BillsFan4

Dean Lombardi and Darryl Sutter both fired by the LA Kings. Rob Blake named GM and Luke Robitaille named President. Interesting...

I was referring to you seeming to think its impossible that this team improves, not my point of view on the team or the standard I am holding Tim Murray to. Like I told you earlier in this thread, while not totally sold on him, I don't think Murray is nearly as bad as you make him out to be. rebuilds take time. I think there is a lot of young talent on this team that will continue to grow and improve. I think we have a good core of players, and we will add another this draft. I think the future looks bright for the Sabres, whether Murray is the GM or not. As far as Eichel, I think he was pissed off that the season ended and the Sabres didn't make the playoffs, and he also just found out he missed out on a $2 million bonus by .01 points (for being in the top 10 in PPG) hours before that interview, so I am sure that was a factor in it (did you notice how he answers that "you were almost a point per game player" question? and how he said he wished he had his last 6 games back (where he only scored 2 points total)). He also sounded like he was possibly upset with some of his teammates, by the "you can't just be happy to be in the NHL" and "have to hate losing more" and "culture change" comments (among other comments). I am not at all taking it as his future with the Sabres is doomed, or that he has no confidence in Tim Murray. I have in fact heard a number of Sabres players, including Eichel, say some very good things about Tim Murray and the confidence they have in him. Bylsma is a different story. Multiple different sources have said (for over a year now) how much Eichel hates playing for Bylsma and hates his system. If you want to read into anything, read into how he answered the questions about playing in Bylsma's system...

The 2nd round pick Cleveland got was the main factor in that whole deal. They basically bought a draft pick with their extra cap space.

I agree with much of what you said, but, unless I am overlooking something, he did take a pay cut. Tyrod was guaranteed (and due to make) $27.5M in 2017, if the Bills picked the option on his old deal. And now he is only guaranteed $15.5M. Also, Tyrod scheduled to make must over $40M total by 2018 on his old deal, and now will make $30M if he is here for both years of his contract the way it is currently written. http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2016/8/16/12505676/full-tyrod-taylor-annual-contract-breakdowns http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/tyrod-taylor-7899/

I totally agree. I think it's the QB position in general. I think Pegula knows how important the Qb position is, and I really like that the Bills seem to really be doing their due diligence on the QB draft class the last couple of years. It seems like they have heavily scouted and vetted quite a few college QBs these past couple off seasons. I don't think Pegula visiting him gives us any real indication of what round they would be willing to take him in. I just think it shows that they are doing their homework on the QB draft class, which is great IMO.

Funny that all the AFC East teams visited with him, and only the AFC East teams. I guess they all remember the Jim Kelly days well...

I didn't really mean to imply that the Bills would have cut Tyrod. I have no idea if they would have or not. It seems kind of crazy to me that they would have cut him, especially since they had nobody even remotely close to better to replace him with. But then again, who knows with the Bills... The restructure could have all just been a game of chicken to see who blinks first, or they could have been serious about moving on from TT and signing Hoyer (like the rumors said) if he wasn't willing to take the pay cut. We will probably never know for sure, but I am glad that they kept TT. I do think that Tyrod is betting on himself with this contract though like you said, and I kind of think that Whaley is banking/betting on Tyrod staying the same or failing, because if he does improve, like you said he will most likely make more than what the Bills originally had him locked up at and Whaley will look kind of foolish. At the very least, Whaley hedged his bet.

The owner met with Bryce Petty a couple years ago, and took him out to dinner (in Texas I believe). Unless you think they thought Petty was a 1st round caliber player...

I didn't take him sitting in his equipment anything like that. I took it as him being ultra competitive. I don't at all think the whole thing is screwed up. I think you are expecting way too much, too fast. Most rebuilds seem to take an average of 5 years before they start seeing results. Some even longer. Buffalo is one of the youngest teams in the NHL. There's a long ways to get yet... This season was absolutely a disappointment. But I don't think it's impossible for things to improve next season. The Sabres were near the top of the NHL in man games lost to injury. Thats a lot for a young team to overcome. As far as Eichel being unhappy with losing - GOOD! I want him to hate losing. A lot can change in the time we still have him under team control though. If we start winning he won't care about losing in his first couple/few years in the league. It's WAY too early to start worrying about losing Eichel yet. Nolan Patrick Personally, I loved the way he announced the selection. I hate all the drama building BS that some GMs do... That's much more annoying to me than the way Murray announced his pick.

I do. This is not the first time we've seen the Bills show heavy interest in the QB class and not take a QB high. We may or may not, but there was a whole lot of smoke last year about drafting a QB in the 1st, and even trading up with the a Browns to #2, and we waited till the 4th. I think it's 50/50 that we take a QB in the 1st this year. If they feel like there's a franchise QB to be had, and he's available at #10, I think they draft him. If not, they won't draft a QB until later. I am very happy to see them doing their due diligence though.

And Bryce Petty IIRC

I believe the most Tyrod's agent could do was kind of subtly gauge the interest level other teams had in Tyrod, without getting into any type of specifics like contract details/numbers etc. So I would imagine that they didn't feel Tyrod would get much more than what the Bills offered him in the renegotiated deal. I believe Whaley made a comment along these lines when talking about the renegotiated Tyrod contract. And I also feel that Tyrod likely felt this was the best place for his chances to be successful, compared to the Jets & Browns and whatever other mediocre team might have been interested. Knowing most of his teammates, being a leader in the locker room and not wanting to start over probably factored into it too. He probably could have gotten the same amount of money (that the Bills ended up paying on the restructure) elsewhere, but felt better about his chances of long term success here.

Hey, Shaw! Good to see you here. I always enjoyed your posts. I hope you stick around. This place has been pretty good so far. I've even seen guys like John Wawrow posting in some threads and providing info/answering questions etc. (which is pretty cool IMO). This particular thread is not a good representation of what this message board is like as a whole.

I fhought that was only for players who are about to be free agents?

Remember him from Hard Knocks. He had potential, was just raw. Hopefully he's progressed some... IIRC, Mike Waufle and some other Rams coaches were pretty bummed they had to cut him. Loved his work ethic, motor and personality.

I was just messing with you man.

I have honestly never seen you contribute to any other topic besides trashing Tyrod. I once looked at your post history on BBMB. It showed your last 500 posts and every single one was on Tyrod Taylor.

Mike Harrington‏ @ByMHarrington Eichel sat in full uniform in room as many of #Sabres had already left. Lehner came over, tapped him on the leg, shook his hand. #Sabres

Thanks. I knew it was something like that. Do you know the record with Lesean McCoy out of the lineup off hand? Was 3-2 right? Or did I guess wrong again? lol

Eh. Time will tell. I have already told you how I feel about Murray, so I won't repeat it. But I don't think Murray will get more than another season or two if things continue to go this bad. I heard a rumor that his leash is getting shorter already. Whether it's actually true or not, I do not know. Same with Bylsma. I heard rumors that it's 50/50 he even survives this season. And we had the 5th worst record. But all that separates 5th and 9th worst is like 1 point. All those teams in the 5-12 area all finished pretty close to one another. Then the 4 teams below us finished 8+ points behind Buffalo. So there are different tiers of bad... lol. Hey, at least we are not Colorado! They finished with 48 points (we had 78). For reference, Buffalo finished with 52 & 54 points in their tank years, and that 52 point team was the worst the NHL had seen in a very long time. I believe they even set a record. So Colorado just set a new record for terrible... (and they have 10x the talent that the Buffalo tank teams had). Crazy stuff. I have no clue what happened with them this year.

Buffalo loses and Detroit wins. Perfect for our draft position. We should be picking 5th I believe, before the draft lottery that is. Maybe this will be the year we finally have some draft lottery luck... Knowing our luck, and the NHL, we will probably get pushed down the full 3 spots we can fall...lol.

That's not at all what I said...

For some reason I thought there was no dead cap hit if Tyrod was released after this season. But you are right, there is. Its a $8.6M dead cap hit (or less spread out longer if designated post June 1st). So it does seem more likely Tyrod is back next year, then. I still feel they will most likely draft a QB this year or next though. Even if we don't draft one until next year, that gives them a full season to begin developing that QB (or 2 season if they draft 1 this year, or put that effort into developing Cardale). As for McDermott, he has had a top 10 defense 4 of the past 5 years. I don't think it was as bland as you, but if bland gets the Bills a top 10 defense most seasons, I will take it. I also believe he has a lot of the traits you look for in successful head coaches. He's also a Jim Johnson disciple, and says himself that he is aggressive, so I don't see where he will be too conservative. If you're referring to Leslie Frazier, I understand the concern with him. But he will be running McDermott's d scheme, not his own. But we will see I guess... He's a first time HC though, so none of us know if he will work out or not. But I love (most of) the staff he has put together, and I have much higher hopes for him than I have for Rex or Marrone or Gailey or Jauron (etc). I don't get why the Tyrod signing screams he's not comfortable in his role? Tyrod gives the Bills the best chance at winning next season out of all the options available (like him or not, he has had a top 12 scoring offense in both of his seasons as starting QB). Winning is how head coaches keep their job. It also seems to me that many head coaches have little interest in banking their entire career's on unproven rookie QBs (and that rookie hasn't even been drafted yet, unless you think he should have put his money on Cardale) except if that QB is more of a sure thing, top 3 pick type rookie QB. He is a first time HC. He doesn't have a winning track record and good will built up with the fans. The best way to ensure his job security is to win as many games as possible this season. Tyrod gives us a better chance at that than a raw, rookie project QB from this year's draft. I'd rather keep Tyrod and make a drafted QB legitimately earn the starting job.

Alao - the Bills are something like 0-5 (or 1-5) with Tyrod out of the lineup, and something like 3-2 with McCoy out of the lineup (I can't remember the exact record, if someone cares to look it up). Plus McCoy only had less than 900 yards and 3 total touchdowns in 2015, and the offense was still top 12 in points. Obviously McCoy was a huge part of the offense, especially in 2016, but I still think Tyrod played a bigger part than some give him credit for. The offense definitely did not look as good when Tyrod wasn't playing (in both 2015 and 2016). Maybe some other QB besides EJ/Cardale could step in and run the offense as efficiently as Tyrod, but I have my doubts since the Bills have had many random QBs under center since Jim Kelly retired and none have had the offense scoring as efficiently as Tyrod has. This is the best offense the Bills have had in decades, and I have to give Tyrod some credit for that. And I don't buy that it's solely just the rushing attack, because EJ had the #2 rushing offense in the NFL in 2013, yet they were like 25th in points.

Very true. Sabres could potentially fall a few spots if 3 teams picking after us won the draft lottery, although the odds of that happening are very small. But I'd still much rather see them lose tonight and have the better odds at a higher draft pick. Winning tonight puts us picking at 9th overall (and 9th best odds), losing puts us at 5th or 6th. That's a big difference IMO. You're welcome!