Falcons’ J. Jones, Ridley honored

Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley was named to the All-Rookie team by the Professional Football Writers of America on Tuesday.

Also, wide receiver Julio Jones was named to the All-NFL team with wide receivers DeAndre Hopkins of Houston and Michael Thomas of New Orleans.

Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield was named the rookie of the year. Giants running back Saquon Barkley was named the offensive rookie of the year, and Colts linebacker Darius Leonard was named the defensive rookie of the year.

Ridley, the 26th pick in the 2018 draft, had 64 catches for 821 receiving yards and a team-high 10 touchdowns.

■ The Jets are finalizing a deal with former Browns defensive coordinator and interim head coach Gregg Williams to become their defensive coordinator, ESPN reported. The news comes a day after the Jets introduced Adam Gase as their coach.

Williams is known as an aggressive defensive playcaller who likes to keep quarterbacks and offenses off-balance with his exotic blitz packages.

■ The Vikings hired Gary Kubiak as an assistant head coach and offensive adviser, a big bump in experience for Mike Zimmer’s turnedover staff.

Kubiak spent the past two seasons as a senior personnel adviser with the Broncos after stepping down as their head coach due to health concerns. Zimmer picked Kevin Stefanski to be his offensive coordinator, his first time in that role.

The 57-year-old Kubiak has 10 seasons as a head coach on his NFL resume, eight with the Texans (200613) and two with the Broncos (2015-16). The Broncos won the Super Bowl in his first year.

■ The Colts fired offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo despite the unit’s 2018 turnaround. DeGuglielmo took over an offensive line that allowed a league-high 56 sacks in 2017 and helped a young, revamped line that allowed a league-low 18 sacks in 2018. Marlon Mack also rushed for more than 100 yards five times this season, the highest total by a Colts running back since Joseph Addai in 2007.

DeGuglielmo was one of three coaches initially hired by Josh McDaniels last January before he changed his mind and returned to the Patriots.

■ The Panthers hired Perry Fewell as their new secondary coach. Fewell returns home bringing 34 years of coaching experience, including 21 in the NFL. He most recen t ly served as secondary coach with the Jaguars. The Jaguars allowed just 182.2 passing yards per game the past two seasons, the fewest in the NFL.

Fewell spent five seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Giants.

■ New Broncos coach Vic Fangio is talking with Ed Donatell about becoming defensive coordinator. Donatell has spent the past four seasons as the Bears’ defensive backs coach, coinciding with Fangio’s stint as Chicago’s defensive coordinator before his hiring in Denver last week.

■ The Chiefs activated starting guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif off injured reserve. He’d been out since Week 5 with a broken leg.

Falcons rookie Calvin Ridley had a team-high 10 TDs.