FanHouse GreggWilliams

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

Gregg Williams hasn't informed a free agent decision for New Orleans yet, hasn't hand-picked the inevitable defensive playmaker the Saints choose with their 14th-overall selection this year, hasn't installed a single scheme in a minicamp. Yet Williams' reputation has preceded him to the Crescent City, and his hiring as defensive coordinator is already considered one of the most important moves in team history.

After almost two decades of guaranteed defensive putridity, the last three of which have revolved around Gary Gibbs' lack of talent identification and bland scheming, the idea of Williams and his history of intelligent, hard-working, active, complex defenses coming to the Superdome is music to the ears. It also might finally push the Saints over the top.

Sacrificing a paycheck in order to bring another high profile player to a team is one of the truly selfless things that an athlete can do. Really, the willingness to make only a few million dollars instead of many millions of dollars is an act that often goes unnoticed. But you almost never hear of it from a coaching perspective.

However, giving up part of his salary for the betterment of his coaching staff is exactly what Sean Payton recently did, according to Jay Glazer (via LBS), offering up a quarter million bucks of his salary towards Gregg Williams' first year paycheck, just in order to land the defensive coordinator.

Perhaps it took longer than expected for Mike McCarthy, but the search is over. The Packers canned defensive coordinator Bob Sanders after a miserable season, and speculation on a replacement immediately began to center around former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan.

When Nolan took the job in Denver, the talk turned to former Redskins and Jaguars coordinator Gregg Williams. He ended up going to New Orleans, leaving McCarthy to what was presumably his third choice for a coordinator.

The third choice for McCarthy is a veteran coach with a ton of credibility around the NFL. Former Carolina and Houston head coach Dom Capers, a very successful defensive coach, is going to take over the Packers' defense.

Last week, we mentioned a report that former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan was on the verge of becoming the Green Bay Packers' new defensive coordinator.

That report appears to have been premature, as Nolan is headed instead to Denver to run the Broncos' defense under new head coach Josh McDaniels.

With Nolan apparently out of the picture, the Packers now have to move in a different direction.

Despite having a defense that has sabotaged a playoff-worthy offense and featured a player, Jason David, who Football Outsiders determined was less effective in coverage in 2007 than thin air, the Saints' defensive coordinator vacancy is actually desirable.

It didn't take long for the Saints to bring Gregg Williams in for an interview after the firing of Gary Gibbs. Apparently the team was interested, as Williams was in town that night. And cccording to his agent, after the interview, Williams has a "strong interest" in joining New Orleans.

The 2008 season has been a forgettable one for the Jaguars. They made it to the AFC Divisional round a year ago, and with virtually everybody returning, expectations were high four months ago. A run on injuries, a no-show defense and plenty of bad luck has a lot to do with the 5-10 situation they currently find themselves.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will probably be fired after one season, and several players expect to be looking for work in the coming weeks. Linebacker Mike Peterson is a goner; head coach Jack Del Rio unofficially ended his Jacksonville career by benching him earlier this season.

Although nothing's been decided, during the Jags' last home game on Dec. 18, Peterson used the occasion to send the media his well wishes. Seriously.

... [T]he middle linebacker made it a point to thank the writers for the stories they've written about him in his six years with the Jaguars.

"I appreciate that," Peterson said. "I've got a scrapbook at home with all the great stories. No matter what they [Jaguars] do or what the future has for me, they can't take away those great memories."

And maybe one day, Terrell Owens and Ed Werder will bury their hatches, mend their fences and hug it out, too.

Eleven months ago, the Ravens were looking for somebody to replace Brian Billick, and were very interested in Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. The feeling wasn't mutual. Garrett would leave his Baltimore interview without signing a contract, and eventually, Jerry Jones would pay him as much to handle the offense as he was paying Wade Phillips to coach the team.

As a neutral observer, it was hard to fault Garrett; the Ravens were coming off a five-win season and the inmates were definitely running the asylum. And there was a good chance he'd be running things in Dallas in 2009.

Now, though, Garrett looks like he may have been too smart for his own good. John Harbaugh is in the running for Coach of the Year, having led the Ravens to a 9-5 record with two weeks to go, and Garrett has coordinated up an offense that has looked one-dimensional and ineffective, and that's discounting the forgettable month of Brad and Brooks.

During a Wednesday conference call in preparation for, as fate would have it, the Ravens-Cowboys game, NFL Network's Marshall Faulk pointed out that the Dallas media has been too soft on Garrett and too tough on defensive coordinator Brian Stewart.

As to the former, the Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon wonders if the NFL has caught up to Garrett.

There are certainly worse teams in the NFL, but few have been more disappointing than the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags won 11 games a year ago and made it to the AFC Divisional round, but have fallen flat in 2008. They're currently sitting at 4-9, and if not for the bottom falling out of the U.S. economy, head coach Jack Del Rio would probably be on the ol' hot seat.

Still, when a team underachieves as spectacularly as the Jaguars, there's sure to be some scapegoatin' at season's end. Which is why first-year defensive coordinator Gregg Williams could be looking for work in a few weeks.

...Owner Wayne Weaver and coach Jack Del Rio will shake things up on the field, in the front office and with the coaching staff after a disappointing season, sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.

The first change involves defensive coordinator Gregg Williams not returning to Jacksonville. A one-year marriage to Williams is headed for divorce, sources told ESPN. Philosophically, it hasn't worked, and it wasn't an expensive hire because Williams had one year left at more than $2 million when he was let go by the Washington Redskins.

Retired Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington emerged from obscurity this week when he called former head coach/local savior/Jesus' right-hand man Joe Gibbs a coward, and suggested the only reason the Hall of Famer returned to the sidelines was to promote his NASCAR hobby.

Predictably, Redskins fans were unimpressed, and running back Clinton Portis, Arrington's former teammate, appeared on Michael Irvin's radio show to support Gibbs. Yesterday, Arrington, restaurateur and local television personality, was a guest on The Best Damn Sports Show Period to clarify his Gibbs-related comments.

If you don't have two-and-a-half minutes to watch the YouTubes, here's the CliffsNotes: LaVar admits that calling Gibbs a "coward" might've been a bit much. "Coward-like" is probably more appropriate.

Whatever you think of Arrington, he makes a fine point: Gibbs came back to clean up Lil' Danny's mess, except that after he had "all the key components in place," Gibbs left, and his alleged successor, Gregg Williams, got canned, which, as the Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg writes, "undermined the whole 'stability' mantra of Gibbs II."

Of course, Williams is having is own troubles trying to coordinate up the Jaguars defense, and Jim Zorn has been a pleasant surprise over the first half of the season, so maybe stability is overrated.

via Le Bog Sportif