Tag: staff

Kris Richard on joining the Saints: ‘This is the best place for my family and I’

The Saints added former Seahawks and Cowboys assistant Kris Richard, an accomplished secondary coach and popular head coach candidate.

[sendtonews_embed video_id=”jrQ0PBeKC2-1127958-7498″]

How’s that for reloading? After losing several assistant coaches to the NFL hiring cycle, the New Orleans Saints made a splash in their first addition by adding Kris Richard as their secondary coach, as first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. And Richard is eager to get to work with his new team.

“It is true. I should have everything signed and sealed today. This is the best place for my family and I,” Richard told NFL insider Josina Anderson, before excusing himself to take another call. He’s a busy man today. ESPN’s Ed Werder confirmed the hiring, adding that Richard also interviewed with the Las Vegas Raiders and Houston Texans before choosing the Saints.

A protégé of Pete Carroll back to their USC Trojans days, Richard served as the Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator from 2015 to 2017 before taking on a number of responsibilities with the Dallas Cowboys in 2018 and 2019. Popular with players and coaches alike, he’s interviewed for different head coaching jobs around the league and remains a rising star in the NFL after opting out of the 2020 season.

For perspective, his worst pass defense was the 2018 Cowboys, which allowed just 234 passing yards per game. The Saints allowed 217 yards per game last season, which was their third-best average since winning Super Bowl XLIV. He should be a quality replacement for Glenn, and then some.

[vertical-gallery id=42916]

LSU finalizing deal to hire Saints’ Ryan Nielsen as new DC

New Orleans Saints defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen is finalizing a deal with the LSU Tigers to be their new coordinator, per NFL Network.

[jwplayer 0Fql934w-ThvAeFxT]

NFL Network’s Jane Slater reports that New Orleans Saints defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen is finalizing a deal with the LSU Tigers to become their next defensive coordinator, with Nielsen meeting with Saints head coach Sean Payton on Monday to break the news. ESPN’s Mike Triplett confirmed the report.

If hired, Nielsen would be reuniting with LSU’s Ed Orgeron, who coached him at USC during his playing days before adding Nielsen to his Ole Miss staff in one of his first coaching jobs. Before he made the jump to the NFL in 2017, Nielsen was an accomplished defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator for the N.C. State Wolfpack, so it makes sense for him to take a promotion at the college level. He sent multiple prospects into the NFL draft.

He’ll be missed. The Saints have reached sacks totals of 45, 51, 49, and 42 over the last four years with him coaching up their defensive line. His departure would also be felt in the development of inexperienced Saints linemen like Marcus Davenport, Shy Tuttle, and Malcolm Roach. It’s just one more change for the Saints this offseason.

[vertical-gallery id=42640]

Colorado State football coaches accused of covering up pandemic threat

Football players and staff at Colorado State have accused CSU football coaches of trying to stymie evidence of the COVID-19 threat.

Football players and athletic department staff at Colorado State have accused CSU football coaches of trying to stymie evidence of the COVID-19 threat facing the team, according to a report from the Coloradoan.

Rams coaches allegedly instructed players not to report symptoms, threatened to cut their playing time if they quarantined and altered contract tracing reports to allow practices to continue.

The head coach at Colorado State, Steve Addazio, was as an assistant coach at Florida throughout Urban Meyer’s tenure from 2005-10, serving as offensive coordinator for his final two seasons in Gainesville.

Members of the program said they believed it was engaging in a cover-up.

“I believe there is a cover-up going on at CSU,” said a current football player who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. “But they could only cover it up so long and now that we have so many cases across athletics, they can’t cover it up anymore. It’s not about the health and safety of the players but about just trying to make money off the players.”

Said an athletic department staff member: “There are some red flags in the athletic department but the common denominator with this administration is to protect the coaches before the student-athletes and that makes them feel more like cattle than student-athletes.”

Twenty-seven players were missing from practice due to COVID-19 on Wednesday, the last day of practice before the university temporarily halted it. Players believe the spur in new cases to stem from a Fourth of July party attended by a number of members of the team.

Athletic director Joe Parker said that while he’s unhappy to hear about the criticism, he believes in the efficacy of Colorado State’s plan.

“This (student-athlete) population is the most tested population there is here but obviously some feel that is not a good enough job to make them feel comfortable regarding their health,” he said. “If that’s the feeling, we will need to amp it up.”

Parker added that if players were told not to report symptoms to trainers, that is unacceptable.

Players said that Addazio and defensive coordinator Chuck Heater, both in their 60s, rarely wear masks at practice. They also alleged that coaches are coercing health administrators not to quarantine athletes, but that claim was disputed by Parker.

“There is no influence from our coaching staff on those kinds of decisions and those decisions are made outside of the athletic department and that is the way I want it,” he said.

Many players allegedly don’t wear masks at practice, leading to an environment many players deem to be unsafe.

“We had a player who definitely had coronavirus symptoms coughing at practice and he wasn’t wearing a mask and I was next to him, touching him and there was spit and sweat,” a player said. “I told him he needed to get tested but he really didn’t want to because then he would be out. The next day he is not at practice. (If he tested positive) he already had spread the virus. That’s why a lot of players don’t feel safe at football practice.”

Colorado State tested 150 athletes on Monday and is currently awaiting those results.

[lawrence-related id=19745,19347,19308]

[vertical-gallery id=18514]

NFL plans to reopen team facilities, but Saints to wait for training camp

New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said the coaching staff will wait until training camp to regroup at the team facility

[jwplayer vYKNT1P3-ThvAeFxT]

The NFL issued a four-part memo to all 32 teams on Monday laying out guidelines for the reopening of team facilities, closed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, but the New Orleans Saints aren’t in a hurry to regroup at their Metairie headquarters.

Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said as much in a Monday conference call with local media, explaining that head coach Sean Payton had told his staff they would wait for a return in time for training camp later this summer.

“We’re handling everything that we can remotely,” Allen told Nola.com’s Luke Johnson. “At this time of year, if the players were in, I think it would be maybe a little bit different story. But I think we can get a lot of things accomplished being able to work remotely.”

While the Saints chose to not hold a formal virtual offseason — Payton told his players to focus on their families, and to show up at training camp in the best shape of their lives — the team has been scheduling teleconference calls, sometimes with guest speakers. NBA great Shaquille O’Neal was in on one such meeting.

So far, more than a dozen NFL teams have sent members of the coaching staff back to their facilities. But with state and local guidelines differing wildly in which businesses may reopen and when, it could take a while for everyone to get back on a level playing field.

It’s not clear just yet when the Saints will open their training camp. That’s likely going to happen at the NFL’s discretion (in accordance with local rulings), but dates are usually announced in mid-June. Last year, Saints rookies reported for work on July 18. Veteran players joined them a week later.

In the meantime, the Saints will continue to work from home and organize meetings as best as they can. With such an experienced roster to work with and a largely-unchanged coaching staff at the wheel, they should be able to resume work quickly once the time comes.

[vertical-gallery id=35147]

Chiefs Wire staff’s dueling 5-round 2020 mock draft

The Chiefs Wire staff is at it again! We battle it out in our annual dueling mock draft.

[protected-iframe id=”8490f36a35e9abb355a718c603cae90d-105974720-107785976″ info=”https://static.apester.com/js/sdk/latest/apester-sdk.js” height=”417″ class=”apester-media”]

We’re just days away from the 2020 NFL draft

The Kansas City Chiefs will look to add several players and Brett Veach has positioned the team to take the best player available approach throughout the draft.

Here at Chiefs Wire, we have differing opinions on which players the Chiefs should go after in the draft. That’s why we’re happy to present to you our fourth annual dueling mock draft. This year, we’re only drafting five rounds since the Chiefs only have selections through round five. We used an actual draft simulation for each of the five rounds, with need-based computation for each of the 31 other NFL teams along the way. The players selected for the Chiefs were from the pool of available players at each pick.

You’ll find mock drafts from Charles Goldman, Talon Graff and Ed Easton Jr along with arguments for why their mock draft is the best and makes sense for Kansas City. Be sure to vote in the poll at the top of the page and let us know which mock draft wins this year’s duel.

Hit the jump to view each of the three mock drafts.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Report: Saints DB’s coach Aaron Glenn turned down ‘enhanced role’ with Giants

The New York Giants were unable to reach an agreement with New Orleans Saints coach Aaron Glenn on an ‘enhanced role’ under Patrick Graham.

[jwplayer 7LnQTnmt-ThvAeFxT]

It’s been a busy offseason for New Orleans Saints defensive backs coach Aaron Glenn. He was courted by the New York Giants as a defensive coordinator earlier in January, but was passed over in favor of Patrick Graham, the Miami Dolphins coordinator who previously worked with first-year Giants coach Joe Judge when they were on Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots staff.

However, that wasn’t the end of negotiations between Glenn and the Giants. Per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Glenn discussed “an enhanced role” with Big Blue, but opted to remain with the Saints. The details of that role are unclear; it’s possible Glenn may have been offered some sort of passing-game coordinator role, a distinction used by some teams to split responsibilities and keep sometimes-overqualified coaches in the building.

Glenn, 47, has risen to prominence in New Orleans after helping build a competitive secondary largely made up of undrafted free agents (such as Ken Crawley and De’Vante Harris), ex-Giants cornerbacks (Eli Apple and Janoris Jenkins), and a few high draft picks (Vonn Bell, Marshon Lattimore, and Marcus Williams among them). Last offseason, the Cincinnati Bengals tried to interview Glenn, but the Saints declined their request. It feels like Glenn will move on to a larger role with a new team sooner or later.

[vertical-gallery id=27549]

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll kicks off Pro Bowl Week at Orlando event

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll – who will also head the NFC roster – helped to kick off the 2020 Pro Bowl Week events in Orlando

The head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, as well as this year’s NFC roster, has arrived in Orlando ahead of the 2020 NFL Pro Bowl.

Carroll was joined by AFC coach John Harbarbaugh, the 2020 Legends Captains and local figures at Jones High School on Tuesday to welcome and officially kick off the Pro Bowl week of events.

Carroll and his staff were selected to coach the NFC team as the Seahawks finished the year with the best record in the conference to lose in the divisional round of the playoffs.

He will be joined by Seattle’s own signal-caller Russell Wilson and cornerback Shaquill Griffin, who has been called up as an alternate.

Carroll also confirmed linebacker Bobby Wagner would be sitting out Sunday’s game due to a knee injury.

The 2020 NFL Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday afternoon to wrap up the week. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. PT and the game can be seen on either ABC or ESPN and via a number of streaming services.

[lawrence-related id=55180]

Report: Giants pass on Saints coach Aaron Glenn, hire Patrick Graham as DC

Joe Judge and the New York Giants passed on New Orleans Saints coach Aaron Glenn to hire Patrick Graham as their new defensive coordinator.

[jwplayer zGvj4qmS-ThvAeFxT]

It almost looked like the New Orleans Saints would lose another important piece of their coaching staff, but for now, defensive backs coach Aaron Glenn will remain in black and gold. The team already lost linebackers coach Mike Nolan to the Dallas Cowboys (where he’ll work as defensive coordinator beneath head coach Mike McCarthy), so this is some good news for Saints fans.

Glenn was one of two candidates reported to be considered for the open defensive coordinator job under first-year Giants head coach Joe Judge, along with Miami Dolphins coordinator Patrick Graham (who worked alongside Judge previously with the New England Patriots). However, Glenn will not even get to interview for the position.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that Graham would indeed be the new Giants defensive coordinator, having interviewed with Big Blue this weekend. The Dolphins intend to promote from within the organization, so it doesn’t appear Glenn will be jumping ship for Miami.

Continuity is important, and Glenn has done a good job helping scout, develop, and prepare a very young defensive secondary in his first few years on the job. Few groups have performed better around the league during his tenure. Considering their long list of pending free agents, the fewer organizational changes the Saints have to make this offseason, the better.

[vertical-gallery id=26750]

Report: Ex-Saints assistant, LSU wunderkind Joe Brady up for Panthers OC job

Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule is reportedly considering former Saints assistant Joe Brady, now with LSU, as his offensive coordinator.

[jwplayer gDZGKLBo-ThvAeFxT]

It’s been a wild year for Joe Brady. In just twelve months, he left a position with Sean Payton’s staff as an offensive assistant to serve as the LSU Tigers passing-game coordinator, and now he’s reportedly being considered for the offensive coordinator position with the Carolina Panthers. In just a year, Brady would have gone from assembling playbooks in the copyroom to designing and installing them himself.

The Panthers hired former Baylor head coach Matt Rhule to overhaul their coaching staff; Rhule is reportedly angling to carry over some of his Baylor coaches to the NFL, but there’s room for Brady on his staff. Brady was innovative for LSU, bringing their offense into the modern era with a mix of refined passing concepts and inspired play out of Joe Burrow, the top quarterback prospect in this year’s draft.

Brady taking over the reins in Carolina — in an offense centered around Christian McCaffrey, one of the NFL’s most dynamic weapons — would be troubling to say the least. However, his departure for the NFL is far from a certainty. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Saturday that while Brady is being considered for this role on Rhule’s staff, he has a contract extension in place with LSU, though he hasn’t signed it yet. Maybe the Tigers can bid against any NFL offers Brady receives.

For his part, Brady is keeping his cards close to his vest. When asked whether he’s been contacted about opportunities in the NFL, he denied any correspondence with NFL teams, and asserted that he’s more focused on winning Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship game with the Clemson Tigers than preparing for any future job interviews. Given these other reports, however, it’s possible his agent would answer differently. Keep an eye out on this developing stiuation.

[vertical-gallery id=26836]

Report: Mike Nolan ‘one to watch’ for Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys staff

New Orleans Saints linebackers coach Mike Nolan is reportedly under consideration to join Mike McCarthy’s newly-formed Dallas Cowboys staff.

The Dallas Cowboys have hired their new head coach, teaming up with longtime Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy. And he’s moving quickly to build a staff. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that New Orleans Saints linebackers coach Mike Nolan is someone being considered for a role in McCarthy’s organization.

And this story has legs. Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News reported that Nolan’s connections to the Cowboys run deep — his father Dick Nolan worked with legendary Cowboys coaches Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson, and the Nolan family still has roots in Dallas to this day.

Still, Gehlken added that nothing has happened yet. Nolan is busy conducting exit interviews with his players on Monday, and won’t entertain offers or interview with other teams until that is all wrapped up. But it wouldn’t be a shock to see him leave for a larger role with a new staff.

The Saints only picked up Nolan in the first place after he took a year off of coaching to try his hand in the media, making on-air appearances with NFL Network back in 2016. Before that, he served as defensive coordinator for several different teams, and even has head coach experience (with the San Francisco 49ers from 2005 to 2008). He’s been a valuable addition to New Orleans, helping scout and develop talent at a position that was lacking it for all too long. The Saints do not have an assistant linebackers coach on staff right now, so it’s unclear who would replace Nolan if he left.

[vertical-gallery id=26470]