New Giants’ interior offensive lineman Jon Feliciano had some interesting comments about how his time in Buffalo came to an end, according to Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com. After not being utilized in the Bills’ overtime loss to Kansas City, Felicano was quoted saying part of him thought they “got what (they) deserved.”
After riding out his rookie contract as a reserve lineman in Oakland, Feliciano signed a two-year deal to join the Bills. Despite only starting four games for the Raiders as an injury-replacement for Kelechi Osemele, Feliciano earned a starting job playing right guard for all 16 games of his first year in Buffalo. A shoulder injury and torn pectoral muscle delayed the start of his 2020 season, but, upon his return, he started the final nine games of the season, winning the Bills’ 2020 Ed Block Courage Award.
Feliciano signed a three-year extension before the 2021 season and began the year starting six of the first seven games at left guard. A calf injury landed him on injured reserve for a little over a month, but, upon his return, he was not welcomed back to his starting job, with Ike Boettger manning the position. Even when Boettger was unavailable in the playoffs, Buffalo turned to Ryan Bates, who had recorded the first four starts of his career earlier in the season, in lieu of putting Feliciano back in the starting lineup.
With the apparent contempt over the situation in Buffalo, it’s a bit of a surprise to see Feliciano follow his offensive coordinator, now-Giants head coach Brian Daboll, and his offensive line coach, Bobby Johnson, to New York. Johnson has a lot of respect for Feliciano, who he’s coached since their time together began in Oakland. A potential draw might have been that Feliciano will get the opportunity to play center for the Giants after playing at guard dating all the way back to his college days in Miami.
Here are a few other rumors from around the NFC East, starting with another rumor about Big Blue:
- Daboll earned his first head coaching job due to his success calling plays in Buffalo. He hired former NFL quarterback Mike Kafka as the Giants’ new offensive coordinator after Kafka served as the Chiefs quarterbacks coach & passing game coordinator the past two years. Kafka has never called plays for an offense, as Chiefs head coach Andy Reid calls plays in Kansas City, but Daboll and the G-Men have provided Kafka the opportunity to try so far in offseason practices, according to Josh Alper of NBC Sports. It’s a show of good faith by Daboll and a low-risk chance, as Daboll can easily take the reins if they don’t believe Kafka is ready for NFL play-calling yet.
- With the Bronco’s franchise rumored to be selling around $4.5BB, Peter King of NBC Sports was curious about the value of the NFL’s most valuable franchise, the Cowboys. According to Forbes, King says $6.5BB. According to popular NFL business consultant Marc Ganis, King says $8-8.5BB. According to Cowboys’ owner/president/general manager/supreme ruler Jerry Jones, King says over $10BB. Jones quickly added without provocation, “But let me make this very clear, I’ll say it definitively: I will never do it. I will never sell the Cowboys. Ever.” So feel free to put away your checkbooks. Jerry isn’t interested.
- When the Eagles drafted Landon Dickerson out of Alabama last year, the idea was that the Crimson Tide’s unanimous All-American center and Rimington Trophy winner would eventually serve as the replacement for long-time center Jason Kelce. Well, according to Zach Berman of The Athletic, their plans may have shifted. Dickerson proved too talented to keep off the field and found his first opportunity at playing time at left guard. The chemistry with Dickerson next to tackle Jordan Mailata has the Eagles’ brass excited and eager to keep the tandem next to each other. This plan likely informed their decision to use their second-round pick this year on Nebraska center Cam Jurgens. Jurgens also has the flexibility to play guard and center, but with Dickerson likely to stick at guard, Jurgens becomes the clear front-runner to eventually replace Kelce.
I’m sure every Giant is aware of that comment. Good luck with that.
I knew Landon Dickerson was going to play himself onto the field somehow in Philly. Way too good of a player and his footwork was just too good to not see succeed. I’m kind of shocked they went and took a center in the draft because I think Dickerson was a All Pro Center in the making coming in. He must have really impressed at left guard this year. Eagles fans should be very happy with this guy.
Yeah, Landon stepped up when Seumalo got hurt and did a great job on the left side along with Jordan Mailata.
Cam Jurgens may see some rotations at right guard. The Eagles are thinking of trading or cutting Seumalo if all goes well when they report to training camp.