Most of the players on that mediocre "winning" *9-7 team were acquired before Whaley became GM. The entire starting DLine (Mario, Kyle, Dareus, Hughes), Gilmore, Searcy, AWill, McKelvin, Freddy, Spiller, Cordy Glenn, Wood, Scott Chandler, etc. The foundation of the team were acquired before Whaley was named GM. How is that "building"?
And Whaley supported the Rex hire. If he were against it like he should have been then there's no way the Pegulas hire Rex.
You could say this about nearly every NFL team.
It blows my mind that anyone would think Whaley was a "good GM". That's absurd. His drafting record was the worst in the NFL during his tenure.
Whaley was all about pushing his chips to the middle of the table. He went all in for the now with no regard for the future. And the best he could do was a cheap *9-7 record in his first season as GM. That's why the team is in such bad shape now.
They are a pile of crap now.
This isn't the same team that we saw from 2013 - 2016. (And let's not go too crazy over the talent level during that time). Whaley sacrificed the future health of the franchise for a win-now approach. Instead of building through the draft he would give away draft picks. That may be because he knew how poor he and his scouting team were at drafting.
Now we have a team in cap hell with very few of their own early-round draft choices on the roster and we're still in "quarterback purgatory".
I agree that they were poorly coached to a certain extent. They were poorly coached on offense under Marrone, but well-coached on defense (Pettine, Schwartz). They were poorly coached on defense under Rex, but well-coached on offense (Greg Roman, Anthony Lynn, Aaron Kromer).
No team is "devoid" of talent. It's the NFL. I agree it was a middle-tiered team for the last few seasons - but the GM acted like they were Super Bowl contenders and sacrificed the future for the present as a result.
How do you know that?
A 7-9 team with one of the easiest schedules in football. Almost no salary cap to work with. Then they lost Gilmore, Gillislee, Woods, and both starting safeties.
Yes, a steaming pile of crap.