Doug Marrone Preferred Buffalo Bills Over Other Suitors

ESPN's Adam Schefter broke the news early Sunday morning that Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone will be the new head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Later in the day, Schefter shared some of the rationale behind the coach's decision.

Marrone met with the San Diego Chargers on Saturday night, per Schefter, and shortly after that made up his mind to choose Buffalo.

"Marrone wanted Buffalo as much as Buffalo wanted him," says Schefter, who called Marrone the "most in-demand college coach out there" with Chip Kelly on the fence.

"In recent weeks, Marrone had done comprehensive film studies of each team he would be interviewing with - the Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, Chargers and Bills - and each game they had played this past year," Schefter continued. "He believed Buffalo had more talent than any of those other teams. It factored into his final decision, as did his relationship with the new head man of the Bills organization, Russ Brandon, who has served on the advisory board for sports management at - where else - Syracuse."

The most interesting part of the quote is the "most talented" line. While Cleveland is the only team on that list with a current Pro Bowl player - tackle Joe Thomas and kicker Phil Dawson - it's still strange for anyone to call the Bills "more talented" than another team.

An east Syracuse native, Brandon's role in the hiring won't be missed by fans who would like to question the move. He said at his introductory press conference in his new role as president that he wouldn't be involved in football decisions, leaving that to general manager Buddy Nix. We shall have to wait and see how much input Brandon had in this hire.

At the very least, we know that Marrone wants to be here. He contacted the Bills and chose them over other interested suitors.