This marks the continuation of a 2023 series looking at active players and their current situation vis a vis what it was entering the NFL draft. The comments from personnel men were made in the months leading up to the draft for my NFL Draft Series, which dates to 1985. Scouting football players is an inexact science, especially when it comes to off-the-field considerations. It has been said no two evaluators view a player exactly the same way.

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By Bob McGinn

Leonard Williams is more than just a survivor. He has become the ultimate achiever, a defensive tackle in the National Football League with the rare distinction of playing his best a decade into his career.

On Wednesday night, the Seattle Seahawks will begin defense of their NFL championship against the New England Patriots, the team they defeated in the 60^th Super Bowl. Williams, a 12-year veteran, is the centerpiece of what was the NFL’s top scoring defense a season ago.

“He’s the cornerstone of all the things they do on defense,” an executive in personnel said. “Their secondary calls are based upon Williams and his ability to disrupt everything inside. He’s not as wide as a lot of guys but his effectiveness you can’t really measure because he’s such a force.”

The two New York teams, the Jets and the Giants, obviously didn’t see Williams in that light. The Jets, who drafted him high in the first round in 2015, traded him to the Giants in mid-2019, and four years later almost to the day the Giants dealt him to Seattle. The two trades were for draft-choice compensation only, but it was informative that neither deal included a pick in the first round.

The New York clubs liked Williams, but only to a point. The Jets and Giants had their reasons for moving on. The highly-paid Williams had been a solid but not exceptional performer in his 8 ½ seasons on the East Coast.

Talk about benefiting from a change of scenery. Once Williams got to the Pacific Northwest his game took off to the point where now he has reached what NFL teams always knew was an extremely high ceiling. No one doubted his effort in New York, but Williams discovered he had another gear and outlook immediately upon arrival in Seattle.

“I think it just lit a fire within me,” Williams said in August. “It just restored all my energy and love for the game.”

As his age-32 season arrives Williams finds himself awash with professional status and accolades that have never come his way before. Suddenly, he is rated at or near the top of defensive tackles after 10 long years of watching those honors always bestowed on his contemporaries.

In the offseason, ESPN polled more than 70 NFL executives, coaches and scouts to rank the top 10 players at each position entering the 2026 season. The ESPN undertaking, directed by Jeremy Fowler, began in 2020.

Before this year, Williams’ best finish was No. 6 in 2025. This year, Williams jumped all the way to No. 1; it was his first top-5 finish.

“That was amazing,” Williams said. “I think it’s awesome to get that recognition, especially later in my career. I feel like I’ve always trusted and had confidence in the type of player I am. I think having (attention on the) season and our team from going to the Super Bowl has kind of shed more light on individuals as well. It’s an honor to be able to get that recognition from my peers, especially. It’s not a fan voting. It’s something that’s from league executives and coaches and things like that, which means a lot more.”

ESPN’s top-10 after Williams, in order, were Jeffery Simmons, Jalen Carter, Chris Jones, Derrick Brown, Quinnen Williams, Dexter Lawrence, Zach Allen, Milton Williams and Jordan Davis.

One of the stunning elements of the ESPN poll was the fact that last year was the first time Williams had been voted to the Pro Bowl. He had been a replacement pick in 2016 and 2024. Pro Bowl voting incorporates a formula involving the vote of coaches, players and fans.

In all, 19 defensive tackles received votes in the survey by ESPN.

Last week, I ran the names of those 19 defensive tackles by two personnel men asking them if they’d rather have that player or Williams entering 2026. Each selected five players over Williams, so in theory he was No. 6 overall. Vita Vea, Simmons and Carter were taken over Williams by both scouts; the four receiving one nod over him were Jones, Quinnen Williams, Lawrence and Davis.

“I would say he’s top-5 for sure,” said one executive. “He’s had a couple peaks and valleys in his career. Maybe three or four years ago I felt his play was a little more inconsistent. Now at Seattle he’s been a truly dominant player.

“In the run game he can dominate singles and hold up against doubles. He also has the ability to split blocks and get in the backfield. I’ve always admired him for being such a good athlete to get off blockers and make plays.

“As a rusher, he’s a little bit undervalued. He could win with power. He could win with speed on edges. Good with his hands. He’s a violent player. Really a rare athlete for his size. He has the ability to really move down the line of scrimmage and get to the ball.”

Marc Ross, an executive in personnel for more than 20 years with the Eagles, Bills and Giants, was one of four scouts who said Williams’ resume isn’t Hall of Fame quality.

“He’s just a damn good player,” said Ross. “He could be 1, he could be 5 (now). Hard to say who’s the best. He got better with age. He always showed that he was good and had talent, but you see what happened when a really talented guy gets in a situation that is advantageous for him.”

Fifteen defensive tackles have been voted to two or more Pro Bowls since Williams entered the league 12 years ago. That list includes Donald (nine), Jones (seven), Fletcher Cox (six), Geno Atkins and Cameron Heyward (five), Calais Campbell (four), Gerald McCoy, Jurrell Casey, Quinnen Williams and Lawrence (three), and Grady Jarrett, Zach Allen, Jeffrey Simmons, Nnamdi Madubuike and Carter (two). Williams and 10 other D-tackles have been voted to one.

“It’s a great question: is he great, or just a very good one?” said another scout. “I think he’s very good. On the cusp of being great. The first thing you notice about Leonard Williams is his length. Then his get-off, his quickness and his agility.

“When I evaluated him in New York I saw no problems with the guy. It’s, like, then he goes there (Seattle) and continues to do it and now they win a Super Bowl and everybody wants to talk about the guy. It’s sad because he’s had a legit career. He’s got great numbers in terms of pressures. It’s not always about sacks.

“To me, do you have a presence in that middle? Yes, he has a presence in the middle.”

Go Long paid subscribers can access this piece — and all of McGinn’s content — in full. He’ll dissect the NFC North weekly on the Ty & Bob Pod and pen longform columns like this one below all season long.

BASICS

Height: 6-4 ½. Weight: 310 (302 at the combine, 304 at pro day). Age: 32. From: Daytona Beach, Fla.

40-yard dash: 4.95. Vertical jump: 29 ½ inches. Broad jump: 8-10. Bench press: No lift (right shoulder injury). Wonderlic test: 22. Short shuttle: 4.53. 3-cone: 7.59. Arms: 34 5/8 (tied for longest among the top 15 DTs). Hands: 10 5/8 (second largest among the top 20 DTs).

Leonard Williams was born in Bakersfield, Calif., in 1994. He was the third of Aviva Russek’s five children. His mother was a nurse and his father, Clenin Lee Williams III, was a college graduate who worked as a computer numerical control machinist in Detroit after the family moved in Michigan when Williams was about 5.

His parents separated in 2009. During childhood Williams moved from Detroit to Arizona to Daytona Beach, where the family often lived in homeless shelters or a motel.

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Good afternoon! Great news to share here.

I’ve gotten a few inquiries, so it was worth an email alert.

Yes, Bob McGinn is back for more at Go Long.

My former colleague at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been with us since 2021. Nobody has covered the sport quite like Bob. Expect more of the same from our resident Pro Football Hall of Famer — knifing analysis, fresh insights, thorough film dissections.

As it pertains to Bob, as a reminder, paid subscribers will gain access to…

• Ty & Bob Pod. Weekly two-hour dose of NFC North talk. Bob dissects the film of all four teams all season long.

• NFL Draft series. Get the unfiltered analysis from scouts and execs across the country. Good, bad, ugly. McGinn unearths everything you need to know.

• The McGinn Files. Columns on players today… with a sharp look back at how they were viewed out of college.

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Miss any of his stuff last season? Handful of links are below.

Thank you all for growing our community.

Go Long is completely fueled by you.

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

McGinn Files

• The Incomparable Myles Garrett

• Jonathan Taylor, the best running back in football

• Inside the rise of Chris Jones, the Kansas City Chiefs’ mercurial star

• All Jalen Hurts does is win

• Why Matthew Stafford is cementing himself as an all-time great

• Inside the J.J. McCarthy Mystery

Ty & Bob Pod

All episodes archived here.

A few below:

• Ty & Bob Pod S4 E18: Chicago Bears finally run out of magic in NFC playoff thriller

• Ty & Bob S4 E17: Autopsy look at the Green Bay Packers’ wild-card calamity in Chicago

• Ty & Bob Pod S4 E15: Inside a 307-yard Lambeau fiasco, Bears-49ers shootout, Lions unravel

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Good morning! We have real pro football games one week from tonight in Seattle.

The 2026 NFL Season is upon us.

Glorious.

I’ve gotten a few inquiries, so let’s get right to the news. Yes, Bob McGinn is back. Yes, Jim Monos is back. Both will bring their exceptional football minds to Go Long again. Will be sure to outline exactly what you can expect out of a Go Long subscription this coming Monday. Thrilled for everything ahead.

McGinn is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Monos scouted for the Eagles, Saints, Bills and is now a personnel man running the UFL.

Love getting their perspectives on everything to give you something different here.

Let’s take a moment to gaze into a crystal ball, eh?

Here’s how we see this season playing out.

Be sure to rifle off your own takes in the comments, too.

Thank you for making Go Long your home for independent pro football journalism once again this fall.

I want longform.

I want to gift longform.

TYLER DUNNE

DIVISION WINNERS

• AFC EAST: Buffalo

• AFC NORTH: Baltimore

• AFC SOUTH: Houston

• AFC WEST: Denver

• NFC EAST: Dallas

• NFC NORTH: Detroit

• NFC SOUTH: Tampa Bay

• NFC WEST: Seattle

WILD CARDS

• AFC: Cincinnati, New England, Kansas City

• NFC: LA Rams, Minnesota, Green Bay

AFC DIVISIONAL ROUND: Baltimore, Buffalo, New England, Cincinnati

NFC DIVISIONAL ROUND: Detroit, Seattle, LA Rams, Minnesota

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Baltimore over Buffalo

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Detroit over Seattle

Super Bowl 61: Baltimore over Detroit

NFL MVP: Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore

NFL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Will Anderson, Edge, Houston

FIVE BREAKTHROUGH PLAYERS: Boye Mafe, Edge, Cincinnati; Dallas Turner, Edge, Minnesota; Ja’Kobi Lane, WR, Baltimore; Dalton Kincaid, TE, Buffalo; Tate Ratledge, G, Detroit.

FIVE MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYERS: Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Arizona; Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City; Mike Evans, WR, San Francisco; Sauce Gardner, CB, Indianapolis; Jalen Hurts, QB, Philadelphia.

NFL COACH OF THE YEAR: Jesse Minter, Baltimore

NFL OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jadarian Price, RB, Seattle

NFL DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Rueben Bain, Edge, Tampa Bay

NFL MOST SURPRISING TEAM: Minnesota

NFL WORST TEAM: NY Jets

IN ORDER, FIVE COACHES ON THE THINNEST ICE: Aaron Glenn, NY Jets; Shane Steichen, Indianapolis; Mike LaFleur, Arizona, Dave Canales, Carolina, Todd Monken, Cleveland.

TOP FIVE TEAMS IN MOST YARDS GAINED: Detroit, Buffalo, LA Rams, Baltimore, Green Bay.

TOP FIVE TEAMS IN FEWEST YARDS ALLOWED: Houston, Seattle, Denver, Minnesota, Philadelphia.

NFL RUSHING LEADER: Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit

NFL PASSER RATING LEADER: Josh Allen, Buffalo

NFL RECEIVING YARDS LEADER: Justin Jefferson, Minnesota

NFL SACK LEADER: Will Anderson, Houston

BOB MCGINN

DIVISION WINNERS

• AFC EAST: New England

• AFC NORTH: Baltimore

• AFC SOUTH: Houston

• AFC WEST: Denver

• NFC EAST: Philadelphia

• NFC NORTH: Detroit

• NFC SOUTH: New Orleans

• NFC WEST: Los Angeles

WILD CARDS

• AFC: Buffalo, LA Chargers, Cincinnati

• NFC: Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas

AFC DIVISIONAL ROUND: Buffalo, Denver, Houston, New England

NFC DIVISIONAL ROUND: Detroit, LA Rams, San Francisco, Seattle

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Buffalo over New England

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: LA Rams over Seattle

SUPER BOWL 61: LA Rams over Buffalo

NFL MVP: Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit

NFL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Fred Warner, LB, San Francisco

FIVE BREAKTHROUGH PLAYERS: Laiatu Latu, Edge, Indianapolis; Walter Nolen, DT, Arizona; DeMarvion Overshown, LB, Dallas; Tyler Shough, QB, New Orleans; Alijah Vera-Tucker, G, New England.

FIVE MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYERS: Abdul Carter, Edge, NY Giants; Travis Hunter, CB-WR, Jacksonville; Ashton Jeanty, RB, Las Vegas; Will Johnson, CB, Arizona; Malik Willis, QB, Miami.

NFL COACH OF THE YEAR: Kellen Moore, New Orleans

NFL OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jadarian Price, RB, Seattle

NFL DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Caleb Downs, S, Dallas

NFL MOST SURPRISING TEAM: New Orleans

NFL WORST TEAM: Arizona

IN ORDER, FIVE COACHES ON THE THINNEST ICE: Aaron Glenn, NY Jets; Shane Steichen, Indianapolis; Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay; Dan Quinn, Washington; Zac Taylor, Cincinnati.

TOP FIVE TEAMS IN MOST YARDS GAINED: LA Rams, Dallas, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit.

TOP FIVE TEAMS IN FEWEST YARDS ALLOWED: Houston, Seattle, Minnesota, Denver, LA Rams.

NFL RUSHING LEADER: Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit

NFL PASSER RATING LEADER: Joe Burrow, Cincinnati

NFL RECEIVING YARDS LEADER: Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati

NFL SACK LEADER: Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit

JIM MONOS

DIVISION WINNERS

• AFC EAST: Buffalo

• AFC NORTH: Baltimore

• AFC SOUTH: Houston

• AFC WEST: Denver

• NFC EAST: Dallas

• NFC NORTH: Detroit

• NFC SOUTH: Tampa Bay

• NFC WEST: Seattle

WILD CARDS

• AFC: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, LA Chargers

• NFC: LA Rams, Green Bay, Philadelphia

AFC DIVISIONAL ROUND: Buffalo, Houston, Baltimore, Denver

NFC DIVISIONAL ROUND: Green Bay, Seattle, Dallas, Detroit

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Denver over Baltimore

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Green Bay over Dallas

SUPER BOWL 61: Denver over Green Bay

NFL MVP: Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore

NFL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Patrick Surtain II, CB, Denver

FIVE BREAKTHROUGH PLAYERS: Mike Washington Jr, RB, Las Vegas; Colston Loveland, TE, Chicago; Luther Burden, WR, Chicago; Armand Membou, OT, NY Jets; Josaiah Stewart, Edge, LA Rams.

FIVE MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYERS: Shedeur Sanders, QB, Cleveland; Bryce Young, QB, Carolina; CJ Stroud, QB, Houston; Drake Maye, QB, New England; DeVonta Smith, WR, Philadelphia.

NFL COACH OF THE YEAR: Sean Payton, Denver

NFL OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jeremiyah Love, RB, Arizona

NFL DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Caleb Downs, S, Dallas

NFL MOST SURPRISING TEAM: Dallas

NFL WORST TEAM: Arizona

IN ORDER, FIVE COACHES ON THE THINNEST ICE: Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay; Todd Monken, Cleveland, Matt LaFleur, Green Bay; Dan Quinn, Washington; Aaron Glenn, NY Jets.

TOP FIVE TEAMS IN MOST YARDS GAINED: Dallas, Rams, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit

TOP FIVE TEAMS IN FEWEST YARDS ALLOWED: Houston, Denver, Minnesota, Seattle, LA Chargers

NFL RUSHING LEADER: Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis

NFL PASSER RATING LEADER: Josh Allen, Buffalo

NFL RECEIVING YARDS LEADER: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle

NFL SACK LEADER: Brian Burns, NY Giants

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2026 NFL Season Preview Features to date…

The “Big John” Simpson Creed

Tate Ratledge feels no pain

The Kyler Murray Project, Part I: Liberated

The Kyler Murray Project, Part II: The Great Unknown

‘We will be the best offensive line in football:’ Q&A with Alec Anderson, Buffalo Bills enforcer

‘Who’s going to take this yard?’ The Arrival of Eric Wilson

Jordyn Brooks is the captain now

Dregs to Domination: The Aaron Brewer Blueprint

No Micah Parsons to start this season. No Josh Jacobs. And this is all on top of an offseason that saw the Green Bay Packers lose key contributors on both sides of the ball. It doesn’t take Calculus-level math to deduce the need for Jordan Love to elevate from great to superstar in 2026.

There will undoubtedly be more on the quarterback’s shoulders out of the chute.

Pressure ratchets up for these Packers starting Week 1 against a Minnesota Vikings team gunning to contend.

Through our offseason reporting, I caught up at length with former Pro Bowler Matt Hasselbeck on a bunch of topics. This was the one he was most passionate about.

Hasselbeck once backed up a Hall of Famer in Green Bay himself. It’s different. And Hasselbeck expects very, very big things out of Love this 2026 season… with one critical evolution to his game.

Our conversation is transcribed below.

Topics include…

• Why Jordan Love should embrace “the boring.”

• The Packers’ season would’ve been completely different, Hasselbeck explains, if Love simplified things on “eight or nine plays.”

• Slight tweaks in fundaments could take this quarterback to an elite level.

• Who’ll be the best quarterback in the NFC North?

• We chatted before Josh Jacobs was put on the commissioner exempt list. But Hasselbeck offers insight into one schematic change you’ll see in Green Bay’s offense — more inside/outside zone runs.

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Jordan Love waits three years, plays three years. It’s now Year 7. What are you hoping to see out of him this season?

Hasselbeck: He could have a great year this year. I think people have conceded that division to other people and I don’t think that’s wise. The Packers could have a decent year. I think they could win the division. Jordan Love could have a breakout year.

Every year’s different. There’s 21 new playcallers in the NFL this year and I’ve lived through that. It’s not the easiest. Sometimes it works out awesome. It’s an upgrade. And other times there’s a learning curve and it’s not an upgrade. And so I think we’re going to see a lot of guys going through that. The case in Green Bay is you’ve got a guy that understands who he wants to be as a playcaller. He understands what he doesn’t want to be. He’s trying to get back to the fundamentals of what made them great and what quite honestly made the two best teams in football last year great — the Rams and the Seahawks. So I think you’re going to see more of that. I think you’re going to see more of that inside/outside zone and the play-action that comes off of it and then all the stuff that the Shanahan Tree is known for in the passing game. I’m a believer — more than most — in Jordan Love.

What does he do better than anything? If you could pinpoint any trait he has — be it physical or mental — or just what you see as one of the best yourself, what would that be?

Hasselbeck: Typically in the quarterback room, that’s usually not what you do. You obsess with what you need to get better at. And for almost two decades, that was my experience. We obsessed over what we needed to get better at. And usually it was things that some people might think are small, but it was usually a couple things. Maybe three things. Every offseason, we’d attack it. We want to get better in this area.

And I think if I could say what I believe is at the top of the list for Jordan Love — that’s kind of separating him from that next level — it’s just the consistency and fundamentals.

He needs to take pride in doing the boring better. And I think that’s probably the thing that’s sometimes hardest for really talented people. They think they have to do more than they need to do. You just need to do less better, if that makes sense. That is the kind of an offense you can let work for you. And so I think that’s probably going to be a little bit of the mindset that Matt LaFleur and company have with him. They’re going to try to sell him on how he can be great. And I think part of the sell is going to be on fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. It’s not sexy to talk about, but it’s like perfecting a golf swing. Do you want to be the kind of golfer that’s an amazing tour golfer, or you want to be a guy that’s great at a scramble. That’s how I tend to think about it.

With some of his throws he can fade away. And if you don’t fade away — if he stands in there and keep his footwork how it should be — it’s a catchable ball. I’m thinking of the Luke Musgrave ball against Chicago in the wild card. If Jordan stands in there and throws it without fading, Musgrave is either catching it or it’s DPI (on Tremaine Edmunds) and there’s a good chance the Packers win that game.

Hasselbeck: The hard thing — and I lived this — the hard thing is when you follow a great player like Aaron Rodgers, or in my case, I backed up Brett Favre. Both those guys — Aaron and Brett — they sometimes throw the ball with both feet off the ground. And so Aaron has perfected his own way of throwing that I don’t think is a great thing to try to copy. Now, I know there’s some coaches out there showing Aaron Rodgers technique tape. I lived this with Walter Jones. Walter Jones, in my opinion, is the best left tackle that’s ever played football. His technique is so unique to how every offensive line coach would coach the technique. It’s almost not helpful to watch his film because he does things that — he’s so talented — he gets away with them.

It’s just very unique. I think it’s a little bit similar to Aaron Rodgers. He’s a unicorn. There’s a lot you can learn from him and I learned this: There’s a lot that I can learn from Brett Favre. A lot. But the fundamentals and the technique? You’ve got to be really careful with what you try to do there. Sometimes for the guy who comes after him… because your job when you’re the backup of that person is to be exactly like that person. In a lot of ways. That’s all great if you’re never missing open guys. But when you start to miss open guys, then you’ve got to do it the way that the rest of the world would coach you to do it. The way that Matt LaFleur and company would coach you to do it.

I’m not in their offseason review, but I would imagine they can point to less than 10 plays last year: If Jordan Love just does his job better on about eight or nine plays, it’s a whole other story for the Packers last year.

Eight or nine plays, that’s all we’re talking about. If nothing else changes except for you change on eight or nine plays, we have a whole different experience. So that’d be my guess. I think that’s how it usually goes in an offseason. And for a quarterback, it’s such a great feeling when you have a coaching staff who knows what they’re doing at the quarterback position. And that would be my encouragement to him. He has that. And so lean into it. Even if it maybe feels like you’re taking a step back in a sense when you talk more fundamentals and you’re in Year 6 or 7. You’re going to do it to take two steps forward.

Steve Calhoun — his personal coach since high school — he’s been telling him: “Don’t copy Aaron! He’s Aaron Rodgers for a reason. You can’t do this, you can’t do that.” And it’s almost inevitable because that is who you’re watching all the time. I guess you have to consciously think, “OK, stay within myself here. I know I was watching Brett or Aaron, but I can’t do that stuff.”

Hasselbeck: Well, it’s fun. I’ve tried things that I saw Brett do. And I remember having Mike Holmgren call me over and stop me in the middle of individual drill and say, “Hey, get over here. What are you doing? What are you doing?” And I’m like, “Oh, I was just trying something. Trying to copy Brett here. He throws his slant route like this.” It’s like an almost no-look or whatever. And he’s like, “OK, stop. Stop.” Andy Reid had said this to me, but when Mike Holmgren said it to me, it had even more power to me at the time. He said: “Your fundamentals are better than Brett’s. Don’t lose that.” It was like, “Wait a sec, I’m better at anything than Brett? What?” It blew my mind that Mike Holmgren would think that I was better at anything.

And then it was like a splash of water in my face because my very first meeting with Andy Reid ever, he said, “Listen, there’s so much that you can learn from Brett Favre. I want you to study it all. I want you to study his leadership style. I want you to study his command and his offense, his cadence at the line of scrimmage, his energy and body language when he takes a hit.” All these things he was bringing up. And then he after that said, “What I don’t want you to do is study his decision-making and his fundamentals and his technique. He gets away with things that you could never get away with.” And so it all makes sense to me now. In the moment, I felt like I was drinking out of a fire hose. But I also understand how hard it would be to go from emulating and doing everything the way that Aaron does it. And then all of a sudden you’ve got to find that fine line.

Now I do believe Jordan Love’s not a young quarterback and he’s played a lot of football and no one needs to hold his hand anymore. But if you were to ask me to guess what he’s being told this offseason, and if you were to ask me what I know I would tell him this offseason, I do believe that it’s going to come down to, “Here are 7 to 10 plays that if our fundamentals and our technique, we’re a little bit better. If our eyes are better, our feet are better, our accuracy’s better, we’re at a whole other level. And people aren’t talking about that guy, they’re talking about you.” And I think that’s fair. I think that’s legit.

That Bears wild card game is the perfect example because he threw for more than 300 yards, three touchdowns, no picks. On the road. A QB should win that game. And that throw at the end to Christian Watson is insane. He gets blasted and places it right in the hole. But then there’s a couple other ones where if he keeps his fundamentals, they win. The game is not close.

Hasselbeck: Yeah. And I don’t know where people are on Jordan Love. I do think that there’s some unrest with people and they’ve been a little bit spoiled with great quarterback play. And I think they still have a really good quarterback. But I do believe that there’s some people that like to hate on him a little bit. And I don’t know if it’s because of the division and how the division’s gone the last couple years in terms of quarterback play. Two years ago, Minnesota had great quarterback play. Last year, I think a lot of people would say that Caleb Williams had great quarterback play. Jared Goff’s been probably one of the better quarterbacks in that division the last couple years. To me, if I’m in Green Bay, I know there’s a way to coach Jordan Love to get him to have a year where he is the top quarterback in that division. I know that that’s possible. So I don’t know where Packer fans are on that. It’s also possible for it to be Jared Goff again. There’s a lot of possibilities here. But Jordan Love has all the tools, has all the weapons. I think the thing that’s going to be most interesting in Green Bay is that they lost Jeff Hafley. And I know they replaced him with somebody good, but like I said, the new playcaller thing, it’s a real thing. You never know how it’s going to shake out.

Where are you with Matt LaFleur? His scheme, his offense obviously works with the tree he comes from. But he’s been at it for eight years now.

Hasselbeck: I’m a huge fan. I’m a huge fan. I think he’s a great coach. I think he’s a great coach. Every year is different. You spend your offseason, you’re on those whiteboards with your staff and you’re just like, “Hey, this is how we’re going to differentiate.” It’s great that everyone’s running a similar offense, but it also means that they know your offense and you’ve got to come up with wrinkles and you’ve got to decide, “What’s going to be bread and butter for us?” And sometimes your whiteboard ideas, it’s a collaborative effort. Sometimes they’re great. Sometimes they’re not that great. Sometimes you need new blood and new life and new ideas and new energy. And sometimes your staff are guys who are just along for the ride. They’re dead weight. Every year is different. Every staff is different. And then when you come up with your ideas, you have to then go sell your ideas to your players.

And so using Josh Jacobs as an example, you’ve got to sell him on the fact like, “Hey, we are going to be an inside/outside zone team. And we are going to sprinkle in the gap schemes like power.” You’ve got to sell him on why that’s best because he might say, “Hey man, I’m a bruising downhill running back. I’m a gap scheme power kind of guy.” And that was something that we had to do with Marshawn Lynch when we first traded for him. We traded for him in October in 2010. We had hired Alex Gibbs to be our O-Line coach. We were going to be an inside/outside zone team. Inside zone, mid-zone, outside zone. And we were going to change it up rarely with power. And we get Marshawn from Buffalo. He was like, “I run power. I’m power running back.” It was almost like he just liked the sound of that — “power.” And inside zone was some sort of finesse thing he wanted nothing to do with. And it was a process to get our coaching staff to sell to Marshawn the value of inside zone and play-action off of zone footwork and all the stuff. And it took a bit. It took a bit for Marshawn to become Marshawn. And he had the Beast Quake run that game, but his stats were not shaking the earth that year. And it wasn’t that he wasn’t a good player, but some of it is a sell job of the coaching staff.

Pete (Carroll) wasn’t coaching the offense, but he was very much involved in the sell. And he did a great job with Marshawn. But I think part of the job of the head coach — and the whole coaching staff — is you’ve got to sell to your players, whether it’s wide receivers or running back: “Hey, here’s my vision for our offense.” Literally, you should go in and be like, “Kenneth Walker Jr. was the MVP of the Super Bowl. He has a Super Bowl ring and an MVP trophy. That could be you. That could be you. And here’s how we do it.”

Whether it’s wide receiver, O-Line, quarterback, passing game with running backs, you’ve got to sell these guys on the vision. And that’s part of the leadership of the quarterback as well. I heard Tom Brady saying with wide receivers in particular, he sees a lot of these wide receivers complaining and blah, blah, blah, throwing hissy fits. And he basically was like, “I never really dealt with that.” Because he said he was really good at getting with the wide receivers and saying, “Hey, there’s going to be games where you catch 11 passes and there’s going to be games where you catch three passes and you’re going to be open in both of those games about the same. But because it all has to fit globally with how we’re playing the game, offense, defense, special teams, all this, just know our goal is to hoist Lombardis and just know my goal is for you to have 100 catches at the end of the year. But it might be 11 and it might be three. I need you to stay with me. I need you to trust and I need you to see the vision.”

I do believe strongly that Matt LaFleur has that in him. That vision, the smoothness to sell it. I don’t know Jordan as well, but I would imagine that’s part of what his game is now, too. He’s not just one of the guys. You’ve got to kind of be The Guy selling that vision.

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2026 NFL Season Preview Features to date…

The “Big John” Simpson Creed

Tate Ratledge feels no pain

The Kyler Murray Project, Part I: Liberated

The Kyler Murray Project, Part II: The Great Unknown

‘We will be the best offensive line in football:’ Q&A with Alec Anderson, Buffalo Bills enforcer

‘Who’s going to take this yard?’ The Arrival of Eric Wilson

Jordyn Brooks is the captain now

Dregs to Domination: The Aaron Brewer Blueprint

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Greetings from the country music capital of the world. Dolly Parton’s death has certainly cast a pall over this magnificent city. Has anyone drawn such universal praise? The one thing everyone from all walks of life can agree on is that Dolly was the best. RIP.

I spent some time around these Tennessee Titans for stories you’ll see in the future.

Cannot wait to share.

Until then — like we did with the Bills and Ravens — here are some quick thoughts…

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The Ward-Daboll Dynamic

One quote from one source inside the New York Giants’ building sticks me watching practice here. This person very familiar with Brian Daboll’s coaching style was fascinated by the new union in Tennessee because, in his words, Cam Ward “will bark back.”

We know “Dabes” brings the fire, the passion, all emotions 24/7. It’s one of the main reasons he was so beloved as the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator — especially where it mattered most. He forged a father-son relationship with Josh Allen. To this date, the MVP quarterback would be the first to say he’s indebted to Daboll. There are teammates who believe those Bills would’ve won a Super Bowl (or two) if their OC was the head coach.

After winning Coach of the Year in Year 1 with the Giants, however, the L’s piled up and he was fired.

Buffalo interviewed him for the top job this offseason, and chose Joe Brady.

So, Daboll took his next best offer. As the Titans’ new offensive coordinator — under head man Robert Saleh — he’s got to have the same Midas touch with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft. Work magic with Ward and, like Saleh, he’ll get a second chance at being an NFL head coach.

It didn’t work out in New York for many reasons. The contrast in the personalities of Daboll and Daniel Jones ranks near the top of the list. These two were oil and water.

So, sure. I get the early concern here in Nashville. This hasn’t been a pretty summer for the offense in practice or the exhibition games. The growing pains are real. But here’s thinking the union has a shot to work because of the two personalities involved.

No words will be minced. Transparency will reign.

“They were meant for each other,” Titans running back Tyjae Spears says. “They’re a perfect match for each other.”

The dynamic isn’t too different than the one we analyzed in Minnesota. Coaches who had Kyler Murray in Arizona insist you’ve got to be (very) vocal and (very) profane with this quarterback. That’s the style Murray desires. That’s what takes him to a different level. (“You’ve got to say: ‘Hey motherfucker, throw him the ball.’ And he had that with us,” one ex-Cardinals coach told me. “Kyler wants to be challenged. He wants to be coached. He wants you to push the envelope with him.”)

Getting to this place requires a conscious effort beyond the practice field.

That’s a strength for Daboll. He wants to know the person before the player, and took six months doing that with Ward.

Last season was a disaster. Head coach Brian Callahan was fired six games in and the QB’s supporting cast was decimated. Ward supplied enough wow throws to entice Daboll to take the job, and then Tennessee signed Wan’Dale Robinson in free agency and drafted Carnell Tate. What makes me think Ward still has a realistic shot to succeed is everything we don’t see on the practice field. These are two solution-driven, extreme competitors who won’t get into their feelings. Jones, conversely, could get a bit too sensitive in New Jersey.

The days of this AFC South being a color-rushing laughingstock are over. Houston brings back the NFL’s best defense, Jacksonville Jaguars went 13-4 and let’s not forget Jones had Indianapolis at 8-2 before injuries hijacked their season.

There’s risk in the schematic fit. Daboll spreads the field out and encourages the quarterback to attack vertically. Ward is a gambler. Nate Tice and Matt Harmon made those X ‘n O points here on their Yahoo podcast. Their breakdown makes a lot of sense.

Perhaps, however, it’s time for a franchise that’s gone 6-28 the last two seasons to play with play fire.

There’s a reason Ward was the first player picked in the draft.

There’s a reason Daboll’s Bills lit it up.

I like the fact that both are Type A’s who won’t hold a damn thing back.

If we learn anything from the new Vince Young doc on Netflix, it’s that no young quarterback has a chance if he’s not in-sync with his coaches. This is forever a relationship business.

Here’s how Spears describes his quarterback:

“A great leader. A go-getter. Very confident. And one day he’s going to win big. He’s going to win real, real big. It’s who he is and he shows up. And that’s a good thing about him, too. He shows up consistent every day. He’s a great leader because he’s got to lead a forest, and that’s us.

“He was born to be a winner. He was born to be a leader.”

If the lights turn on in 2026, Daboll will be the catalyst.

Players appreciate his style behind the scenes. To the OC, communication and honesty is a two-way street.

“Dabes is a great leader, great man. Great man,” Spears says. “The way he approaches us, the way he respects us, the way he communicates with us. When he’s wrong, that takes a lot. When a man will come to you in their face and tells you when they’re wrong or tells you some things that they need to improve on? It takes a lot because a lot of people don’t have enough balls to say that. He always steps in. If he did something wrong, he’s the first one to let us know. Is he going to let us slide for the shit we do? No, he’s going to call us out, too.”

Also: On this week’s episode of “Real Football,” we discuss and debate Brian Daboll’s impact in Buffalo and what’s next.

What did NFL scouts think of Cam Ward out of college? Here’s Bob McGinn’s QB piece from the 2025 draft series:

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Saleh’s Defense.

Here’s a fun game. Pull up any San Francisco 49ers game from late last season and try to name three players on defense. Robert Saleh guiding this motley crew through 12 wins might’ve been the single-best defensive coaching job of the 2025 season.

Expect the Titans’ defense to fight. Despite all unknowns on offense, Saleh’s presence alone makes me think the floor is seven wins. He’ll win a few games the Titans have no business winning.

Plays were made all over the field at Tuesday’s practice. Alontae Taylor, Kevin Winston Jr., Mario Goodrich III and Tony Adams all picked off passes. Nothing was easy for the No. 1 and No. 2 offensive units. Saleh’s fingerprints on this defense are evident. Guys break on the ball, finish plays, swagger all over the field. One early indicator for a defense’s identity is how aggressive cornerbacks are in the run game. These Titans corners are clearly willing tacklers.

It’ll take time. Tennessee needs pass rushers.

But they’ll have an identity this fall and that’s a start.

Saleh was never the main problem in New York.

100 Million Dollar Men

For the tone Saleh must set, I like Tennessee’s front office investing in these two players.

Jeffrey Simmons (three years, $105.8 million): Fourth-highest paid defensive tackle in football.

Peter Skoronski (four years, $100 million): Highest-paid guard in football.

Both are proven. Both are two of the best interior players in the sport that make the players to their left and right better. If the Titans can claw their way to a .500 season, expect another round of spending next spring.

Clean slate

Both coordinators — Daboll and Gus Bradley — spoke on Tuesday. One theme? The Titans are very much in the discovery phase of figuring out who’ll fit into their vision. Playcalling on both sides of the ball has been vanilla. They’re not trying to see which plays will work or not work.

Simply, this was a dreadful football team last season.

Bad contracts coupled with bad draft picks spiraled Tennessee to the basement.

The Titans shook up the roster as much as they could this offseason. This summer is all about seeing who in the hell they want to build with long term.

Bradley: “You’re still working on your fundamental principles in preseason games. You’re playing your coverages and you’re really honed in on your skillset of the player, how good are we fundamentally. More so than, ‘Hey, this is a tendency that we have. Let’s go ahead and execute this pressure or execute this coverage.’ You’re not seeing a lot of that in preseason. You’re seeing more, ‘Can we execute? And can we execute with a high level of fundamental work?’ It’s a change of mindset. You’re still evaluating personnel at this stage. We will this week. You might have a number of guys to decide on, but who are the other guys you’re looking at? So it’s important to put them in position. That’s what we did in the game. Play more vanilla so we can see them operate in space. Try not to have a lot of thinking going on.”

Daboll: “I appreciate their attitude. I appreciate their commitment to learning this stuff. There’s been a lot of good execution and then when there’s not as good execution—the defense plays well, too—they’ve done a great job of coming in collectively, watching the tape, going through it, making corrections and we talk about: ‘Don’t be an error repeater and make the same mistake twice.’ That’s what training camp is for. Let’s make sure we’re diving into the information. We’re going to make mistakes. When we get it again, let’s make sure we nail that one.

“I’m pleased with where we’re. I’m pleased with mentally where we’re at. When I say ‘pleased,’ I’m not happy. We want to score points every time we go out on the field. But the process in which the coaches are going through with the players, the process I see the players have, we’re going to keep building on that. Ultimately, it comes down to execution. That’s what we’re working hard on.”

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Coming Friday AM…

Our next 2026 NFL Season Preview Feature profiles “Big John” Simpson in Baltimore. “Shit’s going to be hard,” he tells us. “That’s life.” Wouldn’t he know, too. Simpson had every reason to paint himself a victim growing up and, instead, broke a generational curse. Now, he’s been handpicked as a missing piece to bring the nasty back to Baltimore and get this team to a Super Bowl.

Tate Ratledge feels no pain

The Kyler Murray Project, Part I: Liberated

The Kyler Murray Project, Part II: The Great Unknown

‘We will be the best offensive line in football:’ Q&A with Alec Anderson, Buffalo Bills enforcer

‘Who’s going to take this yard?’ The Arrival of Eric Wilson

Jordyn Brooks is the captain now

Dregs to Domination: The Aaron Brewer Blueprint

Think your job is difficult? Imagine cold-calling locals inside the Cleveland Browns’ ticket office. First, you’ve got to immediately launch into something cheery to prevent the person on the other end of the line from hanging up on the spot.

Hey, Mike! Listen. I know you remember the good ‘ol days of Bernie Kosar and Webster Slaughter. What about Leroy Hoard barreling through defenders?

Oh. You don’t. Hmm. OK, is your Dad around?

Oh. He renounced his fandom 20 years ago? Hmm. Well, anyway… ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!? Boy, do I have a deal for YOU.

Shocker, you can attend the Browns’ season-opener for merely 48 bucks on StubHub. (Only $522 cheaper than the cheapest ticket to their friends 200 miles up Lake Erie, mind you.)

Get ‘em while they’re cold.

The team’s $230 Million Dollar Quarterback who has spent the last half-decade either suspended over sexual misconduct allegations during massages, injured or playing poorly looked terrible in another football game and proceeded to scold the fan base for booing him. You’ve seen the clip by now. Watson called the jeers “disrespectful,” adding that “it’s personal” — a reference to those accusations.

He reached his breaking point. It’s not even September.

“Last time I played on this field,” Watson said, “I tore my Achilles and that same fan base cheered when I got hurt. So, what does that have to do with anything about performance? When a person gets hurt, especially in their own city, and they cheer.”

Watson admitted he’s not sure he can overcome the boos.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know. It’s a mental battle every day.”

The next day, he was named the starting quarterback.

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This is the organization that both ran Baker Mayfield out of town and listened to everything Dan Campbell had to say and turned its nose.

A shame the Browns can’t at least get to the regular season before wetting the bed.

This season already feels like a waste of time.

Before we resume writing on the franchises that are taking this season seriously, I suppose its worth riffing on the Browns mid-flight here.

We see the football and business wings of a building clash in pro football, but never to this humiliating extreme. The last five years have been more of a monster truck expedition of self-destruction. All of this began with the Browns taking on a PR nightmare — remember the “baby yoga” pose? — in the name of football, of winning. Whenever he returned from suspension, they figured Watson would bamboozle defenses exactly as he did with the Houston Texans and any fans miffed by his unsavory conduct off the field would experience fan-amnesia. We see it all the time in sports. Mike Vick ran a dogfighting ring, went to prison for 21 months, received a second chance from Andy Reid and won Comeback Player of the Year in 2010. Fans adored him all over again. All in the NFL’s most volatile market. Take three minutes to Google Ben Roethlisberger and Karl Malone. Not pretty! Both are accused of worse crimes than Watson yet can return to Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City as conquering heroes.

Instead, Watson kept getting hurt. And whenever he’s been healthy, he has inspired no confidence. There was a fleeting moment this marriage had a shred of hope. Into the 2024 season, we spent some time in Berea. Jim Schwartz’s No. 1-ranked defense was fresh off a playoff appearance. If Old Man Joe Flacco could win, the Browns reasoned, a healthy Watson could do even more. The private quarterbacks coach who knows Watson best put it best that summer.

“Confidence is a muscle,” Quincy Avery told us. “You stop working out for a while, it goes away for a little bit. But I think that he’s in a good spot and he’s going to be able to get that confidence back. He just needs to see it, right? He goes out there and plays really good Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys, I think that it’s going to really start rolling.”

Once upon a time, in Houston, this QB danced through defenses with ease. He was one of the most exhilarating players in the sport.

It didn’t take long for Cleveland to realize such dreams were farcical. Dallas humiliated the Browns in that season opener and they stumbled to a 3-14 record.

Through all of his issues on and off the field, Watson has clearly lost all confidence.

Then, he tore his Achilles. Twice.

I figured owner Jimmy Haslam had seen enough. The spring of 2025 — in a refreshing moment of introspection — he even admitted the Browns “took a big swing and miss with Deshaun.” He continued: “We thought we had the quarterback. We didn’t. And we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him, so we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole … (The trade) was an entire organization decision and it ends with Dee (Haslam) and I, so hold us accountable.”

When we returned to Cleveland that summer, it seemed like the team had a real chance to step into a whole new world. No longer would they trick themselves into seeing a quarterback that did not exist. The fact that No. 4 wasn’t on the field was a promising sign in itself. It didn’t matter if he was technically on the roster. This looked like a franchise finally moving on. That November, the team’s spectacled snake oil salesman Paul DePodesta also left the building. Strong drafts stacked up. The Browns even have some old-school dawgs on the roster. We profiled one of them: safety Grant Delpit.

But then, we can only assume business got in the way again.

Cleveland didn’t want to destroy its cap by eating Watson’s contract.

Cutting him right now creates a $86,206,864 dead cap hit for 2027, per Spotrac.

No realistic starting options were added the last six months.

Haslam reverted to operating like the CEO of a business instead of a football team, desperate to get anything out of his $230 million investment that he can.

On paper, that makes sense. He’d hate to see Watson succeed anywhere else after writing all those checks.

The NFL, however, is quite different than a Pilot Flying J truck stop. The mere presence of a GM, a coach, a quarterback that everyone knows shouldn’t be leading 50+ men in a locker room doubles as a mental anchor holding everyone down. That’s how one higher-up with the New York Jets described Woody Johnson this offseason. Everyone sees who’s pulling the strings in New Jersey — a buffoon — and cannot muster any real, organic hope for the future. Year to year to agonizing year. No transaction matters if this is the man in charge. The Arizona Cardinals, as written, suffer from the same crisis of confidence. In Cleveland, Haslam’s had his own issues. Further, when the quarterback central to the entire operation hasn’t looked good in ages… and he’s absurdly chastising paying customers… and everyone knows the only reason he’s on the roster is his cartoonish contract, it’s bound to kill off motivation.

If Watson was a free agent worth the vet minimum, would anyone really sign him? Here’s thinking I’d be asking my “Real Football” co-host Jim Monos if his UFL would consider signing Watson.

Everyone knows 2026 doesn’t matter to the Browns. They’re clearly aiming to draft a quarterback in 2027.

Morale has to mean something inside a locker room. Cut him. Make him a distant No. 3. Do anything. Watson has since apologized for his remarks but, damn. He sure sounded like a man who wanted nothing to do with Cleveland after his showing vs. Buffalo.

That’s why you can’t help but feel for the team’s new head coach Todd Monken.

The more he speaks, the more I like the fact that he’s in charge. Way back when the Browns kicked Mayfield to the curb for Watson, a source told ESPN the team desired an “adult” in the QB room. An objectively bizarre statement. There are many other “adults” the Browns could’ve chosen at the position. Four years later, Watson’s still here.

Through an impossible circumstance, Monken has most certainly operated like the adult in the room.

Fresh off Watson’s bizarre postgame rant, here’s what Monken said in case you missed it:

“I don’t want to get booed. It comes with the territory. You don’t want to get booed? Let’s play good football. Let’s play good at quarterback, on offense and as a team, and then you won’t have to worry about all that, because it can turn just like that. Win, play good football, and everybody will be fine. That’s just part of it. I told him, ‘You good? We’re good.’ That’s part of what we do.”

He named Watson QB1. His options weren’t exactly stellar and you can’t help but wonder if his boss stepped in. Given truth serum, I’d love to hear what Monken really thinks about his quarterback room.

The crazy thing is, Cleveland actually has been building something promising around the quarterback position.

Nor is there any shame in planning for the future. Hell, one could still argue Cleveland is closer to a championship than the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pittsburgh’s Art Rooney all but screams from the mountaintops that he loathes rebuilding. A 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers isn’t competing with Joe Burrow’s Bengals and Lamar Jackson’s Ravens in the AFC North this season, yet he’s good enough to steal a few wins and the Steelers roster is solid overall. They’ll muddle around .500 like they always do and get stuck in the murky middle yet again next offseason.

The Browns, on the other hand, are positioned well to draft a quarterback high in the ‘27 class. They also own the Los Angeles Rams’ first-rounder as potential ammo to move up if they somehow win five or six games this fall.

But there’s no reason to enthusiastically welcome the controversy and dead weight of a player 0.01 percent of the fan base seems to enjoy. Especially after Watson said the quiet part out loud this week — he cannot overcome the (literal) noise. By all accounts in training camp, Watson has done nothing to suggest he deserves to start in this league. There have been no flashes of 2018 and 2019 brilliance past.

Shedeur Sanders probably stinks, too. Starting and benching Sanders brings its own host of problems. The Browns simply should’ve done anything but back themselves into this corner at quarterback. Recycle Kirk Cousins, Jimmy G, beg Flacco to return, anything to maintain a little pride.

Of course, this all reeks again like business and football clashing — an owner trying to salvage arguably the worst contract in NFL history. Ironic considering the scene that’ll now play out downtown. If Watson’s still the quarterback by the team’s home opener in Week 3, a large chunk of the fan base will refuse to show up. The unlucky few in attendance will undoubtedly boo at the first Watson incompletion on third down.

He won’t be able to handle it, Sanders will get the call at some point and this season will hyperventilate week to week to week with zero support at home or abroad.

There’s no price to put on reputation, and the Browns brand is (somehow) sinking lower.

Much to Watson’s dismay, this 2026 season won’t have a happy ending. The Browns only have themselves to blame.

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Tate Ratledge is a 6-foot-6 tatted creature created in a Dan Campbell Lab. Of course this guard from the SEC rocked a mullet through college. Of course the Detroit Lions head coach coveted an offensive guard who was booted from four daycares as a kid.

When I was planning out our season-preview features at Go Long, the intrigue was this new union.

Turns out, there’s a hell of a lot more to Ratledge’s story.

Starting with the night in college that changed his life forever. Ratledge lost his best friend on the Georgia football team: Devin Willock. The events of that tragedy stay on his mind, but he’s also a man impervious to pain. Physical, emotional. His face never changes. This is a player who represents the necessary, callous psychology of an NFL player.

From our story:

The Detroit Lions are all business. Everyone knows the time to win is NOW.

Ratledge could be the brawler who tips the balance of powers in the NFC North.

Our entire piece is available to Go Long subscribers.

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New here? It’s a perfect time to upgrade and access all 2026 NFL Season Preview Features linked below. (We’ve got more big ones cookin,’ too.)

A few soundbytes from Ratledge below…

Roots.

Oh, he’d receive his share of corporal punishment in the boonies of Tennessee. Mom’s wooden spoon made an appearance or two.

“I got disciplined when I needed to be disciplined and loved on when I needed to be loved on. I couldn’t ask for more. It’s why I turned out the way I am today.”

Jan. 14, 2023.

Georgia had just celebrated its championship through downtown Athens. This was supposed to be the pinnacle of everyone’s football lives. Instead, there’s one image Ratledge cannot shake. When he said his goodbyes at 1:30 a.m., he knew something was… off. For a while, it was hard for him to shake the guilt.

“I knew she was hammered. I knew it. I just didn’t know she was driving.”

Kirby Smart Effect.

You heard similar tales from Javon Bullard when the Packers nickel back broke down how he plans to supply his team a killer instinct.

Life is different in Athens, Ga.

You know, even if a staffer accidentally spills all the water in-transit. Yes, everyone was still required to complete that team run as temps climbed into the triple digits. Ratledge brings this world to life.

“He changed me as a person for the better. I owe everything to Coach Smart. He built me to who I am. He believed in us and he was hard on us. That’s how I was raised. Dad was always hard on me for certain things and I wouldn’t want it any other way from my coach. So Coach Smart obviously pushed us in ways we hadn’t been pushed before. And then aside from being a tremendous coach? He’s a player’s coach. You just love him.”

“Numb.”

When his wife cries, he’s never sure what to do. Ratledge will ask the dog to console her. No, he’s never been a man in touch with his feelings. Yes, he knows his nature is both blessing and cruise. In this cutthroat world of pro football? It’s certainly a gift. As Campbell loves to say, this sport is a “freight train coming.”

Our story explores this dynamic in full.

“I hear somebody say they’re depressed? Stop being fucking sad. That’s my mindset. I’m never too high. I’m never too low. I’m just even-keeled. I’m not going to have something happen that fucking explodes my life and ruins my whole week. I might let it affect me for a day.”

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2026 NFL Season Preview Features to date:

Tate Ratledge feels no pain

The Kyler Murray Project, Part I: Liberated

The Kyler Murray Project, Part II: The Great Unknown

‘We will be the best offensive line in football:’ Q&A with Alec Anderson, Buffalo Bills enforcer

‘Who’s going to take this yard?’ The Arrival of Eric Wilson

Jordyn Brooks is the captain now

Dregs to Domination: The Aaron Brewer Blueprint

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Good morning! Football’s back.

Hope is in the air everywhere across America.

That’s the beauty of training camp. All 32 teams are in a splendid mood. And in Minnesota, spirits should absolutely be lifted with the news — once ‘n for all — that Kyler Murray will be the starting quarterback. What a compelling marriage. This QB, that head coach, these weapons? All on the heels of seeing Sam Darnold win a ring?

Pure theater. This is exactly why we’re all addicted to pro football.

So through this summer — to see where this all goes — Go Long chatted with as many people as we could around both the quarterback, the Vikings and those Arizona Cardinals.

To subscribers, thank you for your patronage and reading.

To those on the free list, it’s a fine time to join our community of readers around the world this 2-part series.

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Part I

Part II

On Thursday, I popped onto the Jim Rome Show to discuss and I’m guessing his burning questions are the ones on your mind, too.

Are there real schematic concerns? Sure. Are there reasons to doubt things will *click* for Murray on (and off) the field this late into his career? Yeah. Kurt Warner and Warren Moon, two Hall of Famers, both bring up valid points.

The closer we look, however, the more I came away thinking the Minnesota Vikings could light up the scoreboard this season — and compete in the NFC.

The Situation. It was far more wretched in Arizona than anyone realizes. There’s the rancid institution itself — owner Michael Bidwill has been despised by many inside his building. (“You’re not going to find one human being alive that’s going to say anything nice about the guy,” one former exec tells us.) But there’s also the tangible roster decisions made in the front office that led Arizona to this point. I think what might’ve blown my brain most in our reporting are the Marvin Harrison Jr. stories. With Malik Nabers on the board, the Cardinals made the alleged “safe” pick in the Ohio State star. In reality, it’s been anything but. Throughout the NFL, scouts knew Harrison Jr. suffered from an extreme lack of confidence… because of Dad. The Hall of Fame wideout was unrelenting during college. Nothing was good enough. (“His father would text him and call him like, ‘Hey man, you need to do this, you need to do that,’ while he was at Ohio State. So he feels the pressure. Any time he comes off the field — practice, games — his Dad is always there.”) On the field, as a Cardinal, Harrison Jr. has played slow and small while Nabers flashes the potential to be a superstar. Swapping Harrison Jr. for Justin Jefferson will be an entirely new world.

X’s and O’s. My gut feeling into this all was skepticism because Kevin O’Connell hails from that McVay/Shanahan school of thought. The sort of offensive coach who’d seem to prefer a terminator at the position that’s stationary and ruthlessly efficient. A few people open our eyes to an entirely new perspective on this all. We get some excellent insight from ex-Cardinals assistant coach Jordan Hogan and running back Chase Edmonds. Hogan spent 2020 and 2021 inside the room with Murray before then joining Kyle Shanahan’s staff in San Francisco. So he knows both the player and the scheme. Here’s Hogan: “When you start talking top 10 or top five quarterbacks, any time they have the ball in their hands, an explosive play is going to happen. Kyler definitely has that impact. You’re afraid of what he can do. He doesn’t have the same effect as Lamar with his legs — Lamar can get 60 on you in a heartbeat. But Kyler can make all the throws on the football field. If he couldn’t, he wouldn’t be in the league because of his height. You fear getting him down. He’s trying to scramble so he can throw for 40 yards.” In detail, both Hogan and Edmonds explain how a 5-foot-10 improviser like Murray can excel in a West Coast offense.

What’s inside. This is the mystery. Murray’s extremely close to the vest and keeps a microscopic circle of friends. Coaches in Arizona don’t view him as aloof or apathetic — not in the least. The secret, they insist, is coaching him hard. Letting the F-bombs fly. Getting in his face. Because when you bark, he’ll bark. When you bite, he’ll bite. And this is the best way to reach the best solutions. Don’t forget: Murray may be the greatest football player from the greatest football state in America. He never lost in three years. He won the Heisman. He went No. 1 overall. He needs coaches and players to operate on his Mamba frequency. And everything we hear from friends and coaches is that Murray is unbelievably motivated to reclaim his reputation in 2026. (“Kyler needs people that are going to tell him, ‘Hey, you’re fucking tripping.’ He needs people to coach him like a skill guy. Not like a… ‘Hey, this is a quarterback,’” this coach says in a delicate accent. “No. You’ve got to say: ‘Hey motherfucker, throw him the ball.’”) This is a very difficult needle for O’Connell to thread, to be sure. We’ll see if he can.

JJ Malaise. It’s a miracle the Vikings won nine games last season considering just how bad McCarthy was at quarterback. Sources say he had a more realistic approach to this offseason, but his behavior on and off the field was incredibly strange. Full details in Part I. O’Connell is on record saying that teams fail young quarterbacks more than young quarterbacks fail teams. But this has all the signs of being Trey Lance all over again. As much as Minnesota would love to keep developing a young QB, a mid-round pick may be enticing. To his credit, McCarthy took the news in-stride publicly.

The pressure. Murray has matured quite a bit since Mom did his laundry early in his NFL career. He’s seen it all in Arizona. He lived through the Homework Clause embarrassment. Through writing this all, I kept thinking back to an awesome point made by Harrison Smith during Super Bowl Week for our piece on Darnold. He said: “Everyone acts like you’re either the worst or you’re the GOAT All the dumbass shit that people just come up with. I think Sam is a good example of a guy that just goes to work and he doesn’t make too big of a deal of anything.” Darnold was always better than anyone thought surviving Jets Hell. But from New York… to Carolina… to QB Rehab in San Francisco… to Minnesota — as the rest of the world ripped him as a bust — all Darnold did was find ways to improve every day. It’s not sexy. It’s not on glamorized on NFL Network all offseason. But like Smith said then, that’s what makes the best of the best of the BEST — MJ, Tiger, Brady. This offseason marked Murray’s first true bout with adversity. (“He knows what it feels like to be on his ass for once,” Edmonds told us.) Here’s thinking Murray’s hyper-competitiveness and abrasiveness is ideal for such a gut-check moment. Not only is his reputation on the line. Hell, he can early himself a ton of money with a career year. O’Connell will be looking to re-assert himself as one of the greatest teachers of the position. Justin Jefferson, post-McCarthy, will be eager to prove he’s the NFL’s best wide receiver. All parties involved should feel an overpowering sense of urgency into 2026.

For more, be sure to read both Part I and Part II of The Kyler Murray Project.

Thank you all for reading — I never take your support lightly.

As a monolith of social-media scrollers base entire articles off the comment section and screenshots, you take a solid 20-30 minutes out of your day to dig in and learn something with an open mind at Go Long. Very grateful.

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2026 Season Preview Features to date:

The Kyler Murray Project, Part I: Liberated

The Kyler Murray Project, Part II: The Great Unknown

‘Who’s going to take this yard?’ The Arrival of Eric Wilson

Jordyn Brooks is the captain now

Dregs to Domination: The Aaron Brewer Blueprint

This week’s episode of Real Football:

Hello from beautiful Owings Mills, Maryland.

Our travels continued this week with a trip to Ravens County. Be on the lookout for a feature and a column in the future.

Before I hit the road to drive home, here are a handful of thoughts I posted on Substack Notes. A good opportunity to remind everyone to download the Substack app ahead of this 2026 NFL Season. Another awesome way for us all to connect.

Also, once you’ve got the app, you can listen to audio narrations of all stories. A great feature if you want to take in our content on the road or mowing the lawn.

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Tuesday Thoughts

• Sweet Jesus. There’s something about seeing Derrick Henry up close, man. There is zero comp for this monster. How this running back — who turns 33 (!) years old in January — keeps his body in Peak NFL shape should be made into a book. Or a documentary. Or an entire podcast. We’d devour every word. Training camp isn’t the AFC North In January but the 6-foot-2, 252-pounder still looks damn quick in the hole. Saw him juke one linebacker silly. We should probably remember how potent this offense was in 2024 when both QB and RB were healthy. The Ravens sure haven’t forgotten about losing that divisional playoff game to the Bills.

• Lamar Jackson will be playing under center more. Not a foreign concept to him. Obviously new HC Jesse Minter and OC Declan Doyle want to extend Lamar’s peak years. But I think they also see the opportunity at more explosive runs from this play design, too. The QB ripped around the edge of the defense for one touchdown today. Still nobody like him in open space. You don’t want to take that away.

• Baltimore may lead the NFL in rushing attempts. Their personnel is strongest at QB, RB and OG. Losing center Tyler Linderbaum is a blow, but fielding a pair of 330-pound ass-kickers at guard sure helps. John Simpson & Vega Ioane play with the Old Ravens, nasty temperament that’s been missing in recent years. Beyond Zay Flowers, at wideout, there are questions.

• Defense had an phenomenal day. PBUs, batted balls, picks. No chance this unit starts as poorly as they did last year under Zach Orr. Can’t forget they surrendered 37+ points in each of their first four losses through a 1-4 start.

• The Unknown: What does Trey Hendrickson have in him? The Ravens flunked Maxx Crosby on his physical, kept their first-round picks and paid the Bengals’ disgruntled pass rusher. He’s no run stuffer, but that’s OK. If he’s hungry — if he’s the guy who had 35 sacks in ‘23 and ‘24 — Baltimore can hang with any of the elite QBs in the AFC. Hendrickson turns 32 in December.

• Ravens dodged a bullet. Cornerback Nate Wiggins — a rising star — was taken off on a cart during practice. It was a scary scene with the team’s head trainer taking time to speak to both GM Eric DeCosta and Minter. Multiple reports suggest no ligament damage. Doesn’t sound like a long-term injury. They can’t lose him. Here’s Minter on Wiggins: “Nate Wiggins is a high-caliber, first round pick corner, great player. You’re not just going to be like, ‘Oh, everything’s the same,’ because it’s built around the talents of the players. I just know that we’ll be able to do things however it shakes out. I feel good about the secondary.”

• Cool seeing Ozzie Newsome walking around. He’s still involved, taking in practice daily and talking to DeCosta regularly. Enjoyed chatting with Newsome at length for “Blood and Guts.” Revolutionized the position. One of the true greats whose rise doesn’t get nearly enough attention. (HEY, how did THAT link get there?!)

• One common theme I hear? These Ravens — like those Buffalo Bills — sorely needed a breath of fresh air at HC. John Harbaugh has an edge to him, and it’s something the New York Giants need right now. In Baltimore? It was time for someone younger. His message grew a bit stale after 18 seasons. Each roster requires something different. The Bills of 2017 needed Sean McDermott. More you talk to players on each team, the more it’s obvious both changes were needed.

• Ladies ‘n gents, there’s a fan favorite: Third-round pick Ja’Kobi Lane. I know, I know. It’s so easy to fall in love with the Wide Receiver Du Jour each August. But it sounds like Lane’s consistently been making plays — a good sign. Baltimore could use a weapon opposite Flowers. Even the kids are all-in. At one point a boy who couldn’t have been older than 12 screamed from the front row: “Ja’Kobi! I’m going to name my firstborn son after you!” Autograph seekers wanted Lane more than anybody. Classic risk-reward prospect out of USC. Caught 49 balls for 745 yards with four scores last fall. Here’s what one scout told our Bob McGinn last April: “Talentwise, he’d be in the third round. But there is some character stuff with him that could drop him a little bit.” (As we learned, risk can be a good thing.)

• Tyler Loop was a perfect 7 of 7. What on earth is going through the kicker’s mind each day? His miss ended Baltimore’s season in 2025. His first kick in the clutch this 2026 season will be fascinating. Mental state could swing either direction.

• Blocking is back, baby. The Tight Ends Arms Race was on this past offseason. Teams seek the unpredictability. Mark Andrews is still Baltimore’s breadwinner at the position, but expect Doyle to use two or three plenty. Here’s tight ends coach Zack Grossi on the need to block. Music to our Go Long ears:

“Yeah, I think that’s the part for the young guys that is the most foreign to them based on what they had to do in college, based on what we’re asking them to do. And that’s the part where they’re learning the most technique, fundamentals, all the different ways we make Mike points, all the runs. They’re attacking it.

“And look, we have to be able to block in this league as a tight end. We have to be able to win the C gap and all the different places that we put tight ends and we put them on the ball, off the ball. We do two-back runs. We line up as receivers. We do perimeter schemes, all different types of zone schemes, gap scenes. So you have to be versatile and you have to be able to handle different types of blocks.

“We don’t have one-trick ponies and we’re not looking for one-trick ponies in a running game.”

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Wednesday Thoughts

Our second day at Ravens camp was fairly uneventful on the field. Minter wrapped up things early.

Afterward, I caught up with safety Jaylinn Hawkins and tackle Ronnie Stanley for a column you’ll see down the line. Figured I’d share a quick quote from each.

Hawkins inked a two-year, $10 million deal with the Ravens after a breakout season on New England’s Super Bowl team. Minter likes utilizing three safeties in his defense, so expect to see Hawkins plenty. Last season, he had 45 tackles, four interceptions and 1.5 sacks.

What will be the identity of this defense? We’ve seen it with the LA Chargers. But now, Minter is in charge of everything. Hawkins views this scheme as simple, yet strategic in nature.

“We want to be violent. Communicating, sound defense,” he says. “All play violent and all attack the ball. Playing violent, well-executed defense. And playing relentless, that’s what we want to be.

“It’s about being sound. And understanding things. When we understand the defense, it allows us to anticipate and play faster.”

Meanwhile, Stanley has been here for 11 years. The only head coach he’s known up to 2026 is John Harbaugh. Now, it’s Minter’s show.

I asked him why a different message was needed here.

His answer:

“I think a lot of those little things is what separates being great from being elite. And I think those things take consistent focus and takes a lot of conscious effort. And I think some of those things show up naturally just from people being who they are and the effort they give. But for it to be like a culture-wide thing, it takes a lot of conscious effort, conscious awareness of what is the focus, what are we trying to value here. Our mentality. The whole thing. I think trying to separate yourself amongst the best — there are very few things that can be differentiators and that is one of those things that can make a difference.”

Thanks, all.

Time to head back to the fam.

We’ll have more for you soon.

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Our 2026 NFL Season Preview Features to date:

The Kyler Murray Project, Part I: Liberated

The Kyler Murray Project, Part II: The Great Unknown

‘Who’s going to take this yard?’ The Arrival of Eric Wilson

Jordyn Brooks is the captain now

Dregs to Domination: The Aaron Brewer Blueprint

ICYMI:

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PITTSFORD, NY — One day, it’s downpouring. The next, rookies are instigating fights. It’s tempting to dismiss this time of year as worthless to a star of Josh Allen’s status. Especially when the only thing that seems to matter for this edition of the Buffalo Bills is whatever happens in January.

The 30-year-old is an MVP winner, a new Dad, a Hall of Fame-level talent with 340 touchdowns to his name (and counting).

There are many benefits to Buffalo hiring a new head coach. Near the top of that list this time of year is the reality that Allen is staring at a completely different defense each day in practice. The quarterback who’s feeling reborn with all the changes in Western New York can still be pushed.

Joe Brady wants Allen to “absolutely dominate” every practice.

But he’s also conspiring with new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard to make life difficult for the Bills quarterback.

“I’m purposely putting him in tough situations,” Brady said. “I get to Jim and we do some coverages and I’m like, ‘This is the worst possible look for this play. Run it. Can I get this for this?’ Because I want to see Josh handle it and progress and have to move off the pocket. And sometimes I want Josh to miss some throws because it gives him opportunities to talk through and see it.

“But I want him to come out ready to absolutely dominate our defense every single day. Not saying that’s ever been an issue with him, but it’s just a challenge to him every time when he misses a throw. It’s subtle jabs. We know his greatness. He doesn’t get comfortable, but it’s my job to also make sure he doesn’t ever get comfortable.”

We’ll see how this season plays out for both head coach and quarterback. Allen sat in on all nine head-coach interviews — for good reason. This relationship needed to get right. The Bills also did not want to slam the reset button with a total stranger.

The 36-year-old Brady promised back in the spring that he’d be hard on Allen.

There are coaches who go too soft on players, and it backfires. There are coaches who are militant, and that also backfires. Finding a middle ground isn’t easy, but Brady is trying to cultivate genuine relationships with everyone he can. Build up sincere trust and you can be hard on a player. Players know it’s coming from a healthy place. Maybe guard Alec Anderson referred to the coach as a “fun uncle.” Honestly, he’ll be operating more like a father who knows he can’t be his kid’s best friend.

How Brady treats the team’s best player, of course, is most important.

There’s the off-the-field dynamic. The last eight years, the head coach and QB central to everything at One Bills Drive had completely different approaches to the sport.

On the field, Allen is now facing a defense that disguises its intent far, far, far more often. Gone is the stagnant 4-3 alignment. Brady wanted a defensive playcaller who’ll muddy up the picture after that headset communication cuts out. Leonhard was hired to put stress on the opposing quarterback.

This camp is keeping Allen mentally sharp in ways the last eight did not.

“There’s a lot of nuances that Josh hasn’t figured out yet,” Brady said. “And it’s his challenge to like, ‘Man, I want to get it’ and ‘man, I should have taken the protection that way.’ Any time we can keep him challenged, that’s part of our job. And so that’s where it’s trying to get him the toughest looks possible to make him have to progress and work through it as opposed to, ‘Hey, this is a Cover 2 beater.’”

After Tuesday’s practice, I also caught up with backup quarterback Kyle Allen.

He confirmed Leonhard’s scheme is no joy to face.

“They disguise a lot,” Kyle Allen said. “They throw you a bunch of different looks, a bunch of different personnels. So I mean, personally me going against it, it’s tough and you’ve got to work through everything and you get used to the plays against these new defenses. And I’m sure for him, it’s a good challenge to see something different.”

Sean McDermott’s defense didn’t disguise much by modern standards. When the Bills were searching for a new head coach, this became somewhat of a theme.

Leonhard is deploying different players in different spots. Five defensive linemen might line up with a hand in the dirt with one or two dropping into coverage. Defensive coordinators throughout the NFL are ramping up the chaos after the play clock hits 15 seconds. A goal all along for Brady.

“It’s moving towards that,” Kyle Allen said. “When I first got in the league in ‘18, there was a lot more basic coverages. Teams would do a couple things on first and second down, and then they’d have their third down packages, and it wasn’t as much disguising. You knew what you were going to get. Nowadays, you’re reading a lot of stuff post-snap when the ball’s snapped. So that’s why it’s hard to do big side reads or coverage reads, like a lot of pure progressions now where you’re just working through it and then you’ve got to eliminate stuff versus what covers they’re bringing.

“And you try and pick up on tells, but they have two or three things out of every look. So when they line up in something, they could get to this, that or that. When the ball’s snapped, you got to figure it out and move. So it’s a really good defense. It’s been fun to go against.”

Sure helps to have a 6-foot-5, 247-pound quarterback who can shrug off pass rushers and stiff-arm linebackers and excel on second reaction.

A fresh new challenge may be what Allen needs at this point of his career, too.

Especially if this is where the sport’s heading.

His last playoff performance wasn’t pretty. And the best of the very best — in all sports — find areas of their game to improve. In facing Leonhard’s defense, with Brady stacking the deck against him, Josh Allen has a chance to sharpen his mind.

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The Difference on D

One legitimate concern in moving from a Point A-to-Point B defense to more creativity is going too far. The Bills lived this under Rex Ryan. Marcell Dareus dropped into coverage. Mario Williams checked out. Players hated his scheme. A unit that devoured NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers the year prior was lost shifting from Jim Schwartz to Ryan.

Leonhard, of course, is a Rex disciple.

This week, Brady went out of his way to note Leonhard isn’t stubborn. This doesn’t sound like a DC beholden a rigid scheme. Building his defense will take time. Nobody should be surprised if the likes of Detroit and the L.A. Rams put up a lot of points early this season. But the Bills will try to maximize their individual players as much as they can. That wasn’t the case back in 2015.

Be it Ed Oliver moving along the line, Greg Rousseau operating in more space on the edge or the undersized Terrel Bernard, the Bills needs to find unique ways to get the most of personnel in-house.

When Brady interviewed Leonhard, the Bills HC didn’t say he wanted the Denver Broncos defense in Western New York. They discussed plans for specific players on the roster.

“It was, ‘Hey, let’s talk through some of these guys. What would be the best way to utilize these guys? This is my vision,’” Brady recalled. “And just seeing how his brain is always turning and thinking in different ways and knowing, ‘Hey, I haven’t been a part of this in the past, but I think this is something that can be good for our defense. Hey, our guys are handling this. I want to add this to the plate.’ I love that about him. We’re constantly talking. But everything that I had from that interview from the first experience to now, it’s all been positive. And I love having him on our side, that’s for sure.”

Players are taking notice. Defensive tackle Dewayne Carter noted that Leonhard has made a concerted effort to figure out their individual strengths vs. dictating they line up in a spot and follows orders.

“Obviously he has the final say,” Carter said, “and they set the precedent for what it’s going to be, but it’s always a conversation like, ‘Do you guys like this? What do guys like with here? This is what it looks like when we do this.’”

Carter himself put on a ton of muscle while missing last season with a torn Achilles.

It’s been a long road back from surgery on Aug. 29 last camp, from doing abductions with a band to becoming a full-fledged “bodybuilder” in the weight room. The changes in his physical composition are obvious. Landon Jackson, too.

The Bills have invested valuable draft capital on the defensive line. They’ll certainly need two or three of these players to pop for this scheme to work in Year 1.

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Rapid Fire

• The most impressive player not named DJ Moore I saw at camp? Rookie Kaleb Elarms-Orr. He’s a strong 234 pounds. He can shed blocks and deliver a blow. At this rate, the fourth-round pick has a legitimate chance to start at inside linebacker in this 3-4.

• Keon Coleman had his way vs. Maxwell Hairston in 1 on 1’s, a troubling reminder that the 2025 first-round cornerback lacks ideal size to spar with physical receivers. The Bills drafted him to stick with speedy receivers and that’s important in today’s game. But they’ll be giving 2026 second-rounder Davison Igbinosun every chance to win a starting spot.

• Buffalo had an injury scare with Ray Davis going down during a team drill. But after a quick trip to the medical tent, the running back returned to practice. Safety CJ Gardner-Johnson was walking around with a sleeve over his calf strain. Brady doesn’t seem too concerned. Deone Walker tweaked his elbow and hasn’t done much at practice. Overall? The Bills haven’t suffered the injuries of other teams across the league. As promised, Brady is leaning into his sports science department. While the data’s always been in the system on how best to incorporate various practice strategies to mitigate injuries, that data wasn’t always put to use years past.

• Speaking of, whatever the Bills must do to keep tight end Dalton Kincaid healthy is a must. He’s an obvious matchup nightmare. You see it in every drill. After another injury-plagued season, his health is paramount.

• Alec Anderson and Ed Oliver nearly teed off on each other during their 1 on 1’s. A fun battle to track. Imagine we’ll see punches thrown in no time.

• It still pays to be an “asshole” at wide receiver. Loved what Drew Terrell, the Bills WR coach, had to say about DJ Moore. Subscribers can read it all here.

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On Real Football, we whip around the league.

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PITTSFORD, NY — Nothing infuriates prideful, testosterone-fueled NFL wide receivers more than seeing your name fade from the public discourse. Cardiac game-winners weren’t enough last season. A dip in statistical production has unequivocally changed how everyone around the NFL views DJ Moore.

NFL execs, coaches and scouts, per ESPN, do not view him as one of the best 26 wide receivers in the league. And when I suggested to one rival defensive coordinator in the AFC that Moore could be a wideout capable of winning 1 on 1, all I heard on the other line was, “Ehh, I don’t know.” The Chicago Bears’ GM declared his team plans on building a “dynasty” and being “championship caliber” for a very long time. Apparently ditching Moore for a draft pick was part of that plan. And even in Western New York, a ravenous half of the fan base loudly protested the decision to swap the 60th pick for the 165th pick for a 29-year-old wideout and inherit his salary.

So maybe it’s fitting that our first conversation with the Buffalo Bills’ new No. 1 wide receiver takes place mid-monsoon at St. John Fisher University. We’re underneath an awning attached to the team’s locker room.

Moore doesn’t world-salad his way around this topic.

All of this absolutely serves as motivation. The only answer is to perform.

“If people don’t know,” Moore says, “when we’re playing, they will know.”

The next morning, Moore cradles a Josh Allen bomb between three defenders for one of the best connections you’ll find in any NFL training camp. It’s been that kind of summer for the team’s new wide receiver — he’s dominating. This isn’t August hyperbole. Moore is far and away the most potent weapon this offense has had at wide receiver since Stefon Diggs circa 2022 and nothing matters more on offense than this development. An “Everyone Eats” mantra fosters genuine selflessness.

Another playoff loss, however, supplied another lesson: Buffalo needed a true No. 1. A separator. A playmaker who’ll deliver in January nut-cutting time. When it’s third and 8 and the season’s on the line, you know he’ll win his route. His numbers last season in Chicago — 682 yards, six touchdowns — never reflected the whole story. Moore is a unconventional WR1 with the potential to go off with an unconventional QB1.

He’s a man of few words, but the words he chooses are knifing.

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“I still stack myself up there with the top guys,” Moore says. “That’s my mentality — I’m still a top receiver in this league. I’m not going to put a number on it, but I’m up there.”

All teams interested in winning a championship should covet attitude at the position. It might’ve gotten ugly with Diggs at the end, but it was always important for the Bills to take another swing. Venture down the Wide Receiver Matrix and you’ll find meek boy scouts all the way to ticking time bombs.

The team’s new wide receivers coach — the vibrant 35-year-old Drew Terrell — entered the NFL the same year with the same team as Moore.

He believes Moore will elevate back into that upper tier. He points to this burning desire.

“You need guys that are assholes and ultra-confident and almost like delusional,” Terrell says. “Guys that think that they’re open all the time and they want the ball all the time regardless of the coverage. They think they’re open. Those are the type of players you should have playing receiver.”

Music to the ears of title-starved Bills fans.

On the same day Moore caught that moon ball from Allen, the Baltimore Ravens inked Zay Flowers to a contract worth $35 million annually. Buffalo is paying Moore $24.5 million per year — his bonuses were already paid out by Chicago. Suddenly, his contract looks quite team-friendly. And let’s face it. The dollar amount for any player on any contender doesn’t mean a thing if that player produces.

Buffalo’s offense was potent enough to produce the league’s MVP in 2024 and the NFL’s rushing champ in 2025. GM Brandon Beane, who famously defended his receiver room on WGR 550, then again at Go Long, realized his quarterback cannot throw the ball to the likes of Mack Hollins and Brandin Cooks in the playoffs. Nor could the Bills put all eggs in the Keon Coleman basket. A-level talent was required.

This is Year 9. Moore believes he’s a “new me” each season.

Life as an undisputed No. 1 target again has been sweet.

“I’m getting back to my old self,” Moore says. “That’s the feeling this year and that’s what I’m sticking to. Explosive. A playmaker across the field. Whether it’s deep, intermediate or shallow routes in the short game. Just taking it on and being explosive.”

At camp, those shorter routes have been as impressive as the highlight-reel bombs. On Tuesday, his most impressive play might’ve been this 1-2-3-4 number on cornerback Christian Benford that rekindled memories of Peak Diggs. This didn’t resemble a player on the decline.

We don’t need to travel too far back in time to see what Moore can mean for an offense. In ‘23, he caught 96 balls for 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns with Justin Fields and Tyson Bagent as his quarterbacks on a 7-10 Bears team.

If he’s going to get back to this level, he’ll do it with a play style unlike any other No. 1.

One of Moore’s former WR coaches explained to us last spring what makes Moore non-traditional. This coach also praised Moore as a running back with the ball in his hands, the best YAC player this side of Ja’Marr Chase. Terrell agrees. And to him, Moore is an athletic freak who defies sports science. These aren’t routes you’ll find on instructional videos.

“He’s not like your prototypical outside polished route runner,” Terrell says. “He’s just a really explosive athlete and his body moves in different ways, but he creates separation. He could plant off the wrong foot and stay on his feet and be running away from him.”

Take the dig route, an in-breaker at 10 to 15 yards. Ninety-nine percent of receivers break off their outside foot to execute this 90-degree turn.

Moore, conversely, can break off his inside foot.

Cornerbacks are burnt before they know what’s going on.

“It’s like, ‘How the hell did you just do that? People can’t do that,’” Terrell says. “DJ’s got incredible balance. Super explosive. Really, really good ball skills. And he’s really hard to tackle. People don’t understand how strong he is in his lower body. It’s hard to get him on the ground. So he’s an exciting athlete, but he’s different in the way he moves.

“If you went and watched him run routes, you’d be like, ‘OK. This guy needs some polish.’ But he’s able to do things that nobody else can do.”

Impressive, but couldn’t funky route running mess with the timing for a quarterback trying to calibrate with his new receiver? Time will tell. Terrell is confident the two will only gain trust in each other as these reps accumulate. Allen is making a concerted effort to feed Moore the ball in practice.

Terrell thinks we tend to overthink this sport, too.

When it comes to that bohemian quarterback, the coach also sees something different.

Most players, he explains, lose their “creativity” in football with age. Not Allen.

“I’m excited for DJ to play with a guy like Josh,” says Terrell. “He brings such energy to the offense. He brings such belief. When you’re young, it’s like: ‘I’ve got to take this ball. I’ve got to score it. These guys got to try to tackle me.’ It’s so simple. And then the older we get, the more complicated we make it. But Josh Allen plays football like he’s in Pop Warner: I’ve got to score the ball with my friends. That’s it.”

In Carolina and Chicago, Moore has been hampered by mostly piss-poor quarterback play. There’s no hesitation in his voice. Yes, Allen is the best quarterback who’s ever thrown passes to him.

Last fall, Caleb Williams supplied a string of fourth-quarter thrills. But the second-year QB never developed a rapport with Moore in completing 58.1 percent of his passes — 32nd amongst 33 qualifying quarterbacks. The ball should be placed in his hands more often with a quarterback who hit on 69.3 percent, fourth-best in the NFL.

Thus far, Moore is feeling good about his chemistry with Allen on and off schedule.

When No. 17 scrambles, he wants to know exactly what his QB is thinking.

“It’s growing because at the end of the day, we’re just going to go out there and play ball,” Moore says. “He’s going to throw to a spot and I’ve got to get to that spot before the DB. And it’s been working out so far. I’m proud of it. Hopefully we keep growing.”

“Having an MVP quarterback like that unlocks you wanting to be the best route runner, best player that you can be out there.”

Despite a frustrating season, Moore did provide a pair of game-winning touchdowns vs. Green Bay that NFL Network ran on repeat all offseason long.

He’s always been a player who wants the ball when the stakes are highest.

Don’t forget. The story of the Buffalo Bills may look quite different if Diggs manages to haul in an Allen heave that traveled 63 yards in the air vs. Kansas City with eight minutes left in the 2023 divisional round. Or if Dalton Kincaid dives and catches the fourth-and-5 prayer in the 2024 AFC Championship. Or if Cooks cleanly muscles the ball away from Denver’s Ja’Quan McMillian in the 2025 divisional round to leave nothing up for interpretation.

Considering Moore has played with bad quarterbacks and bad teams most of his pro career, this trait hasn’t always been on display.

This desire for the football in the clutch is a trait embedded into his football DNA.

“When it’s crunch time,” Moore says, “you always want that feeling that the ball is coming to you. And I’m always ready for that moment based off of practice and seeing the looks and then going out there and executing no matter the look. I’ve always been ready for whatever comes our way at the end of the game — if a play needs to be made.”

Father Time KO’s all wide receivers. At some point. Moore only has one season left in his 20s. Hence, Chicago’s calculation. Head coach Ben Johnson and GM Ryan Poles want Luther Burden II (age 22), Colston Loveland (22) and Rome Odunze (24) to grow with Williams. In our 1 on 1, GM Brandon Beane detailed all the work that went into ensuring Moore still has juice. The Bills studied every route — even when Moore didn’t get the ball — and saw a player who’s still in his prime, a player defenses must circle on the gameplan. “You have to know when DJ Moore is in the game,” Beane told us, “and where he’s at on the field.”

One week of training camp is encouraging.

Terrell dismissed any notion that Moore’s on a decline. Echoing Beane, he saw a wide receiver on that Bears tape who’s still in his prime.

Allen prefers an offense that allows his eyes to scan the entire field and locate the open receiver. But even Allen must appreciate having the ability to predetermine a route to an alpha he knows can win 1 on 1. That element in Buffalo’s offense has been missing.

“In any offense you’ve got to have people that you can depend on in clutch situations,” Terrell says. “Whether it’s a wideout or a tight end, you’ve got to have perimeter players that can win man-to-man because the make-or-break in this league is third down in the divisional round. Third down in the conference championship. Third down for the division. You know what it’s going to be. The defense is going to find ways to create 1 on 1’s upfront and then it’s going to be 1 on 1 on the back end. You’ve got to have guys that can win 1 on 1’s.”

Through rain and shine, all early signs are promising. An offseason vision is taking shape on the practice field. Good thing, too. The Bills may need their offense to carry more weight through September and October as Jim Leonhard gets his defense in order.

There’s no doubt in the mind of Moore.

He can still win this 1 on 1.

He expects to make more late-game magic, and then some.

“Every time I touch the ball,” Moore says, “I’m trying to do something special for the team.”

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Mind readers were not required. As the Cincinnati Bengals limped across the finish line in mid-December, Joe Burrow appeared crestfallen. Another injury torpedoed another season. And considering the quarterback tends to send messages in press conferences, it was impossible not to see his sadness and think of another former No. 1 pick: Andrew Luck.

Like Luck, he was ballyhooed as a transcendent talent.

Like Luck, early playoff success was swiftly followed by a string of maddening injuries.

Luck famously walked away from the sport at age 29.

And here was Burrow, dejected on the day of his own 29th birthday.

He sounded like an employee who’s had quite enough of his employer thank you very much.

“If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it,” Burrow said. “I’ve been through a lot. If it’s not fun, then what am I doing it for?”

Asked if it’s been tough, he paused for a few dramatic seconds before saying “certainly.”

Burrow also lamented that everything he’s been through has not been easy “on the brain or the body.”

When a reporter noted that there seemed to be a lot on his mind, he was again cryptic.

“There’s a lot of things going on right now.”

Ahead of training camp, I rehashed these comments to one person close to Burrow. His answer surprised me.

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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.”

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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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ICYMI:

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.

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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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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.

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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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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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