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Bills fans did a double-take this week.
Coaching interview requests surfaced for Philip Rivers and Mike McDaniel — two names that came completely out of left field and instantly set off debate across Bills Mafia.
Are these serious interviews… or just noise?
D.A. breaks down why these names shocked fans, what it says about the Buffalo Bills’ search process, and the real question underneath it all:
👉 Is this a smart, wide-net approach — or a sign the Bills are wasting valuable time on unserious candidates?
Plus, D.A. offers his most intriguing (and realistic) coaching candidate suggestion — the one that actually makes sense if the Bills are serious about fixing what’s broken.
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0:00
Mike McDaniel,
0:02
Philip Rivers. Can we take these
0:04
coaching candidates seriously for the
0:06
Bills? And can we take the Bills
0:10
coaching search seriously anymore? Plus
0:14
a sleeper name. All of that coming up
0:15
here next. Just a reminder to subscribe
0:18
to the channel. Click on this button
0:19
below me because fresh football content
0:22
every single day, including throughout
0:25
the off season. Let's start with Philip
0:27
Rivers. I don't like this idea at all,
0:31
but bringing him in for an interview
0:33
doesn't hurt anything and it does
0:35
suggest that Brandon Bean is casting a
0:38
really wide net for the head coach and
0:41
that's a good thing. I think making sure
0:43
you're uncovering every rock to find the
0:46
best candidate is the best case scenario
0:49
for finding the best candidate instead
0:51
of just honing in on the guy that you
0:53
know you want or one of the three guys
0:55
you're familiar with. So, if we knew
0:57
that it was really only between guys
0:59
that were familiar with the organization
1:01
like a Brian Dable, a Davis Webb, an
1:04
Anthony Lynn, etc., that would be
1:06
disheartening. It's good they're going
1:08
outside of the box. But I don't like the
1:10
Philip Rivers idea because we have no
1:15
evidence, we have no body of work, no
1:18
resume outside of high school coaching,
1:21
and that does not lead you to becoming
1:23
an NFL head coach. There are plenty of
1:26
former players and some very good former
1:29
players that are coaching right now and
1:30
successfully in the NFL. I mean, Mike
1:32
Vrabel is one of them. Demo Ryan is
1:35
another. Dan Campbell was a former
1:38
player. All of these guys have been
1:40
successful. Heck, Mike Vrabel might be
1:42
in a Super Bowl coming up here. But all
1:45
of those guys also had gone into college
1:49
like Vrabel or through the NFL assistant
1:52
coaching ranks to get to those jobs.
1:55
Aaron Glenn's another one of those guys
1:57
and Glenn had a terrible season with the
1:59
Jets, but did rise through the ranks as
2:02
an assistant coach to become the
2:03
defensive coordinator in Detroit. It's
2:06
really hard for me to believe that a guy
2:09
that has only five years away from the
2:12
game and they were all used coaching
2:14
high school football is ready for this
2:18
level of NFL coaching. Certainly, you
2:21
can bring him in as an assistant coach,
2:23
but Philip Rivers elevating immediately
2:26
to head coach just is too much too soon.
2:29
The game today is so complicated. The
2:33
league today is so schematically
2:37
interesting and diverse and unique on a
2:40
week-to-eek basis. You've got to have
2:43
some familiarity with the week in week
2:45
out grind of developing schemes and game
2:48
plans and exes. And look, Philip Rivers
2:51
did really well coming back and playing
2:53
this year despite being away for 5
2:55
years, but that doesn't qualify him to
2:58
be a head coach immediately. I'm
3:01
unfortunately brought back to Jeff
3:02
Saturday as a guy that seemed to think
3:04
it was fun to just think about coaching
3:07
and you just hire him out of the
3:09
broadcast booth without any significant
3:11
coaching experience and say, "All right,
3:14
now you're the head coach." And grant
3:15
that that was middle of the season as an
3:17
interim, but that was such a debacle. It
3:19
was such hubris to think that you could
3:21
just plant a former player in there and
3:23
say, "Yeah, you do it now." that that
3:26
just still reeks to me of how bad it can
3:30
go. So, no, I am not on board with
3:33
Philip Rivers as the next head coach of
3:35
the Buffalo Bills.
3:37
Mike McDaniel
3:39
is far more intriguing as a prospect.
3:42
Mike McDaniel
3:44
was at the helm of an offense where Tua
3:47
Tonga
3:48
had his best season of his career.
3:52
There was back-to-back seasons where the
3:55
Dolphins made the playoffs under Mike
3:57
McDaniel. And to give you a sense of how
4:00
rare that is, the Dolphins had not been
4:03
to the postseason in back-to-back years
4:06
since Y2K,
4:08
Dave Wanad seasons. So, it doesn't come
4:13
often around Miami. And McDaniel
4:15
deserves some credit for being able to
4:18
straighten out the ship enough. Now, at
4:21
the end of the day, this past season
4:23
went horribly arry early. Looked like he
4:25
was going to get fired midway through
4:27
the season, held on to the job until
4:29
after the year, and actually helped keep
4:31
it on the tracks in the second half of
4:33
the campaign. I like Mike McDaniels
4:38
resume as a Shanahan tree guy. You look
4:42
at Shawn McVey,
4:44
Kyle Shanahan, those are the two stars
4:47
from the Shanahan tree. But all of the
4:51
guys that have come out of that coaching
4:53
tree seem to have a real good handle on
4:58
the dynamics in play to maximize
5:01
quarterback play and to make a diverse
5:04
offense and all of that is exciting for
5:08
Josh Allen and this Bill's attack. The
5:11
problem with Mike McDaniel is he's been
5:15
removed from the Dolphin job for five
5:16
minutes. And I think there's probably
5:20
needs to be a year where he reboots,
5:22
resets, and takes it all in. I think
5:24
it's hard to go from one job to the next
5:26
job, especially in the division, and
5:30
kind of have enough space to learn from
5:33
your mistakes. I think McDaniel deserved
5:36
another head coaching job somewhere down
5:38
the line. I like the fact that he's
5:39
self-deprecating and not a harsh alpha
5:42
male, you know, kind of toughest guy on
5:44
the block thing. I I think you can win
5:46
by intellect in the NFL, but I also
5:49
think that Mike McDaniel is best served
5:51
as being an OC again and getting some
5:54
reps calling plays again to then learn,
5:57
okay, this is how he would do things
5:59
differently. I do think you need a
6:00
little bit of space, but I would bring
6:03
up the Shanahan tree because
6:07
this situation for the Bills is most
6:10
closely connected to Mike Shanahan. And
6:14
that was in the mid '9s when the Broncos
6:17
had a 30-some franchise quarterback and
6:20
John Elway and an owner that believed
6:23
they were the clock was ticking on their
6:26
Super Bowl window said, "We've got to
6:28
make a move. Dan Reeves got fired for
6:30
not getting over the hump in winning a
6:32
Super Bowl. Wade Phillips was hired.
6:34
Wade Phillips was not the answer. And
6:38
Pat Bolan went to John Elway and said,
6:40
"Who's the guy?"
6:42
John Elway said, "My former offensive
6:44
coordinator, Mike Shanahan." Now,
6:47
Shanahan had been the OC in Denver, then
6:50
had a brief head coaching stint with the
6:51
Raiders, and then became the offensive
6:53
coordinator with the Niners through
6:54
their glory years of the early 90s and
6:56
winning a Super Bowl in 1994. he becomes
6:59
much more decorated than somebody like a
7:01
Brian Dable that kind of connects the
7:03
same dots. But Shanahan's ability to
7:06
diversify John Elway's offense to make
7:09
that zone blocking scheme for Terrell
7:11
Davis and company so dynamic was a key
7:14
to unlock the best from the Denver
7:16
Broncos. And so following a line from
7:19
Shanahan is something that actually
7:22
excites me. I will give you the name
7:25
that is the most intriguing to me and
7:27
I'm not sure if he's ready for the job,
7:30
but Grant Yudinski, offensive
7:33
coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars,
7:35
is super interesting to me. Yudinsky was
7:39
the OC for Jacksonville this past season
7:42
when Trevor Lawrence was unlocked and
7:44
that Jaguars team won the division and I
7:47
thought was a legitimate Super Bowl
7:49
contender, which is such a tease again
7:51
for the Bills. they were able to beat, I
7:53
think, a really good team.
7:55
So, he had a year as the OC of a very
7:58
important offensive kind of renaissance
8:00
of the Jaguars. Before that was the
8:03
right-hand man under Kevin Oonnell, who
8:05
I think most of the NFL agrees is one of
8:06
the great offensive minds in the league
8:08
as well. Even though the JJ McCarthy
8:10
thing this year imploded, I don't think
8:12
that's really a black eye for Kevin
8:14
Oonnell. So apparently Okonnell was
8:16
pretty upset when he lost Yudinsky to
8:19
Jacksonville as the OC knowing that he
8:22
was a big part of their success with the
8:24
type of explosive offense they had two
8:27
years ago with Sam Darnold and nearly
8:30
getting the one seed and really
8:32
spreading the ball out so well to Justin
8:34
Jefferson and Jordan Addison and
8:37
company. Yudinski is only 30, which is
8:40
real early, and he's only four months
8:43
older than Josh Allen. Does it work to
8:45
bring in a guy that's basically a peer
8:47
of Josh Allen and say it's up to you to
8:51
deliver a Super Bowl? It is
8:53
intimidating. It is scary. But I'm
8:56
really intrigued by this guy because
8:58
there's whiffs of Shawn McVey without
9:02
the celebrity that like Cliff Kingsbury
9:04
had. Kingsbury basically, you know, hung
9:07
out at Shawn McVeyy's house once and he
9:09
got the Cardinals job. He had been a
9:11
head coach obviously before, but failed
9:13
at Texas Tech. I think Udinsky comes in
9:16
without the shades and the cool factor
9:19
and the ego that Kingsbury had, still
9:22
has, and feels like he could be the
9:25
prodigy. And boy, it would be super
9:28
interesting if the Bills went that
9:29
direction. And I'm really interested to
9:30
hear if there's any leaks about how that
9:34
interview went or if he gets a second
9:36
interview as well. That's kind of my
9:39
breakdown of where we are right now with
9:41
the Bills coaching search. And I will
9:43
just reiterate, I think change can be
9:45
really good and in some ways mandatory
9:47
for where the Bills are right now. And
9:49
I've had a couple of videos this week
9:51
explaining why I feel that. It is true
9:54
that Shawn McDermott was handled very
9:56
poorly and unprofessionally on his way
9:58
out. It is true that the press
10:01
conference hit all the wrong notes by
10:04
Terry Pagula and Brandon Bean. But it is
10:07
also true that making a move at head
10:10
coach could be the mandatory move that
10:13
had to happen for the Bills to finally
10:15
win a Super Bowl. a lot a lot of other
10:18
things have to happen, but perhaps
10:20
running it back after the way that this
10:22
season ended again with Shawn McDermott
10:25
would have simply been expecting the
10:27
same result. Anyway,
10:30
once again, a reminder, click on this
10:31
button below me to subscribe. We got
10:33
fresh videos about the NFL, fresh
10:35
football videos every single day of the
10:38
off season, including the combine, which
10:40
is right around the corner, and the
10:42
draft in April. Wow. free agency coming
10:45
up in March as well. Thanks for watching
10:47
everybody. I'm DA Damon at Mandelara.
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