NFL Player News

The Falcons’ loss ends their slim postseason hopes and caps off a disappointing season for the team’s offense. Penix had all day to operate from a clean pocket against a toothless Carolina defense and picked apart the Panthers from start to finish, targeting Drake London relentlessly. His interception came on a tipped ball by an Atlanta pass catcher, his second such pick over the past two games. Penix during his three late-season starts displayed his strong arm and ability to change plays at the line and manipulate secondaries with his eyes. Penix’s functional mobility was on full display over his three rookie season starts; he did well to avoid oncoming rushers and keep his eyes upfield. He profiles as the kind of point guard quarterback who can fuel fantasy production for at least a couple pass catchers. Penix will be a reasonable floor play in fantasy lineups in 2025.

The Jets and Aaron Glenn have been flirting with each other through the coaching cycle and the Divisional Round elimination of Glenn’s Lions is speeding things up. He interviewed with the Jets on Tuesday and is expected to be named their head coach soon. Rosenblatt adds the Jets’ staff “has been operating as if it will get done” and the team is “informing candidates that they are going in another direction.” Glenn has been the Lions’ defensive coordinator since 2021, keeping the team afloat through major defensive injuries this season, prior to the playoff exit. The 52-year-old will be a first-time head coach, faced with rebuilding the Jets after a short-lived Aaron Rodgers era.

We can’t say that comes as a real surprise. McDaniels reportedly completed an interview with the Patriots for their offensive coordinator vacancy today. The former Pats OC from 2006-2008, then again in 2012-2021 obviously has a ton of familiarity with how things operate in New England. The Raiders head coaching role was a tough fit for him and exposed him as a little rigid at times — there were certainly games where Davante Adams disappeared in the process — but he has the best resume of anyone we’ve seen connected to this job. McDaniels did not coach in 2024 after being fired in November 2023. He was tied to the Patriots often last offseason as well. Now we’ll get to see if he can take Drake Maye to the next level in 2025. If the Patriots add some more weapons around Maye, they could be an intriguing fantasy offense next season.

Washington called signals for the Bears down the stretch after they canned Matt Eberflus. He had spent the previous four years with the Bills as their defensive line coach and, in 2023, assistant head coach. He also coached the Panthers defensive line from 2011-2017 and the Bears’ line in 2010. In short: He’s a fairly experienced defensive line coach and would make a solid add for the Packers.

There has been no official reports of contract years added or money, but O’Connell was entering the final season of his coaching contract and gets a huge multi-year extension after starting his career 34-17, including a 14-3 record in 2024. O’Connell turned Darnold into wine before the scrapheap quarterback fell apart in his final two starts of the season against the Lions and Rams and is likely on the shortlist for Coach of the Year honors. The #sources are going off about an extension for GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as something that is down the road as well. It’s a well-earned reward for O’Connell, one that ends a few wishful thinking storylines out of places without a locked-in head coach. After wrapping up a Adofo-Mensah extension, the Vikings will get to work on how to build on their upstart campaign.

The longtime defensive line coach moved over to Detroit this offseason after spending 2018-2023 on Mike Vrabel’s staff in Tennessee. With Tennessee, he was an assistant head coach in 2023. He also has a long history in the league as a defensive line coach, including stints in Miami (2015-2017) and Oakland (2012-2014) as well as Tennessee. Williams served as Vrabel’s head coach in a preseason game in 2023, so Vrabel clearly believes he has the chops for a higher-level job. We expect this deal will come together shortly. The brain drain of the Lions continues.

The smoke has been strongest on Coen and Robert Saleh for the Jaguars since Ben Johnson signed on with the Bears. Coen has also been linked to the Raiders, but has not had an official interview with the club yet. The Jaguars would certainly boost Trevor Lawrence’s short-term outlook with Coen, a creative screen-designer who excelled with the Buccaneers last year as they finished seventh in offensive DVOA. The Jaguars are reportedly set to meet with Coen tomorrow.

This makes sense given how late in the season the injury occurred. It’s likely that Watson starts the year on the PUP list and, depending on how his recovery is going, eventually gets a 21-day window opened for his return in the first or second month of the season. Asked if the Packers were going to pursue another wideout in Watson’s absence, GM Brian Gutekunst said "[If] that makes some sense for us, we’ll certainly look to do that, but we’re also looking for these guys to continue to grow and hopefully grow into that space.” It seems more likely that the Packers will continue with Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed as their main receivers while giving Dontayvion Wicks another shot outside based on that quote.

Rodgers was named a co-defensive coordinator for the Buccaneers in 2022, but the unit has struggled over the last few years and Tampa Bay may need to make some face-saving changes along the staff. The Buccaneers still allowed only 4.3 yards per carry, 10th-best in the NFL in 2024. The secondary was the bigger issue. Rapoport adds that Rodgers is “viewed as a top free agent assistant who will have a robust market.” Green Bay fired their defensive line coach, Jason Rebrovich, after they lost to the Packers in the Wild Card Round.

Breer adds that Udinski is reportedly a finalist for the Seahawks offensive coordinator job. The Patriots have returned to being close to the vest on OC interviews, with our only news coming from head coach Mike Vrabel admitting during an interview on WEEI that the team would talk to Josh McDaniels. Udinski, suddenly in demand after helping lead the Sam Darold resurgence and reportedly acting as a mentor for J.J. McCarthy, would be an unorthodox choice on paper but certainly seems to have developed some momentum in the cocoon this season that we didn’t see much of on the outside.

“Here’s the expected timeline,” Dehner Jr. writes, “Golden will spend today and early tomorrow wrapping things up at ND. Then Taylor looks to officially interview him Wednesday. From there, just what looks like an inevitable matter of when pen hits paper.” Patrick Graham was the other finalist for the job, and it appears the Bengals are leaning with Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. Golden was Cincinnati’s linebackers coach in 2020-2021 under Lou Anarumo before leaving for the job. He also was the head coach at Temple from 2006-2010, and Miami from 2011-2015.