jahnyc

They targeted some coordinators that were not interested in coming to Buffalo. Most coordinators would jump to interview for a HC position, regardless of location. There is a negative perception out there about the Bills, and this coaching search has exacerbated the situation. The Bills have had difficulty attracting free agents (unless they grossly overpay). Now they are having trouble attracting a head coach. This will also impact the ability of the head coach that is selected to put together a strong staff of assistant coaches. Sorry, but not making the playoffs for 10 years is a disaster in itself, but the search for a head coach by the front office has made the Bills look silly and undesirable.

Thanks, I had not seen that. It is bad when Schefter is talking about us going with Frazier "by default."

I cannot remember a head coaching search with this level of ineptitude. Can you ever remember a team being turned down for interviews by so many coordinators (and former coaches)? I don't understand why the Bills could not have determined whether Schottenheimer and Rivera were interested through back channel communications. Is Grimm going to interview? Even if he interviews, his hesitancy is troubling, and I would bet that he will not be interested because of what happened with TD and Mularkey. The Cowher thing has been a disaster, and along with Shanahan's lack of interest, has made the franchise look bad. If Brandon is such a marketing genius, why has this search been handled so poorly? The team has known for months that they will need a new head coach, why didn't they target someone that they could get? Having all of this play out in public has been terrible.

It really is not about whether they hire a head coach with prior head coaching experience or a current coordinator. What matters is the resources that are going to be made availabe and whether there is an improvement in drafting and free agent acquisitions. A top coordinator who could be an excellent head coach will not have success in a situation where the necessary resources are not present. I believe this is part of the reason why B. Schottenheimer decided not to interview with the Bills.

At this point, the only thing that makes sense is that Cowher is not interested in the head coaching position for the Bills. Out of respect for the Bills, he is not commenting. It is time to move on.

Are any of these coordinators going to be able to assemble a decent staff in Buffalo? I am starting to get very worried.

There have been reports that he does not appear to be interested in the head coaching position in Buffalo. None of us know the dynamics of his situation in Carolina, but there were reports he was interested in the Browns, and I would speculate that if ownership has told him that he can void the last year of this agreement, they may allow him to engage in informal discussions with other teams about possible openings.

Clearly, the Bills needed someone with a track record of success to turn things around (on the field and perception wise). So far, the Bills have struck out with Shanahan, Gruden and Cowher and Fox does not seem interested. This is tragic, since these are the only types of coaches who could have attracted decent assistant coaches and forced RW to agree to pay for players and assistant coaches. Now we will be stuck interviewing coordinators without real leverage or head coaching experience. We have been through this before with Williams and Mularkey. Why will it be different this time? Can any of these guys assemble a decent staff? If it is so difficult to get a head coach, will it be any easier to find decent assistant coaches? Years of people saying that RW is cheap and stuck in his ways, and with the hiring of Nix (probably the least expensive GM that could be hired) without a search outside of the organization and the likelihood of hiring a coordinator to be head coach, the Bills will once again be paying the least possible amount for their GM and head coach.

I will be very disappointed if the Bills choose Frazier as the head coach. Having said that, it is possible that a mediocre defensive coordinator can be a very good head coach. Different skills are required as a head coach, and I have taken note that there people who think Frazier has the necessary qualities to be a good head coach.

This would be the worst possible scenario, since Fox and Cowher are at this point my top choices as head coach for the Bills. If it means that Fox would go to the Browns, then I hope that the Panthers do not release him from the last year of his contract.

Clarification, Nix was the most qualified in-house candidate. There were other qualified candidates outside of the organization that were never interviewed. We will know more about whether this is real change when the new head coach is selected and if John Guy is retained or let go. If Nix, RW and Russ scan a list and the only name they all know for a head coach is Haslett (and he is the choice), then we are all screwed.

I don't think every move by the Bills has been panned over the last 10 years. Donahoe, Williams and Mularkey were considered good hires. Many commentators liked the McGahee and Williams picks. Yes, Byrd had an excellent rookie year, but the number of misses and disappointments is staggering, and the reason why this team is not competitive. Giving one example of criticism for a pick that did not turn out be legitimate is not enough to suggest that the criticism for the overall direction of the team over the last 10 years is not justified.

I don't understand the criticisms of commentators and other posters raising concerns about this hire. They seem reasonable in light of the overall circumstances, as do the many positive comments about Nix's contributions to rebuilding San Diego's roster. But this takes us to the real question. Why do the Bills deserve the benefit of the doubt at this point and why do so many posters get so defensive about the criticism of the front office/coaching moves? The Bills have not done anything right in the last 10 years, and all of the people who have criticized the various moves (Levy as GM, Jauron as HC, the Maybin, Whitner and McCargo picks) have turned out to be right. I think Nix would have been great as assistant GM and head of college scouting, but a fresh perspective from outside of the organization was clearly needed in the GM role.

This time the Bills will really lose significant fan support if they hire Haslett or Nolan and fail to hire a real football GM. Enough is enough. This front office is not competent and needs to understand that Bills fans want a GM and coach with proven track records or at least the potential for success.

The one area that is somewhat of an exception has been the secondary. The Bills have developed talent at the CB and safety positions. Greer is an excellent example (even if he is no longer with the team). Byrd has produced as a rookie and Wilson has made a successful conversion to safety, which is highly unusual. Florence and Scott have played well as free agent acquisitions. McKelvin is a big question mark, and Whitner and Youboty have been disappointing. Overall, talent has been developed in the secondary. George Catavolos must be doing something right.

Many mistakes by the FO going into this season, but the biggest was thinking that Bell could handle LT (and then cutting Walker). They should have known that the team would not have success with two rookies playing new positions (Wood and Levitre) and a LT who had never played a down before (Bell).

This makes no sense to me. Does this mean the Bills will not be bringing in a GM? That is what they need, and this person should be the one selecting a new coach, not the current "braintrust."

I think there is talent and some depth in the secondary, but the statistics for pass defense may be a bit misleading since teams have had so much success running the ball against the Bills.

What are the Bills doing? They fire Jauron, but what kind of movement has there been to find a coach and a GM? One interview with Shanny is not enough. The Bills had a head start, and they need to capitalize. Clevelend has hired Holmgren, Washington has hired Allen and Seattle is looking at numerous GM candidates. If the Bills hire Haslett, Martz or Billick, the team will never get better. We need a football GM and then a head coach.

I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I do think that the Bills have a major rebuilding job in front of them to bring the franchise back to a playoff level. Yes, things may be worse than you think. The reality is that the Bills need a strarting QB, two offensive tackles and upgrades at linebacker. Add in the uncertainty of Schobel's return (with Denney a free agent, Ellis a bust and Maybin a potential bust), Owens' return (with Reed a free agent and Hardy a potential bust), and the severity of some of the in season injuries (Butler, Wood, Mitchell and McGee), and the Bills may be facing, at a minimum, the need to replace talent at DE and WR as well, and possibly other positions. Even if the Bills find a talented QB in the draft, it will likely take a couple of years before he is playing at a high level. With the defense, although the pass defense was decent, it is unclear to me whether this is because of their strong play or because the rush defense was so poor. Clearly, the team may need upgrades at DT (in addition to the need at LB and DE). I may be in the minority, but I think that this team, particularly later in the season, played above their talent level. Going into this season, our o-line was a mess, and with the injuries, was worse as the season progressed. The talent at LB was weak, and declined further with the injuries to Mitchell and Ellison. The only area with depth has been the secondary. McKelvin's injury allowed Florence to start, and he played very well. Wilson seemed to play well as a replacement and Byrd was awesome as a rookie. How Whitner fits in for the future, I am not sure. I usually disagree with other posters when they suggest that players should be cut if they have big salaries and may not be full time starters, but with regard to Whitner, it may be okay. I have not been impressed with his play at all this year and it seems that the Bills have a decent replacement in Wilson. One potential positive is that the team must have significant cap space. Much of the higher priced "talent" is no longer with the team (Dockery, Walker and Peters) and we may lose some free agents (Denney and Reed). It will become a question as to whether the team will spend money, assuming there are free agents available. All of this underscores the need for a real football GM to revive the franchise. This will be a big job, and the Bills will need the right person to fix the mess. A band-aid at this point will mean a further decline (if that is possible) and no playoffs for years to come.

Sorry, but Jackson, an undrafted free agent, has outplayed Lynch behind the same o-line. I agree that it is way too early to call Maybin and McKelvin busts, but Maybin has done nothing this year (versus Orakpo who has contributed) and the secondary has looked better with Florence than it did with McKelvin. Regarding the Giants, Smith played well as a rookie and Manningham is only in his second year.

Agreed. When they did draft o-line and d-line, they made two of the worst picks in the last 10 years: Mike Williams and John McCargo.

Thanks for the link. Very helpful. So from the 2005 and 2004 drafts, only Parrish and Evans are still with Bills. In fact, those drafts are so bad that the only other player still in the NFL is Eric King (I think he plays for the Titans).

Maybe, and I don't recall all of our picks going back further, but I would argue that Winfield, Schobel, Kelsay, Denney, Reed, Clements, McGee and Travis Henry were more productive players, at least for some period of time. Of course the drafts featuring Parrish and Flowers as our top picks were total disasters. Of course there is also the Mike Williams pick ...

The biggest mystery to me is whether some of our recent high draft picks have failed to develop because they do not have the ability or because of poor coaching (or a combination of both). I also wonder whether a new head coach, coaching staff and schemes will result in significant improvement in the play of these players. Clearly, Whitner, McCargo, Lynch, Ellis, Poz, Hardy, Maybin, Edwards, McKelvin have underachieved, in part, for some, because of injuries. That would be a lot of misses for high picks, and I must assume that at least part of the problem is coaching or scheme. If not, then we have one of the worst track records for drafting over the last five years, because the Bills are receiving virtually no producion from any of their recent top picks in the draft.