A few thoughts about this past week in no particular order

[Virgil]

Thought it would be good to dust off the cobwebs and put something out there. It's hard to not post gut reactions in the moment with the flurry of activity this past week, and believe me, I've had many. For the BBMB people out there, you'll get used to the format

 

1 - Grades, Starters, Trades, It's all opinions - NFL Draft week is amazing in that we have a ton of "experts" in the media and on here who all somehow know which players are booms or busts. Truth is, no one really knows anything for sure, but it's the football offseason so that passion needs to go somewhere. I say this not to tell people to keep it to themselves, but to just remind everyone that there aren't any wrong opinions. There are a ton of opinions out there that I strongly disagree with, but that's the beauty of the internet and bringing different brains into the equation. We all agree on one common thing and that's wanting the Bills to win a championship.

 

2 - McDermott - Like the draft, I have no idea what kind of head coach he is going to be, but he's who we got so I have to hope for the best. So far, he seems to be saying all the right things and I think he will clean up a lot of the sloppyness that Rex brought about. My biggest concern is that he's a first time coach being handed the keys to the franchise. He doesn't know how to be a head coach and it looks like we are letting him be the GM right now. Time will tell on how that will work out with this draft, but I overall don't think this is a good idea for the organization. That kind of power should be reserved for a Reid or BB, not a rookie HC. I would say this about anyone

 

3 - Whaley - I don't know if this was the right time to let him go or not, but the timing felt weird to me. The draft and FA seems to be the most important time for a GM and they fired him right when he was done. I can only guess what his level of involvement was in the draft and FA. If he was a big factor, then terming him now seems dirty. If he wasn't, then what was the point of keeping him this long. No matter what, I liked Whaley. I don't know how you predect injuries or suspensions, but he brought in a lot of good talent. He found a lot of disregarded players from other teams that were studs for us. I'm not thrilled with his use of the restricted tag these past few years, but all GM's make mistakes. I don't see him as the trainwreck like others did, because I see the good with the bad. Great GM, no. Terrible, also no. His biggest mistake to me was ignoring WR, OT, and S these past two years. Funny that the moment we fix it, he's gone.

 

4 - When the world ends

Collect your things

You're coming with me

When the world ends

You tuckle up yourself with me

Watch it as the stars disappear to nothing

The day the world is over

We’ll be lying in bed

 

5 - Rebuilding - I don't know how else to look at everything going on this offseason and not believe we are going through a re-build. Except for some contracts that we are locked into, we are turning over all the major positions. New HC, new GM, TT is on a very short, team friendly deal, and we have the ammo next year to make a major move if we need to. Take that, add our tough strength of schedule into account, and we are in for a rough year. We do have good talent, but in a league where familiarity of scheme, players working in sync, and overall team stability is the difference between playoffs or not, I see us being at least two years out. I will still enjoy the season and watch our rookies and scheme develop, but my expectations are not high.

 

6 - Tyrod and the Rookie QB's - I am a well known believer that TT is a good enough qb. He's not going to put us on his back and win games for us, but he's isn't going to lose them either. This is not the conversation I'm trying to have. No matter what your opinion is on our QB, you have to be happy with our situation now. TT isn't costing us anything. He has weapons going into the season. If he bombs, we have two 1st round picks to make a move in a much better class. I know we say this every year, but this was a year the Trubisky went 2nd overall. A guy who started one season for UNC. Next year has at least 3 guys that should go in the top 10 and could start year one. With our schedule and new scheme, I could see us with a top 10 pick. If the Chiefs don't make the playoffs, we could easily trade into the top 3 next year. So, TT fan or not, he'll either earn the job or we will have your guy next year. Personally, I like that we got Peterman and wasn't a fan of any QB's in this draft. Mahomes has the tools, but he was very raw and needed to sit a few years. He wasn't the franchise changer we needed right now.

 

7 - Watkins - There are so many opinions about this kid, so I'm just going to keep it simple. I don't think that anyone can argue with his talent. When healthy, he has absolutely embarrassed opposing defenses and corners. Unfortunately, staying healthy is a real factor for him and we still don't know if his foot will ever truly be 100%. The other issue, which is not his fault at all, was that he was drafted in a once in a decade draft where the top 5 WR's were all pretty amazing. Going into the draft, he was the clear #1 WR and we took him. It was the right choice, trade up or not, and we took the sure thing at the time. But like all draft scenarios, life happens and it's all coulda, shoulda, woulda. Yes, we could have stayed put and taken the other guys, but again, hindsight. I'm very happy we got Jones as an insurance plan and hopefully Watkins gets through this season and earns his extension. Either way, time will tell.

 

8 - Drafting for need - We've needed a RT and #2 WR for two years. DB became a major need when Gilmore walked. Which, I never would have paid him what the Pats did. I like Gilmore, but he wasn't worth the gamechanger money he got. But I digress. This was the first draft where I felt like we drafted for need instead of Best Player Available. It involved a lot of trades and I have to say I'm happy with how it turned out. Earning the 1st rounder from next year was huge. The picks right after we traded up for Jones were WR's, so I believe that was necessary to get our guy. I'm not sure how I feel about giving up the two picks to jump up and get Dawkins, but I'm not in the war room. End of the day, if we lost two 5th round picks but found our starting RT, I'm good. We walked away with 3 day one starters and a first next year. If those pan out like they should, that's a solid draft. But like I said in the beginning, who really knows.

 

9 - Schedule - How are we playing the Dolphins and Pats twice in the last 5 weeks? I mean, seriously? 3 home games in December doesn't do the season ticket holders any favors as we also only have 2 home games through week 6. No prime time games outside of Thursday night makes sense, but against the Jets again is odd. Either way, our divisional matchups were going to be rough no matter what and we do get some good dome teams at the Cap, so it could be worse. With all the change happening, I'll take a win over the Pats and progress from our rookies to feel good about things.

 

10 - Newbies - Please read the forum rules and get a feel for how things are done on here. I've been on this site for 14 years now. It's been great for many things, but temperament and structure has been a big factor. It's not always group hugs, but it's within control and reason. Again, it's a forum. Not everyone is going to get along. I understand that you are passionate about things happening in the moment, but please don't make your own thread when it's being talked about in 5 places on the homepage. Don't post the same idea across those 5 threads or try to steer the conversation in your direction. The draft was a good test run to see how everyone is going to do on gameday and I'll admit to being a bit nervous. The mods might be working a little harder that day.

 

 

In any case, thanks for humoring me. Looking forward to training camp and a preseason game in Baltimore. I'll pick up the recaps for the preseason unless Bill wants the honor back. It's always yours when you want it sir

Edited May 1, 2017 by Virgil

[Perk71]

Thought it would be good to dust off the cobwebs and put something out there. It's hard to not post gut reactions in the moment with the flurry of activity this past week, and believe me, I've had many. For the BBMB people out there, you'll get used to the format

 

1 - Grades, Starters, Trades, It's all opinions - NFL Draft week is amazing in that we have a ton of "experts" in the media and on here who all somehow know which players are booms or busts. Truth is, no one really knows anything for sure, but it's the football offseason so that passion needs to go somewhere. I say this not to tell people to keep it to themselves, but to just remind everyone that there aren't any wrong opinions. There are a ton of opinions out there that I strongly disagree with, but that's the beauty of the internet and bringing different brains into the equation. We all agree on one common thing and that's wanting the Bills to win a championship.

 

2 - McDermott - Like the draft, I have no idea what kind of head coach he is going to be, but he's who we got so I have to hope for the best. So far, he seems to be saying all the right things and I think he will clean up a lot of the sloppyness that Rex brought about. My biggest concern is that he's a first time coach being handed the keys to the franchise. He doesn't know how to be a head coach and it looks like we are letting him be the GM right now. Time will tell on how that will work out with this draft, but I overall don't think this is a good idea for the organization. That kind of power should be reserved for a Reid or BB, not a rookie HC. I would say this about anyone

 

3 - Whaley - I don't know if this was the right time to let him go or not, but the timing felt weird to me. The draft and FA seems to be the most important time for a GM and they fired him right when he was done. I can only guess what his level of involvement was in the draft and FA. If he was a big factor, then terming him now seems dirty. If he wasn't, then what was the point of keeping him this long. No matter what, I liked Whaley. I don't know how you predect injuries or suspensions, but he brought in a lot of good talent. He found a lot of disregarded players from other teams that were studs for us. I'm not thrilled with his use of the restricted tag these past few years, but all GM's make mistakes. I don't see him as the trainwreck like others did, because I see the good with the bad. Great GM, no. Terrible, also no. His biggest mistake to me was ignoring WR, OT, and S these past two years. Funny that the moment we fix it, he's gone.

 

4 - When the world ends

Collect your things

You're coming with me

When the world ends

You tuckle up yourself with me

Watch it as the stars disappear to nothing

The day the world is over

We’ll be lying in bed

 

5 - Rebuilding - I don't know how else to look at everything going on this offseason and not believe we are going through a re-build. Except for some contracts that we are locked into, we are turning over all the major positions. New HC, new GM, TT is on a very short, team friendly deal, and we have the ammo next year to make a major move if we need to. Take that, add our tough strength of schedule into account, and we are in for a rough year. We do have good talent, but in a league where familiarity of scheme, players working in sync, and overall team stability is the difference between playoffs or not, I see us being at least two years out. I will still enjoy the season and watch our rookies and scheme develop, but my expectations are not high.

 

6 - Tyrod and the Rookie QB's - I am a well known believer that TT is a good enough qb. He's not going to put us on his back and win games for us, but he's isn't going to lose them either. This is not the conversation I'm trying to have. No matter what your opinion is on our QB, you have to be happy with our situation now. TT isn't costing us anything. He has weapons going into the season. If he bombs, we have two 1st round picks to make a move in a much better class. I know we say this every year, but this was a year the Trubisky went 2nd overall. A guy who started one season for UNC. Next year has at least 3 guys that should go in the top 10 and could start year one. With our schedule and new scheme, I could see us with a top 10 pick. If the Chiefs don't make the playoffs, we could easily trade into the top 3 next year. So, TT fan or not, he'll either earn the job or we will have your guy next year. Personally, I like that we got Peterman and wasn't a fan of any QB's in this draft. Mahomes has the tools, but he was very raw and needed to sit a few years. He wasn't the franchise changer we needed right now.

 

7 - Watkins - There are so many opinions about this kid, so I'm just going to keep it simple. I don't think that anyone can argue with his talent. When healthy, he has absolutely embarrassed opposing defenses and corners. Unfortunately, staying healthy is a real factor for him and we still don't know if his foot will ever truly be 100%. The other issue, which is not his fault at all, was that he was drafted in a once in a decade draft where the top 5 WR's were all pretty amazing. Going into the draft, he was the clear #1 WR and we took him. It was the right choice, trade up or not, and we took the sure thing at the time. But like all draft scenarios, life happens and it's all coulda, shoulda, woulda. Yes, we could have stayed put and taken the other guys, but again, hindsight. I'm very happy we got Jones as an insurance plan and hopefully Watkins gets through this season and earns his extension. Either way, time will tell.

 

8 - Drafting for need - We've needed a RT and #2 WR for two years. DB became a major need when Gilmore walked. Which, I never would have paid him what the Pats did. I like Gilmore, but he wasn't worth the gamechanger money he got. But I digress. This was the first draft where I felt like we drafted for need instead of Best Player Available. It involved a lot of trades and I have to say I'm happy with how it turned out. Earning the 1st rounder from next year was huge. The picks right after we traded up for Jones were WR's, so I believe that was necessary to get our guy. I'm not sure how I feel about giving up the two picks to jump up and get Dawkins, but I'm not in the war room. End of the day, if we lost two 5th round picks but found our starting RT, I'm good. We walked away with 3 day one starters and a first next year. If those pan out like they should, that's a solid draft. But like I said in the beginning, who really knows.

 

9 - Schedule - How are we playing the Dolphins and Pats twice in the last 5 weeks? I mean, seriously? 3 home games in December doesn't do the season ticket holders any favors as we also only have 2 home games through week 6. No prime time games outside of Thursday night makes sense, but against the Jets again is odd. Either way, our divisional matchups were going to be rough no matter what and we do get some good dome teams at the Cap, so it could be worse. With all the change happening, I'll take a win over the Pats and progress from our rookies to feel good about things.

 

10 - Newbies - Please read the forum rules and get a feel for how things are done on here. I've been on this site for 14 years now. It's been great for many things, but temperament and structure has been a big factor. It's not always group hugs, but it's within control and reason. Again, it's a forum. Not everyone is going to get along. I understand that you are passionate about things happening in the moment, but please don't make your own thread when it's being talked about in 5 places on the homepage. Don't post the same idea across those 5 threads or try to steer the conversation in your direction. The draft was a good test run to see how everyone is going to do on gameday and I'll admit to being a bit nervous. The mods might be working a little harder that day.

 

 

In any case, thanks for humoring me. Looking forward to training camp and a preseason game in Baltimore. I'll pick up the recaps for the preseason unless Bill wants the honor back. It's always yours when you want it sir

Always enjoy these. Thanks.

[KellyToughII]

Great job.

[TUBSTER]

Always love these. Great job.

[JM57]

Great job but please don't call it The Cap, it's so corny

[ganesh]

Thanks for putting one in the offseason.

 

I completely agree on your point...We are in the off season and we need to treat it that way. Give the players a break from a grueling season. Let them come back healthy.

 

Have a wonderful summer folks.

[stuvian]

your avatar's mullet is enviable

[The Frankish Reich]

Damn right we're rebuilding. And the target year is 2020. Add to the things you mention the existing salary cap/long term contract issue. This is Whaley's true legacy - a legacy that leaves whoever the new guy is in quite a pickle for at least a couple more years, more likely for three:

 

Dump Dareus in 2018? $22 million dead cap hit. In 2019? $7.8 million. In 2020? $1.4 million

Dump Glenn in 2018? $11 million dead cap hit. In 2019? $6.4 million. In 2020? $3.2 million

Dump Clay in 2018? $9 million dead cap hit. In 2019? $4.5 million. In 2020? No problem; his contract expires after 2019.

Dump McCoy in 2018? $5.25 million dead cap hit. In 2019? $2.6 million. In 2020? Same as Clay; contract over.

Dump Hughes in 2018? $5.8 million dead cap hit. In 2019? $2.9 million. In 2020? Same/contract over.

 

Even if Dareus rebounds a bit, you can't expect him to perform like he did in his prime. Glenn/McCoy/Clay/Hughes were still productive and should still be over the next couple years, but it would be foolish to expect anything other than a normal decline curve. The big contracts these guys have will become a bigger and bigger problem as their performance declines, and the Bills simply aren't in position to dump these contracts until 2019 at the earliest - I'd expect 2 or the 4 to be gone before the 2019 season, with the other 2 to follow before 2020. This is the Browns in slo-mo, gradually ridding themselves of bad contracts and putting young players in key roles in a survival of the fittest derby.

 

So the rebuild has to aim for some indications of a turnaround in 2019 (a new QB with a rookie year under his belt?), and a complete remaking of the roster by 2020. I'm convinced that's what's happening without Bills brass being willing to admit it. They'll try to stay competitive in 2017 with the hopes of back dooring their way into the playoffs (think Dolphins last year; that should've been us!), and then 2018 becomes the planned big down year with a young QB and a lot, lot of new faces as McD fully puts his stamp on this roster.

Edited May 1, 2017 by The Frankish Reich

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

Thanks God the Bills missed the playoffs and Rex got fired.

[nucci]

Back when this team was good and home field advantage meant something...we looked forward to December home games to help run to playoffs...now everyone complains because it's too cold in December...

[The Poojer]

Good stuff, Virgil!

[Rob's House]

 

 

 

 

1 - Grades, Starters, Trades, It's all opinions - I don't care what kind of grades these guys got, I want them to make plays, not take tests.

 

2 - McDermott - I like a coach who looks pissed off, and McD fits the bill.

 

3 - Whaley - I have it on good authority that he'll be scooped up right away

 

4 - And the grave digger puts on the forceps

The stone mason does all the work

The barber can give you a haircut

The carpenter can take you out to lunch

 

5 - Rebuilding - Don't you have to build something before you can rebuild it?

 

6 - Tyrod - Best QB in the league named after an auto part.

 

7 - Watkins - I like saying "Sammy Watkins" in the same voice as "Randy Watson." That boy's good.

 

8 - Drafting for need - Drafting for want is way more alpha than drafting for need.

 

9 - Schedule - I pronounce it "skedule."

 

10 - Newbies - I haven't given up on the Pegulas yet.