BuffaloRush

Ok so it is possible to spend above the salary of you get creative with how you disperse the money etc? The biggest knock I have about Ralph is how frugal he was with coaching and scouting departments. Especially toward the end of his career, he always tried to skimp on coach and GM

Ducasse actually had a decent year... but DiMarco, Ryan Davis and Andre Davis were certainly replaceable

Ok thank you. So by paying the singing bonus all at once, did this hurt the team?

Over the past years or so I’ve read articles about Ralph Wilson. In doing so, one phrase keeps coming up - “cash to the cap.” However I can’t find an actual definition anywhere. Can someone clarify what “cash to the cap” means, specifically as it relates to Ralph? My best guess is that it means you don’t spend the entire salary cap, and keep the money you didn’t spend. Am I far off?

Because he is chubby like the Doughboy... I have heard good and bad things about VanPelt. On one hand - it has been said that he has a great mind for offense and could be an OC but I’ve also heard that he didn’t really do have to do anything in GB with Aaron Rogers as the starter. His name has been mentioned when the Bills have had openings before.

Problem is Miami has no leverage. Teams shouldn’t offer a high pick for Landry because what’s the alternative? He destroys much of Miami’s salary cap. If I’m and NFL GM, I don’t offer anything higher than a 5th or 6th

IMO this was not the best move from a cap standpoint. Landry is a great WR but I don’t think his value is close to $16 M. It’s going to hurt what they can do on the FA market. I also feel that Landry wants out of Miami which probably happens in 2019. Anyone else think NE might take a shot at bringing him in? Glad that didn’t happen

The OP is spot on. Polian’s public comments have been a bit off-base. I’m thinking he isn’t following the game as close as he has been in the past. I’m very glad this man was not the football czar as rumored in 2014. If you look at his recent drafts they aren’t so hott

Show me your verified documentation to any link that proves Marv was not the GM. I’m looking for facts from people who were there - not just rumor and innuendo. Like I said, I probably agree that he was just a figure head but I haven’t been able to find any concrete proof. Just a lot of speculation. Either was Marv owns these drafts whether he called the shots on not

Bottom line - Levy was GM at the time of the hire. He gets full credit or blame for these picks Bottom line - Marv was the GM and that's the point of this post. Russ Brandon probably wasn't the GM either but that's the only that's official. The whole "Marv wasn't running the show as GM" line is widely speculated but at the end of the day it's all rumor and innuendo.

Forget Martin....Could Baker be a player the Bills could sign?

We’ll see...in the coming weeks I’ll analyze some of the other Bills GM’s of the past

Again - it’s all situational. The fact a player starts does not mean they are good. Especially true with the Bills teams of this era. There were a number of players who probably couldn’t start for most NFL teams. Ellison and Simpson were prime examples. And there’s no way in hell I’m giving John Wendling a hit. He did not have the big impact on ST’s as you stated. I stand by my list.

Is Sammy really worth $15 million? It’s a lot to pay but maybe you just bite the bullet to see if he finally can reach his potential. Make no mistake though, singing a WR to that big of a deal will likely have ramifications in other areas of the roster

I was certain we’d lose that game after the 2 pt conversion and Joey Webb’s INT.

Its situational...but maybe someone who was a starter or solid contributer.

Yes I took all of that into account and all of the players you mentioned are "misses" Levy was not good at the draft

That's all rumor and innuendo though. Levy was the GM, at least in title, so this is his draft.

Yeah that one was a tough one. But he was a 5th round pick. He started in both 2007 and 2008 and would have started in 2009, had it not been for a career ending injury. It's close but for a 5th round pick that's pretty good value That's why I said with significant input from Dick KJauron and Tom Modrak

As the draft approaches, I'm taking a look at the past General Managers in Buffalo and who was the most successful with the draft based on hits and misses. While this is very subjective, I am defining a "hit" as any player that reasonably performed at or above his draft status. As an example, a player like Paul Pozlusny becoming a solid starting LB as a 2nd round pick. A "miss" is the opposite - a player who performed under or well under their draft status. If you draft a player in the first round and they are a marginal starter, I am defining that as a miss. Like many of my polls, I think this will be very debated. But let's start with our boy Marv Levy. He served as Bills GM from 2006-2008 running 2 drafts with, what was rumored to be significant input from Dick Jauron and Tom Modrak. Let's see how Marv did: Year Rnd Player Pick Pos To AP1 PB St CarAV G Cmp Att Yds TD Int Att Yds TD Rec Yds TD Int Sk College/Univ 2006 1 Donte Whitner 8 DB 2016 0 3 9 50 157 11 3.0 Ohio St. 2006 1 John McCargo 26 DT 2011 0 0 0 3 44 2.5 North Carolina St. 2006 3 Ashton Youboty 70 DB 2011 0 0 0 8 49 2 2.0 Ohio St. 2006 4 Ko Simpson 105 DB 2009 0 0 2 13 41 3 1.0 South Carolina 2006 5 Kyle Williams 134 DT 2017 0 5 10 72 167 1 1 1 1 43.5 LSU 2006 5 Brad Butler 143 T 2009 0 0 2 13 33 0 0 0 Virginia 2006 6 Keith Ellison 178 LB 2010 0 0 3 19 58 1 6 0 2 2.0 Oregon St. 2006 7 Terrance Pennington 216 T 2007 0 0 1 4 16 New Mexico 2006 7 Aaron Merz 248 G 2006 0 0 0 1 7 California 2006 Draft = 2Hits/7 Misses = Success Rate of 22% I'm giving Whitner a marginal hit. While he was a starter for the Bills, Top 10 picks needs to be All-Pros. He was solid with the Bills but I'm not sure if he played to his draft position. Kyle is explanatory. I'm also giving Marv a "hit" for Brad Butler - a 5th round pick who started admirably for almost 3 seasons before retiring due to injuries. ear Rnd Player Pick Pos To AP1 PB St CarAV G Cmp Att Yds TD Int Att Yds TD Rec Yds TD Int Sk College/Univ 2007 1 Marshawn Lynch 12 RB 2017 1 5 8 72 142 1 3 8 1 0 2351 10003 81 272 2130 9 California 2007 2 Paul Posluszny 34 LB 2017 0 1 9 58 145 15 16.0 Penn St. 2007 3 Trent Edwards 92 QB 2012 0 0 2 17 38 563 929 6033 26 30 78 330 3 0 0 0 Stanford 2007 4 Dwayne Wright 111 RB 2007 0 0 0 1 15 29 94 0 3 17 0 Fresno St. 2007 6 John Wendling 184 DB 2013 0 0 0 7 110 1 Wyoming 2007 7 Derek Schouman 222 TE 2010 0 0 1 2 25 27 275 1 Boise St. 2007 7 C.J. Ah You 239 DE 2011 0 0 0 4 33 6.0 Oklahoma 2007 Draft = 2 Hits/5 Misses = Success Rate of 29% Again I am giving Marshawn a marginal hit based on what he did in Buffalo his first two seasons. Of course, that one is close. Ditto for Poz, he never turned into an All-Pro but was definitely a stellar selection in the 2nd round. The rest was just pure crap for this crew. Marv Levy's overall success rate in the draft = 25% Synopsis: Marv's crown jewel was drafting Kyle Williams in the 5th round. Lynch developed into a well...beast in Seattle running with a well-schemed offense, but he wasn't as productive with the Bills. Aside from that, the success rate for Marv leaves a lot to be desired.

I think Gettleman is in a similar position that Beane is with in Buffalo. A new GM has about 1 crack at drafting a QB and that move more than likely will dictate their future. Unfortunately, I think the Giants are in the perfect position to draft a QB to sit behind Eli for a season. I can't see them trading down

Haushka had some very good kicks and yes you can make the argument that he was a difference maker and Ducasse played fairly decent as a starter. But how can you make the argument that Ryan Davis, Patrick DiMarco, and Andre Davis were significantly better than player which could have been signed post June 1. In fact, some of those player might even have been available on June 1. That's the point here - the Bills appear to be unaware of the draft compensation formula and fortunately Beane is IS aware

Yeah thats exactly what I said... I just thought that the press conference was a great first impression

Not really... if they sign guys that were cut as opposed to true free agents it doesn’t count against the formula.... or I believe if you sign a player after the FA period in May or June it also doesn’t count. That’s why you can make the argument they botched it last year. You could arguably find players with equal value to the team as a Patrick DiMarco, Vlad Duccasse, or Andre Davis later in the summer and still kept the comp picks. There was no need to sign guys like that in FA

Like I said, I see the UDFA conversation as an entirely different list