Bills
The 2023 season didn’t end the way Bills HC Sean McDermott wanted it to for his team. He noted the players responded well to staff changes and believes the team has grown and was successful despite not finishing the season with a Super Bowl victory.
“It wasn’t a surprise. Those moves, those staff changes are always tough, they’re not fun in any way, shape or form, but I was not surprised by how our team responded, I wasn’t,” McDermott said in an interview with Tom Pelissero. “And so I t hink it says a lot about the character of the people in our building, and again a successful season, to be able to regroup and get done what we got done. But we’re all still with one eye on the world championship, that’s what drives us every morning when we get up.”
“I think like anything, when you talk about the Bills, whether it’s Josh, myself, our team, we’ve had so much success,” McDermott added. “What’s left for Josh and for all of us is to take that one more step that we need to take. To say we haven’t had success or Josh hasn’t had success, I think would be kind of narrow-minded. It’s hard to win in the NFL, so you kind of regroup every year, and you take it one game at a time. But we’re all looking for Josh to really be that face of the franchise, like he’s been, and continuing to evolve, like he’s always done.”
“Every year you start anew, and you keep that first game in front of you and that’s what you focus on. People want to say this and that, but every year is different,” McDermott concluded. “We’ve had to make a lot of changes to get underneath the cap, let’s just start there. So with our roster right now, we’re a work in progress, and we’ll see where we get to, but the most important thing is that everyone understands their roles and embraces their roles.”
- The Bills are hosting a top-30 visit for Northern Iowa DT Khristian Boyd, per Ryan Fowler.
Jets
New Dolphins OLB Shaquil Barrett said he was talking with the Jets and had an interest in heading to New York before Miami jumped in with a better proposal.
“My agent was talking to me about potentially going to New York, and it was New York all the way up until . . . the day I ended up agreeing to terms with the Dolphins,” Barrett said, via CBS Sports’ Zach Gelb. “And they just came out of left field. I loved the prospect of going to New York, but Dolphins, like they’re just more established as a team. They’re more proven at this point. And they’ve got some good guys in the room, like my pash-rush room, so I was looking forward to partnering up with them guys. And no state tax, that helps out a lot.”
Patriots
Former Patriots CB Jason McCourty appeared on Good Morning Football and commented on what type of coach he believes Patriots HC Jerod Mayo can be in his first year with the franchise.
“I didn’t get a chance to play for Mike McDaniel, but I got a chance to meet with him. I was injured and was still in the building in March [when he was hired], and we sat down and talked for probably 30-40 minutes. The first time I ever met him — the quirkiness, and the things about him we’ve all seen transpire over the last two years — that’s who he was,” McCourty said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN. “So I look at it for Jerod, the best thing you can do for yourself is be yourself, and be honest. I think the worst thing that can possibly happen is for players to see you act one way for however many years that he’s been there as a linebackers coach, and next thing you know you become the head guy and you totally flip because now more things fall on you and you have to make more decisions.”
“As rough around the edges as people say Bill [Belichick] is, when I was a free agent that last year, he called me to check in multiple times throughout free agency. The first time it was to say, ‘Hey, you know how much we love you here, but at this time we’re not looking to sign you.’ And the last time was ‘If you have other opportunities, you should explore them.’ So I think as a player you can appreciate that,” McCourty continued. “From Jerod, I think as long as he keeps that the main thing, him being a players’ coach — or however you want to phrase it — I think that’s who he is. So inviting family in, showing guys ‘Hey, this is who I am, this is who I’m going to be every single day whether we win or whether we lose,’ I think that can go a long way.”
McCourty was a teammate of Mayo and compared his leadership style from their time as players in New England to what Chiefs HC Andy Reid brings to the table in Kansas City.
“They call him ‘Big Red.’ They laugh with him and talk about eating cheeseburgers and all those things,” McCourty noted. “I called their game in Germany and they were going through some things, and I remember talking to Travis Kelce and he was like, ‘Big Red had to get after us in the team meeting room, and he let us know exactly where we stood as a football team.’ I think that’s who Mayo probably was as a player. It’s no different from when you’re leading a huddle and you have to tell a guy about himself, but you’re also enjoying moments with those guys in the locker room. I think you can do both, but you have to set a standard and an expectation for what it’s going to be, and you live up to that every single day.”
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