GM Doug Whaley's end of season press conference

[Fan in Chicago]

 

And the fact that the media can't piece the puzzle together for themselves shows how inept they are. They focus (and get angry) about issues that just don't matter that much, like did Doug talk to Terry about wanting to get rid of Rex or why did Terry make that decision without the GM's approval. Who cares. Rex was going to get fired, we all knew it, Rex knew it and there is no way that Doug and Terry were not in agreement over that whether they talked about it or not.

 

Of course Whaley hasn't been perfect and I do believe that for at least the last three years, he has been pretty much in charge of the 53...but you can't say that the roster isn't much more talented than when he arrived. Give him a chance to do his job properly and to make his own decisions (with the Pegulas blessing of course). We might be pleasantly surprised.

excellent post.

[papazoid]

Yes, Whaley is a bit unlikable in press conferences because he answers like a politician. But what did the media want him to say? Yes, my bosses (the Pegulas and Russ Brandon) made some horrible decisions that I didn't agree with but they overruled me. Or I didn't want Rex all along...told you so Terry and Russ. Come on. And if the owner of a company wants someone fired, he doesn't have to ask anyone else. He's the owner.

 

The positive thing to come out of all of this is Russ Brandon will not be involved anymore in the coaching search or the football operations. You want an answer for why this team has missed the playoffs for the last decade at least? It's because we haven't had a real GM, a football guy with full authority to do his job.

 

2006-2007: Marv (former coach) and Russ Brandon (marketing guy that started in baseball, not football) basically become co-GMs. Marv was obviously hired for public relations reasons and because Ralph trusted him (since Donahoe had alienated the fans, media, staff, and Ralph himself). But neither of these guys (despite Marv having been a great coach) were qualified for the position.

 

2008-2009: Marv steps down and Russ Brandon (with no coaching, playing, or scouting experience) becomes the GM and gains Ralph's trust and ear.

 

2010-2013: It is obvious that the franchise needs a football guy in the FO. They promote Nix (again trust issue stemming back to Donahoe) and bring in Whaley, an up-and-comer who is still probably too green to take over a franchise yet on his own. Russ becomes CEO. Nix is there to bring back stability, improve the roster, and groom Whaley to take over. He didn't turn the team around, but did do those 3 things (to an extent). In January of 2013, with Russ having been promoted from CEO to President (above the GM position) and Nix still as the GM, Doug Marrone is hired. This was obviously a Russ choice with the Syracuse ties, etc. And also, during Nix's tenure, Russ was the man who had Ralph's ear and probably spoke for him in the building, especially as Ralph's health continued to get worse. Then in March of 2013, just after the draft, Nix resigns and Whaley is promoted to the position with Marrone, a guy he may have agreed to, but was not his hand-picked option as his coach.

 

2014: ​Ralph dies in March. Brandon takes on de facto owner role. In November, Pegulas buy the team. And in December Marrone quits. Since the Pegulas want to observe the operation before blowing it all up, they lean heavily on Russ Brandon to get up to speed on the team and how the NFL works. Russ has been GM, CEO, President, and de facto owner, plus he was instrumental in the sale of the team to Terry. Whaley has been in his position for only 18 months and of course would want to ingratiate himself to the Pegulas to keep his job. But they are probably listening more to Russ on how things should go.

 

 

2015: Rex is hired. From all accounts, he went in and wowed Russ and the Pegulas. Terry and Kim liked him a lot and Russ was probably seeing a marketing boon (more national coverage, great press conferences, hope for the fanbase). Again, Whaley may have agreed with the decision, but Rex was not necessarily his choice. Even at the time it seemed like a Pegula/Russ choice from the reporting of it. So, again, he has to work with a coach he didn't hand pick. Rex was so eager to prove the Jets were wrong for firing him that he took the job. But if you looked at him in his last year in New York, the guy was burnt out and defeated. I know when you get burnt out at work, how long it takes to get back on track. Maybe Rex needed some time off rather than jumping into the deep waters again. Plus, because of the problems Rex had with his GM(s) in New York, he gets the Pegulas to agree that he will report to them rather than to the GM. Contrary to how most organizations function. So, Whaley is still somewhat treated as a Jr. GM, not fully in control...first under Nix, then Brandon, then with the communication structure with Rex and the Pegulas.

 

2016: ​Season does not go well, no improvement. Rex had a lot of influence over draft and player selection and adding to/changing the coaching staff with no results. The defense is bad (supposedly Rex's specialty). No doubt, especially as the hot seat warmed in the media regarding Rex, Terry and Doug had discussed what is wrong with the team including in the coaching department. But it seems as if they were going to let it play out, do their end of season evaluations, and then most likely fire Rex. Rex saw the writing on the wall, so he asked Terry straight out and in that moment Terry made the final decision then and there (an owner's perogative).

 

Doesn't seem that hard to figure out or believe or understand the decision making process (even if there were some bad decisions that turned out poorly).

 

But, from 2006 to 2016, Russ Brandon was basically GM for four years, CEO for 3 years (over Nix as GM), President and de facto owner for 2 years (over Whaley), and then President and closest advisor to the new owners for two years. His hand was heavy in both of the last two coaching choices (and possibly the last 4 coaching searches going back to Jauron). This guy, who didn't come up through any football ranks, has basically been running this team for the last decade. He may be a great executive, marketer, business man, but he should never have been involved in the football decisions (outside of possibly contracts).

 

The fact that the Pegulas were not afraid to admit Rex didn't work out and to fire him and to now remove Russ from all football decisions and actually hand the keys of the car to Whaley are all positive signs to me that they are trying to correct the problems of the last couple of years. Whaley was under Nix and Brandon for 3 years, GM for 10 months and hadn't even overseen a draft solo when Ralph passed, had to deal with new owners (and again Russ) who maybe weren't ready to let him make all the decisions yet, and he didn't get to hand-pick the coaches he worked with, etc. Let the man do his job and sink or swim on his own merit, where we don't have to guess if it was his decision or Buddy's, or Brandon's, or Ralph's, or the Pegula's.

 

And the fact that the media can't piece the puzzle together for themselves shows how inept they are. They focus (and get angry) about issues that just don't matter that much, like did Doug talk to Terry about wanting to get rid of Rex or why did Terry make that decision without the GM's approval. Who cares. Rex was going to get fired, we all knew it, Rex knew it and there is no way that Doug and Terry were not in agreement over that whether they talked about it or not.

 

Of course Whaley hasn't been perfect and I do believe that for at least the last three years, he has been pretty much in charge of the 53...but you can't say that the roster isn't much more talented than when he arrived. Give him a chance to do his job properly and to make his own decisions (with the Pegulas blessing of course). We might be pleasantly surprised.

 

 

boom....outstanding....worth repeating

[May Day 10]

 

Well done. I almost spent 30 minutes this morning writing essentially the same thing before I saw your post. It is understandable that the Pegulas trusted Brandon more than anyone else once they bought the team, and it shows growth as owners that they are now apparently willing to give a football man -- Whaley -- the keys to the car. It is only FAIR that Whaley finally gets a chance to choose a coach that fulfills his vision of what the team should be. It's on him, now.

 

my issue is... the Bills have done this before, multiple times, dating back to Wilson's "General Manager of Football" bit when "hiring" Buddy Nix. They long ago ran out of credibility with this. Whaley's strange answers provided many more questions when he implied that as General Manager, he had no idea or opinion whether or not the head coach would or should be fired. This took place 2 weeks ago. So starting..................................... now, we are letting the General manager make the decisions?

[Fan in Chicago]

 

my issue is... the Bills have done this before, multiple times, dating back to Wilson's "General Manager of Football" bit when "hiring" Buddy Nix. They long ago ran out of credibility with this. Whaley's strange answers provided many more questions when he implied that as General Manager, he had no idea or opinion whether or not the head coach would or should be fired. This took place 2 weeks ago. So starting..................................... now, we are letting the General manager make the decisions?

Whaley is in charge of the search but he did say the ultimate decision will be with the Pegulas (note: not Brandon). So, lets say Whaley comes with top-2 recommendations both of which are very close. pegulas will have the decision on who to go with.

 

Past decision structure is umimportant - comment on the go-forward plan. Do you like it or not ?

 

Also, Whaley said the authority structure will be decided at the interview process. Sounds very selfless of Whaley. No other way to interpret this.

[bmur66]

Reading through some of the posts here, it is evident that I am going to be in a minority here. But saw the entire 38 minute conference and think that given the current state of the Bills, this PC could not have gone any better. A few points:

- He said the Bills are aware of the leaks and will be investigating and shutting it down. Lets not kid ourselves – every organization and entity has a lot of junk being discussed at board and management meetings. The regular employees and shareholders do not and are not privy to those discussions. If there were leaks from such meetings, an outside observer may very well think that company is in disarray and there is discord among board members. That is the reason these meetings are behind closed doors. Ergo, much of the current perception about the Bills stems from random leaks that have happened. The press thiks it is a huge deal but IMHO it really isnt. Especially now that the accountabilities have been clearly laid out.

- Consider that they have just started the coaching hire. Whaley said the structure of the team going forward is unimportant to him and he just cares about winning. What he was implying is that if there is a high profile coach who wants more control of personnel and decisions, Whaley will relinquish some of his personnel power to land that guy. He cannot say anything more about the coaching search as he should not. There was a direct question about Bruce Arians saying that one of his coordinators (I missed the name) has been contacted by the Bills and Whaley confirmed it.

- Pegulas decided to fire Rex. They did not consult with Whaley. What more is there to be said about this ? It was nauseating that the press kept askign the same question again and again in an effort to bait him. He was professional, calm, did not take the bait and repeated his same answer. There was no other one to be given

- I was shocked about how few questions there were about the coaching search. I would not expect the name candidate names but I would have expected the press to ask what the key criteria are likely to be, is there preference for previous HCs etc. Precious few questions about the go-forward plan.

 

The entire line was questioning was to further this going narrative that the Bills are in disarray. Whaley calmly blunted all of that. The press, people on twitter and many of the posters are getting worked up because they didn’t get anything juicy to talk about. To me, this really is laughable how so many people are getting upset about not getting their toys.

I did not see the press conference but did read about it. Your summary is what I thought as well. What I didn't get was whether the structure has changed with the new HC reporting to Whaley instead of the HC and GM both reporting to Pegula. This is unclear to me. Since Whaley is leading the search it sounds like the HC will report to him. If not then Whaley is still a Jr. GM. Does anyone know if this has been clarified?

[May Day 10]

Whaley is in charge of the search but he did say the ultimate decision will be with the Pegulas (note: not Brandon). So, lets say Whaley comes with top-2 recommendations both of which are very close. pegulas will have the decision on who to go with.

 

Past decision structure is umimportant - comment on the go-forward plan. Do you like it or not ?

 

Also, Whaley said the authority structure will be decided at the interview process. Sounds very selfless of Whaley. No other way to interpret this.

 

If Whaley has the keys... then I am fine with it. I just don't buy that this is the plan. Especially when he claims he was a bystander as other people made the decision to and acted on firing his head coach. It makes no sense.

 

 

It is just going to be Lynn anyways... which is an uninspiring choice, which in my opinion will continue the Bills' curve to a bottom feeding aged team with cap issues.

 

 

If/when Pegula decides to change the course of a 51+ year failed franchise... we will know, and it will be obvious. These half-measures and accountability shell games are a pattern left over from the Wilson ownership and management.

Edited January 3, 2017 by May Day 10

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

"I was shocked about how few questions there were about the coaching search. I would not expect the name candidate names but I would have expected the press to ask what the key criteria are likely to be, is there preference for previous HCs etc. Precious few questions about the go-forward plan."

 

Good post! You and me both

[26CornerBlitz]

Yes, Whaley is a bit unlikable in press conferences because he answers like a politician. But what did the media want him to say? Yes, my bosses (the Pegulas and Russ Brandon) made some horrible decisions that I didn't agree with but they overruled me. Or I didn't want Rex all along...told you so Terry and Russ. Come on. And if the owner of a company wants someone fired, he doesn't have to ask anyone else. He's the owner.

 

The positive thing to come out of all of this is Russ Brandon will not be involved anymore in the coaching search or the football operations. You want an answer for why this team has missed the playoffs for the last decade at least? It's because we haven't had a real GM, a football guy with full authority to do his job.

 

2006-2007: Marv (former coach) and Russ Brandon (marketing guy that started in baseball, not football) basically become co-GMs. Marv was obviously hired for public relations reasons and because Ralph trusted him (since Donahoe had alienated the fans, media, staff, and Ralph himself). But neither of these guys (despite Marv having been a great coach) were qualified for the position.

 

2008-2009: Marv steps down and Russ Brandon (with no coaching, playing, or scouting experience) becomes the GM and gains Ralph's trust and ear.

 

2010-2013: It is obvious that the franchise needs a football guy in the FO. They promote Nix (again trust issue stemming back to Donahoe) and bring in Whaley, an up-and-comer who is still probably too green to take over a franchise yet on his own. Russ becomes CEO. Nix is there to bring back stability, improve the roster, and groom Whaley to take over. He didn't turn the team around, but did do those 3 things (to an extent). In January of 2013, with Russ having been promoted from CEO to President (above the GM position) and Nix still as the GM, Doug Marrone is hired. This was obviously a Russ choice with the Syracuse ties, etc. And also, during Nix's tenure, Russ was the man who had Ralph's ear and probably spoke for him in the building, especially as Ralph's health continued to get worse. Then in March of 2013, just after the draft, Nix resigns and Whaley is promoted to the position with Marrone, a guy he may have agreed to, but was not his hand-picked option as his coach.

 

2014: ​Ralph dies in March. Brandon takes on de facto owner role. In November, Pegulas buy the team. And in December Marrone quits. Since the Pegulas want to observe the operation before blowing it all up, they lean heavily on Russ Brandon to get up to speed on the team and how the NFL works. Russ has been GM, CEO, President, and de facto owner, plus he was instrumental in the sale of the team to Terry. Whaley has been in his position for only 18 months and of course would want to ingratiate himself to the Pegulas to keep his job. But they are probably listening more to Russ on how things should go.

 

 

2015: Rex is hired. From all accounts, he went in and wowed Russ and the Pegulas. Terry and Kim liked him a lot and Russ was probably seeing a marketing boon (more national coverage, great press conferences, hope for the fanbase). Again, Whaley may have agreed with the decision, but Rex was not necessarily his choice. Even at the time it seemed like a Pegula/Russ choice from the reporting of it. So, again, he has to work with a coach he didn't hand pick. Rex was so eager to prove the Jets were wrong for firing him that he took the job. But if you looked at him in his last year in New York, the guy was burnt out and defeated. I know when you get burnt out at work, how long it takes to get back on track. Maybe Rex needed some time off rather than jumping into the deep waters again. Plus, because of the problems Rex had with his GM(s) in New York, he gets the Pegulas to agree that he will report to them rather than to the GM. Contrary to how most organizations function. So, Whaley is still somewhat treated as a Jr. GM, not fully in control...first under Nix, then Brandon, then with the communication structure with Rex and the Pegulas.

 

2016: ​Season does not go well, no improvement. Rex had a lot of influence over draft and player selection and adding to/changing the coaching staff with no results. The defense is bad (supposedly Rex's specialty). No doubt, especially as the hot seat warmed in the media regarding Rex, Terry and Doug had discussed what is wrong with the team including in the coaching department. But it seems as if they were going to let it play out, do their end of season evaluations, and then most likely fire Rex. Rex saw the writing on the wall, so he asked Terry straight out and in that moment Terry made the final decision then and there (an owner's perogative).

 

Doesn't seem that hard to figure out or believe or understand the decision making process (even if there were some bad decisions that turned out poorly).

 

But, from 2006 to 2016, Russ Brandon was basically GM for four years, CEO for 3 years (over Nix as GM), President and de facto owner for 2 years (over Whaley), and then President and closest advisor to the new owners for two years. His hand was heavy in both of the last two coaching choices (and possibly the last 4 coaching searches going back to Jauron). This guy, who didn't come up through any football ranks, has basically been running this team for the last decade. He may be a great executive, marketer, business man, but he should never have been involved in the football decisions (outside of possibly contracts).

 

The fact that the Pegulas were not afraid to admit Rex didn't work out and to fire him and to now remove Russ from all football decisions and actually hand the keys of the car to Whaley are all positive signs to me that they are trying to correct the problems of the last couple of years. Whaley was under Nix and Brandon for 3 years, GM for 10 months and hadn't even overseen a draft solo when Ralph passed, had to deal with new owners (and again Russ) who maybe weren't ready to let him make all the decisions yet, and he didn't get to hand-pick the coaches he worked with, etc. Let the man do his job and sink or swim on his own merit, where we don't have to guess if it was his decision or Buddy's, or Brandon's, or Ralph's, or the Pegula's.

 

And the fact that the media can't piece the puzzle together for themselves shows how inept they are. They focus (and get angry) about issues that just don't matter that much, like did Doug talk to Terry about wanting to get rid of Rex or why did Terry make that decision without the GM's approval. Who cares. Rex was going to get fired, we all knew it, Rex knew it and there is no way that Doug and Terry were not in agreement over that whether they talked about it or not.

 

Of course Whaley hasn't been perfect and I do believe that for at least the last three years, he has been pretty much in charge of the 53...but you can't say that the roster isn't much more talented than when he arrived. Give him a chance to do his job properly and to make his own decisions (with the Pegulas blessing of course). We might be pleasantly surprised.

 

Well chronicled sir.

[PromoTheRobot]

The Buffalo News Sports audience are people who love to complain and feel victimized. Sully is the master of pushing those buttons.

[papazoid]

I did not see the press conference but did read about it. Your summary is what I thought as well. What I didn't get was whether the structure has changed with the new HC reporting to Whaley instead of the HC and GM both reporting to Pegula. This is unclear to me. Since Whaley is leading the search it sounds like the HC will report to him. If not then Whaley is still a Jr. GM. Does anyone know if this has been clarified?

the "reporting" structure is fluid. whaley answered that several times by saying it will play itself out in the interview process and whatever is best for the TEAM. that's code for all options on table. not wanting to get boxed in for a cetain type of coach.....a first time head coach like Anthony lynn may not have a problem reporting directly to GM doug whaley where as a candidate like tom coughlin may want more power and direct line to the Pegula's.

[eball]

 

my issue is... the Bills have done this before, multiple times, dating back to Wilson's "General Manager of Football" bit when "hiring" Buddy Nix. They long ago ran out of credibility with this. Whaley's strange answers provided many more questions when he implied that as General Manager, he had no idea or opinion whether or not the head coach would or should be fired. This took place 2 weeks ago. So starting..................................... now, we are letting the General manager make the decisions?

 

You're not paying attention -- Whaley clearly wasn't fully in charge of the football operation. He's clumsy in press conferences and didn't have a good statement prepared. Anyone who believes Whaley and Pegula hadn't discussed the overall performance of the team -- with or without directly speaking about whether to retain or fire Rex -- is fooling himself. And Whaley wanted to make it clear that the decision was made outside of the normal "process" -- i.e., end of year evaluations -- and he didn't initiate it.

 

If the Pegulas are going to truly trust Whaley to find the HC and change their management structure then we will finally know whether or not Whaley has what it takes.

[PastaJoe]

"I was shocked about how few questions there were about the coaching search. I would not expect the name candidate names but I would have expected the press to ask what the key criteria are likely to be, is there preference for previous HCs etc. Precious few questions about the go-forward plan."

 

Good post! You and me both

Did you listen to presser? Whaley was asked, and he said he didn't want to reveal criteria because it would tip off other teams on what they're looking for.

 

Given the Bills track record, if Whaley said what his criteria is, I would expect other teams to do the opposite.

[PromoTheRobot]

I did not see the press conference but did read about it. Your summary is what I thought as well. What I didn't get was whether the structure has changed with the new HC reporting to Whaley instead of the HC and GM both reporting to Pegula. This is unclear to me. Since Whaley is leading the search it sounds like the HC will report to him. If not then Whaley is still a Jr. GM. Does anyone know if this has been clarified?

That seems to be the indication. Whaley is 100% in charge of the search. Obviously the owners get to sign off on any hire, but if they put Whaley in charge of finding that guy, I would assume the chain of command goes through GM Doug Whaley.

[Fan in Chicago]

I did not see the press conference but did read about it. Your summary is what I thought as well. What I didn't get was whether the structure has changed with the new HC reporting to Whaley instead of the HC and GM both reporting to Pegula. This is unclear to me. Since Whaley is leading the search it sounds like the HC will report to him. If not then Whaley is still a Jr. GM. Does anyone know if this has been clarified?

Whaley clarified it. See papazoid's response below

 

It is just going to be Lynn anyways... which is an uninspiring choice, which in my opinion will continue the Bills' curve to a bottom feeding aged team with cap issues.

 

 

If/when Pegula decides to change the course of a 51+ year failed franchise... we will know, and it will be obvious. These half-measures and accountability shell games are a pattern left over from the Wilson ownership and management.

I am not at all sure it is Lynn's job to lose.

 

And your last point is absolutely fair. Lets give the Pegulas the benefit of doubt and a second opportunity to get it right.

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

Did you listen to presser? Whaley was asked, and he said he didn't want to reveal criteria because it would tip off other teams on what they're looking for.

 

Given the Bills track record, if Whaley said what his criteria is, I would expect other teams to do the opposite.

Yeah as a matter of fact I did watch bub. And, NO I wasn't satisfied with level of questioning about the team going forward. It's pretty obvious from your last comment that you're a big Whaley guy.

Thanks for your contributions.

[Fan in Chicago]

Did you listen to presser? Whaley was asked, and he said he didn't want to reveal criteria because it would tip off other teams on what they're looking for.

 

Given the Bills track record, if Whaley said what his criteria is, I would expect other teams to do the opposite.

Thats fair. And yes, he did say something to that effect. I still think there was too much focus on trying to get a violent response from Whaley and they were disappointed that he gave them nothing.

[PastaJoe]

The Buffalo News Sports audience are people who love to complain and feel victimized. Sully is the master of pushing those buttons.

As opposed to others who are fine with the 17 year drought and another 7-9 record. Don't ask tough questions and buy more season tickets in support of mediocrity. Some of us aren't fooled by the "rinse and repeat" label on products.

[PromoTheRobot]

Reading through some of the posts here, it is evident that I am going to be in a minority here. But saw the entire 38 minute conference and think that given the current state of the Bills, this PC could not have gone any better. A few points:

- He said the Bills are aware of the leaks and will be investigating and shutting it down. Lets not kid ourselves every organization and entity has a lot of junk being discussed at board and management meetings. The regular employees and shareholders do not and are not privy to those discussions. If there were leaks from such meetings, an outside observer may very well think that company is in disarray and there is discord among board members. That is the reason these meetings are behind closed doors. Ergo, much of the current perception about the Bills stems from random leaks that have happened. The press thiks it is a huge deal but IMHO it really isnt. Especially now that the accountabilities have been clearly laid out.

- Consider that they have just started the coaching hire. Whaley said the structure of the team going forward is unimportant to him and he just cares about winning. What he was implying is that if there is a high profile coach who wants more control of personnel and decisions, Whaley will relinquish some of his personnel power to land that guy. He cannot say anything more about the coaching search as he should not. There was a direct question about Bruce Arians saying that one of his coordinators (I missed the name) has been contacted by the Bills and Whaley confirmed it.

- Pegulas decided to fire Rex. They did not consult with Whaley. What more is there to be said about this ? It was nauseating that the press kept askign the same question again and again in an effort to bait him. He was professional, calm, did not take the bait and repeated his same answer. There was no other one to be given

- I was shocked about how few questions there were about the coaching search. I would not expect the name candidate names but I would have expected the press to ask what the key criteria are likely to be, is there preference for previous HCs etc. Precious few questions about the go-forward plan.

 

The entire line was questioning was to further this going narrative that the Bills are in disarray. Whaley calmly blunted all of that. The press, people on twitter and many of the posters are getting worked up because they didnt get anything juicy to talk about. To me, this really is laughable how so many people are getting upset about not getting their toys.

Spot on, and bravo to Folz's timeline. There is no mystery or conspiracy afoot. The Pegulas were charmed by Rex Ryan and Brandon backed the hire. Whaley had misgivings but went along.

 

Two years later Terry sees his error, gives fuller control to his football guy Doug and moved his marketing guy Russ away from football operations.

Edited January 3, 2017 by PromoTheRobot

[Mr. WEO]

Whaley is in charge of the search but he did say the ultimate decision will be with the Pegulas (note: not Brandon). So, lets say Whaley comes with top-2 recommendations both of which are very close. pegulas will have the decision on who to go with.

 

Past decision structure is umimportant - comment on the go-forward plan. Do you like it or not ?

 

Also, Whaley said the authority structure will be decided at the interview process. Sounds very selfless of Whaley. No other way to interpret this.

 

 

How is this different than the Rex hiring? Whaley said he told the Pegulas "how do you know? You just know".

[hondo in seattle]

 

This is his 4th year as GM and the question is whether he's improved the talent on the roster. IMO he has. If the standard is getting every decision correct, then no GM in the NFL would last very long.

 

He transformed it from a bad roster to an average roster. That's progress... but is he flat-lining at .500?

 

There's been a lot of rumor and speculation that Whaley thinks this is actually a good roster. And hence agrees with the need for a new coach. I haven't seen this from a credible source but it seems believable.

 

We'll see.