Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was rumored to be in one of the final slots for the Cleveland Browns’ head coaching job. Instead, Vikings OC Kevin Stefanski landed the gig.
The Browns’ opening was the fifth and final head coaching vacancy to be filled during the NFL’s offseason, pending any surprises this late in the game.
For those not counting at home, the others were: Matt Rhule to the Panthers, Ron Rivera to the Redskins, Mike McCarthy to the Cowboys and Joe Judge to the Giants.
Having said all that, it means little to the Bills in the short term. Buffalo won’t face any of those five teams in 2020’s regular season.
The Bills will have to wait until the ensuing season, 2021, to do so. That year the Bills will face the NFC South so the Bills and Panthers will cross paths then. That could likely be it, too.
Four of those five teams with new coaches are in the NFC. Aside from the Panthers, the Bills could see the Browns in 2021, but that’s not yet decided. That can only happen if the Browns and Bills both finish in the same place in their respective divisions in the 2020 season.
The only chance for a meeting sooner than that would be a Bills-Browns playoff game next year, or the Bills facing one of the other four teams in the Super Bowl. You never know, right?
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