How’s this for a hot take? Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt elected to take the position that Miami’s Brian Flores will win Coach of the Year — in 2019. Brandt did so on a segment entitled “Heavy Lifting: Trying to defend unpopular opinions“.
The idea? To take an unpopular stance and defend your position as to why it may manifest to be true. During the segment, Brandt pointed out two factors that he thinks could lead the Dolphins to surprise:
- Kenyan Drake’s emphatic praise of Flores and how the team has guys “ready to run through a wall” after the first two weeks of off-season workouts.
- Flores’ masterful coaching with the New England Patriots’ defense down the stretch in 2018.
Brandt went as far as to suggest this team could make the playoffs. Is it bold? Yes. But would it really be that unheard of? We saw the Buffalo Bills in the exact same position in 2017. The Bills hired Sean McDermott to overhaul the team and they trimmed a ton of fat off their roster — including a summer trade of WR Sammy Watkins that surely signaled the team was tanking.
Until they played tough, hard-nosed defense, protected the football and parlayed a 5-2 start into a 9-7 record. Oh, and a playoff berth.
And remember, the Bills made two separate trades the following off-season to work up from the mid-20’s into the top-10 to draft their quarterback of choice in Josh Allen.
Would it be a surprise? Yes. Would it be unheard of? Absolutely not.
