Ed_Formerly_of_Roch

I'm sure that was what the whole argument in training camp was about. Not sure if the issue is Whaley is thickheaded and basically told Marrone I got you the players, now make use of them eve nif not what Marrone asked for. Did Marrone agree on the players then decided they weren't any good. Is Marrone just one of these guys who's never happy, wouldn't surprise me as he kind of comes off that way. Yup, I've always said that about Bill P very good coach, but lousy GM. Didn't think he ever put together that great roster. That was why he left the Giants, they wouldn't give him more power I don't know, did he not want them, or was he OK with it, maybe even asked for them. The players got here, then decides they suck and won't play them. I could certainly then see why Whaley could quickly tire of that and tell him, "I got you the toys you asked for, now go play with them as I'm not buying you anymore new toys!" Or did Whaley ignore his letter to Santa and got him the toys that Whaley thought he should have??

Why not offer the money. As was stated in convinced Marrone to sign here rather than maybe go to Cleavland or just delay things for days. RW owned the team at the time this was signed. The money wasn't coming from RW so if adding this clause helped seal the deal it was good for RW. Sign Marrone, things were looking up, helped him get 1.4$ bil for the team At that point Russ B was representing RW's interests, for the most part, was this good for the Bills, probably not, but Russ is obligated to act in RW's best interest not the teams, so he gladly welcomed to clause to get the deal completed. No one at that point knew where the team would be located in 2015, so wasn't a very outlandish request. I'm sure too it was written so that Marrone had a 3 day window upon the end of the season after the deal is complete so no money was coming out of RW's pocket. If the deal was only closed next week, likely Marrone would had to have waited until next Dec 31st to exercise the option.

Pegula hasn't stated anything along the lines of "Gee I'm sorry it didn't work out with Bill" Makes me wonder if there ever was an offer to him??

I don't think you need a HC for that, maybe a good OC and/or QB coach, but just do need a HC who understands the need for it.

I'm starting to wonder if maybe Pegula likes Whaley and didn't want to get rid of him and when he heard Polian talking about bringing in Smith, Pegula reminded Polian that he was just hiring his as an adviser, not to bring in his own cast. That ticked Polian off (which typically doesn't take much) Next thing you know, the entire deal ifs off and Polian is using the "heavy lifting" excuse to bow out gracefully.

All they need to to do the keep Spiller is announce Chan Galley is returning as HC.

I question how much did Marrone really report the front office is dysfunctional? All Polian has publicly stated is he changed his mind as now the job entailed too much work, really didn't say anything more. Now could be he's just taking the high road, but haven't seen anything of real substance reported of what was allegedly stated. It also doesn't make alot of sense if Pollian liked Marrone and once Marrone left, he backed out, but then it's reported that Marrone left because he didn't like the idea of having to report to Pollian. The only thing to explain that one is he really thinks very highly of himself and felt finishing 9-7 merits him to report to know one but the owner. Can he really be that full of himself?? Sounds like it would have been hard for Pegula to find a Czar as he must not like anyone but himself?? I really doubt Russ Brandon is doing any shaking whatsoever. First off the Czar to be named later will be in charge of football operations, not the marketing side. Will Russ report to the czar, I seriously doubt it. IMO Pegula and RB have a mutually agreed strategy that at some point when things are stabilized, RB 's services won't be needed and he will leave the Bill's likely with a large parting gift, next stop the NFL office. Or the other route he may take as others have reported, he may become president or something like that of this Buffalo Entertainment thing that apparently Pegula is leading. But I'm highly certain he's not at all worried, if anything I'd be more worried if I was Terry Pegula about Russ leaving per these rumors about him going to Oakland. Is Nix gone?? The report stated Nix was gone and Pollian was coming, well half of it didn't work out. Has anything more been reported about Nix?? Interesting theory on why Jim S came here PS I really don't like the look of this new "quote thing" as where does the quote end and the posters comments truly start? Seems kind of hard to figure out?? Case in point!!

I'd think the best place for him would be Atlanta. They have a good QB in place and the fan base and media cares more about Georgia and G Tech and probably even USC than they care about the Falcons so less attention to him.

at the time no one even knew where the team would be located. Or maybe the owner was Donald Trump and you don't want to work for him

He agreed to sign the contract at the time, so that's how it helped the Bills So you don't consider a new owner taking over new management??

wow, Bill Polien is young enough to be his son.

Wouldn't surprise me at some point to hear that the Bills' gave all of the offensive coaches the approval to interview for other jobs, but NOT the defensive staff. That often happens one side or the other.

Big differ4ence between the two. Bill B was still a new coach and was capable of learning from the early mistakes. For Shanahan this happened after 20 years of coaching. Kind of hard to excuse then.

I was wondering how long it would take someone to start a thread on this, you are the winner!! Russ B was representing Ralph Wilson at the time the contract was signed. What possible downside to RW would there be to put this clause into the contract as it wasn't going to be his money paying for it? If it helped the Bills close the deal why not? Are you going to claim the team would have sold for a higher price without this clause?? I don't know about you, but $4 mil doesn't sound like much of a big deal when spending $1.4 bil If anything having a coach on board who you assumed was going to be an improvement over prior choices would help drive the selling price up. Maybe at the time Russ B did have some concerns that this could come back to bite him, but likely in 2012 when this contract was signed if you asked RB if he thought he'd still be with the Bills after the team was sold, he likely would have said no. He also was representing RW's interests first and foremost. He may have asked RW about this at the time would RW agree to it, or maybe RW by that point wasn't getting into any details anymore and was left completely up to Russ to work out. Either way this clause wouldn't hurt RW since he wouldn't be paying for it and if it would help close the deal, and potentially m=inccreasing the value of the team, why not Without knowing the specific details of Russ's leadership agreement, but effectively he had POA responsibility for RW for the Bill's, typically as such he had a legal responsibility to represent the best interests of RW and if agreeing to this clause increased the sale rice, then he did the right thing. In simple terms in 2012 if RW was still running things and had agreed to this would you be OK with it? If so, then you need to still be OK with it as Russ B was representing RW's interests, and definitely not the fans of the team. As was stated they are called golden parachutes and are completely common at this level. In fact wouldn't surprise me if both Russ B and Doug W don't also have some type of clause in their contracts too.

I'm sure there was tampering involved, likely happens all the time and very difficult if not impossible to prove. Whenever there has been tampering, the penalty has been pretty severe, but just can't see how it would ever be proven.

No I want better QB play but your solution is to trade Sammy to get better at QB, then you suggest Foles Winston, and the 3rd best QB in the draft. I'd take EJ for 2015 over those options, can find someone better next year. Sammy has shown enough in the one season even with poor QB play to have a high degree of confidence that he will become a very good to elite player. You want in return a player who you have no idea if he'll ever be any good and based on past QB play has a low likelihood of success.

Of all the openings seems to me the Jets is the worst spot to land. Maybe Marrone is doing this to up the interest in Atlanta, or Oakland?? Can't believe he'd opt out for that mess in NY

Yeah, but that's not setting the bar very high. I'd be fine with him as OC, but all you're getting is another guy who was fired for losing too much. May not have been his fault, maybe he had poor talent, but didn't impress me as a HC

No because in a year or two Manning and Brady will be retired or very very close. You want to trade Sammy for a pile or potential garbage. Foles, Winston, 3rd best QB in draft You say Minn wouldn't trade Sammy for Brdgewater who has IMO has a much better chance at flame out than Sammy does, so then why do you want to get rid of a proven star for likely someone who may be out of football in a few years or will drift from team to team as a backup.

Nah I vote for the one who wants to trade Sammy!

Ok thanks for clarifying, makes it easier to say no 1) Who's to say we can't get a top 10 QB by 2016 We're not stuck with a Matt Moore type beyond this season at worst. We've now lost a potential superstar forever. 2) So you want to get rid of a player who appears from everything seen to be the real deal for Winston or the 3rd best QB? Wow! QB of all the positions is one of the toughest to draft with the highest risk of flame out. There are no sure things QB's in this years draft and I'd put Foles in that same boat, from what we've seen of him he could just be a one year wonder who was helped last season by an offense teams took awhile to figure out how to stop. Even if one of these QB's does work out, he just lost a huge weapon to throw to. Here's my list of who I'd probably trade Sammy for and I'm guessing many posters here would likely cut my list in half: Arron Rodgers, Andrew Luck Phillip Rivers, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Matt Ryan Tony Romo, Matt Stafford, Big Ben,, maybe Wilson in Sea. If the team would throw in a 2nd or 3rd rounder, I'd also likely go for: Andy Daulton, Joe Flacco, Alex Smith, Derek Carr, Ryan Tannihill, SF's QB(not going to try to spell it) I'll throw in Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as they are certainly talented enough to make the first list, but don't have enough years left to warrant more. So yes I'd make these trades for Sammy , but highly doubt any other team would agree to it. Baseball is a different sport, much easier to build though trades, easy to give up prospects, and need much less great players to have a good team. Comparing Billy Beane to football is pointless..

I'd think of all the places to go, the Jets are weakest with no QB just like in Buffalo. It could be the agent using the Jets to drive up interest with Atlanta, or Oakland where much better QB situations exist

The one coach who I despised for years and still do was Pat Riley. He left the Knicks because he was due a bonus one year July 1st and they only sent him the money on July 3rd. This was after he had traded like the next three years draft picks away to try and win now at all costs. Once that chance passed, he took the tow days late on the money as his golden parachute to void the contract. I was a Knick's fan and from that day forward hoped Riley never won another game in his life and still do. Brandon granted this clause representing RW's interest. From RW's staind point a great deal to offer as didn't/wouldn't cost RW a dime. Did TP reduce his offer for the team because of this close highly doubtful.

Sorry I don't buy this "commitment thing" Plenty of ex-football guys who go to the ESPN's of the world have the ability to leave anytime to get back into the game. Plus ESPN wouldn't want to tick off a future top executive of a team who could then tend to shut out the network on future big stories. Is ESPN's playoff coverage really going to fall apart without him if they only have 14 ex players/coaches instead of 15 or so? I think the announcing later is he doesn't want it to influence his HOF voting. And yes I know it's been reported that he was nominated as a contributor so won't have any effect. That doesn't mean voters may not change their mind on him and leave him off the ballot if it's reported hes come back to a team again. I think it would have been easy to have stayed hidden in the shadows till after the HOF vote and still give his opinion to the Bill's without anyone knowing it, but now with a new coach coming in, if the reports of him coming to the Bill's are true, can't believe this doesn't force him to come out of the closet now. He could easily cut an off the table deal with ESPN, they let him out of his commitment and he gives ESPN a two hour scoop on announcing the next HC. So will see what happens over the next few days. Maybe he stays through this weekends games, then on Monday it's announced he's leaving. Plus the NFL doesn't like teams making coaching hirings over the weekends whe nplayoff games are going on as they want all eyes and ears on the games themselves. That was a classic line IMO!! Or could it be he's plans to sit out a year and then go back to college. There are some similarities between him and Harbaugh around maybe being a little pig headed and petty. That is easier to deal with a 20 YO than NFL players. Who was that famous college coach who stated he'd only go coach in the pros when he could be higher paid than all the players on his team? These days that may not even work in college!

Well If Jim Harbaugh was announced as the next HC I'd say there's a good chance Schwatz would be gone, but that's not happening. Depends who the next HC is. If that person for whatever reason doesn't get along with Schwatz or has a very different take on defense, then he may be gone. Or the other side if for some reason JS doesn't like the new HC, he'd then likely ask out of his contract.