Assistant to remain in New England
The search for San Francisco’s new coach narrowed on Monday with New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels pulling out of the running for the job, while the 49ers added more candidates for their general manager vacancy.
Shortly after McDaniels said he was no longer a candidate to replace the fired Chip Kelly in San Francisco, team CEO Jed York interviewed Seattle co-directors of player personnel Trent Kirchner and Scott Fitterer later Monday for the GM job previously held by Trent Baalke. NOTES
McDaniels, who was the head coach in Denver from 2009-10, was considered one of the favorites to land the coaching job because of his success running New England’s offense before deciding to stay with the Patriots for at least another year.
That leaves only two coaching candidates remaining unless San Francisco decides to open up the search before making a final decision.
Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan previously interviewed for the job, but can’t be hired until the Falcons season is over. Seattle offensive line coach Tom Cable also interviewed on Sunday.
■ TEXANS — Houston offensive coordinator George Godsey will not return next season.
Godsey was in his second season as offensive coordinator after working as quarterbacks coach in his first year with the team in 2014.
His work came under fire this season as Houston’s offense ranked near the bottom of the league behind the struggles of new quarterback Brock Osweiler.
Godsey called the plays at the beginning of the season, but O’Brien took away his play-calling duties and began calling them himself in late September after the offense failed to move the ball consistently.
■ FALCONS — Atlanta coach Dan Quinn said All-Pro receiver Julio Jones will play in the NFC championship game despite a lingering foot injury that limited him during a divisional-round victory over Seattle.
Jones has dealt with this before, and Quinn insisted there’s no chance of the Falcons being without one of their offensive leaders when they host Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers for a trip to the Super Bowl.
Despite missing two games during the regular season, Jones had 83 receptions for 1,409 yards and six touchdowns.
■ PACKERS — Coach Mike McCarthy said it was too early to tell what wide receiver Jordy Nelson might be able to do when practice resumes on Wednesday, though he called it a good sign that Nelson was able to go through a light, “regeneration” workout on Monday.
Nelson missed the team’s game against the Cowboys with injured ribs.
■ SEAHAWKS — Seattle coach Pete Carroll said on his radio show that cornerback Richard Sherman played the second half of the season with an MCL injury in his knee.
Carroll told KIRO-AM that Sherman’s injury was significant and it was “stressful” for Sherman to play with the injury.
Carroll did not specify which knee was injured, but said it was similar to Russell Wilson’s sprained MCL suffered early in the season in that Sherman could play with the injury.
■ JETS — New York signed right guard Brian Winters to a four-year contract extension.
Winters, who was scheduled to become a free agent in March, missed the last two games of the season when he was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.