yungmack

Well, then, thank God you weren't the GM.

Aren't you the gleeful little sputter nut today.

How about Grandma?

The Patsies could have signed him for peanuts before he ever signed with the Bills. It was only after he got showcased in Buffalo that he became valuable to them. And as far as the demand for his services, I believe the only team that made him a serious offer was NE, and that was at almost the last possible minute. My point is that he wasn't this high-value RB prior to becoming a Bill. He was just another of dozens of RBs bouncing around the league. Now we'll see if Beane can pull off the thing Whaley did routinely, finding these talented but overlooked guys like MG and Lorax. If he can, then MG won't be missed.

Excellent post.

I'm not singling you out here -- this "develop a QB" trope is a cliche with tons of fans -- but I don't believe QBs at this age and stage can be "developed." What you see is what you get. QBs today who are with a top collegiate program have been coached up since Pop Warner, with private coaching up the ying yang and almost unimaginable hours spent in the film room or the practice field. Yes, they can be somewhat refined, can be exposed to the speed of the NFL and its vastly more complicated defenses, can have weight put on or taken off, can learn how to work under center, etc. But they cannot be "developed." If there was some magic formula for doing that, you could take any number of 6'5" guys with reasonable arms and turn them into QBs. You're right about the money he left on the table which only proves how many teams don't have a clue about QBs. I followed Barkley since high school and loved what he did with SC. But at no time did I ever see him as an elite NFL candidate. His position right now is about where I thought he would land. This.

And this fantastically talented RB Whaley let "get away" was soooo great that every team in the league was chasing him with record-breaking contract offers, right? Come down from the clouds; until he signed with the Bills, who ever heard of him? And while I would have liked to have kept him, Whaley and the pro scouting department's track record says we'll find another MG type without missing a beat. Oh wait, Whaley was fired and there is no pro scouting department at the moment.

What a terrible, awful thing. You've got my prayers, Chris.

Draft picks and UDFAs are always something of a shot in the dark whereas with FAs, there is a "book" on how capable they are against NFL competition. Their success rate should be higher. To twist Dennis Green's famous quote, "They are who we think they are."

What if NP became the greatest QB of all time? Huh? Reminds me of the two Irish guys walking past a pub. Hey, it could happen.

We could swap the entire operation with the Pats - players, coaches, FO, owner - and a substantial percentage of Bills fans would be moaning about another 6 or 7 win season.

We do have a full inventory from which to chose.

There seem to be about 7 to 10 college QBs who respected QB evaluators feel are better than any of the ones drafted this year, and maybe better than any from the 2016 draft. If this is so, and if they all are as good this year as last year, and hopefully better, and if they don't get injured, and if they all declare for the draft (Yeah, a lot of "ifs" but not at all unlikely), the 2018 draft would go down as the greatest ever for QBs. Plus, there are likely to be at least 2 QBs who come out of nowhere and capture a ton of attention (Who would have predicted Darnold in September 2016? He wasn't even SC's starting QB). Unless the Bills wind up 10-6 or better, there is going to be one of those guys available. So my answer to your question, "If the Bills Don't get a franchise QB in 2018...." has to be: ...Pegula, McD and The Unknown GM should be frog-marched out of OBD, taken to the wall of the Big Tree Inn and pelted with rotten fruit, then tarred and feathered and run out of town.

Blokes, I usually enjoy your posts. But this is nuts. Tons of evaluators had Watson or Mahomes at the top of their lists. Throw in Trubisky and you have the core of what seemed like endless battling threads around here. As to the enthusiasm for Darnold, if his talent isn't obvious to you, then there's nothing to be said other than go watch him play. I feel your implication that racism is the reason why Darnold excites evaluators more than a Watson does is way over the line.

Yeah, but you're in Georgia. Ya gets what ya pay for.

Excellent piece. Hints at why I'm concerned this franchise might be getting wrse rather than better. The mess that is the Sabres adds to my quesiness.

Let me say that I wish Peterman great success because it would be great for the Bills if he somehow blossomed into an elite QB. But before going all daffodils about him, you really should watch, say, three of his games from last year. Not highlights but the full games. Pick one from September, one from late October and one in December. Watch them closely then tell us if you think he's got "it."

You are 100% correct he needs at least another year. But that program of Kelly's at ND would more than likely see him regress even further. Probably best he got out of there now. Might I suggest you make it a point to watch a bunch of USC games this year before the train leaves the station?

I like your picks and assessments, although I don't know about dropping McSorley because he might not come out. Darnold is in the same position, as I believe Rosen is (though I'd bet he will declare for the draft). Sauce for the goose, and all that. FWIW, last fall I started watching Peterman and that led me to McSorley and I have to say, by the end of the year he'd won me over. In fact, by this past January, the two best college teams were USC and Penn St. to my eyes, and that the Rose Bowl was the true national championship.

Meaningless corporate cha cha nonsense. Or, to put it another way, what else did you expect from the "New Bills"?

I believe Peterman is a place holder, picked to shut off criticism about the QB situation. If he is elevated to the starter's role, it will be strictly because he's "McD's guy" and TT is DW's. I watched nearly every Pitt game last year and there's no way NP is half the QB TT is right now. If McDermott goes with Peterman, it would indicate it's complete rebuild time or that McD is as insane as he looks. Gruden and Kiper would not be my go-to authorities on QBs.

[quote name="Boyst62" post="4368661" timestamp="149408015 it really puts all of our views in to perspective when EJ Manuel has a job today and Griffin, Kaepernick, Gabbert and Ponder do not when at one point we were all admiring how great they would be - they're all the same age, too. Wow. That's astounding when you really think about it. Thanks for the insight.

Now there's a disgusting QB class.

What are your feelings going forward? To me, based on how Pegs has handled both of his franchises so far, I'm not very hopeful anything much will change.

Bubba Watson...because he's a golfer.