Sierra Foothills

Kellum... Kellum... Kellum Winslett?

Has Martin attended any off-campus parties within the last year or so?

I wonder if Reggie McKenzie was glad that he was no longer OJ's "Main Man." How do you feel about Mike Like? There's a moral in that story somewhere.

Really good point. Director of College Scouting or Personnel Director would seem a more logical position for a TV scout wanting to move towards a position with a club. I wonder how much more he was making with the Raiders than he was with ESPN and also how that compares to how much he could have made in a personnel department at a position below GM. I'm pretty sure scouts don't make great money but I would think that Scouting Director would pay pretty well. Peaking behind the curtains would be a lot of fun. There would almost have to be a one year lapse behind the production and the release of the episodes so that it's retrospective and doesn't affect events in real time. That would be a reality show I would actually watch. Good point. There's often an inevitable housecleaning that comes with a regime change in any industry. I would think that would happen less in sports because of my belief that it's a slightly purer meritocracy where the players' talents would still have value to the new regime. That said I think talent is sometimes in the eye of the beholder but still it seems like the best regimes would be the ones who would recognize and salvage the leftovers from the previous regime. Then of course there's also considerations like "system fits" that come into play.

Yeah regime changes are a big factor in these moves. But also if some of these teams drafted better there wouldn't have been a regime change so there's that too. The Mayock hire was weird. It would be like if Todd McShay or Mel Kiper were hired to be a GM except that Mayock did actually have an NFL player career in the early 80s.

For some comparative perspective on the Bills' draft performance, consider the recent drafts of the Vikings and Raiders: The Vikings selected 11 players in the 2021 NFL draft. Most of those players were cut on Tuesday, failing to make the 53-man roster a year after they were drafted. That’s an ugly look for the Vikings’ prior regime of general manager Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer, who were fired after the 2021 season. The new regime of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell clearly doesn’t think much of that draft class. Here’s a look at the Vikings’ 2021 draft class, and each player’s status heading into what should be his second NFL season: Round 1: Christian Darrisaw (starting left tackle) Round 3: Kellen Mond (cut on Tuesday) Round 3: Chazz Surratt (cut on Tuesday) Round 3: Wyatt Davis (cut on Tuesday) Round 3: Patrick Jones (backup outside linebacker) Round 4: Kene Nwangwu (backup running back and kickoff returner) Round 4: Camryn Bynum (starting safety) Round 4: Janarius Robinson (cut on Tuesday) Round 5: Ihmir Smith-Marsette (backup wide receiver and punt returner) Round 5: Zach Davidson (cut on Tuesday) Round 6: Jaylen Twyman (cut on Tuesday) https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/08/31/vikings-cut-most-of-their-2021-draft-class/ "The Raiders released tackle Alex Leatherwood on Tuesday, just a year after taking him with the 17th overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft. Cutting a first-round draft pick after just one season is a stunning move — except that with Raiders draft picks of the Jon Gruden/Mike Mayock era, it’s actually not much of a surprise. Gruden was the Raiders’ head coach and Mayock the general manager for three drafts, 2019-2021, and the Raiders made some astonishingly bad selections during that time. Leatherwood is actually the third consecutive Raiders first-round draft pick not to even make it through two years on the roster: The Raiders had two first-round picks in 2020, Henry Ruggs and Damon Arnette, and they were both released during the 2021 season. The Raiders had three first-round picks in 2019, and those three fared better — but not a lot better: Clelin Ferrell, Josh Jacobs and Johnathan Abram have all struggled to make a major impact, and the Raiders didn’t pick up the fifth-year option on any of their contracts. And the bad drafting under Gruden and Mayock went beyond the first round. Trayvon Mullen, the Raiders’ 2019 second-round pick, was traded to the Cardinals yesterday for a conditional seventh-round pick. The Raiders had three third-round picks in 2020 — Lynn Bowden, Bryan Edwards and Tanner Muse — and none of them is still with the team, either." https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/08/31/raiders-cutting-alex-leatherwood-highlights-failures-of-jon-gruden-mike-mayock-regime/

Yes, Lott was one of them.

FWIW (maybe not much) the 1981 Super Bowl-winning San Francisco 49ers started 3 rookies in their defensive backfield. By contrast the Bills will start 2 very experienced safeties, a 3rd year cornerback and a 1st round rookie cornerback. While I wish Tre'Davious was healthy, I'm not worried about the secondary.

Yes, like the smile is gonna cause his face to split open.

The only alternatives I can think of... "for appearances sake" "that's a bad look."

"Process Police to locker 53..."

Earning nearly $5 million in his career and standing to earn about $300K this year is pretty sweet for a young guy. On the other hand he has a lot to live down... "Peterman struggled in the NFL, throwing five interceptions during the first half of his starting debut and posting a 0.0 passer rating in the 2018 season opener when he completed 5-18 passes for 24 yards, threw two interceptions and had no first downs until the third quarter. He was benched in favor of Josh Allen after posting a 0.0 passer rating as the Bills lost 47–3. His 12 interceptions between 2017 and 2018 are the most for a quarterback with less than 100 passing attempts...His five interceptions tied an NFL record for the most thrown in a player's first career start." Peterman's been the butt of jokes and the subject of ridicule by many NFL fans. I hope the money softens the blows of embarrassment.

Maybe he can learn a few magic tricks, some shadow puppet stuff, a few impressions... You can't make me.

I don't understand. Are you demanding that I watch/listen to the press conferences and judge the questions that were asked? Is that what you're asking me to do? Is there something wrong with me judging a writer by what they write? And I'm not asking anyone to "defer to me" so I'm not sure what your problem is. As I've stated numerous times to you and others, we have a difference of opinion. I can accept yours, why can't you accept mine? As for the "stones" issue, I guess you're referring to my statement that the team should have left no stone unturned (performed greater due diligence). I already gave examples but again... staying in contact with plaintiff's attorney and asking to speak with the plaintiff... exploring ways to distance Araiza from the team.

Wow. I'm "self-righteous and smug" because I think the Bills could have done better than they did and because I think many posters here are not objectively taking them to task? As far as your last sentence, "I think you like feeling as if you are superior to everyone here, it seems to be a constant in your posts." earlier in this topic I said I was an ####### and I also said I make no claims to being a good person so I really have no idea what you're talking about. As for your invitation to leave, I don't feel the least bit uncomfortable but if my posts make you feel uncomfortable, feel free to follow your own advice. But if you'd like to stick around and assail my character that's fine too. I'm sure it comes from a good place.

Now you've gone full on Crayonz. Checkmate and goodbye.

You ignored this query previously so I'll put it back in front of you seeing as you seem well-versed on all the administrative tools available to the clubs: For the second time, under what rules did Tom Brady take an 11 day leave and why couldn't the Bills and Araiza structure a similar arrangement? To the bolded, an organization when confronted with situations like this should always perform their utmost due diligence, should take the high road, and leave no stone unturned so that when things go off the rails, they can state unequivocally that they did everything in their power to do. The Bills declined to perform any further available actions. I'm sure under the barrage of media criticism the Bills are facing that they appreciate The Stadium Wall for all of the apologists and forgiveness of their shortcomings. As I said upthread, the Bills have been a first class organization for going on 6 years but they could have handled this situation better. That's a fair criticism.

I never said I was a reporter. I said I worked in the news industry. To your criticisms of me, I'm not "ignoring" anything nor am I "pontificating." I'm a sports fan who has an opinion that differs from yours and most others here. IMO the homers here are giving the Bills a free pass and I'm not. Again to the "direct quotes" criticism... for the 3rd time I'm judging the reporters work based on what they wrote, not what questions they were asking in the press conference. Did Graham write "direct quotes" in his The Athletic story? And again, my criticism of the Bills is mild... I've said repeatedly the team did two things that I would have done differently. My criticisms of the team's handling of Araiza doesn't even approach the levels of criticism leveled by every one of the Bills' beat writers. But by all means keep taking shots at my opinions.

To the first bolded, I was definitely calling some people stupid but I wasn't calling you stupid. Full disclosure: I'm not very smart but it's my observation that there are a lot of stupid people out there (and in here). To the second bolded, I'm not into diving into that level of detail. I've made my broad strokes take very clear. I think there's simple and elegant way the Bills could have handled this. You disagree... that's fine. To the third bolded... "Well call me sometime when you have no class"

For my own part I'm not going to go digging for procedural ways to accomplish what I proposed even though nothing short of doing that would satisfy some posters here... Related to leaves of absence, Tom Brady was gone for 11 days. Maybe someone here can explain the technical procedure for that.

To the bolded, I did not write "you are all too stupid." What I actually wrote was: "That said, in reading this topic many of you have a very limited view on the cost/benefit of the news media and also the job that the Bills beat writers are doing with Araiza-gate. A few of you don't understand what the world would be like if the media didn't exist. Having free media (as opposed to state-run media) asking even stupid questions is better than living in a world where an organization get a free pass because there's zero media scrutiny. Even "bad media" keeps people and organizations honest. Others here think..." So please don't misrepresent what I wrote. Let's try not to waste each other's time. If you don't want to understand what I'm saying that's fine. But let me try one more time: I don't care how they accomplished distancing themselves from Araiza after speaking with the plaintiff's attorney on July 31st... they should have taken that opportunity to do so. If there was no workaround then they should have cut him... anything other than what they did which was waiting until they were forced to cut him. Is that better???

Sorry to be an ####### btw. I try to hide that part of me but it's sometimes beyond my control. As mentioned by a quality poster in this topic, the consolidation of the media industry into "~5 companies" is well known and probably the biggest part of the problem with the industry (and all industries IMO). I believe the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine is also a contributing factor. I also believe the skirting of the "Equal Time" rules is another incremental step in the wrong direction. There are other smaller problems that have to do with social media, our educational system, and other things. As for what a personal leave would have accomplished, it would have distanced the team from the player while still retaining the player. By doing this the Bills would still be "standing by the player" and "protecting the spirit of due process" and at the same time "protecting their culture." Maybe the better suggestion is the one by Beck Water where they kept Haack and simply cut Araiza. Less straight forward but easier. At any rate I think the Bills should have taken the opportunity of the July 30th conversation to distance themselves from the player.