CheshireCT

Ok, they asked for agents’ perceived player perceptions. ???

They asked the agents for player feedback.

It’s exactly as what one of the agents said - the players give this feedback based on ***** that doesn’t matter.... weather & nightlife are not the right reasons to play for a team. Nearly ever player in the league goes somewhere else during the offseason, and during the season their life should be football not partying.

The best quote in the article is that the players don’t have a clue and just look at the stupid reasons to sign a contract somewhere. I believe the ratings are true, but in the end it doesn’t matter much. It’s still pretty random, which team(s) offer a free agent a contract. They will choose their best option, and their agent will steer them toward the most money. Sure there are a few “big-time” free agents every year that have a handful of teams to choose from, but usually those guys come with a sky-high price tag that’s not worth it anyhow. It’s better if a player chooses to play for the Bills because he’s a good fit for the system and coaching staff and likes his offer than because he “likes the city.” Who cares....

The best franchises establish top-tier, consistent coaching. Then they draft the players that they think fit, extend the guys that do in fact fit correctly and live up to expectation, let go of the ones that don’t or become unaffordable, and sign “good” free agents who can play and jump in immediately without breaking the bank. I think most franchises at least TRY to follow this method, and if they don’t it’s because of emotions, desperation, or some kind of pressure to “win now!” What I like about the current leadership is that they seem mentally strong enough to follow through with their plans, without bending to some deconstructive outside pressure. It seems like they have a good cohesive vision as well. With that in mind, I don’t think there is a target date to compete. I think the target is to establish the correct culture and system in Buffalo, the results will follow for many years if they’re successful. I would guess that the Bills won’t be on fire next season, but hopefully they show something for the future and are fun to watch.

I'm going to dispute this article and say it's a bunch of bull####. Every player has his own prerogative. The best football players & coaches are the ones who care about their WORK above all else. The smartest and best professionals will go where they have the best opportunity on the field (to start, the play in the right scheme, to play with a winner). A playing career is already limited, with a good career lasting 10 years, and an average career probably lasting 5 years or something. While these guys are in the season, their whole life is football anyhow so it shouldn't really matter where they are. Then take into account that the offseason is long and they can go wherever they want. Then take into account that after football they can live wherever they please. Then take into account that what people say and actually DO is usually not congruent. My opinion stems from my personal life and career, which is based on passion with very specific opportunities. I have moved around all over the world on a consistent basis to do something very specific that I love, and I don't get all the money that football players do. I've been in some ***** places and some wonderful places, and when I'm working I'm entirely focused on that because it's necessary to perform at the highest level. It's not easy to start from the ground up for any organization. So, I say if the Bills build a great team, they will attract great talent!!!

Bad choice of words. He is owning up to ball security mistakes.

yep. After a guy has been around a little while the league forms its opinion. Better to give a young unknown player a chance than to go with a player you already know is mediocre/bad.

I think what should be clear is that "tanking" comes from Personnel, not coaching + players. The coaches and players are going to try and win. We are in a tanking season because we traded away/cut players with big contracts and have 55 million in dead cap space. If the team wants to tank further, they should trade McCoy. Other than that move, I can't see anything else they can do to reasonably tank further.

Apart from Rex Ryan, most coaches are not natural entertainers. He's probably pulling 18 hour days and an interview is the last thing he's preparing for.

Hey guys, I spotted this and thought it might be good food for thought. I know most of us understand that the Bills have dead cap space, but I didn't realize they had THIS much dead cap space this year. But wowza, things really open up in 2019!! Something to be optimistic about! "After trading away several bloated contracts and enduring the retirements of players such as Richie Incognito and Eric Wood, general manager Brandon Beane is eating $53.9 million in dead money this year, which is one of the largest single-season figures in league history. The Bills are nearly paying as much in dead money to ghosts as they are to their entire offense ($57.0 million). They'll hit 2019 with $90 million in cap space before letting anyone else leave." - http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/24730644/ranking-nfl-0-2-teams-eliminated-alive-playoff-race-2018-season

Here's the real answer: "After trading away several bloated contracts and enduring the retirements of players such as Richie Incognito and Eric Wood, general manager Brandon Beane is eating $53.9 million in dead money this year, which is one of the largest single-season figures in league history. The Bills are nearly paying as much in dead money to ghosts as they are to their entire offense ($57.0 million). They'll hit 2019 with $90 million in cap space before letting anyone else leave." - http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/24730644/ranking-nfl-0-2-teams-eliminated-alive-playoff-race-2018-season Money does matter, and they have had to pay for dismantling the old contracts. But man, 90 mil in cap space next year....let's see what they do with that mountain of cash. If the team goes 0-16 but Josh Allen improves, then I'm happy. Then trade the #1 overall.

It's true that they could have addressed this if they really wanted to. I think the reality is that there weren't many great options there that made sense for the long term. I would say this is priority #1 for next season.

One of the major issues for the team is that they never hit total rock bottom during the playoff drought. The team was always just below average....all efforts put into the team brought them occasionally to average or a couple of times slightly above average. We knew that Beane & Mcdermott were tearing down the roster...then add to the fact that Wood had to retire and Incognito went clinically insane at the same time they traded Glenn and the O-Line completely fell apart. I'm not sure there was much they could have done in this case... I will admit that I'm confused as to why McCoy is still on the roster....perhaps they can't unload his cap space properly so they're just keeping him. This is the one roster move I don't get. Other than that, I would say everything else signals complete rebuild. It's not their fault that the team has sucked for 20 years. Every regime deserves their chance to try it their way. The last point I want to make is that the first 4 games or so of the season NEVER tell the story. We have all seen teams that look AMAZING at the beginning of the season only to totally tank and teams that look MISERABLE at the beginning of the season absolutely triumph. For the record, given how much we tore down the roster and the fact that we're starting a rookie quarterback, I don't expect a turn-around. Rather I expected from the beginning that we would totally suck this year. LOL I'm still optimistic that Josh Allen will become the real deal. They have to work with him and build the rest of the team, which I hope they will manage. Only time will tell!!!

successful people focus on what they're doing and forget what other people are doing.

I like Allen's demeanor. He seems well-balanced, open to criticism and a worker (in addition to his size, athleticism, and arm). In the end, teams don't draft football players, they draft people. I think they got the right guy.

I'm also totally okay with moving up if the confidence is there. In the end, every single draft is different and which player ends up where is situational. The main point I was trying to make is that the media overhypes how high QBs will get drafted. There are lots of busts in the top 5 also. ESPN did a gigantic article about how difficult it is to draft QBs and can analyze this better than I could: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/23039883/history-tells-us-nfl-terrible-evaluating-quarterbacks-means-2018-draft-prospects Looking at the list I made above, one thing to note is the strength of the organizations. Flacco went to a good Raven's team (I know he's not so great lately, but he did well in the beginning), Big Ben went to a great Steelers team, Aaron Rodgers went to a packers team and had a chance to sit behind brett favre.

I do get the impression that this year is a strong QB draft year. One thing I've noticed every year is that the media over-exaggerates the QB draft position, projecting them to all go much higher than they end up being drafted in reality. The QBs are the most fun to talk about, and so the media capitalizes on that and hypes up the race to the top to draft QBs. In reality there are other stud players that teams covet who don't play quarterback, and even the teams who need a QB might not like who is available. I'm not suggesting the Bills "settle," but think there's a strong likelihood they can get who they want at 12, or perhaps by trading up a few picks into the 5-10 range. The question is, how many of the prospects do they LOVE? 1? 2? 3? 4? Some QBs that come to mind that were taken out of the top 5 that were considered top prospects: (leaving out the new guys who don't have a track record yet) 2013 - all QBs busted 2012 - #8 Ryan Tannehill 2008 - #18 Joe Flacco 2007 - all QBs busted 2006 - #11 Jay Cutler 2005 - #24 Aaron Rodgers 2004 - #11 Big Ben

His exit was rather douchey, so I highly doubt they call a press conference for him. He played incredibly well for the Bills in the last few years, and managed to contain his douchiness while he was here, so I commend him for that. But he clearly hasn't changed in reality. Thanks for playing so well for the Bills Ritchie, you'll be missed.....though I highly doubt I would like you as a person, LOL.

It's all about risk. If you bet the whole draft on a QB you take a big risk on one player. If you stay put and use all the picks, you spread the risk out and will likely have some great players and a few that don't pan out. For this reason, it's easier to convince yourself to stay put and make the "safer bet." But the problem is, it's SO HARD to get an amazing QB. Unless you draft one, it's nearly impossible to get one. I'm all for betting the draft on a QB if the team has confidence in the guy. Every other player on the team is important, but it's MUCH easier to find players to plug holes at every other position in creative ways....for instance we saw how Beane signed some quality "no-name" guys to fill spots on the team last year for reasonable prices. Also, every other position on the team is more interchangeable and can adapt to new schemes and such. Of course it would be great to have stars at every single position, but even if you lose those guys because they cost too much, they're much easier to replace than quarterbacks. It's important that a GM has this kind of sense.

"Beach Road Chicken Dinners" ....... I don't need to say anything else.

I would also say it's good to have these guys around for the younger players to see as examples, to raise their standards.

No one can know how good or bad any of the scouts were. They didn't make the decisions, just provided their perspective and info. These decisions have everything to do with Pegula wanting his own people, and giving the new GM free reign to hire his own scouts. Perhaps some of them will end up being rehired. Also, the firing of Whaley, forget if he was good or bad...Pegula wants to pick his own man.