Tag: shane waldron

The Chicago Bears are checking all the boxes for QB Caleb Williams

It sounds like the Bears have impressed Caleb Williams with how the team has been constructed.

Just a few short months ago, rumors were spreading that presumptive first-overall pick Caleb Williams wouldn’t want to play for the Chicago Bears due to their track record at the quarterback position. At that point, the Bears had recently locked up the top pick by way of the Carolina Panthers and had Williams in their sights while coming off a 7-10 season that saw multiple coaching changes on the offensive side of the ball.

Since then, the Bears have made key moves to bolster their offense, whether it’s bringing in new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, signing running back D’Andre Swift, or trading for Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen. With those additions, joining wide receiver DJ Moore, tight end Cole Kmet, and an above-average offensive line, it’s all setting up for an ideal situation for Williams, who is set to become the Bears’ next quarterback in less than a week when the NFL Draft gets underway. Based on reports and recent comments, he’s pretty happy with what the Bears and the city of Chicago have to offer.

On Friday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero shared a breakdown of the top quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft with insight from executives and scouts. Not surprisingly, Williams was at the top, but Pelissero revealed information on how the quarterback viewed the Bears’ situation following his top 30 visit.

Team officials have stayed in touch with Williams since via video chat sessions, just talking football. There still is a matter of agreeing to a contract, which could be more complicated than a normal slotted deal, given the uniqueness of Caleb’s draft process thus far. But sources say the quarterback’s conversations with the Bears have been very frank and positive. The Williams camp sent the message early about what it wanted — investment and infrastructure to help Caleb reach his next goal of chasing Tom Brady and winning Super Bowls — and the Bears so far have delivered. 

The smoke that surrounded Williams’ alleged disinterest in Chicago has fully cleared, and it sounds like he’s bought into what the Bears have to offer. Having a strong infrastructure is important for the 22-year-old quarterback, who has made it known he wants to win and become a legend in the game.

That was evident during a recent interview on the Pivot Podcast. During the interview, Williams is asked how he will help Chicago win a championship. “Now that I want to play at one place for 20 years and chase one guy, No. 12 (Tom Brady),” Williams said. “I want a place that loves ball. That’s all I’ve heard about Chicago so far.”

The Bears have the pieces in place for Williams to succeed out of the gate, and Chicago has the passion behind their football team that he desires. It sounds like the Bears have checked all of the boxes for Williams, and he’s fired up to become the team’s next quarterback, who will hopefully give them a true franchise quarterback for the first time in half a century.

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Report: Bears to hire Jennifer King as assistant offensive coach

The Bears are set to hire Jennifer King to their offensive staff, making her the first female coach in franchise history.

The Chicago Bears added another coach to their offensive staff and made history in the process. The Bears are reportedly set to hire former Washington Commanders assistant running backs coach Jennifer King to the same position, making her the first female coach in Bears history. NFL Network’s Bridget Condon was first with the news.

King, who is the first full-time African-American female coach in NFL history, spent the last three seasons as Washington’s assistant running backs coach. She worked with players such as Brian Robinson and Antonio Gibson while on Ron Rivera’s staff. She also spent multiple seasons as a coaching intern, both for the Commanders and the Carolina Panthers, and coached receivers for the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football in 2019.

Prior to her coaching career, King was a decorated player for the Carolina Phoenix of the Women’s Football Alliance. Playing quarterback and wide receiver, King helped the Phoenix to a staggering 75-17 record from 2007–2016, including one championship and seven division titles.

King joins a revamped Bears offensive staff led by Shane Waldron and will work with new running backs coach Chad Morton.

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Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba turns 22 years old today

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald has taken over a roster that has a lot going for it, including a youth movement.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald has taken over a roster that has a lot going for it, including a youth movement.

One of their most-promising young players is wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who turns 22 years old today. Here’s a look at what JSN put up in his rookie season in Seattle:

Recently Smith-Njigba has made headlines for criticzing former Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who’s now with the Bears. JSN seems to have been frustrated with the offense’s production under Waldron, claiming that the unit left a lot of yards on the field. While it’s rare to hear a player openly complain about a former coach like this, Smith-Njigba has it exactly right on that account. Even with a poor offensive line, Seattle’s offense had more than enough talent to finish top 10 in scoring, but wound up finishing the season in the middle of the pack.

Then again, odds are JSN’s real beef is with his targets. For much of the early part of the season he was rarely utilized beyond the line of scrimmage, which put a very low ceiling on his numbers. His breakout game didn’t come until Week 6 when he scored his first touchdown and put up 63 yards. That number also ended up being his season high, though – more damning evidence that JSN was misused by Waldron. Smith-Njigba was arguably the top wide receiver in the entire 2023 draft class and could have put up much greater numbers if he’d been given the opportunity.

To be fair, the Seahawks offense has a lot of mouths to feed, including two stars at JSN’s position. The good news is that new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb ran a ton of three-receiver sets at Washington and Smith-Njigba can bank on his role growing significantly in 2024.

However, the x-factor may be just how much Seattle’s offensive line improves this offseason. While the Huskies had one of the best pass blocking lines in the nation last year, the Seahawks were one of the NFL’s worst teams in that department. Waldron had little choice but to use tight ends frequently as extra blockers, which limited JSN’s snaps.

Of course that’s exactly the kind of challenge that good coordinators are supposed to overcome at this level. That Waldron was unable to smoothly integrate a talent like Smith-Njigba is one of many reasons why it was the right move to go in a different direction.

More Seahawks Wire stories

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Jaxon Smith-Njigba gives super-awkward endorsement of Shane Waldron

Put on the spot, JSN tried to give an endorsement of Waldron’s playcalling, but it came out really weird.

It’s Super Bowl week, which means a lot of players around the NFL are in Las Vegas doing their rounds at Radio Row. These are opportunities to hear from players in less formal settings than press conferences after games, and sometimes we get treated to rare premium content.

That was the case yesterday when a Bears podcast hosted Seahawks rookie wide receiver Jaxon-Smith Njigba and asked him what former Seattle offensive coordinator Shane Waldron can do to get Chicago’s offense going. Put on the spot, JSN tried to give an endorsement of Waldron’s playcalling, but it came out really weird. Watch.

A few thoughts: For one thing, rookies around the league need to be given more media training. Waldron isn’t a terrible playcaller by any means, but there’s a reason why he made a lateral move as an OC rather than getting interest for head coach positions. As for JSN, one can understand some of his frustration. For the first half of the season, he was almost never used anywhere beyond the line of scrimmage.

Whoever the next Seahawks offensive coordinator is, he’ll have a tough task of trying to distribute targets in an offense with so many mouths to feed. However, a bigger role for Smith-Njigba should be a guarantee if the new OC knows what he’s doing.

More Seahawks Wire stories

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Jaxon Smith-Njigba has awkward endorsement for new Bears OC Shane Waldron

Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba raised eyebrows with his thoughts on new Bears OC Shane Waldron in an interview with CHGO Bears.

New Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has drawn mostly positive reviews in the two weeks since he was hired after three years with the Seattle Seahawks, but one of his former players didn’t exactly give him a ringing endorsement when given the opportunity.

Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, along with New Orleans Saints receiver Chris Olave, joined CHGO Bears on Wednesday at Super Bowl LVIII radio row and was asked by Mark Carman about his former offensive coordinator. Smith-Njigba had an interesting response, to say the least. “Um, this is live?” he said somewhat nervously after a long pause. Smith-Njigba then claimed he was joking before giving his answer. “Good luck to you all; he’s a great person, great offensive coordinator. I was very lucky to get to have him my first year. Learned a lot from him.”

Smith-Njigba finished his answer saying Waldron and quarterback Justin Fields would be a great fit together if he remains the quarterback in 2024. “I think he and Justin will mesh well, and adding more guys around him will be great, so we’ll see. He’s going to love Justin.” Smith-Njigba and Fields were teammates in college back in 2020.

Smith-Njigba spent just one season with Waldron while getting acclimated to the NFL, but his initial hesitation to say something at the beginning is telling. The Seahawks offense sputtered at times in 2023, finishing with the 21st-ranked scoring offense in the league with a 9-8 overall record. Smith-Njigba had a modest debut after Seattle drafted him in the first round, catching 63 passes for 628 yards and four touchdowns while playing behind veteran receivers DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Smith-Njigba’s 628 receiving yards were 10th-most among rookie pass catchers.

Only Smith-Njigba truly knows how he feels about Waldron, but his hesitancy to endorse him off the bat will certainly raise some eyebrows.

Report: Bears to hire Chad Morton as running backs coach

According to Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Bears are set to hire former Seahawks coach Chad Morton.

It seems the Chicago Bears had themselves a busy Tuesday working to hire offensive coaches. According to Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Bears are hiring Chad Morton to be their running backs coach, which would round out the position coaches on the offensive staff. Morton is the third reported coaching hire over the last 24 hours, joining wide receivers coach Chris Beatty and passing game coordinator Thomas Brown.

Morton, like Brown, has prior ties to new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. The two worked together for the last three years on the Seattle Seahawks, but his coaching journey started out in a place Bears fans know all too well, however.

After a productive playing career as a running back, Morton began his coaching career with the Green Bay Packers and was a special teams assistant from 2010–2013. From there, he joined the Seahawks in a similar role before moving to their offensive staff as a running backs assistant from 2015–2016. In 2017, he was promoted to running backs coach and trudged through a tough season where the Seahawks had a bottom-five rushing attack.

Those struggles didn’t last long, though. Seattle led the league in rushing the following season, averaging 160 yards per game, and had another top-five attack in 2019. In 2022, Morton became the Seahawks run game coordinator in addition to his role as running backs coach.

Morton helped get the most out of Chris Carson for a few seasons and developed younger talents such as Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet. Now, he rounds out Waldron’s staff and will be tasked with further developing players like Roschon Johnson and Khalil Herbert in the backfield.

Bears to hire Thomas Brown as passing game coordinator

The Bears are set to hire former Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown to their coaching staff.

The Chicago Bears offensive coaching staff continues to take shape as another vacancy has reportedly been filled. The Bears are set to hire former Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown to be their passing game coordinator, according to multiple reports. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune was first with the news.

Brown was a candidate for the Bears’ offensive coordinator vacancy before they settled on Shane Waldron. The two have worked together in the past, when they were both with the Los Angeles Rams in 2020. Brown spent three seasons with the Rams, coaching running backs in 2020. He added assistant head coach to his responsibilities in 2021, before coaching tight ends in 2022. Last season, he joined Frank Reich’s staff in Carolina as their offensive coordinator, where he worked with Bryce Young during his rookie season. When Carolina fired Reich, Brown took over playcalling duties for the remainder of the season.

Now Brown comes to the Bears, where he once again could be coaching a rookie quarterback, only this time as a passing game coordinator. Brown is highly regarded around the league and popular among players, too. He was voted the No. 2 ranked offensive coordinator by NFL players in a survey conducted by the NFLPA near the end of the regular season.

The addition of Brown comes just hours after the Bears hired Chris Beatty as their wide receivers coach.

Saints offensive coordinator search: Who’s interviewed twice, who’s off the board

New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator search: Who has interviewed twice, who is off the board, and who is still available?

There isn’t a more important question for the New Orleans Saints to answer right now than this: “Who is calling plays in 2024?”

For the first time in more than a decade, the Saints are searching for a new offensive coordinator — and one who will be calling plays, not just helping Sean Payton design the game plan each week. Getting the most out of cornerstone players like Derek Carr, Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave, and Taysom Hill while curing what ails the offensive line is critical.

It’s no exaggeration to say this is the most important hire that Dennis Allen will make as head coach. If he gets this wrong and the Saints offense starts out on a cripplingly slow pace again, it’ll be curtains for him. He needs to find the right coach who can carry Carr’s positive momentum over into 2024 while reviving one of the NFL’s least-creative rushing attacks. That’s no small task.

And names keep getting added to the search as the Saints interview more and more candidates. We’ll keep this list updated and check in on who is still available, who has gotten a second interview with New Orleans, and who has been taken off the board by other teams:

Bears hire Chris Beatty as new wide receivers coach

The Bears added to their offensive staff with the hiring of Chris Beatty as wide receivers coach.

The Chicago Bears have hired Chris Beatty as their new wide receivers coach, according to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin.

It marks the second hire for new Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who previously hired Kerry Joseph as quarterbacks coach.

Beatty boasts 26 years of experience, most of it coming at the collegiate level and as a wide receivers coach. He made the jump to the NFL with the Chargers as their wide receivers coach, a role he’s served since 2021. Beatty worked with the likes of Mike Williams and Keenan Allen in Los Angeles, and he’ll now get to work with DJ Moore, Tyler Scott and a still-to-be-determined receiving corps.

Beatty also coached Moore when he played at Maryland from 2016-17, so there’s definitely a familiarity there. Beatty will also be tasked with developing some young talent, especially if the Bears draft a rookie to pair with Moore.

When Luke Getsy was fired as offensive coordinator, not all of his staff was fired. Chicago retained tight ends coach Jim Dray and offensive line coach Chris Morgan. Now, the Bears still need to find a new running backs coach.

Bears to interview Ike Hilliard for wide receivers coach

The Bears will interview Ike Hilliard for their wide receivers coach position.

The Chicago Bears have found their offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator in Shane Waldron and Eric Washington, respectively, and they’re continuing to fill out some vacant offensive assistant positions.

The Bears are interviewing veteran wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard for their wide receivers coach opening, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Hilliard, a former NFL wide receiver for the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has 14 years of coaching experience between teh collegiate and NFL level. He’s served as assistant wide receivers coach with the Miami Dolphins (2011) and wide receivers coach with Washington (2012, 2014-19), Buffalo Bills (2013) and Pittsburgh Steelers (2020-21). Hilliard most recently served as wide receivers coach and interim co-offensive coordinator with Auburn.

Hilliard previously worked with Waldron in Washington when Hilliard was wide receivers coach and Waldron as offensive quality control coach in 2016.

Chicago is also interviewing Los Angeles Chargers wide receivers coach Chris Beatty for the same job.

Waldron has already found his quarterbacks coach in Kerry Joseph, who previously served as the assistant quarterbacks coach with the Seattle Seahawks. On the opposite side of the ball, the Bears hired Eric Washington as their defensive coordinator.