NFL Player News

It’ll mark the fifth straight absence for the elite cornerback as he tends to a knee injury suffered in Week 11. Holding him out until fully healthy is likely the right long-term call for a team all but assuredly to find themselves playing in Wildcard weekend in the postseason. Alexander managed to return to a full practice this week but the additional time off should ensure he is back to 100% for the playoffs.

Bonsignore cites sources saying the Colorado football coach has his eyes on the Raiders job and that NFL-connected associates of Sanders have reached out to team to express interest. As of now, an interview with the 57-year-old former defensive back isn’t on the books. It’s unclear whether Sanders’ interest in the Raiders will be reciprocated. His son, Shedeur Sanders, is one of the top quarterbacks in the upcoming NFL Draft, though the Raiders are set to pick sixth overall and thus aren’t well positioned to acquire Shedeur without trading up.

Johnson has now completed interviews with the Patriots, Raiders and Bears. The 38-year-old offensive coordinator is also set to meet with the Jaguars Saturday. Johnson has been heavily linked to the Raiders of late, though it’s also been reported that he covets a quarterback, something the Raiders don’t have. He’s the sixth different candidate the Bears have interviewed so far joining Mike Vrabel, Anthony Weaver, Mike Kafka, Pete Carroll and Drew Petzing.

Schrager’s tweet comes on the heels of an Ian Rapoport article linking Johnson to the Raiders. The Raiders job comes with obvious drawbacks as Las Vegas is without a quarterback and in the same division as Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert, though the team could be willing to pay top dollar for the Lions offensive coordinator. With the 38-year-old Johnson still set to interview with the Jaguars and Bears Saturday, these links to the Raiders could be setting up a leverage play for the Detroit coach who sat out the last two hiring cycles despite being one of the top candidates. It’s still possible that Johnson is actually interested in Tom Brady’s vision for the Raiders’ future, which could include Johnson having some say on who their next general manager would be.

Glenn has now completed interviews with the Saints, Jets, Raiders and Jaguars. The 52-year-old Lions defensive coordinator is still set to interview with the Bears while he declined to meet with the Patriots. Glenn played for the Saints, Jaguars and Jets during his 15-year playing career and coached defensive backs with the Saints before coming to Detroit with Dan Campbell. It appears that Glenn will have a head coaching job by the end of this hiring cycle.

Vrabel interviewed with New England on Thursday. Schefter echoed an earlier report from the Athletic’s Dianna Russini by stating that the Patriots will be charting their next steps in their coaching search this weekend. With Vrabel not currently tied to another team, he’s the obvious candidate for a team that appears to be moving quickly towards finding its next coach.

No surprise here as Johnston was able to get in a full practice before the end of the week. Schefter’s report Saturday that Johnston is expected to play barring a setback comes on the heels of a Jeremy Fowler report Friday that the 23-year-old wide receiver was “good to go” for the Wild Card Game. With Josh Palmer still out, Johnston is the primary deep threat in the Chargers offense.

Dobbins, who’s still listed as questionable with ankle injury, practiced in a limited fashion all week. After handling 37 rushing attempts over the final two games of the regular season, the Chargers were just taking it easy on their lead back in practice this week. Expect the 26-year-old to suit up and see the majority of the backfield work against the Texans Saturday, barring a setback.

Johnson, who interviewed with the Raiders virtually Friday, has quickly emerged as the candidate to watch for Las Vegas, according to Rapoport. While the Raiders job has some obvious drawbacks such as a difficult division and no long-term solution at quarterback, there are some benefits that might appeal to Johnson, who ultimately decided to sit out the past two coaching cycles. Las Vegas cleaned house and will have alignment from limited partner Tom Brady, who appears to be running the show, to the general manager and head coach. That alignment is said to be important to Johnson, though other teams he’s meeting with like the Bears and Jaguars haven’t made those front office changes. According to Rapoport, the Raiders are also willing to wait for Johnson’s playoff run with the Lions to conclude if it means securing the Detroit play caller as their future head coach. Brady both lobbied internally to make Johnson a priority in the Raiders coaching search and implored Johnson to take the interview through his agent.

Russini notes that Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson interviewed well with New England, but that the Lions play caller still plans to meet with other teams. At the same time, the Patriots are pushing to complete their search for a coach in a timely fashion, meaning they aren’t likely to wait for Johnson’s playoff run with the Lions to conclude before making a decision. Many around the league expect a decision this weekend, according to Russini. All signs point to Vrabel, the former Patriots linebacker, to be the choice.

We take Fowler’s phrasing to mean that the Bengals are interested in hiring Eberflus for their vacant defensive coordinator role. He adds, that Eberflus “should be in the coordinator mix league-wide.” Eberflus’ successes working as the Colts’ defensive coordinator from 2018-2021 earned him the Bears head coaching gig, so returning to the defensive coordinator ranks certainly makes sense.