Bills historic draft picks - 2nd contracts

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, Bill from NYC said:

I could very well be wrong but I do not think we re-signed Clements. Wasn't he franchised for 1 year?

 

Yes he was.

[Bill from NYC]

Just now, GunnerBill said:

 

Yes he was.

But not re-signed to a contract, correct?

[SoTier]

14 hours ago, whatdrought said:

I did hear in a podcast today where the Bengals have the most homegrown talent on their roster with something like 36 players being guys they drafted/brought into the league... Doesn't always prove to be a metric of success. 

 

That being said, that list is pretty damning. Hopefully that trend shifts when we make Tre White the highest paid CB in the NFL (When he's the best in 2 years)

 

Both Green Bay and Pittsburgh are notable for winning with homegrown talent.   Baltimore under Ozzie Newsome also had considerable success with heavy doses of drafted players who stayed through most of their careers.   I think the key to success with "your own" players is good drafting.  The Packers, Steelers, and Ravens have been good at drafting so that they have had lots of talent worth re-signing.  Cinci hasn't been as good at drafting as the other three teams, so their pool of homegrown talent isn't as good.

 

The Bills have been, at best, mediocre at drafting.   They have compounded their less than stellar drafting by failing to re-sign most of their best draftees or the UDFA players that they developed.    I disagree that regime change is primary reason for this constant regime change.   The Bills have had two owners since their inception: Ralph Wilson and the Pegulas.   They actually had only three different control regimes since Bill Polian left in 1993: John Butler, 1994-2000; Tom Donahoe, 2001-2005; Russ Brandon, 2006-2017.  Butler and Donahoe were traditional CEO/GMs.  Brandon was the "power behind the throne" who was second only to the owners in creating and implementing the team's philosophy since he essentially took over the team.  Dick Jauron (Marv Levy was a figurehead), Buddy Nix, Doug Whaley, and Sean McDermott were essentially talent scouts who marched to Brandon's orders.   The only big name HC that the Bills hired since the 1980s when Chuck Knox left was Rex Ryan.  All the others, including Marv Levy, were first time HCs or  mediocre former HCs looking for new gigs.  The swapping out of players every time a new HC was hired really didn't start in earnest until Brandon took over the team ... about the time that the Bills totally embraced putting profit ahead of winning.

 

The best move that the Pegulas have made towards building a winning team is getting rid of Brandon IMO.   I think the 2017 draft was clearly a draft with Brandon's imprint on it (passing on a QB to take a DB to replace the top notch DB the Bills allowed to leave in FA).  2018 and 2019 were both significantly different which is a hopeful sign going forward.

 

 

[GunnerBill]

Just now, Bill from NYC said:

But not re-signed to a contract, correct?

 

Correct. Franchised then walked. In fairness I think the Bills wanted to keep Clements... he wanted to get away.

2 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

 I disagree that regime change is primary reason for this constant regime change.   The Bills have had two owners since their inception: Ralph Wilson and the Pegulas.   They actually had only three different control regimes since Bill Polian left in 1993: John Butler, 1994-2000; Tom Donahoe, 2001-2005; Russ Brandon, 2006-2017.  Butler and Donahoe were traditional CEO/GMs.  Brandon was the "power behind the throne" who was second only to the owners in creating and implementing the team's philosophy since he essentially took over the team.  Dick Jauron (Marv Levy was a figurehead), Buddy Nix, Doug Whaley, and Sean McDermott were essentially talent scouts who marched to Brandon's orders.   The only big name HC that the Bills hired since the 1980s when Chuck Knox left was Rex Ryan.  All the others, including Marv Levy, were first time HCs or  mediocre former HCs looking for new gigs.  The swapping out of players every time a new HC was hired really didn't start in earnest until Brandon took over the team ... about the time that the Bills totally embraced putting profit ahead of winning.

 

The best move that the Pegulas have made towards building a winning team is getting rid of Brandon IMO.   I think the 2017 draft was clearly a draft with Brandon's imprint on it (passing on a QB to take a DB to replace the top notch DB the Bills allowed to leave in FA).  2018 and 2019 were both significantly different which is a hopeful sign going forward.

 

 

 

Firstly I didn't say regime change was the primary reason. I think it, along with bad allocation of draft resources are the two most significant reasons. The idea that Russ Brandon was drafting players for the Bills has been gone over many times though. He wasn't. Even when he was GM he wasn't. The idea that Sean McDermott was a patsie to Russ Brandon in the 2017 draft is even more ridiculous.

[SoCal Deek]

Thanks for doing this! I believe it’s mostly cause and effect. When you’re looking at a team with only one playoff appearance in twenty years this isn’t all the surprising. Why keep players who’ve proven that they’re not getting it done? With that said, some of this is the cause and effect of how the league has been reorganized with a hard salary cap and suppressed rookie contracts. Every team is forced to look at their fifth year guys and say ‘is this dude really worth it’? They rarely are! While the rookie salary cap makes sense for the veterans who get beyond year four, it also has the unexpected consequence of creating a Fifth Year blood bath.

[BuffaloBill]

The churn is also correlated with changes in coaches and GM’s.  New regimes usually bring different philosophies and therefore they look at the “fit” of players very differently.  Look at the current roster flip where I believe the current number of remaining players from the Whaley / Ryan years is five and that number may very well come down once training camp and the pre-season is over.

 

I also don’t know that churn across the league is so unusual.  However, what the Bills have not had is a consistent “core” since the Polian / Levy era which was before the modern FA period.  Look at the cheats* they have turned their roster many times without too much pain and difficulty.  With Brady as their “core” and a stable coaching situation they have been able to swap other players in and out relatively easily.

[BarleyNY]

54 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Correct. Franchised then walked. In fairness I think the Bills wanted to keep Clements... he wanted to get away.

 

Firstly I didn't say regime change was the primary reason. I think it, along with bad allocation of draft resources are the two most significant reasons. The idea that Russ Brandon was drafting players for the Bills has been gone over many times though. He wasn't. Even when he was GM he wasn't. The idea that Sean McDermott was a patsie to Russ Brandon in the 2017 draft is even more ridiculous.

 

Totally agree that those are the two biggest issues: Regime/scheme change and generally poor drafting.  The former is totally on Pegula.  He needs to have an overarching philosophy for the team that the coaching staffs have to adhere to in order to even be considered.  Let’s hope he’s learned that because I like where we are in that in general. 

 

As for drafting, I do like Beane and he certainly knows what fits McDermott’s needs so I think we will be okay there.  I’m a lot less enamored by his moves in FA, but what I’ve seen to date might just be a short term tactic and not a general strategy.  I’ll wait and see on that. 

[Chandler#81]

Thanks mushy. 30 is a lot high than I imagined. We’re better’n I thought..