All_Pro_Bills

I doni't see Peterman starting. What I see is a team that will be in a position to assess some realistic options at the end of the season. In other words a plan for once vs. hope. Taylor plays well, the team improves, and he starts again 2018. Taylor falters and Peterman comes off the bench and plays well. Maybe or maybe not well enough to impact the 2018 draft approach. Neither QB plays good enough to be considered a franchise QB and the Bills are in position to get one of the top 3. Taylor or Peterman excels and the team has 2 2018 1st rounders to improve the team elsewhere. And I don't want to forget CJ.

As a matter of professional courtesy teams rarely block anyone from interviewing for a promotion with another team. A lateral move would be treated differently. Permission if given might be conditional like a draft pick or some other consideration. As for McDermott poaching Carolina's draft board I have my doubts since considerable time has passed between when he was hired by the Bills and the draft. About 4+ months. Maybe they had a hi-level view of how they wanted to approach the draft but I doubt they had any kind of firm or specific targets identified.

I like what's happening so far but fear things are happening in the wrong order. Generally, you hire a GM and that person hires a coach that aligns with the teams approach and philosophy. But we already have a HC and are looking for a GM who aligns with the HC. Will that work? It might but this could also limit the number of potential candidates willing to come into this situation. On the other hand you can always fall back on the there's only 32 jobs like this out there. Yesterday Pegula's said Whaley was being relieved of his duties but the fact is DW was relieved of those responsibilities long before being fired. McDermott has been running the FO and called the shots in the draft. So specifically what are the duties of the GM in this situation and who will be making the final decision on the 53 man roster? Please don't let me hear them say it will be a 'team' effort. If I'm a veteran GM or a high-potential candidate I would think twice on what I could be getting into here. Other than the move up for Dawkins, which might have been unnecessary, the draft was good. NE took an OT who rates well with the 21st pick and it's not clear if anybody else was thinking OT in front of the Bills in the 3rd. Not much help for the defense as those extra picks traded away could have helped. Love the extra 1st they got from KC and this season my second favorite team will be whoever the Chiefs are playing that week.

Recorded the draft today and just watched ESPN commentary. Nothing but positives about the pick. Most 'throw ready' QB in the draft I believe they said. Played in pro style offense under center. Smart, goes through progressions, accurate. Only QB to beat Cleamson and on the road putting up 33. Arm strength not optimal but has superior understanding of the game and the position. Frankly, can't wait to see if the Bills might have hit here.

From what I've read to this point there are 3 QB's to watch for 2018 that are said to be superior to any of the QB's in the 2017 class. Darnold USC, Rosen UCLA, and Allen Wyoming. Maybe others? Bundling what might be another Bills top 10 pick next year with what projects to the 24th spot for KC based on current Super Bowl odds could move the Bills up.

I expect White will be viewed as an upgrade to Gilmore after 7 or 8 games. Intelligence, tackling, effort. I never understood how Gilmore was ever considered to be a shutdown corner. Not sure what anybody saw that I missed. The consensus is KC's 1st rounder will be in the late 20's next year. But there's no guarantee of that with schedules, injuries, and unforeseen events.

They have some cap space available to match the offer if only to send a message that things will be different going forward. The front office has got to be smarter. NE is playing the Bills as a minor league farm team. 'Calling up' a player when the need to fill a spot. Improving their team while weakening a division rival. For starters they need to stop the practice of usually tendering the lowest possible offer to RFA's and offer what the player is actually worth. As events continue to expose incompetence I'm coming around to the conclusion by many here that Whaley needs to go ASAP.

Your right about defense spending and prison population. The US spends more on defense than the next 15 nations (including China and Russia) combined and about 12 of them can be considered allies. But its expensive to defend an empire with troops stationed in some 130 countries around the world. As such most of the world sees the US as the biggest threat to peace rather than the current Russian behind every bush and tree hysteria going on in the media and Congress. The US holds 25% of the world prison population against something like 5% of the total population. Chalk this up to the Federal, State, and local governments criminalizing everyday life from where you can plant a tree on your own property to the lack of proper permits for a child's lemonade stand. The latest fad among the revenue starved jurisdictions being civil forfeiture laws without due process. But regardless of all that it's still the destination of choice for the world's legal and illegal immigrants and refugees. For example, I don't hear a lot about people trying to sneak into Albania. Or the great business opportunities in Venezuela. Or quality of life in The Congo. And all these people who threatened to move to Canada. I read somewhere requests to the Canadian government totaled a whopping 25 individual requests. So no matter what anybody wants to think if you live in the US you're probably already better off than 95% of the rest of the world.

Rather than develop a complex, fact-less, conspiracy theory it's very simple. No team thinks Kap is worth all the drama that might follow him..

Your statement is insightful. But what's missing from the social debate is a level of civility that used to exist when people openly debated social issues with the goal of reaching some common understanding to move forward. Now all we get is a lot of shouting, empty symbolism, paid professional demonstrators, and rather than reaching some consensus understanding everybody competing in some winner take all conflict. Part of the problem is nobody really wants to have an open and honest discussion about race and social justice as there are many sides to the issue that as you say conflict with individual belief systems from each person's perspective. The other thing is the definition of racist has morphed over time. Before being a racist used to mean somebody who takes action against somebody that violates their civil rights because of the race. Now it includes anybody that might disagree with a certain political philosophy or 'says' something. When I was younger we used to say 'names can never hurt you' but that no longer seems to apply. As for Kap the football QB I would think that if he was worthy of picking up some other quarterback starved team would have made him an offer already.

As you say the Patriots and Steelers. I suspect Houston with a QB upgrade, and maybe the Titans are on the rise along with dare I say Doug Marrone's Jaguars team. Doug's timing might be good here and regardless of how many personally feel about him he is not a bad coach. They've made a lot of moves to improve an already good defense and if their offense can improve they could be tough. Maybe the AFC South will be the most competitive division. I'm not sure the Raiders can duplicate their performance but they appear to be the off-season favorite in the West. KC, Denver, Cinn, Ravens sliding. Maybe the Chargers make some noise out West? Can the Dolphins fix their defense in one off-season? Cleveland has all those draft picks and if they choose wisely they should improve. As for the Bills McDermott is a major contrast to Ryan's bluster. He seems organized, in control, and following some plan here. Until we see some play on the field it's hard to say what kind of impact he's going to have but my 'gut' tells me he's a 'real' NFL level coach for the Bills for the 1st time in a long time. The Bills could be fighting for a wild card spot but if Brady goes over the 'age' cliff this season, because when it's going to happen it will happen real fast, then things could get interesting in the East. They still have Jimmy G. and maybe its me but I am not as sold on him as most experts and people in general seem to be. He played well in two games last year against two of the worst defenses. For me I rewind back to the Bills getting suckered by Jacksonville in the Rob Johnson trade for a similar situation and I get the same feeling here that he's hyped up.

Best of luck to EJ. His last game was actually what we needed. His performance moved the Bills into the 10th spot in the draft rather than producing a meaningless season ending win.

The only thing that is going to get me excited is checking the standings on a weekly basis and not having to look at the bottom of the list to find the Bills. Plug a few holes with some solid football players in free agency, have a good draft (please WR Davis or Williams), get Ragland and Lawson back for a full camp and season, and put a competitive product on the field week to week.

To me it's all relative. With Gilmore the Pats are playing with house money like a gambler up big. If they push a long-shot bet that turns out its all good. If not, well they're still up big but only gave a little back. NE can afford to gamble. if it doesn't work out, oh well nobody's going to bring it up, criticize them, or hold it against them. They still have those super bowls to fall back on and everything they do wrong gets covered up by the fact they arguably have the GOAT at the QB position for a decade and a half. The Bills are not in a position to gamble with giving Gilmore a big contract with lots of other needs they have to address with their available cap money. So what both teams did makes logical sense given their specific situations regardless of what Jerry thinks is right or wrong.

I jest of course but those short punts gave the Bills a better chance to win since self-proclaimed genius Rex Ryan's defense could never stop anyone from any point on the field. A good punt would have allowed the opponent to sustain an 80+ yard drive for a TD and burn more clock rather than forcing them to score from closer to the Bills goal line. This left more time on the clock to mount a comeback. But you ask, what comeback?

Jerry seems to be advocating 'tanking' and then putting the team in a high draft slot where they can land that elusive 'franchise' QB. Of course that implies there is such a thing in this or next season's draft and the Bills, after throwing the season away will make the right selection in the draft, Then its all blue skies and sunshine forever after. Maybe my enthusiasm has been worn away from season after season of this topic but my expectation is the Bills would do what they always do and blow the pick.

There's at least 3 or 4 teams drafting ahead of the Bills that need a franchise QB. So if he's there at 10 that means the Bills are either the smartest guys in the room or reaching.

Romo will be 37 in April. He's suffered through major injuries the past two seasons. Probably with at most 2 more good seasons left. If Romo is released he can entertain offers and pick the place he sees the 'best fit'. Put yourself in his spot. You really think that's going to be the Bills? For one the defense needs a complete overhaul. And 2nd you've got powerhouse NE to deal with 2 times a season. So most likely your fighting for 2nd place and a wild card spot right out of the gate. My guess is he ends up in Denver. I think Elway has most of the pieces still in place and sees an opportunity to land a veteran QB to keep his team at a competitive level for the next few seasons and also a to bridge to P. Lynch a couple years down the road and sells Romo on the idea. A team where the window is still open with a very good defense in place. Short of some quality QB play last season a team that would most likely have been in the playoffs.

Well thought out and definitely the defense was terrible and needs to be upgraded at all 3 levels. And while I don't think TT is the answer I also don't feel he's the biggest problem and all potential alternates are either less desirable or very risky or worse just wishful thinking. Along with the defense I see Cap management as a problem. A small number of players gobbling up a big portion of the cap. This might necessitate cutting some high paid players and letting Gilmore walk. If it was up to me my list would be releasing A. Williams (I think he should retire before something really bad happens), K. Williams (some contender might pick him up on a 1 or 2 year deal and the guy deserves a shot at the title), Clay (just overpaid), and Wood (Groy did a decent job at a much lower cap hit). And find another kicker to replace Carpenter as his efficiency looks to be on the slide. Find a genuine number 2 receiver. If Mike Williams is there at 10 then take him otherwise defense.

If there is interest in the Safety position in round 1 and there is injury/durability concern with Hooker then Jabrill Peppers could be a potential alternative.

If you think the Bills are 'the' QB away from competing for the division with New England and a potential conference championship game team next year then making a play for Rivers would make sense. I don't. I see this team with some potential cap issues needing upgrades at several positions which needs to come via the draft and free agency. Specifically on defense at LB and in the secondary. It might take 2 seasons to fix and adjust everything to the new systems that will be installed. Rivers, at 35, is at the age where you ordinarily see a big drop off in production. So maybe you get a year or two out of him but by the time the rest of the team is ready he's likely to become more of a liability than an asset at the QB position. So then you've likely given up some significant assets, either players or draft picks, to get Rivers but he's not elite anymore and you've depleted your future picks at the expense of a present that never pans out. The answer is finding a long-term QB solution through correctly evaluating draft prospects and putting yourself in the position to make the right pick at the right point in the draft. Whether that means staying put, or moving back, or moving up if needed. Unfortunately, the Bills track record at this is not good. My expectation is that the new blood in the coaching ranks with different eyes on the draft will show some better results in the 2017 draft.

I've been saying this too. TT has his faults that we painfully see each Sunday but what is the alternative to Taylor the team's masterminds have in mind? Hoping some recycled free agent works out? Hitting on some yet unidentified QB in the draft? Making a trade for some high-mileage veteran one hit away from retirement? Given their track record of nailing the QB search my confidence is zero any of these will work out. Hoping the new HC will have some heavy input and some rational and realistic plan emerges.

Don't know anything about DeCosta or how the Raven operate but if I was running the show I'd take a look. Something the Bills will not do here since Whaley seems safe for at least another season. The Ravens are one of several teams that always seem to hit on a majority of their draft picks. And they're not always drafting near the top of the round. Others like the Steelers, Packers, Seahawks identify and draft players that become contributors and starters. Of course it helps these teams are set at the QB position too. The Bills on the other hand cannot recognize a 'good' QB and got more or less nothing out of this years draft class. If you go back a few years and review their selections maybe you count a handful of guys they hit on. It;s pretty depressing how bad they've been at the draft for so long. Stating the obvious but being able to identify a QB and lousy drafting are the biggest problems with the Bills.

My wife keeps telling me Jim Kelly should be head of football operations for the Bills because he's 100% on board with wanting this team to win. I say he's got other things on his plate like charitable foundations and has to watch his health. I don't know, maybe she's right?

The initial problem with the Bills org structure is this co-CEO set up. How can you have two owners? A husband and wife. What's the dynamic between the two? How are decisions made? How many other owners have their spouse sitting at the table as an equal decision maker with them? You need one person in charge, either Kim or Terry. And Whaley's answers at the press conference concerning his role as 'general manager' were disturbing and makes it sound like nobody is setting clear goals or actions here. The way the Bills are run sounds like an intervention is needed similar to the TV shows Bar Rescue or Restaurant Impossible. If you've seen either you should get what I'm saying. Clueless owners running a dysfunctional operation that need help from an expert. That path wasn't taken 2 years ago and it appears it will not be taken now. The frustration is this would be relatively easy to fix if ownership was willing to take the actions necessary rather than do what they are comfortable with doing.