NFL News

[froot loops]

They've never really said that, but right after he was hired as RB coach the Bucs interviewed him to be their OC. Dave Canales ended up getting that position. He's been a OC at Duke and Maryland and a Head Coach at East Carolina. So he has the credentials, but they did promote Engstrom to passing coordinator last year to groom him. So both are possibilities, so is Brunell.

All this is speculation because they are tight lipped about stuff like that.

[whatever_gong82]

[Mainevent]

McDonald to the Seahawks. Commanders are the only ones left standing. Signs are pointing to Dan Quinn but seems like still pretty open. I can't imagine their fans will be real excited for Quinn.

[edindetroit]

McDonald to the Seahawks. Commanders are the only ones left standing. Signs are pointing to Dan Quinn but seems like still pretty open. I can't imagine their fans will be real excited for Quinn.

Matt Patricia is looking for work last I heard.

[Tom]

I wonder if they would go after Belichick or Carroll.

[chemiclord]

I wonder if they would go after Belichick or Carroll.

I thought Carroll was remaining with the Seahawks, just in a different capacity?

[Mainevent]

Yeah, talk on that move was it was more of a temporary thing to save the organization from having to fire him. There were several reports that Carroll made a hard push to get in the mix with the Chargers before they hired Harbaugh.

I don't know why Carroll would want a complete rebuild like Washington though. I think if Buffalo, Dallas or Philly come available he's going to be a candidate. Belichick at least has the incentive to crank out a few more wins to break Shula's record.

[Mainevent]

Quinn is in for Washington. And the crowd goes mild.

[whatever_gong82]

[whatever_gong82]

Paywall article from the Freep.

Detroit Lions OLB James Houston: Injured ankle won't be 100% till 2024


Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press




It wasn't a lost season for James Houston, not even close.

Houston, who finished second on the Detroit Lions with eight sacks in seven games as a rookie, played just 43 defensive snaps in the regular season and playoffs because of a fractured fibula he suffered in Week 2.


The second-year linebacker missed most of the regular season, but returned to play 11 snaps as a situational rusher in last week's NFC championship game loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

For Houston, getting back on the field after more than four months off was important, as was playing a game of that magnitude against Trent Williams, one of the best offensive lineman in the NFL.



"The feeling off the loss, the feeling of coming back and going against one of the best left tackles to play and feeling like I had the opportunity to make certain plays and just not doing it, I feel like all that will carry me for a long time," Houston said.

Houston did not register a stat against the 49ers and did not record a sack all season, but he said he emerged a better player than he was in 2022.



As a rookie, Houston spent the first half of the season on the Lions' practice squad and played the second half of the year in a designated pass rush role, where he overwhelmed unsuspecting opponents with his speed, burst and bend. This season, Houston added to his pass rush arsenal and was working to prove his competency as an every-down defender before he was injured while blocking on special teams.

He underwent tightrope surgery in September, when he had a plate and four screws put in his ankle, and said he still was not 100% when he returned to the field.


"It’s not going to be there until probably next year," Houston told the Free Press at locker clean out Monday. "So I mean, it’s just work. That’s all it is and that’s what I'm going to be doing in the offseason is making sure the ankle’s ready to go and it’s almost better than the other one."

The Lions could have a new-look pass rush group in 2024, with Romeo Okwara and Charles Harris set to become unrestricted free agents in March and the need to get more out of whoever plays opposite Aidan Hutchinson.



Hutchinson had a team-high 11.5 sacks in his second NFL season, including five in the last two games of the regular season, but no other Lion had more than five. Josh Paschal, Alim McNeill, John Cominsky and Brodric Martin are among the linemen under contract in 2024.

Houston said he hopes to be the Lions' answer opposite Hutchinson next fall, and plans to spend the offseason "making sure I'm in shape and I’m ready to go for camp, making sure my ankle’s ready, my mental’s ready, everything is just good to go."

"That’s my plan," he said. "I’m going to attack the offseason as hard as I can to be the player that can be that other help for this pass rush and I’m going to be there. I’m going to try my hardest to do whatever it takes."


Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @davebirkett.

[ghandi]

He gave it a go but you could tell he was just a hair off, and alot of that might just be rust and having to go against Trent W....He didnt seem to disengage as quickly and looked like he lost where Brock Purdy was at a couple of times.

[Tom]

Yeah, talk on that move was it was more of a temporary thing to save the organization from having to fire him. There were several reports that Carroll made a hard push to get in the mix with the Chargers before they hired Harbaugh.

I don't know why Carroll would want a complete rebuild like Washington though. I think if Buffalo, Dallas or Philly come available he's going to be a candidate. Belichick at least has the incentive to crank out a few more wins to break Shula's record.

Yeah, sounds like Carroll still has an interest in coaching. I think the Seahawks bumped him upstairs to avoid public embarrassment of a firing.

[Tom]

Quinn is in for Washington. And the crowd goes mild.

I think this could be a good move. He did a good job in Atlanta and took them to the Super Bowl. The fact that he didn’t win probably means he’s still hungry. I can’t think of coaches who have won Super Bowls that went to other teams and won Super Bowls. (Maybe Shula but that was eons ago.) But that could also be that it’s really difficult to win a Super Bowl.

[whatever_gong82]

[whatever_gong82]