Insider notebook Bill Walsh fellowship p

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Like many players,  Levi Lewis Jersey once they retire, was trying to find a way to stick around the game when his time was up following the 2018 season. Johnson, a seven-year cornerback with six different teams, reached out to as many former coaches as he could seeking tips for how to break into the coaching world. Gene Chizik, his former head coach at Iowa State, even helped him put together and send out his resume to college and pro coaches acro s the country. Johnson eventually linked up with head coach Sean McDermott, who coached him both in Carolina and Buffalo. He looked for any way in, and in 2019 the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship offered him a spot with McDermott's Bills. This year, after an offseason unlike any other due to the pandemic, Johnson was able to stay on as a defensive intern through the program. "As a young coach, (Bills defensive coordinator Leslie) Frazier told me that there's no job too small ," Johnson told me recently. "Playing in the NFL, you hear stories of guys who have played who don't feel like stapling papers or filing them. Anything that I'm asked to do, just do it with a lot of love and do it to the best of my ability. He told me that and it hit home. I felt like that as a rookie and a veteran player. If you want to be on the field, there's nothing that you shouldn't do to position yourself." Johnson is one of three former NFL players who took part in the Walsh fellowship who are now full-time interns with teams. Former NFL quarterback and receiver Denard Robinson are offensive a sistants with the and , respectively.   The late Bill Walsh introduced the concept of the fellowship to the league in 1987, and since then nearly 2,000 men and women have taken part in the program acro s all 32 teams. wide receiver coachand former greatHines Ward participated in the program in 2019. Opportunities are extended to minority coaches during offseason workouts, minicamp and training camp, but obviously those chances were strained this year due to the pandemic. About 135 people participated in virtual se sions in the offseason with 29 clubs taking part. Lewis, a former undrafted quarterback out of Duke, spent time on nine different teams from 2010 to 2017 before joining Chip Kelly's UCLA staff in 2018. He met Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians at a coaching summit and Arians offered him a Walsh internship, where he now serves as an offensive a sistant that focuses mainly on the quarterbacks. And so every day, Lewis is sharing the QB room with . "I played against him  Jacob Eason Jersey twice and he remembered that," Lewis says, who for the Bills in Week 17 of 2013 put up better numbers than Brady in the lo s. "First thing he's like, 'Thad! How the hell did you throw the ball against me in 2013 like that?' I'm like, 'How the expletive do you remember that from seven years ago?'   "It's great to see how he prepares and now I know why he's the goat. I was never around a veteran quarterback of that caliber when I played so just to see now and understand why those guys are like they are and why they're so succe sful you can see it from Day One." Lewis said Brady is constantly asking questions. "He wants the answers to the test," Lewis says. He works on getting Brady the answers to whatever questions he has, which makes the job more difficult but more rewarding. Lewis, as a Black former quarterback, understands well the diversity crisis in NFL coaching circles. There are just three black head coaches in an NFL that's 70 percent black (and a total of five if you include interims Romeo Crennel and Raheem Morris.) There are only two Black offensive coordinators in the league: Kansas City's Eric Bieniemy and Tampa Bay's Byron Leftwich.   "It's definitely hard to not get discouraged. It's more about who you know but what you know. A lot of guys are hiring their buddies and that's the elephant in the room," Lewis says. "You can be qualified and good and guys may want to give you an interview #12 Jersey  and then stick you in the wide receiver room or running back room because that's a predominantly Black position and you may mesh better there. Not knowing that if you're a dangum good coach it doesn't matter the color of your skin you can relate to anybody. "One thing about it is, let's talk ball. Let's see what you know just that they gave me this opportunity and they said this could be a year-long proce s and I came and worked my tail off and they gave me the year just gives me hope. You just have to be patient and I just hope others will give people a chance. And I know when I get my shot, I definitely want to give somebody a chance because they gave  Jake Curhan Jersey me an opportunity." I think the are trying their hand at political strong-arming when they publicly state they're considering playing at LSU's Tiger Stadium if the New Orleans mayor won't allow fans in the Superdome.   A Saints spokesman released a statement Tuesday saying the team was exploring talks with LSU about holding their home games in Baton Rouge with 25% capacity since mayor LaToya Cantrell still won't allow fans at the fixed dome stadium. What's going on in Louisiana is layered, especially considering the state ranks first among all states in number of cases per 1 million people and fifth among deaths per 1 million people. But COVID-19 cases are down from their peak and things are opening up in the state. High school football games in New Orleans can have some fans, but Mayor Cantrell hasn't offered the same for the Saints. Meanwhile, no with a fixed dome has allowed any number of fans yet this season. Amie Just of NOLA.com has a . I'm on record as fans bring a team. But is the move to an outdoor stadium worth giving up dome conditions?   I looked at the indoor/outdoor splits for quarterback , kicker and punter since 2018.  Indoor Brees: 16-4 W/L record. 75.4% completion. 298 pa sing yards per game. Lutz: 45-of-49 on field goals. 77-of-78 on extra points. Morstead: 44.84 yards per punt. 42.9% inside the 20.  Outdoor/retractable roof Brees: 8-2 W/L record. 70.5% completion. 229.7 pa sing yards per game. Lutz: 24-of-26 on field goals. 41-of-42 on extra points. Morstead: 46.45 yards per punt. 50.9% inside the 20.   It seems it doesn't matter whether Lutz is indoors or outdoors. And Morstead actually has better stats outdoors. But Brees loses five percentage points on his completion percentage when going outdoors and throws for nearly 70 yards le s per game. (I removed the 2019 game from Brees's stats since he injured his throwing hand early in that game.) In a year where it seems Brees's arm isn't what it used to be, would the Saints want to move away from the friendly confines of the Superdome? Will the addition of 15,000 to 25,000 fans make up for the edge they'll lose in the pa sing attack? Or is this all a game of politics? Sideline reporters this season can't actually  Rasheem Green Jersey be on the sideline. By now you likely know that. But I wanted to know how much ground they're covering, so I asked Sherree B