NFL Rumors: Latest Buzz on Christian McCaffrey Trade, Doug Pederson and More

The NFL regular season has come to an end, and the 18 teams not in the playoffs are now focusing on the offseason.

Several of those teams will be seeking new head coaches and/or general managers. Vic Fangio, Brian Flores, Mike Zimmer, Rick Spielman, Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy were all fired in the past couple of days,  while New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman elected to retire.

This leaves the Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears with front-office openings.

Other teams will be looking to make roster changes via free agency, the trade market and the NFL draft.

Here you will find a look at some of the latest buzz heading into the 2022 NFL offseason.

The Carolina Panthers don't appear to be in the head-coaching market this offseason. According to The Athletic's Joseph Person, "all indications" are that Matt Rhule will be back for a third season. However, Person suggested that Carolina could listen to trade offers for star running back Christian McCaffrey.

"The Panthers would listen to offers for McCaffrey, who's one of the league’s most versatile players," Person wrote. "But it's hard to imagine teams would give up much for a player who’s missed 23 of the past 33 games and still has $44 million left on his contract."

Injuries have hampered McCaffrey significantly since his All-Pro season of 2019. Logic suggests that the Panthers would happily part with the remainder of McCaffrey's four-year, $64 million deal if they could get a reasonable return.

However, general manager Scott Fitterer recently sounded more committed to keeping McCaffrey than moving him.

"I would love for him to be here, but I would never not take a call," Fitterer said, per Schuyler Callihan of FanNation. "If somebody calls and offers something crazy, yeah, you would look at it, but there is no intentions right now of trading Christian McCaffrey."

In other words, Carolina will listen to offers for McCaffrey but won't simply move him for a bargain-basement price because of his recent injury history.

The Bears will be in the coaching market following Nagy's firing. Presumably, they will now look for a coach who can help develop young signal-caller Justin Fields.

Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson appears to be high on Chicago's early list of candidates.

"The Bears plan to interview former Eagles coach Doug Pederson for their head-coaching job, per source," NFL Network's Tom Pelissero tweeted.

As Pelissero noted, Pederson is also a candidate for the Jacksonville Jaguars job. Like Chicago, Jacksonville has a young quarterback—in its case, 2021 No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence—around whom the franchise is looking to build.

Pederson helped develop quarterback Carson Wentz in Philadelphia and coached the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory in the 2017 season. Peterson and Wentz both fell out of favor in 2020—the former was fired, and the latter was traded to the Indianapolis Colts—but the resume is intriguing.

In Philadelphia, Pederson compiled a 42-37-1 record while making the postseason in three of his five campaigns in charge. After runs with the less experienced Nagy—who had just two years of coordinator experience when hired—and Urban Meyer, Pederson is not a surprising candidate for the gigs in Chicago and Jacksonville.

The Dolphins saw some solid play from second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa down the stretch. However, they did show interest in Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson before the trade deadline.

Watson requested a trade last offseason, and he faces 22 civil lawsuits and 10 criminal complaints from women who have accused him of sexual assault or misconduct. Any deal likely would have hinged on Watson settling his lawsuits and criminal complaints beforehand, which has yet to happen.

However, NFL Media's, Ian Rapoport reported just before the deadline that Miami and Houston were "open to a deal." But now that Flores is out in Miami, the Dolphins may not be a preferred choice for Watson.

"Flores was a significant reason why Deshaun Watson wanted to be in Miami," Rapoport tweeted. "With Flores out, this situation may have changed."

Following the coaching change and with Miami having back-to-back winning seasons with Tagovailoa under center, the Dolphins are likely to shelve any quarterback trade talk for now.