On Tuesday, the Titans announced the hire of three assistant coaches to Brian Callahan’s staff, including Colt Anderson, the special teams coordinator.
Anderson was expected to fill that role, according to a source last week, and he is now formally hired. Anderson spent the last four years as the Bengals’ assistant special teams coach, thus he will be joining Callahan in his transfer from Cincinnati to Nashville.
The Titans also hired assistant offensive line coach Scott Fuchs and defensive assistant Steve Donatell.
Fuchs has spent the previous three seasons coaching the offensive line at Kansas. Donatell was a defensive assistant with the Dolphins last season.
Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins explain why the Bears must move quickly with the Justin Fields deal.
General manager Ryan Poles committed to dig deep to get all of the facts needed for the Bears’ franchise-altering quarterback selection this offseason.
The Bears should solidify their intentions at the NFL Scouting Combine next week, with all indications that they will choose a quarterback first overall and trade Justin Fields.
Poles indicated at his year-end press conference that he would wait until the draft to make a decision, but doing so might put the Bears in a difficult situation.
If the Bears intend to trade Fields, they should try to reach an agreement soon after the combine so that it can be completed before the free-agent quarterback carousel begins.
Fields is only 24 years old and has the ability to advance as a quarterback if he arrives in the right situation. While many NFL teams are interested in Fields, few will be willing to give up a high draft selection to acquire him while also picking up his fifth-year option before seeing him play a snap in their uniform.
Currently, only the Atlanta Falcons, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Denver Broncos appear to be the most likely landing locations.
The Las Vegas Raiders’ decision to appoint Luke Getsy as offensive coordinator likely takes them out of the running. Teams with experienced quarterbacks on their last legs, such as the New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, and Los Angeles Rams, are unlikely to participate but might enter the picture. Potential wild-card entries include the Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Cleveland Browns.
Given the information available, we’ll assume that one of the four teams in QB purgatory — Denver, Pittsburgh, New England, and Atlanta — will trade for Fields.
That’s not a large number of prospective dancing partners. When you consider the likelihood that at least one team will be uninterested, the Patriots may choose to draft a quarterback at No. 3 overall, and two veteran quarterbacks are set to hit the free-agent market, you can see why the Bears must act quickly if they decide to trade Fields.
Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins are likely to become free agents when the new league year begins. The Broncos benched Wilson late in the season, and the former Super Bowl champion is poised to leave the team. Cousins might yet return to the Vikings. However, considering his age and Achilles issue, it’s uncertain whether Minnesota is interested in re-signing him on a B-level free agent contract at $30-40 million. Cousins stated that he intends to be ready for the start of the season, but his rehab timeframe may affect his market once teams review his medical records. Cousins’ contract expires after the franchise tag deadline, meaning he is not a tag candidate.
Both Wilson and Cousins have been linked to teams thought to be interested in Fields — Pittsburgh and Atlanta — emphasizing the importance of the Bears completing a transaction when the new league year begins.
If the Bears wait, they risk losing all of their trade leverage and having to move Fields for less than he’s worth, or they may bring him to camp with the quarterback they choose first and wait for a team to need a starting quarterback due to an injury.
Neither of these are desirable outcomes.
Fields has proven himself to be a starting quarterback and should be sought after by a few quarterback-needy clubs willing to take a chance on a previous first-round pick who has continued to progress.
However, if the Bears wait for the QB carousel to start whirling, the Fields market may weaken or disappear entirely.
With Cousins and Wilson ready to enter the market next month, the Bears would be wise to act fast after determining their quarterback plans at the combine.
At this critical moment, the Bears cannot afford to waste time or opportunity.
When confronting Patrick Mahomes, Antonio Pierce stated the quiet part aloud.
There is usually a discrepancy between what players and coaches say to each other and what they say publicly. In a recent interview on Maxx Crosby’s podcast, new Raiders coach Antonio Pierce slammed a sledgehammer at the wall.
Pierce, specifically, said the quiet bit aloud about football’s inherent violence. However, in the post-#Bountygate NFL, certain things are not supposed to be said into a microphone.
Pierce publicly discussed playing Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the same way that the Pistons used to play Michael Jordan: with unrelenting and gratuitous brutality. Pierce also stated, “We gotta knock off the head of the snake.” Fifteen.”
That’s a scary statement from Pierce, or any other NFL player or coach. In 2004, five years before Congress forced the NFL to have an epiphany about head trauma, then-Browns defensive tackle Gerard Warren said this about then-Steelers rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, in the days preceding a Cleveland-Pittsburgh game: “One rule they used to tell me: Kill the head and the body’s dead.”
The NFL saw the comment and warned the Browns.
“We notified the team, including Gerard Warren, that if a player commits a flagrant foul after making such a statement, it may be a decisive factor supporting the suspension of the player, depending on the entire set of circumstances,” NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello told ESPN.com at the time.
In 2012, after the NFL singled out the Saints for a pervasive cultural issue, we all became aware of Gregg Williams’ cartoonish locker-room rants. One of his sayings was, drumroll please, “Kill the head, and the body will die.”
We are not trying to get Pierce into trouble with this. I like this man. He deserves the position he holds. However, he must use caution when speaking about players such as Patrick Mahomes. Trust me, I understand the backlash that might result from proposing, for example, that defensive players should not be intimidated by the fear of receiving an unwarranted 15-yard penalty for hitting a quarterback who turns into a running back, as running backs are frequently hit.
Pierce did not directly say, “kill the head.” He said, “We need to remove the snake’s head. Fifteen.” Given that Mahomes is now the most popular NFL player who isn’t dating Taylor Swift, that should be plenty to pique the league’s interest, either now or as the first of two 2024 Raiders-Chiefs games approaches.
Odds for the Bears to choose Caleb Williams rise after Justin Fields’ dubious Instagram activities.
The odds that Justin Fields will start at quarterback for the Bears next season have dropped again.
This week, fans went crazy on social media after discovering that Fields did not follow the official Chicago Bears Instagram account. On top of that, the quarterback recently followed three Atlanta Falcons players: Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and Bijan Robinson.
As a result, the odds that Fields will play his first snap for Atlanta in the 2024-25 season increased from +600 to +150 on DraftKings SportsBook Tuesday. The Pittsburgh Steelers remain the betting favorites to land Fields at -120, while the Bears’ odds have reduced from +200 to +350.
According to the latest odds, the Bears are a near lock to take USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall choice at -900. According to various reports, the Bears plan to make their selection at the NFL Combine next week, before free agent signings begin on March 13. If they wait for the quarterback carousel to begin whirling, they risk losing all of their trade power as the market for Fields deteriorates.
It is unclear whether Fields was already following the Bears on Instagram. If he was, it would be unclear when the act of unfollowing occurred. All we know for now is that Fields does not follow the team on Instagram, a medium where he has never been very active.
Justin Fields sent a potential message to the Bears on Instagram.
We already know that current athletes communicate via social media. Bears quarterback Justin Fields may have sent a message to the team that could be moving him.
According to Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post, Fields no longer follows the Bears on Instagram.
Surely Fields is trying to express something. He could be expressing displeasure with the prolonged state of limbo in which he has been living. He could simply be upset that the team has not been explicit about its commitment to him.
It is still unclear what the Bears will do. And the Bears appear to like it that way. First, it could boost their leverage in anything they do. Second, they can claim that anything they do was always intended.
The options are to trade Fields and draft a quarterback with the first overall pick, trade the pick and keep Fields, trade Fields and the pick and draft a quarterback lower than No. 1, or (in theory) keep Fields and draft a quarterback with the first pick, putting the new quarterback on the bench for a year or two, depending on Fields’ performance.
Regardless, no one knows what the Bears plan to do. While this may irritate some Bears supporters (and Fields), it is actually the prudent course of action.
An NFL expert believes the Patriots are the ‘best club fit’ for these two free agents.
NFL free agency is not far off.
The legal tampering period begins on March 11, and the free agent market officially opens two days later.
The New England Patriots are expected to be aggressive in free agency due to their $69.5 million salary cap space, according to OverTheCap. Only the Washington Commanders have more cap space than the Patriots, and new head coach Jerod Mayo stated in January that the team had money to spend.
Which of the top 50 free agents is best suited to play for the Patriots?
ESPN NFL expert Matt Bowen recently listed the top 50 free agents in the 2024 class and gave the best fit to each of them.
He chose the Patriots as the “best team fit” for two players, the first of which was Christian Wilkins. The Miami Dolphins defensive tackle is the fifth-ranked free agent and an incredible force in the front seven.
“I expect the Patriots to be active in free agency, and Wilkins has the position versatility to align all over the defensive front,” he wrote. “In 2023, Wilkins recorded 9 sacks, 35 pressures, and 68 tackles in Miami. He would complement Christian Barmore, giving first-year head coach Jerod Mayo two difference-makers on the defensive interior.
Even though Wilkins is an excellent player who would fit well on the Patriots’ defensive line, it may be more cost effective to just extend Christian Barmore’s contract. Barmore had a fantastic 2023 season and is approaching the final year of his rookie contract. He is due for a raise soon.
Even though the Patriots released Lawrence Guy on Monday and could use some defensive line depth, making a big money play for a defensive tackle is perhaps not the best use of cap space when you consider the offense’s obvious flaws. Which position would have a greater impact on the Patriots: an outstanding defensive tackle like Wilkins or a true No. 1 wide receiver?
The second guy Bowen views as a good fit for the Patriots is Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Jonah Williams. The Patriots will lose Trent Brown to free agency, and Mike Onwenu may also leave. Regardless of whether Onwenu returns, Williams would be a welcome addition. He could play left tackle if Onwenu leaves or right tackle if Onwenu stays.
“With both starting tackles — Mike Onwenu and Trent Brown — set to hit free agency, the Patriots could shore up the edges of the OL with Williams, a Bengals mainstay this past season,” Bowen said in a statement. “Despite his lack of upper-tier power and length, Williams wins through technique, using depth to generate blocking angles and pass-set lines. “He’d start at the right tackle position for New England.”
The Patriots’ plans for the 2024 NFL Draft may influence their approach to free agency.
They control the third and 34th overall picks, providing them the ability to add several impact rookies to next year’s roster. This draft class is similarly loaded at the offensive tackle position, so the Patriots may decide that paying a high price for someone like Williams is not worth it.
Regardless of the specific technique, the Patriots must be aggressive this offseason in addressing as many roster problems as possible. Fortunately for them, they have enough draft capital and salary cap flexibility to make significant changes. It will all be down to execution.
NFL draft analyst has the Bears piling up on offense in a pre-Combine mock.
The NFL Combine is one week away, and the NFL world will gather to see hundreds of new rookies. The Combine also allows organizations to meet with prospects one-on-one to get a sense of who they are as individuals. Teams also get the opportunity to meet to discuss trade prospects, and frameworks for future agreements can be established.
To put it simply, this is a key week for teams as they prepare for the draft. Things will change after everyone returns from Indianapolis. But, to gauge where things stand moving into the Combine, NFL.com draft guru Daniel Jeremiah produced his second mock draft of the season on Tuesday. Here’s what he sees the Bears accomplishing in the first round of the 2024 draft. It should be noted that Jeremiah did not consider any potential trades in his mock draft.
No. 1 overall: Caleb Williams – Quarterback – USC
“There will be a lot of debate about what the Bears should do with this pick leading up to the draft, but I still think Williams makes the most sense for them here,” he wrote.
For weeks, prominent NFL writers and draft experts have been predicting that Williams will be the Bears’ first pick in the draft. It’s easy to see why. Williams is one of the most promising quarterback prospects in years. We haven’t heard this much about a quarterback since Joe Burrow in 2020, or possibly even Andrew Luck in 2012.
Williams’ playmaking potential is off the charts, and by picking him, the Bears would delay the much-discussed “quarterback clock.” If the Bears keep Fields, they will have to pay him an estimated $22 million in 2025 according OverTheCap, and likely ~$40 million per year thereafter.
No. 9 overall: Rome Odunze – Wide Receiver – Washington.
“To me, it will be a home run draft for the Bears if they pick Williams at No. 1 and then land Odunze here,” he said. “This would transform their offense.”
Odunze is reported as 6’3″ and 215 pounds, so his frame would complement DJ Moore, who is listed at 5’11” and 210 pounds. He’s big, fast, dependable, and one of the best deep threats in the country. Few players can equal his 2023 resume among WRs with 100 targets: 1,639 yards (1st), 74 first downs (1st), 21 contested catches (1st), 75% challenged catch rate (1st), 15.5 yard average depth of target (2nd), 13 touchdowns (t-4th), and 3.2% drop rate (6th).
Kyle Long apologizes to Stephen A. Smith for the cringeworthy drunken incident.
Kyle Long, a former Chicago Bears offensive lineman, has revealed an unpleasant conversation he had with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith at a Super Bowl party years ago.
The three-time Pro Bowler addressed Smith about some disrespectful remarks he had made in public about his then-teammate Jay Cutler. Long discussed the intoxicated meeting on Saturday’s episode of his brother’s podcast, “Green Light with Chris Long.”
“One of my biggest regrets in life involves Stephen A. Smith, and it’s something that I think about often,” Long remarked. “It’s one of those things where you’re lying in bed and you remember something embarrassing you did. And you go, ‘F—, is this a horrible dream?'”
Long was “12 beers deep” when he interrupted Smith mid-conversation to defend his quarterback, saying something like, “Jay Cutler says hello.”
“He [Smith] gave me that look like, ‘You are an f—— idiot,'” Long told me.
Long then apologized to Smith for the uncomfortable interaction.
