NFL Player News

Cotton (6'4/319) was injured in the second half of Monday’s Sugar Bowl win over Clemson. He’s been working as the starting right guard for the Tide, making his loss a potential trouble spot against Georgia. J.C. Hassenauer will start in his place on Monday.

It is Kafka’s second interview request cycle as the Bears have also requested his time. The Giants finished as one of 2024’s worst offenses, but have you seen Drew Lock, Tommy DeVito, Daniel Jones, and Tim Boyle throw? Kafka has been New York’s offensive coordinator since 2022 and likely still retains some shine from Jones’ excellent season that year. The Saints would like to sit down with him and see what his plans are for fixing what ails Derek Carr and Alvin Kamara.

Shaw was Stanford’s head coach from 2011-2022, keeping the momentum going after Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL, and spent last season with the Broncos as an executive. He did, however, go 14-28 in his last four seasons at Stanford. It’s the first actual interview — as opposed to a reported chance with the Saints that didn’t materialize — for Shaw in this coaching cycle. He met with the Titans and Chargers last offseason and the Broncos in 2023.

The 28-year-old back got in to 14 games for the Rams in 2023 and will be Los Angeles’ replacement for Blake Corum in the playoffs. Ronnie Rivers is expected to get most of the RB2 reps for the Rams behind Kyren Williams in the playoffs.

With minority owner Tom Brady reportedly having more influence in this process, it would have been stunning if Vrabel wasn’t on the Raiders radar. Coen caught eyes around the league for his innovative screen designs as the Buccaneers finished well above offensive expectations in his first year as offensive coordinator. Carroll has not, as far as we know, taken an interview yet but obviously has a very distinguished history as an NFL head coach. The hardest thing for the Raiders may be selling potential candidates on the current state of their roster.

Well, Brock Bowers certainly doesn’t hurt the cause. Drafting good players in the first round has never been Telesco’s problem, though, it’s the rest of the NFL roster assembly sausage. The Raiders came into this year without a real plan at quarterback and were often relying on practice-squad receivers and running backs. Telesco didn’t inherit a great situation, but he also didn’t do much beyond adding Bowers to it in year one. We’re a little surprised he has seemingly escaped without deeper scrutiny.

It turns out that not being told anything different yesterday didn’t actually mean much. Pierce, who went 5-4 as an interim coach last year, went 4-13 in 2024 with a roster that had almost no offensive upside. The little it did have walked out the door midseason when the team parted with Davante Adams in a trade to the Jets. Pierce was often bafflingly conservative as a game manager, giving Daniel Carlson 40 field-goal opportunities, and spoke after the season about not trusting his gut when it came to starting Aidan O’Connell over Gardner Minshew. The Raiders got a little scrappier after installing Scott Turner at offensive coordinator after the bye, but ultimately neither side of the ball played above their meager talent levels. It’s not Pierce’s fault the Raiders weren’t a winner, the seeds of that were sewn several years ago. But he clearly wasn’t elevating them either. Pierce’s future is an open question at this point as the NCAA has banned him from coaching through the year 2032 as part of a show-cause penalty against Arizona State. He may resurface as a defensive coordinator or, more likely, a linebackers coach on an NFL staff.

Vrabel, of course, has already interviewed with the Jets. He also has interviews on deck with the Bears and Saints. And, of course, the Patriots are looming even if we haven’t heard of their interview with him just yet. He’s also been floated as a possible candidate in Las Vegas to work with minority owner Tom Brady if the Raiders fire Antonio Pierce. It is notable that Vrabel is viewed as New York’s No. 1 choice, but ultimately it sounds like both sides have a lot of process to let play out over the next week or so.

Montgomery has missed the last three games of the season after sustaining his MCL sprain against the Bills in Week 15. It is likely that Jahmyr Gibbs will get more of the workload against Detroit’s Divisional Round opponent than he usually got in the regular season, particularly if the Lions feel Montgomery is in any way playing compromised. Still, this is great news for the Lions and a wrench for Gibbs in playoff best ball and DFS contests.

The defensive turnaround of the Ravens in 2024 can be traced almost directly to benching Williams and installing Kyle Hamilton at free safety. Williams has been a healthy scratch for the last five weeks and hasn’t played meaningful snaps since Week 10. Both sides likely see a release as the best way for Williams to continue his career elsewhere. The major free-agent signing played just three seasons in Baltimore after the Saints let him walk, with injuries impacting him in both 2022 and 2023. He’ll be 29 and is likely to be regarded as a flier in free agency once he gets there.

Palmer has not practiced since hurting the heel in Week 17. His absence led to season-high yardage total for Quentin Johnston last week against the Raiders. Harbaugh said following that Week 17 game that the absence would not require an IR stint, but Palmer sure doesn’t look likely to play against the Texans in the Wild Card Round based on this news.