QCity

He just said "puck possession," I'm sold.

He got more carries and more work because he was a better running back. You don't get playing time if you fumble.

Not necessarily, a team could potentially lose a high round pick. You have to understand that these picks don't transfer directly. For example, if Denver signed him, they would lose a 3rd and the Patriots would likely receive a 7th. No. The Pats already have comp picks coming (2 estimated) so they will guarantee themselves another pick if Blount signs elsewhere. The value of the contract only determines what round pick they will receive, which would probably be a 7th.

Yeah, "the transaction now counts toward the compensatory draft pick formula for 2018," so he's getting shafted here. That's cold-blooded, even by Pats standards. There's a good chance a team was waiting until today to sign him like the Vikings just did with Michael Floyd. Now they have to take a step back and discuss it. Yeah, but those teams (that know they aren't getting comp picks) would have already signed him weeks ago if they wanted him.

The clock stops and nothing happens. If he sits out until week 10 he becomes available. He has until July 22nd though, and he still could sign with another team. Edited: Apparently he can sit out until week 10 and sign with another team.

That's exactly what it does. They get a free draft pick out of this, or worst case scenario is they get a guy who ran 1,100 / 18TDs for $1.1M. They are elite with asset management, and have been for years. That's completely ridiculous.

Hah, great quote. McD: "You can put all the groceries you want in the cart Brandon, I'll still checkout with what I want though." I wouldn't worry too much about accountability or blame, these two are clearly joined at the hip. If they don't have success they'll both be fired at the exact same time in one press conference. There will be no Whaley-Rex-Marrone-Nix "who did what" controversy.

This could be the last year in a Bills uniform for Kyle Williams, Shady, Tyrod, and possibly Watkins. I'd say the 2018 season is when the rebuild truly begins.

Hard to tell if it's on like a mofo or not.

Not exactly shocking news.

The "positive" thread only lasts until October.

This is shaping up to be the most unsurprising and predictable GM hire in decades. I expect the Rooney Rule candidate to interview via Skype.

It feels like I've been saying this for the past 3 years. Now that he's gone and the rose-colored glasses are off, maybe fans will look at the GM role a little differently.

That's always been my line of thinking. You don't build a team to get to the playoffs. You build a team to win the whole thing, and the playoffs become just a necessary hurdle on the way. Unfortunately this involves that pesky QB issue. I can tell you one thing for certain, with two first round picks coming up, college football is going to be incredible to watch next year.

It's been a tough week for the front office apologists, let's let them have their thread.

These teams know the failure rate of picking a QB high. What fans (still) underestimate is the value of a QB. You aren't winning a Superbowl without one in this era. No stat better illustrates that than this one -- 13 of the last 14 QBs representing the AFC in the big game were named Manning, Brady, or Roethlisberger. Coaches and GM's know their jobs are on the line without one. Owners know that the $160M+ player payroll they are funding isn't ultimately going anywhere. Your ceiling becomes "playoff pretender," and you have to sell that to the fans every year. The "anything can happen in the playoffs" mantra is nothing more than "all you need is a dollar and a dream" nonsense, and I think most fans realize that. If there's a guy there in the top 10 that has a ~25% chance of becoming your guy under center for the next decade, you pull the trigger.

If another team like the Browns or Jets did this, we would all be here laughing at them too.

It really isn't TP's call, he's not going to jump in and start roster building. If you can read between the lines (he just fired almost everyone associated with that trade), I think you'll realize the decision was made a while ago. Bottom line is that Sammy has to stay on the field or it's Bye Felicia.

Kryk's articles are usually pretty good. He's on point and is typically able to criticize the front office without triggering the fans.

Russ Brandon could crash the team plane into the stadium and the Brandonites would still remark, "You know, he was really good at his job."

I think Florio is way off base here. The ideal scenario is to hire a GM and give him complete authority to hire his own coach (this is especially true for new owners as we're seeing first hand). What happened today was necessary, but still backwards.

If Carucci wrote it then you know for sure Whaley is safe and... OH WAIT

Should have been gone in December. /smh

What???