The New York Jets interviewed New Orleans Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi on Saturday for their head coach vacancy.
The team also spoke to five more candidates for their general manager job, including Minnesota senior vice president of player personnel Ryan Grigson, Detroit executive Chris Spielman, Denver assistant GM Darren Mougey, Cincinnati executive Trey Brown and Washington assistant GM Lance Newmark.
Rizzi, who went 3-5 leading the Saints after Dennis Allen was fired, is the eighth known candidate to talk to the Jets about their coaching job. New York has also interviewed Steve Spagnuolo, Mike Locksley, Mike Vrabel, Ron Rivera, Rex Ryan, Matt Nagy and Aaron Glenn for the position.
The 54-year-old Rizzi, a New Jersey native who lives about 35 miles from the Jets' training facility in Florham Park, was the Saints' special teams coordinator from 2019-24 and was also the assistant head coach since 2022.
Rizzi previously served as Miami's special teams coordinator from 2010-18 after serving as an assistant with the Dolphins in 2009. He also had several college stops, including being the head coach at Rhode Island, his alma mater, and New Haven.
New York has interviewed 13 known candidates for the general manager job as it looks to replace Joe Douglas, who was fired in November.
Grigson, Spielman, Mougey, Brown and Newmark joined Tampa Bay assistant GM Mike Greenberg, Los Angeles Rams senior personnel executive Ray Farmer, Kansas City assistant GM Mike Borgonzi, Philadelphia assistant GM Alec Halaby, Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy, former Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff, former Tennessee GM Jon Robinson and ESPN analyst Louis Riddick.
The 52-year-old Grigson is in his third season with the Vikings and helped build a roster that went 13-4 during the regular season and made the playoffs.
The former tight end and offensive lineman, a sixth-round draft pick of Cincinnati in 1995, was Indianapolis' general manager for five years. He selected quarterback Andrew Luck with the first overall pick in the 2012 draft, his first with the Colts. Indianapolis was 49-31 in the regular season with Grigson in charge and made the playoffs three times.
He also worked in various roles in other NFL front offices, including the Rams, Eagles, Browns and Seahawks.
Spielman, a former NFL linebacker and the leading tackler in Lions franchise history, has been the special assistant to the president, CEO and chairperson for Detroit since 2021. He has helped general manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell put together a Lions squad that won a franchise-record 15 games this season and earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
The 59-year-old Spielman is also the younger brother of former Dolphins and Vikings GM Rick Spielman, who along with former Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum is helping identify and vet GM and coach candidates for New York and coordinate interviews. They're part of The 33rd Team — a football media, analytics and consulting group founded by Tannenbaum — which was hired by Jets owner Woody Johnson in November to help New York in its searches.
Mougey, the Broncos' assistant GM under George Paton for three seasons, has held several positions in Denver's front office since joining the team as a scouting intern in 2012. Once a backup quarterback behind Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell at San Diego State, Mougey was Denver's director of player personnel in 2021 before being promoted to assistant GM.
Brown has been a senior personnel executive for the Bengals since 2022. He also has worked in the front offices of the Patriots and Eagles, and had stints as an executive with Birmingham of the Alliance of American Football and St. Louis of the XFL.
Newmark is in his first season as Washington's assistant GM under Adam Peters and is responsible for the Commanders' personnel and scouting departments. He worked two years as a staff assistant with the Chargers before joining Detroit, where Newmark worked 26 years in various roles, including as the senior director of player personnel.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Dennis Waszak Jr., The Associated Press
