not Mara. Those of us who have covered the owner for a long time have seen his common decency, as they say, on and off the field. Everyone should want a boss who forever looks for reasons to keep people employed.
But Mara isn’t measuring the merits of Tom Coughlin here. Judge talked his way into this job, and then talked everyone into believing he would pave a path to long-term glory. In his 33rd game, the Giants coach showed the world that his sales pitch was a lie. Judge was his own judge and jury. He convicted himself.
John Mara just needs to sign the papers. Today.
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NFC SOUTH
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CAROLINA
It looks like Coach Matt Rhule has survived. Nick Shook of NFL.com:
Matt Rhule’s first two years in Carolina haven’t lived up to expectations, but that won’t cost him job as of now.
Rhule told reporters he spoke with Panthers owner David Tepper on Monday and discussed the future without offering any additional pertinent details. It would seem Carolina is set to proceed forward with Rhule remaining as the team’s head coach, but after firing young play-caller Joe Brady during the season, the Panthers have a void to fill at the position.
They have plenty of questions to answer elsewhere, too, starting at quarterback. Cam Newton made his return to Carolina in 2021 and could again be in the mix for Carolina in 2022. Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer told reporters Carolina is open to bringing the QB back, raving about what he learned about Newton in his first up-close experience with the former NFL MVP.
“I had this view of Cam (Newton) from the outside,” Fitterer said, via The Athletic’s Joe Person. “And to meet him, I’ve never been more impressed with a player.”
Newton, though, isn’t ready to return for a rebuild.
“At this point forward, I’m not coming back for no 5-12,” Newton said, via ESPN. “I can tell you that now. If it’s about winning, I’m with it. If it’s not, I won’t hitch my wagon to it.”
Newton did not win a game as a starter in Carolina as part of an offense that lacked explosive capabilities. That, of course, wasn’t helped by the loss of Christian McCaffrey, who finished 2021 out of action for a second straight season. McCaffrey has played in just 10 games combined between 2020 and 2021, and it’s clear Carolina is a significantly worse team without him involved.
Surprisingly, the Panthers might not be too keen on keeping McCaffrey, a player they’re paying more per year than any other running back is making in the NFL. At roughly $16 million per season, McCaffrey is making premier money to spend most of his time attempting to return from injury. The Panthers aren’t getting even a decent return on their investment, and they’ve been left empty-handed too often in the last two seasons to at least not consider moving on from McCaffrey.
Fitterer told reporters Monday the Panthers are, as stated above, a better team with McCaffrey and that the club has no intentions of trading him. Even if they did want to move him, his massive salary makes him extremely difficult to trade, as it would bring a dead cap penalty of $18.5 million to Carolina in 2022. Ruhle stated that he “fully expects” McCaffrey to be on the team next season.
It’s safe to expect McCaffrey back in Carolina in 2022 with the hopes he can play more than half of the games in a season. Whoever his quarterback will be will also hope he’ll have McCaffrey available. Sam Darnold learned this lesson the hard way in 2021.
Darnold’s arrival via trade, subsequent performance and absence due to injury did not satisfy the expectations Carolina set for him in 2021 when it picked up his fifth-year option.
Rhule seemed to be at a loss for words Monday when asked about Darnold’s future and only offered an explanation for why the Panthers picked up Darnold’s fifth-year option so quickly, pointing to the relative affordability of Darnold’s fifth-year salary ($18.858 million) as justification. Darnold, of course, did not play well enough to prove that decision wise, throwing the Panthers into another offseason of uncertainty under center.
Darnold’s contract is guaranteed for 2022 and carries a dead cap penalty similar to that of McCaffrey’s if Darnold is released. Darnold is one of two quarterbacks — the other being P.J. Walker — currently under contract for the Panthers as they head into the new year.
There’s no simple answer to any of Carolina’s issues, but what Rhule absolutely cannot afford is another losing streak similar to the length of the one the Panthers endured to close the season. Even if it didn’t send Rhule to unemployment in 2021, dropping seven in a row could cost Rhule his job in 2022. In order to avoid similar disappointment, the Panthers will have to put together a productive offseason of roster and staff changes. Time is no longer a luxury for Rhule.
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NEW ORLEANS
Foot surgery for QB TAYSOM HILL. Mike Triplett of ESPN.com:
@MikeTriplett
Sean Payton said Taysom Hill is expected to need surgery to repair the Lisfranc injury in his left foot, then need a smaller surgery later to remove the hardware. He didn’t have a projected timetable for recovery.
Saints coach Sean Payton was asked about future plans for Jameis Winston, but kind of nipped all player questions in the bud with his answer:
“We literally just finished meeting with our players. So none of those discussions or evaluations would’ve taken place yet.”
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TAMPA BAY
Bruce Arians campaigns for his QB to win MVP. Jenna Laine of ESPN.com:
On the heels of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady’s three-touchdown performance in a 41-17 win over the Carolina Panthers, which ended in “MVP!” chants from fans inside Raymond James Stadium, coach Bruce Arians made a strong case for his 44-year-old signal-caller to win the award.
“I think if he doesn’t get it, it’s a travesty,” Arians said Monday, as his team began preparations to host the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC wild-card round this weekend. “Most completions ever, 5,000 yards, touchdowns — the whole nine yards. To me, it’s not even a close race.”
Brady finished the 2021 regular season with 719 passing attempts, 485 completions, 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes — all tops in the league — making him just the third quarterback along with Drew Brees (2018) and Peyton Manning (2013) to lead the league in all four major statistical categories since 1991.
Brady’s 485 completions set an NFL record for a single season, besting Brees’ 471 completions in 2016. Brady joined Brees as the only two players in NFL history with multiple 5,000-yard passing seasons.
Brady also broke Brees’ record for most career passing yards in his Week 4 return victory over the New England Patriots. He then broke Brees’ career completions record while throwing his 700th touchdown pass in a 33-27 overtime victory against the Buffalo Bills.
“It just shows what his work ethic is, how dedicated he is to the game of football and just how talented he is,” tight end Rob Gronkowski said of Brady’s record-breaking. “Just his determination week in and week out — it’s just unbelievable. And it’s just surreal how he’s pulling it off at age 44 and just coming out here like he’s in his 20s still, just winging that ball, zipping it where it needs to be, making fantastic throws week in and week out.”
Brady’s 5,316 passing yards this year were third-most in NFL history behind Manning (5,477 in 2013) and Brees (5,476), and bested his own personal record of 5,235 passing yards in 2011. Even without counting the NFL’s 17th game this year — and Brady left his Week 18 game with 6:39 to go in the fourth quarter — Brady’s 4,990 passing yards in his first 16 games would have put him 14th all-time in single-season passing records.
Brady has been voted league MVP three times in his career: 2007, 2010 and most recently in 2017. He was also voted NFL Offensive Player of the Year twice, in 2007 and 2010. In the postseason, he’s been awarded Super Bowl MVP honors five times: Super Bowl XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX, LI and LV.
“Tom’s the MVP every year,” Gronkowski said. “Just the way he adjusts on the fly to his personnel, just trying to get the ball into the best players’ hands or the best matchup on that current play — he’s just always ready to go no matter what the situation is. He’s the MVP every year.”
He faces his stiffest competition from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has also won the award three times in his career — in 2011, 2014 and 2020 — and was named Super Bowl XLV MVP. The MVP award is chosen by a group of 50 writers prior to the postseason. Rodgers was a -400 favorite at Caesars Sportsbook entering the NFL’s Week 18 games, while Brady was +550.
Rodgers played one less game than Brady because he tested positive for COVID-19, but Brady’s 312.71 passing yards per game still top Rodgers’ 257.19 passing yards per game. Brady also averaged 2.53 passing touchdowns per game compared to Rodgers’ 2.31.
Rodgers, however, put up a staggering 9.25 touchdown-to-interception ratio — seventh best in the league for a single season over the last 20 years — compared to Brady’s 2.53. Rodgers also posted a 68.9% completion rate compared to Brady’s 67.2%, and his Total QBR 68.7 compared favorably to Brady’s 68.5.
While Brady led the Bucs to a 13-4 record — the same as Rodgers’ Packers — and the No. 2 seed in the NFC, the Packers clinched the No. 1 seed because their 9-3 conference record bested the Bucs’ 8-4 conference record. The Packers were also in the driver’s seat through much of the season, which may help Rodgers’ case the most — although one voter, Hub Arkush, who called Rodgers “the biggest jerk in the league” and cited off-the-field issues for why he won’t vote for him. Rodgers drew scrutiny when it was revealed that he was not vaccinated despite telling reporters he was “immunized.”
The two quarterbacks could wind up meeting in Green Bay for the NFC Championship Game, as some have predicted, which would be a rematch of last year’s conference title game. ESPN Analytics currently gives the Packers a 68.1% chance of reaching the conference championship, with the Bucs right behind them with a 52.3% chance. It gives the Packers a 37.5% chance of reaching the Super Bowl and the Bucs a 29.8% chance.
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NFC WEST
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LOS ANGELES RAMS
The Rams did not enjoy a true home field advantage last Sunday. Will that be the case on Monday as they face another team whose fans are driving distance away from SoFi Stadium. Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:
The Rams were at home on Sunday against the 49ers, but it didn’t sound like it inside SoFi Stadium.
Rams coach Sean McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford both said the number of 49ers fans who attended the game — and the loud cheering when the Rams were on offense — surprised them and made it more difficult to call signals as the 49ers pulled of a stunning comeback win to earn a playoff berth.
“It did catch us off guard,” McVay said, via ESPN. “Just because of the way that it’s been this year. It’s been great, great atmosphere, great environment. Yesterday was the same thing, but there was a lot of red there. That was definitely a surprise.”
Stafford said the Rams had a hard time getting plays called with the 49ers’ crowd noise advantage.
“It was a tough environment for us to communicate in really the whole second half,” said Stafford.
There appeared to be more 49ers fans than Rams fans in attendance, and even on the Rams’ home field, it was the 49ers who had the crowd noise advantage.
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SEATTLE
QB GENO SMITH celebrated the end of the season a bit too much – and now he has a DUI. Brady Henderson of ESPN.com:
Seattle Seahawks backup quarterback Geno Smith was arrested on suspicion of DUI early Monday morning, according to King County court records.
Smith was arrested at 2:10 a.m. by the Washington State Patrol and released from a King County correctional facility on his personal recognizance — meaning in lieu of posting bail — at 9:27 a.m., records show. No other information was immediately available.
“Geno is fully cooperative with the investigation,” Smith’s attorney Jon Fox said in a statement. “I hope that an open mind can be kept by all as the facts are ascertained.”
In a tweet, Smith wrote that “being arrested brings a taint onto the reputation that is impossible to undo, no matter what really happened. I’m asking all of you to hold back on judging me the same as you would do for a friend or family member. I’ll have more to say down the road & ask that you bare with me.”
The Seahawks returned to Seattle on Sunday evening after closing out their season with a 38-30 win over the Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll said Smith took part in end-of-season meetings Monday after he was released from custody.
“I checked in with him. We have to let his people handle all that,” Carroll said. “He was in the [team] meeting today with us. I don’t have anything other than that to give to you on that.”
Smith, 31, served as Russell Wilson’s backup the past three seasons and stepped in during the three-plus games in October that Wilson missed with a broken finger. He completed 65 of 95 passes for 702 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. The interception ended the Seahawks’ comeback bid against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 5, when Smith took over for an injured Wilson in the second half.
The Seahawks went 1-2 in his three starts.
Smith is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after playing on a one-year, $1.2 million contract in 2021.
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AFC WEST
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DENVER
NFL.com lists these Denver coaching interviews:
Denver Broncos
Head coach
Eric Bieniemy, Chiefs offensive coordinator
Jonathan Gannon, Eagles defensive coordinator
Aaron Glenn, Lions defensive coordinator
Nathaniel Hackett, Packers offensive coordinator
Jerod Mayo, Patriots inside linebackers coach
Kellen Moore, Cowboys offensive coordinator
Kevin O’Connell, Rams offensive coordinator
Dan Quinn, Cowboys defensive coordinator
The DB has heard that Quinn might be the favorite there.
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LAS VEGAS
After an “appropriate search”, which we assumes means satisfying the Rooney Rule, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com endorses the full-time ascension of Rich Bisaccia:
It can’t be official until the playoff run ends and an appropriate search occurs. Once that happens, the right answer for the Raiders has become obvious.
Rich Bisaccia should be the team’s next head coach.
The 61-year-old has stabilized a franchise rocked by controversy and tragedy, from the Jon Gruden resignation to the Henry Ruggs situation. Bisaccia has, through the adversity, kept a steady hand and nudged the Raiders to the postseason with four straight wins.
Also on his permanent record? A win in a regular-season game that will be permanently remembered by anyone who witnessed it.
As Mike Golic said on Monday’s PFT Live, sometimes the right answer is staring you in the face. Despite a suggestion that the Raiders may pursue a “rock star” via trade with another team, Bisaccia is the obvious choice. And it won’t take draft picks to keep him.
If it doesn’t work in 2022 or 2023, a change can be made then. For now, he has done too much to not get a chance to show when he can do with a whole year to prepare for and execute the job. The locker room surely wants it. The fans will want it, too. No matter what happens in Cincinnati on Saturday.
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AFC NORTH
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BALTIMORE
With the Ravens out of the playoffs, there is a bit of a swirl around OC Greg Roman. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:
The Ravens missed the playoffs for the first time since quarterback Lamar Jackson joined the team and there were several factors in why the team slipped to an 8-9 record this year.
Injuries left them shorthanded at several spots, the defense was not as effective as its been in past seasons, and the offense didn’t score enough points. Baltimore was held to 21 points or less in nine games and Jackson was slumping before he suffered a season-ending bone bruise in his ankle.
In a press conference Monday, Jackson said the team has “to be more consistent in the passing game” while throwing his support behind offensive coordinator Greg Roman despite this season’s struggles.
“Greg Roman has been great for us,” Jackson said, via Jeff Zrebiec of TheAthletic.com. “He’s a great coach. We’re glad he’s here, but I can’t get into that. I don’t really know what they have going on upstairs. I don’t talk about stuff like that, but he’s been good for us though.”
The 2021 season was Roman’s third as the team’s offensive coordinator and there hasn’t been any official announcement about the Ravens’ plans for a fourth year on the job.
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CLEVELAND
Coach Kevin Stefanski sounds like he expects QB BAKER MAYFIELD back behind center in 2022. Myles Simmons of ProFootballTalk.com:
Playing through various injuries throughout the year, Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield struggled throughout the 2021 season.
In 15 games, he completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 3,010 yards with a career-low 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. The Browns went 6-8 in his 14 starts, as he missed two games to injury and one while on the COVID-19 list.
Mayfield’s last two starts were particularly poor, as he tossed four interceptions in the Christmas Day loss to Green Bay. And he completed only 42 percent of his passes in the Week 17 loss to Pittsburgh.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked multiple times during the season if the team was considering sitting Mayfield to give him time to heal. But the only game Mayfield missed due to injury while Cleveland was still in postseason contention was the team’s Week 7 Thursday win over Denver.
“Baker fought through those injuries, was medically cleared to play each of those weeks and practiced throughout those weeks and felt good,” Stefanski said Monday, via Ben Axelrod of WKYC. “I don’t think Baker’s using any of that as an excuse and not denying that guys play through injuries.”
Stefanski added that he’s seen Mayfield play at a high level and anticipates the QB having a better 2022.
“I fully expect him to bounce back next year,” Stefanski said, via Jake Trotter of ESPN.
The No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 draft, Mayfield is under contract through 2022 on his fifth-year option. But beyond that, the future is murky for Cleveland and its quarterback.
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AFC SOUTH
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INDIANAPOLIS
Stephen Holder of The Athletic with a long look at the prognosis for QB CARSON WENTZ:
The late-season struggles. The facepalm-inducing turnovers. The immediate commencement of weighty offseason questions.
It must all seem so familiar for Carson Wentz, almost like he’s been here before. And, as has been well-documented, he absolutely has.
It’s familiar territory for the Colts’ starting quarterback, the primary difference being that his location and uniform have now changed. Otherwise, the similarities between his current predicament in Indianapolis and his circumstances at the end of last season in Philadelphia are practically the same.
Even Wentz’s quotes seem interchangeable.
“It wasn’t the ending that everyone envisioned, not how I envisioned it,” Wentz said in March after being jettisoned from the Eagles and arriving in Indianapolis. That statement could have been recycled in its entirety after Sunday’s debacle in Jacksonville, a stunning 26-11 loss that completed the Colts’ late-season meltdown.
The Colts, like the Eagles before them, designated Wentz as their unquestioned quarterback (at least for this season). Certainly, the Eagles’ investment was greater given his status as a No. 2 overall draft choice and the rich contract to which they signed him.
But the point remains that, with both teams, Wentz had a chance to make the job his for the long term. In Philadelphia, that ended with a benching at the end of his fifth season. The experiment is ongoing in Indianapolis, but its current status suggests things are not on a good trajectory.
Just as it proved nearly impossible for Wentz to come back from being benched for Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, it now feels fair to ask whether he can live down the unraveling of the Colts’ 2021 season — from the hottest team in the NFL to out of the playoffs in two weeks flat.
Things have reached such a boiling point that head coach Frank Reich was asked bluntly Monday whether he envisioned Wentz being the Colts’ starting quarterback next season. Unsurprisingly, he refrained from offering a definitive answer.
“Next year’s roster will be next year’s roster,” Reich said.
That the question needed to be asked tells you all you need to know. So, too, does the ever-positive Reich’s assessment of the Colts’ middling passing game down the stretch.
“As a general statement, I would say that seems to be a fair statement that we’ve got to be better in the passing game,” Reich said when asked about the lack of production.
Reich chose his words carefully because he knows the stakes. But he also made no effort to pretend things are all good. When your team is routinely passing for fewer than 200 yards in the modern-day NFL, you have a problem that needs addressing.
And for that reason, Wentz’s future will remain an oft-discussed topic in the coming months.
But before we dive into speculation about whether the Colts will have a fifth starting quarterback in five consecutive seasons — talk about a recipe for failure — we must get a fair assessment of where things stand, the implications of any potential moves and what options are even available to the Colts.
The financials
Just how tied to Wentz are the Colts?
Wentz is under contract through 2024 with the deal he signed with the Eagles in 2019. But the detail that matters most is that 2022 is the final year of the deal containing guaranteed money. As of today, the Colts are on the hook for $15 million of Wentz’s 2022 compensation. Also important is the additional $7 million in 2022 salary that becomes guaranteed as of March 19. That’s also when Wentz is due a roster bonus of $6.29 million.
So should Wentz’s contract be terminated before March 19, the Colts would have to absorb $15 million in dead money on their salary cap but would not be responsible for the other sums. That’s still a significant figure for a player not on your roster. And eating dead money on the salary cap is something general manager Chris Ballard has gone to great lengths to avoid.
Still, the Colts are already scheduled to have more than $50 million in available cap space entering the spring and could, theoretically, stomach the cap charge after parting with Wentz. In fact, parting with Wentz would actually carve out an additional $13 million in cap space for Indianapolis because of the savings on the remainder of his 2022 compensation. The Colts would be in a very strong salary-cap position if you’re willing to look past the glaring fact that they’d lack a starting quarterback.
Though there is likely a minimal trade market for Wentz after consecutive seasons that produced questions, the Colts would owe nothing if he is traded by March 19. If Wentz remains with the Colts, his cap number for 2022 would be $28.294 million.
Wentz could be released with no obligation after next season.
The QB landscape
Now comes the hard part: Finding a quarterback.
Got any bright ideas?
The difficulty in navigating this is exactly why the Colts have had a different starting quarterback in each of the three seasons since Andrew Luck’s sudden retirement in August 2019.
They’re in an incredibly tough spot here. The Colts yielded their 2022 first-round pick to the Eagles as part of the Wentz deal. That will affect their ability to pursue any of the handful of quarterback prospects projected for the first round (and this isn’t shaping up as a strong quarterback draft anyway). The one hypothetical draft scenario that could materialize is the Colts taking a chance on a late-first-round quarterback — whoever he might be — and moving into the bottom portions of the round by dealing a future first-round choice. But that’s a long shot, at best, and a path that cannot be pursued until draft night.
The lack of draft-pick ammunition also impedes the team’s ability to engage potential trade partners should any top quarterbacks become available (Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson would be the dream scenarios here).
Beyond those options, the Colts are left to consider the free-agent market. What does it look like? In a word, awful. The best quarterback scheduled for free agency at the moment is, arguably, Denver’s Teddy Bridgewater. He’s a bit of a game manager, but his game-to-game performance is, perhaps, steadier than that of Wentz. Then again, his physical tools don’t compare with Wentz’s, so would there even be a net gain?
Other possible free agents include Andy Dalton and Cam Newton. We can keep going, but you get the point. Free agency isn’t likely to produce an answer for the Colts.
What if Wentz stays?
The notion of a Wentz return for 2022 is something Colts fans should be prepared to accept. On some levels, it makes the most sense for the team when you consider the difficulty Ballard would face in finding a clear upgrade.
There are also other considerations. Reich, clearly a strong proponent of Wentz given their history together in Philadelphia, emphasized Monday how little offseason preparation Wentz and the Colts had this season. The Colts conducted just two weeks of very limited offseason practices, and Wentz missed nearly all of training camp after foot surgery.
“I would love to have OTAs,” Reich said. “I’ll give up the 11-on-11 drills, but let us just have as many seven-on-seven reps as we can so we can fine-tune the passing game. There’s no shortcut for that stuff.”
To Reich’s point, some of the greatest struggles displayed by Wentz and the offense this season came in the season’s first several games, immediately after those missed training camp practices by Wentz and much of the offensive line.
But we can’t talk about Wentz without also addressing the talent around him. Wentz has never had anything even approaching an elite wide-receiving corps. In fact, Michael Pittman Jr. this season became the first 1,000-yard wide receiver Wentz has played with during his career (former Eagles tight end Zach Ertz surpassed 1,000 yards in 2018 with Wentz).
Wentz, the one delivering the ball, is certainly a factor in that lack of production. But the Colts this season had one of the poorer groups of wide receivers and tight ends in the entire NFL. Pittman became a predictable target, T.Y. Hilton and Parris Campbell missed too much time with injuries, Jack Doyle was reduced to mostly a blocker, and Zach Pascal disappeared. Two of the Colts’ biggest weapons in the passing game weren’t receivers at all but, instead, were running backs Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines.
The Colts also have to solidify their offensive line. It’s likely a startling thing to have to acknowledge for a team that has been superb at protecting the quarterback. But Ballard made a clear misstep signing Eric Fisher, who was a liability at left tackle. Right tackle Braden Smith battled injuries early on, and his performance suffered as a result. Even Quenton Nelson and Ryan Kelly were culpable for underperformance Sunday in Jacksonville.
There is a case to be made that the Colts can upgrade their passing game in 2022 without also upgrading at quarterback. But going that route will require a fair amount of faith in Wentz and trust that he can take advantage of the improved personnel.
Whatever happens, the path forward will be complicated for the Colts. And, for Wentz, it’s all going to feel oh so familiar.
The DB wonders, would QB JIMMY GAROPPOLO be a good fit with the Colts?
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JACKSONVILLE
NFL.com says these are the interviews from the Trent Baalke-led coaching search:
Jacksonville Jaguars
Head coach
Darrell Bevell, Jaguars interim head coach
Todd Bowles, Buccaneers defensive coordinator
Jim Caldwell, former Lions and Colts head coach
Matt Eberflus, Colts defensive coordinator
Nathaniel Hackett, Packers offensive coordinator
Byron Leftwich, Buccaneers offensive coordinator
Kellen Moore, Cowboys offensive coordinator
Bill O’Brien, former Texans head coach
Doug Pederson, former Eagles head coach
Dan Quinn, Cowboys defensive coordinator
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AFC EAST
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MIAMI
Bills OC Brian Daboll is the first name out on the Dolphins interview list to replace fired Coach Brian Flores.
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THIS AND THAT
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THE 17th GAME
It was a tightly-bunch season, the first with the 17th game. Did that extra game make any difference in the final playoff standings?
To re-fresh, there were 16 extra inter-conference games added to the schedule. In the end, NFC teams won 10 of the 16.
Here is how things ended with 17 games with the green teams being the six that won their 17th game:
Team Div W-L Div Conf
1 *zyx-Tennessee South 12-5 1 8-4
2 yx-Kansas City West 12-5 1 7-5
3 yx-Buffalo East 11-6 1 7-5
4 yx-Cincinnati North 10-7 1 8-4
5 x-Las Vegas WC1 10-7 2 8-4
6 x-New England WC2 10-7 2 8-4
7 x-Pittsburgh WC3 9-7-1 2 7-5
8 Indianapolis 9-8 2 7-5
9 Miami 9-8 3 6-6
10 LA Chargers 9-8 3 6-6
11 Cleveland 8-9 3 5-7
12 Baltimore 8-9 4 5-7
13 Denver 7-10 4 3-9
14 NY Jets 4-13 4 4-8
15 Houston 4-13 3 4-8
16 Jacksonville 3-14 4 3-9
Now, with the results of the 17th game filtered out, teams in green won the 17th game, teams in red lost:
1 *zyx-Tennessee South 11-5 1 8-4
2 yx-Kansas City West 11-5 1 7-5
3 x-New England WC2 10-6 2 8-4
4 yx-Cincinnati North 10-6 1 8-4
5 x-Las Vegas WC1 10-6 2 8-4
6 yx-Buffalo WC2 10-6 1 7-5
7 Indianapolis WC3 9-7 2 7-5
8 LA Chargers 9-7 3 6-6
9 x-Pittsburgh 8-7-1 2 7-5
10 Miami 8-8 3 6-6
11 Cleveland 8-8 3 5-7
12 Baltimore 8-8 4 5-7
13 Denver 6-10 4 3-9
14 NY Jets 4-12 4 4-8
15 Houston 4-12 3 4-8
16 Jacksonville 3-13 4 3-9
2 changes –
Buffalo beat Washington and New England lost to Dallas, so the Patriots would still have been the AFC East champion with Buffalo the 6th seed.
And since Indianapolis lost to Tampa Bay while Pittsburgh beat Seattle – if that had not happened the Colts would have made the playoffs despite losing to JAX.
What about the NFC? The actual finish below
1 *zyx-Green Bay North 13-4 1 9-3
2 yx-Tampa Bay South 13-4 1 8-4
3 yx-Dallas East 12-5 1 10-2
4 yx-LA Rams West 12-5 1 8-4
5 x-Arizona WC1 11-6 2 7-5
6 x-San Francisco WC2 10-7 3 7-5
7 x-Philadelphia East WC3 9-8 2 7-5
8 New Orleans 9-8 2 7-5
9 Minnesota 8-9 2 6-6
10 Washington 7-10 3 6-6
11 Seattle 7-10 4 4-8
12 Atlanta 7-10 3 4-8
13 Chicago 6-11 3 4-8
14 Carolina 5-12 4 3-9
15 NY Giants 4-13 4 3-9
16 Detroit 3-13-1 4 3-9
Now with the 17th game results taken out, one less win for the teams in green, one less loss for the teams in red.
1 *zyx-Green Bay North 13-3 1 9-3
2 yx-Tampa Bay South 12-4 1 8-4
3 yx-Dallas East 11-5 1 10-2
4 yx-LA Rams West 11-5 1 8-4
5 x-Arizona WC1 10-6 2 7-5
6 x-San Francisco WC2 9-7 3 7-5
7 New Orleans WC3 9-7 2 7-5
8 x-Philadelphia WC3 8-8 2 7-5
9 Minnesota 7-9 2 6-6
10 Washington 7-9 3 6-6
11 Seattle 7-9 4 4-8
12 Atlanta 6-10 3 4-8
13 Chicago 5-11 3 4-8
14 Carolina 4-12 4 3-9
15 NY Giants 4-12 4 3-9
16 Detroit 3-12-1 4 3-9
Since most of the top NFC teams won their 17th game, there was only one change, but it was a significant one. The Eagles beat the Jets in their 17th game but the Saints lost to Tennessee and a mountain of COVID. If those two games had not happened the Saints don’t lose their tiebreaker to the Eagles because there is no tie to break.
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