The Falcons announced Thursday night that they have completed interviews with Brandt Tilis and Mike Disner for their newly created position of president of football operations.
Tilis is the Panthers’ executive vice president, and Disner is the Lions COO.
The team is expected to offer the job to former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
Disner joined the Lions in 2019 after six seasons as the Cardinals’ director of football administration. He began his career in Detroit as the Lions’ vice president of football administration, with oversight of the team’s salary cap and player contract negotiations.
The Lions promoted him to Chief Operating Officer in May 2022.
He has spent 19 seasons in the NFL, starting as an intern for the Patriots for two summers in 2005-06 before a promotion to scouting assistant in 2007.
The Panthers hired Tilis in January 2024 to work with General Manager Dan Morgan on cap and salary negotiations.
He previously spent 14 seasons working in Kansas City, including the final three as vice president of football operations. Tilis also worked as director of football administration (2017-20) and director of salary cap and football operations analytics (2014-16) after originally joining the Chiefs in 2010 as a salary cap/contract analyst.
Lions Clips
It likely won’t take Mike McDaniel long to find a new job.
An obvious offensive coordinator candidate for any team that needs one, McDaniel has already fielded some interest.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Lions have reached out to McDaniel about potentially becoming the club’s OC.
Detroit fired offensive coordinator John Morton earlier this week after the club missed the postseason. Head coach Dan Campbell took over offensive play-calling midway through the season, but the Lions were not as cohesive of an offensive unit throughout the year as they had been with now-Bears head coach Ben Johnson calling the plays.
Washington is another team with an offensive coordinator vacancy that is likely to reach out to McDaniel, given that McDaniel coached under Dan Quinn when he was head coach of the Falcons.
But there could be another role for McDaniel — head coach. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reported earlier on Thursday that the Browns have interest in speaking with McDaniel about their vacancy.
Either way, it appears McDaniel will have some choices after he was fired by Miami on Thursday.
Cleveland’s defense has been one of the league’s best units since Jim Schwartz came aboard as defensive coordinator in 2023.
After firing Kevin Stefanski, the Browns may double down on their defense as an area of strength.
Per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, the Browns are interviewing Schwartz for their head coaching vacancy on Thursday.
The club will also interview offensive coordinator Tommy Rees on the same day.
Schwartz, 59, was Detroit’s head coach from 2009-2013, amassing a 29-51 record. The Lions made the postseason in 2011 after going 10-6, falling in the wild card round.
Since then, Schwartz has served as defensive coordinator for Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Cleveland — winning Super Bowl LII with the Eagles to cap the 2017 season.
“Jim’s an outstanding football coach,” Browns General Manager Andrew Berry said in his Monday press conference. “We have a lot of respect for him, a lot of appreciation for him, and he has certainly earned the right for consideration. But that’s something that we still have to discuss and obviously discuss with him.”
Cleveland has also requested interviews with Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde, and Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher.
A former Lions quarterback is in the mix to be the team’s next offensive coordinator.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Commanders quarterbacks coach David Blough is the first identified candidate for the job. There’s no word on the timing of Blough’s interview with the team.
Blough began the season as Washington’s assistant quarterbacks coach and took on the main responsibilities after Tavita Pritchard left to become the head coach of Stanford. Blough joined Washington in 2024 after wrapping up his playing days in 2023.
Blough’s last stint with a team was on Detroit’s practice squad that year. He was also with the Lions from 2019 to 2021 and appeared in seven games. Five of those appearances were starts during his rookie season and he also made two starts for the Cardinals in 2022.
When Lions head coach Dan Campbell stripped offensive coordinator John Morton of his play calling duties, the writing was on the wall. Today it became official: The Lions fired Morton.
Campbell hired Morton a year ago after Ben Johnson left the Lions to become the Bears’ head coach. From Week One of the 2025 season, there were questions about whether Morton was up to the task of replacing Johnson, and once Campbell took over play calling himself, it became clear that Morton wasn’t the right person for the job.
The 56-year-old Morton was previously offensive coordinator of the Jets and at USC and has been an assistant coach for almost 30 years, primarily coaching wide receivers. He’ll likely have offers if he wants to join another coaching staff.
Now Campbell needs to find a new offensive coordinator. It won’t be easy finding someone who can fill Johnson’s shoes.
The Falcons have requested to interview Lions COO Mike Disner for their president of football operations vacancy, Albert Breer of TheMMQB reports.
The team is expected to offer the job to former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
The Falcons fired General Manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris earlier this week.
Disner joined the Lions in 2019 after six seasons as the Cardinals’ director of football administration. He began his career in Detroit as the Lions’ vice president of football administration, with oversight of the team’s salary cap and player contract negotiations.
The Lions promoted him to Chief Operating Officer in May 2022.
He has spent 19 seasons in the NFL, starting as an intern for the Patriots for two summers in 2005-06 before a promotion to scouting assistant in 2007.
After winning the NFC North for two straight years, the Lions will be at home this postseason after finishing 9-8.
Head coach Dan Campbell had steadily kept the Lions on an upward trajectory since his first season in 2021, piloting the team to nine wins, 12 wins, and 15 wins in 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively.
But even though the Lions still finished with one of the league’s top offenses, losing four out of five late in the year doomed the club’s postseason chances.
So when asked how he’d rate his performance as a head coach during his season-ending press conference on Monday, Campbell kept it simple.
“Not good enough. We didn’t get in,” Campbell said, via transcript from the team. “I mean we underachieved, so not good.
“I’m going to give myself a freaking ‘F.’”
Still, Campbell found plenty to appreciate from a player standpoint in 2025.
“Well, I’m proud of the way these guys just responded every week,” Campbell said. “That’s not easy. You win, you lose, you win, you lose, you win. And for these guys to — of course it can get frustrating, but they came back to work every Wednesday and they went after it, they tried to improve. You go out to the games and they bust their [butt] and it just sometimes it didn’t work the way you wanted it to. But this group man, they never laid down, they just came back in, they were great teammates. And so, I appreciate that, the work ethic that these guys had.
“Obviously the most disappointing thing is — I said this to them yesterday, I said it last night — we were one play away from getting in, basically. One play, either Minnesota game or Pittsburgh, you’re probably in. You have a good chance. And so, that’s how close it is. But that’s what this league is.”
Steelers receiver DK Metcalf is back with the team, after serving a two-game suspension for initiating contact with a fan at Ford Field in Detroit.
Meeting with reporters, Metcalf repeatedly declined comment on the situation: “I can’t say anything about what happened,” Metcalf eventually said, “for the fifth time.”
Metcalf said he was surprised that his appeal of the suspension was denied, and he said he’s excited to be back with his team.
It was his first time talking about the situation; he declined to talk to reporters after the Week 16 win over the Lions during which the incident occurred.
Metcalf’s refusal to address the situation undoubtedly flows from legal advice he has received to say nothing about it. Anything he says can be used in the potential civil lawsuit to be filed by Lions fan Ryan Kennedy, for assault and/or defamation arising from the media campaign aimed at spreading the word that Kennedy provoked the incident with a racial slur.
The best news for Metcalf and the Steelers is that there was even a reason for him to meet with reporters on Monday. If Ravens kicker Tyler Loop’s 44-yard field goal hadn’t gotten wide, the Steelers wouldn’t be preparing for a Monday night wild-card game against the Texans.
After Ben Johnson’s departure to become Bears head coach, the Lions brought John Morton back to the organization to be the team’s offensive coordinator.
But that did not work out, as head coach Dan Campbell took over play-calling duties midway through the season.
Detroit missed the playoffs, finishing 9-8 on the season after losing four of their last six to end the year.
While the Lions still finished No. 4 in points and No. 5 in yards, the totality of the season means there will be some offseason changes coming. Campbell told reporters in his Monday press conference that he’s not sure exactly what he’ll do next year for offensive play-caller, whether it’s keeping the duty himself or passing it off to someone else.
“I don’t know exactly where I’m at with that yet,” Campbell said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I mean, I guess one of the good things if I did do that, you don’t have to worry about somebody else leaving. You don’t have to worry about your play-caller leaving. So that would be one of the perks of it.”
Campbell added he’s “open to anything” when it comes to offensive play-caller.
“I’m going to think through all of that, and there again, I think I really want to do what I feel is best for the team, and that included,” Campbell said. “If I believe that’s what’s best for us, and I feel good about it, then I will [call plays again]. If I just feel like, ‘Ahh, I don’t …’ Then I won’t do it. I won’t do it.”
While Campbell noted he had not yet made any decisions on the coaching staff, he said it’s his top priority as the offseason begins.
“I need to make sure that I feel good about where the guys are at, the positions they’re in, or do we tweak a couple things, move a couple of guys,” he said. “Do we stay pat? Those are the things I got to sort through. That’s the first for me, that’s what I got to get through, and just I got to do some digging here.”
Campbell has now compiled a 48-36-1 record in five seasons as Detroit’s head coach. After winning two NFC North titles in a row, the Lions technically finished the season in fourth place despite sharing a 9-8 record with the Vikings because Minnesota won both head-to-head matchups.
The Lions saw center Frank Ragnow retire before the 2025 season and they may be saying farewell to another longtime member of the offensive line before the 2026 season.
Left tackle Taylor Decker played through a shoulder injury throughout this season and he said after Sunday’s win over the Bears that he’s going to take some time before making a decision about whether to return for an 11th season. Decker said “I know I can still play,” but said that the toll playing takes on his body has an impact on his entire family and that is a consideration he has to take into account before knowing what he will do.
“I need to make informed decisions,” Decker said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I need to get second opinions. There’s a lot that I have to do, because I want to make this decision moving forward informed. And I don’t want to make it emotionally because if I make it emotionally, I already know what the answer is going to be. But it’s a massive decision, and it’s not only about me. It’s about my kids.”
Backup tackle Dan Skipper said after the game that he might have reached the end of the line and center Graham Glasgow’s future is also uncertain, so it seems likely that the Lions are going to have to remake at least some of their offensive line before they try to make it back to the postseason.
