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Let me get this straight. I make a post that is perfectly germane to the topic, and without any inflammatory rhetoric, and you personally attack me with a cease and desist order followed by a repetitive crusade to protect the front office from any criticism. Well, your frothing insistence that TBN reports are all lies and anyone who believes them must be silenced is what is redundant and old at this point. Look, you will not silence me. If my opinions bother you so much please put me on ignore and take a Xanax.

You've addressed me many times, so stop the lying. In this case, rather than address the substance of my points I further elaborated on for you you've defaulted back the "stop the crusade" crap. It's the nonsensical fallback when your argument falls flat on substance and the only thing left is to say, "Oh yeah, well the jerk store called and they're out of you!" If you want a rational conversation than bring it. If your only purpose for posting is to try and silence criticism of the front office than please do so on your own, but keep me out of it.

The right decision. Yet another crushing, humiliating defeat for Goodell. How much longer can this go on before the owners are ready to dump the guy?

I thought I made myself perfectly clear, but let me help you. The GM controls the purse strings, and it's his job to work with the coach to ensure his decisions of who is kept and cut are fiscally viable and responsible. The coach, who is on the field with his staff evaluating the players every day, is the only one capable of deciding who the better players are for the team and who should be let go. The GM's job is to assemble talent for the coach to evaluate. The coach should be able to consult the GM on personell matters to ensure they are getting the right type of guys for his team, but the trigger on who to sign and who to draft is ultimately the GM's. If the coach goes unilateral on talent acquisition, or the GM goes unilateral on roster decisions, they will have overstepped their boundaries...or gone rogue if you will. Did that help?

That's not what I said and you know it. Come on...you're better than that.

Excellent take. I agree and disagree. The thing is, you need a GM and coach to be able to work together. A GM needs to tell the coach where they are on salary and what options will be available based on those considerations. The coach needs to decide within those boundaries who he wants to keep and cut. It's his team to coach, not the GMs. Seems to me Whaley overstepped his role in the Freddy clusterfack, creating unnecessary turmoil. He should not be permitted to make decisions on who starts, who sits and who gets cut...only consulted on what they can afford under the cap and offer suggestions. What Whaley did is akin to Ryan deciding who would be drafted without Whaley's approval then going to Pegula and getting a rubber stamp OK. Then making the pick without ever notifying Whaley until afterward. Boundaries need to be respected, collaboration is critical, and communication is king. The boundaries between GM and coach clearly need to be better defined or there will be a three ring circus at OBD.

This will still be in the courts long after the careers of Brady and Goodell are over.

Besides the multiple media reports, what further evidence do you require? Personally being in the room with Whaley to see if he told anyone? I'm not going with the media conspiracy theory that everyone is spreading lies to libel Whaley. It's clear to me there is fire behind the smoke.

Trying to think of another NFL team where the GM cuts players without discussing it first with the coach. Especially an experienced, highly paid head coach and the cutting of the team's most popular player. I recall the Pegulas saying they valued transparency and collaborative decision making regarding personnel. This certainly flies in the face of that philosophy. BTW, don't believe for a moment the Pegulas weren't involved in the leak of Whaley going rogue. T-Peg was reportedly surprised by Whaley's decision to cut Fred, and likely even more surprised to learn he did it without first consulting Rex. It only stands to reason that Whaley breached some level of trust with coach and owner in this process, and the front office silence in response to the viral "rogue" reports speaks volumes. Fred didn't become so beloved by fans, teammates and coaches by being a low character loud mouth who threw scandalous bombs to the media. For him to publicly call Whaley a liar is very significant. Consider the source of this statement. No athlete has earned the public's trust more than Freddy, maybe ever. His word is golden, and Whaley will find his reputation damaged far more from the resulting bad character label than any trade criticism he may have taken if Rex kept Freddy and cut his precious Bryce.

I do tend to directly respond to people who address me directly. Is that wrong? I'm sure Whaley is proud to see how fiercely you are willing to defend him, even if it requires misrepresent my words to fit the narrative. As far as the narrative, could you have more perfectly stepped in it? None of this has to do with me calling everyone a shill, and, in fact, I've never outright called you one either. I have only asked people to make up their own minds. However, feel free to keep reaching for something to "get me" with. I'm beginning to enjoy this. Or, just stick to the topic and leave me be.

When did I call any specific member a shill. Please feel free to show a quote of mine. I was very specific in my language not to name any names or make sweeping general statements that everyone was a shill. I realize what your doing, of course. It fits the narrative I outlined perfectly. However, if you want to attribute specific words to me please go ahead and show them. Thanks, and have a great day.

Appreciate the kind words and constructive dialogue. Now, please feel free to show where I've accused EVERYONE of being a shill? Thanks, and have a great day.

Like rats to cheese....the usual suspects appear right on time with full on ad hominem to deflect. So predictable.

Professional sports teams have for years used plants to perform social media damage control and manipulate discussion. This is a fact. Longtime contributors on message boards, twitter and comment sections of newspapers are often hired and paid to post. If they leave the fold the account is transfered to someone else. It's not as "altruistic" as people want to believe. Those quickest to attack such realities as "insane" or "ridiculous" are either painfully naive or on the payroll. Sorry to have to burst the bubble folks, but read the members over time who seem to always be the most aggressive in defending the FO, and then form your own opinions. Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy are as real as some of the member accounts on this and every other popular forum. It's costumed to look like genuine opinion, but behind the curtain you'll find the Wizard is a fraud.

Some people conveniently miss nuance - like quotes around words - as a strategy to advance their interests. Those whom they represent encourage these tactics to create false dichotomies that favor their narrative. Pretty sleazy stuff, yet fitting in a case such as this when the principle has acted in the sleaziest of fashions.

Your faux "shock" that management has plants on the payroll doing social media damage control is charming and telling. Also, tossing in that little strawman qualifier of "thinking Whaley is a good GM" was a nice added touch. Whaley must be proud.

"Pro-management", "pro-Whaley" posters are doing the job they were hired to do. Social media damage control is all business, and after a classless move like unceremoniously dumping the face of the franchise against the coaches wishes you can bet they are in all-hands-on-deck mode..

"@ByTimGraham: He deviated from the wishes of football ops and made the decision without any heads up. https://t.co/QJSbbUMTev" Confirmation (as if it were still needed) that Whaley's unilateral decision to cut Fred was not a football decision, but a personal crusade. Very cowardly for a GM to cut players, especially such a prominent one, secretly against the wishes of the coach. Sleazy overstepping like this makes one wonder if Marrone's decision to walk wasn't as unwarrented as it seemed.

While there is great humor to be had reading the desperation of Team Whaley flood the TBD board in a sad, failed effort to salvage his image, it really does demonstrate how petty and small the man is. Smear Fred as a bitter, washed up liar? Yeah, Buffalo fans really believe Waley is the higher character guy, and think Bryce Brown is the better player. Smear TBN as a tabloid reporting slanderous lies with fake sources as part of some tinfoil hat conspiracy against Whaley? Good luck with that one. Blast Buffalo fans as "ungrateful" for "all Whaley has done", and getting bent for him "just doing his job"? Yeah, multiple reports of Whaley lying and going rogue must all be false. Fans are just idiots. Mock fans for circulating a pro-Freddy petition with upwards of 20k signatures? Yeah, posts like that doesn't look fishy or anything. Smear the Pegulas for circulating false rumors that Whaley's reckless, personal decision to cut Freddy without communicating to them first caused embrassment and possible financial loss from one of the biggest advertisors? Yeah, Bills fans in real life run with that opinion. Team Whaley, you can bombard the boards with as many of your lackeys as you like but it won't move the dial a single notch. We know what the score is, and demonizing everyone but you will onlly backfire. Then again, you should be used to seeing impulsive maneuvers to boost your profile backfire in your face. Try being accountable for a change, bub. The smarmy, disengenuous act is wearing thin.

Right on, brother. This was about politics, not football. An executive desperately clinging to power goes rogue and cuts Freddy with the hope Bryce Brown can somehow improve his hand. It's pathetic.

Gee, who ever would have guessed? Answer: Anyone who can put 2+2 together. Whaley's forum plants will keep screaming in his defense, and bashing Freddy, but those of you who are like me, and think objectively without an agenda, must have realized what I've been saying this whole time has been true. Don't be afraid to say it yourself. The blowback from Team Whaley should not discourage you from speaking your mind...especially when it is so patently obvious. This team was not built exclusively by Whaley. Tyrod certainly was not a Whaley choice. Many of his personnel decisions, especially his biggest ones, have been made rogue and subsequently backfired. He overstepped badly with letting Freddy go from not only a team and talent perspective, but a PR persepctive. He'll deservedly take a huge hit for this from the media and fans. For Whaley's sake, the Bills better have a banner season this year, without any controversies or bickering between him and Rex, or you can bank on the Pegulas shopping for a new GM next summer.

A truly damning report for Whaley. From the beginning it couldn't have been more obvious if Whaley screamed with a bullhorn that Freddy was cut as a face-saving move to justify his foolish trade for Bryce Brown. EJ getting beat out by Tyrod likely pushed him over the edge to make this rogue, reckless move. One conclusion that now can be made without dispute: cutting Freddy had nothing to do with anything on the field, or what was in the best interests of the team. It was done by Whaley, for Whaley, in the interests of nobody but Whaley. He owns this abomination, and will pay dearly in the court of public opinion.

I'm not going to do a huge "I told you so", but I told you all so. Whaley is an arrogant infant who deserves every morsel of the hate he surely will receive for this.

I very much apreciate the recent posts in this thread. I won't add anything further because it's all been very well said. The dancing on Freddy's grave comments have made me sick, and the FO apologists have made me even sicker. There really is no excuse for what was done to Freddy, and I will not soon forgive the GM you all know I blame for it. Anyway, thank you to those who said what needed to be said.

Lol. I am weigh too careless.