Bills Hire Bobby April III - OLB Coach

[TheyCallMeAndy]

Per Ian Rapoport, Bills hire Bobby April III to coach OLBs. Worked with Leonhard at Wisconsin.

 

He's the son of our most beloved Special Team's Coordinator of all time. 

 

Edited February 2 by TheyCallMeAndy

[MrEpsYtown]

 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Just need to bring back his dad— best ST coach we ever had! 

[gonzo1105]

Was here with Rex and is a Ryan tree guy. Was Lorenzo Alexander’s position coach when he had his all pro season with 12.5 sacks 

Has NFL experience and College Coordinating experience. Defense struggled at Stanford as DC but did improve year over year before the staff was fired this year. 

Edited February 2 by gonzo1105

[Governor]

I guess we just need some OLB’s now. Any volunteers?

[MrEpsYtown]

So Valai is the rumor for DBs.

 

I wonder if they go after Chris Orr for inside backers? Former LB for Leonhard at Wisconsin. He’s a quality control guy for the Chiefs. 

 

DL going to be a pretty important hire. Maybe they keep Jason Rebrovich, who is in the same Rex family? He’s already here as assistant DL coach. 

Edited February 2 by MrEpsYtown

[MrEpsYtown]

2 minutes ago, Governor said:

I guess we just need some OLB’s now. Any volunteers?

On the roster it’s Hoecht, Solomon, maybe Rousseau. Where he plays seems most up in the air.

 

FA it’s a bunch of guys who probably aren’t fits in the McDermott scheme, which is fun:

Kingsley Enagbare
Dennis Gardeck

Khalil Mack

Haason Reddick

Malcolm Koonce

Dante Fowler
Kyle Van Noy

K’Lavon Chaisson

Josh Uche
 

I’m trading for Nick Herbig of the Steelers who is in the last year of his deal. He is 3rd on the depth chart and wants to start. Pittsburgh has money wrapped up in Watt and Highsmith. New coach and new DC. Jack Sawyer waiting in the wings. You just hired his college DC in Leonard and hit position coach in April. Seems like a no brainer to me, but it takes two to tango. 

 

 

 

[Victory Formation]

Just now, MrEpsYtown said:

On the roster it’s Hoecht, Solomon, maybe Rousseau. Where he plays seems most up in the air.

 

FA it’s a bunch of guys who probably aren’t fits in the McDermott scheme, which is fun:

Kingsley Enagbare
Dennis Gardeck

Khalil Mack

Haason Reddick

Malcolm Koonce

Dante Fowler
Kyle Van Noy

K’Lavon Chaisson

Josh Uche
 

I’m trading for Nick Herbig of the Steelers who is in the last year of his deal. He is 3rd on the depth chart and wants to start. Pittsburgh has money wrapped up in Watt and Highsmith. New coach and new DC. Jack Sawyer waiting in the wings. You just hired his college DC in Leonard and hit position coach in April. Seems like a no brainer to me, but it takes two to tango. 

 

 

 

Gregg Rousseau

AJ Epenesa

Michael Hoecht

Landon Jackson

Javon Solomon

[Governor]

1 minute ago, MrEpsYtown said:

On the roster it’s Hoecht, Solomon, maybe Rousseau. Where he plays seems most up in the air.

 

FA it’s a bunch of guys who probably aren’t fits in the McDermott scheme, which is fun:

Kingsley Enagbare
Dennis Gardeck

Khalil Mack

Haason Reddick

Malcolm Koonce

Dante Fowler
Kyle Van Noy

K’Lavon Chaisson

Josh Uche
 

I’m trading for Nick Herbig of the Steelers who is in the last year of his deal. He is 3rd on the depth chart and wants to start. Pittsburgh has money wrapped up in Watt and Highsmith. New coach and new DC. Jack Sawyer waiting in the wings. You just hired his college DC in Leonard and hit position coach in April. Seems like a no brainer to me, but it takes two to tango. 

 

 

 

I’m expecting a pretty rough start, but then again, how much worse could it possibly be? We went half a season before our guys could even line up correctly. Tre looked totally lost for multiple games. Maybe by week 8 we’ll start to see some progress. 

[MiltonWaddams]

[Arkansasrifle]

I’ll take Bruce Dehaven

[MrEpsYtown]

1 minute ago, Victory Formation said:

Gregg Rousseau

AJ Epenesa

Michael Hoecht

Landon Jackson

Javon Solomon

I don’t think AJ is back, and he shouldn’t be. I am not sure about Jackson at OLB. But the other three for sure. Obviously Hoecht probably not ready at the start and Rousseau at OLB is a projection. I think they have to add here.

[Don Otreply]

Sounds familiar…, 

[Sierra Foothills]

30 minutes ago, Arkansasrifle said:

I’ll take Bruce Dehaven

 

I met him a few times and he was salt of the earth... a really good man.

 

RIP Bruce.

 

[Buffalo716]

I hear we might be looking into Oklahoma Sooners assistant DC for Defensive backs coach @SoonerBillsFan

 

Sooners defense has been very good and is well coached 

[SoonerBillsFan]

12 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

I hear we might be looking into Oklahoma Sooners assistant DC for Defensive backs coach @SoonerBillsFan

 

Sooners defense has been very good and is well coached 

Im willing to make the sacrifice for the greater good

[Buffalo716]

3 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Im willing to make the sacrifice for the greater good

If they could get Jay here for a defensive backs coach that would be terrific

 

McDermott was definitely a defensive backs whisperer but that's the kind of guy that has what I want and long-term value in the organization

Edited February 2 by Buffalo716

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 hour ago, MrEpsYtown said:

On the roster it’s Hoecht, Solomon, maybe Rousseau. Where he plays seems most up in the air.

 

FA it’s a bunch of guys who probably aren’t fits in the McDermott scheme, which is fun:

Kingsley Enagbare
Dennis Gardeck

Khalil Mack

Haason Reddick

Malcolm Koonce

Dante Fowler
Kyle Van Noy

K’Lavon Chaisson

Josh Uche
 

I’m trading for Nick Herbig of the Steelers who is in the last year of his deal. He is 3rd on the depth chart and wants to start. Pittsburgh has money wrapped up in Watt and Highsmith. New coach and new DC. Jack Sawyer waiting in the wings. You just hired his college DC in Leonard and hit position coach in April. Seems like a no brainer to me, but it takes two to tango. 

 

 

 

I know you are a big Herbig guy, but a bunch of my buddies are Steelers fans, and they all know what they have in him.  He was their best pass rusher this last year— I suspect they will find a way to pay him a lot. 

[CEN-CAL17]

1 hour ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Per Ian Rapoport, Bills hire Bobby April III to coach OLBs. Worked with Leonhard at Wisconsin.

 

He's the son of our most beloved Special Team's Coordinator of all time. 

 

Called that 3 days ago….. 

1 hour ago, Governor said:

I guess we just need some OLB’s now. Any volunteers?

Draft… Anthony Hill Jr LB Texas…. I see a lot of Nik Bonitto in him. Can play him on the edge or the middle. Draft him, sign Leo Chenal… LBs set. 
 

He not projecting round 1 yet. But he will go round 1. Pick at 26 is a possibility.

[MrEpsYtown]

33 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I know you are a big Herbig guy, but a bunch of my buddies are Steelers fans, and they all know what they have in him.  He was their best pass rusher this last year— I suspect they will find a way to pay him a lot. 

In that case I wonder if you could get a Highsmith?

 

It sounds like from the few articles I read that Herbig wants to play more, so maybe it’s a bit more than money. But it does look like his snap percentage took a big jump this year to around 50%. I think it’s tricky to pay three guys at that spot really top dollar, it seems like something has to give. Looking for our Nik Bonitto-lite since I think that’s what’s missing here. 
 

Seems like there are some interesting edge guys in free agency. Haven’t dug into the draft yet. I remember really liking Bonitto and Herbig draft time, knowing they did not fit the scheme they were never going to be drafted by the Bills. Gonna have to change my mindset on some guys with the new scheme.