NFC Notes: Bears, Buccaneers, Cowboys, Saints

January 16, 2018

Bears

John McClain reports that Texans offensive assistant Pat O’Hara is in Chicago Tuesday interviewing for Bears QBs coach position job.

Buccaneers

In an interview with Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Buccaneers GM Jason Licht said he “cringed” at the overall 2017 expectations set for the team by fans and the media.

“The whole year, just the expectations were — not set by us — it was just something I cringed at,” Licht said. “Of course, you want positive things written about us, but when the expectations are we’ve got these weapons and now we’re going to score 50 points a game, it’s just not that easy.

“I think these guys are going to learn a lot from this season. I know we only finished with five wins, but there’s nobody walking around here thinking anything but good things about next year. Everybody is excited about it.”

Cowboys

Todd Archer reports that reports that the Cowboys were willing to promote LBs coach Matt Eberflus to defensive coordinator in order to keep from taking a job elsewhere.
Dallas would have reportedly moved current DC Rod Marinelli to an assistant head coach role, but Eberflus did not want step on the toes of Marinelli based on what he had done for his career.
Eberflus is reportedly being hired by the Colts as Josh McDaniels‘ defensive coordinator. (NFLTR)

Saints

Mike Triplett of ESPN writes that S Kenny Vaccaro will be one of the more interesting free agents to watch for the Saints in the coming months, as it’s possible he could draw big interest on the open market and New Orleans could be reluctant to get in a bidding war for him with Vonn Bell and Marcus Williams on their roster.
As for some potential cap casualties, Triplett lists DT Nick Fairley, TE Coby Fleener, OT Zach Strief, and DE Hau’oli Kikaha as four players to keep an eye on.
In total, the Saints would owe Fleener $6.4 million in compensation for the 2018 season and Triplett believes it’s “highly unlikely” he’ll be back unless he accepts a pay cut.
We have Vaccaro featured in our Top 100 – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.