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Welcome to the first edition of “The Rundown”. This will be a weekly feature on the Buffalo Bills Review website where we’ll collect some of the headlines from One Bills Drive from the week, and offer our take on the latest Bills’ news.
Coaching Carousel
Obviously, with the news of Mike Mularkey’s resignation, the Bills have been hard at work interviewing head coaching candidates. So far they have interviewed:
The talk around this area is mostly bewilderment at the Bills not interviewing either Ted Cottrell or Jim Haslett, two coaches with ties to the organization. Personally, I’d like to see either guy in here. Ted was a great defensive coordinator here, and Jim Haslett has said before that he’s wanted to coach here for the Bills. It’s uncertain why the Bills have chosen not to interview those two guys.
As for the coaches they have brought in here, it seems Mike Sherman might be the best candidate with not only an impressive record as a head coach at Green Bay (53-27), but he also has some experience as a General Manager, which might be beneficial as the new Bills GM is lacking there. He has had some experience in a similar role in the CFL with Montreal, but not in the NFL. Dick Jauron was head coach for the Chicago Bears from 1999-2003, during which he was awarded the Associated Press Coach of the Year award (2001). Most recently he took over the interim head coaching job in Detroit when the Lions fired Steve Mariucci. Jauron also has Buffalo ties as he was the Bills’ defensive backs coach in 1985.
James Lofton is currently the receivers coach with the San Diego Chargers. There is speculation within the local media that Lofton was brought in to satisfy the league mandate that an organization must interview at least one “minority” candidate for a vacant head coaching position. Even if that was the case, it’s nice for Lofton, who is now receiving other interview for coaching positions around the league. Always good to see former Bills doing well. 🙂
The Bills have also interviewed special teams coach Bobby April, and just today they are interviewing former Texans coach Dom Capers. Like Jauron, Capers also has 20 years of NFL coaching experience.
It is still very uncertain at this point who the Bills will select as their next head coach, but a decision should be made very soon. Last week, Bills GM Marv Levy was ruled out as a possible candidate. There was great speculation there as well that the 80 year old Hall of Fame coach might return to the side lines where he took the team to four straight Super Bowls from 1990-1993.
The Bills will likely continue to interview possible head coaches over the next week or two, but look for a decision to be announced soon, so that the new head man can begin planning for next season, and assembling his support staff.
Free Agent Signings
The Bills announced the signing of several free agents yesterday (1/19). Most of the players were assigned to the NFL Europe. Several of the players were with the Bills last year on the practice squad. There are no players with significant experience on this list. There are some with impressive college credentials. Fred Jackson was the United Indoor Football league’s MVP last season. But, I’d have to say these are not “major announcements”.
For the complete list of yesterday’s signings, click here.
Thurman Thomas among Hall of Fame Finalists
This doesn’t qualify as “this week’s news”, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless. Bills RB Thurman Thomas has made the list of 15 finalists for induction into the NFL Hall of Fame. This is the first year that Thomas is eligible for such an honor. His career with the Bills was outstanding, leading the league in total yards from scrimmage several years in a row and even garnered the MVP award for his performance in the 1991 season.
If ever a rookie entrant were deserving, BBR says Thurman Thomas should be in Canton this summer.
That’s a wrap for the first edition of TheRunDown. If you have any Bills news from this week, or comments on stuff we covered here, please add your comments below!
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