SoTier

What I said was, "Compared to franchise QBs, shut down DBs are virtually 'a dime a dozen'." If you quote someone, use the entire quote, not just a part you can make fun with a cutsey image. No excuses for you any more than for McDermott.

Passing on a potential franchise QB to take a DB because the team didn't re-sign the Pro Bowl DB that the team had drafted in the first round just five years before simply cannot be justified, no matter what mental gymnastics McDermott defenders try to employ. If the Bills had gotten a great edge rusher or a DT to clog up the middle of the line, there might be some legs to the argument for taking him over Mahomes, but a DB, even a great DB, is simply not that valuable. Compared to franchise QBs, shut down DBs are virtually "a dime a dozen". No excuses.

Isn't that exactly what the Bills have done in the last two drafts under McDermott??? They passed on two excellent QB prospects in 2017 who have turned into decent NFL QBs (at their low end) for a CB because they needed one. They then traded away their starting QB and their starting LT to move up to take the fourth best QB prospect in the 2018 draft. Why would they change "their plan" to stock up on offense in 2019 just because the best talent in the draft is on the defensive side?

McDermott is no longer a rookie head coach.

Maybe you should be pissed at the organization that has orchestrated the Bills ineptitude that has led to "radio hosts who don't even have a local team" to abuse the team.

Wilson probably saw $$$. Before he was hired by the Bills, Brandon's claim to fame was his infamous dismantling of the World Champion Florida Marlins the season after the won the World Series. Marlins went from one of the highest player payrolls in their championship to one of the lowest, which likely increase profitability since player salaries are obviously the major component in the team budget. The Marlins also went from World Champions to the worst record in MLB, but winning was never Wilson's top priority, so Brandon was perfect. McDermott didn't "cut him (Brandon) out of the football department". Brandon was promoted to be in charge of both the Bills and the Sabres so he simply was much less involved with the football side. Since Brandon was essentially the boss of every Bills employee until he was fired, there's no way one of those other Bills employees, even the Bills HC, could "cut him out".

Certainly their tenure as owners of the Sabres suggests that. Specifically, I'm very concerned that in response to the Rex Ryan fiasco, they seem to totally bought into Russ Brandon's "money ball" philosophy, and if that's the case, then winning will continue to take a back seat to making $$$ despite Brandon's departure.

Neither is the mind-numbing, outdated style of football the Bills play under McDermott and his pal Beane. This is 2018 not 1978 or 1988.

Yeah, but at least Fitz gives you something to cheer about once in a while ...

Since Russ Brandon was the Bills head honcho when McDermott and then Beane were hired, why would expect anything to be any diffferent? Since he was okay with how McDermott and Beane before he was fired -- with no indication he wasn't -- why would he not be okay with them if he hadn't been fired? Winning was never Brandon's top priority; maximizing profits was. FTR, Brandon didn't hire Rex Ryan and give him a virtual blank check to hire his relatives and pals. That was the Pegulas who were reportedly "wowed" by Ryan during his interview. McDermott was much more the kind of HC that Brandon liked to hire rather than the expensive, flamboyant Ryan.

My definitions of project QBs are those who need to work on physcial fundamentals before they have a real chance to become NFL QBs. Frequently, that involves fixing their footwork or throwing motion or release. Brady, Romo, and Cousins all improved key aspects of their ability to throw the football. I wouldn't consider Phillip Rivers a "project" because the coaches in SD never tried to change his sidearm throwing motion (which he still uses BTW).

I never go "all in" on young QBs. Too many of those that look so promising as rookies or first year starters (Kaepernick and Griffin are two recent notables) fail to continue to develop into real franchise QBs. I was very skeptical of Goff, Wentz, and Watson last season and Mahomes early this season. I think all of them have demonstrated that they are, at worse, decent NFL QBs. I don't think Dak Prescott is in the same league as the other four but I think he'll make a decent QB. JMO. I think that Jameis Winston has demonstrated maybe he's better than Ryan Fitzpatrick but he's not a franchise QB.

Somewhere out on the web is a photo of Brady from his Combine appearance in 2000. Talk about skinny ... and Kirk Cousins fell out of favor with most football gurus because he was described as "too slightly built", ie, "skinny". Excellent analysis. I agree with your rankings. Mayfield separates mostly because of his leadership. The other three are kind of in a bunch.

I'm just pointing out that first round "project" QBs haven't worked out in the last almost 20 years. My guess is that that's likely a combo of their being drafted much too high for their actual talent level and for being put under pressure by being expected to start --and succeed -- too soon.

I was hoping that maybe Mayfield would fall because of his height, but Rosen was my second choice. My guess is that if Mayfield had been there at #7, McJackass would have passed on him, too, just as they did on Rosen. That's the Billsy thing to do. They passed on Russell Wilson back in 2012, too, because he was "too short". Rosen led a great last drive which ended with a pretty TD pass ... and then tossed a pass to Larry Fitz for the 2 point conversion to make sure that the Cards didn't lose on a last second FG. I haven't watched much of Rosen, but he looked much improved over some of his previous outings. As for Darnold and Mayfield, both struggled against tough, experienced defenses that can bring it against young, inexperienced QBs, which they did. I hope that Allen can develop into a franchise QB, but I think he has two big strikes against him: he's a "project" QB and project QBs don't often pan out; and he literally has no support around him with suspect QB coaching, poor OL, and a non-NFL caliber WR corps. FTR, I can't think of a first QB drafted since 2000 who was described as a "project" who went on to become a franchise QB or better. The successful "projects" recently have come from below the first round, including Tom Brady, Tony Romo (UDFA), and Kirk Cousins.

No, it's the stupid, short-sighted, penny-pinching owners and their FO lackeys who play "moneyball" by hiring cheap, crappy neophyte HCs; by refusing to pay market rates for most of the good young vets coming off their rookie contracts; by trying to foist backup and journeyman QBs; and by only drafting first round QBs when they absolutely need to in order to placate the fanbase.

Jordan Matthews was a McDermott/Beane trade/signee. The Bills could have afforded to keep at least one of the WRs they sent packing. They could have kept Woods and Goodwin or they could have kept Watkins. Instead, they kept none of them. Hell, they didn't even keep Matthews. And the McDermott/Beane cheerleaders expect these asshats to put together a respectable offense next year. ROTFLMAO.

Poor baby. Get used to it.

Don't you ever get tired of doing intellectual gymnastics in defense of McDermott and his sidekick? They didn't just screw up just "a couple things". They totally and completely screwed up the entire QB situation, from passing on Mahomes to wasting a pick on Peterman to overpaying for Allen to keeping Peterman and even naming him the starter for the opening game to waiting around for a month to bring in another member of "the Carolina gang", in this case a 35-year-old retiree who hadn't played in at least 2 years and hadn't started a game in 7. Nothing says "clueless" and "incompetent" more than McDermott waiting a month to bring in a better backup QB than Peterman and it being Derek Anderson.

They talk the talk but don't walk the walk. They are really good at spouting cliches, though.

Get a clue. The Bills had the winning Mega Millions lottery ticket in their hands and they traded it away for a $2500 scratch off ticket.

Chip Kelly wasn't in charge of personnel long enough (less than a year) to gut the Eagles as thoroughly as McDermott has gutted the Bills. Of course, the Eagles had more talent than the Bills had to begin with -- and a quality FO in place with a smart enough owner to know to cut his losses.

Trading out of the top ten to take a first round DB to replace a young vet that they let walk in FA rather than take a potential franchise quarterback may not be sensible but it is the quintessential "Billsy" thing to do. If the Bills FO can screw up a draft, have no doubt that they will do it. The reason that the Bills can't hire a competent NFL gm is because the Bills GM is expected to share power with the HC and with various other FO office personnel who have too much input into football decisions, not because the Bills already had a recently drafted first round QB. In the case of Brandon Beane, he was apparently hired primarily because of McDermott's influence. Moreover, draft picks don't have a real choice about what team that they can sign with. Either they sign with the team that drafted them or they sit out whatever period they have to wait to become eligible for the draft again (or whatever the specific rules are). Finally, the Bills have missed on QBs because they have long tried to go the cheap route with QBs, mostly making do with lower round draft picks or other teams' discards. Jim Kelly was the first first round QB the Bills drafted in their history. They didn't draft another first round QB for 21 years until they took JP Losman in 2004. They waited another 9 years to draft another QB in the first round. Even though it was obvious early on that Manuel was a bust, the Bills finally got around to drafting another QB in the first round in 2018. You are incorrect about Andy Reid's QBs. Only Patrick Mahomes (2017) and Donovan McNabb (1999) were first round picks. Kolb was a 2nd rounder (2007). Andy Hall was a 6th rounder (2004). AJ Feeley was a 5th round pick in 2001. FTR, McNabb was the only long term franchise QB from his class.

This cannot be repeated too much. All this hype about "great QB draft class" is just so much bull manure peddled by media mavens, draftniks, and QB agents. No matter the hype or not, most QB classes produce only 1 genuine franchise QB, and only a few produce more than 1. So far, in the 21st century, the only QB class that was hyped before the draft as "generational" that lived up to its billing was 2004. 2011 was supposed to be the best since 2004 with 4 first round picks -- Cam Newton, Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder -- but only Newton and 2nd rounder Andy Dalton were any good. The much hyped 2012 draft class -- first rounders Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill, and Brandon Weeden -- would have only had 2 franchise QBs in Luck and Tannehill if not for the QBs taken in later rounds. The 2 best QBs from 2012 were probably 3rd rounder Russell Wilson and 4th rounder Kirk Cousins. More importantly, most of the best current NFL QBs came out of draft classes that weren't hyped as being "generational" like 2004 and 2018. Tom Brady came out of the 2000 class that only produced 1 other even half way decent QB in Chad Pennington. Drew Brees came from the 2001 class with the only first round being Michael Vick. Carson Palmer came out of the 2003 class, and both Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers came out of the 2005 classes. Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco came out of 2008. Matthew Stafford came out of 2009. Jared Goff and Carson Wentz came out of 2016. If you're a team that needs a franchise QB and there's one sitting there to be taken at your turn, but you pass on him just because the "next draft is supposed to be a better QB class", you do that at your own peril. I think McDermott screwed the pooch by passing on Mahomes or Watson. That's not just because Mahomes and Watson look to be great QBs in the making (which is bad enough) but that the Bills sacrificed so much talent to get Allen, who is clearly a much weaker prospect than either of the other two, and probably will take longer to develop into a franchise QB if he can actually become one. The reality is that the Bills could have had a bonafide young franchise QB AND a whole lot more talent (having used all that draft capital on other prospects) if McDermott had taken Mahomes or Watson.

I watch lots of other teams' games, which is why I see just how out of step with the rest of the NFL the Bills are. Hell, they are even out of step with previous Bills teams from 2014-2016. While other teams make mistakes with personnel, no team has given away its best talent with little to show for it as consistently as the Bills have done since John Butler and AJ Smith left for San Diego back in 2001, and no Bills team -- maybe no team in NFL history -- has stripped itself of so much talent in such a short time and replaced it with so little.