Unsolved Mysteries: Bills Turn to Brady, Browns Still Searching, and Andy Reid's Spin

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1:07Welcome to the Ringer NFL Show. I'm your host, Shiel Kapadia. Today we are doing Unsolved Mysteries. We got a lot going on in the NFL right now, aside from the Super Bowl. We have coaching stuff. Joe Brady taking over the Bills, replacing Sean McDermott. We've got the Cleveland Browns. Can they find a coach? What's going on in Cleveland? And then some weird stuff happening in Kansas City as Andy Reid kind of shakes up his coaching staff. I wanted to get to that as well. Our guest today is the Ringers, Billy Gill. He will join me for these unsolved mysteries. Let's take a break. We come back with Billy.

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2:34All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show with Billy Gill. We are running back some unsolved mysteries, Billy. And the first unsolved mystery we are going to Western New York. Do not call it upstate New York. It is Western New York. The Buffalo Bills have a new head coach. They are promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady. So the unsolved mystery here, Billy, is why did the Bills fire Sean McDermott? So what do you say here before I give some theories that I have?

3:06Sheil Kapadia:Okay, I'm interested in your theories because I'm kind of wondering if it's very deep other than just it wasn't working. with Sean McDermott. He had a nice run. He had like nine seasons, eight of the nine seasons. He takes them to the playoffs. Six of those seasons, they win a playoff game, but they could only get to the AFC Championship game. They lost both of those to the Chiefs. This year, they exited in the divisional round and what seemed like it was going to be their easiest path so far. So could it be more complicated? And I guess you're going to tell me that it is than just he can't get us over this hump.

3:40It might not be that that much more complicated than that. But my question is like, what problem are they solving? You know, they didn't say we need a refresh. We need to bring in some new ideas. We need a new voice in here, you know, set the culture. They're just kind of promoting the OC that's already been there. Now the offense hasn't been a problem, but I think Joe Brady's done a good job, but it's not like the offense stunk without Joe Brady. I mean, they've had a top five offense for like six years in a row. And that's with three different offensive coordinators. That's because Josh Allen's very good at football.

4:11The offensive line has been very good and very healthy. And then they've rotated some other pieces around. So I'm trying to zoom out here and look at the process, Billy, because I feel like there's a lot of spin coming out of Buffalo. Ever since that press conference with the owner, there are two things that just when I have gone on social media today, that it feels like the Buffalo Bills want to make clear. One is that Joe Brady is a CEO type head coach. You know, they were looking for that. He came in during the interview and he proved this guy's going to be a leader. Okay. If you say so, Buffalo.

4:47And the other one is this, which I think actually gets to the answer for why did they fire Sean McDermott. I think the simplest answer, Billy, is Josh Allen felt like they needed to shake things up. Josh Allen likes Joe Brady. And so they hired Joe Brady. So I don't know if you're up on the reporting with this. but Josh Allen was in on all the interviews for all these head coaches. Josh Allen gave his opinion on all this stuff. But the reporting that I'm seeing from the insiders, do not put it in the newspaper. Do not put it on social media. Do not put it anywhere that Josh Allen picked the head coach.

5:26Okay. He just gave his opinion, Billy. But then they said, see you later, Josh. Go get something to eat. We're going to decide who the head coach should be. I don't know if you believe that, Billy. I don't necessarily believe that, but I think that could be the simplest answer to what went on here in Buffalo.

5:42Sheil Kapadia:You were saying it's weird because they didn't shake things up a bit. And then you were saying, you know, there's rumblings out there that Josh Allen, soon to be father Josh Allen, who has a lot of things on his mind and he's probably going out there. I don't know if he has a registry out there, but, you know, now that it's the off season, he's probably getting ahead. Maybe he's starting, you know, to build the bassinet. Maybe he's starting to put the crib together, going out, testing his car, seeing if the car seat fits exactly, deciding what kind of stroller do we want. There's a lot going on in that man's life right now.

6:13Sheil Kapadia:First time father, a lot of things happening. So maybe we give him the benefit of the doubt and we say he just gave us two cents and then he left. But I don't think that there was a lot of a reported rift between Sean McDermott and Josh Allen, where it was a power struggle and he forced Sean out, right? But decision was made to get Sean out. I think they were looking for a friendly person for Josh Allen to cater to Josh Allen, let's say, because he is their franchise, right? So you don't want to fire your head coach after having a lot of success, not the ultimate success, but a lot of success, and then hit a reset button when your franchise quarterback is 29, he's visibly getting frustrated at the outcomes of the season.

6:59Sheil Kapadia:Now you bring in someone who wants to decide, you know what, we're on the boss. I'm going to kind of make a stink. Everybody has to get in line. We're doing things a new way. What's the point of upsetting, you know, the former MVP of the league with that? Yeah, I think that's fair. I think there's something to it. It feels like the owner looked around after that loss, saw that Josh Allen was very emotional after the loss, said, we're going to switch things up. You know, I can't see my guy, Josh, this sad after a loss again next year. We need to find someone else. but then they didn't really have a plan.

7:31Then they do the weird press conference. There's the Keyon Coleman thing. There's Bagoulas all over the place. Brandon Bean's taking heat. And now after all that, they're like, we're just going to promote the guy who was already in the building. Now, having said all that, it could work out because to what you're saying with Josh Allen, you're probably going to win at least 11 games. Here's the issue with the Buffalo Bills conversation. We can't really identify why they have not made the Super Bowl yet because it's not the same thing every year. You know, the one year, I mismanaged the 13 seconds game.

8:02The next year, it's Sean McDermott's defense is getting lit up by the Chiefs. They can't get a stop. This last year, I would say Josh Allen didn't really play well in the playoffs and turned the football over and missed a throw late, and the defense actually did its part there. But you can't, you know, when you're shaping the narrative as an organization, when you're making a big move to get rid of a head coach, you can't be that nuanced with it. And so there's randomness in football. You have to say, no, this guy, Sean McDermott, he's the reason we failed. And we have a great idea for why we're going to be better.

8:35We're going to bring in our offensive coordinator, get us over the hump.

8:38Sheil Kapadia:I think the crazy thing about it is if you were to get like a theme of what has been the problem for the Bills on this run, where they've made the playoffs so many times and failed, a lot of it could be roster construction, right? Of course. And the person who's responsible for roster construction, got promoted and made himself president of the team. And they got rid of the head coach. And now you're just kind of like, okay, so let's toss Josh a bone there. And what you were saying is right. This season, honestly, it came down to a bad game from Josh Allen because it was right there for them. They could have won that game.

9:14Sheil Kapadia:They could have been in the AFC championship game again. They could have made it to the super bowl, but Josh had too many turnovers. You had that weird call where they didn't look it over again. And it was just like a lot of things didn't line up for the bills, but it comes down to the roster construction and it comes down to Brandon Bean. And he is the one who has kind of been letting them down. I mean, like I said, to be clear, it could be fine. You know, like they're probably going to win a lot of games. And I think the offense will be similar to what the offense has been. I do have some concern about Joe Brady's ability to do the other aspects of the job.

9:49Like, what does the coaching staff look like? Are they like, Hey, let's just keep most of the coaching staff. because they were there with Joe Brady. We don't need to change that out. We'll see who they bring in as defensive coordinator. He does have to have the leadership thing, I guess. He does have to have the game management skill, which can be tough when you're calling the game to also be good with the game management. So that's a bit of an unproven thing there. So a lot has happened. You mentioned Bean. What a nine months for Bean. He did the radio show where he yelled at the host because they were talking about the lack of wide receivers and he was upset about it.

10:22then at the trade deadline this year, he tries to trade for wide receivers and he can't land one. And Sean McDermott saying this press conference before the Jaguars game, boy, Jacoby Myers, what a pickup for Jacksonville at the deadline. And there everybody's going, oh, that's a little bit weird. Is he calling out his own general manager for not adding a wide receiver? And then the biggest play of the game is to Brandon Cooks. Like if that was another wide receiver or something, do they have more success? Do they get over the hump? So yes, I think the Bills are the team that's going to be watching this Super Bowl going, that really could have been us.

10:59That really should have been us. And it's not. And we'll try it again next year with Joe Brady. So we'll see what happens with the Buffalo Bills the rest of the offseason. But very strange, strange turn of events from kind of the end of that loss to the Broncos to now where we stand here on January 27th with Joe Brady being their new head coach. All right. Unsolved mystery number two. I don't know if we solved that one, but I think we landed on Josh Allen probably wanted Joe Brady to be the head coach and they didn't have much of a plan otherwise. Yeah, I think that's good. Seems fair. Yeah, that's fair.

11:35All right. Unsolved mystery number two. What is going on, Billy? With the Browns head coaching search. So they fired Kevin Stefanski on January 5th. We're here 22 days later. They still do not have a head coach. we'll see. They might bring in Nate Sheilhaus, the Rams passing game coordinator, which I got to be honest, I don't like a guy named Sheilhaus getting more notoriety because every time someone says it, are you calling my name? Sheilhaus, Sheil Kapadia, me and Joe House. I think I've mentioned this before, but it really throws me off. So maybe just stay over there with the Rams and let's wait a few years before you become a head coach.

12:16But he's a possibility. He's the Rams passing game coordinator. Then you have Jim Schwartz. Remember Jim Schwartz? Was a head coach back in the day for the Lions. Didn't go well. Is the Browns defensive coordinator. He could get hired now. By the Browns, it doesn't seem like it's going great. And you have these reports. Have you seen these reports, Billy, about what they're asking the head coaches to do?

12:38Sheil Kapadia:I have seen what it is that they're asking the coaches to do. And it seems absurd. Would you like to run down what it is that each person needs to do, Sheel? Yeah, this is from Tom Pellicero of NFL Network. He said this during an interview with Rich Eisen that the candidates have to take a personality test. They have to write an essay. They have to complete homework assignments between their first and second round. So if you get the first interview and then you're going to come back for the second interview, you have to complete a homework assignment. There's some questionnaires there as well.

13:11And so you have people say, thanks, but no thanks. I thought it'd be fun to just interview, but I don't want to do all that work. So I'm just going to take my name out of consideration for this head coaching job. I don't know what you make of that.

13:22Sheil Kapadia:I don't know if you saw, well, you saw the clip obviously, but for those who haven't, when Tom was explaining this to Rich Eisen, Rich was dumbfounded by the idea that this, he's like, so hold on a second. Like you need to write an essay saying why I want to become the Browns head coach. He's like, yeah, pretty much. Like, you know, they're very specific. We don't know the essay topic to be fair. That's true. We don't know the essay topic. Yeah, I just want to be fair. It can be like a grammar thing. It may not be pertinent to the job. It's like, we just want to see sentence structure to make sure that we're hiring the right person.

13:51Sheil Kapadia:And the defense was they're very specific and they know exactly what they want. So they want these people basically to jump through these hoops to know that they check all of the boxes because they are very focused on hiring the right coach. Now, since 2002, when the divisions were restructured, there is only one team that has had more head coaches than the Cleveland Browns. That team is the Las Vegas Raiders who are now searching for a head coach again. But beyond that, it's just the Browns. Then the Dolphins are tied with the Browns. And I will say this, if you know exactly what you're looking for, you are not second on the list of hiring head coaches since 2002.

14:34Sheil Kapadia:They have had nine head coaches since 2002. They have a disaster on their hands financially where they're like$30 million over the cap. So they don't even have a flexibility. I was going to say that they have a giant question mark at quarterback, but they don't because they have a Pro Bowl quarterback now in Shadour Sanders. So it seems as though that situation has been resolved. So I guess that is in the plus side. But the Browns are a dysfunctional organization. They have a great defense because of Jim Schwartz. They have Miles Garrett, who set the sack record last season. However, I don't believe that they're in a position to be picky, this picky in terms of head coaching.

15:14Sheil Kapadia:And what I would say to them is what we say to my children and what is said in many, many schools. In terms of your head coaching at this point, in this process, you get what you get and you don't get upset. Don't be so picky about your head coach. Don't make things impossible. You've had countless people say, we're not even interested in applying for this job because of how difficult you're making it. It's not worth the headache. And here they are. They still can't hire a coach. What are they doing? What a surprise. And by the way, they're also telling all of the serious candidates, which should be a massive red flag to Jim Schwartz.

15:50Sheil Kapadia:Hey, by the way, Jim Schwartz is still a very serious candidate for us. But if we decide not to hire him, you need to keep him on as a defensive coordinator. Where if I'm Jim Schwartz, I'm like, if you're telling people this, you're not going to give me this job unless there's no other options. and then you really didn't want me. You're just kind of settling for me. So if I'm Jim Schwartz, I tell him, you know what, you know what, Cleveland? How about you kick rocks? How about that? Jim Schwartz is getting screwed because he would be a hot, you know, defensive coordinator candidate with all these job changes around the NFL.

16:23Like if they just fired him when they fired Kevin Stefanski, he would have had a nice bidding war for his services to be a defensive coordinator. Instead, now if he doesn't get this job, does he have to stay on his defensive coordinator? Are there even other opportunities out there to go be another team's DC? So I actually think Jim Schwartz wouldn't be like the worst outcome for them at this point where it's like, well, at least, you know, the defense is going to be pretty good and you can buy some time here and try to get the roster in order. But yeah, you're absolutely right. I feel like on the surface, all this stuff about the homework and the questionnaires, I'm kind of like, eh, it's not that big.

16:59It's actually not that big of a deal to me, I think, because I'm looking at it this way, Billy. other teams haven't mastered how to hire a head coach. You know, you just mentioned the Raiders and the Dolphins. Like, they're not making people do homework, but they can't figure out who to hire as a head coach. So if you're thinking outside the box and making candidates do that, that's fine. But here's the problem. The Browns have a read the room problem that they've had since the time they traded for Deshaun Watson. And the way they justified that and the guaranteed money they gave him and the way they mocked anybody who questioned it and the arrogance that they, you know, had put in their owner and the owner's wife out there in front of the media and saying, oh, you know, we didn't do any.

17:40I don't want to get the quotes wrong, but it was very tone deaf the way they handled that entire situation. They couldn't read the room. They had a lot of issues there with that. And now they're in this situation where they're in one of the worst spots in the NFL in terms of roster, draft capital, destination. So if you were an attractive team and you said, oh, we got, you know, if you were the Bills, For example, if the Bills made everybody do questionnaires and essays, I would have been like, all right, it's a little weird, but go ahead. That's not going to stop me from interviewing to coach Josh Allen that I have to do an essay.

18:12But if it's, hey, come to Cleveland. We don't have a quarterback. We have a GM in place. We have bad ownership. We have the sixth overall pick. We're in a terrible cap situation. We have no offensive line. Come do an essay. An essay? Are you crazy? Yeah, smell you later. I'm checking out my other option.

18:29Sheil Kapadia:that's the thing about Jim Schwartz that I don't like understand, I guess in this situation, they don't want him, right? It seems as though they don't want Jim Schwartz. You have a fallback plan. He's a fallback plan, but you have guys like the Jags OC, Grant Udinski, who says, you know what? Uh, I changed my mind. I'm going to stay and I'm going to be the OC instead of your head coach. And I'm going to get a pay raise, which by the way, this has been shield. I think a very strange coaching cycle in that I cannot remember it ever happening or definitely not happening as frequently as it has happened where coaches are seemingly accepting coordinator jobs with an asterisk saying I will be your OC like Mike McDaniel in Los Angeles unless I become the Bills head coach or you have um you have Brian Dable you have Brian Dable saying you know what I'm gonna be the Titans OC unless I get the Bills head coaching job.

19:26Sheil Kapadia:And there's a lot of this going on where if I was like the Titans or if I was a chargers or whoever, I would be like, no, like, are you going to be our OC or not? Like you can't handcuff us here and then have us miss out on other candidates because you want to be a head coach, but it's being allowed for whatever reason. So Jim Schwartz, I feel like he has some leverage here. And if I was a Browns, I'd give him the job just because he wants to be there and no one else does. Even amongst the candidates that are remaining, we don't know if any of them want to be the Browns head coach. So why not give it to the guy who actually wants to be there?

20:01You don't have to pay for relocation expenses, right? You don't have to get him a new key card, presumably his thing to get into the building. It's probably a headache.

20:09Sheil Kapadia:I've never done it. Yeah. Yeah. You don't have to give him a tour. He knows where the cafeteria is, where the bathroom is, where everything is. Now I would assume he would get a new office. So that's a little weird. He goes from coordinator office to head coach office. But yeah, I'm with you. Maybe that's where they'll land. The Browns, Billy, can I read you? I think this talks to the state of the Browns. You know, I went on ESPN.com's Cleveland Browns page to prep for this podcast. And here are three headlines I read. And I think this speaks to where the Browns are. Headline number one, should the Browns hire Deion Sanders, Stephen A.

20:44Ways in. That was number one. I don't know if you have a take on that or not. Headline number two Headline Headline number two The Miz goes on epic rant Over the Cleveland Browns That was the second These are true I'm not making these up And the third one You alluded to this one earlier Browns QB Sanders To replace May In Pro Bowl Shador Sanders Getting the Pro Bowl night I think that kind of Those headlines Kind of speak to the state of the Browns Wouldn't you say?

21:18Sheil Kapadia:It was, yes. None of them seemed like actual real headlines, but they all very much were headlines. I should have made one up. We should have done a game. I could have made one up. The two truths and a lie. All right. Next time we're doing that. Okay. All right. Let's take a break. We come back. We'll get to unsolved mystery. This episode is brought to you by TaxAct. Like an expert coach, TaxAct offers step-by-step guidance and guaranteed accuracy when filing taxes. Get tips along the way. Add expert assist to talk to tax experts and let our experts do your taxes for you with expert full service.