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One of the darkest days in Bills history. I’ll never forgive Ralph.


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1 hour ago, SoTier said:

 

No college player can sign with any NFL team until after the NFL draft.   Bruce Smith was the #1 over all pick in 1985, which the Bills owned because of their crappy record the previous season.  Flutie was taken in the 11th round (#285) of the LA Rams.

 

I think that Smith rejected the WFL as an option, so the Bills drafted him, but he couldn't have been signed before the draft.   First round draft picks holding out into some time into TC was very common before the rookie salary cap went into effect about 2010 or so.

Back then a team with the first pick could and routinely did negotiate and sign a player before drafting. In some cases the signability decided who they would draft number 1. Bruce signed in February, draft was in April.

Feb. 22, 1985: Bills agree to rookie deal with Bruce Smith
https://www.buffalobills.com/news/feb-22-1985-bills-agree-to-rookie-deal-with-bruce-smith-14954041

 

Oops,, Ethan beat me to it. Obviously a much faster typer than me.

Edited by CA OC Bills Fan
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43 minutes ago, Mcdermott said:

The Bills chose Smith because he was clearly better then Childress. You are right, he didn’t hold out but they didn’t draft him because they could sign him.

As for Flutie, he ended up going in the 6th or 7th round which goes to show you how smart fans are.

 

Fans??? Try sports writers - it was Larry Felser who led the charge with columns demanding the Bills should draft Flutie #1 overall  - and he ended up drafted in the 6th or 7th round.  Larry also wrote Jim Kelly could never win a big game before our 1989 playoff game vs Cleveland  and demanded Reich should start over the 1st ballot HOF QB

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1 hour ago, Stranded in Boston said:

SoTier, your post made me realize that the Bills have actually done pretty well when they've had the top pick. To start, both OJ and Bruce are Hall of Famers -- and could be argued to be the best ever at their positions. The Cousineau business was frustrating, but trading him to Cleveland did net the #14 pick in the '83 draft, which produced Jim Kelly, another HOFer. So one could argue that 75% (3/4) of the Bills first-overall picks led to HOFers (I wonder what the overall % is for first picks among all drafts?)

 

Bills selecting Walt Patulski #1 in 1972 was a bust.

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3 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

 

The rumor was Jack Kemp’s wife. It was a very hot topic at the time though, obviously, never confirmed. Not the only time taboo dalliances were suggested as a reason a player was traded.


hockey demands teammates beat up the offender and a trade happens

 

Leafs have had three incidents I can think of, the last resulting in a veteran retiring surprisingly just before the playoffs started

 

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3 hours ago, SoTier said:

What I have heard over the years is that Wilson traded Lamonica because he had an affair with another player's wife.  I don't how true that was but it seems consistent with how Wilson ran the team.

 

I think that Lamonica would have failed in Buffalo.  The loss to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship (for the berth in Super Bowl I) was the Bills' last hurrah and ushered in 2 decades of misery for Bills fans which were only broken by Lou Saban's short lived return as coach (1972-the first 5 games of 1976) and the Chuck Knox regime (1978-1982)  until Bill Polian took charge of the Bills in 1986.  Between 1967 and 1985, the Bills were mostly uncompetitive with the rest of the NFL.  Wilson didn't like paying top money for quality players, so the Bills drafted primarily based either position (lots of DBs in the first round) or whether a draftee would accept the Bills' low ball salary offers in the first round.  In the 20 years between 1967 and 1986, the Bills had the #1 pick in the entire draft 4 times (OJ Simpson (1968), Walt Putulski (1972), Tom Cousineau (1979), and Bruce Smith (1985)), 3 top 5 picks, and 2 top ten picks.  Simpson and Smith both held out a long time before finally signing with the Bills.  Cousineau chose to play in the CFL rather than for the Bills.  Jim Kelly (the only QB taken in the first round during this period) chose the WFL over the Bills.

 

  The rumor that I always heard was possibly more than one affair and one of those was with a DL's wife.  Getting Lamonica out of Buffalo was to calm the clubhouse and possibly keep him in one piece.  If true then Ralph most likely did not have a choice.  

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2 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

How old are you? The first pick of the draft was often known days, weeks, and sometime months in advance as the terms of the deal were agreed upon.  In Smith's case he agreed months before the draft. And Smith was not a holdout his rookie year.

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/feb-22-1985-bills-agree-to-rookie-deal-with-bruce-smith-14954041

 

They might agree to a deal but they can't actually sign a deal until after they are drafted. 

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2 hours ago, CA OC Bills Fan said:

Back then a team with the first pick could and routinely did negotiate and sign a player before drafting. In some cases the signability decided who they would draft number 1. Bruce signed in February, draft was in April.

Feb. 22, 1985: Bills agree to rookie deal with Bruce Smith
https://www.buffalobills.com/news/feb-22-1985-bills-agree-to-rookie-deal-with-bruce-smith-14954041

 

Oops,, Ethan beat me to it. Obviously a much faster typer than me.

 

The article you quoted said that they reached an agreement with Smith.  It didn't say that he signed a contract.  There is a significant difference between agreeing to contract terms and actually signing the contract.   

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