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Whaley interviewing for Steelers GM


YoloinOhio

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6 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

It’s not that he wasn’t methodical…he just had no idea how to build a team.  Some of his picks were ok, but his strength was mostly pro personnel.  
 

I don’t think you want Whaley as GM

That's also not really true. If you look at his draft results, he hit on a ton of guys that had NFL careers. Not all of them got resigned here and most didn't turn into superstars, but they didn't bust out of the league either. What hindered his legacy is the QB position, as is the death knell for most GMs. I'd be very interested to know who said what in the decision to pass on Mahomes and Watson and whose call it was ultimately.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/draft.htm

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2 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:


Whaley was better than he gets credit for here.  His biggest down fall was being forced to try and find a franchise QB in a horrific draft for QBs.  And never getting that right QB in place is a death nail in most GMs jobs.  
 

I think he could do well in Pitt.  Unfortunately for him, it’s another weak QB class to be hunting for a QB.  But at least they don’t have to take one this year if they wanna see what Mitch can do first.

 

So if Whaley gets the gig, if I was him I would avoid this years draft to take a QB early and target next year if Mitch doesn’t take hold the job this season.  

Death knell

 

You're not going to be taking down Octordle if you're conflating death knell with nail in the coffin.  So very gauche.  

Edited by Jauronimo
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1 hour ago, Captain Hindsight said:

Whaley could identify talent, he didn’t know how to build a cohesive roster. If he has that figured out he could be a serious candidate 

It goes way beyond that. He couldn't build a cohesive organization. Way too much drama and in fighting. 

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16 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

You've never seen Brandon Beane in sweats? Of all the things you could single out Whaley for, that's what you pick? Generally speaking, he was an extremely sharp dresser during his time here.

hi-res-9c6e9289a991e91fb43b3f47ff0e7936_

Don't have much of an impression of the guy, am a Wyoming fan that came with Josh Allen, but one of the few things I've seen of him from when he was here was the McDermott arrives at One Bills Drive video.

 

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18 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

That's also not really true. If you look at his draft results, he hit on a ton of guys that had NFL careers. Not all of them got resigned here and most didn't turn into superstars, but they didn't bust out of the league either. What hindered his legacy is the QB position, as is the death knell for most GMs. I'd be very interested to know who said what in the decision to pass on Mahomes and Watson and whose call it was ultimately.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/draft.htm


So you say his strength is the draft and then admit most of his picks didn’t turn out to be great players?  That doesn’t really sound like a strength.  I would say he was more successful at finding talent like the Lorenzo Alexander, Mike Gillislee, or Chris Hogan’s of the NFL than he was with drafting or free agency.  

 

As far as the 2017 draft, it doesn’t sound like Whaley had any input on the actual selections.  He was on the way out.  McDermott was probably making the decisions and it’s hard to fault him for not wanting to take a QB.

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12 minutes ago, ProcessAccepted said:

It goes way beyond that. He couldn't build a cohesive organization. Way too much drama and in fighting. 

Yep.  100% on this.   Listen to beat reporters describe the atmosphere at OBD before and after McBeane.  Day and night.

 

Whaley was a bad communicator, very disorganized and unprofessional.  Yes OBD was a trainwreck but he was more of a problem that the solution 

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2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

I still think Whaley could be a good personnel guy in the NFL. He has an eye for talent. But from what I’ve seen of him I don’t think he has the right skill set to be a GM. I know he has to deal with all sorts of meddling from Ralph Wilson lifers so it wasn’t all on him but seeing how he operated vs. Beane… yeah. No contest.


Whaley is good very good with pro personnel. I think he’s also done an OK job of finding the type of players that a HC wants. That doesn’t make him successful everywhere, but I do think the Steelers with Tomlin is about as ideal as it gets for him. 

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4 minutes ago, Mango said:


Whaley is good very good with pro personnel. I think he’s also done an OK job of finding the type of players that a HC wants. That doesn’t make him successful everywhere, but I do think the Steelers with Tomlin is about as ideal as it gets for him. 

Basically any GM situation where he can be more of an scout/director than a real GM?

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4 minutes ago, Mango said:


Whaley is good very good with pro personnel. I think he’s also done an OK job of finding the type of players that a HC wants. That doesn’t make him successful everywhere, but I do think the Steelers with Tomlin is about as ideal as it gets for him. 

The Douggernaut will be throwing Tomlin under the bus by year one 

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20 minutes ago, JohnNord said:


So you say his strength is the draft and then admit most of his picks didn’t turn out to be great players?  That doesn’t really sound like a strength.  I would say he was more successful at finding talent like the Lorenzo Alexander, Mike Gillislee, or Chris Hogan’s of the NFL than he was with drafting or free agency.  

 

As far as the 2017 draft, it doesn’t sound like Whaley had any input on the actual selections.  He was on the way out.  McDermott was probably making the decisions and it’s hard to fault him for not wanting to take a QB.

He had far better results in FA than Beane has had yet, go look at it and tell me I’m wrong.

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49 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

His roster was the one McD got to the playoffs with, let’s not act like he didn’t put together a good roster.  He missed on a WB which is debated if he had a call on.   His track record was not nearly what people make it out to be.  I think he had a better D built than we have now if we are being honest.

The 2017 roster was a wreck that’s why it was a miracle they went to the postseason.

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55 minutes ago, Rico said:

Nope. Didn’t trade for Jerry Hughes either.

He was the GM for the Tre draft, people want to blame him for Buddy Nix drafting Manuel and give McD credit for Tre, that’s BS.

55 minutes ago, Rico said:

Nope. Didn’t trade for Jerry Hughes either.

He was the GM for the Tre draft, people want to blame him for Buddy Nix drafting Manuel and give McD credit for Tre, that’s BS.

55 minutes ago, Rico said:

Nope. Didn’t trade for Jerry Hughes either.

He was the GM for the Tre draft, people want to blame him for Buddy Nix drafting Manuel and give McD credit for Tre, that’s BS.

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2 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

Does anyone remember the Charles Clay contract that Whaley came up with ?

 

Made Star’s deal look like a steal..

Thank you for reminding me.  I had blocked that out of my memory.  My favorite part was when he bid against only himself and drove up Clay’s price. 

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2 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

He was the GM for the Tre draft, people want to blame him for Buddy Nix drafting Manuel and give McD credit for Tre, that’s BS.

He was the GM for the Tre draft, people want to blame him for Buddy Nix drafting Manuel and give McD credit for Tre, that’s BS.

He was the GM for the Tre draft, people want to blame him for Buddy Nix drafting Manuel and give McD credit for Tre, that’s BS.

 Not by me, I blame Buddy for the EJ pick and Whaley for keeping him on the team so long.

 

As for who picked Tre, Whaley was fired the day after the draft.:doh:

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2 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

He was the GM for the Tre draft, people want to blame him for Buddy Nix drafting Manuel and give McD credit for Tre, that’s BS.

LOL!  Whaley was sidelined for that draft because he was on his way out. He was so angry about being ignored that he actually left the draft room.  McDermott ran that draft and Whaley was fired the day after it concluded. 

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3 hours ago, Warcodered said:

Saw the video the Bills put out when they hired McDermott when he arrived at the facility and was shown around. McDermott was in a suit, Whaley was in sweats.

 

Pic:

whaley.jpg

 

You can see this in the video starting at 1:37 [which I now see was already posted by @Warcodered]:

 

Edited by chongli
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1 hour ago, JohnNord said:

It’s not that he wasn’t methodical…he just had no idea how to build a team.  Some of his picks were ok, but his strength was mostly pro personnel.  
 

I don’t think you want Whaley as GM

I want him as GM for Pittsburgh 😁

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23 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

He had far better results in FA than Beane has had yet, go look at it and tell me I’m wrong.

 

Lorax, Incognito, Tyrod (those were the good or at least decent ones).

 

vs.

 

Beasely, Brown, Morse, Feliciano, Andre Roberts, Star, Trent Murphy, Addison, D Williams, Sanders, Taiwan Jones

 

Von Miller.....

 

 

 

 

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30 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

Lorax, Incognito, Tyrod (those were the good or at least decent ones).

 

vs.

 

Beasely, Brown, Morse, Feliciano, Andre Roberts, Star, Trent Murphy, Addison, D Williams, Sanders, Taiwan Jones

 

Von Miller.....

 

 

 

 


Lorax, Incognito, and Tyrod were all just guys Rex Ryan wanted. So I am not sure I can give him credit there, at the same time I don’t blame him for the Shaq Lawson and Reggie Ragland picks because again that’s what Rex wanted. 

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6 minutes ago, MrEpsYtown said:


Lorax, Incognito, and Tyrod were all just guys Rex Ryan wanted. So I am not sure I can give him credit there, at the same time I don’t blame him for the Shaq Lawson and Reggie Ragland picks because again that’s what Rex wanted. 

 

Well I was trying to give Whaley credit for something....

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when I think of Whaley I recall his tenure as relating to both Tyrod Taylor as well as Marcel Dareus. I looked at wiki for Dareus just now to reflect on that entire span of time and saw this quote OOF. It is just a trivia I found interesting. The one that got away.

 

Quote

On October 27, 2017, Dareus was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a conditional 2018 sixth-round draft pick, which became a 5th round pick that was used to select Wyatt Teller

 

Edited by muppy
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4 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

 

Whaley worked for the Steelers for 10 years rising to be a pro personnel coordinator before accepting the Buffalo Bills job as Assistant general manager.

He is familiar with organization which is advantage to him. 

 

He unfortunately is a poor public speaker and should (already should have) lessons to help him.

He would be better as an assistant rather than "face" of franchise.

If he is smart he will not rule out being part of staff if he does not get GM role.


Worst case was when he said he wasn’t involved in decision to fire Rex Ryan and then was sent out to talk to the press.

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2 hours ago, JohnNord said:

It’s not that he wasn’t methodical…he just had no idea how to build a team.  Some of his picks were ok, but his strength was mostly pro personnel.  
 

I don’t think you want Whaley as GM

Rex had more power which screwed whaley

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4 hours ago, somnus00 said:

Not a popular opinion here, but I liked Whaley. Ialways felt that he was in a terrible position here. Meddling owner, had Nix as a weird co-GM/boss/mentor hybrid. Russ Brandon 'nuff said. Then he had Rex shoved down his throat.

 

I'm not saying he would've been great. But he certainly wasn't given a real shot.

Agreed

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I always cracked up when Brandon called Whaley, "Whales."  

 

Two clowns who've been thankfully DFA'd from the Buffalo Bills forever.  The irony is, at the end of Rex's final season, Whaley undermined RR through his contacts and at OBD to get his own swing at a HC (after Marrone was hired by Brandon and Rex was a Pegula decision).  Then, he winds up T/K Pegs hiring McD who could see how terrible he was as a GM.  

 

Maybe he finds his way back to the NFL, but being out for 5 years without finding a front office position speaks volumes.  Good luck to Pittsburgh if they hire him. 

 

 

 

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Just now, Robert Paulson said:

Rex had more power which screwed whaley


Maybe…but that was part of the problem.  Doug always had an issue with his HC whether it was Doug Marrone or Rex.  There always seemed to be some kind of conflict or turmoil which made its way into the press.  This is what I mean by Whaley not being a great GM.  It’s more than drafting or signing FA.  It’s about having a long term vision and building a culture and organization.  He seemed to be very much inept at doing this.  
 

Not sure that working for the XFL is going to change that 

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4 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

I didn't mind some of the moves he made, but he wasn't as consistent or methodical as Beane. Didn't care for his personality at times, wither. Still seems like a good fit for Pittsburgh.

 

That Hughes trade was righteous.

Hard to be consistent and methodical when you don’t get to pick the head coach. Can buy good ingredients but when the owners change chef and menu… 

 

he had his faults but so did the organization. I’d be curious if he stuck in Pittsburgh what his resume would look like by comparison

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