The Biggest Whiffs In Buffalo Bills History

[dma0034]

1. Buddy Nix getting recorded; which led to the separation with Fitz. Fitz with those defenses would have gotten the Bills to 10-11 wins imo.

2. The RB situation. Trade Lynch for little. Draft Spiller early. Meanwhile Fred is the lead back.

3. Firing Wade Phillips.

4. Drafting Losman. Bledsoe was still around and that pick could have been Rodgers

5. Drafting Allen over Rosen

 

Sabres: Drury/Briere, not giving Peca more money, matching Edmonton's Offer Sheet on Vanek, Tim Murray, The Kane Trade

[Boca BIlls]

7 hours ago, artmalibu said:

I dont think Fitz should be on the list.  We havent had a QB as good as him since.  With him the playoff drought would have ended sooner!!!

Wrong Fitz was never allowed to make the playoffs b.c the second he would be in position he would throw many INTs to make sure he couldn't.

[Ol Dirty B]

17 hours 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

 

At least it stopped them from Billy Volek?

8 hours ago, BillsFan17 said:

Not retaining Winfield really chapped me.

 

Dick Jauron insisting on A Train over Fred Ex.

 

Oh I forgot about that, or the wound healed.

 

I was livid when they let Winfield go. He had awful hands, but he was exceptional at everything else. Clements was a play maker but got beat a lot. Winfield was a solid tackler, came up in run support and consistently put himself in position to make picks, just dropped them. Yet rarely seemed to get beat.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

 

 

E J Manuel

OT Mike Williams

Aaron Maybin

 

 

Edited May 19, 2018 by Buffalo Barbarian

[Nitro]

17 hours ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

Where do we start??

1960

 

[folz]

The firing of Polian...followed by...

 

The firings of John Butler and Wade Phillips and then subsequent hiring of Tom Donahoe and Greg Williams. That started the drought!

 

 

But, I guess those are really more mistakes (by Ralph) than whiffs. The true definition of whiff would have to be Mike Williams. Getting absolutely nothing out of a #4 overall non-QB pick is a major strike out. I guess you could make a case for Tom Cousineau, since he went #1 overall, but at least he was a good player (though not for the Bills) and he garnered the Bills the draft pick that would land Kelly. Sammy has to be in the conversation too for what they gave up for him and where he ended up being drafted. And trade-wise, you can include Rob Johnson. But I think Mike Williams has to be #1 whiff.

 

[Nitro]

5 hours ago, B Fan in LA said:

 

I agree that Tom Donahoe was a better GM than Marv, Buddy, and Doug, although I didn't like him when he was here.

Tom Donahoe didn't crawl into a hole and disappear after he was fired in Buffalo.

He's now working for the Philadelphia Eagles as the Senior Director of Player Personnel and just won a Super Bowl.

Marv Levy spends his days looking for his glasses, Buddy Nix is trying to remember where he put his phone, and Doug Whaley

is probably going to a shrink to figure out why nobody likes him.

 

Taking swipes at two guys because they are elderly?    Really?  That is all you got?  The smog in LA has fogged up your brain. 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

15 hours ago, JOSH HUFF said:

2000 - BUFFALO BILLS
Draft  RD	2000 SEL #	PLAYER	POSITION	SCHOOL
1	26	Erik Flowers	DE	Arizona State
2	58	Travares Tillman	FS	Georgia Tech
3	89	Corey Moore	OLB	Virginia Tech
4	121	Avion Black	WR	Tennessee State
5	156	Sammy Morris	RB	Texas Tech
6	194	Leif Larsen	DT	Texas-El Paso
7	233	Drew Haddad	WR	Buffalo
7	251	DaShon Polk	LB	Arizona

 

Yikes!!!

Corey could have been something under Wade Phillips, but dumb dumb Grego tried to make him a 43 LB and shooting himself in the leg ended it all.

 

Guy was a machine at VA Tech.

 

 

14 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

That draft killed the bills for some years

 

Sooooo many have.

 

 

14 hours ago, Jobot said:

 

Rogers and Brady in the same division would of been something

 

and Peyton Manning if the Colts didn't switch divisions.

 

 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

14 hours ago, Perry Turtle said:

Everything the Bills did between 2000 and 2017 was a whiff. Trying to rank the unending bad decisions made during that time is an impossible task.

 

Hopefully the franchise has turned the corner.

 

No, 2017 is there year we hired McDermott and Beane and is the beginning of greatness.

 

 

[BillsPride12]

These s****y uniforms! 

[Marv's Neighbor]

8 hours ago, Nitro said:

1960

 

That's very true, but at least we've been consistent.

[wppete]

[frostbitmic]

EJ Manuel

Ryan Fitzpatrick

Trent Edwards

JP Losman

Rob Johnson

 

Dishonorable mention goes to - The Ryan Bros, Brandon & Whaley Circus ...

And what list wouldn't be complete without Mayhem Maybin

[Rob's House]

I'd rank them in order

 

Losman

Manuel

Maybin

 

I put Losman ahead of EJ because we traded up for him and blew a shot at Rogers.

 

Maybin was the biggest bust, but picking him didn't set the franchise back like the other 2 did.

[metzelaars_lives]

Look, I haven't scrolled through this entire thread but a lot of people are mentioning guys who may have been whiffs but weren't bad picks at the time.  Mike Williams was the right pick at the time.  Aaron Maybin was not a crazy pick at the time- that's right around where he was slated to go.  I was psyched about the Losman and Manuel picks- neither of them were crazy.  CJ Spiller was considered by many the best player in the draft and had a season for us in which he averaged 6 yards a carry.

 

There are two picks that are absolutely 100% inexcusable.  They were stretches for guys who they could've got rounds later, while passing up the no-brainer, slam dunk guy at a position of need, who had slipped and was staring them right in the face, and ended up going right after:

 

Torrell Troup over Rob Gronkowski

TJ Graham over Russell Wilson

 

Those are the two picks that could have reversed the fortunes of this franchise.  Period, end of story.

 

[BringBackOrton]

8 minutes ago, metzelaars_lives said:

Look, I haven't scrolled through this entire thread but a lot of people are mentioning guys who may have been whiffs but weren't bad picks at the time.  Mike Williams was the right pick at the time.  Aaron Maybin was not a crazy pick at the time- that's right around where he was slated to go.  I was psyched about the Losman and Manuel picks- neither of them were crazy.  CJ Spiller was considered by many the best player in the draft and had a season for us in which he averaged 6 yards a carry.

 

There are two picks that are absolutely 100% inexcusable.  They were stretches for guys who they could've got rounds later, while passing up the no-brainer, slam dunk guy at a position of need, who had slipped and was staring them right in the face, and ended up going right after:

 

Torrell Troup over Rob Gronkowski

TJ Graham over Russell Wilson

 

Those are the two picks that could have reversed the fortunes of this franchise.  Period, end of story.

 

Maybin was drafted 5 years too early for the wrong defense but he did SUCK.

 

CJ Spiller was drafted in the worst era for RB's when we had a HoFer and WoFer on the roster.  It was a blunder for sure.

[Buffalo86]

Hiring a career 31-42 NFL coach to lead a team with a Pro Bowl roster on both sides of the ball.

29 minutes ago, jmc12290 said:

Maybin was drafted 5 years too early for the wrong defense but he did SUCK.

 

CJ Spiller was drafted in the worst era for RB's when we had a HoFer and WoFer on the roster.  It was a blunder for sure.

 

I liked when Maybin said he'd put on weight if HE felt he needed to.

 

The 2010 draft was a joke.  Right after Nix says "we're not that far away", they waste their first 2 picks on arguably our strongest positions.  Flush!

[BringBackOrton]

1 hour ago, Buffalo86 said:

Hiring a career 31-42 NFL coach to lead a team with a Pro Bowl roster on both sides of the ball.

 

I liked when Maybin said he'd put on weight if HE felt he needed to.

 

The 2010 draft was a joke.  Right after Nix says "we're not that far away", they waste their first 2 picks on arguably our strongest positions.  Flush!

In fairness to Chan, he believed he could scheme an offense to hide his QB and WR deficiencies.  He wasn't entirely wrong.   By the numbers, he squeezed out an above average offensive unit with basically undrafted guys.   Offensive TO's and our D killed us.  Would we have fared better with another WR from that 2010 class?  No.  And schematically, I don't know if another pass rusher was the answer either.  We were 3-4 pieces away on both sides of the ball.

[Buffalo86]

11 minutes ago, jmc12290 said:

In fairness to Chan, he believed he could scheme an offense to hide his QB and WR deficiencies.  He wasn't entirely wrong.   By the numbers, he squeezed out an above average offensive unit with basically undrafted guys.   Offensive TO's and our D killed us.  Would we have fared better with another WR from that 2010 class?  No.  And schematically, I don't know if another pass rusher was the answer either.  We were 3-4 pieces away on both sides of the ball.

 

You're right; we were 3-4 pieces (or even more) away on both sides of the ball.  If those 2 picks worked out, we still would've been in the same spot, given the presence of Jackson, Lynch, & Kyle Williams.  I know the old "Lynch didn't want to be here" argument very well, but I always believed Lynch didn't want to be here because we showed zero commitment to fielding a winning team.  Who wants to go down with a sinking ship every year?  

[Bill_with_it]

1 hour ago, Buffalo86 said:

 

You're right; we were 3-4 pieces (or even more) away on both sides of the ball.  If those 2 picks worked out, we still would've been in the same spot, given the presence of Jackson, Lynch, & Kyle Williams.  I know the old "Lynch didn't want to be here" argument very well, but I always believed Lynch didn't want to be here because we showed zero commitment to fielding a winning team.  Who wants to go down with a sinking ship every year?  

Whaley did, with his terrible decisions.

[Big Gun]

On 5/18/2018 at 9:05 AM, bourbonboy said:

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

John McCargo

[MDH]

On 5/18/2018 at 9:22 AM, BuffaloBillies said:

This averages 4.8 yards too.   1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
80
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

 

You give him too much credit. Where are all the negative runs?

[Bing Bong]

On 5/18/2018 at 7:32 AM, BuffaloRush said:

Trading for Sammy Watkins - this was an agressive move by a bad GM that backfired. 

Well.. we could still have him. Had the highest grade since AJ Green, although I wanted Mike  Evans, Watkins  was really talented. rather trade for talent than whiff that 1 on Aaron maybin. 

 

Really makes ya think which 1st round pick was worse

Edited May 19, 2018 by PetermanThrew5Picks

[Golden Goat]

Thinking Lonnie Johnson belonged in the NFL.

[Bill from NYC]

4 hours ago, metzelaars_lives said:

Look, I haven't scrolled through this entire thread but a lot of people are mentioning guys who may have been whiffs but weren't bad picks at the time.  Mike Williams was the right pick at the time. 

 

Sorry but allow me to politely say that I could not disagree more.

 

Coming out of college, Mike Williams was an overweight right tackle with a chronic ankle injury. Bad ankles and/or feet are bad for any player, let alone a 360 pound man. Bryant McKinney was still there at #4 and he had a long, distinguished career, his off the field problems and questionable attitude notwithstanding. McKinney was a far better player in college and the NFL than Williams and he played left tackle, a much harder position to fill.

 

McKinney, imho, was definitely the pick and I was screaming for the Bills to draft him way back when.

[Bill from NYC]

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 8:48 AM, RoyBatty is alive said:

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.

Even though that particular draft was one of the worst ever,  drafting Spiller that early was unthinkably stupid. He was a small, fumbling, bumbling scat back who wasn't even what some would consider a full time back in college, NOT a top 10 draft pick.

 

I would think that even in a weak draft there are offers to trade down. They should have done so before making such an incredible waste of a pick with Spiller. Even if they stood pat and took Bulaga it would have made more sense than a miniature scat back at #9.

[Doc Brown]

Drafting three 1st round running backs in the span of ten years when running backs are a dime a dozen.

[OrtonHearsaWho]

15 hours ago, Golden Goat said:

Thinking Lonnie Johnson belonged in the NFL.

 

Something random...do you happen to remember the play where Lonnie decided that it was a good idea to look behind him for a while and was absolutely obliterated by a player that was...not behind him.

[SoCal Deek]

All of this is very depressing and it makes me terrified to think if this same thread will include Josh Allen in a couple of years. I’m praying, not!

[fansince88]

Most receint is letting TT play our only Playoff game in 17 years.  ARRRRRG!

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 hour ago, fansince88 said:

Most receint is letting TT play our only Playoff game in 17 years.  ARRRRRG!

And their options were?...

 

 

[Bob in STL]

Lots of great comments, ignoring the many  draft mistakes the handling of coaches and front office has been a mess and is the driving reason for the Bills overall poor history. 

 

60’s - trading Lamonica and Hiring Rausch 

 

70’s - Harvey Johnson twice, Saban quitting again,  Jim Ringo,  Stew Barber. 

 

80’s - interfering with Knox, hiring Kay and Hank 

 

90’s - chasing out Polian, then Butler, then Wade

 

00’s -  not one good move to stabilize FO, Donahoe, Marv, Brandon, and a bunch of bad coaches

 

10’s - Unqualified Nix as GM, less qualified Whaley, hiring Rex. 

[BuffaloRush]

20 hours ago, Golden Goat said:

Thinking Lonnie Johnson belonged in the NFL.

 

Clearly he did belong in the NFL.  He was not an All-Pro by any means but did have several productive seasons.  Numbers don’t lie

[Doc Brown]

6 hours ago, fansince88 said:

Most receint is letting TT play our only Playoff game in 17 years.  ARRRRRG!

Yeah.  You need to start Peterman on the road against a great defense in that situation.

[cba fan]

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 8:24 AM, Irv said:

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

Bills did not spend it. Most of it anyway.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

5 hours ago, Bob in STL said:

Lots of great comments, ignoring the many  draft mistakes the handling of coaches and front office has been a mess and is the driving reason for the Bills overall poor history. 

 

60’s - trading Lamonica and Hiring Rausch 

 

70’s - Harvey Johnson twice, Saban quitting again,  Jim Ringo,  Stew Barber. 

 

80’s - interfering with Knox, hiring Kay and Hank 

 

90’s - chasing out Polian, then Butler, then Wade

 

00’s -  not one good move to stabilize FO, Donahoe, Marv, Brandon, and a bunch of bad coaches

 

10’s - Unqualified Nix as GM, less qualified Whaley, hiring Rex. 

 

....nicely done my friend......won;t find a BETTER synopsis than this......

[cba fan]

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 12:08 PM, B Fan in LA said:

2005 was a bad year.

Tom Donahoe fired Gregg Williams and replace him with Mike Mularkey

Then, there was the draft................

Yes. And to top it all off the best player from that draft was Lionel Gates who they cut at end of preseason.(he was best player on field when playing pre season) to keep worthless washed up Anthony Thomas A-Train who Jauron signed after having him on Bears.

[Golden Goat]

4 hours ago, BuffaloRush said:

 

Clearly he did belong in the NFL.  He was not an All-Pro by any means but did have several productive seasons.  Numbers don’t lie

 

5 touchdowns in 5 years. You're right. Numbers don't lie.

Edited May 20, 2018 by Golden Goat

[Steve O]

On 5/18/2018 at 9:05 AM, Mopreme said:

Not resigning Jason Peters.  

Actually, the bills did re-sign him. Did not renegotiate after that. We did pick up Eric Wood with the pick that we traded him for, so it wasn't as big a mistake as others on the list. 

[Golden Goat]

9 hours ago, OrtonHearsaWho said:

 

Something random...do you happen to remember the play where Lonnie decided that it was a good idea to look behind him for a while and was absolutely obliterated by a player that was...not behind him.

If the result was him basically getting clotheslined, then yes. ?