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Glenn spoke to the Jets on Thursday and has now sat down to speak with the Saints. The highly-coveted head coaching candidate still has meetings with the Raiders, Jaguars, and Bears on tap but declined a chance to speak with the Patriots. Glenn has ties to the Saints that go back to 2008, which marked his final year in the league as a player, but he also served as their defensive backs coach from 2016-2020 before joining the Lions in 2021 as their defensive coordinator. Glenn’s interviews are just getting started. He’ll likely go through a second round with several teams in the coming week.

“For instance, Lions assistant general manager Ray Agnew could be an appealing partner for [Ben] Johnson or [Aaron] Glenn,” Bonsignore writes. In a process that seems to be heavily run by Tom Brady per the story, it’s not unsurprising that the Raiders would pull this card as they don’t have much of a quarterback to sell candidates right now. Of course, the last time the Raiders paired a head coach and GM they wound up with Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler, so this doesn’t exactly guarantee great results. But it is noteworthy that the Raiders are willing to do this when other front offices are not.

Wilson joined the Steelers on a one-year contract for a veteran’s minimum salary after being released by the Broncos last offseason. After a slow start to his season that saw him miss six games due to a calf injury, Wilson eventually found his way to the field and wound up throwing for 2482-16-5 while completing 63.7 percent of his passes on the season. Wilson and the Steelers rode a four-game losing streak into the playoffs and then fell 28-14 to the Ravens in the AFC Wild Card Round. Wilson isn’t without blame for the Steelers’ late-season collapse, but if the season were to start today, the Steelers wouldn’t have a quarterback signed to the roster. Wilson is one of a handful of underwhelming potential free agents at the quarterback position who could be brought back by the Steelers, and will be considered the early-favorite to lead the team in 2025 after this season. We’ll see how the offseason unfolds in the coming months, but it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Wilson, in his age 36 season, was back under center for the Black and Yellow for at least one more year.

Alexander declined to have a session with the media and said “he didn’t have anything good to say so definitely wasn’t going to talk.” Okay then! An Alexander release would save the Packers almost $7 million against their 2025 cap, with a post-June 1 designation saving $17 million but spreading the hit into 2026. Alexander played well while healthy this year, but “while healthy” has dogged the star cornerback as he has played 560 snaps or less in three of his last four seasons. If he does hit free agency, he’ll probably be perceived as risky enough to be a one-year deal candidate.

The Saints have not done so yet, but they have been linked to McCarthy strongly enough that Mickey Loomis was asked earlier today if they’d be targeting McCarthy. McCarthy was New Orleans’ offensive coordinator from 2000-2004 before joining the 49ers, so he has worked with Loomis before and has Saints roots. Most sourced accounts of the Saints opening have pushed the idea that the Saints will hire someone familiar to the organization, so the McCarthy smoke has some solid foundational roots already.

Reed exited in the third quarter of Sunday’s game and did not return to the field. Whatever the issue, Reed has already brushed off the possibility of surgery, which is a good sign as he and the Packers prepare for the offseason. Reed caught 55 passes for 857 yards and six touchdowns on the season, but was underutilized by the Packers after going for 64-793-8 as a rookie. We’ll see how things shape up for him next season, but Reed has the potential to be a nice value in fantasy drafts if the Packers simply increase his overall volume in 2025.

The only team more overdue for some kind of overhaul than the Steelers, the Saints are predictably prepared to remain stuck in the glory of their recent past. Mired in salary cap, coach, and quarterback purgatory, it would be a perfect to break with the Loomis and Payton past, but the Saints will continue to run it back until morale improves. No one should expect that to be in the year 2025.

Loomis did balk when asked if the soon-to-be 34-year-old could be brought back at his currently-farcical $51 million 2025 cap number. The problem is moving on from or reducing that number would require all manner of financial gymnastics and kicking the can ever further down the road. At some point, the Saints are going to need to confront both a financial and roster reckoning. There isn’t any juice left to squeeze out of the Carr orange. The situation should gain clarity once a hire is made to replace Dennis Allen’s vacant seat.

It’s not an official firing, but the Cowboys’ decision not to re-up with McCarthy makes it clear they were only willing to retain him on their terms after a disappointing 2024. The split reportedly came down to a disagreement over the length of contract McCarthy should receive as the two sides attempted to hammer out a new deal, with his current one set to expire at the end of Tuesday. His dismissal comes moments after ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the possibility of the two sides moving on, but now it’s been made official. In his five seasons with the Cowboys, McCarthy led them to a 49-35 record while. He made the playoffs in three of his seasons and won 12 games in each year he made the postseason. Already believed to have a hot market, requests to interview McCarthy come quickly. The Bears are expected to still be interested in him after Dallas denied their request for an interview last week, and there have been rumors that the Saints would also be interested in speaking with the veteran head coach. If he wants to coach in 2025, it seems as if McCarthy will have no problem finding a job as he now becomes one of the top candidates on the market. While McCarthy is under contract through January 14th, the team has said he is free to speak with other teams immediately.

According to Pelissero, Saleh is scheduled to meet with the Jaguars on Tuesday and will then sit down with the Raiders on Thursday. Despite a disappointing tenure with the Jets that never saw him win more than seven games in a season, Saleh remains a popular head coaching candidate in some circles. If he doesn’t return as a head coach in 2025, the veteran defensive coordinator also has a chance to return to the 49ers in the same he previously served in from 2017-2020. Saleh met with the 49ers last week and is rumored to be high on their list of potential candidates to replace former defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen.

This news comes days after NFL Networks’ Tom Pelissero reported on Friday that McCarthy and the Cowboys were “expected to open talks” on a new contract. McCarthy has already drawn interest from several teams in search of a new head coach, but the Cowboys have declined any requests to speak with the veteran head coach, whose contract expires on January 14th. If McCarthy and the Cowboys don’t have a new deal in place by then, he will be free to speak with any team. The Saints and Bears have both expressed interest in speaking to McCarthy, who has gone 49-35 in his five years with the Cowboys with three playoff appearances. We’ll see if anything changes between now and the next 24 hours, but Schefter reports “it’s now looking like McCarthy will indeed become a coaching free agent.”