NFL roundup: Saints set to look at DC candidates; Giants cut Bradshaw, Canty
The New Orleans Saints just cannot avoid drama.
Although ESPN.com reported that former Dallas Cowboys assistant Rob Ryan is expected to be hired as the Saints' defensive coordinator, it is not a done deal.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports the Saints will interview University of Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham on Thursday before even talking to Ryan on Friday.
The Saints' newly reinstated head coach, Sean Payton, said on ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" that two to four candidates would be interviewed for the job. Payton said he was waiting to hear back from other teams to receive permission to interview assistant coaches, and that he plans to make a decision on a defensive coordinator within the next week.
NFL.com reported Wednesday that the San Francisco 49ers denied permission for the Saints to talk to secondary coach Ed Donatell, but he already discussed that during Super Bowl week and seemed fine with the decision at the time.
--The reconstruction of the New York Giants is under way.
Following a 9-7 season which they failed to make the playoffs, the Giants cut running back Ahmad Bradshaw and defensive tackle Chris Canty on Wednesday as part of their continued efforts to get under the NFL's salary cap.
Releasing Bradshaw provides $3.75 million (his 2013 salary) in cap space. Foot issues the past two seasons have slowed Bradshaw, 26, and also might have hastened the team's decision to part ways with him.
Canty's base salary next season was to be $6.25 million. Canty, 30, joined the Giants as a free agent in 2009 and started 45 games in four years. He suffered a knee injury in Super Bowl XLVI and missed the first six games of the 2012 regular season before returning.
The Giants also waived defensive tackle Martin Parker, who spent the 2012 season on injured reserve with a back problem.
--Joe Flacco just won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens, and his agent thinks he now deserves to be the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.
Agent Joe Linta told CNBC that he would put Flacco above Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who makes $18 million annually, and Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who pulls in $20 million, on the salary chart.
Linta argues that Flacco, 28, is younger and has won as many Super Bowl titles as Manning and Brees.
Since Flacco came in the NFL in 2008, the Ravens have won a playoff game each season. He's the first quarterback to do that. Flacco also was stellar in the 2012-13 postseason with 11 touchdown passes and no interceptions in four games.
Flacco appeared Monday on "The Late Show With David Letterman," and his head coach, John Harbaugh, will be a guest on the same show Thursday night.
--Former Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson will take on additional duties with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2013 as a special assistant to head coach Marvin Lewis and the team's running backs coach, the team announced.
Jackson came to the Bengals in 2012 after an 8-8 season in his one year as Raiders coach. He served as an assistant to the special-teams and defensive backs coaches this past season in Cincinnati.
--Hours after watching nephew Delanie Walker play in the Super Bowl for the 49ers, Alice and Bryan Young were killed in a car accident in Louisiana by a suspected drunken driver.
Walker, a tight end, said Wednesday on his Twitter account: "Alice and Bryan Young my aunt and uncle was killed on Monday at 5 am after the super bowl by a drunk. Im going to miss y'all but i know they are in a better place."
--The Raiders, whose infamous legal battles to move to bigger, better stadiums created free agency for National Football League owners, will downsize the Oakland Coliseum, aka O.co Coliseum.
Most ironic, considering the lengths to which longtime owner Al Davis went to seek a better home, is that the part of the stadium that will be taken off the seating charts is the soaring structure known as Mt. Davis.
The move will reduce the number of tickets necessary for a sellout from approximately 63,000 seats to about 55,000.
