Category: 2021 season

7 things to know about new Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai

The Chicago Bears found their new defensive coordinator in Sean Desai, who has served with the team dating back to 2013, when he was hired as a quality control assistant. Desai was promoted to safeties coach in 2019. The Bears explored a variety of …

The Chicago Bears found their new defensive coordinator in Sean Desai, who has served with the team dating back to 2013, when he was hired as a quality control assistant. Desai was promoted to safeties coach in 2019.

The Bears explored a variety of candidates for defensive coordinator, including James Bettcher, Johnathon Gannon and even Mike Singletary. But they ultimately decided to promote from within in Desai, who is one of the young, rising coaches in the NFL.

Here are seven things to know about Chicago’s new defensive coordinator.

ESPN is already counting out the Chicago Bears in 2021

It’s fair to say there’s not much confidence in the Chicago Bears heading into the 2021 season.

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It’s fair to say there’s not much confidence in the Chicago Bears heading into the 2021 season. That following a lack of change in the front office where general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy were retained for at least another year. And it feels like 2021 will be a repeat of 2020.

Minus the postseason, so says ESPN.

While there are still four teams contending for the Super Bowl, ESPN is looking ahead to the 2021 and the teams that will compose the expanded 14-team playoff field. And they’re already counting out the Bears in 2021.

Here’s what ESPN had to say about their lack of faith in Chicago returning to the postseason.

The Chicago Bears barely sneaked into the playoffs at 8-8, and while they’ve decided to bring back coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace for another season, they’re nearly $10 million over the projected cap and have only Nick Foles at quarterback. The return of those executives makes it more likely that the Bears will run things back with Foles and Mitchell Trubisky (a free agent), which doesn’t seem appealing to me. The Bears may also lose star wide receiver Allen Robinson, which will make this offense even more unwatchable. I’m skeptical that the Bears make it back.

ESPN’s lack of confidence is certainly fair. After all, the Bears were the recipients of a lucky postseason berth with the extra seventh seed and two losses by the Arizona Cardinals.

It doesn’t help that some of the same concerns will remain in 2021, including the execution of the offense, inconsistent quarterback play and projected salary cap struggles.

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News: Cowboys players can’t get out divisional round until they leave Dallas

Cowboys players can’t get out their own way until they make their way out of Dallas. All the mocks circle the same draft wagons.

The Dallas Cowboys are moving quickly in filling out their coaching staff. Just this week, Aden Durde was hired to be the defensive line coach under Dan Quinn, and Dallas lost a defensive backs coach to Michigan. Former Cowboy players, like Miles Austin and Dan Campbell, are both thriving in their coaching ventures, as both were hired to new positions this week.

The Cowboys have many interesting offseason decisions remaining. With a bevy of unrestricted free agents, Dallas will be forced to fill in their roster with at least a handful of new faces. Learn what upcoming free agents you should be watching for in this week’s Conference Championship round. NFL mock draft season is in full swing. A compilation of the top Cowboys mocks, plus, would Cowboys fans hate drafting a TE in round 1 if he’s truly the best available player?

Twitter reacts to Sean Desai’s promotion to Bears defensive coordinator

The Bears promoted safeties coach Sean Desai to defensive coordinator, which was met with plenty of excitement on Twitter.

After a week and a half of searching and interviewing numerous candidates, the Chicago Bears named safeties coach Sean Desai as their new defensive coordinator on Friday, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Desai has been with the team since 2013 and replaces Chuck Pagano, who retired after leading the Bears defense for two seasons. The man nicknamed “Doc” spent six years as the team’s quality control assistant before being promoted to the safeties coach in 2019.

Desai won the job over other candidates such as Dallas Cowboys assistant George Edwards, former Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator James Bettcher, Indianapolis Colts secondary coach Jonathon Gannon and Bears legend Mike Singletary.

The news drew plenty of reactions on Friday afternoon as many former players, fans, and analysts shared their thoughts on the new Bears defensive coordinator.

The Bears are hiring Sean Desai as their new defensive coordinator

The Bears are promoting from within at defensive coordinator as Sean Desai will replace Chuck Pagano.

The Chicago Bears have several openings among their coaching staff, and they’ve filled the most important one with a familiar face.

Following Chuck Pagano’s retirement, the Bears are hiring Sean Desai to serve as the team’s new defensive coordinator, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Desai served as the Bears’ safeties coach from 2019-20, but he’s been with the team since 2013, where he served as a quality control assistant prior to being promoted to safeties coach.

The Bears interviewed a slew of candidates, including some outside names like James Bettcher, Jonathon Gannon and even Mike Singletary. But ultimately, they decided to promote from within with Desai.

Desai is one of former Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s disciples, so he has a good understanding of how to utilize these players in a similar system.

Just so you know how high the Bears have been on him, they blocked Fangio from taking Desai to Denver, according to Brad Biggs, when Fangio took over as head coach.

By promoting from within, Chicago should avoid a complete reshuffling of coaches on the defensive side of the ball. Minus defensive line Jay Rodgers, who is expected to reunite with Brandon Staley with the Los Angeles Chargers.

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Daniel Jeremiah sends Bears offensive line help in 2021 NFL mock draft

The Chicago Bears need help along the offensive line. Anyone who watched any Bears games in 2020 knows this. Sure, the unit played better over the final month of the season, but an upgrade in talent is needed for Chicago’s offense to stand a chance …

The Chicago Bears need help along the offensive line. Anyone who watched any Bears games in 2020 knows this. Sure, the unit played better over the final month of the season, but an upgrade in talent is needed for Chicago’s offense to stand a chance in 2021.

And that’s exactly what they get in Daniel Jeremiah’s first mock draft.

Jeremiah sends Michigan offensive tackle Jalen Mayfield to the Bears at No. 20 overall.

“The Bears could use Mayfield at tackle or slide him inside to guard,” Jeremiah wrote. “I love the way he finishes in the run game.”

Mayfield would make a ton of sense for Matt Nagy’s Bears because of his positional versatility. Chicago could use help along the interior and at tackle, so Mayfield would enter a training camp situation that would almost ensure he’d start as a rookie.

Charles Leno Jr. and Bobby Massie are fringe-starters at offensive tackle at this point in their careers, and while Alex Bars and Sam Mustipher played well at guard and center respectively, their future roles are still somewhat unclear.

Enter Mayfield, whose pedigree and physical upside would provide the Bears with the most talented offensive lineman they’ve rostered in many, many years.

For Jeremiah’s complete mock draft, click here.

Former Cowboys star Miles Austin to be Jets wide receivers coach

The undrafted free agent was a star wideout for the Cowboys during the Tony Romo era; now he’ll join Robert Saleh’s staff in New York.

An undrafted free agent from a small FCS school who became one of Tony Romo’s top targets during his Cowboys career will now be teaching a room full of pass-catchers in the league’s biggest market.

Miles Austin is set to become the New York Jets’ next wide receivers coach, according to reports this week. The 36-year-old played eight seasons in Dallas, earning two Pro Bowl nods during his tenure.

Austin will be reunited with new Jets head coach Robert Saleh; the two men served on staff together last season in San Francisco. Austin acted as an offensive quality control coach during the 49ers’ 2019 Super Bowl season, while Saleh was the team’s defensive coordinator.

Austin was undrafted out of Monmouth in 2006, and signed with the Cowboys primarily as a special teams player. While he had an electrifying 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the playoffs versus Seattle as a rookie, Austin didn’t really burst onto the scene until the 2009 season. As a late replacement for the injured Roy Williams against Kansas City in Week 5, Austin exploded for 10 catches and 250 yards- breaking Bob Hayes’s franchise single-game receiving yards record- and a pair of touchdowns, including the 60-yard walk-off winner in overtime.

No. 19 assumed a starting role before the end of the season, and was rewarded with the first of back-to-back Pro Bowl nods. Over the eight seasons he wore the star, Austin tallied 301 receptions- 34 of them for scores- and 4,481 yards over 106 games.

After his release by Dallas, Austin played 2014 in Cleveland and 2015 in Philadelphia. In 2017, he was hired by the Cowboys as a scouting intern. He interviewed the following year to be the team’s wide receivers coach, but the job went to Sanjay Lal instead. Austin returned to Monmouth to complete his degree in political science, and took his position with San Francisco the next year.

“Miles is one of my favorite players that I’ve ever coached, just in terms of how on it he was,” 49ers head coach Shanahan said, per a 247 Sports piece from 2019. “Whether it was the run game or the pass game, he really enjoyed football. He was descending at that time in his career, so I wasn’t sure I was going to like him as much. But then when I got there and I saw the person, you can see why he was so successful. A guy like that, you’re always like, ‘Hey, if you’re ever interested in a coach, you’d be a hell of a one.'”

Now Austin will have his chance in New York, overseeing the position he once played.

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Report: Chargers, Seahawks request interviews with Saints assistant Joe Lombardi

The Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks want to interview New Orleans Saints coach Joe Lombardi, the former Detroit Lions play caller.

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Another member of the New Orleans Saints coaching staff could soon be on the move. Both the Los Angeles Chargers and the Seattle Seahawks have filed requests to interview Saints quarterbacks coach Joe Lombardi, per the Athletic’s Jeff Duncan.

L.A. is seeking an offensive coordinator for first-year head coach Brandon Staley’s staff, while the Seahawks are looking to replace Brian Schottenheimer, who they fired after three seasons calling plays for Seattle. Duncan noted that Staley and Lombardi have worked together before — Staley was quarterback at Mercyhurst University back in 2005, when Lombardi held the coordinator job.

Lombardi has left New Orleans once before, having joined the Detroit Lions as offensive coordinator on Jim Caldwell’s staff in 2014. But his style of offense wasn’t a great fit with Matthew Stafford and the Lions supporting cast, and Lombardi was terminated after a 1-6 start in 2015. Maybe he can find better results after learning from those mistakes; potentially working with Justin Herbert or Russell Wilson has to be enticing.

If he is hired away, Lombardi would be the third Saints assistant to leave Sean Payton’s staff this offseason. Tight ends coach Dan Campbell (also the Saints assistant head coach) hinted at what he learned from Payton in his first press conference as Detroit Lions head coach, and he took up-and-coming secondary coach Aaron Glenn with him as Lions defensive coordinator.

The Saints were able to retain talented defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen despite strong interest from the LSU Tigers, and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is back after the Philadelphia Eagles hired a different candidate for their head coaching vacancy. New Orleans is going to look very different in 2021 no matter what happens next, but it would be good to maintain as much consistency as possible.

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News: Verdict is in on Jaylon’s value; Moore, Fassel stay with Cowboys

Dallas’ maligned linebacker was put under a microscope, plus the Eagles turned their noses up at Cowboys assistants.

Kellen Moore and John Fassel have recently piqued the interest of the Philadelphia Eagles for their vacancy at head coach. On Thursday that interest came to an end as they hired Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni. The Dallas Cowboys lost several starters in free agency in 2020, and are now projected to receive the maximum of four compensatory picks in the 2021 NFL Draft.

The Cowboys underachieved this season with a 6-10 record, however, ESPN predicts that with a healthier roster and improved secondary they can return to the playoffs next season. Jaylon Smith had a forgettable year, and Bob Sturm of The Athletic dives into whether or not he’s worth holding onto going forward. Amari Cooper’s value since arriving in Dallas, the future Xavier Woods, and more are covered in the news and notes.

Report: The Bears are losing RB coach Charles London to the Falcons

The Chicago Bears are looking at replacing more than one member of Matt Nagy’s coaching staff this offseason.

The Chicago Bears are looking at replacing more than one member of Matt Nagy’s coaching staff this offseason. While the Bears are currently searching for Chuck Pagano’s replacement at defensive coordinator, Chicago is due to lose a couple of offensive coaches.

According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Atlanta Falcons are expected to hire Bears running backs coach Charles London. London would join new head coach Arthur Smith’s coaching staff as quarterbacks coach.

London isn’t the only coach the Falcons are taking from the Bears. Passing coordinator Dave Ragone is expected to join Atlanta as their new offensive coordinator, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

There have also been rumblings of defensive line coach Jay Rodgers leaving Chicago for the Los Angeles Chargers, where he would reunite with former Bears outside linebackers coach and new Chargers head coach Brandon Staley.

That would leave the Bears with four openings on staff, including defensive coordinator. Chicago has interviewed several candidates already, including Indianapolis Colts defensive backs coach Jonathan Gannon, former New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator James Bettcher and Bears legend Mike Singletary.

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