BillsFan4

Doing what, exactly? Did he say?

McDermott was under Jim Johnson almost his entire time in Philly ( from '98-'09 when Johnson died) and He runs that aggressive Jim Johnson style defense. Edit - what he said: Agree. I'd say Johnson and Reid definitely seem to be the 2 biggest influences on McDermott, from what we've seen so far (from his time as DC in Philly & Carolina + his short time as Bills HC).

He worked directly with Andy Reid for much longer than he did with Rivera. He was hired by Philly in '98 and promoted to assistant to the head coach in '99. He then worked with Reid until 2010/11, where he climbed the ranks all the way to DC. He is much more of an Andy Reid and Jim Johnson protege than anything else. I read a story that said Andy Reid took a special interest in McDermott right away and stole him from the scouting ranks to be his assistant almost immediately, where he then worked with Reid for 11+ years. Ron Rivera worked under Reid too (Reid was part of the reason McDermott got hired in Carolina). Leslie Frazier was another Reid protege. Reid also recommended Dennison to McDermott. It seems pretty clear that Andy Reid is McDermotts biggest influence. McDermott has said himself that Andy Reid was his mentor and who he learned the most from.

I thought that was an interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

Hey, no problem! Glad I gave you a bit more optimism about McDermott.

Sean McDermott has learned under some great coaches. He was an Andy Reid and Jim Johnson protege in Philly. Then learned from Ron Rivera for 6 years in Carolina. He has had a top 10 defense in 4 of the past 5 years (which includes 4 straight years from '12-'15, the only DC to do that during that time span), and he has had a top 12 defense in 6 of his 8 years as a DC. Carolina made steady improvements under him, too. - They were 25th in sacks his first year, 9th his second year and were ranked #1 in the NFL by his 3rd year - 27th in total points allowed & points per game his first year, and ranked #2 in the NFL by his 3rd year. - 25th in rushing yards allowed his 1st year and ranked #2 by his 3rd year. - 20th in interceptions in his 1st year and tied for 5th in Interceptions by his 3rd year. - 20th in receiving yards per game in his 1st year, to 11th by his 3rd year - 28th in total yards per game in his 1st year, to 2nd in YPG by his 3rd year He's done all this with some major player turn over, too, and he's helped develop a number of mid to late round draft picks. For example, Josh Norman was a 5th round draft pick who developed into a top 3 CB under McDermott. I also like that he is very detail oriented, and puts major emphasis on teaching how to properly execute plays/scheme. He's not just telling guys what to do, he's telling them why and showing them how. He has been very good at getting guys to play technically sound football. He also puts major emphasis on the line of scrimmage. He wants a dominant O and D line, and hired 2 of the best line coaches in the NFL (Castillo and Waufle). He is smart, always seems to be learning and evolving too, and he's a grinder. He's the first guy in the building every day and the last one to leave. I just think the Sean McDermott has a lot of the qualities that you look for in successful head coaches. This is the first Bills HC I have been truly excited about in a long while. I think he's the first guy in a long time that has legitimately Earned this Bills head coaching job on his past performances. I have been a McDermott fan for years though, so I am probably somewhat biased. He is a first time head coach, so whether or not he's in over his head I don't know. But I believe he was the longest tenured coordinator without a HC job, so he's put in his time. There will probably be some growing pains, but I think he will be successful when all is said and done.Like the Steelers said when they hired Mike Tomlin - hire a smart guy and give him the time and resources to get it right. I truly feel that the Bills got the right guy, now they just have to give him the time and resources to get it right. Here is a good read on McDermott, if you're interested - http://www.espn.com/blog/carolina-panthers/post/_/id/21796/two-truths-and-a-lie-make-sean-mcdermott-a-great-defensive-coordinator Here's what other NFC coaches said about him and his defense - http://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/index.ssf/2017/03/what_nfc_coaches_said_about_buffalo_bills_coach_sean_mcdermott_and_his_defense.html More player + coach comments - http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/What-theyre-saying-NFL-personalities-weigh-in-on-new-Bills-coach-Sean-McDermott/6b693d86-92b9-4992-b4bd-8d97bcbd80b6 And one more from Kurt Coleman (who played for McD in Philly and Carolina) - http://www.torontosun.com/2017/01/27/qa-panthers-coleman-on-strengths-of-new-bills-coach-mcdermott His bio (from Carolina Panthers) - http://www.panthers.com/team/coaches/sean-mcdermott/4fdf89fd-ccb4-4ce0-a5d6-b29026712d99

He's only making $6M this year. He is worth that. They want to see him actually perform consistently on the field before deciding to pay him $13.2M, double what he's making now. I believe that would take up roughly 1/3 or more of the available cap space the Bills have in 2018 (I've seen it as $32M at spotrack or $42M at overthecap). Plus, they don't have a replacement for him right now, but that could potentially change by the start of next season. Or Sammy could prove by then that he is worth franchise tagging or signing to an extension... Just because they didn't pick up his 5th year option doesn't mean that they are done with him and ready to move on right now, either. McDermott seems intent on making everyone actually earn their spot, and I am all for that. Put up or shut up time... To be clear, I love Sammy Watkins and I think he has all the potential in the world. But I'd like to see that potential translate to consistent performance on the field.

@john_wawrow For what it's worth, Watkins is motivated by the the #Bills' decision to not pick up 5th-year option. He's on track to be ready for camp.

Jeffrey Littman when the Bills were sold to Pegula. Him and Mary Owen left to run the Ralph Silson Foundation. I read somewhere that he actually got like 1% of the Bills sale price (but I'm not sure if thats true or not). Overdorf and Brandon are still there, though. I'd be pretty surprised if Overdorf kept his job once a new GM is hired, but we will see. I believe this is his 31st year with the Bills (I think he was hired in 1986). Russ Brandon is never going anywhere, it appears.

Well said. Totally agree.

I guess you've never listened to WGR, or Bucky & Sully show, or Buffalo News podcasts, or read the local media if you think people don't disagree with Bills moves. They dedicate entire shows to roasting the Bills and if anyone tried to call and disagree they jump down that callers throat. As far as this message board, people disagree with Bills moves all the time. They don't get lambasted for that, from what I've seen. People get lambasted for writing ridiculous opinions that make little to no sense.

That's what I figured. Thanks.

McDermott isn't building a team around Tyrod. He is just our bridge QB. If you're hiring a GM to fit a 2 year bridge QB, that doesn't seem like a very smart move to me... Also, If the Peterman pick is any indication, McDermott wants more of an accurate, anticipatory pocket passer. Beane is supposed to know the QB position well. Maybe he's the guy to help us find our elusive franchise QB?

And he said that Jordan Mills was good last year.

Question - can't the Bills pick up his 5th year option now, and then rescind it before March, when it becomes guaranteed, if they change their mind? I believe they can IIRC. I am not sure if they can rescind it if he were to get injured again, though. Does anyone know for sure how that works?

Correct. They can only block lateral moves, not promotions. Since Beane is an assistant GM, this would be a promotion (assuming he was given control of the 53 man roster). They only way Carolina could try to block the move is if Beane wasn't going to be given control of the 53 man roster, because then they could argue it was a lateral move. Here's an article specifically referring to Beane & the Bills - http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article147912534.html

Right. Nothing wrong with evaluating the entire organization and seeing what works and what doesn't before making drastic, sweeping changes. Plus, they were brand new owners. Seems like it would be hard to just fire everyone immediately. Its not like they have experience running an NFL franchise. Sure, they could rush and hire some czar that the NFL recommended to them. But would you want to do that? Just hire some guy that you don't really know or trust to come in and make all these drastic changes to your organization? I wouldn't. I'd want to take my time, get an idea of how things work in this organization, as well network with other NFl owners/execs and gather as much information as possible on how the best teams are run, then start making changes once I know exactly what I want my organization to look/run like. I think finding and hiring McDermott is also a big reason for the changes coming now. The Pegula's seem to have finally found someone that they really trust to help them make the necessary changes. They also found a guy with a very clear vision for the Bills from top to bottom, and the courage to make the necessary changes to bring that vision to light.

Exactly. McDermott knows that organization very well and was there when Carolina was scouting this year's draft. Why wouldn't he use that info to his advantage? Especially if he didn't fully trust our (now fired) scouting staff. Plus, teams jump other teams every single year because they have some type of info/hunch that team will draft the player they want. Like Kansas City just this year - they traded with us to get 10 because they were convinced New Orleans would take Mahomes, and come to find out after the draft NO did in fact love Mahomes and would have likely drafted him. Does that mean KC had a spy in NO office? Of course not.

Agreed. He is basically the opposite of the type of QB Whaley has drafted. To be fair, we only seen Whaley draft 2 QBs, but both were almost the complete opposite of Peterman... But I honestly feel much better about their chances of finding a true franchise QB now. Whaley seemed to like those, big, mobile QBs with huge accuracy issues. If they are now going to put the emphasis on accuracy, anticipation, ability to read defenses, go through progressions, etc. I like our chances much better than when they were putting emphasis on those other things.

Wow! This was a house cleaning... Did we fire the entire scouting staff? Or just the head scouts/directors etc?

Would the Sabres have been sitting in the 5th overall spot (pre draft lottery) instead of 6th had Las Vegas not been added in is year? If so, we would have won the 1st overall pick... I sure hope not. lol

I hate this !@#$ing draft lottery so damn much. We fall 2 spots. I guess at least we didn't fall the full 3 spots... grr. Vancouver has our type,of luck too. 2nd year in a row they were pushed down 2 spots, from 3 to 5. New Jersey gets #1. At least it wasn't Philly! NJ needs that pick desperately. Well, that made things a little better at least.

Draft lottery time! Fingers crossed! Is this our year to win a top 3? I'm trying to think positive thoughts here... We are due to win one of these damn lotteries.

Interesting... I wonder if it'll be a wide open competition like in Rex's first year where they rotate reps with the 1's between all the QBs? Or if Tyrod will start with the 1's until/unless someone steals it away from him...

Yeah for sure. He even made a comment about how the Bills would put emphasis on signing UDFA's (or something like that). I don't think they really have much choice this year, though. I believe they still have many roster spots left to fill for camp. I'm thinking that the Bills should be a somewhat popular place for UDFA's this year. Lots of opportunity here IMO.