Archives for January 2017

'As a rule, scouts find watching how the prospects handle the practice week more valuable than seeing them perform in Saturday's game. Numerous substitutions and an uneven level of competition against fellow collegians limit their ability to get a true picture of how the players will perform in the NFL.'

'And Bender cited one reason in court papers: Wolfson sold Spikes an $8,000 custom-made half-circle aquarium “that proved to be inadequate for the type and number of tropical fish owned by Mr. Spikes.”'

'Of all players, Kelly is one that will be put through the ringer in team interviews. He was dismissed from his first high school team and then dismissed from Clemson after getting in an argument with coaches. He committed to Ole Miss in December of 2014 and weeks later was arrested at a Buffalo nightclub after making gun threats and resisting arrest. This fall, Kelly stormed onto the field at a high school football game when his brother was involved in a brawl.'

'The only teams with worse odds than the Bills are the New York Jets (+12000), Los Angeles Rams (+12000), Chicago Bears (+15000), San Francisco 49ers (+20000) and the Cleveland Browns (+25000).'

'"Well, you always want to get more information on a guy, especially in a setting like this," Whaley said. "But it's one of those things where, obviously, him and his camp decided that was the best for him and then you respect that decision. We'll just do more work on him."'

'"The process basically is, we're going to sit down with every position coach and the coordinator and the head coach, and they're going to have time to look at the guys on our roster right now, be them free agents, be them restricted free agents, and be them guys that are under contract," Whaley said "What we want to have them do is explain their vision of the player in their system that they're going to run. So that's the process. Then we go from there and assign a value."'

'The biggest knock on Taylor in 2016 was that the passing offense struggled. Buffalo finished 30th in the league in passing yards, but Taylor shouldn't receive all of the blame for the team's passing woes. Buffalo's offensive line struggled in pass protection and Taylor spent a good portion of the year without his top receiver, Sammy Watkins.'

'"Yeah, there were times when we just lacked discipline on the football field during games," Bush said. "It showed up. There's times where during practices, you usually can tell how your team is going to play based on how you prepare, right? I feel like there were a few times where maybe we weren't as focused. And it's not all on the head coach, because collectively there's a lot of other coaches there that have to do their job as well. I feel like there were times where it was a little bit too loose and we could have been a little bit more disciplined in this area or that area. Again, that's not to say that it can't work, it just didn't work for our team."'

'Culley has not been a quarterbacks coach since he coached Southwestern Louisiana's quarterbacks from 1985 to 1988. He also coached Middle Tennessee's quarterbacks in 1982 but otherwise has spent most of his time as a wide receivers coach.'

'For the most part, this even is a great chance for players to boost their draft stock and an even better chance for teams to get closer looks at certain players. There's plenty to gain for the prospects but also plenty to lose in some instances.'

'Culley will work under newly hired offensive coordinator Rick Dennison.'

'Culley spent the first 15 years of his coaching career among the college ranks with Austin Peay, Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee State, Chattanooga, Southwestern Louisiana, Texas El-Paso and Texas A&M.'

'A lawsuit filed more than two years ago by "The Fish Guy," an aquatic services company in Massachusetts, against Buffalo Bills linebacker Brandon Spikes resulted in a portion of Spikes' paychecks being garnished this past season.'

'Considering he’s only 30 years old and has never coached at any level, Hall may very well be hired for an entry-level coaching position, such as a quality-control spot. However, the team has yet to announce the status of wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal going forward.'

'Brown would fit the profile of veteran hires new head coach Sean McDermott has already made to his staff. He’s 56 and has been coaching in the NFL or major college football since 1995. Here’s a look at his coaching stops, via his Wikipedia page, although he is no longer on the Titans staff, not retained when Mike Mularley took over last offseason…'.