The Falcons announced the completion of an interview with a General Manager candidate on Thursday.
They have met with Texans assistant GM James Liipfert. It is the first interview that the Falcons have announced for the position.
Liipfert has been with the Texans since 2018 and was promoted to his current position last year. He was previously the director of college scouting and he worked with Texans GM Nick Caserio while in the Patriots’ organization from 2009-2017.
The Falcons have also requested interviews with Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham and 49ers director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams.
Texans Clips
The Patriots have become a great team again, and they helped create a great number during Sunday afternoon’s division-round game against the Texans.
An average audience of 37.9 million tuned in for the game between Houston and New England on ESPN and ABC.
It’s the biggest number for any ABC sporting event, other than a Super Bowl. It was also the best for any show televised by ABC since 2014.
The 37.9 million figure matches the audience from last year’s Rams-Eagles Sunday afternoon game. Which makes it, essentially, a drop; the new Nielsen Big Data + Panel has been contributing to a goosing of NFL audience measurements.
The four divisional-round games (39.597 million for Broncos-Bills, 32 million for 49ers-Seahawks, 37.9 million for Texans-Patriots, 45.4 million for Rams-Bears) had an average audience of 38.7 million.
The Dolphins are taking a look at an AFC South assistant for their offensive coordinator role under new head coach Jeff Hafley.
Via Dianna Russini of TheAthletic.com, Miami has put in a request to interview Houston quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson for the role.
Johnson, 37, has been the Texans’ quarterbacks coach since 2023. That season, he helped C.J. Stroud win AP offensive rookie of the year.
Johnson has also spent time with the 49ers, Colts, and Vikings.
Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is expected to be named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year after breaking the league record for sacks in a season. Sacking the quarterback is what every nominee for the award does best.
The NFL announced the five finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year, and all five are edge rushers.
In addition to Garrett, the finalists are Houston’s Will Anderson, Denver’s Nik Bonitto, Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson and Green Bay’s Micah Parsons.
Garrett had 23 sacks, Hutchinson had 14.5, Bonitto had 14, Parsons had 12.5 and Anderson had 12.
The reigning Defensive Player of the Year is Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II, and he’s a rare winner from the secondary, as pass rushers win the award. In fact, this year’s finalists are so heavily skewed toward edge rushers that it’s fair to question whether enough voters are fully considering every defensive player, or simply filling out their ballots with five famous pass rushers.
The same panel of Associated Press voters who vote on the Defensive Player of the Year also choose the All-Pro team, and oddly that panel ranked Hutchinson sixth and Bonitto seventh among pass rushers. It’s odd, to say the least, to think Hutchinson and Bonitto are not among the Top 5 players at their position, but are among the Top 5 defensive players in the entire league.
We’re nearly certain the Defensive Player of the Year will be Garrett, and we’ll find out for sure at the NFL Honors. We can say for sure who it won’t be: Any interior defensive lineman, inside linebacker, cornerback or safety.
Texans receiver Tank Dell suffered a horrible knee injury in December 2024. He could be ready to return in 2026.
“Tank is doing awesome,” Texans G.M. Nick Caserio told reporters on Wednesday. “He’s been in the building every day. As a matter of fact, he’s here today. He’s got a great attitude. We would anticipate him being ready for the start of the offseason program. He’s in great spirits. He’s got a great attitude. Good player. I’m sure he’s excited. He can’t wait to get started. I saw him yesterday and he had a big smile on his face basically like, ‘Now it’s time, because we’re focused on 2026.’”
After catching a touchdown pass against the Chiefs in Kansas City, Dell was struck by a teammate. Dell dislocated his knee and tore three ligaments. He underwent multiple surgeries and missed all of the 2025 season.
Caserio was asked whether he believes Dell will be able to compete at a high level in 2026, given the serious nature of the injury.
“To be determined,” Caserio said. “He worked very hard. I think our performance group, they do a really good job. I think the players feel that. We have the resources available. Each player is a little bit different, so what’s required for one player might be different for Tank and his situation.
“But I would anticipate him being available for the offseason and then really April, May and June we’ll probably have a better idea. Once you get on the field you probably have a better visual representation of what that looks like. If you clear that hurdle, then training camp is more of like, ‘Okay, what does this actually look like?’ Knowing Tank, he’s probably cautiously optimistic that he’s going to be able to go out there and be Tank Dell. I think everybody is hoping that’s the case, but you never know. Injuries are — none of us control injuries and what happens. But I think everybody is rooting for Tank. He’s worked very hard and had a great attitude. I’m excited to see him out there moving around. Nobody is more excited than he is, so it will be good once we start getting on the field and getting on the grass to see what that looks like.”
Caserio’s words of caution are no surprise. It was a horrible injury. The fact that Dell even has a chance to return to his prior form in 2026 is great news.
In 11 games as a rookie in 2023, Dell caught 47 passes for 509 yards and seven touchdowns. In 2024, he caught 51 passes for 667 yards and three touchdowns in 14 games.
Everyone has been secretive about what caused the off-field foot injury that forced Texans running back Joe Mixon to miss the entire season. But Texans General Manager Nick Caserio said today that no one should think the worst of Mixon.
Caserio didn’t explain how Mixon did suffer the injury, but he said it wasn’t because of any kind of irresponsible behavior.
“He didn’t do anything off the field, it wasn’t like he was riding a snowmobile or anything like that,” Caserio said. “I’d say it was more just a medical condition or situation that really didn’t improve as much as everybody hoped. I’m not trying to evade the question but that’s the reality of the situation. He didn’t jump off a building, he wasn’t cliff diving or anything like that, he wasn’t doing anything irresponsible, it was just a freak thing. Honestly, I’ve never seen it.”
Echoing comments from Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans, Caserio said he doesn’t know when or if Mixon will return to the Texans.
“We’ll see,” he said. “I’m not smart enough to be a doctor, so I’ll leave that to the medical experts.”
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans was noncommittal when asked about offensive coordinator Nick Caley returning for the 2026 season earlier this week, but General Manager Nick Caserio was a bit more forthcoming during his Wednesday press conference.
Caley was hired after the Texans fired Bobby Slowik in the wake of the 2024 season and the Texans scored two more points a game after making the change. Their offense failed to impress in the playoffs thanks in large part to eight turnovers, including seven by quarterback C.J. Stroud in Houston’s two games.
On Wednesday, Caserio said that Ryans is still evaluating all aspects of the coaching staff but that he is not expecting the team to move on to its third coordinator in three seasons.
“I would anticipate Nick being here next year,” Caserio said. “All of us are just trying to improve and do what we can to make the team and the organization better.”
Whatever the Texans choose to do at coordinator, much of the offensive focus will be on Stroud as the team tries to reverse a trend that’s seen his productivity go down since he was the league’s offensive rookie of the year in 2023.
With a president of football and head coach in place, the Falcons are moving on to General Manager interviews.
According to multiple reports, Atlanta has put in requests to interview Bears assistant G.M. Ian Cunningham, Texans assistant G.M. James Liipfert, and 49ers director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams.
The Falcons previously interviewed Cunningham for the club’s president of football role, that ultimately went the franchise’s former quarterback, Matt Ryan.
Notably, Ryan is reportedly the primary football decision-maker, which means that teams may block interview requests for G.M.
That could be an impediment as Atlanta’s search continues for a new General Manager.
The Falcons have also put in a request to interview Steelers assistant General Manager Andy Weidl for the role.
Running back Joe Mixon did not play at all for the Texans in the regular season or postseason and his status for next season is up in the air as well.
Mixon spent the entire season on the physically unable to perform list after injuring his foot while away from the team and head coach DeMeco Ryans didn’t have much of an update on his status when asked if Mixon is in the team’s plans for the future.
“As of right now, I don’t know that answer right now,” Ryans said, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “No clarity.”
Woody Marks and Nick Chubb were the team’s top running backs with Mixon out of action.
“When you have your best players, you’re going to be a better team,” Ryans said. “Joe, he’s a really great running back for us and not having him, yes, of course, it affected our running game. Joe is one of the top running backs in this league. That affected us.”
Mixon is under contract for the Texans in 2026.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said Sunday that he didn’t consider making a quarterback change in the division-round loss to the Patriots, despite four first-half interceptions from C.J. Stroud.
On Monday, Ryans was asked to provide a big-picture assessment of Stroud’s play during the 2025 season.
“The quarterback position is going to get the most eyes, most attention,” Ryans told reporters. “We understand that. In this league, that’s what it is. C.J. understands that as well. Throughout the season, I thought he did a really nice job of coming in and learning a new offense, new scheme. I thought he picked it up well. We got better as the season went along and he made some plays to allow us to win a lot of football games as well. I’m not going to let the bad plays there in that game [against the Patriots] dictate to me who C.J. is. I know who C.J. is. I know what he’s capable of doing. We just keep looking to get better. No one feels worse about the situation than C.J. He feels bad for the team. He feels like he let the team down, and I just told him, ‘Keep your head up and you keep moving forward.’ We all want it better. We can’t go back in that game right now and run it back and play it again. We just learn from it. What do you learn from it? That’s my main message to him is, what do you learn from that and how do you make that a priority and getting it fixed and improving and getting better?”
So where does Ryans want to see Stroud improve on for 2026?
“I talked with C.J. today and my message is the same,” Ryans said. “Right now, it’s just about him flushing this one. It’s going to be a lot of negative talk, a lot of attention on him. He can’t listen to it all. He’s just got to get back to work in the offseason of going back to the basics, the fundamentals of playing the quarterback position, playing it really well, understanding how we need to play the game to win the game. He understands that already. . . .
“I just told him, ‘Don’t listen to anything. Put your phone away. Don’t listen to anything, because there’s going to be a lot of negative talk out there for you.’ Specifically, I just told him to get away, clear his mind. Because right now, at this moment, I know there’s going to be a lot of attention on him, a lot of negative media, and today, a lot of questions about him. That’s what it is, and he understands the position that he is in. As a quarterback leading the team, a lot is expected of you, a lot of eyes are on you, so when it doesn’t go right, there’s going to be a lot of negative talk about you. He understands that and he just can’t allow the opinions of others to weigh who he really is inside.”
The Texans undoubtedly will pick up the fifth-year option on Stroud’s rookie deal. The question is whether they’ll be willing to give him a second contract before or after he has a chance to show that he can respond to not one but two bad games in the 2025 playoffs; Ryans declined generally to get into the question of contract extension on Monday.
Last week, it was five fumbles (two of which were lost) and an interception. This week, it was four interceptions. That’s seven turnovers in two games. And so while Stroud may indeed flush it, the question is whether it will go down the drain — or whether it will gurgle back up in 2026.
