Kirby Jackson

That works for me. Stakes? I know that cash is frowned upon here but there always seems to be a bet or 2 involving the Bills draft hat (so the equivalent of $30-$40). We can do that or something else. Up to you. Just shoot me a PM and we will get it rolling. I guess I’ll be cheering for defense tomorrow night lol.

I have no hard feelings towards Harvin. I’m just having a hard time thinking that a guy, with migraine issues, that didn’t want to play before, now wants to play. My guess is he wants the check. I wouldn’t be surprised if he attempted this comeback. I’d be really surprised if he played a whole season.

I think Baun is well ahead of Bruschi in terms of athleticism. He came in to UW as a dual-threat QB and left as an All-American edge defender. He’s still learning but has a chance to be a star imo. As an OSU fan my perception of certain guys is formed based on how they perform against the Buckeyes. 99% of the time the talent on the Ohio State side is far superior to the team that they are lining up against. The only teams on par, top to bottom are Alabama, Clemson and LSU. There are times though that an opposing player jumps of the screen against them. Go watch the game that Khalil Mack played at the Shoe. He was unstoppable. Baun’s performances this year weren’t to that level but they were very, very good. He was one of the best couple of players on the field. As a guy that’s still ascending that’s says a lot to me.

Zack Baun is a guy that I think has a chance to be a star. He’s going late 1st to early 2nd so it’s tough to include him. Alex Highsmith is another one for me. He’s a rich man’s Julian Okwara imo. He has a lot of the similarities except he has elite production not just the same skill set. He’s a guy that could go in the fourth and duplicate Maxx Crosby’s rookie numbers.

I’m in. So you are saying at least 18-14 offense to defense?

FWIW I think 4 is an absolute lock for QBs. If you get a line at 3.5 or 4.5 fire away.

Herbert for me. He lacks that “it.”

The bolded isn’t right. Each team received $255M last year in national revenue from the league. The salary cap was $188.2M. That’s why I called the NFL “idiot-proof” earlier. The revenue from the league alone paid all of the players salaries with a surplus of $67M (assuming teams spent all the way to the cap which they didn’t).

This is where I’m at. The Bills needed a number 1 receiver, not another receiver. They realized that it was going to be expensive/impossible to get one of the top 3 guys. They pivoted and traded for a number 1 receiver. They paid a fair price but got EXACTLY what they wanted. If the Bills got Diggs with the 18th pick we’d be doing backflips. That’s what they did.

Well certainly there are differences but in this case there are a lot of similarities. The Sabres are way more popular in Buffalo than the Hornets were. The ratings alone speak for that. We are talking about the money that they are generating from the local market in my example. That’s primarily ticket sales and sponsorships. I certainly agree that the franchise values will never be comparable. With that being said, the expenses aren’t comparable either. Player salaries are a % of league revenues in every sport. So while the Sabres won’t generate the revenue of an NBA team they won’t have to pay the players like that either. When it comes to profitability you should be able to do it. To be fair, I didn’t read the article and if those losses are directly from the pandemic than I take back a large portion of my criticism.

He works for me too

Actually this is pretty easy. Best: Kyle Williams - He may have had the best Bills career of the last 20 years. Add to that him being a 5th round pick and it’s easy to crown him. Worst - Aaron Maybin - This one is equally as easy. The Bills used the 11th pick of the draft on a guy to sack the opposing QB. He sacked the opposing QB as many times as I did in a Bills uniform. There is not another answer even close. He was a TERRIBLE player at TERRIBLE value. If you drafted a DE in the 7th round to rush the QB and he had no sacks you’d say it was an awful pick. Imagine picking him 250 spots higher!!

Fantastic stuff as always @GunnerBill!! You and @Virgil really dominate this part of the calendar. We are all grateful to the contributions that you make. It really is amazing to have someone spend the time that you do on the prospects but through the lens of “Bills needs.” We can’t get that anywhere else so thank you!!

I think that’s fair and probably true. There will be some concessions with the current state of the economy.

Oh, McDermott and Beane have masked A LOT. We are very, very, very fortunate to have top end leadership on the football side. I hope that they recognize this and open up the checkbook for them. The bolded just isn’t true. If push comes to shove they will 100% be in. Public/private partnerships are the norm. The Pegula’s will put in their share and the state will too.

I think that’s fair but the NFL in general is pretty “idiot-proof.” They print cash. As crazy as it sounds, typically, NFL teams are the worst on the business side. It goes NBA (by a lot), MLB, NHL, and then NFL. The NBA has a lot of money and is very, very cutting edge. They do something and everyone follows. They have the $ to pay the top end people. Baseball is similar but with 81 home games the quality of life for baseball employees sucks. That’s why the top people migrate to the NBA. There are never 15 straight home games that require you to be away from your family. The NHL is closer to the NBA in terms of what they are trying to do but with a fraction of the revenue. It’s tough for the NHL to pay the salaries required because they don’t have the revenues. The NFL is in the enviable position of being able to react to everything. They don’t ever have to lead because they print cash. They let the other leagues “guinea pig” everything and if it works they adopt it. They react while the other leagues have to be more proactive. Hope that makes sense...

Even if they did though it would be a statement composed by that guy that’s the head of PR for the Bills. He’s REALLY good from my understanding. So, her “rebuttal” would basically be a well thought out response create by a seasoned PR person. It may or may not be what she actually thinks but it will be a dynamite response because the person doing it is very good at their job. Imagine if they had a whole bunch of people like that? They certainly wouldn’t be here...

Ha ha, I think I said something to the tune of “I’m more qualified than she was. I was half-joking but I did take some heat. FWIW, it was probably true but there were 30+ people in the building way more qualified than me. That was kind of the point. If you were to rank those 100+ employees in terms of “who is most qualified to lead this” she wouldn’t crack the top 50. Terry wouldn’t either. Now, that’s changed some because there are a bunch of years of experience there. There are still probably 10 or so people though, that they employ (or at least did) better suited to run the show. Those are the people that they should be embracing and looking towards instead of alienating.

That’s just the number that I’ve seen on social media. As I said, I haven’t read the article. The Bills and Sabres are totally different business models. You need to look at each team as 2 sides. There is a business operations side and a team operations side. There is little to no crossover. Beane and McDermott run the football operations side for the Bills. Botterill and Krueger run the hockey operations. The business operations staffs are probably about 100 deep. I think that’s about what we were as an NBA team. Typically NBA, MLB, and NHL are a little heavier staffed because there are elements of local broadcast that don’t exist in the NFL. There are also many more games so ticket sales are a bigger piece of the revenue pie. Kim runs the business side. She’s ultimately responsible for those 100+ employees and 10 or so different departments. That’s kind of how this thing got sideways. What background and qualifications did she have to oversee a $41M ticketing department? What about negotiating a new media deal? What is her background in selling advertising and sponsorship? You see where I’m going with this. There are a zillion, seasoned sports executives with the education and experience to take this on. She is not one of them. The Pegula’s have a right to put whomever they want in whatever role that they want but shouldn’t be surprised when it inevitably fails. It is not complicated to turn the ship around. The problem is that the captain of the ship needs to realize that it is better in someone else’s hands. That’s the tricky part. The best thing that Terry and Kim could do is to go find an elite executive, throw a bunch of money at them and give them full autonomy. I don’t think that’s likely to happen but that’s the answer.

The solution is to hire the right people, give them the resources and get out of the way. Also, I’m seeing that they are losing $40M-$50M on the Sabres? I haven’t read the article but if that’s true it’s a MASSIVE indictment on them. I worked for a team that finished with one of the worst records in the league, had just traded away the greatest player in franchise history and was owned by the NBA. We sold more new season tickets BEFORE the lottery was completed than any team in the league. It was about having a plan and executing it. Anyone that says, “winning is all that matters” has absolutely ZERO clue what it takes to be successful. You build elite staffs so that you are insulated as best as you can be from team performance. That’s what the Bills have done for 25+ years. That’s why Russ Brandon was good at his job. They were a successful operation regardless of the record. Of course it is easier in football but that’s why I used my own experience. It can be done but you need the right people steering the ship. Obviously Botterill is a nightmare but so is Kim. Go get a real GM to run hockey operations and go get a real president to sit over PSE and/or the Sabres. There are a zillion people more qualified to do the job. She had some of them there!! Dave Wheat should have been given total autonomy to run those operations after RB left. That would have been the best move. Empower the right people and get the hell out of the way!!

They hired McDermott and Beane and gave them power. They got it right after Marrone, Rex, Whaley, etc... The Bills are in fine shape now but they made multiple missteps to get there. If the right people are in charge things work fine. The less involved the Pegula’s are in the day-to-day the better. Hire the right people, give them the resources that they need and get out of the way.

I’m trying to stay out of the conversation because I haven’t read the article yet. With that being said, I’ve heard a lot of this sentiment prior to this meeting in January. We are all grateful that the Pegulas saved the teams and have invested in WNY. They also, aren’t good at running pro sports franchises. Both of those things are true.

Yes