The Biggest Whiffs In Buffalo Bills History

[BuffaloRush]

Interesting topic from WGR this morning.  Jeremy White was talking abou the biggest whiffs in Buffalo sports history since 2000.  He used both the Bills and Sabres but for the sake of this discussion we’ll focus on just the Bills.

 

Remember a whiff doesn’t necessarily have to be all draft busts.  It more about getting some of the really big and important decisions completely wrong.  Also it’s important to consider the negative impact on the organization.  For example, signing Shawn Merriman was a whiff, but it didn’t really impact the team that much.

 

Here are my choices and I keep everything current so this is only since 2000.  

 

Hiring Rex Ryan - this was JW’s top choice and mine as well.  Rex did some major damage in Buffalo.  Terrible hire.

 

Trading for Sammy Watkins - this was an agressive move by a bad GM that backfired.  Whaley basically pushed all his chip to the table and gambled with this move on both Sammy and EJ.  He’s now out of a job.  This move was so reckless it drives me nuts

 

Re-signing Ryan Fitzpatrick to a long-term deal 

Prospector Buddy Nix thought he found gold...except it was fool’s gold.  The quick decision to extend Fitz, committed the team to a QB that was a fringe starter and resulted in them passing on other choices like drafting Russell Wilson.  This was the start of QB purgatory.

 

Drafting CJ Spiller

This was a foolish move when the team had 2 good RB’s in Fred and Marshawn Lynch.  CJ also never turned out to be much as a starting RB.  

 

Marv Levy as GM

A terrible and selfish choice by Ralph Wilson.  This move would ramp the drought into high gear.  

 

Lets hear some of your choices!

 

 

[chef4131]

over drafting of JP Losman, giving up the next years first rounder cost us a chance to draft Aaron Rodgers 

 

 

[Sky Diver]

Rob Johnson.

[Dave in Avon Lake now]

I'll add a few more:

 

Picking Rob Johnson over Flutie.  As much as you hate Flutie, he found ways to win games that were beyond Buffalo's offense without him.

 

Letting Pat Williams go in free agency.  Defense went downhill after that move.

 

Choosing JP Losman in draft instead of moving up a couple spots to get Roethlisburger.

 

Drafting EJ.

 

I'll stop there as the list goes on and on.

[Seanbillsfan2206]

Drafting Josh Allen. Just kidding. There’s a lot to choose from

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Coach Stephenson followed by Coach Bullough.

[DrDawkinstein]

Losman, Rex, Maybin, Sammy for sure.

 

I'd also add in signing Langston Walker and Derrick Dockery to big contracts at the same time.

 

Good call upthread on letting Pat Williams walk for what turned out to be barely $1mil difference.

[BuffaloRush]

6 minutes ago, Sky Diver said:

Rob Johnson.

 

This is an underrated choice that not many people remember because of the success of Flutie for a few season.

 

But the Bills traded a #1 and #3 for a QB with very little experience.  In hindsight they gave up a lot for a very average QB

[RoyBatty is alive]

I like the OP selections a lot except I think the CJ Spiller was a bit harsh though, CJ was not a terrible player, he had one incredible year, 1200 yds rushing averaging 6 yd/carry plus 450 yds receiving, had a few very good years as well.

[Sky Diver]

2 minutes ago, BuffaloRush said:

 

This is an underrated choice that not many people remember because of the success of Flutie for a few season.

 

But the Bills traded a #1 and #3 for a QB with very little experience.  In hindsight they gave up a lot for a very average QB

 

Average? He sucked.  He was all about protecting his stats.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Sky Diver

[RoyBatty is alive]

1 minute ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Losman, Rex, Maybin, Sammy for sure.

 

I'd also add in signing Langston Walker and Derrick Dockery to big contracts at the same time.

 

Good call upthread on letting Pat Williams walk for what turned out to be barely $1mil difference.

What made it worse was our OC, was it Alex Van Pelt, that decided we were going to use the hurry up offense, since it worked so well 20 years ago with Jim Kelly...poor Walker, it almost killed him, total mismatch of players to scheme. That decision to try the hurry up since Edwards was supposedly so smart and could run it was a total joke.

[oldmanfan]

Hiring John Rausch as HC.  The guy who used OJ as a decoy.

 

Trading Lamonica

 

Letting  Polian go

[Ned Flanders]

Tom Ruud and Bob Nelson, two high LB picks from Nebraska in 1975...neither panned out.

 

Tom Cousineau of course is on the list, but when we traded him to the Browns, the draft pick we got in return was used to draft Jim Kelly.

 

Perry Tuttle also belongs on the list.

 

Al "This is AC Damn It!" Cowlings is another.

 

And letting Bill Polian go was a huge mistake.

[BuffaloBill]

Trading for Bledsoe should maybe get honorable mention here.  You have to think that if a division rival is willing to let a QB come to you there are question marks.  It was not the worst trade ever but one that certainly is on a list of those that did not turn out well. 

 

Drafting of Mike Williams belongs on this list also.  

[DrDawkinstein]

31 minutes ago, BuffaloRush said:

Interesting topic from WGR this morning.  Jeremy White was talking abou the biggest whiffs in Buffalo sports history since 2000.  He used both the Bills and Sabres but for the sake of this discussion we’ll focus on just the Bills.

 

 

 

Only whinge I have is you should add "since 2000" to the title, not "in Bills history", since that is the parameters of the discussion.

 

4 minutes ago, BuffaloBill said:

Drafting of Mike Williams belongs on this list also.  

 

Jeremy White tried to argue that he didnt have Williams on the list because he was actually productive for a couple seasons, but I tend to disagree with that and think he should be on the list as well.

Edited May 18, 2018 by DrDawkinstein

[HeHateMe]

Rex 

Maybin

Losman

Manuel & Watkins

Marv

[OrtonHearsaWho]

27 minutes ago, chef4131 said:

over drafting of JP Losman, giving up the next years first rounder cost us a chance to draft Aaron Rodgers 

 

 

Didn't dawn on me that we could have had Rodgers with the pick in the following year's draft.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have some bleach to drink.

Edited May 18, 2018 by OrtonHearsaWho

[US Egg]

34 minutes ago, BuffaloRush said:

Jeremy White was talking about the biggest whiffs in Buffalo sports history

A lot of whiffs have been hired at WGR. I use to listen to them occasionally and in short doses, but when I retired I started listening longer.

 

Ugh ! It's like listening to teens and young 20.y.o.'s. The egos,  monotony and bar stool  knowledge got tiresome quickly.  

Edited May 18, 2018 by Ifartalot

[bourbonboy]

Maybe not the biggest whiff, but Erik Flowers deserves mention here too.....

[Mopreme]

Not resigning Jason Peters.  

[ProcessAccepted]

Lots to choose from here but I'd probably have to go with Mike Williams being picked 4th overall. Maybin, Watkins and Spiller can fight it out for second.

 

[Ralonzo]

Walt Patulski

[Marv's Neighbor]

Where do we start??

[jr1]

Spiller averaged 4.8 yards per carry for his NFL career

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

2 minutes ago, ProcessAccepted said:

Lots to choose from here but I'd probably have to go with Mike Williams being picked 4th overall. Maybin, Watkins and Spiller can fight it out for second.

 

Perhaps not a valid criticism, but I enjoyed referring to C.J.Spill'em (as in footballs) to a rabid Bills follower I worked with.

[OrtonHearsaWho]

8 minutes ago, Mopreme said:

Not resigning Jason Peters.  

 

Surprised no one mentioned this before now.  At least we turned the 1st that we got back into Eric Wood, but it was still awful and I can't believe they didn't pay him since he's such a premium position.  The contracts they gave Dockery and Walker that year would be overpaying in 2018...but let's dump someone that's a hall of famer.

[NewEra]

Drafting Whimpner over Ngata

[BuffaloBillies]

5 minutes ago, jr1 said:

Spiller averaged 4.8 yards per carry for his NFL career

This averages 4.8 yards too.   1
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[Homey D. Clown]

47 minutes ago, BuffaloRush said:

Interesting topic from WGR this morning.  Jeremy White was talking abou the biggest whiffs in Buffalo sports history since 2000.  He used both the Bills and Sabres but for the sake of this discussion we’ll focus on just the Bills.

 

Remember a whiff doesn’t necessarily have to be all draft busts.  It more about getting some of the really big and important decisions completely wrong.  Also it’s important to consider the negative impact on the organization.  For example, signing Shawn Merriman was a whiff, but it didn’t really impact the team that much.

 

Here are my choices and I keep everything current so this is only since 2000.  

 

Hiring Rex Ryan - this was JW’s top choice and mine as well.  Rex did some major damage in Buffalo.  Terrible hire.

 

Trading for Sammy Watkins - this was an agressive move by a bad GM that backfired.  Whaley basically pushed all his chip to the table and gambled with this move on both Sammy and EJ.  He’s now out of a job.  This move was so reckless it drives me nuts

 

Re-signing Ryan Fitzpatrick to a long-term deal 

Prospector Buddy Nix thought he found gold...except it was fool’s gold.  The quick decision to extend Fitz, committed the team to a QB that was a fringe starter and resulted in them passing on other choices like drafting Russell Wilson.  This was the start of QB purgatory.

 

Drafting CJ Spiller

This was a foolish move when the team had 2 good RB’s in Fred and Marshawn Lynch.  CJ also never turned out to be much as a starting RB.  

 

Marv Levy as GM

A terrible and selfish choice by Ralph Wilson.  This move would ramp the drought into high gear.  

 

Lets hear some of your choices!

 

 

 

Aside from Jamarcus Russel  of Raider fame, Aaron Maybin is hands down the biggest bust in NFL history, across all teams.  He even put out a super-douchey rap song that sucked balls.  It's just mind numbing to see a team draft a guy with virtually no college experience at 8th overall.  

 

Ughh....  the thought of hearing his name called that day just made me sick all over again, I need to go have a dump.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

15 minutes ago, Ifartalot said:

A lot of whiffs have been hired at WGR. I use to listen to them occasionally and in short doses, but when I retired I started listening longer.

 

Ugh ! It's like listening to teens and young 20.y.o.'s. The egos,  monotony and bar stool  knowledge got tiresome quickly.  

No prizes there, agreed, but at least they get through a thought without forgetting what they were going to say, ala Mr. Simon.

[OrtonHearsaWho]

7 minutes ago, ProcessAccepted said:

Lots to choose from here but I'd probably have to go with Mike Williams being picked 4th overall. Maybin, Watkins and Spiller can fight it out for second.

 

 

I give the Bills a slight pass for Maybin because overall that was a solid draft for them (Wood, Byrd, Levitre).

[Irv]

Spending money to upgrade a stadium that should have been replaced 20 years ago.  That's the biggest whiff. 

[Like A Mofo]

Sabres signing Ville Leino.

 

Drops Mic.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

2 minutes ago, BuffaloBillies said:

This averages 4.8 yards too.

Some posts deserve multiple up votes.

?????

[skibum]

The Tank doesn't seem to be playing out all that well.

[DrDawkinstein]

11 minutes ago, OrtonHearsaWho said:

 

Surprised no one mentioned this before now.  At least we turned the 1st that we got back into Eric Wood, but it was still awful and I can't believe they didn't pay him since he's such a premium position.  The contracts they gave Dockery and Walker that year would be overpaying in 2018...but let's dump someone that's a hall of famer.

 

To be fair, Peters and Parker were done with the Bills and were leaving no matter what. The Bills had been good to Peters, bringing him in as a UDFA and developing him from a Special Teams TE, to a RT, to a premier LT. They had already re-done his deal when he started pouting and slacking barely 2 years into it.

 

As much as I hate how that all played out, there wasnt much more the Bills could do. Nor should have done given Peters's handling of the situation.

[tlfcbb]

Switching from a 4-3 defence to a 3-4 defence when we were ranked 1 and 2 defensively in the previous two years.   I had high hopes that Rex would have came here and gave us an offence to match our defence.  Instead he gave us a defence to match our offence.

[Homey D. Clown]

2 minutes ago, tlfcbb said:

Switching from a 4-3 defence to a 3-4 defence when we were ranked 1 and 2 defensively in the previous two years.   I had high hopes that Rex would have came here and gave us an offence to match our defence.  Instead he gave us a defence to match our offence.

 

When Rex let Swartz go, that also made me sick.  

[BuffaloRush]

32 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Only whinge I have is you should add "since 2000" to the title, not "in Bills history", since that is the parameters of the discussion.

 

 

Jeremy White tried to argue that he didnt have Williams on the list because he was actually productive for a couple seasons, but I tend to disagree with that and think he should be on the list as well.

 

This is my list, and it doesn’t have to be since 2000.  My choices are only from 2000 since I do think it makes things more relevant.  

 

I think Jeremy’s defense of Williams was that he was the top LT coming out of college.  Most teams would have taken him high and he was considered as “solid” of a draft choice as any that year.  

22 minutes ago, jr1 said:

Spiller averaged 4.8 yards per carry for his NFL career

 

Right but very rarely was he a game changer. Also you can argue he was a selection that the Bills did not need to make given the strength of the RB position on the roster at that time.  

 

It was a huge whiff

[Greybeard]

1 hour ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Coach Stephenson followed by Coach Bullough.

   Those two don't even count as "At Bats."