SoTier

Exactly right. Monos was part of a failed regime, and McDermott and Beane have exposed how badly they failed. Lookiing at just how they drafted in the first two rounds of their drafts exposes the failures of the Monos/Whaley regime. Monos/Whaley's first and second round picks: 2013: #16 QB EJ Manuel , #41 WR Robert Woods), #46 LB Kiko Alonzo 2014: #4 WR Sammy Watkins, #44 OT Cyrus Kouandijo 2015: #50 DB Ronald Darby 2016: #19 DE Shaq Lawson, #41 LB Reggie Ragland In 2015, Darby was runner up in DROY voting. In 2014, Watkins had 982 yards. In 2015 he had 1047 yards. Playing with Mahomes in 2019, he had 673 yards. 2017 was clearly McDermott's draft. While Monos and Whaley were still officially in their titles, McDermott selected the picks. Whaley was fired immediately after the 2017 draft, and Monos was among the Bills staff who were let go by Beane after he was hired as GM. Sean McDermott's first and second round draft picks: 2017: #27 DB Tre'Davious White, #37 WR Zay Jones, #63 LT Dion Dawkins In 2017, White was 2nd in DROY voting. In 2019, White was first team All Pro and 5th in DPOY voting. In 2020, he was 2nd team All Pro. From 2021 through 2024, Dawkins was been named to the PB 4 times. Beane's first and second round draft picks: 2018 - #7 QB Josh Allen, #16 LB Tremaine Edmunds 2019 - #9 DT Ed Oliver, #38 OG Cody Ford 2020 -#54 DE AJ Epenesa 2021 - #30 DE Gregory Rousseau, #61 LB Boogie Basham 2022 - #23 CB Kaiir Elam, #63 RB James Cook In 2024, after numerous PB and AP awards, Allen was named NFL MVP. In 2019 and 2020, Edmunds was named to the PB. In 2023 and 2024, Cook was named to the PB. He also ran for 1000+ yards in both seasons. He also scored 16 TDs in 2024. Of course, Monos is going to dump on Beane and McDermott. Bean and McDermott exposed the institutional incompentency of their predecessors.

I think we need to revive the old "beating a dead horse" emogi for threads like this. Guess what, guys, dolls, and whomever else keeps beating this dead horse: the Bills are not moving on from McDermott until/unless the Bills have multiple losing seasons or repeatedly miss the playoffs without some valid excuse such as a serious injury to Allen. If the Bills lost in the WC round multiple times in a row, that might motivate Pegula to seek a new coach, but I can't see him moving on from McDermott otherwise. Why would he? He's a relative newcomer to the NFL owners' club and he's got one of the best teams in the NFL. Better than any of his AFCE rivals. Better than legendary NFL franchises like the Steelers and the Cowboys. He's not moving on from McDermott until he's dissatisfied with McDermott no matter how much some anonymous fans on a message board complain.

Since the Bills are limited by the cap, they can either pursue a game wrecking DLer or an elite WR in FA. They can't get both. I'd prioritize the DE and look for a good WR prospect in the draft and/or re-signing Cooper at a reasonable price. A great DE like Garrett would positively affect the entire DL, and a better pass rush would also help the DBs. Trying to outscore other playoff teams in a run to the Super Bowl requires your offense to execute almost perfectly game after game after game. That's an almost impossible task. A fierce pass rush affects the QB even if it only gets pressure rather than sacks ... incompletes, interceptions, and bad decisions.

1 game is a very small sample size, dude. Pressuring/sacking elite QBs frequently reduces them to ordinary QBs, especially in the playoffs. In this year's playoffs alone, the Bills D got after Lamar alot ... and the Bills won. The Bills D couldn't pressure Mahomes in the AFCCG, and KC won. In the Super Bowl, the Eagles harassed Mahomes while the game was in doubt -- and Mahomes played more like Mitch Trubisky.

What you are missing is that great QBs help any WR with a modicum of talent far more than a great WR can help a great QB. It's different with young or less talented QBs, but Allen is a great veteran. He can get by without having a world-class speed WR. What a great QB needs most is protection and weapons, and an OL that is great at pass and run blocking is the more important of the two because it makes a great running game possible. The exact nature of the weapons on passing plays -- WRs, TEs or RBs -- doesn't matter much if they do different things. A reasonably good boundary WR like Cooper is fine for the Bills as they are currently constructed. A better (ie, more expensive) WR like Higgins would be a luxury. Your narrative isn't correct. It's not like the Bills haven't tried to draft a game wrecker DLer. They drafted 4 DLers in rounds 1 and 2 between 2019 and 2021. DT Ed Oliver at #9 in 2019 DE AJ Epenesa in #54 in 2020 DE Gregory Rousseau at #30 and DE Boogie Basham at #61 in 2021 Basham was a bust, but Oliver and Rousseau are both good DLers and Epenesa is decent. Where the Bills draft at the end of rounds, the fail rate for draft picks is greater than 50%. it's hard to find many great pass rushers there because most pass rushers are gobbled up in the top ten spots of most drafts. I would love for the Bills to keep Cook, but if it comes down to acquiring a game wrecker DE and letting Cook walk, then it's "C'ya, Jimbo".

The 2002 Bills had a QB who had started in the Super Bowl, Drew Bledsoe. He made the Pro Bowl that season because he threw for more than 4300 yards and 24 TDs despite being sacked 54 times. Unfortunately, the Bills didn't have a defense. It ranked 27th despite having Nate Clemens, London Fletcher, Pat Williams, and Antoine Winfield SR on the roster. Bledsoe threw for nearly 3000 yards and 20 TDs. With Willis McGahey at RB, the Bills offense ranked #7. The 2004 Bills again had no defense -- they ranked 25th-- despite having Sam Adams, Nate Clemens, London Fletcher, Takeo Spikes, and Pat Williams. In the final game of the year, the Bills blew their chance at the playoffs by losing to the Steelers' backups, 29-24, and it wasn't really that close. They allowed UDFA rookie Willie Parker to run for 102 yards on 19 carries. Josh Allen would have been a bust if he had been on any of the teams fielded by the Bills during Jauron's stint as HC. He would have been benched for Captain Check Down, Trent Edwards, because Allen would have tried too hard to win games. Jauron's aim was always to not lose by too much.

Allen wouldn't have played as well as he did in 2022 behind that 2014 OL. It was significantly worse than the Bills 2022 OL.

If the Bills have a young LB already on the roster or if they draft a kid to replace him in 2025, then I have no problem with letting him leave in 2026. Since the Bills D obviously needs improvement, I'd be against letting Bernard walk without his replacement being on the roster. He's a good LB despite his size. Once a player proves himself to be a top level player, his draft round means nothing. Benford is an excellent DB, and it's a premium position. I am more concerned about his concussions.

Like most of the Bills rosters during the Drought era, the 2014 team was good on only one side of the ball with almost all the resources on the defense. The OL was trash. There is no way that Allen would be nearly as successful behind the crappy OL whose best player, Eric Wood, was an average Center at best. He might make the current roster as a back up, but I doubt that any of the others could make the current Bills. Freddie Jackson, the Bills featured RB in 2014, would likely not even make the Bills roster. Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods were decent WRs but not sinificantly better than Cooper/Hollins and Shakir. On defense, the strength was clearly the DL with Mario Williams(AP), Kyle Williams (PB), Marcel Dareus (AP), and Jerry Hughes. The LBs were ok and the DBs inlcuded 2 good ones (Stephon Gilmore and Aaron Williams) and two JAGs.

Wrong again, dude. I was a season ticket holder during part of the Drought. Most of those seasons, the best part of Bills games was the tailgating. So, what were those "3-4 teams that would've been legitimate SB contenders" that had "more talent than we have now"?

In what alternative universe did these Drought era "rosters that were better than the current Bills one, but simply lacked the QB" exist?

I totally agree. A side benefit of having an outstanding OL and WRs willing to block is that RBs are much easier to replace because they have holes to run through.

From a small sample size, historically it's likely to do worse in the long run. I could only find 4 examples of HCs who were fired after a playoff season. TB and Dallas won a SB within 2 seasons of moving on from their fired HC, but both seemed to have paid a price. The Cowboys have never been back to even the Conference Championship since Switzer's SB win, and Tampa Bay suffered a 12 year playoff drought after Gruden's second WC loss. Jimmy Johnson was fired by the Cowboys after he coached the 1993 team its 2nd straight SB. Jerry Jones hired Barry Switzer who lost in the NFCCC in his first season and won a SB in his second season, but the Cowboys haven't been back to a Conference Championship game since. Tony Dungy was fired after the 2001 season when his Bucs lost a second WC game despite the Bucs making the playoffs 4 out of 6 seasons. Gruden took the Bucs to the SB the next year but he never coached another Bucs team that won a playoff game. The Bucs suffered a 12 year playoff drought until Tom Brady joined the team. Steve Mariucci was fired from the 49ers in 2002 after losing in the NFC Divisional round. The Niners failed to make the playoffs for the next 8 seasons. After the 2006 season, the Chargers fired Marty Schottenheimer after going 12-4, 9-7, and 14-2 season with 2 unsuccessful playoff appearances. His successor, Norv Turner, took the Chargers to 3 straight playoff appearances but never made the SB. He made 1 AFCCG appearance and lost. The Chargers only have made the playoffs 3 times in the next 15 years. Basically, it's like if there's a loaded roster as with the Cowboys and the Bucs, the new HC might win a SB (even if he's as meh as Barry Switzer) but otherwise, failure is a more likely outcome. There's also the possibility that the fired coach goes on to win Super Bowls as Dungy did with Indy.

The Bills 2024 defense was not nearly as good as the 2023 defense talent-wise even when at full strength, so losses were magnified. Benford, Bernard, and Rapp were three of the Bills best defensive players in 2024. Benford and Rapp were replaced by Elam and Bishop in the secondary. Easy pickings for Mahomes.

Don't confuse haters with facts. Actually this narrative is simply untrue because the last two playoff losses to KC were significantly impacted by defensive injuries that happened late in the season or in the playoffs. In 2023, the Bills limped into the playoff game with devastating injuries to their defense including Benford, Bernard, Hyde, Milano, Phillips, Rapp, Spector, and White. The Bills suffered a number of defensive injuries late in the season and ended up bringing LB AJ Klein out of retirement for the final game. In 2024, the Bills the entered the KC game missing Benford and Rapp on defense, and they lost Bernard early on in the game. Endlessly repeating the same false narrative doesn't make it true. The Bills didn't have the cap space to go "all in" this past season. That wasn't McDermott's fault. The reality of the current NFL is that building a roster is a juggling act among needs, availability, injuries, free agency movement, and cap restrictions. The idea that McDermott's stubbornly sticking with a "system" ignores the reality that the Bills have had some bad luck with some of their best talent on defense, namely the injuries to Miller, White and Milano. If the Bills had a game wrecker DE and a top notch CB or S, I think we'd see a significant change in the McDermott's "system". Maybe, with an improved cap situation, 2025 is the year the Bills go "all in" and bring in improved talent on the defense, especially on the DL.

What I think the difference between the Bills regularly notching double digit wins and making the playoffs or regularly failing to make the playoffs is Terry Pegula's commitment to winning football games rather than maximizing profits. That, however, is totally irrelevant to your obsession with not losing again to KC in the playoffs. Logically, not making the playoffs is the best way to accomplish that.

That could easily be accomplished by simply not making the playoffs. Who, exactly, would these head coaches be -- and are realistically available, ie, don't already have HC jobs?

About half of all first round draft picks fail to play like first round draft picks ... ever. I think that you are spot on. If the Bills can land a premier veteran pass rusher, it's likely that Rousseau suddenly becomes better.

I'm tired of this "Worthy is so good" and "don't trade with the enemy" BS. The Bills needed a big WR not a smurf. Coleman fit what the Bills wanted and needed. He's not the first rookie WR who looked uninspiring but developed into a good player. Worthy is faster than Shakir but that's his only advantage. They're both small WRs, but Shakir totally fits the Bills offense. He's a better route runner, better blocker, and more sure-handed than Worthy. Shakir's also tough as nails. Calling Mahomes "mediocre" might be too kind, but he didn't come close to being as bad as Peterman.

The Bills desperately needed a game wrecker on DL.

Garbage time TDs.

RIP

That may be true if you assume that all positions are equal but they aren't. QB, pass rusher (DE or EDGE), and LT are the positions in which 1 player can definitely make a huge difference. The Bills have the QB and the LT. They need the pass rusher, and there's no one likely to be available in this draft than Garrett. Even a blind squirrel can find a nut, so yeah, sometimes teams get lucky and find great players outside of where they're likely to be found. After all, the Bills found one of the all time great LTs in NFL history, Jason Peters, as an UDFA, and Patriots found the GOAT, Tom Brady, in the 6th round of the 2000 draft. It's not a sound strategy for building a Super Bowl team, however. FYI none of the DEs you listed started from Day1, and three of them didn't start full time for 2 or 3 years. Trey Hendrickson didn't become a full time starter until his 4th season when he was switched from LB to RDE. Maxx Crosby started 10 games as a rookie for the 7-9 Raiders, a team that has had only 1 winning season since he was drafted. Chris Jones and Danielle Hunter didn't start full time until their third seasons. Aaron Donald was a DT not a DE or LB, and DTs aren't frequently drafted in the top 5. Since 2017, only 2 DTs were drafted in the Top 5: Malik McDowell and Quinnen Williams. Only 6 other DTs were drafted 6-10 during that same period, including Ed Oliver. Top pass rushers who can make impacts as rookies aren't generally found outside the top 10 unless there's some unusual circumstance, most notably, a run on QBs at the top of the draft. Micah Parsons, a LB who was DROY, was drafted #12 in 2021 when 4 QBs were drafted before him. Jared Verse, a DE who was DROY for 2024 was drafted #19 when 6 QBs were drafted before him. In order to move up into the top half of the draft where the best DE prospects are usually taken, the Bills are going to have to trade up, giving up draft capital and/or players ... and there's no guarantee that even a Top 5 prospect will become a game wrecking pass rusher. I'd sooner spend those resources on a proven pass rusher even if he costs a lot more. The Bills need to improve their defense for 2025, not wait around for a rookie to maybe develop. That defensive improvement starts with the DL, and adding Garrett or Crosby would make all of the other DLers better. A better pass rush takes a lot of pressure off the LBs and DBs, so the entire defense is better.

Finding a game-wrecking edge rusher in the draft is much like finding a franchise QB prospect; they are seldom found outside the Top Ten, and too frequently, the prospects don't work out to be as good as hoped for. For a team like the Bills that drafts at the bottom of the first round, that means trading up in the draft to get a premium spot or trading/signing a veteran. The draft is such a crap shoot, even in the top ten, that I don't think I'd trade up to get in position to grab a top DE/EDGE. That leaves spending resources on trading/signing a veteran that's already proven as the only realistic alternative. The veteran is going to cost big $$$, and sometimes that goes south because of injuries as it did with Von Miller. It's the only thing the Bills can realistically do if they're serious about winning a Super Bowl, so I'm on the "trade for Myles Garrett" bandwagon.

Why do you view this hiring as some kind of negative reflection on Bobby Babich? I simply don't see McDermott as the kind of person who would hire an assistant coach with the idea of pressuring another of his assistants because he (McDermott) didn't think that assistant wasn't working hard enough. It seems to me it's more likely that McDermott saw an opportunity to give Babich some additional support with an experienced former DC. I believe the Bills also added another defensive assistant for the DL. What all this signals to me is that Beane and McDermott are going all in on improving the Bills defense first by bolstering the defensive coaching staff and then, hopefully, significantly improving defensive talent.