BillsVet

They'll be on the field a lot this season. Think the legs of 35 year old Lorenzo Alexander and 34 year old Kyle Williams will hold up?

The likelihood that McDermott starts a rookie 5th round pick over the QB he pushed for to retain this off-season is, well, extremely unlikely. Someone said it in another thread. HC's want to win now while personnel types are building for the future. The HC in this instance isn't about to put his reputation on the line with Peterman. Don't look at this like a fan, view this from the HC's perspective. The HC is all-in for 2017 with TT. Barring injury or a complete breakdown the rookie isn't playing.

I can still remember this refrain 9-10 years ago. When preseason games didn't go well, people retreated into this theme to explain why the team wasn't playing well. They assured everyone that by the regular season everything would come together. They may use vanilla schemes and not go with the full playbook. We get that. Yet, when you line up against the opponent, players aren't winning the 1 on 1 battles. Playbooks and schemes won't affect that a great deal. They are what they are: a team lacking talent with a new HC, staff, and trying to find the right players to fit their new schemes.

If the plan rebuilding plan is flawed, scouting does not make up for that shortcoming. I have no doubt the front office is better now than the DJ/Levy/Smithers years. I have no doubt ownership will spend more than the owner back then. Still, the league itself has changed and what might get you to 7-9 in 2006-07 won't work now. In one off-season they've let go of Watkins, Gilmore, Darby, Woods, and Gillislee. Tearing it down too far is something DJ/Levy/Smithers didn't manage well. They wanted their guys and that looks like it's happening again. If the goal is to get good fast, replacing both CB's, both starting WR's, and your primary backup QB while implementing a new defensive scheme is approaching too far back. At least Beane understands the onus is on him to find players in 2018 with those picks they've acquired. Whether his and McD's plan is sound for this era is another matter.

And, they've already used their first draft to replace departed UFA's. Gilmore replaced by Tre White. Woods ostensibly replaced by Zay Jones. Perhaps those two from the previous regime weren't their guys or deemed too expensive. BADOL's made the point for years that using the draft to replace departed veterans just makes everything worse in the long term. Yet, it's what the Bills continue to do across multiple front office groups.

I'd agree McD and Beane seem more in tune with current NFL trends and are trying to be ahead of the curve. Yet, in McD's first draft (minus Beane) they traded down in the first to acquire KC's first, but then traded up twice in the second to take Zay Jones and then Dawkins. If they're rebuilding, why do you trade up twice in your initial draft? Were those two guys that central to the plan? Because I know it wasn't Whaley, who was merely a placeholder by draft weekend. Conceptually, I see the similarities to the DJ/Marv year. Sure, the names and faces have changed. The HC and GM are obviously younger. But at the outset, McD and Beane's methodology seems eerily similar. Trade/cut/not re-sign veteran players from the previous regime (Spikes, Fletcher, McGahee, Vincent, Milloy) versus this year (Watkins, Gilmore, Darby, Woods, Gillislee). Sign a bunch of bargain bin UFA's and then use the draft to back fill for the departed veterans. Whether McD/Beane's decisions are better is to be seen. The main difference will be whether the current front office actually values and subsequently positions themselves to get a good QB. DJ/Marv just went with Losman and only drafted 1 guy, Trentative, in their years with the team.

Agreed...the absolute worst is winning 6-8 games again. The Bills ride the mediocrity express seemingly every year, and while I'm more confident there's a coherent plan now, being good enough to pick 15-20 gets this team nowhere. You don't accumulate 6 picks in the top 100 and NOT be rebuilding. I realize they're cushioning the fall, but trying to rebuild without bottoming out after these moves is a bridge too far.

I am shocked, just shocked, that reports of Darby not buying in and now these statements were made post-trade. Timed leaks of "information" seem to accompany these types of moves.

No one had a more ironic t-shirt on for day 2 of the draft. No one.

Tyrod Taylor: Training Camp All-Star I can't wait for someone to cite training camp statistics as evidence he's turned a corner in now his 7th NFL training camp. Oh, wait. It should be alarming the OC has said what he has. Amazing the Bills find QB's who think it's still college and there will be wide open receivers. Yet, when they're not the offense breaks down quickly.

What is Reggie's dad doing posting here? To the point, your opinion is based on what? A youtube video? Or just the natural off-season fantasy that an unknown factor will work out. He's never played a NFL down, is learning a new scheme and one that requires LBs to cover and run well. He's not a Thomas Davis type and it's not a guarantee he fits in McD's defense. Not to mention, the new coaching staff owes him nothing, 2nd round pick or not.

I've always loved your methodology. Ask a loaded question, demand an answer to said question, receive no suitable answer, and declare victory. It's brilliant. Kouandjio's release occurred because 1. By all reports, to sign Streater. 2. They've drafted Dawkins and still have Mills with Glenn the starting LT. CK wasn't going to be in the mix at RT. 3. He offered cap savings(1M+ as a pre-June 1st cut). 4. His lack of versatility because it was likely he wouldn't start. Being a swing OT means playing both positions if called upon. CK can't do that. This has nothing to do with conflating the argument by citing "88 players" nonsense. Now, answer my question: Why are you on a never-ending crusade to defend all Whaley decisions? Why do you feign support of Whaley players now? What could possibly have happened to make your opinion moot?

Why do you so fervently defend a now former member of the team? Why do you deflect from the fact he wasn't good enough to play under two coaching staffs and has (EDIT:now) been cut by a third? And go figure, I'm defending the team's personnel decisions now. But you're not defending the team, only the player and, as an extension, the former GM who selected him. Agenda? Nah, couldn't be.

He was the swing tackle for the previous coaching staff. He isn't (now wasn't) that for the new coaching staff who clearly didn't see enough to retain him for even training camp. I don't know what happened to him last month, but it could very well be a mental health issue. And I highly doubt a capable player (in your opinion) would be released this early because of that. You've conveniently blamed this strange incident because you can't bear to believe the player wasn't good enough for the new coaching staff. The depths Whaley cheerleaders have to go to defend lil' Doug. He's gone and so are more of his players. Thank goodness.

It's not as necessary to have excellent interior DL with the modern NFL. Dareus is entering his 7th season and he's demonstrated that conditioning isn't a priority. That might work when you're 22 or 23, but not after the wear and tear of 6 seasons in your rear view mirror. I would expect his missed games to increase if his work ethic doesn't improve.

I doubt the incident in the field contributed much and, if it is a mental health issue, releasing a player for that reason seems far-fetched. It's another draft pick who didn't produce. And the new regime has no obligation to him, 2nd round pick or not. He couldn't get on the field as a 2nd round pick for the previous staffs. It's not a stretch to say the current HC and staff had the same opinion.

Uninspired because you weren't on board with firing the GM? Or uninspired because you've deemed them incapable of winning at this early juncture? McD/Beane seem more suited to the modern NFL than their predecessors did, which was essentially get a better player here and another one there. This isn't about simply being in the playoffs..it's sustaining a winner season after season. Because the Bills have mastered mortgaging their future for the present and it failed miserably. I'm ready for a new calculated approach.

The lifers, it turns out, will lose the war. They delayed it after T/K Pegs bought the team, but it was inevitable with the results we've become accustomed to.

Worlds are colliding here. I think somewhere the space-time continuum has been disrupted. To the OP's point though: We all want to make the playoffs and the sooner the better. If it's this season, great. The likelihood based on roster composition and the positions you've mentioned make it a tough sell. Some of the stronger areas of the team last year may not be in 2017. If it goes further, it can go to officer candidate school or a service academy and become Lieutenant Noplayoffs.

You've conflated the discussion into all teams having depth at positions. Well, yeah but that's not the point. Buffalo has starting and depth issues all over the field, save for perhaps interior OL and DL. Name another position where they are strong other than...FB. And I would point out that players age, player performance isn't always carried over from season to season, the schedule will be challenging, and their depth will be challenged.

It's a perennial occurrence on TBD that fans cite injuries for Buffalo not succeeding. And that's going to happen in 2017 because they're razor thin across the board, save perhaps interior OL, and DL. One injury disrupts just about every other position. RB depth is nil and McCoy has had a balky hammy for a while now. WR depth is a complete unknown and the starters aren't close to set. Others here already made the case they're thin at LB (even playing nickel) and the secondary is still completely new. Beyond Hyde, there isn't a capable starter there. Starters and depth at corner are an unknown and the talent drop off will be evident if one of them gets hurt. I like where the management is going. But installing new schemes on both sides of the ball is a double edged sword. While it means other teams aren't sure how to plan for them as well, the players need to learn what the staff wants to do...again. The off-season purge was years perhaps decades overdue. Doing things right takes time and I can't see them, with this schedule, winning more than 6 games. No one's calling it a rebuild, but that's precisely what it is.

Selected a QB with his first rounder in 2013. Traded up to take the then ranked top WR in 2014. Traded for McCoy (at RR's urging) in 2015. Signed Clay the same year. Nix and Whaley seemed like scouts miscast in management roles. That there wasn't alignment between coaching and the front office isn't hard to see, but it's a subject that goes too deep in the weeds for many. But if you're looking for improvement, that relationship needs to be there. And it hasn't been since Polian and Marv were working together.

Welcome to corporate America. If you're complaining about resources, you likely won't be complaining long. Whaley didn't have the perfect situation. He also had it far better, at least in resources, than preceding GM's who worked within RW's antiquated system.

I think TPegs has found his football man and, to borrow a favorite Brandon word, "empowered" him to make substantive changes. We don't know how that'll work out, but I'm confident that McD and whomever the GM is will be ownership's true football people. And Russ will remain in his role. If Smithers attempts to interfere, I think unlike with the Whaley front office, there will be push back because saving their skin isn't the primary objective anymore.

I think everyone wants results. At the same time, the first evidence is there to show this isn't the same old same old. This isn't status quo packaged as new. This isn't Marrone pointing at the lifers 3 years ago and Russ stepping in to protect them. It's the closest to real substantive change there's ever been at OBD. It's going to be a new regime both in terms of coaching AND in the front office next season. Sure, McD could be unsuccessful. But he won't be unsuccessful because RW cronies were still pulling the strings from behind the scenes. He's the first HC in some time who'll control his own destiny. He wouldn't have taken this job without that assurance.