SectionC3

I don't know about you, but to me hughes's prime wasn't all that impressive in the second half of last year. Alexander was the better player, and it wasn't even close. Your point about age is well taken, but the cost/benefit analysis is worth at least thinking about.

I understand where you're coming from. And I get that removing Hughes from the roster probably would result in a big cap hit. But I still wonder whether, say, 60% of the 2016 Alexander would be better than 100% of the 2017 Hughes. It's at least worth thinking about.

Completely agree with this idea. Tyrod is the bridge and, if we find somebody better in the next year or two, it would be much easier to move on from Tyrod insofar as the cap is concerned. Nyone we find who is better than Tyrod almost certainly will be cheaper than Tyrod, and if we luck into a Dak Prescott scenario we would only have to pay Tyrod big bucks for a year or two - while the guy who is actually worth that money is on a rookie deal. The interesting thing about pulling money forward for Tyrod is that it suggests that we may have an unforeseen cap casualty or two. It wouldn't surprise me if Wood is that surprise. In the same vein, i wonder if jerry hughes is a candidate to be moved. I have pondered the idea of paying Alexander significant money (but less than Hughes money) for two years, trading Hughes, and moving Alexander into Hughes's role and moving Hughes's lousy attitude out of town.

Nice work. Completely agree with the conclusion: Tyrod can get you to the postseason, but not by himself. If one agrees with that conclusion, there's no sense in dumping Tyrod for a "bridge" QB. Tyrod is the bridge. So maybe the convo is better addressed to who we bring in this year to compete with cardale, to push cardale, and to be pushed by cardale. If pushed myself, I'd consider Mahomes or kelly,but maybe that's s conversation for another day.

It could. But compensation for a taking by eminent domain must be just. So it might be better to purchase the properties subtly through shell corporations before a stadium plan is announced than it would be to try to establish a footprint through eminent domain. What is "just" is a fungible thing. The trickiest part of the deal might be father Conway park if the plan is to put the stadium there. The use of that land for something other than as a park likely will require the approval of the state legislature. I doubt it would be a problem but, if somebody on the state's end doesn't like the deal the state cuts for the stadium, that might be a way to hold things up.

There is no such discussion. You assumed that. A draft pick can be traded in advance of draft day. Think rams/titans for goff. The point of this discussion is to get people to think both outside the "box" and of the bigger picture. The stadium issue is starting to "smoke" a bit, and it would be a lot easier to get public support for the stadium if the lead in isn't another lousy rookie quarterback and a playoff drought that outlives the average canine. I can't believe the bills are sold on Tyrod, and I hope they don't waste the asset (by simply cutting him) if they aren't. I'd like to think the front office thinks broadly. We all should too.

Nobody said that. All that was said is that it's plausible. And there was a lot more to the point, too -- it makes sense for Jerry to want Romo to come here as opposed to other places, and the added benefit is that he gets to help owners he likes. And as far as the "newness" of the post goes - the Zemsky article is in today's Buffalo News. I cannot believe that it is coincidence that Zemsky spoke to the News the day after the Pegulas got upset about the disclosure of the Clerk's Office. Why, you ask? Because the disclosure of that purchase - which they obviously tried to hide - could drive up land values at one of the potential sites for a downtown stadium, and Zemsky spoke to the News to try to nip that in the bud. Finally, not that I work on such things, but it seems to me that if I was asking the public to finance at least 1/3 of what could be a $1 billion stadium, I might want to improve public opinion of the project - maybe by winning for the first time in ages. And, if I'm working toward a new stadium, I want that ball rolling ASAP while Governor Cuomo is still in office. Anything can happen in 2018, and maybe that "anything" doesn't want to send more money to Buffalo - especially for a football stadium. Nowhere in the original post did it say that Tyrod would be traded during the draft. And if no team is interested in TT with his current contract, why is TT's camp unwilling to take a restructure? I'll chip in an answer - because tampering happens all the time, and TT's camp knows he will get paid if he gets freed. Why else post videos of his physical activity after trying to set up a grievance through his surgery?

Option bonus isn't payable until third or fourth day if the league year. So he can be traded without the cap ramifications. Could happen. Obviously would have to be traded before bonus paid.

I know there are a lot of threads about Tyrod floating around, but I'm not sure any of them address these points: 1. Media reports are that the Bills have not told Tyrod that he will be the quarterback next year. In most professions/businesses, when the new boss comes in and doesn't tell you that you're the guy moving forward for the first few months that he/she is there, it generally isn't a good sign for your continued employment at that operation. That suggests (at least to me) that Tyrod is not the Bills' first choice under center next year. 2. The fact that Tyrod hasn't been told he is the guy next year doesn't necessarily mean that he is gone. It may be that Tyrod is an option, but not the preferred option. While he hasn't been told that he will be here, he also hasn't been told that he is gone. 3. Maybe this makes Tyrod trade bait. The are rumors (message board rumors, as far as I can tell, but rumors nonetheless) that Whaley wants to trade up in the draft for a quarterback. I'm not convinced that Cleveland is interested in Tyrod. (For what it's worth, I know somebody who talked to David Lee before Lee left the team who said that Lee essentially told him that Lee did the best he could with what he had, which isn't a ringing endorsement of Tyrod.) But, for the sake of argument, assume that the 49ers and/or the Bears are interested in Tyrod. Would pick 10 + Tyrod get the Bills to pick 2 or pick 3? If the rumors are true, Whaley apparently likes one or more of the QBs at the top of the draft. Perhaps if the Bills aren't going to bring Tyrod back, and if one of the aforementioned teams loves Tyrod and isn't keen on Watson/Trubisky/etc., then the idea of using pick 2/3/etc. to get Tyrod's reasonable contract and a good player at pick 10 makes sense. It's not unfathomable. 4. Trading Tyrod might make for the quickest rebuild. If Whaley doesn't believe that Tyrod's abilities justify the difference in salary between Tyrod and Cardale/affordable veteran placeholder/rookie taken at the top of the draft/some combination thereof, then perhaps it makes sense to move on from Tyrod and spend his money elsewhere. By way of example, moving on from Tyrod might free up money for Gilmore/Zach Brown, and with a few other cap moves (Carpenter, Corey Graham, and perhaps Eric Wood and/or Aaron Williams) the Bills could take care of additional, significant needs in free agency (RT, WR, healthy and decent safeties). 5. If Tyrod isn't used to trade up in the draft, perhaps he could be used to pick up another asset. A second round pick is not an unreasonable ask for him, and maybe a team like Denver thinks the same thing. (The fact that Tyrod apparently is unwilling to reduce the monies owed him by the Bills suggests that at least one team in the league would pay him a salary comparable to of his current contract, which in turn suggests that Tyrod has value.) That pick obviously would help the reload. 6. Or that pick could be flipped for another asset. I'm thinking Tony Romo. The same logic could apply to Gilmore - perhaps it's better to franchise and flip him (think Peerless Price) and spend whatever pick he returns (hopefully a 2) on something else we want. Like the best "bridge" quarterback imaginable while we search for a younger solution at that position. This idea fits with the unsubstantiated reports that the Bills have significant interest in Romo. 7. On the Romo front, from my perspective the price shouldn't be terribly high. A good analogy would be the trade of Brett Favre to the Jets - I believe that Green Bay netted a conditional pick that turned into a third round pick. Could we essentially flip Taylor for Romo? Or could we use Gilmore to acquire a pick used for Romo? Either possibility is reasonable. 8. There is one important thing that I have not seen discussed anywhere with respect to the Romo issue. Terry/Kim are close with Jerry Jones. Terry and Jerry both come from energy backgrounds, and they broke bread at the owners meeting at which the Rams were granted permission to move to Los Angeles. Jerry has also spoken highly of Kim, and my distant sense of Jerry is that he realizes that the huge price Terry and Kim paid for the Bills was a boon to franchise values across the league. That, in turn, might make Jerry inclined to help his new friends and business partners on the quarterback front. 9. What's more, Jerry is keen on the idea of new stadiums (and therefore new, shared revenue) across the league. Perhaps Romo brings success to the Bills, and perhaps success for the Bills helps with new stadium efforts. (Based on the news of the last few days, those efforts seem to be percolating a little bit. Howard Zemsky's denial today in the Buffalo News -- interestingly, one day after it was revealed that the County Clerk's office erred in releasing the price of the Pegulas' recent real property purchase downtown near one of the proposed stadium sites -- tells me all I need to know on that front.) Keeping Romo out of the NFC and away from both Denver and Houston also is not an altogether bad thing from Jerry's perspective. I appreciate that Romo might be reluctant to come to Buffalo, but in the end it might not be his choice. Or it may be that the Pegulas help convince Romo in the same manner they convinced LeSean McCoy to wear Bills blue. Finally, I'm not saying that I have a preference for any of the aforementioned ideas, or that I think that any of them will come to fruition. Personally, I probably would stick with Tyrod for the next two years. But there are some "signs" to read out there now, and I think it's fair to say that something is brewing behind the scenes at OBD.

Anything is possible. Why we would draft a holder is beyond me. Very, very well said.

Inaccurate and mediocre touch. But he is a gamer. pick 10 is too high for him. Maybe later.

I didn't listen carefully to the press conference yesterday, but I seem to recall McDermott thanking a search firm. Maybe Whaley was the point man on the search but had outside assistance. Or maybe Whaley wasn't "privy" to the consultant. Who knows. The poor guy struck gold again yesterday - winning takes two things - players and winning!

I think shady would be more than pleased to assume that additional responsibility.

Any chance the Richard interview is a subtle attempt to get an opinion on tyrod from a guy they dont intend to hire? Time will tell I guess.

The point is that this is a very valuable business that should have a level of sophistication and representation consistent with that value. The pc demonstrated that at least one of these two things is true: Whaley was woefully unprepared; and/or Whaley is inept. Neither of those things are acceptable for an operation of this magnitude.

The media didn't make that pc an unmitigated disaster. I've said this in other threads - does that pc give anyone hope that Whaley has the intelligence and skill to lead the bills out of the desert in which they have wandered for nearly two decades? This is the more important point. For too long the psyche of this organization has been deficient. It's sad that we reached a point where, to sign our loafing drug addled DT, we had to omit from his contract language cancelling his guaranteed payments in lieu of a drug-related suspension. To sign St. Doug we had to include the ridiculous opt out that precipitated the Rex mess. And now we apparently are satisfied with a GM who may be described as "not an idiot." I for one want better. We deserve batter. Enough of the Russ/Doug/Rex jock culture. It's time to get some serious, brilliant, and intense people in here who hate losing and who cherish success more than anything else on earth. Again, maybe I'm too hard on people, but I demand more of myself and if the people who work from me, and it's high time that the bills do, too.

Only shot.

Completely agree. If it wasn't for the media we wouldn't have punted in overtime against the the dolphins. I'd also like to note jerry Sullivan's tackling against the dolphins and the steelers was atrocious. Also, if Bucky Gleason hadn't put duke williams against mike Wallace on week 1 the season would have been totally different. Don't even remind me of Jeremy white's defensive game plan against the jets in week two. And the raiders game - if only Howard Simon hadn't taken over playcalling after gillislee's touchdown in the second half we wouldn't have gone three and out three times in a row.

Now I've heard it all. Terry and Kim emerged from "hiding" because they had to squelch the flames of a presser so atrociously handled as to make national news. It's no coincidence that terry spoke to a national reporter. And if the pegulas thought for one second that Whaley pulled a power play on them he would be a former gm in short order.

I don't think they had to trap him. He made his own bed.

Serious question - what did you think of his pc? Also, any thoughts on bill polian's takedown quotes in the d&c? And what does Whaley's track record point to? Maybe I'm guilty of holding people to standards that are too high, but I had a bad vibe about his judgment following the office porn story and his record as a talent evaluator is reflected in our recent record: mediocre. And here's a hint as to what is going on - Whaley doesn't like Lynn, and the "field" doesn't like Whaley. What a mess.

Not to mention the fact that the pegulas paid $1.4b for a team in NFL market 31 of 32 and therefore significantly raised franschise values across the board.

All of this source conversation is ridiculous. Guess what? If a writer reveals a source (either directly or indirectly) he or she will not have sources for long. Putting that aside, this leak reeks of posturing to me. I wouldn't be surprised if Lynn's interview sucked and his agent is in damage control. Lynn has been a bridesmaid a few time, and if this front office won't "marry" him after observing him for a few years it doesn't bode well for his future HC prospects,

And that's the problem. I want people in the bills organization who are smart. Not some guy who can pick a decent linebacker but who sounds like an imbecile when he opens his mouth. This is a billion dollar business, and if you want to essentially be the face of the operation from january to may you better be able to string a coherent sentence or two together. I don't doubt that Whaley has a decent eye for talent. But objectively - after that disaster does he inspire anyone to think he is the guy to lead us out of this mess? I for one can't trust him to get "it" right. As a longtime STH, what disgusts me most about the present situation isn't the length of the drought - of the current employees only brandon bears some responsibility for that - but that our team finds new ways to look utterly incompetent and hopeless after all these years. The word embarrassing is overused in many contexts, and particularly in sports. But this is really, really embarrassing. I'm sorry but he sounds like a dope. His track record also tilts toward dope. (Email problems, yearly fourth round wastes, horrible deal with dareus, deal with Tyrod that all of a sudden doesn't look so hot, the Rex mess.) And, if it walks like a duck ...

The seeds for this mess were sown long ago. For too long and Bills have given a local media nothing in the way of scoops, info, etc. That, in turn, has given rise to a toxic relationship between the bills and the local media in which most of the locals are unafraid to bite the bills' proverbial "hand" because it doesn't "feed" them. The last two pressers have been outrageous. The questioning would have been far less confrontational had some of these guys had something to lose from the bills. Notice that sal c. has gone soft on the bills. Why, you ask? Because he doesn't want to disrupt the flow of information from Kim pegula. Perhaps it's a similar story with carucci - no hostility there because he can't alienate his sources. Not defending berchtold here. I have no idea what type of prep was done. But perhaps trying to school Whaley on media presence is like trying to teach a chicken about gravity. It just isn't going to work.