Real Madrid head coach Alvaro Arbeloa spoke to the media after his team’s 1-0 win over Benfica on Tuesday. He was asked about Prestianni’s remarks on Vinicius Jr, to which he said: “You need to ask the Benfica player. We all deserve to hear his answer. It’s clear that there must be no tolerance for racism. We cannot allow things like this to happen on a football pitch in 2026.”

Arbeloa on what he said to Vinicius Jr

“All I told him was that if he wanted to keep playing, we’d be by his side, whatever decision he made. Always by his side. We rode together, we died together, and when something like this happens, we’re always there for him. We’ll always fight together, just like today.”

Arbeloa on whether they considered leaving the pitch

“The referee told me he didn’t hear anything and couldn’t do anything. It was Vinicius’s decision. We can’t tolerate this kind of behaviour. Of course, we would have stood by him.”

Arbeloa on Jose Mourinho’s quotes about provocation

“I didn’t see Vini’s celebration. I did see the amazing goal, though. I think José, when he finds out what happened and what his player said, will be the first to say he won’t allow it. Zero tolerance, and we’re very happy with the team. This is the Real Madrid we want to see.”

Arbeloa on how Vinicius Jr is doing

“Good. The sad thing is, it’s not the first time. Vini isn’t just a spectacular player, but a guy everyone loves. When you get to know him, you realise what a good person he is. He’s always had to overcome situations like this, and we’ll be there for him.”

Arbeloa on whether he believes Vinicius Jr

“I believe what Vini says. Of course. I would never doubt Vini’s words.”

Arbeloa on the game

“Yes. The first half was very good, and we deserved a few more goals. Everything changed after that. We kept trying to create chances. They exposed themselves more, and we lost control. But we saw the Madrid we want to be playing very well, a very solid team that puts in a lot of effort. I’m very happy with the difference compared to the game three weeks ago.”

Arbeloa on the return leg

“Don’t make the mistake of writing off a Mourinho-coached team at 0-1. They’re already preparing for the next match, and this Benfica side won’t let us let up. The Bernabéu will be waiting for Benfica, and that will be crucial. We have 90 minutes of great football ahead of us.”

Arbeloa on Arda Güler

“Arda is a player with qualities that help us a lot. He’s able to link Vini with Kylian. He’s special, different. He’s becoming very important, and his development benefits us. These matches help him grow, and I’m very happy and proud to have a guy like him.”

Arbeloa on what he was worried about with Benfica

“I was worried watching my team. The match three weeks ago was the furthest we’ve been from where we should be, and this one was the closest. Benfica really ran at us on the counter-attack; they were fast. And it wasn’t just about defending, but about attacking with more organisation. And we did that; we finished a lot of chances. There’s room for improvement, but this is the right path.”

Arbeloa on Aurelien Tchouameni

“Spectacular, not just today. He’s been playing at a high level for several matches since I arrived. We’re improving him a lot, getting him into the opposition’s half with the ball.”

Arbeloa on Trent-Valverde-Güler

“These are synergies that we try to work on. Those three players on the right are doing very well. They complement each other and are doing a great job.”

Arbeloa on Kylian Mbappé

“He’s been sidelined for many days. Knee problems are preventing him from performing at 100%. But he’s the best in the world, and at 80% he still is. We appreciate his effort.”

Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Rich Bisaccia just stepped down from his position with the team. Based on the timing of this happening on February 17th, after several teams with new head coaches have already announced their full staffs for the 2026 season, I’m going to guess that the Packers didn’t see this coming, or they would have made a move to get into the special teams coordinator market quicker. The framing of stepping down and not retiring is also interesting, but that’s not what we’re here to get into today.

For perspective, 11 teams have already signed a new special teams coordinator this hire-fire cycle, which means there’s not a ton of meat left on the bone, especially if you’re looking for someone with experience in the role.

When I poked around earlier in the coaching cycle about potential names, I was told that the two most-respected special teams coordinators who were available to sign in 2026 were Jeff Rodgers, who was Jonathan Gannon’s coordinator and assistant head coach with the Arizona Cardinals, and Danny Smith, who has been a special teams coordinator in the NFL since 1995. Both have since signed with new teams, Rodgers with the Buffalo Bills and Smith with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

As it stands right now, there are only four special teams coordinators who were coordinators in the 2025 NFL season who aren’t special teams coordinators on a 2026 staff:

• Tom McMahon, who was fired mid-season by the Las Vegas Raiders.
  • 2009-2011: St. Louis Rams
  • 2012: Kansas City Chiefs
  • 2013-2017: Indianapolis Colts
  • 2018-2021: Denver Broncos
  • 2022-2025: Las Vegas Raiders
• Marquice Williams, who was not retained by new Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski.
  • 2021-2025: Atlanta Falcons
• Thomas McGaughey, who was fired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the season.
  • 2014: New York Jets
  • 2015: San Francisco 49ers
  • 2016-2017: Carolina Panthers
  • 2018-2023: New York Giants
  • 2024-2025: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Chase Blackburn, who was fired mid-season by the Los Angeles Rams and is currently the assistant special teams coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
  • 2018-2021: Carolina Panthers
  • 2023-2025: Los Angeles Rams

The coach with the most connections to head coach Matt LaFleur here is probably Marquice Williams, who served as special teams coordinator under both Arthur Smith, a former assistant under LaFleur in Tennessee, and Raheem Morris, a close friend of Matt’s who has previously coached with him at previous stops, in Atlanta. Williams was also the only coordinator who wasn’t fired by his 2025 head coach among this group of four.

Worth noting here that Derius Swinton II, the Raiders’ interim special teams coordinator after McMahon was fired, and Ben Kotwica, the Rams’ interim special teams coordinator after Blackburn, haven’t been hired to coordinator roles in 2026 and are available to interview for the Packers’ vacancy without being blocked. Swinton is the senior assistant special teams coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was previously the special teams coordinator of the 2016 San Francisco 49ers and 2021 Los Angeles Chargers. Kotwica is the senior special teams assistant for the Baltimore Ravens, and he was previously the special teams coordinator of the New York Jets (2009-2012), Washington Redskins (2014-2018), Atlanta Falcons (2019-2020) and Denver Broncos (2023-2024) before his time in Los Angeles. Kotwica and LaFleur did not overlap in their time in Washington.

Special teams coordinators with whom LaFleur overlapped in his time in the NFL (beyond Green Bay) are:

• Joe Marciano (2008-2009 Houston Texans), who is 72 and hasn’t coached since 2018.
• Danny Smith (2010-2012 Washington Redskins), who is now the coordinator in Tampa.
• Keith Burns (2013 Washington Redskins), who is currently the special teams coordinator at Howard.
• Keith Armstrong (2015-2016 Atlanta Falcons), who last coached in the NFL in 2023 with the Buccaneers.
• John Fassel (2017 Los Angeles Rams), who is assistant head coach and special teams coordinator with the Tennessee Titans.
• Craig Aukerman (2018 Tennessee Titans), who is the special teams coordinator of the Falcons.

Of the 11 special teams coordinators hired this year, 10 of them have been NFL to NFL hires, as the college rules on special teams are very different than the league’s. In college, players on the punt team can free release at the line of scrimmage before the ball is punted, which completely changes how that play operates (this is why they rugby kick). College football also uses the traditional kickoff, rather than the NFL’s dynamic kickoff. For the most part, NFL special teams coaches are in their bubble and college special teams coaches are in another bubble, with not that much crossover.

The one exception hire this year was Joe DeCamillis, who went to the Raiders by way of South Carolina. DeCamillis has previous NFL experience, as he coached in the league from 1991 to 2022, and served under South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer, whose father, Frank Beamer, consistently won football games at the college level as head coach of Virginia Tech with defense and special teams, in a style of play that was famously branded as “Beamer Ball.” So that’s sort of a one-of-one scenario.

Beyond DeCamillis, only two other current special teams coordinators have made the jump from the college level. They are the Indianapolis Colts’ Brian Mason, who was a college special teams coordinator from 2018 to 2022 and had no prior NFL experience, and the Seattle Seahawks’ Jay Harbaugh, who had been in the league from 2012 to 2014 and coached from 2015 to 2023 under his father, now Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, at Michigan. Jay Harbaugh and Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald overlapped in their time together at Michigan.

Of the 31 currently employed NFL special teams coordinators, only one of them, Mason, was a true college coach before making the jump into the league. I’d guess that LaFleur will hire someone with NFL experience, either one of the names we’ve listed — coaches who have cycled out of the league recently — or a promotion for a coach currently on another roster.

It’s worth mentioning here that Byron Storer, who was Bisaccia’s assistant at four stops dating back to the 2010 season, was hired to be the Cleveland Browns’ special teams coordinator in 2026. Previously, Storer was the assistant special teams coach in Green Bay from 2022 to 2025. The only remaining member of the Packers’ three-man special teams room is Cory Harkey, who served in a special teams quality control coach role in 2025 after spending the 2022 to 2024 seasons as the Buffalo Bills’ assistant special teams coach under special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley, who was out of the league in 2025.