Browns
- Earlier this week, former Giants HC Ben McAdoo interviewed for the Browns’ offensive coordinator job. (NFLTR)
- Josina Anderson spoke to a source about how the interview with Cleveland went: “It went fine. Just not going to rush into anything.“
Raiders
Raiders HC Jon Gruden mentioned during an interview with Pro Football Talk that he really got the itch to return to the sidelines after he was inducted into the Buccaneers’ Ring of Honor.
“You know, we had an event, Mike, in Tampa,” Gruden said. “We had a Monday night game in Tampa, and there was a Ring of Honor event that I was a part of down on the field, and I got to be around 60 or 70 of my ex-players in Tampa. It just hit me like a brick. I just missed being around those guys, I missed being around that coaching environment, and I got all choked up emotionally. I remember driving home that night thinking, ‘I gotta get back on the field, I just wanna be a part of a team again, and see if I can help somebody. So I think that was the signature moment for me really.”
Gruden explained that his job with ESPN really helped him gain a large perspective of the league he would not have had if he had remained in coaching.
“I remember when I was a coach for the Raiders in 1998,” Gruden said. “I was always wondering what was Marty Schottenheimer doing on the practice field. I wonder what their weight room looks like. I wonder what their practice facility’s like. I wonder what’s going on in Kansas City. And over the last several years I’ve had a chance to sit down and talk to the head coach, see their training rooms, see their facilities, watch them practice. So it has made me certainly a lot more well-rounded. I’ve had a chance to see things I never got to see before when I was a head coach.”
Ravens
The Ravens decided to promote Don “Wink” Martindale to defensive coordinator a few weeks, despite some notable options being available.
Martindale says he believes he’s the right guy for the guy understands the expectations for him moving forward.
“I think any coach worth his salt thinks he’s the right guy for the job,” Martindale said, via ESPN.com. “I’ve been preparing for this job all my life and I understand what comes with this job with this great organization. I think it’s one of the great challenges there is in the National Football League.”
Martindale is stressing improvement in terms of finishing out games and situational football.
“The finishing part, we’re close,” Martindale said. “Obviously the last two years, it’s been the last play that’s knocked us out of it. We are going to work diligently — all of us — with our package and situational football. That’s going to be the next step, I think, that will skyrocket us. That’s the big thing that I see. We’re going to take our good and make it great. We were really good. Let’s make it great.”
Steelers
- Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell missed practically the entire Saturday walk-through the day before their playoff game against the Jaguars last weekend.
- According to Bouchette, Bell showed up around five minutes before the practice had ended.
- We have him featured in our Top 100 – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.
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