Bills
- Jordan Schultz reports that the Jaguars requested and interviewed Austin Gund for their run game coordinator position, yet the team hired Brian Picucci instead.
- Gund is expected to be a candidate for other openings, including OL coach openings.
Dolphins
Dolphins HC Jeff Hafley spoke about the hiring of OC Bobby Slowik to his staff during a recent phone interview.
“It has a lot to do with the people I’ve been around, and then people I’ve defended,” Hafley said, via Albert Breer. “There’s certain schemes that I think are really hard to defend. Then there’s certain play-callers that I’ve been around, that have a system and a belief of what they run, and it’s all tied in together. And I really saw that with Kyle [Shanahan] in San Francisco, and then I saw it again with Matt. I was around two really good play-calling coaches. And obviously, Bobby has been influenced by those guys. He’s got the pedigree. And that really was my starting point with Bobby.”
“It was really me, Bobby and [Robert] Saleh, the three of us together constantly,” Hafley continued. “Bobby was in my office half the day working with me. So I got a really good working relationship with Bobby—brilliant mind, incredible human. And then I leave to go to Ohio State, and Kyle steals him to go on offense, which I’m guessing was Kyle’s plan the whole time. Bobby is Kyle’s type of guy. Fast processing, highly, highly intelligent. And I could see he was setting it up, ‘All right, learn the defenses, learn the rules, and then I’m going to bring it over to offense and train you to be my next guy.’ It was really cool to see.”
Hafley also shared his thoughts on the offense of 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan and how it can set the team up for success.
“Everything is set up. Everything is set up,” Hafley said. “And the plays all play off of each other. So you run this, and it sets up a play pass off of it. You run this, and it sets up a keeper off of it. You run this, and it sets up a screen off of it. And the formations and the balance of the run in the past game, the play-action pass game, they do such a good job of creating. Like the way I look at it, think about defenses in terms of levels. Like level one at the line of scrimmage, level two, your linebackers, level three, your safeties. It creates a huge separation between the second and third levels, and it creates holes because the run action gets the backers down. And then there’s a huge separation between your linebackers and your secondary, and that’s where they hit plays that lead to explosives.”
Patriots
- Patriots HC Mike Vrabel when asked if QB Drake Maye hurt his shoulder on Sunday: “No, I wouldn’t say anybody hurt anything.” (Kyed)
- Vrabel continued on Maye: “This is a sport where there’s gonna be things that come up. We’ll talk about whatever status each player has for the game once we’re required to.” (Perry)
- Maye: “I’m feeling good. I got in some extra rest. I don’t think it’s from the game. I think it’s just the buildup of throwing, including training camp, 30 weeks straight of throwing, and four days a week. It can add up. But I got some extra rest, and I’m feeling good and ready to go for the Super Bowl.” (Daniels)
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