Great King MMQB Column - Dan Rooney, Dean Blandino, etc

[Punching Bag]

https://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/04/17/dan-rooney-dean-blandino-nfl-draft-peter-king

Dan Rooney:

 

“I’m not concerned about your share. You’ve got enough money—we’ve all got enough money. I’m concerned about our fans and their ability to afford the tickets.”

 

Dean Blandino:

 

It’s true: If the NFL knew vice president of officiating Dean Blandino was going to leave for a TV job—which Ian Rapoport and Aditi Kinkhabwala reported Friday—there’s a strong chance owners would not have voted for centralized replay last month, with Blandino making the calls from the league’s New York officiating command post. Clearly, a big part of voting for centralized replay was the strength of Blandino, and how good a media face he was for officiating.

 

It was such a surprise that three prominent club officials over the weekend said they hadn’t heard about Blandino and TV until they heard the news Friday.

[Punching Bag]

 

4. I think it would be amazing if the Bills—who traded a quarterback-like haul (first-round and fourth-round picks in 2015 to move up five spots in the 2014 draft) to get him—did not pick up the fifth-year option on wideout Sammy Watkins … and it would be a strong indication that the franchise is worried that his lingering foot injury in 2016 is a continuing factor. Watkins has averaged an unimpressive 51 catches a year in his three NFL seasons, missing 11 games due to injury in the process. He never was right all of 2016. But if this is his last year in Buffalo, it could be a harbinger of doom for GM Doug Whaley.

[stuvian]

I agree that if Watkins doesn't get extended its basically a referendum on Whaley's judgement

[PromoTheRobot]

I agree that if Watkins doesn't get extended its basically a referendum on Whaley's judgement

And it would be a stupid Billsy thing to do, holding Whaley responsible for what is essentially bad luck, while ignoring the laundry list of solid free agent pickups he literally finds on the street.