This is the football lost in 2026 translation. Social-media feeds and daytime television are both so over-flooded with self-appointed film junkies, arbitrary “Top 100” lists and the Rage of the Day that NFL consumers tend to hyperventilate over all the wrong stuff.

There’s so much more to winning and losing.

What we see for 60 minutes on gameday is only one piece of that puzzle.

Take the Miami Dolphins. For a half-decade, this organization seemed to be doing everything right. Their offense revolutionized those X’s and O’s. Mike McDaniel was a breath of fresh air. Tua Time was real. Once again, talent flocked to South Florida. (Hello, Jalen Ramsey.) Beneath the surface, however, the team’s foundation was cracking. Players on this team offered a scathing peek behind the curtain in our latest season-preview feature.

“We didn’t fight for each other on the field,” one ex-Dolphin told me. “We just didn’t give a fuck. Offense didn’t care about the defense. Defense didn’t care about the offense. That’s how it went. I stopped giving a fuck.”

The reason — this player explained — is that there’s a true “psychology” to the sport most people don’t understand.

Teammates didn’t hang out together. Teammates didn’t dine together. There was zero camaraderie.

Players strolled into meetings late, if at all.

True bonds were never formed. Accountability was nonexistent. When a few highly compensated vets started bringing their cell phones right to walkthroughs, rookies soon followed. Bad habits became contagious. The closer you look, the more you see why the new Dolphins regime is OK with 60 percent of this season’s payroll allotted to players who won’t play a snap. The problems ran deep.

These 22 players colliding into each other have heads and hearts. They’re not robots. If you’re not truly fighting for the player next to you? Expect problems. Expect that schism to manifest on the field. (Ex-Eagles running back Brian Westbrook made the same point looking back at the McNabb-TO controversy.) If you’re treating the profession like a job and not an obsession? Expect players to coast when the going gets tough.

The concurrent arcs of Jordyn Brooks and these Dolphins explain so much about any team trying to build a winning culture today.

This is a kid who grew up on NFL Films. He’s been obsessed with the sport forever.

The linebacker opened up on how he plans to change everything.

Subscribers can read our look at the psychology of a team trying to create something new:

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A few themes in the story.

Be sure to read in full for more.

Texas Tech Revelation.

Brooks is thankful he siphoned all hard partying out of his system in college. NFL teams don’t supply this level of grace to players. One conversation with new DC Keith Patterson changed everything.

“There was no more time. You had your fun. It’s now or never.”

A brother’s death and perspective.

His life could’ve spiraled a completely different direction. Phone calls from Texas are always chilling. When Brooks was in college, one brother called to say their other brother had been shot and killed. All of it gave him more clarity — stay on this path.

Without fail, each year, Brooks hears about another childhood friend who’s been killed. The decision at age 13 and 14 is simple.

“I’ve seen it — with my own eyes — people’s paths and life go totally left. And I played with plenty of guys who had great talent that should have been in the league. That humbles you if you look at it the right way and realize like, ‘Man, you know what? This is why I never take one day that I’m here for granted.’ I’ll never have the mindset like, ‘Oh no, I belong here. I deserve to be here.’ No, I’m lucky to be here. I’m lucky to be here and one day I’ll be gone. I’m going to appreciate every day that I am here because I’ve seen it for myself. Some people didn’t make it to the next day in life — literally.”

Torn ACL.

The timing could not have been any worse. In Seattle, Brooks wrecked his knee into the final year of his rookie contract.

He faced a choice.

“A horrible moment turned into a great moment.”

Candor.

As Miami’s 2024 season fell apart — and the Dolphins were embarrassed on Thanksgiving Night — Brooks called his team “soft.” He was correct.

“Be honest. Be honest. Call it for what it is, in hopes that we’ll change it. Not to stir up anger in people but to create a sense of urgency to get it better. That’s my leadership style. That’s how I try to lead. Whenever I need to speak, I’ll speak. But the main thing is live it out first. So whenever I do speak, nobody’s looking at me crazy for speaking. Live and embody whatever you’re preaching. Live that part out first. That’s the biggest thing I learned. Playing with other guys in my career is like, ‘Man, some dudes say they’re leaders, but they’re not really doing what they talk about.’ So it’s hard for me to listen to them. It’s hard for me to respect it. I never, ever want to be that guy.”

Leadership.

The “C” on the chest of captains didn’t mean much. Sources explain in detail how these Dolphins went completely off the rails, racking up $200K in fines by Week 6 of a football season.

By 2025, Brooks started taking charge. We spoke at length about how he plans to change the psychology of these Dolphins. It won’t be easy, but that’s the point.

“It came to a point where I realized, ‘OK, some of these guys aren’t serious about this, and we are suffering behind it. I can’t just sit here and just let it go by.’ Showing up late to meetings. Not buying into what we’re trying to do. We play football. If enough guys are not all the way locked in, we’re going to suffer. Basketball team, 15 guys, it’s a lot easier to get everybody to buy in. Whoever isn’t bought in is going to stick out like a sore thumb. But it’s easier to hide when it’s 50, 60 guys.”

“My true value is to be a leader of men. We’ve got a bunch of rookies. I’ve got a lot of knowledge that I can give them through my own experience that can help them be more successful. That’s my true value. … I went through all those lows for these moments.”

“It’s a challenge. It’s exhausting at times. But I always tell God I embrace the role because as men, period, that’s what God has called us to be. We all have different jobs and different roles. But every man is called to be a leader in some shape or form. If you have kids, your job, whatever role it is — you’re meant to lead something. That’s how God knitted us.”

What’s next

Lucrative deals to superstars didn’t pan out for Miami.

He sees no reason why the ‘26 Dolphins cannot take everyone by surprise.

Brooks is high on quarterback Malik Willis and new Texas Tech running mate Jacob Rodriguez.

“A lot of people on the outside are going to look at our team and be like, ‘Yeah, 0-17.’ But me? When you’re in it, it’s different. You never have that mindset. I understand why people would say the things they say. ‘How many stars do they have? Proven guys?’ We ain’t got a lot of them. But we tried that and it didn’t work. To me, this is exactly what we need. Whatever the vision is, I’m all-in. The best teams win. Not the best players.”

“We become a team? The sky’s the limit. We can do anything we want to do. I don’t care if we have no superstars.”

Go Long subscribers can access “Jordyn Brooks is the captain now” in full.

We also profiled another player central to the changes in Miami: Aaron Brewer.

Our season preview features will run right up to kickoff.

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Also: I joined over at Locked On Dolphins for a chat on our stories.

Here’s the replay if you’d like to check it out:

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Artificial intelligence is out of control. What’s real? What’s fake? Lines blur at supersonic speeds on social media. Horrifying to think about the simulated world we’re passing off to our kids. And their kids.

Until then, hey, let’s enjoy all preposterous “press conferences” that are obviously phony. You’ve seen ‘em on X, IG, Facebook. Players and coaches say things that are wildly out of character, and it’s all so damn realistic.

Like stone-cold-stoic Todd Bowles going ballistic after his Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered a crushing loss to the Atlanta Falcons in December last season. Shortly after his team blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead with 10 minutes left, there was the head coach obviously edited to perfection.

Asked what he said to the team, a coach who says next to nothing dropped seven F-bombs in all.

“You don’t make excuses. You got to fucking care enough where the shit hurts. You’ve got to fucking care enough to where this shit hurts. It’s got to fucking mean something to you. It’s more than a job. It’s your fucking livelihood. How well do you know your job? How well can you do your job? You can’t sugarcoat that shit. It was in-fucking-excusable. There’s no fucking answer for it. There’s no excuse for it. That’s what you tell them in the locker room: Look in the fucking mirror.”

Did you, too, assume this clip was AI in real time?

It was not.

Bowles was, in fact, fuming. Fed up. Doing anything he possibly could to jolt his 2025 Bucs to life.

This summer, I asked one source with the Buccaneers about this moment. He assures Bowles was much, much, much more animated inside the locker room roughly 10 minutes before this interview.

“That was the toned-down media version,” this person says. “He’s so even-keeled, which is one of the reasons we love him. Whether it’s going great or going shitty, he’s able to keep it steady and not change too much. But we needed something. So he was trying everything he could at that point to get us out of that rut. … It’s like, ‘Why are we here? We shouldn’t be here right now. We should be winning these games.’”

That reaction inside the locker room? “Pretty quiet when your head man is fucking ripping asses everywhere.”

Nobody pushed back because there was nothing to defend. Bowles was correct.

The Buccaneers started 6-2 and deteriorated into an underachieving mess.

Baker Mayfield was patched together with Duct tape, glue and rusty nails by the end. The defense was a sieve. The No. 1 problem was this lack of heart. The Bucs were infested by too many players who treated football as a 9-to-5 nuisance. Not a livelihood. That’s how you lose games in such embarrassing fashion. One could argue that Bowles, a defensive coach, is part of that problem. Tampa Bay decided to stick with its coach and address this sore spot like a neck-rolled Mike Alstott in the A-gap.

Go Long is your home for longform.

Miss our 2026 Quarterback Draft? Watch here. Our Season Preview Features are underway? Here’s how Aaron Brewer went from UDFA to All-Pro.

Last year’s fall from 6-2 to 8-9 was cataclysmic. But the Buccaneers refused to tear it all down when Tom Brady finally retired for a life of Fox broadcasts, the Las Vegas Raiders and fake beefs with Logan Paul. No way they’ll tear it down now.

Which makes for an interesting case study when you consider two teams that defeated them through their swoon — Miami, Atlanta — chose rebuilds.

Tampa Bay attacked the offseason as if Bowles’ rant was blaring full blast over the speakers.

Is that enough to contend for a championship? Or is a reset overdue? From the top-down, this organization was hyper-motivated to find players who’ll “look in the fucking mirror.”

Read more

Good afternoon! A quick note here while it’s on my mind…

One of my favorite stories to write last season was this profile of Buffalo Bills safety Jordan Poyer.

Our conversation was a psychedelic adventure that took more twists, more turns than I ever imagined. Poyer opened up — and then some — on how he managed to pull himself out of several extremely dark places.

Many readers could likely relate to his struggle.

Perhaps an ayahuasca retreat to Costa Rica is unrealistic for those looking to turn their own lives around, but Poyer also recommended breathwork as an ideal starting point. Buffalo’s own has revolutionized the industry of holotropic breathwork with Poyer.

This is no paid advertisement because you know we don’t take ads here at Go Long.

I seriously cannot recommend the app mentioned in our story enough: August’s “Beats and Breath.”

The combination of music, beats and guided narration is exceptionally calming. You can feel stress leave the body, while also tapping into innate, primal energies that you don’t even know exist. All the stuff Poyer details in our story. It’s becoming part of the daily routine here. Here’s a link to download the app if you want to give it a try.

And be sure to follow everything Jordan Poyer has going on at his company: Luminate. He travels the country for breathing sessions. We’ll be hearing from him for years, I’m sure.

Looking for a book companion? Read James Nestor’s “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art.” You’ll also start taping your mouth at night in no time.

Thanks, all.

See you all soon for Eric Wood’s Happy Hour.

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Brandon Aiyuk has not caught a pass in a football game in 632 days. It was a hideous sight. Safety Chamarri Conner, with perfect timing, drills him and the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver’s knee bends. Both the ACL and MCL tear.

No way could anyone predict the madness to come.

One bizarre Instagram video to the next, it becomes increasingly more difficult to see Aiyuk catch his next pass.

This month, he’s been intent on alienating his greatest ally. After seeing a video of quarterback Jayden Daniels chuckling at a fan screaming “Fuck Brandon Aiyuk!” the receiver posted a video of his own and tagged Daniels to proclaim, “You’re on my team now. You follow my rules. Boy, I’m a grown ass man. You’re gonna have to start running behind your momma and I might believe what you’re talking about.”

Meanwhile, his only clear path back to the field is to petition with the NFL for reinstatement from the reserve/left squad list. Once reinstated, he could show up for 49ers training camp and then finally get the release he desires.

Aiyuk has repeated he will not do this.

The 49ers have no incentive to do a thing.

Aiyuk’s public relations team may consist of a pile of dirty laundry.

“I’ll tell you what,” Aiyuk promised, “If I get a job back in the NFL, I’ll still be on my bullshit on social media.”

Comforting.

Easy to forget that this wide receiver caught 75 balls for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023. His acrobatic catch vs. Detroit propelled those 49ers into the Super Bowl. The ensuing contract battle was intense, but he eventually got paid: four years, $120 million. So, what happened? How did this situation deteriorate in such catastrophic fashion? That’s what I asked one former 49ers coach around for Aiyuk’s ascent. There must be valuable lessons for other teams to take at this volcanic position.

Because let’s face it. Teams that seek boy scouts at wide receiver won’t win anything.

An element of risk is required. Finding that line is the tricky part.

This coach cites a Maya Angelou quote: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Red flags were obvious.

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“When you’re in a contract year — especially at receiver — they are being taught, they are being trained, they are being groomed: ‘Hey, for one year, be on your best behavior. For eight months, dude, can you just not go to clubs? Can you just stay out of the limelight? Can you just be a model citizen for seven to eight months? If you’re a model citizen, you ball out, then you get your money, you get your contract and then, hey, you can kind of go back to being who you were.’”

Aiyuk began his 49ers career in Kyle Shanahan’s doghouse.

Professionalism issues were obvious. But so was Aiyuk’s talent, and that talent helped Shanahan look past red flags. Aiyuk worked his way into the starting lineup of a contender, earned 100+ targets in back-to-back years and put together that excellent ’23 season to command a top-of-market deal. Pro football players make their real money on the second contract. For eight months, Aiyuk was a good soldier and the 49ers came within overtime of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

Somebody was bound to pay him.

“But you’ve got to be careful who you pay,” this coach said.

Teams shouldn’t watch Aiyuk sabotage his own career and become forever petrified by any wide receiver with attitude. Their job is to intimidate, dominate, humiliate a cornerback. Attitude is expected. Some shit to him, is the official scouting term. Look at the same offseason Aiyuk got paid. In the ’24 draft, Malik Nabers was the player with such an edge. Marvin Harrison Jr. was the quieter, safer option. Their careers trended two very different directions immediately. If Shanahan knew it’d get this dark with Aiyuk, he would’ve traded him to Pittsburgh.

Most receivers keep a small circle. Aiyuk’s was particularly small. This coach didn’t think he was an oddball. Rather, he simply didn’t hang out with many teammates. Even back then, this coach recalls him as more of a loner.

Coaches, execs, players. Everyone in the NFL is flabbergasted Aiyuk would walk away from his $120 million contract. They know he wants to play for the Washington Commanders but ask this question: Why would the Commanders want him? Jayden Daniels enters a critical Year 3. Dan Quinn needs to win and cares deeply about culture. The math is tough to add up.

Aiyuk clearly isn’t playing for the money. In one of his IG videos, he literally throws wads of cash onto the ground. Say he’s on the vet’s minimum with the Commanders. This coach wonders what’d happen when he only gets three targets in a game. It’s not like Aiyuk would be a featured piece in the gameplan. (“Because you can’t trust him. You can’t count on it.”) All sad considering what could’ve been. At one point, Aiyuk successfully escaped Shanahan’s doghouse and was viewed internally as an untouchable asset right there with George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey. This West Coast offense didn’t flow through the wide receiver. Unlike other schemes, the 49ers don’t force the ball to an “X.” Still, he was valued by one of the sport’s best coaches.

Even through a contested negotiation — WR contracts leaguewide skyrocketing — I was told repeatedly that the 49ers weren’t going to let Aiyuk leave the building.

Now? Teams across the NFL likely view him as more of a toxic chemical that must be kept away from the facility. Niners great Steve Young has even expressed deep concern for the receiver’s wellbeing.

A mind-boggling fall, but Aiyuk isn’t the first and Aiyuk won’t be the last volatile receiver to get paid. GMs and coaches view themselves as uniquely qualified to fix receivers and, flatly, talent is too tantalizing. A dilemma that reminds me of the outlandish crazy-hot matrix viral video inspired by Barney on “How I Met Your Mother.” Obviously, all of our wives and all women reading today neatly fit into the unicorn category. That goes without saying. (Love ya, hun!) But the bespectacled middle-aged man in a shirt and tie might as well be drawing up a chart on the NFL Wide Receiver. A similar paradigm is at play. Rare is the insanely talented receiver devoid of baggage. It’s why all of us in sports media are guilty of glamorizing the receiver who punches in, kicks ass, punches out. This time last year, Drake London sat down with Go Long.

At the line of scrimmage, your mission is to reach inside the proverbial chest of a cornerback, grab his heart and spike it into the turf. Arrogance is required to excel. Selfishness is inevitable. And the most extreme example of the century — perhaps all-time — was a topic on our most recent episode of “Real Football:” Terrell Owens.

Eagles great Brian Westbrook relived all drama from TO’s two years with the team. A clear Hall of Fame talent in real time Owens bounced team, to team, to team, to team, to team. The peak of drama was ’04 and ’05 with quarterback Donovan McNabb.

No player is more qualified to objectively dissect this relationship in hindsight than Westbrook. He remains friends with both.

He still remembers the Saturday meeting before TO’s first game as an Eagle. In front of everyone, he said that if he doesn’t get the ball nine out of the first 15 plays, “we’ve got a problem.” Head coach Andy Reid and McNabb were much obliged. He got his touches all season long and backed it up. Owens ushered in what Westbrook calls a “Hall of Fame work ethic.” Through the Eagles’ previous three runs to the NFC Championship Game, receivers and backs would typically sprint an extra 10 to 15 yards after catching the ball. TO took every catch to the house.

“We’re all looking around like, ‘What is this dude doing? He’s about to make practice 20 minutes longer just doing this,’” Westbrook said. “But in his mind, he was scoring every single play. That’s a mindset change for us. And so now offensively, I started doing it. Everybody else started doing it. As an offense, we started thinking we can score every single play. That was directly from TO.”

Of course, Philadelphia reached the Super Bowl where Owens famously gritted through a broken fibula and a torn ligament in his ankle against New England. Westbrook recalled doctors telling TO, point blank, he cannot play and Owens vowed to sign any waiver required. He caught nine balls for 122 yards in the 24-21 loss.

Problems, however, were boiling.

Year 2, the ex-RB noted, is when things got “nasty.” Owens wanted more of his money guaranteed, president Joe Banner refused to budge and the wide receiver took his insubordination to the field. Reid threw him out of training camp at Lehigh University. That’s when the shirtless Owens held a press conference in his driveway while doing situps.

Westbrook still remembers catching the interview on TV. (“He’s ripped. It looks great. But the question for us is like, ‘How do we stay together as a team?’”)

This was McNabb’s team. That didn’t sit well with him.

McNabb was also stumping for Westbrook to be paid without saying a word about his receiver. That really didn’t sit well with him.

As a result, Owens vocalized his angst, gained followers and Westbrook watched the locker room fracture “little by little by little.”

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“So it changed very quickly to the point where they weren’t even talking,” Westbrook said. “The two best players on your team weren’t having conversations with each other. And as a third guy on offense, I felt like we could be special. We could be on a different level, but we’ve got to talk. One of my biggest regrets was that I never was able to bring TO, who’s a good friend, and Donovan, a good friend, together. Because I knew we could have been special as a team for a very long time.”

McNabb and Owens walked right by each other without speaking.

“It was tension. Just imagine a workplace with this tension. And not tension from your 52nd or 53rd player, but a tension between Player 1 and Player 2. That’s a problem. And anything that happens in the locker room, that continues to vibrate through that locker room every single day. And it did.”

The running back was only 25 years old. Too young to moonlight as a marriage counselor. He wishes the interpersonal skills he possesses now were in him back then.

He tried. One day, Westbrook made the two players sit with him for lunch.

“And those jokers sat there and didn’t say a word to each other the entire lunch.”

Westbrook later summarized the demise of this relationship with one word: “Sad.”

The 2025 Eagles sure brought memories back to his 2005 Eagles, too. The Jalen Hurts-AJ Brown hostility, to him, represented the same level of distraction.

Again, it’s different when the players squabbling are two of the best on the roster.

Teammates feel as if they’ve got to make a choice — Do I side with Brown? Do I side with Hurts? — and the offense splits into two camps.

Westbrook can see a scenario in which Brown vents to 5 to 10 people. Then, this group tells 5 to 10 more. Then, Hurts pushes back with his own thoughts.

Then, it’s gameday and the quarterback suddenly must work with his wide receiver in harmony. Not easy.

“Now, at the most important time,” Westbrook says, “that I need you the most — not that guys will not hustle because it’s their job. But there’s a little bit extra that you could do that it doesn’t look like you’re doing. Because you’re not in line. And for my boy, I would bend over backwards. But with somebody I don’t really like that well? Even if we work together? Maybe I won’t bend over backwards. I’ll bend a little bit, but not all the way over backwards. And so those little small things make a difference. And what I saw — and I truly believe this — I think that AJ wanted Jalen to throw the ball to him a lot more. I think that Jalen wanted AJ to be more open, quite honestly. I think there were times where he wasn’t very much open.

“And it sounds like they had some off-the-field things that were causing some issues. And when you combine that with us not seeing eye to eye on the football field, that can present some huge problems.”

A fantastic point. It’s easy to dismiss the idea of “drama” as nothing.

Football players, however, are not robots. If two of the best players can’t stand each other — on any team — it’ll manifest into something on Sunday. Westbrook lived this. It’s why he believes teams must be extremely careful in how they build a roster. GM Brandon Beane once described his job as the ultimate “chemistry experiment.” There are countless factors to consider. If one element’s off, the test tubes will combust. It’s no coincidence he used this term to us two months after trading Stefon Diggs.

Removing Brown from the lineup does not help the Eagles on paper.

Teams do not let top 10 to 15 receivers leave the building.

Unless that receiver is a “headache,” Westbrook added, or a “conflict.” A locker room consists of 53 players with 53 different personalities. Plenty are happy to be on the team and won’t say a peep. Stars have the ability to say anything they’d like. With the Patriots, a fresh start, Brown could be the WR1 who unlocks even more out of Drake Maye.

Talent is worth all headaches, all conflicts… to a point. Production equals tolerance.

“In both cases,” Westbrook said, “TO and AJ, as talented as these guys are — the best in the league — it just didn’t outweigh everything we’re trying to build as a football team.”

Which brings us to the next gigantic pull of the slot machine: George Pickens.

He was also traded away by a team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He’s now due a hefty contract extension of his own.

Give it up to Pickens. He’s doing everything right. Life inside of Jerry’s World has been remarkably calm with Pickens quietly signing his $27.3M franchise tag and showing up for mandatory minicamp. He’s even joining quarterback Dak Prescott at a skills retreat and plans on attending training camp despite not receiving a long-term extension. Eleven wide receivers now make north of $30M/year with both Ja’Marr Chase and Jaxon Smith-Njigba exceeding $40M/year. Two years ago, Dallas locked up CeeDee Lamb at four years, $136 million.

For stretches of last season, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Pickens was unstoppable.

Like Aiyuk in ’23, Pickens had every financial reason to produce in ’25 after getting shipped away by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He responded with a 93-catch, 1,429-yard, nine-touchdown campaign. He’s only 25 years old. His best years may still be ahead of him.

Dallas must decide whether he’s built to last or if last season was fool’s gold.

The talent is unmistakable. In Pittsburgh, both the quarterback play and offensive playcalling was amongst the NFL’s worst. In Dallas — with Dak Prescott at the trigger and Lamb drawing attention — his ultra-rare athleticism was finally on full display last season. Pickens was a human highlight reel, from dusting and Moss’ing Cooper DeJean in a wild 24-21 comeback win over Philadelphia to a massive third-and-8 catch and sprint and leap vs. Kansas City on Turkey Day. This is alien stuff. Multiple times last season, it was fair to wonder if George Pickens was the best wideout in football.

But one thing the NFL’s official YouTube channel does not mash up is missed blocks.

Not everyone is sold.

One wide receivers coach who has worked with some of the best in the game the last decade acknowledges that Pickens is capable of taking over a game, but said he’d never want to coach Pickens from what he’s seen and what he’s heard. He labels him a “coach killer” who’ll get you fired.

“There’s a fine line,” this coach said. “You do need talented players, you need guys that have some shit that are going to toe the line, but there’s a lot of receivers that march to their own beat. George Pickens is one of them. Again, you don’t trade George Pickens or DK Metcalf. Those are Hall of Fame-type talents. You don’t just trade those guys unless you feel like you can’t get through to them or they’re just so stuck in their ways that they won’t change.”

This coach expects Pickens to ask for at least $38 million per year and cannot fathom committing that much money.

“Because I know what the tape has shown me,” this coach said. “He doesn’t block. He shows up late to functions. He’s somebody that you’ve got to constantly monitor. I wouldn’t want to put up with that headache.”

A lot of receivers don’t block. That’s not news.

This coach sees an extreme level of apathy. A 44-30 loss to Detroit put much of this on primetime display. Hall of Fame corner Richard Sherman called Pickens “uninterested” and “disengaged” in the loss.

“He will literally walk or won’t even do anything on a run play,” he said. “And then his player will end up making a tackle on the ball-carrier. His wild plays are going to be wild. But his bad plays literally can lose you a game. His field awareness is really good when he’s catching the ball, but any time he has the ball, I always think he’s going to fumble. That’s how bad it is. You fear for your coaching life when he’s out there.”

Dying for a ring, at 83 years old, it’s highly doubtful that Jerry Jones is psychoanalyzing his locker room. He was the man who welcomed Terrell Owens with open arms after the Philly fiasco. Time is a flat circle.

And, hey, let’s remember, Philly reached a Super Bowl and Dallas went 13-3 with Owens. In ‘07, TO was named a first-team All Pro for the fifth time. The risk was worth it.

Philly won it all with Brown.

Look at the Bills’ record books and you’ll see Diggs’ name everywhere.

The wacky case of Brandon Aiyuk more so magnifies the fact that even the sport’s greatest minds struggle with this matrix — where’s the line? At which point is the baggage too much? When do you cut bait? If anyone should’ve mastered it by now, it’s the man who grew up on the sideline of a Super Bowl champion. Shanahan has seen it all from his Dad’s back-to-back champs in Denver as an 18-year-old on the sideline to being a coach himself with the Buccaneers, Texans, Redskins, Browns, Falcons and Niners.

If Shanahan, certified football genius, can botch a character assessment in such epic fashion, anyone can.

The price tag for elite wide receivers only soars. It’s on the teams to know how players will react to that monstrous second contract because, to repeat, they are not androids. One man’s motivation is not the same as the next. This can be money well spent. Some receivers respond like Amon-Ra St. Brown. They continue to catch 606 balls at the JUGS machine each week. Some are like Justin Jefferson. They barely say a peep as another J.J. McCarthy pass quacks into the ninth row.

Others quiet-quit. They stop working as hard in the offseason. They half-ass blocking.

Others, like Aiyuk, leave $27,000,000 on the table in a single year.

The NFL is a human game. Money, one ex-49ers coach added, can be a “drug.”

“Because when you get so much of it, you do think you’re untouchable,” he said. “You think it’s always going to be there. I just can’t imagine him turning down all that money.”

He catches himself.

“I mean, he did. I don’t have to imagine it. He did it.”

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July Mailbag…

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Greetings! Hey, I know the picture of Chuck Bednarik pumping a fist over a lifeless Frank Gifford gets all the glory, but what about this classic? Cigar in the mouth. Cig in his hand. Happy as a clam. The Eagles legend was dripping with swag after Philadelphia’s title victory in 1960. A different time.

Training camps open up in a month.

Until then, I’m going to keep chipping away at our cover stories to launch our 2026 plans. My favorite time of year at Go Long. Always try to put your investment to good use by traveling the country to sit down with players.

Expect columns ‘n pods over the next few weeks and we’re also due for a monthly mailbag.

What’s on your mind? Email all inquiries to golongtd@substack.com or drop a question right in the comments.

Thanks, all.

Responses available to all paid subscribers.

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Here’s the latest episode of “Real Football” with Jim Monos, icymi.

We discussed the quarterbacks of the NFC North.

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Father’s Day is here.

Salute to all my fellow Dads out there. It’s the best job in the world, as Josh Allen is finding out himself.

A reminder here that you can gift a Go Long subscription to a loved one right here:

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Training camps are closing in and I’ve spent much of this offseason traveling the country to report on longform stories that’ll roll out right up to kickoff. The goal here — always — is to deliver real, raw football worth your valuable time. Zig as the rest of sports media zags. And Go Long is completely fueled by our readers. No ads, no sponsors, no gambling BS.

Subscribers can access everything we have to offer.

• Player profiles that bring the emotion of the sport to life.

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• Gameday chats. Hang out with readers from around the world.

This past year, Go Long took home some more awards in the Associated Press Sports Editors (ASPE) writing contest in three different categories — including a pair of second-place finishes. Here are those stories if you missed ‘em.

Thanks, all.

Hope you all have an incredible Father’s Day with your families.

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ICYMI:

• Josh Allen, reborn

• Joe Brady takes charge

• ‘My chip is deeper:’ 1 on 1 with Bills GM Brandon Beane

• ‘He wants to win the whole damn thing:’ Inside the Buffalo Bills’ decision to hire Joe Brady as HC

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — The fastest route from Bills Country to Lions Country is through Canada, but ignore this suggestion on your map app. Stay stateside. The visuals alone are worth the extra hour, from the destruction of one stadium and construction of another in Orchard Park to Cleveland’s factory of sadness to Dan Campbell’s house of pain. These three franchises own a combined zero Super Bowl titles. It’s impossible to imagine what that first championship would do to any of these cities.

Buffalo and Detroit are close — again — and the energy is palpable.

Josh Allen declares the Bills winning a Super Bowl title as the “last greatest sports story in all of the world.” Dan Campbell still resembles an actual lion prowling the sideline. And during minicamp this week, the Lions coach was asked how he prevents burnout. All emotion must take a toll.

“I just burn the ashes and come back up,” Campbell quipped.

There was laughter in the media room and Campbell paused to say this was a good question. He obviously struggles with this balance. He tries to find a balance for himself and all coaches on staff. This offseason, the entire Lions staff traveled north to Petoskey, Mich., for a retreat. Spouses were all welcomed.

Campbell admits he’s not perfect.

“This job is consuming,” he continued. “But I love it. We love it. Most coaches would tell you that. It’s addictive. It’s consuming.”

You can hear it in his voice. Campbell cannot change who he is to his core. Nor should he.

You can hear it in Allen’s voice, too. No costly fumble in a playoff loss, no broken fifth metatarsal in his foot will dull his daredevil intuition this side of 30 years old. One quote from our 1 on 1 with the quarterback became a source of local and national debate. “I’m going to play football how I know how to play it until I can’t,” Allen told us. “And when I can’t play it the way I want to play it, it’s probably when I’m done. But hopefully that’s still quite some time.”

The impulse this time of year is to scold Allen’s street ball and Campbell’s retro coaching (and fourth-down cojones) as reckless.

But both are the faces of their teams for a reason.

Both organizations were rudderless for decades.

Josh Allen, more than any coach, any player, anyone in the front office, resurrected the comatose Bills. And he did it by blowtorching defenses. The only way the Bills get to a Super Bowl is if he’s himself, not a watered-down knockoff. Worry about aging — start sliding, throwing balls away, setting the cruise control at 65 on the highway — and he’s no different than any QB in the NFL. His ability to toss a grenade onto the field, at any moment, is why Buffalo has won 11+ games six years in a row.

Dan Campbell awakened the Lions. After starting 4-19-1, he’s gone 44-17 with his own audacious style. No coach in NFL history went for it on fourth down in a four-year span more than Campbell between ‘21 and ‘24: a total of 151 attempts. At times, this has backfired. His practices are hard. To tackle properly in games the Lions tackle in practice. At times, this also has backfired. But if Campbell starts punting at midfield… attempting chip-shot field goals… bubble-wrapping players in training camp… and toning down his rhetoric, he’d atrophy the building. He’d be deserting the principles that turned a perennial loser into a winner.

Both QB and HC were mocked, memed, ridiculed incessantly upon taking over… and practically flipped a middle finger at ‘em all by leaning harder into what makes them special.

And that’s the key. Winning a Super Bowl takes an element of special. Listen closely to what each said this spring and it’s clear they understand this.

Sage advice for everyone in pro football — and fantastic news for two clubs starving for Super Bowl glory.

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It’s natural to compare Allen to ex-Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. They’re both built like NBA small forwards in the 90s. They both fight for every yard. And for a while, the Bills seemed determined to become Panthers North. In his first eight pro seasons before age 30, including the postseason, Newton carried the ball 992 times and was sacked 305 times. He won an MVP at age 28. He was out of football in a blink. In his first eight seasons before age 30, Allen has 1,006 carries while getting sacked 261 times. He won an MVP at age 28.

Right now is precisely when it’s fair to wonder how much prime football Allen has ahead of him. There is no denying this physical toll. Perhaps Allen is being naive.

But to me, the better comparison has always been Brett Favre. The ex-Packer sees himself in Allen — that same go-for-broke instinct. Mainly, Favre and Allen are superhuman in two areas that age exceptionally well.

Arm strength. No throw is impossible on the field. It doesn’t matter how tightly corners are blanketing receivers. X’s and O’s are useless against the truly elite arms.

Toughness. Allen’s streak of 142 straight starts is No. 1 amongst active quarterbacks. At one point in our conversation, he asked for the record. Upon hearing Favre lasted 300+ starts, his eyes got big. Favre also gritted through broken appendages. Both are willing to do anything to stay on the field and the galvanizing effect on teammates is real.

Obviously, Allen will run the ball less by 33, 34, 35 because linebackers will simply be faster than him. That’s fine. He’ll rush for 250 yards per season instead of 550. His arm won’t get creaky. Two of Favre’s best statistical seasons ever came at age 38 and 40. Replay throws from each of those seasons, here and here. There’s virtually no loss of velocity on his fastball from when he was a three-time MVP 10+ years prior. Favre went 25-7 those seasons and came within an overtime of taking both Green Bay and Minnesota to Super Bowls.

And some of the best quarterbacks in NFL history play at an elite level into their mid-to-late 30s because they physically will themselves to do so. Ben Roethlisberger led the NFL in passing at age 36 and steered the Steelers to an 11-0 start at age 38. Matthew Stafford’s threshold for pain is the stuff of legend. The 38-year-old is a reigning MVP.

It’s on the Bills to surround the quarterback with necessary protection and weapons.

Allen is not close to finished.

Both are striking a deal with the football gods. The mentalities of Allen and Campbell probably will come with a cost on the back-end. But even if a YOLO approach shaves a year (or two) off either career, it’s worth it. Both strike me as the living embodiment of that famous Steve Prefontaine quote. “To give anything less than your best,” the late track star said, “is to sacrifice the gift.” Can’t imagine Allen would sleep well on a Sunday night if he knew he could’ve tried knifing a dagger route between defenders, yet patted the ball instead. Doubt Campbell would be able to live with himself if he ditched film prep to let off steam at a Red Wings game and/or get a steady 8-10 hours of sleep per night. It’s not him.

Remember how he built this thing from scratch, post-Matt Patricia.

Words like “grit” are brought to life. He finds players with ass-kicking origins. The result is a team that plays fast, free.

“Can you hang with us when we’re going to hit you in the face with a baseball bat?” ex-lineman Taylor Decker once told me. “That resonates because that’s the brand of football that we play.”

Last season rattled Lions HQ. In November, Campbell’s crew was 6-3. Super Bowl hopes were real. Then, he went 0-for-5 on fourth down in a primetime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Four of the Lions’ final five losses were by one score or less. A 29-24 loss at home to Pittsburgh was particularly agonizing. His Lions had the ball at the 1-yard line with 25 seconds left to win and proceeded to go backwards. That evening, Detroit’s defense was also flattened for 230 rushing yards.

Injuries ravaged the roster. Again. True, injuries are often nothing but dumb luck. But this has also become a trend. Per FTN Fantasy’s “Adjusted Games Lost,” via Pride of Detroit, here’s how Campbell’s team has ranked with 1st being the least injured and 32nd most injured.

• 2025: 31st

• 2024: 25th

• 2023: 18th

• 2022: 27th

• 2021: 30th

The Lions are tweaking things this offseason, just as Allen has tried to fine-tune his deep ball. Campbell cancelled rookie minicamp and he also won’t conduct joint practices with another team for the first time in his Lions tenure. Word’s getting out on his practices. On the St. Brown Brothers podcast, 49ers linebacker Fred Warner criticized the Lions’ live tackling in practice.

“At some point,” Warner said, “old Dan is going to come to his senses, man, and be like, ‘Listen, this ain’t making nobody better, brother. We can still get our work in without bringing guys to the ground.’”

The 49ers haven’t been a beacon of good health, of course.

Campbell sounds unfazed. He has made it abundantly clear that training camp will not soften. When the Lions reconvene in late July, players can fully expect the same level of physicality and intensity following a disappointing 9-8 season. He expects some starters to play in the preseason.

“We’re gonna push it. We’re gonna push, that’s what we do,” Campbell said. “But we’ll do it smart. We’ve got to get these guys ready for a season.”

Hype inflated to unprecedented extremes the last few years in Detroit. Season ticket sales soared and Ford Field became a rock concert as the NFL’s preeminent featherweight transformed into a heavyweight contender. Campbell wants the Lions as a whole to get back to a “no nonsense” state of mind, back to dragging teams into the “deep, dark abyss” of the ocean. This remains a violent sport. Some teams condition the body for contact; others do not. Flirting with a country club environment in the slightest would run counter to everything Campbell says in meetings. Guys must buy in and Campbell believes vets like Penei Sewell, Jack Campbell, Jared Goff and Aidan Hutchinson will set the correct tone this summer.

Come September, games will begin and we can fully expect the Lions to go for it on fourth down.

Banging your head against the January door gets frustrating. Campbell was 100 percent correct to tell his players “this might’ve been our only shot” following the Lions’ crushing 2023 NFC title loss in San Francisco. He knew it’s ridiculously harder to climb back to this point. Detroit then went 15-2 and was stunned by the Washington Commanders in the divisional round before last season’s playoff-less campaign.

Expect an extremely motivated team in 2026. Detroit may feast on its last-place schedule.

The focus, for both teams, should be accentuating each leader’s gifts. Not minimizing them. New OC Drew Petzing brings a dynamic rushing scheme that could, in theory, launch running back Jahmyr Gibbs into true superstardom. GM Brad Holmes has assisted in constructing a roster that reflects the coach’s spirit. In Joe Brady, the Buffalo Bills hope to finally hit the bull’s eye on the most important relationship in sports: QB and HC. Brady is a coach who wants to build, think and play through the quarterback.

Time will tell how he handles pressure. It’s impossible to fully simulate in the interview process.

These two franchises are forever linked together. Bills founder Ralph Wilson Jr. grew up in Detroit. Whenever snowstorms swallow Western New York, the Bills migrate to Ford Field. Above all, these are two Rust Belt cities with shared torment on the gridiron.

Which brings us to that third organization very familiar with torment. Halfway ‘round the bend of these Great Lakes, you’ll see Huntington Bank Field where the Browns have been searching and searching for saviors at both head coach and quarterback. Campbell interviewed for the Browns job once and knocked his pitch out of the park. Owner Jimmy Haslam, as we reported, was too swayed by his analytics department to take Campbell’s tough talk seriously. Allen was right there for the pickings at No. 1 and No. 4 overall in the 2018 draft. Cleveland opted for Baker Mayfield, then drove the QB out of town.

The good news for Cleveland is that strong drafts are starting to add up. This roster has a lot of promising young talent. A nucleus. Maybe new Todd Monken can inject some life into the franchise and maybe they’re able to find their long-lost quarterback next year.

There’s no such “maybes” being spoken inside the nearest NFL buildings to the east and west. Generational losing has been replaced by annual contention. The clearest path for these two teams to meet up 2,000+ miles west in Inglewood, Calif. on Feb. 14, 2027 is for Josh Allen and Dan Campbell to stay fully addicted to what made them great in the first place.

Neither individual will decelerate, either.

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New here? We’ve been traveling the country all spring and early summer reporting on longform stories that’ll roll out right up to kickoff. It’s a perfect time to join our community. We’re powered by you. No ads, no sponsors, zero gambling blood money.

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Recent features:

Good morning, readers. A quick pause from football if I may…

Live in the Western New York area? Looking to support a good cause?

The six-year-old son of one of my high school football teammates is battling brain cancer. This coming Saturday June 13 from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Great Valley, NY Fire Hall about an hour south of Buffalo, their family is holding a fundraising event. As noted in the graphic above, there will be a basket raffle, silent auctions, 50/50 and a ton of fun stuff planned for your kids.

Tickets are only $20 per person and kids under 12 are free. This gets you some chicken BBQ and two drink tickets.

The address is 6035 Depot St Great Valley, NY 14741.

I’ll be there with our family. Be sure to say hello if you’re able to make the trip.

And if you cannot attend but would like to donate, feel free to scan the Venmo code above or the link here.

I met up with Boe’s uncle and aunt this past weekend and, man. All I can say is that this little guy is a damn fighter.

Thanks, everyone.

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ORCHARD PARK, NY — His life is heading to the big screen.

Crossroad Productions is currently developing “Breakaway Ray,” which promises to be high drama worth your time.

In a league full of rags-to-riches tales, the upbringing of Ray Davis is particularly harrowing. The Buffalo Bills running back — as we’ve chronicled — grew up on the fringes of society itself. He became a ward of the state at age 8 and spent three different stints living in a homeless shelter: age six, eight and 12.

Some of his foster parents were fine. Others were abusive. He never knew when they’d simply get sick of him and throw him out. Whenever that two-week notice dropped, Davis scrambled to find a friend with a free couch or floor. One time, a foster parent put in the notice without even telling him. He found out on that 14th day and had no clue where to go.

As everyone will see on film one day, his resulting running style is a direct reflection of these roots. He’d go on to tear up defenses with Temple, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. As the Wildcats bell-cow back in ‘23, Davis carried the ball 199 times for 1,129 yards (5.7 avg.) and 14 touchdowns. “I let people feel me,” Davis told me in ‘24. “I let motherfuckers know it’s a long game. It’s a long, long game.”

The movie promises to be gripping for all viewers.

But this current life script? In the NFL? This isn’t exactly going according to plan.

Davis was an All-Pro kick returner in Year 2, and that was nice. But the team’s 5-foot-8, 211-pound wrecking ball is dying to prove his worth as a running back in the NFL. After chatting with Davis about his quarterback for our Friday Feature on Josh Allen, I figured we were overdue to ask what people should expect out of Ray Davis this season.

He began by admitting he’s trying to answer that same question to himself — he’s got no clue.

Then, Davis didn’t mince words.

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I’ll never forget exactly where I was when a co-worker at Bleacher Report texted me a warning: everyone was about to get whacked. My truck had just pulled into the Spot Coffee parking lot in Hamburg, NY — a go-to office away from the office. The 2020 NFL season was closing in, fast, and I was eager to chip away at one story in-particular.

That quarterback revolutionizing the quarterback position in Kansas City? Patrick Mahomes? Yeah, the owner of the Buffalo Bills loved him. Terry Pegula was all, all, all in on the Texas Tech quarterback early as October ‘16. Back when Mel Kiper Jr. viewed him as a third-round pick.

Fresh off a funky Year 2 for the Bills’ current quarterback — the 2019 wild card put all talent, all warts on full display — I planned on doing a deep dive on Josh Allen.

Given the Mahomes context, nobody faced more pressure in the league than Allen.

B/R decided it didn’t care anymore about writing and, honestly, the feeling was relief.

The more I learned about Substack and the idea of independent media, the more creating Go Long was a no-brainer. I could not wait to create a forever home for real, raw pro football storytelling. B/R, of course, wasn’t alone. All oligarchs in sports media were ditching longform for lists and BS in the name of clicks and ad revenue. So rather than rely on the vision of someone who doesn’t care that much about journalism, I figured I’d create something for people that do want to invest 20 to 25 minutes of their time reading about the NFL.

Maybe people would respond. Maybe they wouldn’t. I wasn’t sure.

The first thing I did was ramp up the reporting on that Allen story.

In November ‘20, we launched our site with this 2-parter:

Allen delivered.

Allen detonated.

Allen hasn’t looked back.

Your reaction to this mini series helped sharpen our vision. It was clear right out of the chute that there are droves of fans who want to see what’s cookin’ behind the scenes around the entire league. And since I live here in Western New York, we’ve done our best to track everything Bills (and Allen). From 13 Seconds to Allen’s rise to 9/11 speeches to that HC-QB relationship to smashing the title window, sitting right in Sean McDermott’s office, more playoff heartache, several player profiles (like these on Damar Hamlin, Dalton Kincaid and Jordan Poyer) and, then, everything we’ve seen this wild offseason.

This past week, Go Long came full circle in the form of a 1-on-1 sitdown with Josh Allen.

To everyone who subscribes, thank you for making us part of your life. Feel free to email me at golongtd@substack.com if you have any questions or would just like to say hello.

To those on our free mailing list, it’s a swell time to upgrade to read this piece in full.

My promise is to always put your investment to good use. I’ve been traveling the country for more profiles and deep dives this offseason that’ll roll out over the coming weeks and months.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Here are a few quotes from Josh Allen below. Much more insight in the story linked above.

“Every year you go through something. Scottie Scheffler talks about it all the time — the absurdism of ‘Why do I want to win this so badly? What’s the point of going out there and winning?’ Because at the end of the day you win and it’s on to the next. You’re just trying to win again. Those emotions that go on, it’s like, ‘Damn it. Every year that’s gone by, we haven’t gotten it done.’ The fire inside of me continues to push and want to get over that hump. No matter how crazy it seems. I want to accomplish something. I’ve set my mind to it and I want to accomplish it and I’m going to keep trying until I do.”

“This city winning a Super Bowl is the last greatest sports story in all of the world. I really do believe that. I want to be the guy that does it.”

“I’m going to play football how I know how to play it until I can’t. And when I can’t play it the way I want to play it, it’s probably when I’m done. But hopefully that’s still quite some time.”

“I’m a firm believer in no Plan B because it distracts from Plan A. That was my whole thing. I was like, ‘I’m going to figure it out.’ And I’ve always told myself in the NFL that there are two types of players: guys that figure it out and guys that get figured out. So I’ve always wanted to be in the first one there. Figuring it out.”

“I truly believe I’m stepping into the best version of myself.”

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Good morning! What a wild five months it’s been for the Buffalo Bills. All offseason long, we’ve guided you through all seismic changes right here at Go Long.

All stories are linked below.

New here? We’d love to welcome you as a paid subscriber.

I want NFL longform.

Current member? You can always share the word.

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Thanks, all.

Why was Sean McDermott Fired?

The goal is Super Bowls. With Josh Allen, the urgency has never been higher. Go Long talks to people with direct knowledge of the decision.

More:

‘What is success?’ The truth hurts...

Hunt for QB-HC harmony: Why Josh Allen is sitting in these meetings

‘He wants to win the whole damn thing:’ Inside the Buffalo Bills’ decision to hire Joe Brady as HC

The closer you look, the more it’s crystal clear why Terry Pegula, Brandon Beane and the Bills replaced Sean McDermott with Joe Brady. We take you inside the interview process.

Joe Brady takes charge, Part I: ‘I’ll set my jaw’

Sprinting onto the field in high school. Sleeping on a hotel floor. Authoring his own scouting reports. Who is the Buffalo Bills’ new head coach? A man with an “edge” who’s always in attack mode.

Joe Brady takes charge, Part II: ‘They’ve got to play us’

The head coach and quarterback are kindred spirits. Both, long ago, weren’t wanted in this sport. Now? All Joe Brady must do is win a Super Bowl. He won’t lose the plot.

‘My chip is deeper:’ Our 1 on 1 with Bills GM Brandon Beane

DJ Moore, Bradley Chubb, the 2026 draft. The Buffalo Bills boss details his thinking behind all roster construction. And, yes. He knows there’s pressure to win it all.

Why the DJ Moore trade is a win for the Buffalo Bills

‘He’s that guy:’ NFL WR coach on DJ Moore

Defense? Again? For the Buffalo Bills, it’s about the bigger picture in 2026...

Josh Allen, reborn

The heart and soul of the Buffalo Bills sits down with Go Long for an exclusive 1 on 1. As he enters the next stage of his football life, Josh Allen has more clarity than ever.

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We’ve got a new episode of “Real Football” with former NFL exec Jim Monos live as well:

Miss our three-part series in December 2023? All stories are unlocked to read, icymi:

• Part I: Blame Game

• Part II: Lost in translation

• Part III: Let Josh be Josh

2025 player profiles:

• Jordan Poyer’s Last Stand

• License to Kill: Jackson Hawes infusing Buffalo Bills (and the NFL) with a ‘Full Send Mindset’

• Q&A: Dawson Knox freed his mind... and knows his Buffalo Bills can, too

• Q&A: ‘I need this,’ a chat with Christian Benford

• The Revenge of Dalton Kincaid

On the field, the NFL remains a merit-based enterprise. Perform, and you’ll see a raise. Millions of dollars fill your bank account. Fail, and you’ll be released. Ejected into a new 9-to-5 reality. The entire world sees exactly what you bring (or don’t bring) to a football team. There’s no guesswork. Off the field, it gets murky. We don’t always know who’s good and who’s bad at their job. Owners who are present have a chance to snuff out used-car salesmen and hire the best people. Owners who are not — George McCaskey has claimed to be just a “fan” in Chicago — suffer from an abundance of blind spots.

A business plan that allows people like Kevin Warren to consolidate power.

In our House of Dysfunction series last summer, the grand poobah of these Chicago Bears was skewered by employees past and present for creating a culture of fear at Halas Hall.

Bottom line, he was hired in January 2023 to build a stadium.

It’s now June 2026.

At this rate, George R.R. Martin will publish “The Winds of Winter” before dirt is moved.

Warren first promised “shovels in the ground” by 2024. That didn’t happen. Warren then targeted 2025. That didn’t happen. Instead, legions of Bears fans have been treated to nothing but empty press releases, sugar-high interviews and, mostly, mud-slinging between Warren and these politicians. Downtown? Arlington Heights? Hammond, Indiana? This week’s news is the most damning yet and a sign that — as promising as 2025 was for these Bears — a stench still lingers.

Miss the Bears series? All three parts are now unlocked: Part I, Part II and Part III.

Subscribers can access everything at Go Long.

The Illinois legislature ended its spring session Monday AM without passing a bill that would’ve laid the foundation for the Bears to build a new home 26 miles from the city in Arlington Heights. The previous president, Ted Phillips, purchased the 326-acre property for $197.2 million. Unless there’s a special session in the summer, Illinois state legislature won’t convene again until November.

The Bears can build their stadium without tax assistance (ha!) or, as locals feared, pivot out of state.

Indiana has already passed legislation to attract the Bears.

A common theme has developed through the stadium stalemate.

Political reporters in Springfield keep hearing one name.

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Miss our latest profile? Go Long sat down with New York Giants wide receiver Calvin Austin III for 2+ hours over dinner in New Jersey.

Look deeper into his past and it’s evident he’s exactly what this organization needs.

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Ten years and one month ago, Rex Ryan strutted up to a podium inside First Niagara Center in downtown Buffalo to introduce the Republican nominee for President of the United States. A businessman by the name of Donald J. Trump. It was a wild night — stick around for video footage at the bottom of this post. Back then, I was covering the event as a Bills beat writer for The Buffalo News. As I walked to the media viewing zone alongside Mike Rodak of ESPN and Matthew Fairburn of Syracuse.com— lanyards around necks, laptops in tow — we were serenaded with boos.

New York always votes blue, of course. Nothing happening here was going to change the election. Yet, the area was packed. Right then, I remember thinking Trump just might pull a November upset.

Rex did Rex, pumping up the crowd with prepared battle cries.

There was backlash. Locally and nationally.

A decent amount of players on the Buffalo Bills roster certainly weren’t thrilled with the political affiliation of their boss. Eventually, OTAs came around. Then, minicamp, Then, training camp. Then, those 2016 Bills went 7-9 and Ryan was promptly fired.

There was plenty of squabbling in those Bills locker rooms. The season prior, multiple vets were pissed at Mario Williams for quiet quitting and, per one vet, caring more about his remote control cars than playing football. Sammy Watkins demanded the ball 10 times a game. Percy Harvin essentially vanished from the team. LeSean McCoy kissed the Eagles logo ahead of a game against his old team. The team’s offensive line coach (allegedly) punched a boy and threatened to kill his family over the use of a beach chair. The club picked up one defensive end, IK Enemkpali, who slugged his own Jets QB in the jaw… and then made him the captain ahead of one primetime Bills-Jets game.

When Rex hired his twin brother Rob into ‘16 — the real alpha brother — Buffalo’s defense only got worse.

If we were to conduct a forensic study of the Rex Era Bills, his decision to introduce Trump at a rally would hardly register. I knew a few players on the left end of the political spectrum in the locker room who didn’t give a damn about his voting preference. They also recall Rex’s pregame speeches as some of the best they’ve heard in their lives. But, man. They hated his scheme. They’re still pissed that he somehow managed to ruin a good thing on defense.

Which brings us to Jaxson Dart.

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Good afternoon! Greetings from the Outer Banks. The Go Long Fam trucked it south for a vacation. Years past, I’ve driven from Western New York, right on through the mountains of West Virginia to North Carolina at night while everyone was sleeping. That can feel something like a video game avoiding deer on the I-77, but not going to lie. It was nice catching up on an audiobook or five.

This time, our caravan of five traveled in the daylight. I can report that all kids were A+.

That doesn’t mean we’ll hit the pause button here at the site. Last week was quiet so I could finish up our next profile. We’ll keep the content humming.

Looking forward to sharing this one.

On Tuesday AM, you can read our piece on New York Giants wide receiver Calvin Austin III. We sat down for 2+ hours over dinner in New Jersey recently.

What an offseason it’s been in Giants Country. Hope is renewed. As we wrote a few weeks back, John Harbaugh and Joe Schoen hit it off over shared scars. The GM then received a new contract. This roster is suddenly chockfull of promising young talent. Jaxson Dart showed signs of being the long-term answer. The defense is loaded with pass rushers. It’s time for this team to win.

What’s missing? A spark. A player who’ll bring life to dilapidated MetLife Stadium.

As we learn, Austin — the hero of Pittsburgh’s win over Harbaugh’s Ravens in Week 18 — can be that weapon. He takes us through a wildly turbulent football life. Nobody believed in a receiver just shy of 5 foot 8. There were snubs. There was mockery. But thanks to a strong relationship with his Dad and unrelenting belief, here he is.

Calvin Austin III fully expects to break out this 2026 season.

Thank you for reading and sharing, everyone.

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ICYMI:

Here’s a guest column from my co-host of “Real Football.” Jim Monos worked as an area scout for the Philadelphia Eagles (2000- ‘04) and New Orleans Saints (2005- ‘13) before taking over as the Buffalo Bills director of personnel (May 2013- ‘17). Today, he works for the UFL.

We always love getting his fresh perspective on this sport.

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By Jim Monos

Offensive play is overrated.

Take a breath all football purists. Obviously the O-Line is not completely overrated. Better word may be overvalued. The easiest excuse analysts use when an offense is struggling is “the line is not good enough.” Such a weak and soft analogy. Nobody really understands how hard it is to play offensive line.

The offensive line room is unique. Always has been. Nobody really wants to play offensive line if you do not have to. It can be a miserable existence. You rarely get any credit, you feel underpaid, under-appreciated and every day is physically draining. When you commit to being a top-level offensive lineman, you are committing to living overweight physically and consistently have to fight another man to cash your checks.

No easy days.

Building an offensive line is what needs discussed. I am convinced that taking an offensive lineman in the first round is a complete waste of time unless he is an everyday starter at offensive tackle.

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Press conferences will be held. Everyone will say the right thing. Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy will minimize tales of friction years past and/or claim absence makes the heart grow fonder. It’s been 7 1/2 years since the two split in ugly fashion.

A lot has happened in those 7 1/2 years, too.

Rodgers won two more MVPs, bellyflopped in the playoffs, regressed to a bottom-third starting quarterback. He’s 42.

McCarthy won 12 games three seasons in a row with the Dallas Cowboys, before (understandably) growing tired of Jerry’s World. The Cowboys moved on after five seasons. The Pittsburgh Steelers brought their native son home to replace Mike Tomlin. He’s 62.

Now, the two are set to reunite. According to 93.7 The Fan, Rodgers will be in Pittsburgh Thursday night with the expectation of signing this weekend. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport added that a deal should be finalized soon. All offseason, the complicated fella was the quintessential middle-aged man in a midlife crisis tapping through an old high school girlfriend’s Facebook photos. The jig is up. Options were extremely limited. So, now, he’ll try to rekindle a fire that burnt out long ago.

This constitutes as the saddest story of the NFL offseason.

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OK, nobody is insinuating that we should all sprint directly through the sternums of other human beings at maximum velocity. Although, let’s face it. We all know someone who refuses to deplane with row-by-row chivalry. Those heathens deserve a trip to the blue medical tent. Come to think of it, all community relations departments for all 32 NFL teams should collaborate with Delta, Southwest and JetBlue to unleash linebackers on the dregs of society trying to shave 1.7 seconds off their commute to Gate B5.

I get it. You see the name in the headline above — Azeez Al-Shaair — and immediately imagine the worst this sport has to offer.

The Houston Texans linebacker has been universally dubbed the dirtiest player in football. After his hit on Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence during the 2024 NFL season, the NFL’s own VP of Football Operation Jon Runyan made a public spectacle out of Al-Shaair, declaring to the sport’s millions upon millions of consumers that the Texan had zero respect for the sport itself.

“He wrote the letter,” Al-Shaair told us, “as if I personally slapped him in the face.”

That week, Al-Shaair was admonished by roughly 99.9 percent of the public.

It’s an extremely violent play. We’ll get to the logistics of it all.

But in that moment of uproar, what got completely lost in the discourse is everything that preceded that seven-second clip.

How Al-Shaair escaped a burning home at age 12, saving his two brothers and one niece. How his family of 11 became homeless and crammed into an extended-stay motel at $370/week. How he’d take the city bus 2 1/2 hours to school — it took so long because he needed to drop his little brothers off at elementary school on the way. How he wore the same clothes every day. How he tried not to eat his lunch because Al-Shaair knew the little ones back home needed food more than him.

How football became his release. He had no off switch. At Florida Atlantic, he’d fight with teammates on the field and study film at 3 a.m. off it.

How those two brothers saved from the flames moved in with him at college because cockroaches were scattering across the floor back home. He didn’t want them going down the wrong path.

How he led the Conference USA in tackles as a junior, tore his ACL as a senior and competed in linebacker drills at his pro day 140 days later.

How he defied all odds to crack the San Francisco 49ers’ 53-man roster… royally pissing off Kyle Shanahan that camp.

The player, no, the person was reduced to nothing but a repulsive villain in the wake of that Jaguars melee. And as Al-Shaair revealed to Go Long in a two-part series on the Texans defense, it all steered him down a very, very dark road.

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Quarterback conviction is the most valuable sixth sense anyone in this sport can possess.

Fail to secure hope at this position and, in due time, everyone is fired.

Hit the bull’s eye and you’re immortalized in franchise lore. You’re Ron Wolf retelling the moment you saw something special in Brett Favre.

Of course, even in 2026, it’s harder than ever to get this position right. The NFL draft, like this year’s crop, can be desolate. Very rarely does a talented quarterback make it to free agency. Reclamation projects are a crapshoot. So, here’s a concerning alternate universe for fans of the New York Giants. “You look at this year’s quarterback class,” says one team source. “Can you imagine if we didn’t get Jaxson? Brutal.”

Shudder to think where this NFC East doormat would be if they did not jump back into Round 1 last spring to select Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart. This was a club employing Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston. That draft crept into the 20s and GM Joe Schoen pulled the trigger, dealing the Houston Texans his team’s second-rounder (No. 34), third-rounder (No. 99) and a ’26 third-rounder for the consequential 25th overall pick.

Injuries ravaged personnel around him. L’s have mounted and it cost head coach Brian Daboll his job.

Yet, Dart still managed to dazzle through his 12 starts as a rookie. And it’s exactly those glimmers of hope — coupled with a sneaky accumulation of talent — that helped convince the No. 1 coach on the market to accept this job. John Harbaugh could’ve taken his 193 career wins anywhere. He chose the Giants and, hell no, a man this smart, this experienced is not choosing the Giants if he doesn’t see a roster with building blocks in place.

Declaring any team Offseason Champs is risky business. The Giants haven’t even played a game yet. But from the moment Harbaugh put pen to paper, this team has only gained steam.

Nobody in the NFL has enjoyed a better four months.

The staff is stocked with experience. Into March, he told free agents he’s building a “bully.” The pitch worked. The Giants selected four players in the top 74 who can help immediately: menacing linebacker Arvell Reese, mauling lineman Francis Mauigoa, cornerback Colton Hood and wide receiver Malachi Fields. Reese has a case to make as the best player in the entire draft.

Internally? Everywhere we’re hearing at Go Long is that the Giants have genuine harmony. No easy feat for any team. The relationship between Harbaugh and Schoen has only strengthened. The expectation is for these two to work together in 2026 — and beyond.

There’s hope, real hope, for the New York Giants.

Right?

Right?!

Let’s explore.

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Free agency is over. The draft is over.

OTAs nationwide open soon. Followed by minicamp. Followed by training camp.

Before we all know it, yes, the ball will be kicked on this 2026 NFL season.

A perfect time for another marathon mailbag. Email all inquiries to golongtd@substack.com.

Ask anything you’d like and I’ll make calls around the league to get you answers.

Let’s dig into some topics that would make Red House, NY native Marv Hubbard proud.

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ICYMI, a conversation with Brandon Beane:

What do the NFL scouts think about the prospects your favorite team drafted?

Here are all links to Bob McGinn’s 42nd annual draft series:

• Part 1, WR: Who’s the next star wideout?

• Part 2, TE: Kenyon Sadiq and the hunt for matchup nightmares

• Part 3, T: Why Francis Mauigoa ‘n co. may define the 2026 NFL Draft

• Part 4, G/C: Why this is the year to draft a center

• Part 5, QB: The Fernando Mendoza Question

• Part 6, RB: Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love? ‘The best NFL prospect in this draft

• Part 7, DL: Secure your space-eater

• Part 8, Edge: Deep 2026 class promises to torment quarterbacks

• Part 9, LB: How should an NFL team unleash Arvell Reese?

• Part 10, CB: McCoy? Delane? Hood? Inside the debate at the top...

• Part 11, S: Why Caleb Downs, a ‘slam dunk,’ is one of the best players in the NFL Draft

• Part 12, ST: The kicking revolution is here

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We’ve been reporting on the Bills transition since the 2026 season ended. Links below if you missed anything.

Joe Brady two-parter:

The hiring:

The firing:

• Why was Sean McDermott Fired?

• ‘What is success?’ The truth hurts...

• Hunt for QB-HC harmony: Why Josh Allen is sitting in these meetings

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Draft grades are here! Hoard supplies. Take shelter. Hug your loved ones. Barring an Amish-extreme media blackout, nobody is safe… and, oh no. What’s that lurking on Instagram? 2027 mocks have arrived to eat your brain cells.

Of course, it’s impossible to accurately assess how any of the 257 players selected over the course of 72 hours will perform with their new NFL teams.

Here’s what everyone should do, however.

Pull up the draft history of your favorite team on Pro Football Reference, look back five years and judge accordingly.

The assumption for the Buffalo Bills heading into the 2026 draft was that they’d prioritize defensive pieces for new coordinator Jim Leonhard — especially after shipping a second-round pick for veteran wide receiver DJ Moore. There’s a strong argument for acting exactly as Howie Roseman does in Philadelphia by trading up. To hell with future picks in the name of chasing a premier talent in the top 20. Instead, Brandon Beane traded down three times, back into the second to select Clemson edge rusher T.J. Parker and Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun. Many constituents are not pleased.

Rather than draw blanket conclusions on these two prospects, let’s look back.

The Bills have been hammering defense for ages. Last season, they went D-D-D-D-D with their first five picks. Before that, they’ve been investing heavily into the defensive line.

Watching the voracious discourse melt down X brought back memories of our chat with Bills GM Brandon Beane exactly one year ago. When I brought up Philadelphia’s beatdown of Patrick Mahomes — the Chiefs QB didn’t cross midfield until his team was down 34-0 — Beane was very quick to point out that building a dangerous pass rush has always been a focus of his. He’s been investing both draft capital and free agency dollars in defensive line since Year 1. Elite quarterbacks can, in fact, bleed. To him, the carnage inside the Superdome was not revelatory. Nor was Tampa Bay chasing Mahomes around for 497 yards worth of scrambling before sacks and throws a few Super Bowls prior. He cited the Carolina Panthers teams past he witnessed up close and said he knew what needed to be done.

When asked what gives him confidence Sean McDermott and the Bills staff could use the new pieces on defense to get different results, he was matter of fact.

“Yeah, I mean that’s what we have to do,” the GM said. “Everyone’s on board and that’s how we’re attacking it.”

There were highs, lows, injuries and the same January bellyflop.

The Bills fired Sean McDermott.

Beane stayed.

Joe Brady was promoted to head coach.

This organization is basically plastering its belief in gigantic letters across new Highmark Stadium.

Go Long is your home for longform in pro football.

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They believe McDermott was the problem even more than anyone thinks. Specifically, in this case, his ability to coach defensive football. Agree. Disagree. For nearly a decade, a defensive coach was supplied resources on the defensive side of the ball and owner Terry Pegula expected more in the games that matter most. There was no daring leap up the board for an April splash, no Micah Parsons- or Maxx Crosby-level blockbuster trade for a singular superstar/savior in March. The Bills spread some cash around in free agency (Bradley Chubb, Dee Alford, C.J. Gardner-Johnson), added more potential contributors in the draft and identified the overall philosophy of the defense as the true infection. Stagnation. Predictability. Bend-don’t-break logic that works vs. Geno Smith and Tua Tagovailoa but never in the postseason.

It’s why we’ve heard the word attack so relentlessly.

It’s why Brady was the choice. His approach to the sport is different.

All of which ratchets up the pressure to deliver this year. Nothing has changed in that regard. Buffalo will not be judged on a random weekend in April. When it’s time to get a stop vs. Mahomes or Burrow or (God forbid) Bo Nix, will the 11 players on defense be instructed to play on their heels? Or attack? A mentality shift is required. By law, we’re required to again repeat those non-kneeldown stats in the team’s last six (of eight) playoff defeats.

They’re as pleasant as a 2x4 to the face:

• 52 non-kneeldown drives

• 25 touchdowns

• 13 field goals

• 12 punts

• 1 missed field goal

• 3 turnovers

• 199 points allowed … good for 3.83 points per drive. (Higher than the 2007 Patriots.)

Numbers this bad demand consequences. Watching the Eagles defense in ’24 or the Seahawks in ’25 before flipping over to Buffalo’s defense induces a Sopranos-to-Bluey whiplash. Rather than clean house with a team that’s won 66 percent of its regular-season games under this HC and GM, Pegula removed the defensive coach from the equation. We’ll see if it works. The other option is thinking McDermott will get it right the ninth time around in the playoffs.

As nine interviews for the HC vacancy raged on, Pegula was likely thinking that he made the right choice. Through those conversations, the Bills learned a lot about themselves. One enlightening tidbit of information? Around the NFL, offenses viewed their defense as elementary by modern standards. Pre-snap, candidates said they knew what McDermott was trying to do and effectively audibled into the correct play.

Architectural design, gameplanning and playcalling were re-confirmed as major problems.

This year’s draft struck me as just another step toward Buffalo’s hope of an entirely new vision on defense.

With the Bills leading 27-23 in the AFC divisional round — and 55 seconds to go — Sean Payton and the Broncos saw Tre’Davious White go down, saw Dane Jackson enter the game and realized the Bills were leaving that ice-cold replacement in 1-on-1 coverage. Nix found Marvin Mims for a 26-yard touchdown. These are the decisions that win or lose playoff games.

The inverse of this all is what Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo did to Buffalo on fourth and 5 in the AFC Championship one year prior. All game, the Chiefs threatened to blitz the right side of the Bills’ line… and backed off. This time, “Spags” sent the house and flustered Josh Allen into a prayer of a heave. A ruthless ambush that guard O’Cyrus Torrence admitted took everyone by surprise. One Chiefs assistant coach told us during the subsequent Super Bowl week that the Chiefs designate one person to study the offensive line’s protections. That’s it. That’s all this person does. Each down and distance, he tracks their movement patterns.

Intel is relayed to Spagnuolo and Andy Reid in real time.

When it’s time, KC pulls the trigger.

This is what high-level coaching looks like.

What high-level coaching does not look like is Greg Rousseau noting in the same game that the Chiefs ran plays they never saw before. Such as pulling a tackle left and running a QB keeper right in a diamond formation.

There’s two ways to interpret the January failings. McDermott would argue he needs players capable of winning 1-on-1’s across the board. He took not-so-subtle shots at the roster frequently last season. Beane would argue that he’s been supplying players of all shapes and sizes. There’s been hits and misses. Buffalo was talented enough to beat the Chiefs in the regular season five times before the four playoff defeats. Something is amiss.

Onto this ‘26 class, I see no problem in trying to enrich the two most critical positions on defense at No. 35 and No. 62 overall. Parker joins Chubb and Rousseau in that ongoing effort to make quarterbacks finally sweat in the postseason. Igbinosun will play more than anyone thinks. The most telling part of Beane’s post-draft presser was when he was asked about drafting a cornerback vs. a player at a position with a clearer path toward starting sooner.

“Corners are premium positions,” Beane said, “if you look at who makes the top dollars in the league. If you look at our season last year—and it’s happened before—those guys are all going to play. It’s a long season. When you have corners who are not capable, they get bull’s eyes on them. Real fast. Especially when you’re playing the primetime quarterbacks, the primetime offenses in this league.

“Think of how many guys we went through last season that played in the playoffs for us — or helped us get to the playoffs. You’re going to need those guys.”

He later labeled cornerback the team’s No. 1 need headed into the draft.

With Christian Benford and Maxwell Hairston slated to start, this may sound odd.

That is, until you remember how those last two playoff games ended.

In ’25, Denver immediately targeted Jackson on that critical play. He was called up to the 53 one week prior. Denver also went after safety Darnell Savage for a touchdown when Cam Lewis went down. In ’24, Kansas City abused Kaiir Elam when Benford suffered a concussion. The former first-round pick, an abject bust, should’ve never been in this position. Further, Benford admitted to Go Long he also should’ve never been playing in this game after suffering the same brain injury seven days prior against Baltimore. (“I was cooked,” he told us. “I was barbecued.”)

Too often, all of us fail to look beyond the 22 starters. Cornerback is too valuable. Several bodies are required.

For what the Bills are trying to construct — an attacking defense — combative corners are a must. At Ohio State, Igbinosun excelled on the boundary in Matt Patricia’s Cover 3 scheme. Penalties were a concern. The good news is that after committing a startling 12 penalties in ’24, he cut the figure down to four last season. “IGB” enjoys the sport’s violence, a trait that surely stood out to Buffalo.

“My mentality,” Igbinosun said. “I tackle with my whole life. I’m not afraid of anybody. That’s one of the reasons that separates me from the other corners in the country. That’s what I take pride in.”

All after going all-out on defense last spring.

Buffalo is banking on production from this injury-riddled crew, too.

Disguise and deception must make a comeback in this Bills defense. It’s been a while. The tricky part is not going Full Rex. Eleven years ago, the bodacious blatherskite inherited one of the NFL’s best defenses and his house was on fire by mid-October. Mario Williams openly protested his role. Marcell Dareus, the team’s $100 Million Dollar Man, was asked to drop into coverage. Penalties and chaos and mass confusion reigned supreme. Preston Brown, the linebacker with the green dot, articulated the predicament perfectly. Checks on checks on checks on checks zapped instinct. Many times, players were subbing onto the field late. Buffalo tried to find the perfect play call based on an offense’s formation. Into Year 2, Rex Ryan’s solution was to hire his twin brother. Rob Ryan, the true alpha in this relationship, made everything worse.

Those ’15 and ’16 Bills felt as if they were solving X for Y with quadratic x-squared polynomials.

The game’s changed a lot since then. Jim Leonhard is his own man. He’s also one of Rex Ryan’s favorite players ever. His challenge as Bills DC is striking a balance. The field shouldn’t transform into a calculus-level math equation.

This is a run-and-hit profession. Predictable alignments also cannot fly.

It’s also laughable to suggest the Bills didn’t do anything personnel-wise this offseason. Leonhard clearly targeted a handful of players he views as fits.

Now, Brady’s football life comes full circle. Exactly 13 years ago, he was a college senior at William & Mary dying for a job. The head coach, Jimmye Laycock, told him he’d fill a vacant assistant linebackers position with one of three candidates. And rather than go home after graduation, as Laycock advised, Brady stayed on campus to obsess over all of the Tribe’s opponents that season. He authored individual scouting reports — with an offensive flair. Brady didn’t know a lick about defense then, but the collegiate receiver could apply offensive acumen to the gig.

He got the job and, all fall, William & Mary coaches could tell Brady was seeing a different game.

Scott Boone, the DC, recalled Brady kindly correcting them on the opposing offense’s intent behind plays all season long. “That’s not really what is happening,” Brady would say. “They’re doing this to create this matchup.” William & Mary held opponents to 10 points or less in six games and Brady’s coaching career took off like a rocket ship. Boone was struck by Brady’s desire to evolve daily.

“That’s probably why his track has been as fast as it has,” Boone told us.

All the way to taking over the Buffalo Bills at age 36.

Fresh off the Denver loss, these Bills desperately needed a fresh perspective on defense… that offensive eye. Brady, more than any candidate, presented that vision.

In his interview for this job, Brady applied the same logic. He told everyone at the table what drove him mad as a playcaller. When headset communication shuts off at the 15-second mark of the play clock, he cannot talk to Josh Allen. Safeties start moving. Cornerbacks take a foreign step. A linebacker stunts. The alignment of those 11 defenders shape-shifts, and the quarterback is left to his own devices. Brady made it clear that he wants opposing playcallers paralyzed by this same helplessness.

One well-timed blitz. One confusing simulation. Anything that makes that quarterback hesitate on a critical down. Back to “13 Seconds,” the Bills have lacked a postseason knockout punch.

The best defensive coaches live for this moment.

Think Devon Witherspoon blitzing off the edge to batter Drake Maye in the Super Bowl.

This does come at the expense of loading up on offense. Beane has spent the least draft capital on offense of any team in the league since 2020. Granted, the next two teams on that list are the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs. All three clubs are piloted by MVP quarterbacks. On Day 3, at No. 125 overall, Beane did get around to drafting a wide receiver the second-highest he ever has. UConn’s Skyler Bell caught 101 balls for 1,278 yards and 13 touchdowns last season and he’l have a chance to play. Hall-of-Fame finalist Steve Smith called him his favorite receiver in the entire class.

Overall, the GM’s bet is that the best way to maximize Josh Allen is by refueling on defense.

Consider Moore part of this draft class, too. He essentially counts as the Bills’ 57^th overall pick. Before free agency even began, the Bills wanted to lock in a No. 1 wide receiver.

Buffalo’s wide receiver unit now features Moore, Khalil Shakir, Joshua Palmer, Keon Coleman, Bell and Trent Sherfield. It also wouldn’t hurt if tight end Dalton Kincaid could stay healthy. This is a massive season for Beane’s top pick in ’23 (Kincaid) and ’24 (Coleman).

Picks need to hit. Let’s say Beane had 18 to 20 first-round grades. Buffalo could have packaged present and future picks together to climb up the board for a player who’s got the best chance to wreck a game in January. They could’ve beat Roseman to the punch on a prospect like USC wide receiver Makai Lemon. In each of the last three drafts, the Bills have opted for bundles of players. Logic being, you’ve got darts to throw. Cole Bishop took a giant step last season. Deone Walker may be the answer at nose tackle. To get to the Super Bowl, they’ll need one of those darts to hit the bull’s eye. Be it the lights turning on for Coleman… or T.J. Sanders busting out as a disruptive force… or Hairston staying healthy blanketing receivers.

Patience and depth ruled the ‘26 draft for the Bills.

A draft that reminded everyone of the new ethos for this team.

You heard it all from Brady in our 1 on 1. The team’s new head coach doesn’t want Buffalo being reactive on either side of the ball. “They’ve,” he makes clear, “got to play us.” Nor does anyone have to worry if the two people running the show are seeing eye to eye. There’s no guesswork on who’s behind which picks and there’s no separate press conferences for head coach and GM.

Beane and Brady are genuinely aligned.

Good or bad, save the draft grades.

All that matters now is what happens when Brady, Leonhard and the Bills face third down with less than two minutes left in the playoffs.

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