Leslie Frazier visits with 3 teams

[Jerome007]

14 hours ago, transient said:

Looking more and more like the Bills and Frazier tried to find a way of moving on while crafting a narrative that would be the least damaging to his future coaching prospects. 

Indeed. Yet, this is not a boys league. Sure, even for grown men you have to protect their egos, but to that extent? Coaching (and roster) changes happen all the time. When done with class, it doesn't hurt the dude's change of getting rehired.

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, NewEra said:

I think this is ridiculous.  He’s going to get a HC job by talking to other coaching staffs to see how staffs work?  His best (and only) chance to be a HC would be to coach this D to a SB imo.  
 
Why step out of the league for a year at his age if is goal was  How would that get him a HC?  Talking to people?  🤷🏻‍♂️ doesn’t seem like a smart idea to me. 
 

I agree that he’ll have another DC position next year (if that’s what he wants).  If he wanted a DC job….. he had one.  A great one with a loaded D and SB aspirations.  
 

McD wanted to make changes to the D and call the plays.  Leslie would’ve taken a hit to his reputation (and his chances of becoming a HC) if that was announced.  
 

I really can’t believe people think this was all Leslie’s decision.  Do you believe this was Leslie’s decision and that McD is only calling plays due to the timing of it all?  
 

The writing was on the wall.  It was time for change.  McD wanted full control of the D.  He has it.  

 

Go back to my posts the day it happened and you will see me saying "this doesn't come out of the blue over a weekend." But I changed my tune because it actually did. I really believe the decision to walk away was Leslie's decision because I have been told it was Leslie's decision. Not just by the team publicly but by people who have spoken to people inside the building privately. Do I think that there may have been some conversations about changes to the defense that maybe he wasn't comfortable with that might have factored into his decision? Yes. But Leslie was on board, the team were totally expecting him to be here then they took a week off after their initial self-scouting part of the offseason and he returned and said he wanted to step away. That is what happened. 

 

As for the talking to other staffs, that is not uncommon for guys who step out. Jeff Fisher did it after the Titans, Mike McCarthy did it after the Packers. I get it, they were both fired. Leslie wasn't. I don't think he will ever be a Head Coach again, but if that is his aim and he felt like he needed to re-fresh himself for that then I absolutely see taking time out and going to visit other coaches as a good move. Pep Guardiola walked away from Barcelona and out on the best club team arguably in football history to go and take a year visiting other coaches and learning. It's a thing coaches do to try and broaden their own perspectives. 

[Don Otreply]

Imo, Leslie Frazier knows damn well what he has needed to do to become a realistic HC candidate, he just has refused to do it, ie; show that he will make meaningful in game adjustments, and he won’t do it, and absolutely everyone knows this about him.  Leslie stated as much in an interview, mind boggling as that is. He repeatedly wouldn’t do it in the post season when games were on the line, so who in their right mind is going to hire him for a HCing position?

 

It was indeed Leslie’s decision to walk away, and that was because he was going to have to do one of two things, have a reduced role, or get fired, so he chose being “let go” under the guise of “stepping away” for a year, 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by Don Otreply

[Just in Atlanta]

Frazier made the Bills into a top 3 defense multiple years running with a regular season consistency that is rare.

 

He failed, repeatedly, in the playoffs. Part, or a lot, of that blame (and praise) rests on the head coach. We fans have no clue where those nuances lie. 

 

On another note, taking a sabbatical does not mean lounging by the pool or playing xbox. He's looking at options. 

 

He is well liked and well respected, as far as I can tell. 

 

He'll become a head coach soon. 

 

 

[strive_for_five_guy]

13 hours ago, JerseyBills said:

Ya I think McD got in Beanes ear and said enough is enough and that he has the confidence he can take this D to another level, with full control.  Which is hard considering how good they been but we all know they fell short in many big games

 

Even looking at Fraziers demeanor,  he rarely or never shows emotion or intensity and that showed through the years, even though they were a great unit.

 

McD will bring that intensity 

Given Frazier’s aspirations to become a HC again, I’ve been wondering whether he’s been half-distracted come playoff time because he’s also trying to land a HC gig at the same time.  Could be wrong about that, but maybe McD’s been thinking something similar and that’s why he’s ready to take more control versus someone else coming in and doing the same thing in the playoffs.

[NewEra]

8 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Go back to my posts the day it happened and you will see me saying "this doesn't come out of the blue over a weekend." But I changed my tune because it actually did. I really believe the decision to walk away was Leslie's decision because I have been told it was Leslie's decision. Not just by the team publicly but by people who have spoken to people inside the building privately. Do I think that there may have been some conversations about changes to the defense that maybe he wasn't comfortable with that might have factored into his decision? Yes. But Leslie was on board, the team were totally expecting him to be here then they took a week off after their initial self-scouting part of the offseason and he returned and said he wanted to step away. That is what happened. 

 

As for the talking to other staffs, that is not uncommon for guys who step out. Jeff Fisher did it after the Titans, Mike McCarthy did it after the Packers. I get it, they were both fired. Leslie wasn't. I don't think he will ever be a Head Coach again, but if that is his aim and he felt like he needed to re-fresh himself for that then I absolutely see taking time out and going to visit other coaches as a good move. Pep Guardiola walked away from Barcelona and out on the best club team arguably in football history to go and take a year visiting other coaches and learning. It's a thing coaches do to try and broaden their own perspectives. 

How old was Pep when he stepped away for a year?  That was his first coaching job iirc?  This is like McVay stepping away.  A young stud coach.  Fraziers situations is nothing like peps was.   Frazier is old has been getting bypassed for HC vacancies for younger coaches year after year for a decade after getting fired.  I don’t see how stepping away and talking to people will get him any closer to a HC job at his age. Winning a SB with a great team may have.  We shall see.  
 

I agree that what you said could have happened….but I feel that the people that informed you of this left out some details that would change the dynamics of the conversation.    As in, mcdermott wanted to call the D.  We’ll never know.
 

McDs job is on the line going forward.  Allowing Leslie to continue to call the D would be putting his career in the hands of Leslie.  I think mcdermott was determined to take on the challenge and seize his destiny.  
 

jmo of course.  

[John from Riverside]

All I know is we got destroyed in that Bengals game and it just looked like we were playing so passive

 

That had to be a very uncomfortable film review for the coaches, the biggest game of the year and playing defensive back 7 yards off the line of scrimmage

[GunnerBill]

2 minutes ago, NewEra said:

How old was Pep when he stepped away for a year?  That was his first coaching job iirc?  This is like McVay stepping away.  A young stud coach.  Fraziers situations is nothing like peps was.   Frazier is old has been getting bypassed for HC vacancies for younger coaches year after year for a decade after getting fired.  I don’t see how stepping away and talking to people will get him any closer to a HC job at his age. Winning a SB with a great team may have.  We shall see.  
 

I agree that what you said could have happened….but I feel that the people that informed you of this left out some details that would change the dynamics of the conversation.    As in, mcdermott wanted to call the D.  We’ll never know.
 

McDs job is on the line going forward.  Allowing Leslie to continue to call the D would be putting his career in the hands of Leslie.  I think mcdermott was determined to take on the challenge and seize his destiny.  
 

jmo of course.  

 

I mean McVay almost did step away. I am not arguing stepping away will get Leslie a HC job. But look at it from his perspective... having a top 10 defense year after year wasn't either. I get the "win a superbowl that will do it" argument but actually the number of coordinators who get hired the same year they win a Superbowl is very small. Kevin O'Connell did it last year and Frank Reich did it (although in very unusual circumstances) but they are the only two I can come up with off the top of my head in the last 20 years. 

[NewEra]

10 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I mean McVay almost did step away. I am not arguing stepping away will get Leslie a HC job. But look at it from his perspective... having a top 10 defense year after year wasn't either. I get the "win a superbowl that will do it" argument but actually the number of coordinators who get hired the same year they win a Superbowl is very small. Kevin O'Connell did it last year and Frank Reich did it (although in very unusual circumstances) but they are the only two I can come up with off the top of my head in the last 20 years. 

agree to disagree.
 

If becoming a HC is his goal, I don’t see how this makes any sense….. unless he was told McD was taking over the play calling.  
 

but then again, there are millions of stupid decisions made on a daily basis.  

[Brand J]

1 hour ago, Herb Nightly said:

Just fire the guy and own up to it. Bills haven't fooled anybody with this "taking a year off " crap. 

I don’t know. Some on this board still believe the decision to leave was 100% Frazier’s and that if he wanted to be the Bills DC this season, he would’ve been. I said it before, to get the real truth you’d have to ask McD himself, or Brandon Beane. Anything coming from Frazier’s camp or the people he knows, wouldn’t have the nitty gritty details in their entirety. Coordinator jobs are few and far between, highly coveted; seconded only to head coach. Sorry if I don’t believe in the narrative being pushed out there. 

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

Commanders and Giants on the schedule, so hopefully one of those teams hire him.

 

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by ControllerOfPlanetX

[GerstAusGosheim]

17 hours ago, Gugny said:

The most polite firing of all time. 

You spelled Political wrong. Can't fire a black DC with a top 10 D in 2023. He was pushed out and it was spun as Leslie "taking a year off" to make it sound like his decision. 

[GerstAusGosheim]

17 hours ago, transient said:

Looking more and more like the Bills and Frazier tried to find a way of moving on while crafting a narrative that would be the least damaging to his future coaching prospects. 

Nah, the Bills just didn't want the backlash for firing a very successful black coach. They did him no favors. 

[BigAl2526]

The more I hear, the more it seems as if the Bills wanted to move on from Leslie Frasier and the year off was a way to allow him to save face and perhaps avoid the negative impact on future employment possibilities that firing him would have.  The only questions with that scenario are why the Bills waited so long to announce the year "sabbatical."   If they had, they could have hired a defensive coordinator right away rather than Sean McDermott having to do two jobs.  If that's what happened, perhaps it is a clue that Sean McDermott was itching to do the defensive coordinator job himself for a while.  

[Gugny]

17 minutes ago, GerstAusGosheim said:

You spelled Political wrong. Can't fire a black DC with a top 10 D in 2023. He was pushed out and it was spun as Leslie "taking a year off" to make it sound like his decision. 

Top D against crappy starting QBs in the regular season. 
 

Absolute crap D against teams actually built to get to the Super Bowl. 
 

Good riddance. 

[Thurman#1]

18 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

Following the league’s annual head coach accelerator program. So much for spending time at home and taking the year off to assess.
 

https://sports.yahoo.com/former-bills-coach-leslie-frazier-144540446.html

 

 

 

Seriously? Good lord, dude!

 

He spends two days each with three teams, and you're saying it now doesn't count as taking the year off?

 

Again, good lord!!!

 

If he puts down the pina colada before he finishes it, is that also not a year off? Jeez.

 

[transient]

43 minutes ago, GerstAusGosheim said:

Nah, the Bills just didn't want the backlash for firing a very successful black coach. They did him no favors. 

Except that after the KC game last year, and both the Miami and Cinci playoff games this year, it would have been easily justifiable to outright fire him and still “manage the optics” regardless of his race and regular season numbers. They’re a SB contending team whose defense, which leads many metrics in-season, sucks ass in the clutch.
 

The way they approached it may be completely transparent, and it isn’t likely to change a thing in the end, but they approached it this way to try and let Frazier save face IMO. 

[Chandler#81]

‘Of course! Take as much time as you need! Btw, get your resume out..’

[Thurman#1]

3 hours ago, NewEra said:

I think this is ridiculous.  He’s going to get a HC job by talking to other coaching staffs to see how staffs work?  His best (and only) chance to be a HC would be to coach this D to a SB imo.  
 
Why step out of the league for a year at his age if is goal was  How would that get him a HC?  Talking to people?  🤷🏻‍♂️ doesn’t seem like a smart idea to me. 
 

I agree that he’ll have another DC position next year (if that’s what he wants).  If he wanted a DC job….. he had one.  A great one with a loaded D and SB aspirations.  
 

McD wanted to make changes to the D and call the plays.  Leslie would’ve taken a hit to his reputation (and his chances of becoming a HC) if that was announced.  
 

I really can’t believe people think this was all Leslie’s decision.  Do you believe this was Leslie’s decision and that McD is only calling plays due to the timing of it all?  
 

The writing was on the wall.  It was time for change.  McD wanted full control of the D.  He has it.  

 

 

We believe that it was his decision because everyone says so, including the reporters who know the guy and would have good reason to have a juicy opinion about it.

 

It almost certainly was exactly that.

 

And yeah, he had this DC job, but if anybody is aware that being the DC on this team isn't enough to get him a head coach job, it's Frazier. He's done a terrific job. And somewhat fairly, McDermott gets most of the credit. Bienemy wasn't getting anything OCing under Reid and Frazier had the same problem. Even two SB wins didn't get him a head coaching job because the credit went to Reid.

 

And Bieniemy is a lot younger than Frazier.

 

It just would not have hurt Frazier to be fired from this job. McD might very well have hired another DC if it had been early enough in the process that this happened.

 

I get it. It's much more dramatic and a better story this way, and everybody loves a conspiracy theory. But there's no real reason to think this was anything but what they say it was. If they'd fired him they wouldn't have waited till February 28th. That's five weeks after their season ended. What makes sense there is an older guy realizing that he wasn't as charged up as he'd always been before combined with a feeling that another year at the job he was in wasn't going to get him closer to the job that was his long-time dream.

[C.Biscuit97]

Dude got scapegoated because of a million injuries and only had the 2nd ranked defense in the nfl. That bum never deserves to work again!!!