BillsVet

Then debate me on why I'm wrong. I'll most assuredly listen to your opinion.

Whaley showed his allegiance to another 2013 pick in Manuel throughout the off-season last year despite EJ showing little. So then there's Alonso, who played well for the Bills during his rookie season, gets injured, and now he's dealt? Doesn't make sense for a GM to give up on a performing player they drafted this quick unless there are behavioral issues during their NFL career. I'm not seeing that with Alonso, so why would the guy who drafted him deal him? ACL injuries aren't so severe that players, even LB's, don't return and play well. IMO, Whaley is acting more like John Schneider does with Seattle, not like a classic GM. After all, we know Buffalo's HC does not report to the GM, but to the owner.

Doug Whaley isn't running this team the way a GM did in years past. This is Rex's team and Whaley is facilitating, not leading personnel acquisition. Kiko Alonso was the first pick during 2010-2013 when Nix was "GM" who was taken that played outside the Southern region. It's why I think he was a Whaley pick. That said, why would Whaley give up on one of his guys less than 2 years after drafting him? IMO, it's because Rex is building the roster and Whaley supports (but does not lead) that vision for the team.

Because not all backs are interchangeable. It's why a guy can excel in a zone blocking scheme and cannot in a power run game.

Does this mean all broadcasters are irrelevant?

That's fair. You don't always get as much time as you'd like, but you get the time you need. The game is changing and the urgency to win is greater which means the patience for young players, even QB's, to develop is declining. Fair or not it's up or out nowadays.

Sure it's a small sample size and everyone can agree the offensive coaching and OL play weren't good last year. The issue remains, there's more patience from pro-team fans than pro coaching staffs, regardless of who they are. Fair or not, they don't have time to wait for a guy to get-it. Either the QB shows signs of improvement or they have to move on. At the end of last year I saw more from guys like Bridgewater and Carr in their rookie seasons than I did from EJ at the beginning of his 2nd NFL season. And I'm still not clear. What did EJ do better in year 2 than he did in year 1?

EJ's won a bunch of games? He's a career 6-8 in the NFL. The point isn't that it takes 3 years. I think that's elementary to feel comfortable with the speed, defenses, schemes. It's to show improvement from year 1 to year 2 to year 3. Right now, I'm not sure what EJ did better in those first 4 games than during his rookie season. The accuracy didn't improve, despite working with Woods, Chandler and the backs in a 2nd season. It's convenient to blame it all on Marrone and company (who were bad) because they departed. But at some point it's on EJ to demonstrate he can be a good NFL QB and justify being a mid-first round pick. I didn't see much improvement during 2014 prior to being benched.

Jarius Wynn is a UFA as well. Maybe they didn't need Hughes in their new scheme. Who knows anymore. But deciding not to tag is a curious decision.

Two solid options no one's talking about: 1. Jeff George. Enough said. 2. Joe Montana. Dude's doing pizza commercials and he wears those Sketchers sneakers to stay in shape. A win-win in my book. Both options probably wouldn't cost much...George has been good and Montana's was elite. I think these are the kinds of QB's the Bills need to be thinking about. Just sayin'

I'm not going to argue about their level of interest or the franchise record the past 15 years. That'd be too negative.

It's become almost impossible to have any constructive debate here anymore because the caliber of posters has significantly declined and there are some who incessantly post in every thread . I don't know how the Bills will do this off-season or how they'll fare in the regular season, but I have more confidence in OBD today than at any time in about 10 years.

Buffalo going so hard after Josh McCown tells me they don't consider EJ a starter. Why would they pay McCown upwards of 5m per to just compete for the starting job?

If you want to be the laughing stock of the NFL, sure, that's a great idea. I wonder if Baghdad Bob is still around. That guy was even better.

Wait, Rex and Roman don't think Manuel can cut it? Why not? He's only had 14 games!

Seattle features a balanced offense that runs well and a consistently good QB who can make throws. Just running the ball and playing defense is not a plan to win in this era, unless you can do what Seattle does.

Which teams are advancing deep into the playoffs with a strong defense and an offense that runs the ball well?

I'd think spending on Hughes precludes the Bills from signing Revis and it probably means Searcy's gone as well. It's good they want to keep their own and have their starting RDE under contract. The concern, if you give Hughes big money, is how that contract hinders them from spending on offensive players. Because the Bills don't have the draft resources in 2015 to fill the needs on offense and they'll need to spending in UFA.

On the good side, they've got a real NFL HC, Russ Brandon has been put in his place away from personnel, and they've got a very good defense. Those are encouraging things. But not having a QB is a tremendous obstacle to overcome, not to mention needing serious upgrades across the OL, and improvements at TE and RB. There's a lot of work to do.

Why did Whaley trade for Bryce Brown last year on draft weekend? Investing more (and perhaps higher) resources doesn't fit within established NFL trends. Essentially, that teams don't devote much to RB's.

And exactly 0 NFL teams are building championship caliber teams this way.

Based on what? His production under a different HC and staff 2+ years ago? I'd agree they need a talent infusion at TE, but drafting RB's high is a serious misuse of resources, particularly when you don't have a 1st. Drafting RB's and going cheap on the OL is something this organization has done repeatedly since about 2001. It never works. Backs are replaceable and found more likely in the middle rounds or via UDFA.

The coach told EJ to check down? That's priceless. EJ checked down because he was tentative and wouldn't throw the ball down-field, not because the conveniently departed Marrone and Hackett told him to repeatedly throw short passes. It's why EJ admitted after his benching that he would, if given the opportunity, "cut it loose." http://bills.buffalonews.com/2014/10/02/bills-notebook-manuel-remains-optimistic-through-benching/ During the off-season, some people forget just how bad Manuel was during the regular season. He doesn't read defenses well, can't get through his reads, and when he does, the pass more often than not is errant. The tape doesn't lie in that regard.

It's time to invest in the TE position with that 2nd or 3rd round pick. A rookie may not provide great production, but down the road you want to have someone there and spending top dollars in UFA on Julius Thomas or Jordan Cameron may hurt the team more than help. It's a little concerning that Roman didn't get more out of Vernon Davis. Part of that may be QB related, but I can't think of a better weapon for a young QB than someone like Davis who's faster than just about every LB out there.

And this is what happens during the dead part of the off-season when people try to create news because there isn't enough to write articles on.