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NFL

Three-time NFL Coach of Year Knox dies at 86
8:11 PM ET

  • Brady HendersonESPN

SEATTLE — Chuck Knox, who has the second-most victories of any coach in Seattle Seahawks history and who also coached the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills, died at age 86 after suffering from dementia.

The Seahawks on Sunday confirmed the news of Knox’s death.

Nicknamed “Ground Chuck” for his teams’ run-first offenses, Knox went 80-63 during the regular season over nine years as Seattle’s coach. His debut season with the Seahawks in 1983 was highlighted by the first playoff appearance in franchise history; Seattle advanced to the AFC Championship Game against the Raiders with a road upset of Dan Marino’s Miami Dolphins in the divisional round.

Knox is the only head coach in the Seahawks’ Ring of Honor, having been inducted in 2005. His 80 victories with Seattle are second to Mike Holmgren’s 86. Pete Carroll is third with 79.

“The Seahawks family is saddened by the loss of Chuck Knox, and our deepest sympathies are extended to his wife, Shirley, and the entire Knox family,” the Seahawks said in a statement. “His presence projects an external toughness, but merited instantaneous respect by the genuine care and concern he held for his players. He was one of the great influences not only in football, but in life.”

Carroll along with former players Jack Youngblood and Brian Bosworth, who both played under Knox, were among those who paid tribute on Twitter.

Born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, Knox compiled a regular-season record of 186-147-1 and went 7-11 in the playoffs during his 22 seasons as a head coach. He coached the Rams (54-15-1) from 1973 to 1977, the Bills (37-36) from 1978 to 1982, the Seahawks from 1983 to 1991 and the Rams (15-33) again from 1992 to 1994.

He was named the AP Coach of the Year in 1973, 1980 and 1984 and also won the UPI version of the award in 1983 and 1984.

“Chuck Knox was the best coach I ever had,” Tom Mack, a former Rams guard and Pro Football Hall of Famer, was quoted as saying in a 2016 Los Angeles Times story. “He always took the time to know each player well enough that he could talk to each player and hit their hot buttons. I never saw another coach like that.”

In their statement, the Rams said that Knox “established a winning culture and a legacy that will never be forgotten, being the only coach to lead the Rams to five consecutive double-digit-win seasons. The memories and accomplishments that Coach Knox left behind will continue to inspire us and Rams fans.”

NFL

Wood: Lions followed law with Patricia hiring

Detroit Lions team president Rod Wood said Saturday that his team followed the law when it came to how it approached the hiring process for first-year head coach Matt Patricia earlier this year, even if they didn’t uncover a 22-year-old aggravated sexual assault indictment that has since come to light.

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“We always err on the side of hiring a firm who understands all the laws, follows them, state and federal,” Wood told ESPN on Saturday, “so that we don’t happen upon something that we’re not entitled to have nor would we be able to use.”

In this case, it meant following both federal law and the state laws of Massachusetts and Michigan. The Fair Credit Reporting Act does not allow felony arrests that did not result in convictions beyond seven years old to be considered in possible employment, so most search firms do not include that information on the background checks they provide to employers — and that includes the Lions.

This is all in response to a 1996 aggravated sexual assault indictment after an alleged assault in South Padre Island, Texas, on spring break, when Patricia was a 21-year-old student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The indictment was brought by the grand jury, but Patricia never stood trial, and the case was dismissed in January 1997, when the woman who made the accusation declined to testify.

On Thursday, Patricia maintained he believes he did nothing wrong. He declined during the news conference to go into the specifics of that evening.

“I was innocent then, and I am innocent now,” Patricia said. “I was falsely accused of something that I did not do.”

Wood declined to say what firm the team used for the background check other than to say “they are a well-regarded, national professional background screening company.” He also said he was unaware of APG Security, the firm the Detroit News reported this week had requested the indictment and dismissal forms from the Cameron County prosecutor’s office in January. Wood said the Lions had not employed that firm for their background check.

Wood knows there are other ways for information like this to be found — it is publicly available in Nexis searches and on the Cameron County open records website — but for employment purposes, it could not be considered anyway. And Wood said his franchise wanted to follow the law.

“There might be ways for companies, teams in our case, to find information out about a prospective employee through other means than the legal means,” Wood said. “I guess if others wanted to do that, that’s their prerogative. I’m only in charge of what the Lions do, and I want to do it the right way.”

Additionally, because the Lions were following both Massachusetts and Michigan law, they were not allowed to ask Patricia about any felony or misdemeanor arrests that didn’t lead to convictions. By Michigan law, they could have asked about felony arrests, although Ann Arbor, Michigan-based employment attorney Nicholas Roumel told ESPN he wouldn’t advise companies to ask about arrests that didn’t result in convictions.

Wood did not disclose what questions the franchise asked Patricia other than saying that the answers he gave to their questions were truthful. Wood declined to answer other questions about Patricia and the allegations on Saturday other than the background search and search process.

“There’s been a lot of criticism of people interviewing and questions that were asked that are inappropriate, at the combine and et cetera. And we’re not one of those teams that are going to do those kind of things, whether it’s a player, a coach or an employee,” Wood said. “We’re following the rules, and I’d rather follow the rules and maybe end up where I’m at, although we’re not happy to be dealing with this, there’s no doubt about that.

“But I’d rather be doing that than have broken the rules and had an issue that we were in an unlawful position by having some information. So there’s no doubt it’s a tough spot to be, but I’ll take the tough spot by following the rules versus not following the rules and being in an unlawful position.”

Wood said they did more than just a standard background check and interview in vetting Patricia. They spoke with coaches who had hired him and worked with and for him, along with players who have played for him. Everything, Wood said, came back positive within the reference checks the team sought.

When asked if he had any regrets with how he and the Lions went through the screening process, Wood said they are always looking at how to improve things.

“I would say I’m always trying to get better and the organization is always trying to get better,” Wood said. “But I’m not sure what specific changes, if any, we would make based on this. Always trying to improve every process.”

NFL

Chargers' Lynn finishes degree, to walk at UNLV

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn will finish something he started nearly three decades earlier — his college education.

Lynn finished just six hours short of achieving that goal at Texas Tech in 1992 as an exercise sports science major. On Saturday in Las Vegas, he will walk down the aisle to receive his bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies from UNLV.

In attendance to witness the event will be Lynn’s mother, Betty Jackson; his daughter, Danielle Lynn; Chargers chairman Dean Spanos; and Spanos’ wife, Susie. The Spanos family provided its private jet so Lynn could make the graduation ceremony this weekend.

Lynn will miss the final two days of rookie minicamp to attend.

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“I just wanted my papers,” Lynn said. “Mail me my damn diploma, I give it to my mom and I’m done.

“When I told my counselor, when I told her what my plans were, she’d just assumed that I was walking the whole time. I never assumed I was walking. The disappointment on her face when I told her I wasn’t coming, it was tough. I thought about it. She made me rethink it. I decided to walk, because if it could inspire one person, then it’s worth it.”

Lynn said the seed of his plan to finish school was planted in 2014 while he served as a running backs coach for the New York Jets. Good friend and Jets team chaplain Dave Szott told Lynn how he went back to earn his college degree 15 years after he had first attended college. He convinced Lynn to do the same.

Lynn said he did his research to find the right school and the right time, ultimately starting his coursework soon after the Chargers hired him as coach in January 2017. He completed his studies online a year later.

Now that he has completed his studies, Lynn said he won’t have to receive any more ribbing from his kids. Lynn’s daughter, Danielle, graduated from the University of Oklahoma and will receive her master’s in business administration from the University of North Texas next week.

Lynn’s son, D’Anton, an assistant defensive backs coach for the Houston Texans, graduated from Penn State.

Lynn earned a job out of college as an undrafted rookie. He spent six seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers, winning back-to-back Super Bowls with the Broncos.

After his playing career was over in 1999, Lynn immediately went into coaching and has been working in some capacity as a coach in the NFL ever since.

“Football has always been my No. 1 priority,” Lynn said. “Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad. But I chose football over education, and I kind of did that a few years later when I had a chance to go back; I chose football again over education.

“And so at this time, I thought at some point, no more excuses — just go back and get it done.”

NFL

Fantasy Football Summit PPR rankings for 2018

Each year after the NFL draft is complete, more than 20 men and women, including fantasy writers and editors, NFL writers, researchers and other members of the football operation here at ESPN, spend two full days talking about the game and what to expect in the season ahead. Many topics are discussed from various angles, including the utilization of metrics, film study, fantasy strategy, intel gathered from team sources and much more.

When all is said and done, we emerge with a set of rankings from the group in the room. These are those rankings, and they are for PPR (point-per-reception) scoring formats.

To be clear, they are not to be confused with our ESPN Fantasy staff rankings — a composite of our five season-long PPR analysts, Matthew Berry, Mike Clay, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Eric Karabell and Field Yates — which are also available on ESPN.com and updated all the way up to kickoff of the opener in September.

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