Kirby Jackson

I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying that her 5 years of learning on the job don’t compare to Dave Wheat’s decade and a half as a C-level executive in sports. There are others that have even more experience than he does.

Ha ha, I already said I wasn’t trying to be a downer. I’m just telling it like I see it. If she operates as a figurehead it will be okay. If she tries to actually do what the job entails it will not be good. I’ll use a basketball analogy. It would be like having an all-star on your bench while you are starting Melo because he makes $28M a year. You will still play the all-star some but you aren’t maximizing your potential because the person in front of him has a certain “entitlement.”

We aren’t saying the same thing then I guess. There is NOTHING in terms of running the business side of a sports team that she can do that Dave Wheat cannot. There are hundreds and likely thousands of things that he knows about the job that she doesn’t. That’s not hyperbole either. Again, we may never notice but I promise you there are many, many people that they employ that know the business better. When she goes and sits in the senior staff meeting what is she going to do besides for listen? She cannot drive these plans because the people under her are miles ahead. She can’t talk to pricing strategy, corporate assets, community initiatives, stadium operations, game operations, etc... The president sits over all of those departments. A good president is as strong in all of those areas as the people under him/her. They let the people work but provide valuable insight and strategy. She isn’t capable of doing that. I know that for a fact. Again, I expected her to be in this role and don’t think that it is weird. My whole point is that it isn’t what is best for the Bills. The best case scenario is to have your strongest people with the most responsibility. The Pegula’s felt burned by Russ so they pulled in the reigns and are doing it themselves. I get it. It just isn’t for the best.

I’m not trying to be a downer, just trying to add perspective. I understand, very well, what that job entails. If she delegates and stays out of the way things will be okay. The more involved she tries to be the worse off things will be. She will be holding back more talented and experienced people.

I worked directly with the owner and senior staff. I directly managed $64M a year on my team. I’m not trying to downplay anything but the point is she hasn’t had to make those decisions. She hasn’t been exposed to that. She is insulated from all of that (as is Terry). You run the answers by them to get approval but they are not a part of developing or managing the plan. I worked under 4 different “owners” and every one had that approach. This team is in no way better off with Kim P and she needs to rely on the strong executives in that building.

Ha ha, see my Boeing comment above because that is more along those lines. If you gave Kim and I a test on revenue streams, what to do in different situations etc, I am extremely confident that I would do better. That’s my point. There are another 25 or so people (at least) that would do better than I would. She wouldn’t score near the top of the class. She is the president because she’s married to Terry Pegula not because she is the best sports executive in that building. She isn’t anywhere close to that.

Sorry for the confusion and good post

That’s the point I am kind of making though. If a team was hiring for a chief revenue officer of a team, I believe that I would be more qualified. I’ve actually been in the weeds and done what needs to be done. The owners of teams have long, since delegated that work to me. Maybe a better way of putting it is the CEO of Boeing probably can’t fly a plane. So while CEO is more impressive than pilot, if you are interviewing someone to fly it, I’m hiring the pilot.

That I didn’t but I have a master’s degree and 8 seasons in management in pro sports. I can actually do the job (and there are many people there way more talented than me). Also, Terry owned a bunch of land and there was oil. He didn’t invent the teleportation. I’m not trying to downplay it. I am just being real. She is ABSOLUTELY not the best person for that job even in that building. She may not be in the top 40 best candidates. Look, I get why she has the role but let’s not confuse that with qualifications.

Ha ha, when I was with the Hornets George Shinn always wanted his son Chad to be next in line. My boss was tasked with teaching him the business. It was beyond tragic. We’d sit in “high level business meetings” devising a strategy and he would sleep. One day, we thought it would be kind of funny to all quietly slip out of the office while he was napping. We went to lunch and came back an hour and a half later and he was still asleep in the chair in my bosses’ office!! He was a nice kid but failed out of a community college in Texas or something like that. He wasn’t equipped to run an NBA team!! He wasn’t equipped to be an assistant manager at Arby’s. He’s a nice guy but not too bright.

You don’t believe that she is the best person for the job do you? There are 40 people in those organizations more qualified than her. FWIW, I legitimately may be more qualified than her. If you sent our resumes and interviewed us both I may be the more impressive (and less attractive) candidate.

Ha ha, it sounds like someone just told Shady what happened

I’ll book that bet for you...

Probably but I think that the point was no one would have questioned the LB at 7. No one would have questioned giving up 2 2nds to go from 12 to 7 for a QB. I think that the OPs point is that the Bills got strong value for those two spots. If you take the Bills first 3 rounds and the Jets first 3 rounds and put them side-by-side the Bills killed it comparatively.

This decision isn’t going to be popular inside that building. It was necessary though.

Dave Wheat would be a nice change of pace. He will be a much more behind the scenes guy but is pretty strong IMO. He’s young too. He’s probably in his mid-40’s but has been a senior level executive there for a decade and a half. He was fast tracked because he’s sharp.

Interesting perspective and pretty accurate. No one would have blinked on Edmunds at 7 and Allen would have been considered a steal at 16. Good post

It’s not that

One last thing to add if people think that the Bills business operations are in a better place now, they aren’t. Russ Brandon is a very well-respected president (for the work that he does not his extra curriculars). This isn’t a celebration. What PSE should do IMO is forget Kim learning on the job. She isn’t qualified to do it. They should plug Dave Wheat into that role and things will flow smoothly. He’s not nearly as charismatic or politically connected as Russ but he’s bright and creative. He doesn’t need to be the face. He needs to be the guy behind the scenes making crucial decisions. He is an execution guy. That would be what I would do.

You can expect a lawsuit (don’t think from him). The irony is his brother is the Bills counsel (or at least was). He will probably have to recuse himself if he is still there.

I’m not going to comment too much on the subject but figured I’d say my piece. I like Russ. I’ve always liked Russ. He gave his heart and soul to that organization and OFTEN took misguided bullets without complaint. He didn’t mind being the fall guy as long as the franchise was in a good place. He was a good and loyal solider that was incredibly gifted as a sports executive. His reputation around sports is strong. On a personal level, I like Russ. He was always good to me. He could chop it up with Fortune 500 CEO’s as well as the janitorial staff. Everyone liked Russ and he was a great leader. With that being said this was always going to be his eventual downfall. There are many a story that I’m not going to disclose that were pretty serious. This isn’t the first time that he came under fire for something like this. I actually think that the first time was much worse. In this climate though you just can’t be doing that. This will likely get uglier before it gets prettier. I’d expect the Stormy Daniels approach to roll through at some point. Hopefully for everyone though they move on and nobody is hurt further. -KJ

Yes

I plead the 5th

I have them at 8-8 in my head. I think 6 is their floor.

Prophetic....