jahnyc

If you don't add free agents to the mix, then the best that we can hope for is a turnaround in year three of the new administration (if even then). This assumes that the Bills have spectacular drafts in each of the next couple of drafts, which will be difficult to accomplish. Unfortunately, the Jets are an example of how a team can be reconstituted into a winning team. They added Jenkins and Edwards in trades and also added some strong free agents, including Faneca, Woody and Scott. They have had a mixed record in the draft (Gholston and Robertson are terrible and Revis, Mangold and Harris are exceptional), but by signing key free agents and making trades, they have been able to overcome their draft misses.

I would not be shocked if all of these guys are not on the opening day roster (and there will be no free agent acquisitions to take their place).

If the Bills sign few or no free agents, then the team is not serious about winning next year (or probably the year after). The Bills have lost a number of veterans (Butler, Denney, Reed, Owens, Fine, Jenkins, etc. and possibly Schobel) and they will not be able to fill all of the holes on the roster (starters and depth) through the draft alone.

So how does Hangartner fit in? Seems like posts and views about him are all over the place. Was he effective as the center last year or not? Does he need to be replaced?

I would think that looking at salary structure/payroll in March is critical to making decisions regarding restricted free agents as well as addressing needs in free agency, at least for most teams. I would not be surprised if Whitner and Lynch were not on the opening day roster. Whitner, McKelvin and Maybin are all grossly overpaid based on their production. I am not advocating releasing them, but high draft picks can kill a team if they are not productive.

What is your point? We are discussing payroll for the 2010 season, not the 2009 season. The Bills will not be re-signing Owens, Denney and Reed. Butler has retired and Schobel may retire. That is more than $20 million in obligations that the Bills will no longer have, which would likely put the Bills in the bottom quarter of payroll for 2010.

It makes sense to cut crappy players when you have better players available to replace the crappy players. The Bills will not be able to fill all of their needs (starters and depth) through this year's draft. They will need to sign some free agents if they want to be competitive this season.

Good point that teams will be dropping overpaid veterans since there will be no salary cap ramifications. I hope this means that the free agent pool will improve if decent players are dropped. Unfortunately, I doubt that the Bills will be active in free agency this year.

No TO, Denney or Reed on the roster this year. Butler retired and Schobel may as well. I do think that the Bills will trade Whitner. This must leave us with one of the lowest payrolls in the NFL going into free agency. We have very few stars and very few highly paid players (not even a highly paid QB). I understand that there is no salary cap (or floor) in 2010, but a ton of money has come off of our payroll in the last couple of years. I hope this means that the Bills will be at least moderately active in free agency, even with a relatively weak group of free agents. We do have a lot of holes and a need for depth.

Even without the switch to a 3-4 defense, the Bills had a lot of holes to fill. Now with the change in defense, we need a NT and at least one defensive end, particularly if Schobel retires and Maybin becomes an outside LB. We also will need at least one outside LB and maybe two, since I have no idea if Maybin will prove to be capable as an outside LB in a 3-4. On offense, we clearly need a QB and, with the retirement of Butler, two tackles. We also will have needs at WR, unless Hardy can become the #2 and Johnson the slot receiver (which I doubt). Although I do not expect that the Bills will be active in free agency, there is no way that the draft can fill the majority of these needs. Losing Butler and possibly Schobel to retirement, and the likely departures of Owens and Reed, have put the Bills in the position of having less talent now than at the beginning of last season.

I bet Bates is the DC.

What I can't figure out is how this franchise has defied logic and conventional wisdom for more than 10 years. The franchise makes big decisions that are not consistent with what experts, media and the fans think. Some of these decisions border on the bizarre. This would be okay if these decisions led to some success on the field, but we know this has not been the case. How are these decisions being made? Is it RW? Other members of the front office? Things have really fallen apart with this franchise, and the decision makers seem out of touch with current realities.

Assuming the Bills are going to hire CG, I think the questions now are as follows: 1. Can he assemble a strong staff? If Nolan comes to Buffalo (over Miami), that will be a very good sign. 2. Does CG have a commitment from RW and the FO to spend as necessary on players, assistant coaches etc.? I doubt that CG had any leverage to demand anything. This is one of the reasons that we needed a high profile head coach. 3. Will he help attract free agents to Buffalo? I don't think that his hire will be viewed as a positive by potential free agents and the team will have much work to do to attract free agents (assuming they try to sign any). 4. Will the current team be excited with the hire? Probably not. Maybe some of the offensive players will view it as a positive, but I would expect that the players were hoping for a more high profile hire. 5. Will this generate excitement among the fan base? No. Initially at least, this will be a PR nightmare, particularly after all of the press about the rejections for the position. As others have suggested, Brandon will likely need to pull a TO type marketing move to generate some excitement.

I guess so. This will not go over well with the fans or the media. I wonder if he will be able to assemble a decent coaching staff or get the front office to spend money on some players.

I thought Gailey would be great as OC, but as head coach? Wonder if Nix knows him well from scouting the SEC (Gailey was at Georgia Tech). If this is true, we are getting an infusion of old guys.

It does raise all kinds of red flags that there is such a lack of interest in the Bills head coaching position. Sullivan's last point is what concerns me the most. If the team continues to lose over the next couple of years, it is inevitable that fan support will deteroriate, leading to more momentum for an eventual move out of Buffalo. I do think that if the Bills are successful on the field that it will be more difficult to move the franchise and it will put more pressure on the NFL to keep the team in Buffalo. This is why, among many other reasons, it is critical for the team to start having some success.

What hurts is when good players leave and then having to use high draft picks to replace them. The Bills would be a much stronger team if they had retained some of these players (and others playing for non-playoff teams), which would have provided the flexibility to draft the best player available regardless of position rather than always drafting to fill positions of need.

I doubt that Nix had significant involvement with the coaching searches, but who knows. I have read that he was mostly involved with college talent evaluation and not in San Diego much. Having said that, the comment was probably not fair. There are many reasons why there is a lack of interest in the head coaching job, and the way Nix is conducting the search is probably not one of them (although his hire may not have helped the level of interest). Bottom line is that I am frustrated with the direction of the team and the front office, and have been for a long time.

Nix may have good experience as a talent evaluator and scout, but he has no experience in conducting a search for a head coach, and it is showing. He has never been a GM, and for a team that needs rebuilding and some fresh air, the hiring of a 70 year old guy that RW was comforatble with was not the answer. Mabye hiring a 70 year old guy as GM would have made more sense if he had a lot of prior GM experience. The front office needed to be reinvigorated, and a new GM with an outside perspective was needed. I am hoping for the best with Nix, but it smacks of a temporary solution, similar to the Levy hire as GM. I am really not trying to be overly negative, particularly since I recognize that Nix has had success as a talent evaluator for the draft, but I don't think his hire as GM made much long term sense.

I think that the uncertainty over the ownership of the Bills after RW passes creates an overhang of anxiety that is always present, in one form or another.

I think at this point it is becoming a necessity to hire Marty. We need someone with some stature to get what he needs from RW and the front office. I also think Marty could probably put a decent group of assistant coaches together, which will become an issue soon under the current circumstances.

I am starting to realize that it does not matter who we hire. The same issues with ownership and the structure of the front office will continue, and the new head coach will not have the power to change anything.

They targeted some coordinators that were not interested in coming to Buffalo. Most coordinators would jump to interview for a HC position, regardless of location. There is a negative perception out there about the Bills, and this coaching search has exacerbated the situation. The Bills have had difficulty attracting free agents (unless they grossly overpay). Now they are having trouble attracting a head coach. This will also impact the ability of the head coach that is selected to put together a strong staff of assistant coaches. Sorry, but not making the playoffs for 10 years is a disaster in itself, but the search for a head coach by the front office has made the Bills look silly and undesirable.

Thanks, I had not seen that. It is bad when Schefter is talking about us going with Frazier "by default."

I cannot remember a head coaching search with this level of ineptitude. Can you ever remember a team being turned down for interviews by so many coordinators (and former coaches)? I don't understand why the Bills could not have determined whether Schottenheimer and Rivera were interested through back channel communications. Is Grimm going to interview? Even if he interviews, his hesitancy is troubling, and I would bet that he will not be interested because of what happened with TD and Mularkey. The Cowher thing has been a disaster, and along with Shanahan's lack of interest, has made the franchise look bad. If Brandon is such a marketing genius, why has this search been handled so poorly? The team has known for months that they will need a new head coach, why didn't they target someone that they could get? Having all of this play out in public has been terrible.