Tag: Coaching Search

Blake Grupe shares endorsement for Saints’ next coach at Radio Row

All signs point to the Saints hiring Kellen Moore after the Super Bowl, but that didn’t stop Blake Grupe from endorsing Darren Rizzi this week on Radio Row:

All signs point to Kellen Moore being the next head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Until the ink dries on his contract, however, nothing is official. Maybe it is that small glimmer of hope that led to Blake Grupe saying he’s “a believer in Rizz.”

Grupe’s endorsement of Darren Rizzi joins those made by other Saints players on social media, like Alvin Kamara and maybe Cameron Jordan.

Grupe being a kicker gives him first-hand experience with Rizzi. Even before Dennis Allen got fired and Rizzi became the interim head coach, Rizzi was still Grupe’s main point of contact. That probably plays a part in why he feels that way. Over the last two seasons, he’s become more familiar with Rizzi than most of the roster.

Still, with signs pointing towards this being an unlikely outcome, it’s surprising to hear Grupe come out with that statement. Commendable, but surprising.

When asked about Moore specifically, Grupe deferred to his position on special teams as his area of expertise. He told the NOLA.com crew at Radio Row, “I don’t need to know the offense, man, I just need to keep kicking.”

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Spencer Rattler starting in 2025 could be Kellen Moore’s best option

Kellen Moore reportedly doesn’t like the Saints’ quarterback situation. If he does take the job, Moore can take a few routes at quarterback

Kellen Moore reportedly doesn’t like the New Orleans Saints quarterback room, but there is still a chance he will take the head coach job. Moore has lucked up with the quarterbacks he has worked with in the NFL. He’s operated with Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts.

Stepping into a room with Derek Carr, Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener can feel less than enticing. Ben DiNucci was re-signed from the practice squad and has experience in Moore’s offense from their Dallas Cowboys days, but he could be swapped out for someone else in that reserve role. If Moore takes the job, who are the other options?

Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders highlight the quarterbacks in this year’s NFL draft. The Saints won’t be able to grab them, but Jaxson Dart could be available. Opinions are split on whether he’ll be a top-10 possibility, a second-day pick in Rounds 2 or 3, or even drafted at all.

Grabbing him in the top-10 would be a reach. In a thin quarterback class, but quarterback-needy climate, Dart could rise into the tail end of the first round with a strong pre-draft circuit. If not, he’s worth consideration if Moore likes him.

Another alternative is to let Rattler start in 2025. It gives the second-year pro a chance to play with a true supporting cast, which he never had the benefit of in his rookie season.

If Rattler performs well, maybe the Saints have their quarterback. If he doesn’t, there’s a good chance the Saints are picking in the first 10 picks again. That would position you well in what is supposed to be a much better quarterback class.

The expectations are already low for the next head coach’s first season. Taking a risk on a quarterback is acceptable. Carr starting next year elevates your floor. You would have a better chance of picking around the 15th selection. Choosing to start Rattler is a boom or bust scenario, but either outcome could be beneficial.

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Silence is an answer in New Orleans Saints head coaching search

The longer the New Orleans Saints don’t announce their new head coach, the more likely it will be Philadelphia Eagles OC Kellen Moore:

The New Orleans Saints are the only remaining coaching vacancy in the NFL, and the longer that remains the truth, the more obvious the selection. The Saints conducted their final interview on Monday when they flew to Philadelphia to meet with Kellen Moore.

Moore is the clear frontrunner for the job at this point, but the Saints can’t officially announce him as the head coach until after Super Bowl LIX since the Philadelphia Eagles are participating. That means they must wait until Monday, Feb. 10 to make it official.

If the Saints go into next week without a head coach, it’s a very safe assumption Moore will be the coach. If they decide to go in any other direction, all the other options are available to be hired at the present moment.

It also shouldn’t take two weeks to decide you want to go with a candidate such as Anthony Weaver. The Saints’ decision on who their next head coach will be should be done soon, if not already decided on. If there isn’t an announcement soon, they’re waiting until after the Super Bowl for a reason.

If Moore is the choice, New Orleans has to be careful to take the proper steps when approaching him. The Arizona Cardinals had to swap third-round picks with the Eagles after being found guilty of tampering with Johnathan Gannon for not adhering to the NFL contact schedule.

So far, the Saints have seemed to go by the book. Seeing that New Orleans needs to reload the roster, being forced to swap picks with the Eagles would be impactful.

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Joe Brady dropping out will leave a stench on Saints head coach hire

Could announcing Kellen Moore as the head coach remove the stench of Joe Brady dropping out of the Saints coaching search?

Joe Brady may not have been the candidate the New Orleans Saints landed on, but it’ll be extremely difficult to wipe away the impact of Brady stepping out of the Saints’ head coaching race. This isn’t about who the best coach will be, because that won’t be decided for a long time. It’s about the view of the Saints hiring process.

New Orleans appears to be aggressively recruiting Kellen Moore. It’s the first candidate you can say that about since Aaron Glenn.

If Moore wins a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles, you can sell the Saints picking a Super Bowl winning coordinator. It could energize the fan base, to a degree. That won’t change the optics of this looking like a consolation choice.

The worst part about it is there’s no guarantee Brady was going to get the job. Moore could have been the post-Glenn target all along but Brady stepping out of the race presents an image of him being a top candidate to the Saints.

left the stench of undesirableness all over the Saints. Though it’s been called a bad job all offseason, there’s a big difference bad job and undesirable.

Whoever the Saints pick will appear a second, and possibly third, option for New Orleans. Luckily for New Orleans, the only thing that matters is how you perform when you get there.

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Reports indicate the Lions have a leading candidate for offensive coordinator

Reports indicate the Lions have a leading candidate for offensive coordinator, Broncos passing game coordinator John Morton

The Detroit Lions have yet to replace Ben Johnson as the team’s offensive coordinator. Johnson left to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears and took WR coach Antwaan Randle El, one of the top internal candidates, with him.

While nothing is certain yet, it appears a clubhouse leader has emerged as the new Lions offensive coordinator. Broncos passing game coordinator John Morton has been talked about as a candidate, but those talks escalated on Sunday with a report from Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero from the NFL Network.report from Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero from the NFL Network.

Morton has been an offensive assistant for several NFL teams and was the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets. Morton spent the 2022 season as a senior offensive assistant under Dan Campbell with the Lions.

The 55-year-old Morton is a Detroit-area native who played collegiately at Western Michigan.

 

 

Saints complete second interview with Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver

The New Orleans Saints announce they have completed a second interview with Miami Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver for their head coach opening.

We have completed an in person interview with Anthony Weaver for our head coach position. pic.twitter.com/Z4zc7ABoM4

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 24, 2025

The New Orleans Saints have gotten past the snowy weather and are back to interviewing some head coach candidates announced they have completed their second interview with Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.

Weaver has been a growing name in the coaching cycle for the last couple of years and will almost certainly get a job at some point in the near future. He does not look to be interviewing with the Dallas Cowboys, the only other opening, so the Saints will likely get to the choice to hire him if they so wish.

Hiring him would be an investment into culture. His defenses have had solid results, but the most glowing praise comes from his ability as a leader. With their interest in Mike Vrabel and Aaron Glenn earlier in this search, it would make sense for Weaver to be the choice.

The Lions are hiring Kacy Rodgers as their new DL coach

The Lions are hiring Buccaneers DL coach/run game coordinator Kacy Rodgers as their new DL coach

The Detroit Lions have found their man to be the new defensive line coach. Kacy Rodgers will take over the Detroit defensive front in place of Terrell Williams, who left the Lions to become the defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots.

Rodgers has been the defensive line coach and run game coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 55-year-old Rodgers has been coaching defense (primarily defensive line) for over 30 years, beginning in the college ranks. He’s been in the NFL since the 2003 season, working with the Cowboys, Dolphins, Jets and Buccaneers.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler was the first to officially report the news.

Rodgers is from the Bill Parcells coaching tree. Rodgers and Lions head coach Dan Campbell were on the same Dolphins staff from 2010 through 2014, with Campbell coaching tight ends and Rodgers running the defensive line.

Rodgers does have coordinator experience with the Jets from 2015-2018, serving under Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles. The Lions coordinator position remains open. Rodgers has also interviewed for the DL coaching vacancy with the Green Bay Packers this week.

It’s unclear if Rodgers will take on a run game coordinator role as well as his DL coaching duties with the Lions.

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Saints miss on top coaching target before getting a second interview

The New Orleans Saints won’t get a shot at Aaron Glenn. He’ll be the new head coach of the New York Jets:

When the New York Jets got the first in-person interview with Aaron Glenn, it spelled bad news for the New Orleans Saints. There’s no rule saying coaches have to sit down with multiple teams, so taking the Jets interview first displayed a clear priority.

Tuesday morning, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported the Jets correctly intended to not allow Glenn to leave the building without a deal. Therein lies the pitfall of being the second interview. Your guy may never even hear you out. And that’s what happened. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Glenn has accepted the Jets’ offer, which Rapoport confirmed; Rapoport added that Glenn thanked the Saints for their interest, but he’s on to New York.

It’s difficult to blame Glenn. The one advantage the Saints have over the Jets was the path to success, but the Jets provided a better set of weapons offensively and multiple building blocks. They also have youth stacked in a way New Orleans doesn’t. The cherry on top is he gets to go into this journey with a new general manager as well. Lance Newmark, who he worked with in Detroit, interviewed alongside him with the Jets and is the favorite to get that job.

History with New Orleans is the reason many paired Glenn and the Saints, but the Jets had that same card in their hand. If you cancel that out, the Jets look more attractive for a few reasons.

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Weather delays Saints’ scheduled in-person head coach interviews

The Saints were supposed to meet with Mike Kafka, Aaron Glenn and Anthony Weaver on Tuesday and Wednesday but Mother Nature had other plans:

The New Orleans Saints were ready to start their round of in-person interviews, but weather has pushed their plans back to later this week, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

As things stood on Tuesday, Mike Kafka, Aaron Glenn and Anthony Weaver had scheduled interviews with New Orleans. Kafka was in line first for Tuesday, while Glenn and Weaver were scheduled for Wednesday. All of these have been pushed back due to the snow in New Orleans, but there’s no official date set yet.

This update doesn’t impact Mike McCarthy. His interview was already planned for later this week but without a specific date. If anything, this puts all the prospective coaches in the same boat.

Outside of Glenn, the Saints aren’t at risk of their other candidates taking a job before later this week. And frankly, the weather has no impact on Glenn’s decision either. If Glenn makes it out of New York without a deal completed on Tuesday, he will wait on the weather to clear up in New Orleans.

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Detroit’s rough defensive showing has no bearing on Aaron Glenn’s candidacy

The Lions defense had a rough game in their last outing, but that shouldn’t impact how teams view Aaron Glenn as a head coach candidate:

The Detroit Lions fell from the playoffs quicker than expected and gave up 45 points to the Washington Commanders, though seven of those came off an interception returned for a touchdown. It’s led to a lot of football fans on social media questioning this loss’s impact on Aaron Glenn’s head coaching candidacy.

The truth is this should have no bearing on his standing with teams. He’s currently believed to be the favorite to land the New York Jets or New Orleans Saints head coaching vacancies. You don’t go from being the favorite to being questioned altogether.

From a public perspective, this is a great example of how quickly people forget. Glenn was praised for Detroit’s suffocation of the Minnesota Vikings offense just two weeks prior. It’s a what have you done for me lately type of business and fans tend to have conveniently timed short-term memory. Teams won’t.

One of Glenn’s standout achievements on his resume was how well he worked with injuries. In the playoffs, being down that many players usually comes back to bite you even if you got by in the regular season. It got worse during the game as starting cornerback Amik Robertson exited the game early.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio brought up a good point. The team the Lions lost to is led by a man who gave up 48 points in his last game as defensive coordinator in the playoffs. It’s not about a one-game sample size, good or bad. It’s about Glenn’s entire body of work. And what he’s achieved with the Lions these last few years remains impressive.

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