First Laveranues Coles, Randy Thomas, John Hall and Chad Morton. Now Gregg Williams.
Those Redskins are at it again. They trumped the Jets with yet another offseason maneuver yesterday when Joe Gibbs shocked the NFL and took the Washington coaching job and quickly hired Williams as his defensive coordinator.
Williams, recently fired as the Bills’ head coach, interviewed with Herman Edwards last Friday and was not only considered very high on the list to replace Ted Cottrell at defensive coordinator but he was believed to be the team’s top choice.
Sources inside Weeb Ewbank Hall yesterday characterized Edwards as disconcerted by the news of Williams going to Washington, indicating that Williams was the coach he was targeting. Williams had seemingly jumped to the top of Herm’s list with all signs pointing toward Tampa Bay assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli either going with Lovie Smith to Atlanta when he’s hired there or staying with the Bucs.
Edwards, however, did say that the Bucs’ ownership indicated it would allow Marinelli, who has one year remaining on his contract, to interview outside of the organization, but it wants to wait until it fills its vacant general manager job before making that decision.
Ironically, Jet assistant GM Mike Tannenbaum interviewed for that GM position, though Oakland executive Bruce Allen is believed to be the favorite.
Williams, who left a phone message for Edwards early yesterday to inform him of his plans, had not been offered a contract, according to Edwards.
Raven DBs coach Donnie Henderson will interview for the coordinator job today and the Jets are waiting to interview Eagles LB coach Ron Rivera and Titan LBs coach Gunther Cunningham once their respective playoff runs are complete.
Edwards praised Giant defensive coordinator Johnnie Lynn, whom he interviewed for the coordinator job earlier this week, but when asked if Lynn could be considered for the DBs coach opening if he’s not hired as the coordinator, Edwards said, “Absolutely.”
Edwards added that Tim Lewis, who was fired earlier this week as the Steelers’ defensive coordinator “could be an interesting guy,” adding, “I know his agent pretty good, because he’s my agent too (Ken Landphere).”
In another matter, Edwards was very mum on status of his contract extension negotiation.
Interestingly, Tom Coughlin, whose last three seasons in Jacksonville produced losing records, signed a four-year contract with the Giants worth nearly $3 million per year while Edwards, who’s been to the playoffs in two of his three seasons, is under contract for the next two seasons at $1.3 million per year.
