We’re down to the final four in the NFL playoffs and you had a bunch of questions this week about the futures of your teams. Let’s get to the answers …
From Hermy (@Hermaphro): Can you coach for the Lions next year? This is nuts. How will they replace all these guys?
Hermy, this is a little different, definitely. And the reason why is a lot of times you’ll have guys trickling out of a successful program, rather than all leaving at once. If Johnson didn’t wait the extra year, this all sequences a little differently, but I don’t think anyone would want to give back the season the Lions just had, despite how it ended.
So Johnson, Glenn and DL coach Terrell Williams are gone to the Chicago Bears, Jets and New England Patriots, respectively. OL coach Hank Fraley may be off to the Seattle Seahawks. Other guys on the staff, such as Townsend, linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard and pass-game coordinator Tanner Engstrand have attracted interest as well.
Historically, we’ve seen this sort of attrition lead to different approaches. The 2005 Patriots lost Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, and replaced them with young up-and-comers Josh McDaniels and Eric Mangini. The 1990s Dallas Cowboys lost Norv Turner and Dave Wannstedt in back-to-back years and went older on one hire (Ernie Zampese) and younger on the other (Butch Davis). The early 2010s Denver Broncos did something similar, replacing Mike McCoy and Dennis Allen with Adam Gase and Jack Del Rio.
The easy thing, to me, would be to reward internal people. On defense, Sheppard might be a bit of a dice roll with only four years of coaching experience. Townsend’s been around the block, but is new to Detroit’s program (he just arrived in 2024). On offense, Engstrand would be one name to watch, since he’s elicited coordinator interest as well. Or, again, Campbell could reach outside his staff—maybe to his Saints roots—to supplement the staff.
From mashman4077 (@mashman4077): Need any semblance of a plan for Raiders. What are you hearing?
Mash, I like John Spytek as a first step for GM. He’s waited his turn, and he’s won Super Bowls with two different teams, and that was after he had the chance to work under Tom Heckert, Joe Banner and Andy Reid in Philadelphia. He’s been around both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, late in their careers. And he’s helped lead, along with Jason Licht and Mike Greenberg, an on-the-fly rebuild in Tampa over the past couple of years, that created an off-ramp from the Brady era, and flipped an old roster into one of the NFL’s youngest.
If you’d asked me over the past 12 months who the two most ready GM candidates were, I’d have told you Spytek and the Tennessee Titans’ new hire Mike Borgonzi—and both of those guys have been prepared to do the job for years now. I’m just happy to see teams finally getting it right on those two.
As part of that preparedness, I’d say I trust Spytek to get the Las Vegas Raiders’ coaching hire right. Tom Brady knew what he was getting in Spytek. The two spent a ton of time together over Brady’s three years in Tampa—Spytek ran the Tuesday personnel meeting that Bill Belichick and Nick Caserio once did for Brady in New England (they were basically an advance scouting session, and they were in Belichick’s A Football Life episode).
I’m excited to see where those two, paired with a guy off Spytek’s list, take things from here.
From Richard Ito (@rich_ito): How come Shad Khan refuses to see what the issue is in Jax? And are they now at the risk of being unable to salvage Trevor Lawrence’s career?
From Some Guy (@RomaYury): Any chance Shad Khan would fire Baalke now?
I asked for questions before the Jacksonville Jaguars announced they were firing GM Trent Baalke, and I probably got another dozen just like this one, calling for what was about to happen. That an owner would create this situation for himself is really hard to wrap your head around—Shad Khan essentially tuned out everyone and decided to keep Baalke, who’d seemingly survived a third coach firing in Jacksonville, while letting Doug Pederson go.
That decision was made 16 days ago. Since then, the Jaguars have gone through an entire round of head coach interviews, and set the second round, with Tampa Bay Buccaneers OC Liam Coen, Raiders DC Patrick Graham and ex-New York Jets coach Robert Saleh invited to Florida for another look.
Coen canceled Wednesday’s planned interview, and it wasn’t long afterward that Khan let Baalke go. This was after he’d shown a willingness, by the way, to reconsider Baalke’s employment if he’d choose Ben Johnson, and after Baalke balked at the idea of one candidate bringing a personnel exec to work alongside the GM. And if you think it took all of that for Khan to finally come to his senses, you’re probably on the right track.
Khan’s been considered an absentee owner in the past, but for an owner in charge of one of the 32 organizations in the NFL to not see what was obvious to everyone—from his own staff to the fan sitting in the 300 level—until 16 days later feels downright negligent. I, by the way, like Khan. He’s smart, and has an incredible story that’s a true manifestation of the American dream. That’s why you’d think he’d be capable of doing the right thing from the start.
Instead, his Jaguars are now getting a late start filling GM and coach jobs that would’ve been very attractive two weeks ago absent Baalke, and doing it with arguably the three best coaching candidates (Mike Vrabel, Johnson, Aaron Glenn) and two of the best GM candidates (Borgonzi, Spytek) off the market.
There’s still time to get it right, but Khan didn’t have to make it this hard on himself.
From Bryce Anderson (@BryceA423): Is Brandon Staley the backup plan in SF if the Jaguars hire Saleh or are there names we haven’t heard yet?
Bryce, you’re right to think that this one’s probably on hold until Robert Saleh’s head-coaching candidacy is wrapped up—my feeling is Saleh is still Kyle Shanahan’s first choice.
If Saleh lands in Dallas or Jacksonville, then, of course, Shanahan would have to pivot, and I’d say Staley would be right in the mix, though Lions secondary coach Deshea Townsend also interviewed. Staley would be a very solid choice, too. He’s sharp and, in one year as Sean McVay’s coordinator, made the Rams the NFL’s best defense, getting another great year out of Aaron Donald while leveraging Jalen Ramsey in new and inventive ways.
I don’t think the Niners could go wrong with either Saleh or Staley, to be honest. Both are safe picks, and yet bring plenty of upside.
From DK is a Wookiee (@DK_Wookiee1): What are your thoughts with the Vikings situation? Is Darnold getting an extension and if he does will that mean they will listen to offers for McCarthy?
DK, the thing I feel most comfortable saying right now is that the Minnesota Vikings don’t have any intention of moving J.J. McCarthy. I’ve learned never to rule anything out with these things, but such a trade would really surprise me.
Things with Darnold are a little less certain, as I see them here in mid-January. His franchise tag would likely cost somewhere between $40 million and $45 million, which would be a way of kicking the can down the road. Even with the crash-landing to the end of his season, I can’t imagine he’ll get less than $30 million per year on the open market, and doing a multi-year deal with him would almost certainly mean guaranteeing the first two years—so you’d tie yourself to him into 2026, the last season before decision time on McCarthy’s ’28 option.
The timing is wonky, and I don’t know how exactly you’d untangle all of it. Because the Vikings have a healthy cap situation now, they could just bite the bullet and tag him—and I think that might be the easiest solution (à la the 2005 Chargers with Drew Brees when they had Philip Rivers behind him). That way, you can give your vets a measure of stability at the position, while letting McCarthy go compete for it.
From Rigoberto Mata (@ogtdiaz24): How does the Rams’ future look?
Rigoberto, it looks good, in that we’ve seen Sean McVay, GM Les Snead and VP Tony Pastoors pivot in the past, and remain competitive in the interim.
There will be some pivoting this year. Matthew Stafford’s future is uncertain. Last year, the Rams gave him a raise, removed his guarantees for 2024, and resolved, together with Stafford, to revisit the situation after the season. Cooper Kupp will be 32 next season, has a cap number near $30 million, and is owed $20 million in cash, money that’s not guaranteed, and he has missed 18 games due to injury the past three years.
The Rams also have to decide what to do about young left tackle Alaric Jackson, who came on this year and will be a free agent, and they have a few needs that’ll be tougher to fill (corner is one) if they’re also in flux at left tackle and quarterback.
That said, there’s cap space, draft picks, and an impressive foundation of young talent that includes Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams, Jackson himself, Jared Verse, Kobie Turner, Byron Young and Braden Fiske. So while there are some big-ticket questions to answer, there’s the franchise track record, and a real base to build off here. So I wouldn’t be too worried.
From winkusthegreat (@TylerGreennnn): Why hasn’t Jesse Minter gotten a HC interview?
Winkus, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Raiders, with new GM John Spytek climbing aboard, take a look at Minter now. And I do think Minter has a future as a head coach.
He was brilliant in two years as DC at Michigan, and put together one of the NFL’s best defenses this year, even with some personnel shortcomings—the edge rushers, while still effective, were older, and the secondary was reliant on some younger guys at corner. Minter found a way, over and over with the Los Angeles Chargers this year to find answers, and that’s a quality you’re always looking for in your head coach.
Still, he’s a defensive coach, and for obvious reasons, it usually seems to take a little longer for them to catch on as candidates—it rarely happens after a single year of being an NFL coordinator (though, again, you can keep an eye on Vegas with him).
From Tom Marshall (@aredzonauk): Is it just football or are the Ravens guilty of trying too hard in the playoffs?
Tom, it’s just football. They ran into a really good team on the road on Sunday, and the Buffalo Bills got them by two points.
If anything, I look at all the transition the team went through at the beginning of the year, and handled so beautifully—turning over 60% of the line, replacing Patrick Queen and Jadeveon Clowney on defense, and ushering in 32-year-old DC Zach Orr—and think maybe some early stumbles cost them having the Bills at home rather than having to go to Orchard Park on an Arctic-level night in Western New York. But that’s the NFL.
From Curtis Allen (@curtis93969): Do you have any thoughts on Grant Udinski’s ability to build an offensive staff as a potential OC? I would think teams would want an experienced coach to balance out his youth (like McVay bringing Wade Phillips with him to the Rams).
Yeah, Curtis, I’ve done some digging on Udinski over the past few days, and he’s a really interesting guy to look at. He’s been in an intense football environment with Kevin O’Connell, Wes Phillips and Josh McCown on the offensive side of that staff, and has proven a quick study in just about every way. Since O’Connell poached him from Matt Rhule’s staff in 2022 (on the advice of Minnesota assistant Brian Angelichio), he’s risen from assistant to the head coach/special projects to assistant QBs coach to assistant offensive coordinator.
He kept getting title changes, and raises, to keep him from leaving, and that’s because he’s really become O’Connell’s right-hand man. He’s got, by all accounts, an incredible mind for the game, and a bright, bright future as a play-caller and, maybe eventually, as a head coach.
But it’s fair to have questions about how fast this is all moving. McVay had six years coaching—five in the NFL—before he became a coordinator, and he waited another year after that before becoming a play-caller. Kyle Shanahan had five years coaching—four in the NFL—before becoming a coordinator, and, like McVay, waited another year before becoming the primary play-caller.
Udinski just finished his sixth-year coaching, and fifth in the NFL, so becoming a play-calling offensive coordinator would put him on a McVay-Shanahan track. So, in this case, that it could be for a defensive-minded head coach in the Seattle Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald (McVay and Shanahan were working for Jay Gruden and Gary Kubiak, respectively), only adds another layer to it.
We’ll see what happens. The biggest question, I think, would be whether he’s ready to lead the room and manage an offensive staff, since he hasn’t even had his own position room yet at any level. But any struggle he has won’t be for lack of football IQ. That much seems certain.
From Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25): After the Jets make their decision on HC-GM, how quickly after that will we hear the answer on the Aaron Rodgers questions about his future?
I think looking at Aaron Glenn’s history in Detroit, and New Orleans, you can expect that the new staff, either way, will want to have a quarterback that can play at a competitive level out of the box. He was with Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. He was on the ground floor with the Lions, he saw Campbell and GM Brad Holmes wade through the Stafford trade request—and come out of it with a competitive piece at the position.
So I think Glenn will be open to the discussion of bringing Rodgers back if Rodgers wants to come back. Otherwise, someone such as Kirk Cousins could make sense for a year or two. But I tend to doubt they’ll go at it without a decent for-now solution.
From Ronnie (@Tray4o): As we stand right now, who are the names to keep an eye on for Cowboys head coach?
The names that are out there—Kellen Moore, Deion Sanders, Brian Schottenheimer, Jason Witten (!)—are all pretty familiar to the Jones family, and tell you which way this one is probably going. They could reverse course. But I don’t know that it’s likely that they would.
From Bears World (@jacksWorld11): I thought it was interesting in your article that the main three things Ben Johnson considered for the Bears didn’t include Caleb. I assume he’s happy with Caleb but was Caleb not a deciding factor in Ben’s decision?
Bears World, I know Johnson likes Caleb Williams’s talent, but the bigger thing, as I had heard it, was finding a place that could replicate what he was a part of in Detroit, where the strength of the entire operation created a very sustainable, winning team. What does that mean? That means finding alignment with the general manager, and ownership willing to do what it takes. It makes sense, too, because in the end, without all that, the quarterback won’t be in a position to succeed, either—even if he is, of course, the most important player on the field.
From Mike Liddle (@mliddle17): Do the Panthers have a chance to get Warren out of Penn St. at pick 8 or do you see them going defense with pick 8???
Love Tyler Warren. He’d be a fun pick and, at this early juncture, without having a ton of draft work yet, I think he has a chance to go that high.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lions Turn Their Attention to Replacing Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn.