Tag: job

Do the Saints have the least-desirable offensive coordinator opening in 2024?

Do the Saints have the least-desirable offensive coordinator opening in 2024? Let’s look at the remaining vacancies and compare:

Teams in the NFL tell you a lot of things by how they spends their money, but that’s also true of the hiring pool. The best candidates for, say, an open offensive coordinator job are going to quickly cut a deal with the best opportunities for success. If a team doesn’t look like a good landing spot, it won’t attract good candidates.

So, no: it’s clear by now that the New Orleans Saints are not seen as one of the best opportunities for coaches looking to call plays as an offensive coordinator. If that were the case they would have landed one of the best candidates like Shane Waldron (who picked the Chicago Bears instead) or Zac Robinson (who preferred his fit with the Atlanta Falcons).

Every situation is different. Some coaches may feel differently about some teams than others. How they would rank the remaining openings — including the Saints — differs from one candidate to the next. It’s possible that some coaches look at New Orleans and decide they have a better chance of success somewhere else. But the difference can’t be that great. Let’s take a look at what each of the remaining vacancies has to offer:

Former Wisconsin DL coach finds a new job in the Pac 12

Former Wisconsin DL coach finds a new job in the Pac 12

The Wisconsin football program saw longtime defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield leave for the same position at Vanderbilt at the end of the 2020 season.

Breckterfield was on Wisconsin’s staff from 2015-2020 as its defensive line coach, following head coach Paul Chryst from Pittsburgh where he was its defensive line coach from 2012-2014.

Related: Arizona State will be without several key players against Wisconsin in Las Vegas

Now he is on the move out West, as it was released yesterday he was joining Kalen DeBoer’s new staff at Washington.

The annual coaching carousel may affect Wisconsin yet again this season, though we’ll likely have to wait a few weeks to see if and how it does. But first, it is already full with some of Wisconsin’s former coaches.

The best Twitter reaction from Jim Leonhard turning down the Packers’ DC job

Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard turned down the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator job after interviewing with the team

If you missed the news earlier today, Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard turned down the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator job after interviewing with the team twice and being considered one of the favorites for the position.

Leonhard’s importance to the Wisconsin football program cannot be emphasized enough. In all honesty, one can even make the case that he is the second most important person in the program behind AD Barry Alvarez.

Just look at the 2020 defense, a unit that didn’t have the first-team and second-team All-Big Ten performers like Badger fans have grown used to watching.

But the splitting hairs aside, today has been an entertaining day on Wisconsin Badger and Green Bay Packer Twitter, two spheres that understandably overlap given the proximity of the two teams.

Here is some of the best Twitter reaction from the news of Leonhard staying at Wisconsin:

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Wisconsin’s Jim Leonhard named by PackersWire as a possible candidate for their opening at DC

USATODAY’s PackersWire named Leonhard in their list of possible candidates for the Green Bay Packers’ opening at defensive coordinator.

With another NFL and college football offseason comes more rumors of Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard moving up in the world and landing a job at a higher level.

I mean it makes sense given the fact that he’s become one of the best coordinators in the country and given the coaching carousel we see across the sport every season.

Related: PHOTOS: Jim Leonhard’s meteoric rise to Wisconsin defensive coordinator

For Wisconsin sports fans, though, this has a chance to get extremely interesting as our colleagues at PackersWire named Leonhard in their list of possible candidates for the Green Bay Packers’ opening at defensive coordinator.

Here’s what they had to say about the potential fit:

“No list would be complete without Leonhard, another Pettine disciple who has run dominant Wisconsin defenses in Madison since 2017. He has NFL playing experience, and while hiring a college coach always has risks, the college game often bleeds into the NFL, and Leonhard’s defenses have been among the nation’s best every year.”

A necessary note: this is pure projection and speculation and there haven’t been any reports linking Leonhard to the Packers’ job, or any other job for that matter.

Related: Notable departures from Wisconsin football heading into 2021

In a hypothetical world, though, this would be a slam-dunk hire for the Packers and a catastrophic loss for the Badgers at the same time.

For the fans out there that bleed Packer green (or gold?) and Badger red at the same time, I wonder what the reaction would be after seeing Leonhard travel across the state and take a job in Green Bay.

Contact/Follow us @TheBadgersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin news, notes, opinion and analysis.

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Report: Texans finally request interview with Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy

After some drama surrounding Texans QB Deshaun Watson, the team has finally requested an interview with the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator.

Kansas City Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy could be adding another head-coaching interview to his tally.

According to a new report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Houston Texans have officially requested an interview with Bieniemy. Houston was long-considered a favorable destination for Bieniemy, but he hadn’t received an interview request up to this point.

The decision to interview Bieniemy comes after some very public drama surrounding Texans QB Deshaun Watson’s discontent with the decision-makers in Houston. Watson was told that he would have input on the next GM and coaching hires, but the Texans proceeded to hire Nick Caserio without much input from Watson. Reports also expressed significant frustration stemming from their failure to interview Bieniemy for the team’s head-coaching vacancy. Bieniemy, of course, came highly-recommended by Watson’s friend, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.

Bieniemy has already completed interviews with the Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, New York Jets, Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars for their head-coaching vacancies. The Texans and now the Philadelphia Eagles are the only two teams with vacancies that he has yet to interview for.

Our latest update on Bieniemy told us that he’s very much still “in the mix” for the job with the Falcons. It does, however, appear that other teams are moving forward with other interviews and candidates in mind.

As for Houston’s interview request, this screams of the team trying to save face in the eyes of their fans and franchise quarterback. I guess it’s better late than never for them. It’s hard to believe that this interview will be anything more than a charade. If I were Bieniemy, I’m not so sure I would take the interview given the situation.

Whatever the case, Bieniemy won’t be able to interview with the Texans anytime soon assuming the Chiefs advance in the playoffs. The NFL’s anti-tampering policy won’t allow teams to interview Bieniemy until the Chiefs lose in the playoffs. If they make it to Super Bowl LV, they wouldn’t be able to interview Bieniemy until after.

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Jaguars latest team to request interview with Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy

The team with the No. 1 overall draft pick is scheduling an interview with Eric Bieniemy according to a new report.

A fifth team has thrown their name into the race to land Kansas City Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy as their next head coach.

According to NFL insider Josina Anderson, the Jacksonville Jaguars are in the process of scheduling an interview with Bieniemy. He’s already completed Zoom interviews with the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions for their head coach vacancies. He has requests from the New York Jets and recently the Los Angeles Chargers as well.

The Jaguars fired head coach Doug Marrone after a perpetual decline in performance since he took over as the head coach in 2017. It culminated when Jacksonville recorded a 1-15 record in 2020, which was the worst record in the NFL on the season.

Despite the Jaguars’ struggles in 2020, they are considered to be one of the more appealing head-coaching vacancies out there. They hold the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, which is a big draw for head-coaching candidates. They also have an extra first-round draft pick and the most projected salary cap space in the NFL.

Many believe the Jags will use the No. 1 overall pick to acquire standout Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence after owner Shad Khan emphasized the need to find a franchise quarterback. The big question about this job is whether there will be enough autonomy for a coach to succeed. Khan recently announced that he will retain final roster control, which could be a deterrent to hiring both a general manager and a head coach.

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Chargers request interview with Chiefs’ Eric Bieniemy after firing Anthony Lynn

A new report says the Chargers have requested an interview with Eric Bieniemy.

Kansas City Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy has already completed interviews with two NFC teams in the Atlanta Falcons and the Detroit Lions.

Now an AFC West team that Bieniemy is very familiar with has requested an interview. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Los Angeles Chargers have requested an interview with Bieniemy. This comes a day after ownership fired former Chargers HC Anthony Lynn, who had been the head coach of the franchise since 2017.

Chiefs fans will be quick to dismiss the attempt by Los Angeles to lure away their OC for a head-coaching job, but Bieniemy does have ties to the area and the team. Bieniemy was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in 1991 and played with them through 1994. He also grew up in Los Angeles county and played high school football in the area. He coached at UCLA before making his way to the NFL for the first time in Minnesota.

Coaching in the AFC West since 2013, Bieniemy has a strong familiarity with the franchise and vice versa. He’s also seen what rookie QB Justin Herbert is capable of firsthand. This should be a strong option for Bieniemy as disheartening as it’d be for fans in Kansas City.

On the other hand, Fox 4 Kansas City Sports Anchor Harold R. Kuntz had some interesting statistics to offer if Bieniemy did happen to take the Chargers job.

Chiefs HC Andy Reid apparently has a winning record against his former assistant coaches, so that’d be a potential silver lining to this situation. Still, you’d hate to see Bieniemy go to a team within the division with a rising star at the quarterback position.

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Panthers request interviews with Chiefs front office executives Ryan Poles, Brandt Tilis

Eric Bieniemy isn’t the only person on the Kansas City Chiefs’ staff getting interviews.

Kansas City Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy isn’t the only member of the organization getting interview requests.

According to reports from NFL Network insiders Ian Rapoport and Peter Schrager, the Carolina Panthers have requested interviews with two Chiefs front-office executives for their GM vacancy.

Rapoport says the Panthers have requested to interview Assistant Director of Player Personnel Ryan Poles. The former offensive lineman for the Boston College Golden Eagles has climbed the ladder through the Chiefs’ personnel department over the past 111 years, starting off as a Scouting Assistant and working his way up to becoming the College Scouting Coordinator for the team. He eventually earned promotions to the Director of College Scouting and now the position he holds today.

Poles has played a big part in building the Chiefs’ roster through the NFL draft and undrafted free agency over the years, so he’s certainly deserving of the opportunity.

Poles is not the only front office executive that the Panthers have an interest in. According to Schrager, they’ve also requested an interview with Chiefs Director of Football Administration Brandt Tilis for the GM vacancy.

If Tilis sounds familiar that’s because he’s one half of the salary-cap duo along with Chris Shea, that helped orchestrate the incredible work structuring the monster contracts in Kansas City, such as the half-billion-dollar deal with Patrick Mahomes. He’s not so much a personnel evaluator as he is a money-man, so that could be appealing to a team like the Panthers that appears set to give HC Matt Rhule roster control.

These types of things are to be expected when you have a winning team. Thankfully, the Chiefs have a number of in-house candidates who they can promote to help offset the loss if either Poles or Tilis were to be hired for the GM job in Carolina.

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