OldTimer1960

The plan was to float the names of weak candidates to lower expectations and then whomever they hired would look much better. However, it seems they read the plan wrong and floated the names of great candidates first, then on to lesser but still recognizable names and then hired a joke.

REALLY??? There is no possible explanation for the Chan Gailey hiring other than that the organization is completely inept and could find no remotely reasonable candidate that would take the job. This is truly a joke at the same level (or worse) than the Raiders hiring Lane Kiffin, moving him from USC OC to NFL HC. It won't do anything for the Bills' current QBs because there isn't a remotely viable starting-calibre NFL QB on the roster.

Yes, but he was a terrible head coach in Dallas. You could probably write the same article about Dick Jauron's prowess as a defensive assistant. I am sure that you could write it about Dick LeBeau's career, but he was an all-time bad head coach when he got his shot. Why Gailey should even get another chance is beyond me. I am so severely disappointed that I can't even express it in words.

QB: You can also turn it around and say "I'm afraid to find out why Brohm - a 2nd round draft pick very recently - wasn't even on the Packer's active roster". RB: Agreed that Jackson is good. Lynch is OK, but not worth the problems he causes off-field and is always just a brain-fart away from being suspended again. I think this position does need to be addressed. OL: I do agree that the line (if healthy) isn't that bad and has upside. However, I think they do need another viable LT candidate this offseason. Maybe D. Bell will be the answer. I certainly think he is athletic enough, but he really was over-matched in the games he played this year. Too bad he got hurt because he could have really benefitted from more experience. WR: If Owens goes, this position is really weak (esp. if Reed leaves, too). TE: I agree that Nelson showed some flashes of being good as a receiver. Schouman and the others do not make the grade, IMHO. Still, this wouldn't be a high-priority position for me if I were in charge. DL: I think the Bills are OK at DT, but could use another young DT as Stroud is getting older. I am not as down on Kelsay as others are. I thought he actually played pretty well this year. Still, they do need another DE. LB: Poz is really starting to be good and Mitchell is OK, but another starter is definitely needed and good backups for both inside and outside are needed. DBs: No complaints. This team isn't devoid of talent, but it is really lacking at the two most important positions on Offense - QB and LT. Those also are the two most difficult positions to fill.

While I think Brohm should be given a chance to compete, but looking at the fact that a 2nd round pick couldn't even stay on GB's active roster, I'd say that he shouldn't be Plan A going into training camp. I could be OK with them going to camp with Brohm, Fitzpatrick, some fading veteran and a mid-late round rookie at QB. Heck, if they want to bring TE in to let him compete, OK too. I don't think that any of them are the answer, but I'd rather see help brought in to shore up the D and hopefully to find a LT on the OL. If they can get a LT and build a good-very good D this offseason, they can work on finding a top QB and some WRs next year. I think that is the fastest route to competitiveness.

That is one way to look at it. Another way is to realize that this is a team with no LT and no QB - THE 2 most important positions on offense. On defense, they were LAST in rushing defense, so something is wrong on that side, too.

I'd like to see some quality candidates actually seem interested in interviewing with the team. Unfortunately, that isn't happening. Yeah, I guess Leslie Frazier did seem interested, but it seems to be that the Bills are really having to twist Grimm's arm to interview. Up front, they said that they would talk to the candidates in roughly the order of their preference and so far no hire. So, from that I conclude that they are on to plan B or plan C at this point. Not the way to start the "next great era in Bills history" - at least it doesn't look like a good way to do so.

I really am not usually this pessimistic, but this is seriously bad. NOBODY wants this job! I understand the Bills taking their time - to an extent, but when half of the candidates that you want to talk to turn down the opportunity to even interview for what would be a promotion and big pay increase, you have to figure that SOMETHING is very BROKEN. At this point, whomever they hire will have no credibility from day 1 since he will obviously be a desperation hire. How will this desperation hire even put together a staff of assistants. Who will want to come work for the 15th or 16th choice of an organization?

This is exactly the problem that the Bills have faced in the past when they've "taken their time" to hire a new head coach. I wish I could say otherwise, but the Bills will be putzing around for a while longer, hire a compromise guy to be their HC and he'll put together a weak staff of assistants from what is left on the market. This has really been the scenario since Wade Phillips left and it looks like it will be the same this time. This should really not be that complicated.

My concern with this argument is that just because other good QBs were drafted in the 1st round doesn't mean that taking Tebow or McCoy in round 1 guarantees that they will be good. There are TONS of QBs taken high in round 1 that were TERRIBLE in the NFL. Most of those guys had no business being taken that high, but teams were following the philosophy that they need their franchise QB no mater what so they reached for these guys. That is BAD drafting. Now, if they truly feel that Tebow or McCoy is going to be a great NFL QB, then they should probably grab them. But they should not take them just to take a QB in the first round. (I don't think either of those guys is going to be good in the NFL, but what do I know?)

Based only on what I've read at SportingNews' WarRoom and ProFootbabllWeekly, Davis is a tremendous natural talent who is fat and out of shape. He was reportedly benched at some point this season for being over-weight. If true, not the kind of player I'd want to hand a $10M signing bonus to and then hope that he shows up in shape. Caveat: Some players do mature and "get it". Bruce Smith was also way over-weight when he came out of college, but when the light went on he became a physical specimen - perhaps one of the best-conditioned DL of his time. Caveat: Sometimes these characterizations/reports on draftees are just plain wrong.

I don't think that the Bills can really talk with Fox while he is under contract with Carolina. I think that would be tampering. Now, they could maybe let "intermediaries" get the word out that the Bills want a coach that is "like John Fox in Carolina". Whether that rumor filtering to Fox would be enough to convince him to quit as Carolina's coach is a big question. If I were Fox, it wouldn't be enough for me.

Assuming Eric Wood can return healthy for next year, I think that the only glaring hole is at LT. Now, that is a MAJOR glaring hole as it is the most important position on the OL. I think Demetrius Bell is quite athletic, but he didn't show much this year before getting hurt. Maybe another off-season of strength training and technique work will make him a viable option, but I wouldn't want him to be plan A at LT going into next season. I think a healthy Brad Butler could be adequate at RT and other options are easier to find at RT (by far) than at LT. There is the rub. Good LTs don't come along very often and while they might have a shot at the #3 or 4 LT at pick 9 this year, it is a tough thing to use that high of a pick on a player who might never be more than an OK starter at that important position. QB is a similar situation where the Bills obviously have a huge problem. Again though, it is unlikely (in my opinion) that they'll have a shot at a top QB by pick 9 and I'm not sure that I like any of the top QBs this year anyway. If Sam Bradford is there, is he worth the pick? Do you like ND's Clausen? I'm not particularly sold on either. I'd consider Tim Tebow in the 2nd round, but not at pick 9. So, that leaves either settling for someone that is probably not worth a high pick at either of these two important positions or going another direction with a player that the team feels much better about. I suspect that they will almost have to go with another position rather than reach for a questionable LT or QB prospect. The D could sure use another LB and Rolando McClain or Brandon Spikes will probably be available. Another DL (end or T) would never hurt, either. I guess that I didn't answer the question, but I think that they'll neither get their LT or QB - at least not in round 1 this year.

While I don't profess to really know if either guy would be a good head coach, I'd take a pass. I don't think a 1-year DC (McDermott) is what we want to take a shot on. I think Zimmer has kicked around for a long time with no consideration that I know of as a head coach.

To my knowledge, Schottenheimer had nothing to do with building the Jets O-Line. I think the cornerstones (Faneca, D-Brick Ferguson, Mangold) were there before Schottenheimer was. I can't completely dismiss him, but as a head coach, he wouldn't have the time to spend with a young QB. Skills developing a certain position don't necessarily translate to head coach. The head coach is more CEO than a departmental specialist.

Brian Schottenheimer is the least qualified of the tattered lot of assistants that the Bills will be picking from. Since Russ Grimm has refused to even interview, I *guess* Leslie Frazier is probably the most accomplished of the remaining lot. Maybe Ron Rivera *might* be OK. Assuming Cowher isn't interested and assuming the Bills aren't interested in Billick, the Bills will be training a rookie head coach next year - complete with the same stupid BS we've witnessed from Jauron, Fewell, Mularkey etc. Penalties and poor clock management again!

As I understand it, Grimm could interview at the beginning of next week (after their game), but he turned down the opportunity.

I'm thinking that the interviews are being handled like prank calls: Nix: Hello, do you know where the Bills play? Recipient: "Buffalo?" Nix: "I will give you $36,000/year if you would like to coach them" Recipient: "Uh, no thanks they suck on Madden 2010"

Wow, I want to be as positive as the previous two posters, but I don't see any legitimate way to spin this. The Bills' HC job is not desireable. I think it is time to call Haslett and Trestman. First one to answer their phone wins the job.

How big of a joke is this theam when Russ Grimm, who depserately wants a head coaching position turns down an interview? It looks like the first candidate that will take the Bills' call will be hired and this guy won't take the call? It is pretty clear that NOBODY within the NFL respects anything going on here. Just to be clear, I am a life-long Bills fan and wish I could be optimistic, but when nobody-asst coaches turn down the opportunity to get a big promotion with your team it isn't a good sign.

Whitner's selection was a major error. The Bills desperately needed a DT and both Haloti Ngata and Broderick Bunkley were sitting there when their pick came. Instead, the Bills reached for the 2nd rated SS in the draft after the Raiders took the top SS candidate (michael Huff) a pick or two earlier. Now, I won't say that Whitner was a major major reach, but the Bills had no business picking a safety when the two top DTs (THE position of need for them) were sitting on the board. What do you suppose the Bills would need to package with Whitner to get Ngata now? (I'd venture to say a 1st and Whitner might get us Ngata). Too bad, blown opportunity.

Totally unfair point of view, but: If the Bills hire Russ Grimm or Ron Rivera it will look like a total clusterf**k. What was it with: 1. the big splash "being interested in" Cowhere, Gruden and Shanahan 2. making a big deal of how important it is to hire a head coach with head coaching experiences ...AND... 3. making a big deal of how important it is for the successful candidate to put together a top staff of assistants. Neither Grimm nor Rivera are the "big splash" Neither has head coaching experience We don't know for sure, but since neither has been in coaching for a long time (both former players), it wouldn't seem that they've got the connections to hire a top staff (and Grimm, in particular, could be unavailable due to the playoffs until most NFL assistants who have lost their job have found new gigs. We also have to assume that Buffalo is not a "hot spot" where it would be easy to lure an assistant away from another team where he already has a job). None of the above means that Grimm or Rivera couldn't be a good head coach, but it would sure look like the Bills "settled" for one of them if they hire them. Just my frustrated $.02 worth... I'd have preferred that they never flirted with Cowher, Gruden, Shanahan and Billick at all if they didn't think that there was a chance that they could hire them.

I am not sold on Tebow. I love the work ethic and attitude with a winning track record, but I just don't see an NFL caliber passer when I look at him. I see a guy with a slow unorthadox delivery that does not have a strong arm on top of it. I also see a player who hasn't had to read complex defenses and make throws into tight windows because his receivers are often wide open. Now, I wouldn't necessarily bet against him with his attitude, desire and effort to succeed, but I would not spend a 1st round pick on him.

Hiring a coordinator from a playoff team is going to be a problem. I would not want to see them in a position where they have to wait deep into the playoffs - possibly after the Super Bowl in order to get one of those guys. That is just a recipe for a weak staff of assistants as the assistants worth a damn will have already been snapped up by teams who get their new coaches in place earlier. That being said, it is a balancing act. Of course, you don't want to settle for a lesser candidate to be your head coach just because he is currently available to hire rather than wait for a better candidate to fall out of the playoffs.

I can't see how taking a QB with the Bills' first pick would be a consideration - unless it is some Randall Cunningham/Fran Tarkenton clone who can run around behind the very shaky OL. My $.02 worth is that this draft must be about shoring up the OL and significantly improving the run defense. On the OL, I think that the main missing piece is a legitimate LT. Assuming that Eric Wood can come back healthy, I like the C and Gs in Hangartner, Wood and Levitre with Incognito in the mix, too. I would *hope* that Brad Butler can come back and play RT and I'd want to find a mid level veteran RT to compete with Butler. On D, they need to decide whether to stay 4-3 or go to a 3-4. They'll need 1, possibly 2 starting calibre LBs and one could come on the inside pushing Poz to OLB. I am not saying Poz isn't doing a good job inside, but he is small for an NFL MLB. If they go 3-4, they need a NT and a DE (at least 1). I don't know if Stroud or Kyle Williams could play NT effectively, but maybe one of them could play one of the DEs in a 3-4. I know that it is difficult to find a trading partner in order to move back in the first round, but if they can do so. I think it would be advantageous to them to trade back and stock pile picks in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds. They don't need flash as much as some tough SOBs on the OL and D to make this team at least competitive and those kind of guys can often be found in those rounds. Grab some veteran QB as a stop-gap in FA or via trade (but don't give away much) and fix the D and OL first. Next year they can work on the skill positions...