Billy Zabka

Whaley is a good scout but a bad General manager. He is great at finding individual talent, but as far as putting a team together, managing the cap, running a draft, and working with and leading others...he isn't up to the job.

This from a guy covered in Whaley DNA . You constantly and vigorously defend every single move the Bills make despite 17 years of failure. That shows you have no credibility and very limited football knowledge. You want to be a blind cheerleader for OBD then fine go ahead, but why not let the grownups with valid criticisms of this failed organization have their adult conversations and you can sit at the kiddie table with your pom poms.

It's irrelevant that Gillislee was a street UFA. Point is you should judge a guy by production- not draft status or how he was acquired. Sad re-run of Jason Peters "he was just a UDFA" takes. If the Patriots traded Tom Brady for a third round pick I guess they are geniuses for turning a 6th round pick into a 3rd. Reply Retwee Lik

Whaley uses a 1st, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 4th on Watkins and Ragland. Lights an early 4th rounder on fire for fumbling bust Bryce Brown. Yet when Whaley loses a very nice RB for a glorified 6th Round pick hes a genius for turning a free agent into a 5th rounder. Let's hope Whaley has finally learned his lesson of the value of draft choices but in this case I would rather have Gillislee. (at 2nd round tender price) No, not tendering him at the 2nd round level and negotiating a longer term cap friendlier contract was the mistake. Whaley painted himself into a no win situation by either losing a good player for a glorified 6th round pick or paying him 4 million a year. GM's should avoid those.

He is actually 26 years old for over another 6 months and has very limited wear and tear. No reason he can't play into his 30's. Of course lack of franchise QB play is the biggest reason for drought, but it doesn't excuse Whaley for his other mistakes and shortcomings which help contribute.

Well when the Bills needed to punch it in at the goal line or get an important 3rd or 4th and 1 they often turned to Gillislee who did a tremendous job. Those are important game changing plays. Add that to the fact Shady is 29 years old with a ton of mileage and it is not just about losing a "backup" player. The smart play was the 2nd Round tender and negotiate a long term cap friendlier deal because no other teams are going to sniff around at that level. Is this a top level, seasoning altering blunder by Whaley...No, but small mistakes like these add up over time and help keep the playoff drought alive.

Whaley gets late 5th rounder for productive short yardage, goaline back and elite backup to a 29 year old with ton of mileage. Whaley trades early 4th round pick for fumbling bust Bryce Brown.... Yeah Whaley is a genius.

I am positive it was him, sat next to and talked to him. I just assumed he was in town to meet with Bills, I guess it's plausible he was here for other reasons like seeing Sammy.

Haven't seen it reported anywhere, but he was on my flight into Buffalo today. I wouldn't mind if the Bills took him, but I would prefer Corey Davis who i think is a better overall WR and played his college ball in a cold weather climate.

Goodwin was a weak blocking one trick pony at WR with a small catch radius and injury prone body, Hogan was an excellent blocker who could run all the routes. Goodwin was sadly a WR#2 much of the year and struggled to match Hogan's production as a #4 WR when he played through torn wrist ligaments. Hogan was clearly worth the 2nd round tender last year as opposed to the Goodwin, Salas, Harvin, Powell turd sandwich we had that probably cost more in salary than Hogan would have.

I made a thread in early March predicting this exact situation and said the Bills should have placed a 2nd Round tender on him or he would be poached. I said the million bucks they gave to a 32 year old backup fullback in Mike Tolbert would have been much wisely spent locking down Gillislee who is an elite goal line and short yardage back and proven backup to a 29 year old RB with a ton of mileage and hamstring issues. Many others on the boards and in the local media said the same thing well before the Pats signed him. To say nobody said it originally is total bunk and excuse making. Apparently the only people that didn't see it coming were Doug Whaley and his band of fluffers on here.

Much appreciated.

Just stating facts. Whaley isn't good enough, his record speaks for itself despite the endless excuses by some on here.

Buddy Nix was GM for that trade. If you are going to give blame to Nix for EJ you can't give Whaley credit for Hughes.

after he used two 1sts and 4th on his replacement in the best WR draft in recent memory off 6-10 season with EJ Manuel as his starter.

For the people who think Whaley is a genius for getting a late fifth round pick for Gillislee...this is the same guy that traded an early 4th for Bryce Brown.

Arthritic knee and possibly insane....Great pick at 44th overall by the genius Doug Whaley

Losing a very good 5.7 ypc running back who is tremendous in goaline and short yardage and backs up a 29 year old with hamstring issues so Whaley can draft the next Cyril Richardson in the 5th round and save some money to sign Percy Harvin again is not my idea of smart GMing. Maybe a smart GM that works with, but if you have faith in Whaley turning in that 5th rounder and cap savings into a more productive/important players than Gillislee, then you have far more faith in him than I. The smart move was the 2nd round tender and negotiate a longer, cap friendlier deal.

Whaley has not drafted well, managed the cap poorly, come close to finding a franchise QB (in fact the only decent QB found was by Rex), or sniffed the playoffs in his tenure here. He is not hamstrung like past GM's here by Ralph's thriftiness. Doug Whaley simply isn't good enough. Being a better GM than Marv Levy or Russ Brandon doesn't mean jack squat.

If Gillislee is a dime a dozen backup RB, then why is the smartest Organization in football giving him 4 million dollars this year.

Gillislee is the short yardage and goaline back and excels at both roles. He also spells an aging Shady to the tune of about 100 carries and ran for 5.7 yards a carry. Shady is 29 years old with a ton of carries on him and hamstring issues. TD Mike is plays an important role with the possibility he has to step up and play a very important role. He also fits Dennison's one cut scheme to a tee. To simply blow it off as losing a backup player and gaining a draft pick is kinda BS when all Whaley had to do was throw a second round tender on him. Now we will lose a good player or pay out more in valuable cap room to keep him than we had to.. Both options reflect poorly on Whaley who is already on borrowed time.

You can easily explain why each mistake along the way is no big deal, but lots and lots of little mess ups add up over time and mean a lot.

Faulty logic. Tom Brady was a 6th round pick so I guess if they trade him for a 4th rounder they turned a 6th rounder into a 4th. Great deal.

Bottom line is that the Bills are going to lose a good player or have to pay him more than they had to because of the incompetence of Doug Whaley.

Did Tolbert average 5.7 yards a carry the last 2 years and be as dominant in short yardage and goal line like Gillislee? Either the Bills are going to lose TD Mike or waste more money in cap room matching for a situation most saw coming. Either situation reflects poorly on Whaley.