Bears
- According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, Texans OLB coach Chris Rumph is joining the Bears as their defensive line coach.
- The Bears are hiring Bill McGovern as their next inside linebackers coach. (Brad Biggs)
- Chicago could also promote assistant LB coach/pass rush analyst Bill Shuey to a larger role. (Biggs)
Lions
- According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Lions executive Mike Disner has a new elevated title as Detroit’s senior VP of football and business administration.
- Lions TE coach Ben Johnson turned down a job offer from the Jaguars to remain in Detroit under HC Dan Campbell. (Dave Birkett)
- The Lions plan to hire former LB Kelvin Sheppard from LSU’s defensive coaching staff. (FootballScoop)
Vikings
Aside from Titans RB Derrick Henry, no other NFL player had more touches than Vikings RB Dalvin Cook‘s 356 total in 2020. That follows the 303 touches he got in 2019. The historical trend for NFL running backs has been that they tend to wear down after multiple seasons of such high usage, but Cook thinks he can beat that in 2021.
“Like I said in the past [about] the touches and everything, once I’m feeling it, it’s like the touches don’t really matter,” Cook said via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “Coming out of that type of year, you build your body up extra hard, you hit the weight room a little harder, and you just do things a little harder. I think the injuries or whatever, that comes with the game. I’m going to turn it loose, and I’m going to have fun with it. Next year is going to be an opportunity for me to explode again, and I’m going to take full advantage of the opportunity by working my tail off this offseason so I can be ready for 16, 17 games — however many games I’ve gotta go. I’m going to be ready to go, and it should be a fun year for the Vikings.”
- The Athletic’s Chad Graff notes it might be more ideal for the Vikings to cut TE Kyle Rudolph next year rather than this offseason to increase the cap savings and lower the dead money hit, plus the fact that the tight end position is such a major part of their offense.
- However, Graff says Rudolph appears to be chafing in his reduced role as primarily a blocker and not a pass catcher, so he might not accept his role again. He said in a recent podcast interview: “I want to be a reason why we win a championship, but I don’t just want to be a swing tackle…I just block every play pretty much. I think I’m more than capable as a pass-catcher and I don’t get to do it anymore, quite honestly.”
- For that reason, Graff expects the Vikings to end up cutting Rudolph.
- Vikings QB coach Klint Kubiak continues to be the favorite to replace his father as Minnesota’s next offensive coordinator. Vikings WR coach Andrew Janocko appears to be shifting to QB coach with the addition of Keenan McCardell to the staff. (Ben Goessling)
- The Vikings are expected to hire former Eagles strength and conditioning coach Josh Hingst to the same role on their staff. (Goessling)
- Minnesota is promoting assistant special teams coach Ryan Ficken to the full-time coordinator role. (Tom Pelissero)
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