Tag: staff

Billy Napier adds former wide receiver to Florida football staff

Dr. Stephen Alli, a former wide receiver at the University of Florida, is returning to the program as a staff member.

Former Florida wide receiver Stephen Alli has returned to Gainesville to work with Billy Napier’s football program, according to Gators Online.

Alli is the new Director of Professional Development for GatorMade, which develops Gators beyond the football field and provides them with the necessary skills to succeed in life, per the program directive.

Alli knows a thing or two about succeed in life after football. He underwent seven surgeries during his playing days, limiting him to just three career receptions. But Alli knew that he had a chance to do more as a Florida Gator, and he stayed in Gainesville all the way through his Ph.D. in Mental Health Counseling.

Napier has made a point of bringing in former players on his staff, with Brandon Spikes and Miguel Carodine rejoining the program this year as well. Alli will be focusing on life outside and after football, but his role is still a vital one. Most college football players don’t go on to play pro careers, and the average NFL career is just over three years.

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Report: New Orleans Saints hiring Jets’ Zach Stuart as director of analytics

ESPN reports former New York Jets coordinator of football analytics Zach Stuart is headed to the New Orleans Saints in a similar role | @crissy_froyd

The New Orleans Saints are hiring the former New York Jets coordinator of football analytics in Zach Stuart as the team’s new director of analytics, as was first reported by Seth Walder of ESPN.

Stuart had been with the Jets since 2020. Before entering the professional sports sphere, he worked as a mathematics R&D for Sandra National Laboratories (2017-2020) and actuarial analyst for Mountain States Insurance Group (2014-2016).

Stuart comes to New Orleans after the departure of Ryan Herman, who spent six years with the team, at the end of May. The NFL has shown more prioritization of analytics, something that has helped the game a lot over recent years, and the way things have only continued to trend only indicates that the usage of data in more expanded ways is only going to be something that gets bigger.

Since taking over for heralded longtime head coach Sean Payton, how Dennis Allen continues to grow his team in this area with people like Stuart will be something to keep an eye on.

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Meet the Team: Get to know the Saints Wire staff

Thanks for making us your first stop for New Orleans Saints news every day. Here’s who is bringing it to you on our Saints Wire staff:

We’re just weeks away from the start of New Orleans Saints training camp, so it’s a great time to reintroduce our team here at Saints Wire. We’ve added several new faces over the summer to our already-established masthead, and we owe it all to you — our readers who have made this outlet so successful.

Thanks for making us your first stop for Saints news every day. Here’s who is bringing it to you:

Saints assistant D.J. Williams to participate in 2023 Quarterback Coaching Summit

New Orleans Saints assistant D.J. Williams to participate in 2023 Quarterback Coaching Summit:

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The New Orleans Saints will be well-represented at the 2023 Ozzie Newsome General Manager Forum and the Quarterback Coaching Summit, what’s become an annual offseason event for coaches and front office personnel around the NFL: offensive assistant D.J. Williams will be in attendance at the league’s Los Angeles office, participating in seminars and panels alongside other current and former coaches.

This three-day symposium works in partnership with the Black College Football Hall of Fame to offer “peer-to-peer professional development and networking opportunities” for candidates for promotion in coaching circles. The Saints have been involved with similar events before; last winter, football administration vice president Khai Harley (best known for his work managing the salary cap) participated in the NFL Front Office Accelerator program to help raise his standing around the league.

Williams, a former standout quarterback at Grambling State and the son of Washington Commanders executive Doug Williams (who won Super Bowl XXII as Washington’s starting quarterback) who joined the Saints back in 2017 as a coaching staff intern. He was promoted to a full-time position in 2019 and has worked closely with the quarterbacks ever since. This is a great opportunity for him to get more experience from his peers in the NFL.

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Saints invite Ted Ginn Jr. to coach at training camp

The Saints brought Ted Ginn Jr. back in a bit of a different capacity for minicamp, and the former receiver has an invite to return for training camp. | @crissy_froyd

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The New Orleans Saints have extended an invite to Ted Ginn Jr. to coach at training camp, per a report from Rod Walker on NOLA.com. The former first-round wideout, caught 100 passes for for 1,417 yards and eight touchdowns between the 2017 – 2019 seasons, seeing action in 36 contests.

While he has permanently hung up his cleats, Ginn still has a strong desire to be involved in the football world.

“I still got something left in the tank,” Ginn said in a recent interview with Walker. “I ain’t going nowhere. This is still Teddy Ballgame.”

And he’s confident in his ability to make the transition to what has the potential to become a longer-term role.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time,” Ginn added. “Even when I played in the league, I was somewhat a coach. As I got older, I could see I had some different pointers and things that people took from me.”

With the connections that Ginn has as the Saints continue to make some changes throughout their staff, it would be unsurprising to see the likes of people like return specialists Lynn Bowden and Keke Coutee make their case if Ginn stays around. Both players competed with undrafted rookie Malik Flowers during minicamp practices under Ginn’s tutelage.

To have a former player return to the team in a coach’s capacity is nothing new for the Saints. It’s something they’ve done before with players like Dan Campbell, Aaron Glenn, Zach Strief and Jahri Evans — just to name a few. How things shake out and what the long-term future for Ginn’s coaching career will be something to keep an eye on.

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Reports: Saints part ways with longtime analytics chief in mutual split

Reports: Saints part ways with longtime analytics chief Ryan Herman in ‘cordial, mutual’ split

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Here’s a change to the New Orleans Saints’ front office, as first reported by Nola.com’s Jeff Duncan and confirmed by NewOrleans.Football’s Mike Triplett: analytics chief Ryan Herman is not returning after a six-year run with the team. Triplett adds that it was a “cordial, mutual” decision to go in a different direction once Herman’s contract ended, giving him an opportunity to devote more time to his family.

Herman worked in the player personnel department in football research and strategy, primarily focusing on weekly in-season studies on developing trends around the league as well as advanced scouting on future opponents. He wore a couple of different hats, also assisting Khai Harley in managing the salary cap, and the Saints will need to replace him and his contributions to the team.

Maybe they’ll more fully embrace the analytical side of the game and build a more robust advanced-stats team, as has become more popular around the league. Ex-Saints head coach Sean Payton talked up the resources available to him now with the Denver Broncos compared to those in New Orleans, and it’s an area the team could improve upon. They left a lot of meat on the bone last year with conservative in-game decisions on fourth down, and Dennis Allen could benefit from stronger information to help him out in that phase.

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Former Saints linebackers coach Joe Vitt joins Sean Payton’s Broncos coaching staff

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Sean Payton’s Broncos hired one of his old Saints assistants. Joe Vitt exited retirement to join Payton in Denver:

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos hired one of his old New Orleans Saints assistants. Joe Vitt exited retirement to join Payton in Denver, the team announced this week, listing him as a senior defensive assistant. Vitt previously coached linebackers under Payton for a decade in New Orleans but was dismissed along with a number of tenured assistants during the 2017 offseason. He also served as interim head coach when Payton was suspended for the 2012 campaign.

Vitt, 68, got his start as a coach on the Baltimore Colts back in 1979 and brings decades of experience to Denver. After leaving New Orleans, he worked as a consultant on the Miami Dolphins in 2017 and as an outside linebackers coach for the New York Jets in 2019 and 2020, hired in both stops by his son-in-law Adam Gase as head coach of each AFC East team. He was out of football in the years since. His son Joey Vitt, Jr. still works as an area scout for the Saints.

Payton has collected a lot of former Saints players and coaches on the Broncos so far. Vitt joins offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, offensive line coach Zach Strief, tight ends coach Declan Doyle, pass game coordinator John Morton, outside linebackers coach Michael Wilhoite, and assistant head coach MikeWesthoff on the coaching staff with the roster including familiar names like wide receivers Marquez Callaway and Lil’Jordan Humphrey, defensive tackle Jordan Jackson, running back Tony Jones Jr., tight end Chris Manhertz, and fullback Michael Burton. Expect more former Saints to join them.

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Saints legend Jahri Evans to join Dennis Allen’s coaching staff

Report: New Orleans Saints legend Jahri Evans to join Dennis Allen’s coaching staff, replacing Zach Strief as Doug Marrone’s assistant

This is good to see: Nola.com’s Luke Johnson reports that the New Orleans Saints are adding Jahri Evans to their coaching staff, where Evans will assist offensive line coach Doug Marrone. Evans replaces Zach Strief, who he played next to for most of his 11 years in New Orleans; Strief left for a promotion on Sean Payton’s rebuilding Denver Broncos staff earlier this offseason.

Interestingly, the Saints previously hired former Los Angeles rams offensive line coach Kevin Carberry for the same assistant position working with Marrone. So we’ll see exactly how those day-to-day responsibilities shake out.

Evans first joined the Saints as a coaching intern for training camp last summer, working closely with former first-round draft pick Cesar Ruiz. Ruiz ended up playing his best football of his NFL career, so maybe having an All-Pro right guard advising him is going to be good for his continued development.

When he isn’t busy coaching the next generation of Saints players, Evans will be keeping an eye on his Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy. He made it to the semifinalist stage in his first year of eligibility, and he’ll be drawing heavy consideration again when voters reconvene later this year. The former Division II prospect out of Bloomsburg in Pennsylvania won a Super Bowl with New Orleans and earned a ton of accolades as a player, including five All-Pro team placements and six Pro Bowl nods. That experience has done a lot to help him start the next chapter in his football life as a coach.

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Former Saints safety Chris Banjo retires as a player, joins Sean Payton as coach

Former Saints safety and special teams ace Chris Banjo announced his retirement as a player, joining Sean Payton as a coach on the Broncos:

News of this development broke before he could announce it himself, but it’s still good to see Chris Banjo get his moment in the spotlight. The former New Orleans Saints safety spent the last three seasons playing for the Arizona Cardinals, but he’s hung up his helmet to grab a polo T-shirt and join Sean Payton on the Denver Broncos.

“The cats already out the bag!” Banjo wrote from his official Twitter account, “But on my 33rd Birthday I’m officially retiring from PLAYING in the NFL.”

Banjo was hired by Payton as an assistant special teams coach, where he’ll work closely with special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica and assistant head coach Mike Westhoff. It’s a role he’s well suited for; Banjo logged over 2,600 snaps in the kicking game throughout his 10-year NFL career with the Saints, Cardinals, and Green Bay Packers. Now he gets to see the game from a new perspective and continue his football life. Good luck to him.

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Report: Saints hiring Alabama analyst Todd Grantham as an assistant coach

ESPN’s Chris Low reports the Saints are hiring Alabama analyst Todd Grantham as an assistant. He spent 11 years in the NFL coaching defensive linemen:

This is an interesting move. ESPN’s Chris Low reports that the New Orleans Saints are hiring Alabama Crimson Tide analyst Todd Grantham as a defensive assistant coach — Grantham previously served as the Florida Gators defensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021, and he spent 11 years in the NFL as a defensive line coach before returning to the college level. It remains to be seen if that’s the role Grantham will fill on Dennis Allen’s staff, but it’s a reasonable assumption.

The Saints needed a defensive line coach after losing co-defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen to the Atlanta Falcons this offseason (he also worked with that same position group), so this move makes sense. Grantham is the fourth member of Alabama’s coaching staff to join the Saints in the last year after New Orleans brought in offensive line coach Doug Marrone and strength and conditioning coaches Matt Rhea and Matt Clapp.

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