mjt328

Many of us have been pointing this out for the last 2-3 years. While Doug Whaley was certainly good at picking up veteran talent, his drafts were just not good enough. I do believe that some of this can be attributed to coaching turnover. But not all of it. At some point, a GM must be able to just find good players that can fit any scheme. Hopefully this changes with the new regime.

We shall see. The most successful franchises in the NFL are often the ones who are innovative and go against the grain. Not the copycats who are always 1-2 years behind. So it's interesting to see the league's longest suffering teams trying a completely different approach than the rest of the NFL. - The Cleveland Browns are using the "moneyball" approach to drafting, and loading up on high round picks. - The Buffalo Bills flipped the hiring schedule backwards, allowing themselves to remake their front office without being blocked by current employers.

It's not about young or old. It's not about humble or egotistic. It's not about whether a coach is brand-new or recycled. You will see versions of all different approaches successful throughout the NFL. If the Bills are going to be successful, then the Sean McDermott/Brandon Beane collaboration will simply need to be smarter and better than the other NFL front offices. They will have to make brilliant decisions about roster building, drafting, extending contracts, etc. The talent will need to be properly used on the field, in ways that we can win the vast majority of our games. It sounds like common sense, but I think fans get too caught up in style instead of substance.

Even if McDermott/Beane are the perfect pairing, there may be some growing pains early. It's very rare that a team overhauls its coaching staff and front office, then takes a big step forward the next season. It usually takes the players time to adapt on the field to the coaching changes, and it takes some time for the GM's work to filter down through the roster. There are some reasons to be optimistic, and hope we are the exception to the rule however: 1. Rick Dennison was Tyrod Taylor's QB coach for a year, and allegedly tried to recruit him to the Broncos. He should be very familiar with what Taylor does well and what he struggles with, so hopefully that means a step forward instead of a step backwards. 2. The offensive line is experience with zone blocking concepts, so hopefully the change up front won't be a problem for the run game. LeSean McCoy seems to excel in any scheme anyway. 3. Our defense never really fit Rex Ryan's 3-4 scheme, and most of our players are very familiar with the 4-3 system. This could be more of a return to what we do best, instead of just another scheme overhaul. 4. Even if we struggle badly and lose a lot of games, that could put us in a better position for one of next year's top QBs.

I think the bigger factor is his health. Even more than his actual stats/production. Sammy's foot has progressively gotten worse over the last 2 seasons, and nobody knows for sure how it will respond going forward. Remember, he first had surgery after the 2015 season and missed all of OTAs last year. Everyone believed he was 100% and good to go Week 1. But then he re-aggravated the injury, played hurt for awhile and then missed half the season in Injured Reserve. Maybe another surgery fixes the problem for good. Maybe it doesn't. If Sammy plays 16 games without a setback, then I think we can be confident the foot injury is finally behind him. But if he ends up re-aggravating it again, we may have to consider that Sammy will never be the same guy again and the foot will be a problem the rest of his career.

Under the Pegulas, the Bills do not have a "cheap" mentality. I can guarantee you they are pulling for Sammy Watkins to come back 100% healthy and to become a Pro-Bowl receiver going forward. Just like I can guarantee you they are pulling for Tyrod Taylor to take a big step in his development, and become a hands-down franchise quarterback. They are not hoping for these guys to fail, just so they can get away without giving them a big $$$ extension. The Bills front office is just being cautious, and playing it safe before locking themselves into big/long-term contracts. Personally, I think it's a smart avenue to take.

Even if the draft board wasn't "set" back in January, I'm sure the Carolina coaching staff knew what players/positions the team happened to be interested in. That is one of the main reasons (if not the primary reason) that Doug Whaley wasn't fired until after the draft. Even back in early January, Whaley had tons of information that could have assisted other teams in knowing the Bills strategy. Sean McDermott didn't need a mole inside the Panthers' draft room. If he was truly in control of this year's draft, then I would imagine a good chunk of his intel on prospects came from his time with the Panthers, and not just the last 4 months on the Buffalo staff. That should just be common sense. Not a conspiracy theory. Not to mention, this GM search was never a slam-dunk for anyone. The Pegulas are making the hire and not McDermott. It was only 4 months ago that Anthony Lynn was pretty much guaranteed the coaching job, and the whole interview process was being called a show for the public. Well, we all know how that went. Maybe the Pegulas go with Brandon Beane, because he is a legitimate GM candidate with strong ties to our head coach. Maybe they go in a completely different direction. It would be foolish for Beane to help out another NFL team, without 100% knowing he was going to get the job.

Not sure how Carucci has come to this conclusion. There are way too many unknowns for him to be making assumptions like this. First of all, the Bills haven't even hired a General Manager yet. So one of the main people making roster decisions is not even in the building. So how can Carruci know what that guy thinks about Sammy Watkins? The only person Carucci could possibly try and get a "read on" is Sean McDermott. And from McDermott's statement this week, it's pretty clear this decision was based completely on Watkins health and injury concerns. If Watkins comes out in 2017 and stays 100% healthy, while playing like one of the best WRs in the league, I have a hard time believing the Bills wouldn't even consider bringing him back.

I think the Bills have legitimate concern that Sammy Watkins' foot will never fully recover. If the Bills were to pickup his 5th Year Option, that would fully guarantee him $13 million in 2018. Imagine if Watkins foot gives out again this year. Maybe it requires another surgery, or severely hampers his ability to perform on the field (just like it did last season). That option would be giving Watkins Top 5-10 Wide Receiver money for a guy that misses half the season and is hurting every time he's actually suited up. We aren't talking about a cheap rookie contract. The 5th Year Option is cheaper than Unrestricted Free Agency, but it's not cheap. By declining the 5th Year Option, the Bills would STILL have the ability to franchise Watkins for around $16 million (for up to two years, keeping him in Buffalo for 2018-2019). They don't need to let him walk next year. Their decision in no way stops them from retaining Watkins rights for at least the next 3 seasons, if they truly believe he is worth the money. And nothing is stopping them from working out a long-term deal at any point along the way. It's basically a $13 million risk versus a $3 million risk. If Watkins proves his foot can withstand 16 games, I believe the Bills will make every effort to give him a long-term extension. But if he has another setback with that foot, it's time to start considering him damaged goods. A Wide Receiver with foot problems is never going to reach his potential, and things will only get worse as he gets older.

No serious character concerns? I loved Reuben Foster as a prospect, and thought he was an excellent fit in our defense. But the guy was a walking red flag. The pre-draft process is a football player's equivalent of a job interview. Foster was not only kicked out of the combine for an "altercation" with a hospital employee, but he also failed a drug test. Even if his "drank too much water" excuse is legit, it still shows ridiculously poor judgement with millions of dollars on the line.

The Patriots are an average drafting team, and have been for a very long time. Their success is built mostly on Tom Brady at QB, and Bill Belichick's unbelievable ability to get production from decent "role players." Once Brady/Belichick are gone, that team is going to fall hard. If you don't have a Hall of Fame QB or Head Coach, your standards for drafting must be higher. Especially when your team is constantly picking Top 10-15. Doug Whaley hasn't been a complete train wreck in the draft. He usually lands 1-2 solid players each year. Which is enough to keep us floating around .500, but not enough to push us over the top. To stay a contender, I believe a GM needs to land a franchise QB and consistently get (at least) 3 solid starters per draft.

It's hard to be optimistic after the last 15+ years of watching this pathetic organization. Firing coaches, scouts and front office personnel is only a small part of the equation. We've done it dozens of times before, only to circle back to the same place of losing and mediocrity. The only way the Buffalo Bills will ever get better is by hiring brilliant football people to run the place from the top down. I'm not upset about Doug Whaley getting fired. The guy was a mixed bag - with some really good moves in free agency and making trades, but also a very average record with drafting and constant rumblings about him clashing with coaches. An argument can be made that he deserved another year. But he also made plenty of mistakes worthy of termination. Whaley certainly wasn't dreadful as GM. But in the 3-4 years he's been running the team, it's hard to see any real progress. Kicking him and the scouting staff out the door gives us a clean slate. Now it all depends on who we bring as replacements at One Bills Drive. Unfortunately, watching Terry Pegula stumble over himself at the press conference yesterday gives me very little confidence he can find the right General Manager to take Whaley's place. I truly believe the man wants to win for the Buffalo community, and is willing to shell out the money to do so. But I truly question his ability to bring in the right people. The front office organization comes across as a complete mess, with no leadership, no direction, no accountability and no clear indication of who will be running the show. Sean McDermott seems like a nice guy, and he's had some success as a Defensive Coordinator in this league. People like him because he's disciplined and organized, and is well respected around the league. (Basically the opposite of Rex Ryan). But at the end of the day, it all comes down to winning. Not personality. By late September, the honeymoon will be over and fans will demand results.

The Bills started with 6 picks. 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6 As of right now, the Bills have 6 picks 1, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6 And they added another 1st Rounder for next year. I think the trading around worked.

You are getting way too hung up on the position we drafted and not the player. Every single team goes through the cycle of drafting players, then watching those players walk out the door as Free Agents. It's not a Buffalo Bills phenomenon. Because of the salary cap, it's impossible to re-sign everybody. The key to getting ahead of the game is: 1) Keep the pipeline full by hitting on enough of your draft picks 2) Make smart decisions about which players to extend, and which players to let go 3) Try to find the bargains in free agency 4) If you do hand out a big free agent contract, that player better make a huge impact In my opinion, letting Stephon Gilmore leave was a smart decision. Yes, it created a hole. But his overpriced salary would have eventually (if not this year, then 1-2 years down the road) created a burden on the salary cap, that wasn't worth it for his impact on the field. Now if he was Darrelle Revis in his prime, or Richard Sherman, or Patrick Peterson, then his impact may have been worth that salary. But I just saw too much inconsistent play out of the guy. In my opinion, drafting Tre'Davious White was also a smart decision. Many of the top analysts and draft sites had White ranked as the #2 CB in one of the deepest secondary drafts in decades. We got him at #27, after adding a 1st Rounder next year and a 3rd Rounder this year. The fact that Gilmore and White play the same position means absolutely nothing. The Bills also paid Terrence McGee. Out of all the guys you mentioned not being re-signed, how many were actually mistakes? Marshawn Lynch (who was traded because of off-field problems) Jason Peters (who you didn't mention, but definitely should be on the list) All of the other guys completely busted as Free Agent signings, or were nothing more than solid/decent.

This is a very superficial way to look at the NFL draft. Fans need to get over rooting for us to draft "a position" and simply root for our front office to make smart decisions. I've been following these boards long enough to remember the OUTRAGE when the Bills passed on guys like Jimmy Clausen, Ryan Mallet, Johnny Manziel and Bryce Petty. People complained about us taking other positions instead of QB. But if we would have drafted any of those guys, our team would be infinitely worse than today. It's possible that passing on Mahomes/Watson will come back to haunt us. But it's also possible we dodged a bullet. Right now, it's impossible to know.

1. Some people had their heart set on a certain player, such as OJ Howard, Malik Hooker or Reuben Foster. So they are mad we passed on a guy they liked. 2. Some people were going to be upset unless we drafted a Quarterback. Period. 3. Some people think that because we let a starting Cornerback leave in free agency, it is stupid to draft his replacement in the First Round. 4. Some people are going to complain no matter what we do.

I think it was a good trade for both teams. Kansas City has been a consistent playoff team, but stuck in neutral because they have reached their ceiling with current QB Alex Smith. They really liked Pat Mahomes and believe Andy Reid can develop him into a franchise quarterback within the next 1-2 years. Buffalo believes they can compete for a Wild Card spot this season, but know they are 2-3 years (at bare minimum) from being a legitimate contender. Thanks to a new coaching system and free agent losses, they have a lot of holes to fill. Getting an extra pick this year helps. Getting an extra pick next year may help even more. Either way, it will take a few years to know for sure who made out in the deal. Most of that will depend on how good Mahomes ends up, and how the Bills use the Chiefs 1st Rounder next year.

We'll see if this was the smart move soon. How good is the player we draft with the Pats 5th Round Pick? What kind of production will we get out of our backup RBs? What happens if McCoy goes down with an injury?

I've kicked around conspiracy theories like this in the past. It just doesn't hold water. If the NFL was all about "market size" and favoring teams with larger fan bases, then why are the Jets always a laughing stock? Why do the Bears have one Super Bowl win and virtually no sustained success in its entire history? Why are the Steelers and Packers two of the most consistently successful franchises in the league? Why did the NFL ignore the large Patriots market until the turn of the century? What happened to the Cowboys after their dynasty players retired in the late 90s? The small market excuse is bull. It always has been. The Bills are on the same playing field as everyone else. They just have a history of hiring the wrong people to run the organization. This trickles down to bad GMs, bad coaches and bad players. This equals losing. The ONE TIME in 50+ years this team actually hired a brilliant guy to head everything up (Bill Polian), he ended up bringing in a Hall of Fame coach (Marv Levy) and building one of the best football teams ever to step on an NFL field. We won consistently and went to 4 Super Bowls. Nothing any of the "big markets" could do to stop us. And of course we eventually ended up firing Polian, which should tell you something about the decision-making coming from above him.

You can't re-sign everybody. Every team loses Free Agents. Every. Single. Team. The Bills have actually managed to retain the majority of their top free agent talent over the last few years. Jerry Hughes, Marcel Dareus, Cordy Glenn and Ritchie Incognito were all brought back. The only major free agent the Bills let walk since Doug Whaley took over was Jairus Byrd. Fans whined and complained about that. But it was clearly the right decision (even though nobody wants to give this front office credit for being smart). Byrd was ridiculously overpaid and hasn't done squat since leaving Buffalo. The Patriots always let young guys walk, and are notorious for hard-balling anybody that wants a decent contract. The latest example being Malcolm Butler. In many cases they will actually trade a guy before he hits free agency, just because they don't want to pay him. See Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins. Teams like Pittsburgh and Green Bay are also stingy with re-signing players and are rarely active in free agency. I know the drill. Bills fans are tired of losing. So they criticize every move this front office makes. But the truth is, the Bills have done a very good job in free agency since Whaley took over. They have re-signed the right players. They have known when to let players walk. They have found bargains that have made a strong impact. The biggest problem with this franchise (when it comes to player acquisition) continues to be sub-par drafting. The good teams can afford to let free agents walk, because they have strong replacements groomed and waiting in the wings to step up. The Bills continue to spin their wheels because every free agent they don't re-sign creates another hole. On average, Whaley's drafts are yielding about 2 solid starting players per year - with virtually all of his success coming in the first 3 rounds. His Day 3 picks and undrafted free agents aren't even contributing as decent depth. Now, that number may be an improvement over the disastrous Marv Levy/Dick Jauron years. But that still just isn't good enough to keep the pipeline full.

I'm not a big supporter of Doug Whaley, but what is your reasoning for this comment? Since he took over as GM, I can't think of too many players that were considered "reaches" where they were drafted. Certainly not at the top of our draft classes. Most actually considered Shaq Lawson and Reggie Ragland huge bargains last year. And how do you know what Whaley's reasoning is behind draft picks? As fans, let's judge Whaley by his results and not speculation.

I think most of the criticism is how the Bills handled the situation to begin with. They could have made him untouchable for a higher tender, which only amounted to about $900,000 more in salary. Now they will need to pay him an additional $2.2 million to match the offer sheet, or let him walk to our biggest division rival. It's really a lose-lose situation now. Letting Gillislee walk for only a 5th Round Pick makes us look dumb, because it leaves us with no RB depth on the "run-heaviest" team in the NFL. Matching the offer makes us look dumb, because it costs us an extra $1.5 million in cap space just because our front office gave him a lower tender. The only way the Bills walk out of this situation looking smart, is if they replace Gillislee's production with a cheaper RB or if they draft a stud with the 5th Rounder they get from New England.

Interesting observation. I haven't looked at everyone's schedules, but our NFC games are all early and our biggest AFC East games are in the last month. It makes sense from the NFL's standpoint. By doing that, it would keep most division/playoff races alive later in the season and make it harder for teams to clinch early.

It's always hard to judge a schedule before the season even starts, because so many things can change. But based on what these teams looked like last year, this schedule looks pretty tough. - There are only 5 games against teams with worse records than us last year (Jets twice, Panthers, Bengals, Chargers) and 1 game against a team with the same record (Saints). - There are 7 games against teams with double-digit wins last year (Falcons, Raiders, Chiefs, Dolphins twice, Patriots twice) - There are only 3 games against teams with unresolved QB situations (Jets twice, Broncos)

Tom Brady has already defied the odds by playing at a high level this long. He wants to continue going like this for 6-7 more years, but the chances of that actually happening are very small. Regardless of his training/diet, there will be a point that Brady drops off. And I think the Patriots know this. All of their moves this off-season have been VERY unlike typical Patriot behavior. This is a team that historically has shunned big-name free agents, traded away big players before their contracts expire, and stockpiled draft picks. But this year, the Patriots have: 1. Been reluctant to trade Jimmy Garoppolo, despite the fact he is a free agent next season 2. Traded a 1st Rounder for Brandin Cooks. Next year, his 5th year option will jump his salary to over $8 million. Then he is also a free agent. 3. Signed one of the most overpriced free agents on the market in Stephon Gilmore. The Patriots are obviously mortgaging their future for another Super Bowl run.