Bill Polian was on Dan Dakitch show at noon today. Here are the highlights:
1. Confirmed that he, Peyton, and Marv Levy were all advocating on Frank's behalf to Ballard and Irsay
2. Polian spoke to Irsay several times after the McDickless debacle and Polian confirmed that Irsay STILL has the utmost confidence in Ballard. He puts this debacle squarely on McDickless.
3. Confirmed that Reich has been on Ballard's vetted list from the beginning (meaning long before Clappy got fired) but Reich isn't a self promoter and in fact actively told his agent at the start of the playoffs that he did not want to do ANY interviewing. His singular focus was on preparing for the playoffs / Superbowl. He figured he would get his opportunities next year with good performance in the Playoffs. Once the McDickless debacle happened after the Superbowl he was happy to have the opportunity to compete for the job this year.
4. He assured that Frank will have no problem working with Eberflus and the other coaches already under contract, especially since he's starting so late to build his team. He reminded that when he and Dungy came to town they kept on Tom Moore and Roger Mudd and that worked out ok.
5. Regarding rebuilding this team he acknowledged it will be tough and that Ballard / Reich inherited a much worse roster than he/Dungy did but he has faith that the two will get this thing back on track in the next few years.
6. He reaffirmed his point of view that you need to look to the draft to get the tranformational play makers BUT he did say that given the cap space that Ballard has to play with and given the shape of the roster he expects that Ballard will find some good pieces at good value to begin to shore things up for a year or two while he works the draft for the longer term
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