NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Falcons, Saints

Buccaneers

Regarding the NFL’s allowing teams to use alternate helmets, Buccaneers COO Brian Ford said their ownership, fanbase, and “entire organization” has been eager to use its original “Bucco Bruce” logo from 1976-1996 with its creamsicle uniforms. 

“It’s very important to our fan base, as well as the Glazer family and our entire organization,” Ford said, via Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times. “We love to kind of reminisce and play some ’70s and ’80s music and bring out the big pom-poms and the creamsicle. So it’s not a question of if, it’s just when, and we’ll definitely keep you posted.”

Falcons

New Falcons’ HC Arthur Smith is thankful for the time spent with the Titans and HC Mike Vrabel.

“I will always be very loyal and grateful for Mike Vrabel,” Smith said, via Chris Collinsworth’s podcast. “There were a lot of lessons learned, and I can’t say enough about Mike Vrabel’s leadership at that time… I got to experience a lot and came out the other side.” 

Saints

The Saints have been at the cutting edge of salary cap innovation for years and the man who plays a key role in that is VP of football administration Khai Harley. This year in particular was challenging, as instead of a $10 million increase to work with, Harley had to navigate a $13 million decrease because of the pandemic. The Saints were projected to be $100 million in the red at one point but Harley’s years of planning meant there wasn’t anything close to that same level of consternation in the building. 

“When one puzzle piece comes in, you sort of figure out where that fits and that allows you to look at other things,” Harley said via NOLA.com’s Luke Johnson. “… From the outside looking in everybody thinks the sky is falling and we sort of know what our plans are and know what steps need to be taken. Sometimes those are difficult decisions, but decisions that we have to make nonetheless.”

For as important as he is to the Saints and the NFL, Harley’s name isn’t known much outside of league circles or cap experts. That could change soon, though. Harley participated this week in the Ozzie Newsome GM Forum and the rising star seemed to acknowledged a move to general manager is one of his goals. 

“Everybody involved in the GM forum, I think, has a desire to be a GM at some point in time in their careers,” Harley said.