Josh McCown – Syndication Server

Jets, Aaron Glenn expected to target handful of former Panthers coaches for new staff

A few familiar faces might be jetting over to New York with Aaron Glenn.

A handful of former Carolina Panthers coaches could be jetting over to “The “Big Apple” with Aaron Glenn.

Glenn, who has served as the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator since 2021, is reportedly set to be hired as the new head coach of the New York Jets. And he, according to numerous reporters, is expected to target a few familiar names for his new staff—including Steve Wilks, Thomas Brown and Josh McCown.

Wilks was linked to Glenn and the Jets on Tuesday by SNY’s Connor Hughes. The Charlotte, N.C. native spent a total of seven years on Carolina’s sidelines—where he worked as a defensive backs coach (2012 to 2016), assistant head coach (2015 to 2016), defensive coordinator (2017) and defensive passing game coordinator/secondary coach/interim head coach (2022).

Brown spent one season with the Panthers as their offensive coordinator in 2023. He moved on to the Chicago Bears for 2024—assuming the roles of passing game coordinator, interim offensive coordinator and interim head coach.

McCown, like Brown, didn’t last in Carolina beyond the 2023 campaign. He served as the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterbacks coach this past season.

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Former Panthers coaches to interview for Jets’ HC opening

A few familiar names will be talking with the Jets about their head-coaching vacancy.

A pair of former Carolina Panthers staffers are set to interview for one of the more high-profile job openings of the 2025 NFL offseason.

Joe Brady and Josh McCown, according to numerous reports, will speak with the New York Jets regarding their head-coaching vacancy.

McCown, currently the quarterbacks coach of the Minnesota Vikings, is scheduled for his talk on Friday. The Jets are expected to chat with Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and fellow Vikings coach and defensive coordinator Brian Flores today as well.

The Panthers hired McCown as their quarterbacks coach in 2023. But he’d only last 11 games into the regular season—as he, head coach Frank Reich and assistant head coach/running backs coach Duce Staley were dismissed following the team’s Week 12 loss to the Tennessee Titans.

Brady met a similar fate two years earlier, as he was fired from the offensive coordinator position in the middle of the 2021 campaign. The former LSU play-caller proceeded to land in Buffalo—taking up the role of quarterbacks coach in 2022 and 2023 and offensive coordinator in 2024.

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21 candidates for Cowboys head coach opening after McCarthy walks out the door

The Dallas Cowboys are allowing the contract of head coach Mike McCarthy to expire without an extension. The contract actually was completed on January 7, but the team had exclusive negotiating rights with McCarthy through Tuesday, January 14. After initially denying the Chicago Bears the chance to talk to McCarthy about their opening, and then opening the door for negotiations on his return, the team closed that chapter of their franchise history on Monday.

McCarthy is now free to pursue employment elsewhere, and it makes sense that he is under consideration for the Bears gig still, as well as other teams. McCarthy’s assistants are also now free to interview in other places for any level of job.

Hired to replace Jason Garrett, McCarthy was charged with making Dallas into annual contenders and also finding the playoff success that has avoided them even during the good seasons. The former had been achieved; three healthy quarterback years delivering three seasons of 12-5 performance. The latter still avoided them, with just one playoff victory in five years and lackluster performances in three of their four contests.

Perhaps watching former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn match McCarthy’s postseason win total in his first attempt as head coach of the Washington Commanders on Sunday helped sway Jerry Jones’ decision.

The last hiring cycle took a while to get going just as this one did, as Dallas waited over a week from the end of the regular season before hiring McCarthy. While Jerry Jones has generally focused on experience in his last four hires, where do things go this cycle?

There’s a ton of guys with various amounts of experience as coordinators, though it’s hard to envision Jones hiring a Liam Coen of Tampa, whose called plays in the NFL just for one season, or Frank Smith of Miami who hasn’t done it at all.

There are assistants who have been head coaches before, like Kliff Kingsbury and Brian Flores. There are former Cowboys assistants like Kellen Moore and Wes Phillips, and Al Harris could emerge as a dark horse candidate, and that’s before the young gun coordinators like Ben Johnson, Bobby Slowik, Joe Brady and others are even mentioned.

It’s going to be a crazy upheaval in the NFL coaching ranks and now that Dallas has thrown their hats in the ring, they will be the biggest tent at the circus.

Al Harris, Cowboys assistant head coach
Josh McCown, Minnesota Vikings QB Coach
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman
Liam Coen, OC, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Ryan Grubb, Seattle Seahawks OC
Ejiro Evero, Carolina Panthers, DC
Jesse Minter, Los Angeles Chargers, DC
Vance Joseph, Denver Broncos, DC
Adam Stenovich, Green Bay Packers OC
North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick ($10 million buyout would get him back from CFB)

Phillips has been instrumental in the improvement of Sam Darnold this season, and while Kevin O’Connell calls the plays, the biggest impediment to Phillips becoming a head coach was that he’s in the booth on gamedays and not down on the sideline. That changed in November.

At 45, Wade Phillips’ son who was an assistant in Dallas for seven years to start his NFL coaching career (staying on with Jason Garrett after his dad was fired) has spent three years in Minnesota. If he were to make the jump, he’d need a defensive coordinator with head coaching experience by his side, but the idea shouldn’t be outright dismissed.

After great success at Jackson State with back-to-back SWAC championships, Sanders has quickly brought Colorado from obscurity to relevancy. 1-11 the season before, Sanders brought them to 4-9 in Year 1 and 9-3 in Year 2 before losing their bowl game to BYU.

Sanders has always been given credence in this space as a real possibility and it will be interesting to see if he is as committed to his “never coach NFL” words as he claims to be.

Grabbing from a fruitful tree is always a wise idea, and snatching Smith from under Mike McDaniel as part of the Kyle Shanahan limb system seems like a wise call. Dallas rarely uses motion at the snap and isn’t particularly good at it; and that’s literally the forte of Smith. Doesn’t currently have play-calling duties though, which could be seen as a knock.

Miami’s rough year thanks to injuries shouldn’t diminish how dominant they’ve been since he took over in 2022, ranking sixth in DVOA that year and second in 2023.

It appears Kingsbury’s time away after the disaster in Arizona has done him a ton of good. The offense he’s put together in DC for rookie Jayden Daniels is quite impressive and a stark contrast to what he was doing with Kyler Murray in the desert.

That transformation may lead to him having a second opportunity not always afforded. Washington’s offense has been up and down, but they rank seventh in DVOA as the season comes to a close. Granted, Daniels offers a dual-threat nature Dallas doesn’t have, but Kingsbury could be ready for another opportunity. And damaging a division rival would be great turn about.

Glenn has ties to Dallas, playing two of his 15 seasons with the organization, but the growth of the Lions’ defense under his tutelage has been impressive on its own. He’s consistently being highlighted by their players as a phenomenal leader of men.

In 2020 they ranked 32nd in defensive DVOA. Since Glenn joined they moved to 29th, 27th, and 13th in 2023. At one point this year he had them ranked 3rd going into Week 15 action, but the cavalcade of injuries in the second half of the season has them a shell of themselves.

The Eagles milked a 10-minute fourth-quarter clock dry with a 21-play drive to seal their win over Pittsburgh. Let that sink in.

One name that is rarely discussed but probably should be is the former heir apparent Kellen Moore. Moore was Jason Garrett 2.0; brought in to the coaching staff as a wunderkind who the Jones family thought a lot of. He carried over as offensive coordinator from Garrett to McCarthy. Being shown the door in 2023 after a playoff failure as McCarthy vowed taking back over play calling would take the offense to a new level.

It did, for a year, before bottoming out in 2024, even before all of the injuries hit. Meanwhile Moore attached himself to Brandon Staley’s sinking ship in L.A. for a year, but has revitalized his reputation thanks to Saquon Barkley’s arrival in Phiadelphia. The Eagles are rolling with a throwback offense focused on running to set up the pass. Everyone knows that’s like catnip to the Jones family.

Slowik is immensely intriguing for several reasons. He auditioned in front of Jones earlier this season and carved up a 77-yard opening play touchdown to announce his arrival. The rest of the game was a dominant run effort with a ton of big plays.

Slowik’s stock has fallen as CJ Stroud struggled to shine without his top receiving targets and behind a ridiculously bad offensive line. Slowik is from the Shanahan coaching tree that has had success at the NFL level and maybe most importantly, he used to coach defense. That combination just feels like he’d make a tremendous hire.

Will Flores get another shot at a head coach gig?

He was dumped by the Dolphins in their owner’s “I’m rich I can do what I want” attempt to lure Sean Payton and Tom Brady to South Beach. The revelation about trying to have a coach to tank games may have pulled the curtain back on the inner workings of the league, but it likely didn’t do Flores much favor.

What has though, is the job he’s done righting the ship in Minnesota with their defense. The relentless attacking nature of the Vikings defense where blitzing is a lifestyle is an intriguing head coach hire waiting to happen.

The evolution of the Ravens’ passing attack, and the under-center autonomy placed on Lamar Jackson’s shoulders over the last season and a half have been incredible. He’s one of one as a QB, but Monken deserves a ton of credit for recognizing how to unlock this team.

The 2024 Ravens, after adding Derrick Henry to the mix, now have a historic offense in terms of DVOA. Their 42.0% rating through 17 weeks is among the best ever, and it’s floated by their No. 1 36.0% offensive rating.

What Ben Johnson’s offense and tutelage has been able to do for Jared Goff has been amazing. In the Stafford trade, Goff was expected to be a placeholder until the Lions drafted their guy. Now the clearly limited passer is running one of the league’s best and most innovative offenses. The Lions are competing for the NFC’s best record heading into the final game of the season and are doing so with a scotch-tape defense. The offense refuses to allow this to stop them and Johnson’s creativity and aggressiveness are the primary reasons why.

There’s a rumor out there that Johnson asked for $15 million a season last cycle. That could be a baseline number, or it could’ve been a number he gave to a franchise he wasn’t truly interested in. Fans should beware taking such reports without the unavailable context.

The job Joe Brady has done with Buffalo offense in 2024 has been incredible. After trading away their top target in Stefon Diggs, the Bills offense went from great to elite, ramping up their production and scoring.

After the strong work at LSU with Joe Burrow, Brady has been throwing haymakers in the NFL the last three seasons coordinating the Josh Allen Buffalo Bills. The Bills finished second in offensive DVOA in 2022, third in 2023 and are currently second in 2024.

Jets request interviews with two Vikings assistants for HC job

Less than 24 hours after their final game of the regular season, two Vikings assistants have already been about the Jets hC vacancy.

Whenever a team like the Minnesota Vikings has a season where they go 14-3, you can expect some of their coaches to be interviewed for head coaching vacancies. Less than 24 hours after their final game of the regular season, two Vikings assistants have already been contacted.

Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that both defensive coordinator Brian Flores and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown have been requested to interview for the Jets head coaching vacancy.

Brian Flores led a Vikings defense that saw them become one of the best defenses in the NFL. Their high-pressure rate and turnover rate went up in 2024 and were a major part of their success.

Josh McCown helped coach both rookie J.J. McCarthy during the preseason and veteran Sam Darnold all year long. McCarthy looked good in his lone preseason appearance, while Sam Darnold emerged as an MVP candidate.

No timetable has been set for their interviews as the Vikings visit the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs.

Vikings working with J.J. McCarthy on his footwork heading into training camp

Despite being a high draft pick, teams will want to tweak players. For J.J. McCarthy, that means his footwork is getting touched up.

Despite being drafted high in the NFL draft, teams will want to tweak players. For J.J. McCarthy, that means his footwork is getting touched up.

According to a report from Will Ragatz of Sports Illustrated, the footwork of McCarthy is getting a slight change from what he did at Michigan.

“It’s notable that the Vikings are working with rookie QB J.J. McCarthy on a specific element of his footwork. They’re having start with his left foot forward when receiving snaps out of the shotgun, which is a change from what he did at Michigan.”

If you go back and watch what Michigan did with McCarthy during his college career, his footwork was as simple as keeping the feet even but shoulder-width apart. By getting him to start with one foot back he is able to complete his dropback quicker.

Getting those precious few tenths of a second allows for McCarthy to make a play before a defense is set or to be able to make a proper read. It’s simple but very effective.

Zulgad: J.J. McCarthy’s mistakes need to be accepted, part of the process

J.J. McCarthy is like any other rookie quarterback, he is going to have growing pains, and it is important to remain patient.

J.J. McCarthy’s every move on the football field will certainly be dissected. That’s a given. The question is just how much stock should we put into what we see or hear reported about the Minnesota Vikings’ first-round quarterback.

This came to mind after watching McCarthy participate in Organized Team Activities that were open to the media on Tuesday at the TCO Performance Center. I’m as guilty as the next person of keeping an eye on McCarthy.

I charted his passes in team and seven-on-seven drills and noted that he was working with non-first-teamers. McCarthy’s arm has been stronger than I thought, but his two incompletions were both thrown high, and there were times he looked to scramble because the play broke down around him.

Not surprisingly, scrolling through X in the days after that practice, I saw plenty of commentary on McCarthy’s performance, and a few aggregators took it upon themselves to emphasize the mistakes.

So what are we to make of this?

My suggestion: Nothing.

Like the rest of the world, sports fans and media are eager to pass judgment on what they see, and sometimes, that is the right call. But when it comes to McCarthy, it makes little sense to try to judge anything.

That doesn’t mean he should be ignored or that progress reports are a bad idea, but there’s a big difference between monitoring someone’s progress and judging it, and judgment on McCarthy is quite a ways off. It certainly can’t come during the Vikings’ offseason program.

McCarthy, 21, might have been the 10th pick in last month’s draft, but he also is a work in progress. The Vikings didn’t sign veteran Sam Darnold to be their long-term starter, but they are paying him $10 million on his one-year contract to have a starter in place so that they have the luxury of time when it comes to their young quarterback.

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown have a plan for McCarthy that includes working to fix some of his mechanics. Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, for instance, mentioned Tuesday the Vikings have McCarthy in a “left foot up stance, which is a little different for him.”

That might seem like a simple change to make in the shotgun, but for now, McCarthy has to think about it each time he sets up to take a snap.

Remember the draft experts’ criticisms of McCarthy’s throws at Michigan? O’Connell saw those, too, and now it’s his job to make sure McCarthy’s footwork and throwing motion enable him to change any troublesome tendencies. Coaching bad habits out of a quarterback isn’t easy because the natural thing is to go back to what you were comfortable doing when the pressure is coming. That can’t happen.

That’s not even getting into the fact that McCarthy is learning an NFL playbook for the first time. Kirk Cousins had played 10 NFL seasons in 2022 when he was first handed O’Connell’s playbook and later admitted to the system’s complexities.

O’Connell, a third-round pick by New England in 2008, knows all about the fine line between success and failure for a young quarterback, and he knows that many jobs depend on McCarthy ironing out any issues.

That means McCarthy will have moments in practices where his strong arm wows you and he will have moments where his failure to make the proper read, or set himself correctly, will raise eyebrows. At some point down the road, it will become fair to critique those moments. But, for now, McCarthy should be afforded the opportunity to make mistakes in the name of getting it right in the future.

That’s going to take time and patience. The Vikings appear willing to accept that, and the fanbase should be as well.

Zulgad: J.J. McCarthy gets his first ‘teachable’ moments under the eye of Kevin O’Connell

All quarterbacks go through ups and downs, but J.J. McCarthy gets the benefit of having the watchful eye of Kevin O’Connell.

The rosters for Friday’s first day of the Minnesota Vikings’ rookie minicamp included 45 players. The seven draft picks were joined by 17 undrafted free agents, 16 players receiving tryouts, and five with the Vikings last season.

No offense to 44 of those players, but only one of them was the focus. That’s what happens when you are considered a team’s quarterback of the future, and that’s the title that J.J. McCarthy holds after being selected with the 10th overall pick by the Vikings in last month’s draft.

Only one of the past three days was open to the media, which could be considered a dry run for what is to come for McCarthy this offseason. The Vikings’ organized team activities — which are optional but often draw a majority of the roster — begin later this month and will include veteran QB Sam Darnold taking much of the first-team work.

On Friday it was McCarthy and Parker McKinney, in a tryout deal out of Eastern Kentucky, taking snaps. McCarthy was the one getting frequent feedback as he worked under the watchful eyes of coach Kevin O’Connell, quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and offensive coordinator Wes Phillips.

The 21-year-old McCarthy, coming off leading Michigan to a national championship, exuded a confidence that spoke to his preparation for this day. “It didn’t feel like my first day,” he said. “I’ve been going over the offense for a long time now. So being able to (go) out there and perform and execute, that’s new, but it was nothing that was overwhelming or too much.”

McCarthy, who was introduced to portions of the Vikings offense in pre-draft meetings with O’Connell and others, took 16 snaps Friday that the Vikings hope will be significant one day, only because they will serve as a reminder of his first time on the field at TCO Performance Center. There were some passes with nice touch and others that fell incomplete. There also was a pass that undrafted linebacker K.J. Cloyd stepped in front of and returned for what would have been a pick-six.

“We’ll go in and watch the competitive reps in (7-on-7) that we had,” O’Connell said. “We’ll watch individuals and try to tie some teaching points. You know, ‘Was he open enough throwing to his left? Was he closed enough throwing to his right? What did you see here pre-snap that made you anticipate making that throw, or why didn’t you anticipate making that throw?’

“Then we try to tie it all together with our multiple views. Total learning environment. I know some folks may be keeping track of completions and interceptions and things like that. Too early for that conversation, I can tell you that much. But it’s all teachable.”

This would be true for all position groups on the field this weekend, but especially for McCarthy and fellow first-round pick Dallas Turner, who will be stepping in as one of the Vikings’ key edge rushers this season.

O’Connell is a straight shooter for an NFL coach, so when he wants to turn down the temperature on McCarthy he will say that, and when he’s asked about the approach to developing him, you are going to get a relatively abridged but honest answer.

There will be continued questions about when McCarthy might start, but O’Connell clearly sees this as a work in progress and not a race to get the rookie under center in an NFL game.

The weekend camp was part of that process.

“We’re keeping it pretty tight for right now as a group, but J.J. is getting a little bit more – you know, a little bit extra here and there, a little bit of stacking some things together for him,” O’Connell said. “So when Monday
comes around, that’s the way I’m kind of looking at this weekend. … (It’s) really about preparing him to then step in with the full group next week, and then a week from there, we start our first OTA with the whole group.

“He’s doing a great job of handling everything and just enjoying seeing the process, rep-to-rep improvement, taking coaching points from Josh or Wes or myself, and just continuing to build on what we – we spent a lot of time together pre-draft, and one of the real benefits of that, is in a lot of ways, a lot of things we’re talking about he’s not hearing for the first time now.”

Zulgad: Vikings’ draft decisions paint a clear picture of when Super Bowl run should come

The recent moves by the Minnesota Vikings has painted a clear picture of when this team can see it’s Super Bowl window open.

The Minnesota Vikings might not have had a plethora of selections during the three-day NFL draft, but the picks they did make, especially the two in the first round on Thursday, provided a clear view of the direction in which general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is taking this franchise.

Where would that be? To open a Super Bowl window starting with the 2025 season.

That conclusion comes from following the trail of bread crumbs that Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell have been leaving for many months. The latest batch came Thursday through Saturday as the Vikings were able to land one of the quarterbacks they targeted, by trading up one pick to select Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy at No. 10, and then by paying a significant price to move from No. 23 to 17 to select standout edge rusher Dallas Turner from Alabama.

Those trades, and others made by Adofo-Mensah, leave him open to second-guessing because he didn’t have picks in the second, third and fifth rounds. But the decisions make more sense if you look at the pattern he and coach Kevin O’Connell are using as far as roster construction is concerned.

The Vikings’ free agency losses in March cost them two quality players in quarterback Kirk Cousins and edge rusher Danielle Hunter. But that also created the type of salary cap space this team lacked for so long in part because of Cousins’ contract(s).

Hunter was replaced in free agency by the edge rushers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel. Turner, who had 10 sacks last season en route to being named the SEC defensive player of the year, gives the Vikings the type of quality depth on the edge that defensive coordinator Brian Flores didn’t have last season.

The Vikings’ two top quarterback targets in the draft — at least the ones that were believed to be realistic — were North Carolina’s Drake Maye and McCarthy. The Vikings reportedly made a substantial offer to the New England Patriots for the third pick in order to take Maye but were rebuffed. Minnesota held the No. 11 pick and, thus, began the waiting game that Adofo-Mensah brought to an end by making a trade with the New York Jets to go up one spot.

O’Connell and new quarterbacks coach Josh McCown will become McCarthy’s near constant companion as they develop him and, in the meantime, have veteran free agent addition Sam Darnold in the starting role. That is one of the reasons why the Vikings will target 2024 as being competitive but also remain realistic as far as what it means in the ultra-competitive NFC North.

O’Connell declined to speculate on when McCarthy might start, but both O’Connell and McCown were quarterbacks in the NFL and are aware of how much damage can be done by throwing a young QB (McCarthy turned 21 in January) in before he’s ready.

The five selections the Vikings made from the fourth through seventh rounds likely only turned out one player who will be a regular this season. That would be sixth-round kicker Will Reichard of Alabama.

The Vikings also haven’t made big steps to address their needs along the interior offensive and defensive lines, as well as at the No. 3 wide receiver spot and cornerback, although they expressed optimism about adding 6-foot-4 cornerback Khyree Jackson in the fourth round.

Adofo-Mensah’s wheeling and dealing also leaves the Vikings with only three draft picks, including their first-rounder, in the 2025. (They are expected to get a compensatory pick in the third round because of free agent losses in 2024.)

Working under the assumption McCarthy is ready to hit the ground running in 2025, and the Vikings almost certainly are, the significant needs this team has remaining next year will be addressed in free agency. The projected cap for that season, according to Over The Cap, will be $260 million and right now the Vikings’ cap space is projected at $102.453 million, putting them fourth in the NFL.

The dead money from Cousins’ and Hunter’s contracts also will be gone.

That means the Vikings will go from carrying an NFL-high $57.4 million in dead money for 2024 to zero in 2025. It’s expected wide receiver Justin Jefferson will sign a contract in the coming weeks or months that will make him the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL, but Vikings still should be positioned to bid on a top defensive tackle or cornerback, if not both.

There’s also another possibility to add to the equation and it’s one Adofo-Mensah already has used. That would be the NFL trade deadline, which has gone from the dullest deadline in professional sports to a time when savvy teams now improve themselves. Two years ago, Adofo-Mensah made a deal with Detroit at the deadline for T.J. Hockenson and the tight end played a key role in the Vikings’ 13-4 finish.

This year the NFL has moved the deadline back to Nov. 5, creating even more opportunity for deals to be made in the coming years. A significant deadline deal, let’s say for a defensive tackle or cornerback, could be costly in 2025 but keep this in mind:

If the Vikings look to be in a spot to compete for the first Super Bowl championship in franchise history, is anyone going to complain about giving up picks?

I didn’t think so.

Zulgad: Drake Maye is a fit with Vikings due to their approach

Drake Maye is a fit within a lot of teams looking for a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft but the Vikings could be the perfect fit.

In a quarterback draft class that is considered one of the deepest in recent years, Drake Maye might be the most polarizing in the group. Once considered the second-best QB behind USC’s Caleb Williams, many have given that spot to LSU’s Jayden Daniels and have dropped Maye to third or, in some cases, behind Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy.

Listen to the concerns about Maye, about his foot work, about his mechanics, and it makes sense that if he’s thrown into a starting role on Day 1 for a team such as the nowhere-close-to-competing New England Patriots that the quarterback from North Carolina could be set up for failure.

The Carolina Panthers thought so highly of Bryce Young last year that they traded what turned out to be the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, and plenty more, to the Chicago Bears for the right to select him. The Panthers handed Young the keys to the car and little else. The result was a 2-15 finish and a rookie season that has many thinking he might be a bust. Is that all Young’s fault? No.

So how can Maye avoid the same fate?

By going to a team with a good infrastructure. A franchise that has a coaching staff in place that can develop him, be patient with him and, when they do play him, give him a supporting cast that puts him in a position to succeed.

That’s why bringing Maye to Minnesota makes a lot of sense. The only question is whether Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah can trade up high enough to take Maye and whether he is willing to pay the Patriots’ asking price.

It’s no secret the Vikings want to move up in the first round of next Thursday’s draft and Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf said his team is “open for business” to trade the No. 3 pick. Wolf also said he would be comfortable staying at three and taking a quarterback.

Wolf, 42, is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Ron Wolf and certainly understands the Patriots have many needs that could begin to be addressed by acquiring multiple picks, including a couple of first-rounders (the Vikings have picks 11 and 23).

Meanwhile, Maye appears to have many skills that Vikings coach and former NFL quarterback Kevin O’Connell would like to have from a young QB who is under team control at a reasonable rate on a five-year rookie contract.

O’Connell hired another former NFL quarterback, Josh McCown, as his coach for that position in February. McCown knows plenty about Maye’s plusses and minuses, having helped to coach him at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, N.C., and reuniting the two makes a lot of sense.

The Vikings certainly have pressure to win, but one has to think that O’Connell and McCown would also be well aware that forcing Maye to start as a rookie could be a mistake. O’Connell was a third-round pick of the Patriots in 2008, and although he never became a starter, he has firsthand knowledge of where mistakes were made in helping him develop.

McCown was in the NFL for 18 seasons and started 76 of the 102 games in which he appeared. He also got valuable experience serving as the quarterback coach for the Carolina Panthers last season. McCown was one of the assistants who was fired, along with coach Frank Reich, in late November and saw what Young went through starting for a terrible team.

The Vikings already have created a security plan by signing 2018 third-overall pick Sam Darnold to a one-year, $10 million deal to help replace Kirk Cousins. The New York Jets drafted Darnold- a franchise that has done little right in recent years- and started as a rookie. He lasted three seasons with the Jets before playing two years in Carolina and then serving as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers last season.

McCown was the backup to Darnold in 2018 and watched the rookie struggle in playing 13 games during a 4-12 season. If O’Connell, McCown, and, even Darnold agree on one thing, it likely would be the fact that it’s far better to develop a quarterback than rush him and risk ruining him

It will be worth it if that means a season of Darnold starting and Maye learning. It’s more important that if the Vikings do trade up and draft a quarterback, especially a guy like Maye, they get the pick right for the long term. Patience might not sit well with the fan base, but if the end result is postseason success for years to come, no one will be complaining.

Former Panthers assistant HC/RB coach Duce Staley joining Browns

Per CBS Sports, former Panthers assistant HC/RB coach Duce Staley is off to Cleveland.

The Duce is no longer on the loose.

As first reported by CBS Sports senior NFL insider Josina Anderson, former Carolina Panthers assistant head coach/running backs coach Duce Staley is set to join the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland.com Browns beat writer Mary Kay Cabot then seconded the report just minutes later.

The West Columbia, S.C. native was hired by the Panthers during the reconstruction of their coaching staff last offseason. But Staley wouldn’t last long—as he, head coach Frank Reich and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown were dismissed following the team’s Week 12 loss to the Tennessee Titans.

Before coming back home, Staley built up one heck of a reputation on the NFL sidelines. He served as the special teams quality control coach, running backs coach and assistant head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles between 2011 and 2020 and as the assistant head coach and running backs coach for the Detroit Lions between 2021 and 2022.

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