jahnyc

I did not think that the Bills should pay Spiller the $4.5 million that was supposedly offered, but I also do not think that McCoy is worth more than $10 million per year. Running backs are not as valued, have short careers and this seems to be a strong draft for running backs. I get it that the Bills likely will restructure McCoy's deal, but I assume it will still have significant short and long term cap ramifications, particularly if base salaries are converted to bonuses. Clearly, the Bills defense played well last year without Kiko, but if they lose Hughes and Spikes, will the defense be as strong this year? I must admit, I also was looking forward to seeing how Kiko would perform in Ryan's defense, but it appears that Ryan did not think he was a fit.

Levitre played well in Buffalo. Not sure if it was a difference in schemes or because of injuries that he has not performed well for the Titans. McCoy should be an upgrade, but at what price? His cap hit is approximately $10 million, and we traded Kiko (a former second round pick) and are not re-signing Spiller (a former first round pick). Does not seem like good overall value to me, which seems to happen a lot with the Bills. Letting quality free agents depart can be the right decision, as long as you have quality replacements for those players. This has been the problem for the Bills.

It will be depressing if Hughes leaves the Bills. The team has lost a lot of talent over recent years (Byrd, Levitre, Spiller and Hughes (likely)). With the trade of Kiko, that is a bunch of first and second round talent out the door with only McCoy in return. I get that Levitre and Byrd have been busts with their new teams, but that is due to injury, which no one can predict. Plus, the Bills have not found an adequate replacement for Levitre at guard, which has really hurt the offense. If Hughes leaves, I hope the Bills have a plan to replace him with a quality player.

A couple of things. I hope the Bills made sure that McCoy would be good with the trade and that he would be willing to restructure before making the trade. If not, the incompetence of the front office continues.

The cap hit is a killer. $10 million plus. No one is spending that kind of running backs now and the draft is strong at the position. Can't extend him because he is 27, and may only have a few good years left. I would much rather have a couple of solid free agents plus Kiko. The Bills need an experienced person running this front office. This is not smart.

Jake Locker, if he is healthy.

Glenn and Wood are the only true starting caliber players on the o-line, and both had a down year last year. CK was supposed to be a right tackle, and he was drafted in the second round for that reason. If draft talent evaluators thought he would end up being a guard (a position he had never played), CK would have been drafted much lower. I would be surprised if CK turned out to be a starter at any position on the o-line in the future. Williams should not be counted on at guard. Back injuries are tough, particularly for older players. Even when healthy, Williams should not be starting. Henderson needs to improve his play. Maybe he will, but I am not sure whether he will be the answer at right tackle. Seems to me that we need significant upgrades for the o-line. Bringing in one new starting guard will not be enough. I think the o-line will be the real test for Whaley. Finding a QB is difficult, but it would be fair to judge him on his ability to fix the o-line because there are options available in free agency and through the draft.

No, the current players on the o-line cannot be instantly upgraded through coaching alone. The o-line needs a significant infusion of talent. The jury is out on CK, Richardson and Henderson. Not sure if two of the three will be in the league after a few years.

I like Roman and I think he will be an improvement over Marrone/Hackett. I also like Rex, and would much rather have him as the head coach than Marrone. Losing Schwartz is unfortunate, but we probably will not see a decline in the overall play of the defense. Overall, I think things will be better with Rex and staff, but the key remains finding a starting caliber QB if we want to make the playoffs and have a shot at progressing through the playoffs.

Should be an advantage for the Bills/Rex in assembling a coaching staff. Roman would bring a lot of experience, and if we can keep Schwartz, both coordinators will be strong and experienced (for the first time in a long time). If Roman is the guy for OC, it will be interesting to see if we hire more offensive staff from the 49ers and who the pick will be for offensive line coach. On defense, will Rex bring in his own guys or will we keep some of the current assistants? I bet there will be no real budget constraints for hiring assistants and staff. Hopefully, this will mean that Rex will assemble a first rate staff, particularly since he can start making offers now.

Of course I am okay with the Bills thinking outside of the box, but who would be helping them with this thinking process? They did not retain an experienced football czar and that leaves them with Whaley and Brandon. Maybe Whaley can be helpful, but for once I would like the Bills to hire someone as HC who is hot and other teams want. I am not saying this would guarantee any kind of success, but given the level of experience of the people involved with this search, it may give me more confidence that they have made the right decision.

I really hope that the Bills do not make an odd choice or pick one of the candidates for head coach that no one else is seriously considering.

Not sure why this guy is any better than some of the other candidates. Not seeing it, particularly given Cinci's uneven offensive performance this year with pretty good players.

This is why it is problematic to have Whaley leading the search for a new head coach. He will have his own agenda, which will include wanting to further secure his position as GM by suggesting that EJ has a world of talent and just needs to further develop. I would think that most if not all of these head coaching candidates studied the Bills and the game film to some extent before interviewing and have some preliminary judgments about the Bills and whether EJ has potential. Maybe understanding that they will report directly to the owner will reduce concerns about Whaley's agenda or future role, but I do think it would have been helpful to have a football czar participating in this interview process for the Bills.

Could be Ryan. It it has been reported that he will interview with the 49ers tomorrow, so maybe he arrived a day early.

Starting to get that feeling as well. At first, we only seemed to hear about the Bills wanting to interview current OCs for their head coaching position. With Quinn and Austin (and maybe Ryan) to be interviewed, that seems to have changed.

I really do not care about what Marrone thought or thinks about the trade for Watkins, but I do agree with many that it was ill-advised. Many commentators and so-called experts thought the same, and in this case I think they were right. Good thing for Whaley that I am not in charge, because I will never get over this decision and I would have replaced him during this off-season.

I think optics matter, particularly when you want to attract a new head coach and possibly new front office personnel. I also think that things do appear chaotic from the outside, and likely from the inside as well. Things will be rough in the near-term, but the bottom line is that we are incredibly fortunate to have new owners who will keep the Bills in Buffalo long-term. They are being introduced to the world of the NFL in a rather rough manner, but maybe this is a good thing, because owning a team in the NFL can be tough on so many levels with the players, the fans, the front office and other owners. The Pegulas will learn over time, and maybe this will speed up that learning process. I am not saying that they are incompetent, but this clearly will be a learning experience, which will be okay since they are in it for the long haul. I think that we will all need to show some patience, which will be difficult after 15 years of not making the playoffs.

You get what you deserve. I am sure that the circumstances under which he left the Bills will be a factor when other teams consider him for their head coaching position. The bad-mouthing of the organization to Polian will not go unnoticed. Love the quote about him being the definition of average. Seemed to be how many felt about him (for some of us, better than what we thought of him).

Would have been nice if we had our football "czar" in place and participating in this interview process. Woody Johnson seems like a bit of a doofus, but he does have Charlie Casserly and Ron Wolf participating in the head coaching interview process. The Jets do not have a GM yet, so maybe that hurts them, but it would have been nice to pair up Whaley with a known and experienced football person as this search is undertaken.

I assume he wants to be a head coach again in the NFL, so he will want to do whatever will position him best for that opportunity. If the thinks being the DC in Buffalo will do that, he will stay. If he thinks being the DC of a team that gets more media attention (such as the Jets) will improve his chances of becoming a head coach in the future, he will want to leave. I also think that if a team offers him the title of assistant head coach he may be able to leave the Bills since it is a promotion. Of course, the Bills could match that.

We do need to be objective here, and the lack of a starting caliber QB or a first round pick this year would be significant negatives to any potential head coaching candidate interviewing for any NFL level posiition. Add in the circumstances of the messy divorce with Marrone and the uncertainty with the front office, and I do not think that the head coaching position with the Bills is attractive to these candidates. Will money and the charm of the Pegulas overcome all of this? Who knows.

But I thought I read that Marrone had the same deal (reporting directly to the owner). Seems weird, but maybe this is more common than we know in the NFL?

I do not think that Polian and Marrone were formally linked. It may be that Polian would have joined the Bills if Marrone was still the coach, but I do not think that Marrone was directing Pegula to make this happen. I have no idea what Pegula is thinking in terms of GM and other front office moves now. It may be that he has decided that Whaley is the guy going forward, but who knows. Maybe this was always the plan.

Thanks, K-9. Saw it somewhere, and I should have referenced it. Still think this whole thing is really screwed up.