RG3: My job is not to characterize or judge Jay Gruden

Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III wasn’t exactly effusive with praise when asked to assess coach Jay Gruden in a recent interview.
“He wants me to go out there and be the quarterback he knows I can be, and I will be,” Griffin said, via CSNWashington.com. “My job is not to characterize or judge him as a coach.”
Reports late last season suggested that Gruden wanted Griffin gone, but Griffin said the two of them have the same goal.
“We both want to win, that’s just the bottom line” Griffin said. “Jay came in here with the plan to help develop me as a quarterback, and help this team win and help this organization be a consistent winner. He’s going to hold me to my commitment to him, and the players are going to hold him to his commitment to us.”
How long Gruden is committed to Griffin as his starting quarterback remains to be seen. For now, Gruden and Griffin are tied together, and Griffin sounds ready to make the best of it. Even if he doesn’t sound thrilled.

Source: PFT
Author: Michael David Smith
Photo via Blogs.Bettor.com

LeSean McCoy: Chip Kelly doesn’t like or respect star players

Eagles coach Chip Kelly got rid of running back LeSean McCoy so that Kelly himself would get more of the credit for the offense in Philadelphia. At least, that’s how McCoy sees it.
McCoy, now a Buffalo Bill, said at the first day of his new team’s offseason program that Kelly would rather have anonymous players around than stars so that it’s Kelly himself who garners most of the attention.
“I don’t think he likes or respects the stars. I’m being honest,” McCoy told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I think he likes the fact that it’s ‘Chip Kelly and the Eagles.’ ”
Of course, DeMarco Murray is a star player, and Kelly signed Murray to replace McCoy. But McCoy thinks Kelly showed last year by cutting DeSean Jackson that if a player gets too much credit, that player won’t be around for long.
“It was ‘DeSean Jackson – a high-flying, take-off-the-top-of-the-defense receiver.’ Or ‘The quick, elusive LeSean McCoy,’ ” McCoy said. “I don’t think [Kelly] likes that.”
Whatever the reasons, Kelly has radically reshaped the Eagles’ roster with some surprising personnel decisions. He’s set him up for a season in which he’ll either get a lot of credit, or a lot of blame.

Source: PFT
Author: Michael David Smith
Photo: JOHN SLEEZER, The Kansas City Star

Sean Payton is the NFL’s most aggressive coach on fourth down

Saints coach Sean Payton goes for it on fourth down far more often than any of his colleagues around the NFL.
In fact, in 2014, Payton went for it on fourth down more than twice as often as an average NFL coach would have, when faced with the same circumstances. FootballOutsiders.com analyzed every fourth-down decision in the NFL in 2014, adjusting for the distance needed for a first down as well as where the team was on the field and the score of the game (filtering out times when a coach goes for it because his team is getting blown out), and found that Payton had an Aggressiveness Index of 2.01.
Many statistical analysts say that NFL coaches should be more aggressive about going for it on fourth down, but Payton says he relies less on statistical analysis than on gut feeling. Payton explained during the 2014 season that when the Saints face a fourth down, he usually just makes his decision based on whether he has a feeling that the Saints’ offense can call a play that will work in that situation.
“Fourth downs maybe is sometimes a feel, and a lot of times it is not having a play,” Payton said. “There are some times where you have got a play you cannot wait to run, so you would be more apt to be aggressive.”
Whatever the reasons, Payton feels like going for it more often than other coaches. Analyzing fourth-down data going back to 1989, Football Outsiders found that there have only been eight seasons when a coach was more than twice as aggressive as his peers — and two of those seasons were Payton-coached Saints teams. In addition to the Saints’ Aggressiveness Index of 2.01 last year, the Saints had an Aggressiveness Index of 2.22 in 2007.
Unfortunately for Payton, those also happened to be his only two seasons with a losing record. Payton isn’t afraid to go for it when his team needs it, but he’d be better off if his team didn’t need it.


Source: PFT
Author: Michael David Smith
Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA-com | The Times-Picayune

Ravens get Schaub for a mere $2 million base deal

Quarterback Matt Schaub has made plenty of money over the years for playing quarterback at a good but not great level.  In 2015, he’ll make pretty good money by, ideally, not playing at all.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Schaub’s deal with the Ravens has a base value of $2 million, with $1 million to sign and a $1 million salary.  Contrary to a report that the deal is worth $3 million, the final $1 million comes from extra amounts — amounts that will be difficult for Schaub to earn if he’s not playing.
Given that Schaub will be backing up a guy who has started every game of his eight-year career, it’s unlikely that Schaub will unlock any payments based on playing time.
Based on the relative performances of Joe Flacco and Matt Schaub in recent years, the Ravens and their fans surely hope that won’t be happening.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Mike Florio
AP Photo:Michael-J-Phillip