BillsVet

I'm not seeing this hype of Scott Chandler. He's on his 5th team (2 stints with Dallas) in 4 seasons, has caught one pass in those years, and was on a practice squad all of 2009. I'm not sure there are many good TE's who spent their first 4 seasons in the NFL this way.

Now he's just got find that elusive baby. For now, we've got a lot of labor pains to deal with, literally and figuratively.

I think we should chalk up all the southern picks to Nix. Clearly, that's his favorite area to scout, and as Pro Personnel Director he lived in Tennessee.

I really cannot wait for the Bills to tank the season so they can draft Andrew Luck.

When does our version of Al Cowlings show up then?

For a NFL HC to say that a rookie RB not named Barry Sanders can make an OL look better is downright laughable. For a newly hired 70 year old first time GM to make the latter statement, it's plain ridiculous. We're told that Nix and Gailey are straight shooters who tell it like it is. Well, which is it? Were they not far away or was it (gasp) the GM and HC spouting hyperbole to rile up a downtrodden fan base? I point this out because we've heard, dating to Gregg Williams, a lot of talk without much results. I don't think the fan base has a lot of patience with the franchise given the past decade of failure. There isn't one signature win since Levy took over and there are no star players on that roster. Rebuilding takes time, but it doesn't have to be 3-4 years like the owner said. Just ask Atlanta, Baltimore, and Green Bay.

Wanting to lose is definitely unfathomable to any NFL owner, executive, coach, or player. That said, during Nix' tenure with the Chargers, they didn't exactly light it up until picking top 5 for 3 out of 4 drafts from 2001-2004. With those picks, they acquired LaDainian Tomlinson, Quentin Jammer, and Philip Rivers. Tomlinson was outstanding, Jammer has his ups and downs, and Rivers is a top shelf QB. And of course, they picked high in the 2nd and 3rd rounds as well. No one wants to go through the pain that was the 2010 Bills season again. But I often look back and see how SD was rebuilt to provide a window into what a Nix rebuild takes. IMHO, I think Buffalo will pick top 5 again, although I suspect Whaley is GM for the 2012 draft. Still, they can't win the games from the front office. It's up to their players and coaching staff and I don't see enough talent at the critical positions to believe they'll win 7-9 games.

The PR people have to be squirming whenever RW is in front of a camera or giving an interview. He made mention in announcing the BiT series that Toronto was building and things were happening there. Then he talked about Buffalo not doing so well. Sure, it's true, but it wasn't the right time to make that comment. Scott Berchtold and his staff seem like they're working to protect the owner from...himself. He's not able to be out front like a younger man, but when he does he says something which rankles people. Just look at the cancellation of his HOF ring ceremony in 2009. Biggest problem at OBD is their terrible track record has made it so qualified people aren't willing to even interview anymore for their top football jobs, GM and HC. And so the Bills end up with lesser known and more likely lesser qualified people because the owner doesn't have any contacts throughout the NFL.

Thigpen is more of a gimmick QB and Jackson plain stunk against Buffalo in December. Trevor Pryce is at the end of his career, but I'd be fine with Tyson Clabo. Unfortunately, they already have Erik Pears, who will dominate now that he's on his 4th team in 3 years. I truly don't think Nix cares for spending big resources on his OT's, unless of course it's for a 34 year old has-been spouse abuser.

It's funny how people forget the Bills HC search just over a year ago. It was an embarrassment that they wanted to interview multiple candidates and were repeatedly turned down. Weeks later, Chan Gailey was named HC without much notice, aside from a notable poster on TBD. Now there's a vacancy in the front office, and we're surprised at promotions from within? I like Doug Whaley, but the above comment basically spells out why he's hyped in Buffalo by the TBD homers: he's not Modrak, he was formerly with a good organization, and he got props from some national NFL people. Aside from that, what's he done in Buffalo? What it all boils down to is this: When you've got a track record of failure, most normal people will wait to give plaudits until they see on-field success. Buffalo took a step back last year and we're seeing that the team won't interview or won't/can't consider outside people. Not surprisingly, some people question the Bills for their front office decisions and the homers attack. I guess contrarian opinions are now illegal.

RW set him up to fail. This league is so complex that there's no way an untrained eye can possibly do any personnel management job, and yet the owner didn't know anyone, so he turned to his most trusted deputy not named Littman. Everyone knows the story, but no one can argue the 4 seasons of Levy/Brandon seriously hurt the franchise. So much so that they're again rebuilding for the 2nd time in 5 years.

In a competitive league, you've got to have savvy executives who understand when to take calculated risks and when to stand fast. Nix has all but said he isolates on one player and is so risk-averse he won't consider trades. The Dareus pick was a no-brainer, and I'm glad they didn't trade out from the 3rd pick. But if ATL offfered a group of picks for Buffalo to move down in a strong DL draft, you've got to consider it. The fact that BN outright denies trades should alarm those who think this team will be rebuilt in 3 years. I would think Buffalo received plenty of calls for their second rounder, 34th overall, but chose to use that pick. Compare that with a team like Cleveland who decided, in a DL heavy draft, to move down and add picks. Sure, there's risk, but that's present in everything anyone does. The Bills haven't traded down in the draft since 2001. In any round.

The owner said they needed a QB during the season and after. It didn't happen. The owner defended Tom Modrak and his record of failure. Modrak was fired. The irony abounds. This is precisely the right time to fire the man, namely because scouting for the 2012 draft has begun already and axing him in July would affect that process. Too bad it should have happened when TD was fired. At the same time, how many College Scouting/VP's survive through 3 separate GM eras (TD, Levy/Brandon, and Nix)? I get the sense this move was made to placate fans who now know just how bad the drafting has been and wonder why he wasn't fired with Guy at the beginning of 2010? What did he do in the last year he hadn't previously done to warrant his firing now? Same old Bills. No plan and knee jerk reactions. Ah well, Pasquarelli will be reporting from a pro-Modrak stance shortly.

I am proud because we kept the fight up on the enemy and didn't quit when things got tough. The War on Terror isn't over, but this is major victory on destroying the al Qaeda terrorists. I am proud of the US Military and those in other organizations that were more relentless than most thought they were.

Bin Laden said the U.S.A. was a paper tiger after the battle in Mogadishu, Somalia. He was wrong. As a War on Terror veteran, I am extremely satisfied at this development. U.S. counter-terrorist and military capabilities remain second to none.

Look on the bright side, Donahoe pulled starters from the 7th round. That clearly makes up for the busting on Hardy, Ellis, and underwhelming production from McKelvin. I think it's worth noting that Russ Smithers-Brandon was the GM during this draft. An individual thrown into a role by the owner who was completely untrained to lead a NFL franchise in acquiring personnel to rebuild this club. Not all Smithers' fault, but clearly another bad decision by the owner not to find a football man to lead football operations.

Scott Chandler has exactly 1 reception in 4 NFL seasons on 4 different teams. They like him for his in-line blocking ability, but I'd be willing to say he's never going to threaten an opponent vertically. And I don't see Gailey or Nix as really caring about TE's who block and can receive. They shouldn't be destroyed for not taking a TE in the draft, but it will hurt their offense when teams throw Cover 2 and 3 looks at them. It's nice to have good receivers, and their group is young. But in the NFL of 2011, most teams have a viable receiving threat at TE who provide that extra dimension to attack defenses. Buffalo doesn't have that, unless of course they go for a Kevin Boss or Zach Miller in UFA. We'll see, but I doubt they throw serious money at an all-around TE.

TD's been gone now for 5 regular seasons and hasn't made personnel moves for the franchise in 6 years. His time here was bad, but I agree that the Marv/DJ/Brandon years are why we're re-building a second time in 6 off-seasons. If the the reason Marv et al. did what they did was to correct the TD era, then Buddy Nix and company are trying to correct the Levy/Brandon era. Sense a trend here? No one, not TD, Marv, or Brandon could put it all together. As bad as TD was, Marv and Brandon were worse. From 2006-2008 (the year before Nix arrived) the Bills had 8 picks in rounds 1-3. Should Whitner leave (and I suspect he's gone) that leaves just Posluszny and McKelvin on the roster provided Poz is re-signed. That's not how you build a franchise. I think the thing with Marv is, he was the HC during the glory years and people tend to look kindly on his time as reluctant GM. He was pretty brutal, especially when you factor in the free agents signed during his time: Tripplett, Royal, Reyes, Dockery, and Walker to name a few.

Seriously, when RW rose to meet Dareus in the video on the team website, the 3rd overall pick moved to help him. Just amazing to think there's a 92 year old man next to a 22 year old and how much one will be relying/paying the other.

Great post. The NFL can have a salary cap and award the highest picks to the worst teams as a way to level the playing field. But until an organization has the right people in management making good decisions, it doesn't matter. When the Bills went looking for a HC in January 2010, they found few individuals willing to interview. For a job in which only 32 openings exist, that tells me a lot about how NFL people see the Bills. And if a team doesn't have a savvy GM and good HC, they'll find themselves picking high more often than not no matter what.

That was a great moment in that video. RW was right-on when he said they got lucky to get him. Liked Gailey's comment about not playing with that sort of thing. All in all, I think they finally got an outstanding guy who they can build around on that defense.

Guy doesn't have to be able to play LT. He needs to be able to run block and maybe CJ will feel comfortable running behind him.

Where will they find a QB? Next year first overall with Andrew Luck.

If there was any doubt about Whitner, the door just slammed shut. Guess that's the good news from this pick.

Especially with a marginal former 7th rounder starting at LT and the leading RT (Pears) on his 4th team in 3 years protecting their lone viable starting QB. Sure there'll be UFA, but not drafting an OT in the first three rounds for 9 years defies logic.