Ron Rivera Gets New Job After Commanders Firing: NFL Network - Tracker

AUG 29 RON'S JOB NFL Network has hired four new guys for its coverage during the 2024 NFL season, a group led by deposed Washington coach Ron Rivera.

Also making the TV shift: Manti Te’o, Nate Tice, and Isaiah Stanback.

Rivera was most recently the head coach of the Commanders, of course, before he was fired after the 2023 season.

AUG 29 HEINICKE SIGNS He was once a guy who the Commanders players wanted to "go to war with.'' And now he's going to the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Chargers went south last year when star quarterback Justin Herbert went down with a hand injury, so they've signed Heinicke - who registers as a former starter and as a leader with playoff experience - to be the backup.

After leading D.C., Heinicke spent the 2023 season with the Atlanta Falcons, starting four games for that team last season.

AUG 25 WEIRD Trey Lance is not working out very well for the Dallas Cowboys. But almost as much of a flop? Robert Griffin III's analysis of Lance's issues.

The Cowboys' 26-19 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in their preseason finale on Saturday featured Lance's five interceptions. There is no way to sugarcoat that.

And yet, RGIII, himself a former QB with wheels in Washington, is offering an explanation that ... explains nothing.

“Watched the tape back on Trey Lance,” Griffin III tweeted . “Trey Lance has NFL Superstar level playmaking ability with Blockbuster level decision making. If you said he was the replacement for Dak Prescott, go ahead and deactivate your account. The 5 [INTs] were bad and showed he is in the wrong offense.”

So Lance has "superstar playmaking ability'' ... and he stinks ... but it's all because "he's in the wrong offense.''

All of those things can't be true at the same time. RGIII, don't deactivate your account. But we like your work. So check that work before hitting "send,'' OK?

AUG 9 THOMAS CUT The 49ers released Logan Thomas on Friday, maybe in part because the Commanders ex is dealing with a hamstring issue.

Thomas, 33, sign a one-year deal with San Francisco in June and the plan was for him to provide the Niners with veteran depth behind star tight end George Kittle.

This move is being termed by some as a "surprise,'' but the hamstring injury, age and maybe other roster needs are obvious ways to explain it.

AUG 8 DQ VS. ZIM Dan Quinn is trying to make a bad thing good.

Mike Zimmer is trying to make a good thing better.

What does that mean for those who try to compare two of the NFL's top defensive minds?

It means ... There is a difference between "different'' and "better.''

Dallas legend Darren Woodson believes that the hiring of Mike Zimmer to replace Dan Quinn as the Cowboys defensive coordinator is exactly "the shock this team needs.''

"He's going to coach hard,'' said Woodson, who played under Zimmer in the Cowboys' Super Bowl era of the 1990s. "He is tough. Hard-nosed. He is not going to be your best friend - he's just not. Some players will not want to play for him, because the expectations will be harder than in the last few years.''

Zimmer, Woodson said, "is the shock this team needs.''

Are the positive vibes a criticism of the work of predecessor Quinn, now the head coach in Washington? Not exactly. But "DQ's'' style? He was indeed a "best friend'' to his players.

That might just work with Washington ... Just like Zimmer's gruff approach might just work for the Cowboys.

Not "better.'' Just "different.''

JULY 22 GREEN SET Darrell Green is among Washington's greatest players in franchise history, with two Super Bowls and a jersey that ...

Will never be worn in Washington again.

"No. 28,'' a seven-time Pro Bowler, four-time All-Pro, member of the Commanders Ring of Fame and 1996 Walter Payton Man of the Year, will have his jersey retired in Week ... this year in a Week 7 game against visiting Carolina.

"I'm humbly grateful," Green said recently. "I feel like crying just thinking about it right now. This means a lot to me."

JULY 22 DALLAS DELAY The Commanders' arch-rival Dallas Cowboys will be opening training camp on time, with a first workout on Thursday in Oxnard.

But team owner Jerry Jones won't make it on time.

Oxnard, California, is normally the site for Jones' annual state-of-the-union press conference to kick off training camp. That was supposed to happen at mid-week.

But the opening press conference originally scheduled for Wednesday has been moved to Saturday. A Cowboys spokesman says the rescheduling is necessary because Jones will be in a Texarkana federal courthouse testifying as part of a paternity lawsuit.