JohnNord

You got it Scott! The mental gymnastic some Bills fans do to exonerate him from any bad move is something… Case and point, the Jerry Hughes deal was made while Buddy Nix was GM, yet people want to give Whaley credit. The EJ Manuel selection…also made while Nix was GM. But that was all on Buddy, not Whaley because….”he wasn’t GM” There’s many examples here. I’ll never understand why Whaley get the love that he does from some fans. He was NOT a good GM I would disagree… I’ll say his downfall was not drafting EJ. His downfall was doubling down on EJ by mortgaging the franchise that Sammy Watkins would help him develop into a good QB. Many criticized the selection in 2014, and they were right

He was cheap…that’s a fact

You do realize there’s a salary cap?

This is a popular take from Whaley apologists. Nearly all of the players on the 2014 roster were brought to Buffalo under Buddy Nix. It was largely his roster. The truth is even before this moment there were issues under his tenure. He did not have a great relationship with Doug Marrone which he’s partially to blame. He also had a big hand in drafting EJ Manuel and then missed on Sammy Watkins. Part of the reason that Buffalo was 9-7 that season was because Marrone was certain that EJ was not a starter. If you are going to say Whaley had a big part in the 2014 roster, then you also have to give him accountability for the EJ fiasco - which was handled poorly. All in all, I don’t think you can give a pass to Whaley. OBD was a mess and he was a big part of that mess.

He was a big part of the dysfunction though

None of that happened? So you’re saying the trade for Watkins was universally praised? Everyone said it was a bad move to make without a QB in place. Second look at Whaley’s draft resume. It’s not anything great

I see Ryan as making the most sense. Then again, it kind of reminds me of bringing in Phillip Rivers. It’s a stop gap move and there’s not much there for the future. I don’t see Indy tripping over themselves to bring in Mayfield

It’s amazing how many people are giving Whaley a pass for not doing his job. I will never understand why so many make excuses for him. He wasn’t THE only problem…but he was part of the problem at OBD That trade is exactly why never should have never been a GM in the first place. He tried to make a big move to impress the new owners and to help save his failed QB in EJ Manuel. Many outside of Buffalo laughed at his gamble and rightfully so. This is hardly a stellar draft resume.

I don’t think Whaley was his source on any articles recently. He’s been out of the NFL since 2017

Maybe…but that was part of the problem. Doug always had an issue with his HC whether it was Doug Marrone or Rex. There always seemed to be some kind of conflict or turmoil which made its way into the press. This is what I mean by Whaley not being a great GM. It’s more than drafting or signing FA. It’s about having a long term vision and building a culture and organization. He seemed to be very much inept at doing this. Not sure that working for the XFL is going to change that

I’m guessing the way Beane looked at things was that he had a decent chance at landing Jones or Miller at relatively the same cap hot that he would be paying Mack w/o surrendering any draft capital. So the question becomes is Mack at 29 that much better than Jones at 32 or Miller at 33. IMO Miller was the defensive player who approached Buffalo at the combine. His reps probably knew what LAR could offer and made his demands clear. Beane likely thought that he could meet those demands there was a good chance they could land him.

Who knows but Beane has always been good with the cap so I’m not concerned

Yeah he surprised me because I never thought he would be any better than a fringe WR2. I think McVay did a much better job utilizing his skill set than anyone in Buffalo ever did. Having a QB like Tyrod probably didn’t help his cause in Buffalo either.

It sounded like the money LAR offered was close to Buffalo, probably not as much, but likely not enough to influence a veteran like Miller who’s made big money already. I think he wanted to play in Buffalo and if the money was close he was going to play here over LA

He’s due $15M this season. A lot to be paying WR, especially one like Woods who is not really a #1. LAR traded his salary for a 6th

I would agree that Beane hasn’t done great in FA. But I don’t think Whaley had far better results.

Basically any GM situation where he can be more of an scout/director than a real GM?

Yep. 100% on this. Listen to beat reporters describe the atmosphere at OBD before and after McBeane. Day and night. Whaley was a bad communicator, very disorganized and unprofessional. Yes OBD was a trainwreck but he was more of a problem that the solution

So you say his strength is the draft and then admit most of his picks didn’t turn out to be great players? That doesn’t really sound like a strength. I would say he was more successful at finding talent like the Lorenzo Alexander, Mike Gillislee, or Chris Hogan’s of the NFL than he was with drafting or free agency. As far as the 2017 draft, it doesn’t sound like Whaley had any input on the actual selections. He was on the way out. McDermott was probably making the decisions and it’s hard to fault him for not wanting to take a QB.

I just said the same thing… he’s not a GM though he could be a good pro personnel guy. OBD was extremely disorganized under his watch He was also very disorganized and had no clue how to build a roster. He is not suited to be GM Not really..:he was good at signing undervalued Free Agents Something tells me he doesn’t have that figured out

It’s not that he wasn’t methodical…he just had no idea how to build a team. Some of his picks were ok, but his strength was mostly pro personnel. I don’t think you want Whaley as GM

He really didn’t, until a few years ago. He was always down on the team on Schopp and Bulldog but to be fair, those teams were usually train wrecks. Once Josh turned the corner, he was more complimentary but it was clear his focus was more on the national scene and the Seattle beat. He never followed Buffalo too closely Yeah MS. She had some major physical and health needs. I think John was her primary care taker.

Wow… very sad. I know that Clayton has a wife with some very serious medical issues. I believe she is wheel chair bound. They never had kids - Makes me wonder who will take care of her

Not so sure Star was a good signing. Yes the Bills had a massive void at DT. Outside of Kyle Williams there literally was no one else decent on the roster. Star was always inconsistent in Carolina though he flashed at times leaving you to believe he had that potential inside him to play at a high-level more consistently. That’s what Buffalo was banking on. The Bills had a lot of cap space in 2018 and chose to overpay Star to fill that void. The signing and contract size received mixed reviews. I don’t think Star has ever played good in Buffalo. He’s been average to below-average. But he was overpaid the whole time

I think he was a JAG for most of his Bills career that was paid to be a quality DT Ok it’s happened twice my bad