dave mcbride

See above. Charley Casserly's May 2006 firing in Houston is a well known recent example.

It's more complicated than that. They really wanted OSU CB Ahmad Plummer, who was drafted by SF right before Flowers. Plummer looked fantastic early on but had bad injury issues that cut his career short. Butler, Adams, and AJ Smith were also all in on safety Mike Brown, a great player who the Bears took in round 2. Their next choice was safety Deon Grant (a good player who actually played in the 2012 Giants-Pats SB for the victorious Giants), who was drafted by Carolina immediately before the Bills picked. Travares Tillman was the last credible safety left when it came time for the Bills to pick in that round, and the Bills drafted for need (they really did need a safety at the time). But they were praying for Brown. It didn't happen, but it's not as if they mailed it in. It was a bad draft, but they had bad luck too. Interesting fact about Deon Grant: he missed his entire rookie season because of a back injury, but played in 16 games every season from 2001 to his last season, in 2011.

It's very comparable, actually, given that they both had the same job title and both were fired immediately after a draft. The fact that he didn't have control simply points to how crappy his situation was. Whaley doesn't appear to have control over the roster anymore now himself. Anyway, I could go on. Here's a more famous example. http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=2440274

This is an excellent post. I agree that the Shanahans were unfairly maligned. Some people thought Kyle was a nobody who got his job through nepotism. Nepotism surely played a role, but he's a hell of an OC.

Not saying it's normal, but I found a pretty recent example on the previous page if you go back and look.

Definitely not unpredented. There are other cases. http://www.denverpost.com/2012/05/07/broncos-gm-brian-xanders-agree-to-part-ways-after-four-years-in-denver/

It doesn't, and if the scouts go so does Whaley. No way he survives in this scenario. No freaking way.

They're not picking.

My guy says he's gone, but who knows? We'll know within a week or so. Too many signals pointing to him being on the outs in practically every possible way. He didn't want to keep Taylor, and they did (I am 99 percent certain of this0. He can't even talk to the media, and he doesn't have control over the picks. How can someone like that continue to serve as GM? For his own sake, it's better to be fired and start anew at a position he's better suited for (pro personnel). He's just not GM caliber. He is good at some things, but fell victim to the Peter Principle.

Yup. And you remind them time and time again that they're being paid decent money to do this.

They aren't drafting. McDermott is. He runs the show now.

Whether he deserves it or not, it doesn't look like he will. If they're firing many of the scouts, he'll definitely be out the door too.

I think that's a sensible prediction. It certainly sounds like McDermott will be in complete control of the draft.

Yup. Hard to say for sure, but this has the ring of truth to me based on the Bills decidedly noncommittal follow-up statement.

Apologies if posted elsewhere. Strikes me as big news, and I have to think Whaley will go out with them if it's true. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/04/26/bills-scouts-bracing-for-a-post-draft-house-cleaning/

Agreed.

Re Blount, look at him near the end of the season (final half dozen games), where he was a shadow of what he was earlier. To repeat, he looked s-l-o-w. These guys--especially big guys (e.g., Eddie George)--age fast w/regard to speed. Re AP, he did nothing last year, is coming off of a serious injury, and is 32 years old. If he had run for 1400 yards last season at 4.5+ ypc, the Vikes would have figured out a way to keep him. And don't assume away the fumbling issue - it's huge for Belichick. Gillislee has fumbled only once on 169 touches in his NFL career.

In his final six games including the postseason in 2016, Blount had 86 carries for 241 yards. That's a healthy sample size, and it's 2.8 yards ypc. And he looked that slow too.

32 years old with a ton of mileage and booted off the team that drafted him because presumably they thought he had nothing left. What's so hard to figure out here? Blount looked very slow late last year, and Antowain Smith looked pretty glacial in his final year in the league. Remember Anthony Thomas on the Bills? These guys don't get faster as they get older. They fall off a cliff fast. Re the Pats personnel decisions, they make a ton of them every year - their model is based on a lot of turnover. However, overall they're very, very good at it despite the occasional dud (which happens to every team). Take away Brady, and they're still a 10 win team pretty much every year. They have more hits than misses than the average team, and if you want me to walk you through that, I'm happy to do it. PS - I think you're wrong about what role he'll assume. The Pats don't focus on hard-and-fast roles for players; they focus on what they're good at and having plays that exploit their skills. MG is a different back than Blount, who - by the way - averaged 2.8 ypc in his final six games last year including the playoffs.

This sound like the worst Bills homerism, but I like MG on that team over AP. i think peterson is shot, and i think he's poor in enough areas to make him a very flawed player at this point in his career. I also think he's the best RB of his generation, but those days are in the past. He's also a scumbag, not that that these things factor in much (although I think they might with Kraft after the Hernandez thing).

Yep, and another thing to factor in vis-a-vis the Pats: Peterson is a fumbler. That's not merely a rep; it's actually true, and it also appears to be a disqualifying trait for BB (and one of the reasons why I think Dion Lewis will not be on the team much longer). Check it out:http://www.startribune.com/adrian-peterson-needs-to-get-a-firm-grip-on-fumbling-issue/365551791/ 8 fumbles in 2015. Remember what you know about BB and fumbling.

The same could have been said about LT, Edgerrin James, and Emmitt Smith when they were on the market. My guess is that Peterson is likely done as an elite player. Honestly, I didn't think he was particularly dominant in 2015 either -- at least, not like 2012. They simply fed him the ball all of the time. More importantly, he is 32: an age at which pretty much all elite RBs with tons of mileage fall off the cliff. He's apparently not even going to be starting for NO. I don't think he'd be a good fit in NE's system either. He's a weak receiver and an utterly indifferent blocker.

You don't sound like you're hating on the guy at all. Being a second round pick is a real achievement for anyone, and it's no sign that a player can't play well and even excel when he's both labeled and drafted as such.

Well, the Bills finished second that year according to FO, so they were better!

I see where you're coming from, but the same was said about Terrell Suggs. All he has done since coming into the NFL is dominate.