The GM's, Coach's, Carousel

Oh, I can think of many, many reasons. One of which being that not a single Ohio fan on these boards has even acknowledged what a disastrous, scandal-ridden tenure he had, nor admitted that that's always who he's been and how he's conducted himself, and that they denied that despite being told that with evidence many times. Do you realize how crazy that is?

Good times.

 

A candidate to succeed Ryan Pace as the Bears’ General Manager has been identified.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the team has requested an interview with Colts director of college scouting Morocco Brown. Brown interviewed for the Falcons before they hired Terry Fontenot as their General Manager last year.


Brown has been with the Colts for the last six seasons. The team has drafted players like running back Jonathan Taylor, guard Quenton Nelson, linebacker Darius Leonard, and right tackle Braden Smith since Brown has been working in Indianapolis.

Brown was also the Bears’ assistant director of pro personnel from 2001-07 and has also worked for Cleveland and Washington since leaving Chicago.

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Report: Joe Judge’s future remains uncertain



While Joe Judge talked about focusing on next season during his final news conference of the 2021 season, it is not a given he will remain with the Giants next season.

Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports Judge met with team ownership Monday afternoon and came away with no clarity regarding his future.


Discussions will continue as the Giants seek to replace General Manager Dave Gettleman, who retired Monday. Ownership is concerned whether the new G.M. and Judge will have “the same vision for the franchise,” according to Garafolo.

It is unknown how long it will take for the organization to find a new G.M., but Judge’s future could hang in the balance until then.

The Giants have requested permission to interview Cardinals vice present of pro personnel Adrian Wilson, Titans vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden and director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort, 49ers assistant G.M. Adam Peters, 49ers director of player personnel Ran Carthon, Bills assistant G.M. Joe Schoen and Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles. The Giants also are expected to interview their assistant G.M., Kevin Abrams.

Judge, 40, met with the players Monday and spoke as if he will return next season, Garafolo adds.

He is 10-23 in two seasons with the team.

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Report: Broncos request interview with Kevin O’Connell



The Broncos have requested an interview with Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell for their vacant head coaching position, NFL Media reports.

The Broncos fired Vic Fangio on Sunday.


Rams coach Sean McVay’s coaching tree includes Zac Taylor, Matt LaFleur and Brandon Staley. O’Connell is in his second season as the team’s offensive coordinator, though McVay calls the plays.

He was Washington’s offensive coordinator in 2019,, his third season with the team. O’Connell was the Browns’ quarterbacks coach in 2015.

The Broncos also plan to talk to Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.

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Gun to my head I say he stays. Mara really wants to keep him. He loves him personally and believes in him. But with reports coming out saying the players don't particularly like him and that he is hard on coaches... I think unless whomever they hire as GM has a very specific plan that requires someone other than Joe Judge *and* can convince Mara that it's worth the "risk" Judge is going to end up the Giants coach in 2022.

Honestly with the crap situation Gettleman is leaving behind it may not be the worst thing to get 2022 out of the way with Judge managing the final year of Jones rookie year and then the GM being able to truly start fresh with a new QB/HC and a lot of cap space in 2023. Make Judge eat the turd sandwich he and Gettleman made for 2022.

 

Bears request interviews with Byron Leftwich, Nathaniel Hackett, Matt Eberflus



The Bears are continuing to add names to their list of head coaching candidates Tuesday and three popular names in this hiring cycle have joined the group.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that they have requested an interview with Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that they have also requested an interview with Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.


Pelissero also reports that they want to interview Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.

All three men have also been linked to the Jaguars’ head coaching vacancy. Leftwich spoke to the team last week while Hackett is set to speak to them this week. The Broncos have also requested an interview with Hackett. Eberflus passed on an interview during the regular season, but Pelissero reports he’s got a Saturday interview scheduled.

Leftwich’s colleague in Tampa Todd Bowles has also gotten an interview request from Chicago. Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier are also on the list of candidates.

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According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Bears have requested to interview Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn for their head coaching vacancy.



Before joining Dallas, Quinn served as the Falcons head coach from 2015 to 2020. Quinn is a defensive-minded head coaching prospect who boasts 20 years of NFL coaching experience and could certainly be an intriguing option for the Bears, who reportedly were considering hiring Quinn back in 2015 before going with John Fox.

The Bears have also requested interviews with Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett among others.

 

Giants request interview with Cardinals VP Quentin Harris



The Giants have added a second Cardinals personnel executive to their list of General Manager candidates.

Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports that the Giants have requested an interview with Arizona vice president of player personnel Quentin Harris. They’ve also asked to speak to Cardinals vice president of pro personnel Adrian Wilson since announcing Dave Gettleman’s retirement on Monday.


Harris played safety at Syracuse and played 54 games with the Cardinals after going undrafted in 2002. He spent the 2006 offseason with the Giants, but failed to make the team. He wrapped up his playing career with the Browns that year and finished with 111 tackles, an interception, a forced fumble, three fumble recoveries, and a sack in 60 overall games.

Harris joined the Cardinals as a scout in 2008 and got his current job title in 2021.

The Giants are also doubling down on requests from the 49ers — assistant G.M. Adam Peters and director of pro personnel Ran Carthon — and Titans — vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden and director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort — as they look for Gettleman’s successor. Bills assistant G.M. Joe Schoen and Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles round out the reported outside candidates at this point.

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Bears request G.M. interviews with Jeff Ireland, Ed Dodds



Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is set to interview for the Bears’ head coaching vacancy and the Bears would also like to speak to a former Dolphins General Manager about that opening.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Bears have requested an interview with Saints assistant G.M. Jeff Ireland. He was the Dolphins’ General Manager from 2008 to 2013.


Ireland has been with the Saints since 2015 and has focused on college scouting during his time in New Orleans. The team has drafted players like Alvin Kamara, Ryan Ramczyk, Michael Thomas, and Marshon Lattimore since Ireland joined the team.

According to multiple reports, the Bears have also requested an interview with Colts assistant G.M. Ed Dodds. Dodds has interviewed for other openings in the past and has worked for the Colts since 2017.

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Joe Judge is out after two years as head coach of the Giants.

The Giants fired Judge this afternoon.


Judge went 6-10 in his first season and 4-13 in his second season. Despite a widespread perception that Giants owner John Mara thought highly of Judge personally, the results just weren’t good enough.

And perhaps just as important, Judge was widely criticized for his handling of the end of the season, when the Giants lost their last six games, all by double-digit margins, and Judge was mocked around the league for a post-game rant in which he insisted that he had instilled a winning culture.

Now the Giants have fired three consecutive coaches after just two seasons each, with Judge following the same fate as Pat Shurmur and Ben McAdoo. They’ll start looking for a new head coach and hope he can last longer.

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I really thought this would make me "happy" (I mean as happy as you can be over a guy losing his job...) but it just made me sad. This guy didn't do anything particularly well, didn't have any coaching attributes to hang his hat on, but man was he set-up to fail. Promised he would have patience when he was hired and fired after 2 seasons, saddled with the worst GM in the history of the franchise, (Getty retires with a lower win % with the Giants then Millen had with the Lions...), his already mediocre at best QB that he didn't have a hand in selecting misses the last 6 games of the season... He really never stood a chance. The Giants needed to move on if they wanted to attract top candidates for the GM gig (reportedly everyone they spoke to either strait up asked or their agents asked if they would have the chance to change the coach before setting up the interview...) and I didn't really feel like he should stay... but his firing is a testament to how bad the giants really have become.

 

Bears announce interviews with Doug Pederson, Glenn Cook



The Bears got the ball rolling on their head coaching and General Manager interviews on Wednesday.

The team announced that they have completed an interview with former Eagles head coach Doug Pederson. Pederson has also interviewed with the Jaguars last week.


Pederson went 42-37-1 with the Eagles and he coached the team to a win in Super Bowl LII. He was fired after the 2020 season and spent this year out of coaching.

The Bears also announced that they have interviewed Browns vice president of player personnel Glenn Cook. Cook has worked for the Browns since 2016 in pro scouting and also worked for the Colts and Packers.

The Bears have been linked to a number of other candidates for both jobs, so there will likely be more announcements to come about completed interviews in the coming days.

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Vikings...

Raîche is the sixth known candidate to replace fired General Manager Rick Spielman. Patriots player personnel consultant Eliot Wolf, Browns executives Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Glenn Cook, Buccaneers vice president of player personnel John Spytek, and Eagles director of player personnel Brandon Brown have also received interview requests from the Vikings.

 

David Culley is one-and-done as head coach of the Texans.

Culley was fired this afternoon, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports.


The 66-year-old Culley was brought in as a first-year head coach for the 2021 season at the most tumultuous time in the Texans’ franchise history. Quarterback Deshaun Watson ended up sitting out the season amid a dispute with the team and an ongoing investigation into accusations of sexual assault brought by massage therapists, longtime team leader J.J. Watt was released, and new front office boss Jack Easterby made major changes within the organization.

Given all that turmoil, Culley would seem to have done a solid job just by matching last year’s total of four wins. But it wasn’t enough to get another job.

Now the Texans will begin searching for a new head coach, at a time when there’s a widespread perception that the Texans are a franchise with major issues, and that turning the team around won’t be easy.

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The Bears have added an in-house name to the list of candidates for their General Manager opening.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the team is interviewing assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly on Thursday. Kelly was hired as the team’s director of pro scouting in 2015 and moved into his current position in 2017.


Kelly interviewed with the Broncos and Panthers last year and he interviewed with the Jets before they hired Joe Douglas in 2019. His name has not come up in conjunction with any of the other openings this cycle.

Browns vice president of player personnel Glenn Cook interviewed with the Bears on Wednesday and the team is set to meet with Saints assistant G.M. Jeff Ireland on Friday.

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Brian Flores interviewing with Bears Friday



Brian Flores lost his job to start the week and he’ll be interviewing for another one as it comes to an end.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Flores is interviewing with the Bears for their head coaching vacancy on Friday. Flores was fired by the Dolphins on Monday after three seasons as their head coach.


Flores went 24-25 to during his three years in Miami while the Bears were 22-27 under Matt Nagy during the same span. Word out of Miami was that Flores did not mesh well with General Manager Chris Grier and others in the organization, but it is not known who he will be working with in Chicago as they’re currently in the market for a General Manager to replace Ryan Pace.

Saints assistant G.M. Jeff Ireland is next up on the interview list for that job and his meeting with the Bears is also scheduled for Friday.

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Bears request to interview Chargers’ JoJo Wooden for G.M.



The Bears are looking at one of the top personnel men with the Chargers for their opening at General Manager.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Chicago has requested to interview JoJo Wooden, Los Angeles’ director of player personnel.


Wooden has been with the Chargers since 2013, the same year Tom Telesco took over as the team’s G.M. Wooden oversees the college and pro scouting departments with L.A. Before joining the Chargers he worked his way up the ladder in the Jets scouting department from 1997-2012.

Wooden also interviewed with Washington for its G.M. opening last year.

Chicago fired Ryan Pace on Monday after seven seasons as the club’s G.M.

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Dolphins request to interview Rams RBs coach Thomas Brown



The Dolphins have put in a request for a Rams assistant coach who has some experience coaching in South Florida.

Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, Miami would like to interview L.A. running backs coach/assistant head coach Thomas Brown for its head coaching vacancy.


Brown, 35, is in his second year as the Rams’ running backs coach. Los Angeles added assistant head coach to his duties for 2021.

Brown was a sixth-round pick out of Georgia in the 2008 draft. After he finished his short playing career in 2010, he began coaching in the college ranks. He made his way back to UGA under Mark Richt in 2015, serving as the program’s running backs coach. He went with Richt to the University of Miami in 2016 and was the program’s offensive coordinator and running backs coach through 2018. After a year as South Carolina’s running backs coach, the Rams hired him in 2020.

This is Brown’s first known interview request of the 2022 coaching cycle. The Dolphins have also requested interviews with Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Campbell, Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, and Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier.

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Texans quickly interview Brian Flores for head-coaching vacancy



On Thursday, the Texans fired coach David Culley. On Friday, they interviewed a candidate to replace him.

The team announced that former Dolphins coach Brian Flores interviewed for the position on Friday. Flores also interviewed for the vacancy in Chicago on Friday, four days after his surprise firing in Miami.

He’s the first candidate to sit for the job. Along with current Patriots defensive assistant Jared Mayo, Flores is regarded as one of the top candidates for the Houston job. With a third opportunity to be an NFL head coach hardly guaranteed, Flores needs to make his second stop count.

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Bears announce interviews with Jim Caldwell, Nathaniel Hackett, Monti Ossenfort



The Bears didn’t have any playoff obligations on Saturday, so they spent the day trying to find a new head coach and General Manager.

The team announced the completion of three interviews on Saturday night. Former Lions and Colts head coach Jim Caldwell and Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett interviewed for the head coaching job while Titans director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort interviewed for the G.M. position.


Caldwell’s presence in the search isn’t a great surprise. Former Colts G.M. Bill Polian is consulting with the Bears on their search and the two men worked together in Indianapolis.

Caldwell has also interviewed with the Jaguars while Hackett is on the list in Jacksonville and Denver. Ossenfort has also interviewed with the Giants.

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