BillsVet

Great PR move saying that as GM he's mad about something that serious fans know is an issue. Clearly a pre-emptive shot in case the OL struggles. There's a guy in Washington DC who does it all the time this way. And rarely found culpable as well.

I remember when winning the free agency period was widely panned around here when teams like Dallas and Washington were getting credit for it. That said, with more OL help it'd be about as complete an improvement on offense as they could make this off-season.

A HC's job is to win now. A GM's job is to win now and plan to win later. It's important to get value as often as possible, particularly for GM's who need to look down the road a few years. And sometimes what's good today won't be good tomorrow. I get why they've signed guys like Mario, Clay to an offer sheet, and traded for Watkins. From a value perspective they weren't/aren't the best moves for the long term. It's also easier to correct mistakes in the NFL by cutting players, which happens frequently. That is, if the contracts aren't too burdensome in the future.

Increasingly over the years, no. I can live with Cassel. But the interior OL still needs some help and that will mitigate most improvements at the skill positions (and they needed them as well) that they make. We'll have to wait and see what the next level of UFA's, which are now singing, will offer.

Just because the Bills were bad drafting in the 3rd round for most of this millennium isn't enough of a reason to trade your 3rd this year. Especially when you don't have a 1st or 4th. I ask the question again: Is Dan Snyder running this team? Because he was widely criticized (and rightly so) when trading picks was discussed in previous drafts.

McKenzie probably isn't cut out to be a NFL GM. I guess the issue I have is Mark Davis inherited a mess and clearly has no clue either about being an owner.

The point remains you try to win now and keep an eye on the future. That's what a GM is there for, not to go all-in at the craps table with your mortgage payment. Mathis turns 34 during the season and missed 7 games last season. If he's released I get the signing. But no way would I trade more than a 5th for him. Being that desperate for guards and using a 3rd is mind-bendingly stupid.

NFL teams receive almost 190M per year as their share of the TV contract and merchandising. There shouldn't be any teams like the Raiders who are vastly under the cap floor. LaCanfora didn't tell the whole story. It's understandable they need a new home, but everytime I look at Mark Davis I think Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber. He seems out of his league as a GM in the NFL. But you've got to give him credit for drafting Carr and making the obvious pick of Mack last year. That said, they have little talent and no one standing in line to change that.

The Bills have already dealt their 1st and 2 4th round picks in this draft. Trading your 3rd and picking up Mathis' salary is not the type of value this team needs right now. That would be 4 of their top 5 picks. Is Dan Snyder running this team? I get they're trying to win now, and who can blame them given their futile record the past 15 years? But that doesn't excuse trading your future away either. Mathis is 33 and has a 6.5M cap hit in 2015 and 7M hit in 2016. They need guard help, but not at that price. And definitely not for a 33 year old.

I thought you could only evaluate draft picks after 3 years? BTW it's Dominique Easley, DT Florida. The Bills went 22-42 in Buddy's 3 seasons as GM and the 1 year directly after he retired. That's successful?

I see a lot of conflation within this debate, including how other teams have bad drafts. The 2010 draft was the first under Nix as GM, and therefore needed to be a good one as they were rebuilding. Buffalo made a decision in one year to transition from Jauron's Cover-2 to a 3-4 defense, necessitating the addition of pieces, both in UFA and the draft. Strategically, this wasn't a smart move. I don't think you can hammer Nix for not taking a QB in 2010, as there weren't many options. But taking Spiller was a bad move strategically for a rebuilding team. As for the Patriots, sure there have been some swing and misses at the top of the draft. But they're better at getting value out of the 2nd-4th rounds and don't miss on their 1st round guys going back to 2008.

Go back to late December. I believe, based on what I've read, that the Pegula's anticipated having Polian in the building and no HC search when the season ended. It didn't happen, that way leaving only Whaley to assist from a personnel perspective as GM in lining up HC interviews. Polian backed out, leaving new owners with no one to advise them on football issues. Whaley did his role then getting HC candidates in front of new owners and then participated in the interviews. The owners made the call and changed the reporting structure to make the GM report to them but now, only the HC reports to ownership. JMO.

A lot of talent went in 2014, on that it's pretty obvious. Unfortunately draft picks aren't just valuable on draft day. They can be used to acquire experienced talent such as a QB. Look, I don't know if Buffalo was interested in Bradford or a guy like Jimmy Graham, but it didn't help being without a first. Negotiations on players like that usually start there (unless you've got a very good veteran-at least in this off-season) and if you don't have one, there usually is no option to acquire the player. I'm not convinced, based on his record, that Whaley is doing anything but flailing around in the dark for the light switch. Sure, there are good moves like trading for Hughes. But then there's signing an oft-concussed Kevin Kolb, drafting Manuel, trading for an already back of the rotation RB in Bryce Brown, drafting Kouandjio,et al. Any GM can make good moves. It's stringing together enough of them and minimizing the misses that makes a great team. The best move this off-season will be made by the owner, who hired Rex Ryan. The ensuing personnel activity is being dictated by his vision for this team and Whaley is playing a supporting role. It's strange that the Bills have departed from their MO in 2015. Call it TPegs' money, call it whatever, but Whaley's job is on the line in 2015. He doesn't have any excuses after this his 3rd year in the job.

Is Whaley clairvoyant enough to know the 2015 draft would be bad a year before it happened?

Seattle had a strong defense in 2013...and then a year later was defeated by a Patriots team that carved them up with short passes and didn't run the ball much with basically the same defensive personnel. And, Seattle had much better QB play in 2014-15 than anything the Bills will put on the field in 2015.

NFL offenses have changed tremendously since the Ravens won SB XXXV. OPI and roughing the passer penalties being called more frequently have helped transition the game into being predicated on scoring points, not stopping the other team from doing so. Where, in the past 10 years, has there been a defense as dominant as the 2000 Ravens or 2002 Buccaneers? There haven't been any.

Colin Kaepernick circa 2012 and Russell Wilson are head and shoulders better than Matt Cassel. As for acquiring a QB...well, I'm a firm believer in swimming out to your ship and not waiting for it to come in. But the attitude prevalent on TBD is it's hard to get a top QB and so you've gotta wait. Tell that to an owner.

And yet, Walsh went after Steve Young and managed to keep that dynasty going well into the 90s after he'd already left. I'll give Rex time to see if ground and pound combined with a good defense works. If it doesn't, they'll be back to square one looking for a QB, but not before the rookie contracts of Woods and Watkins continue to tick. There's nothing worse than being a 7-9 win team, i.e. stuck in no-man's land. Not bad enough to land a top QB prospect and no good enough to make the post-season.

Is it 1985 all over again? I love Ditka, but he was not on the cutting edge 30 years ago. It was Bill Walsh and the passing game, specifically the WCO, that was winning more often. In fact SF beat CHI twice in the playoffs between 1984 and 1988. It was an underachievement for da Bearsss to only win 1 SB in those years.

Buddy Nix...the gift that keeps on giving. Sorry.

How ironic is it that the Bills have let Spiller go and are pursuing Bulaga? Five years ago some advocated rebuilding the OL by drafting Bulaga, but the powers that be decided on the fastest RB in the draft. And now the Bills have no one signed in 2015 from the 2010 draft class.

I do believe you'd get your butt kicked if you said that at my job.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE YELLING ABOUT! LOUD NOISES! Sincerely, Brick Tamlan

Clump was outstanding describing the cap years ago. Miss his posts.

Isn't this a mute point?