Nix's UDFA/Waiver Wire grade

[Meathead]

since were not including the draft, i dont see how it could be anything less than A-

 

the only position left on the team that could be considered a weakness is the second wideout (you cant even count the slot because nelson has that covered well). that is a legit criticism until somebody steps up and gets starter production. theyve added people almost everywhere else and certainly where needed. theyve got three solid olinemen including two starters, two solid dlineman, two starting lbs, starting te, and at least promising backups all over from facy and udfa

 

heck, even if we included the draft id say its high b+. theyve had some misses but everybody does and theyve stocked the cupboards with tons of guys they picked. some time still needed to complete that e v a l but so far it appears theyve been the best pickers weve had here in a long damn time. plus theyve managed to lose very little with poz and donte being the only significant losses. pretty good

[eball]

Urbick and Chandler have been very good pickups. The big problem that I had with Nix early on was if he was going to switch over to a 3-4 then why not sign OLBs. They were out there. At the end of last year they were so desperate that they were throwing Johnson and Carrington out there. Kelsay was a disaster from day one and Merriman should have never been counted on. It made the last 8 games of last year very hard to watch.

 

IMO, I think Buddy has assembled a playoff team this year. That being said, he didn't need to take 3 years to do it. The 2010 draft was a disaster. So my feelings about Buddy are still mixed.

 

Grade:C

I'll sidetrack the discussion with a quick review of the 2010 draft:

 

9 picks, 6 of them still on the roster.

 

1 - Spiller -- BPA at the time and should be a Bill for years to come

2 - Troup -- gets an incomplete b/c of health issues (I suppose this is a negative if you think Buddy should have foreseen a broken hand and back surgery)

3 - Carrington -- should stick as part of DT rotation

4 - Easley -- again, incomplete; can't have foreseen injury/medical issues and could very well make the team

5 - Wang -- bust

6a - Moats -- appears to have found a home as a backup OLB and should make the team

6b - Batten -- fan favorite at the time of the draft; also had injury issues; probable cut this year considering depth at DE

7a - Brown -- bust

7b - Calloway -- bust

 

I still believe you can only give this draft a grade of "incomplete" right now. If Easley becomes a part of the WR rotation, Carrington plays 10-15 snaps a game at DT, and Moats backs up at LB, it's no worse than a C. If Troup somehow recovers and makes the team, it's a B. Conversely, if Easley, Carrington, and Troup are cut, it's an F.

 

-------------

 

Now, to the original question asked (about Nix and his pickup of UDFAs or free agents), here are the quality additions to the roster "nobody else wanted":

 

Pears

Urbik

Chandler

Rinehart

Sam Young

Hagan

Aiken?

Dickerson?

I include Merriman on this list purely because of potential -- it's easy to say he hasn't contributed and the Bills wasted money, but (a) what do we care how much money they spent, and (b) if he becomes an impact player this year was it still a bad move?

 

That's pretty impressive over three offseasons. It's funny how people are still critical of Buddy for "the 3-4 switch" when that wasn't even his decision. This team had NO players, particularly on defense, when Buddy arrived. Expecting that a roster with the talent like this one now has could have been done in a year is so naive it's ridiculous.

 

Please find me ONE NFL personnel expert who would legitimately criticize the job Nix has done since becoming GM.

 

That said, with this roster, it's playoffs or bust, and Nix has said as much himself.

[machine gun kelly]

The decision on 3-4 was a mistake, and looking back they probably didn't know what they had in Freddy when picking Spiller. That was a miss not because he's a bad player, but you don't pick a RB at 8 in the first round.

 

Hindsight is 20/20 but Troup could have been Gronkowski. That said, the previous posts said it on so many gold pick ups on the cheap. I do think it takes 3-5 years to create a real solid winning team for many years as we had squat for talent.

 

They are on the path so if we hit the wild card with a 10-11 winning game season, and then now can refine next year. Imagine we win 11 games and one playoff game. We are all happy. Now next FA and draft time, we resign our o line in question, and pick up a solid #1 WR opposite Stevie, a TE, LB, Safety as George isn't getting younger as much as I love the guy, and another CB. That is doable as we are still in good cap shape.

 

We're about to go on a run with a winning team we haven't had in a loonngg time. Whaley is the perfect back fill to Nix in two years, and Chan gets a team he keeps refining over time into a well oiled machine.

 

One of the reasons why the Steelers, Ravens, Giants, and Patriots are as good as they are is they don't blow up the plan every three years. We finally have a good FO (our biggest deficit in the last 12 years), and can give Chan time to make his team great. I also hope we pay Wanny enough to stay for years and create the early 90's Cowboys defense.

 

 

Go Bills

[John Cocktosten]

I'll sidetrack the discussion with a quick review of the 2010 draft:

 

9 picks, 6 of them still on the roster.

 

1 - Spiller -- BPA at the time and should be a Bill for years to come

2 - Troup -- gets an incomplete b/c of health issues (I suppose this is a negative if you think Buddy should have foreseen a broken hand and back surgery)

3 - Carrington -- should stick as part of DT rotation

4 - Easley -- again, incomplete; can't have foreseen injury/medical issues and could very well make the team

5 - Wang -- bust

6a - Moats -- appears to have found a home as a backup OLB and should make the team

6b - Batten -- fan favorite at the time of the draft; also had injury issues; probable cut this year considering depth at DE

7a - Brown -- bust

7b - Calloway -- bust

 

I still believe you can only give this draft a grade of "incomplete" right now. If Easley becomes a part of the WR rotation, Carrington plays 10-15 snaps a game at DT, and Moats backs up at LB, it's no worse than a C. If Troup somehow recovers and makes the team, it's a B. Conversely, if Easley, Carrington, and Troup are cut, it's an F.

 

I don't care if Troupe makes the team and Carrington plays 10-15, drafts are judged on impact not filler. The guys you mentioned, outside of Spiller, are roster players 51-53. I wouldn't be so sure that Carrington is going to make it either. Right now he's running with the 3's and Heard outplayed him at the end of last year. You can give the draft an incomplete but you're really just delaying the inevitable. The 2010 draft gets an D-/F. Hopefully Buddy has learned his lesson and will not be spending an entire draft on small school guys.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

I'll sidetrack the discussion with a quick review of the 2010 draft:

 

9 picks, 6 of them still on the roster.

 

1 - Spiller -- BPA at the time and should be a Bill for years to come

2 - Troup -- gets an incomplete b/c of health issues (I suppose this is a negative if you think Buddy should have foreseen a broken hand and back surgery)

3 - Carrington -- should stick as part of DT rotation

4 - Easley -- again, incomplete; can't have foreseen injury/medical issues and could very well make the team

5 - Wang -- bust

6a - Moats -- appears to have found a home as a backup OLB and should make the team

6b - Batten -- fan favorite at the time of the draft; also had injury issues; probable cut this year considering depth at DE

7a - Brown -- bust

7b - Calloway -- bust

 

I still believe you can only give this draft a grade of "incomplete" right now. If Easley becomes a part of the WR rotation, Carrington plays 10-15 snaps a game at DT, and Moats backs up at LB, it's no worse than a C. If Troup somehow recovers and makes the team, it's a B. Conversely, if Easley, Carrington, and Troup are cut, it's an F.

 

-------------

 

Now, to the original question asked (about Nix and his pickup of UDFAs or free agents), here are the quality additions to the roster "nobody else wanted":

 

Pears

Urbik

Chandler

Rinehart

Sam Young

Hagan

Aiken?

Dickerson?

I include Merriman on this list purely because of potential -- it's easy to say he hasn't contributed and the Bills wasted money, but (a) what do we care how much money they spent, and (b) if he becomes an impact player this year was it still a bad move?

 

That's pretty impressive over three offseasons. It's funny how people are still critical of Buddy for "the 3-4 switch" when that wasn't even his decision. This team had NO players, particularly on defense, when Buddy arrived. Expecting that a roster with the talent like this one now has could have been done in a year is so naive it's ridiculous.

 

Please find me ONE NFL personnel expert who would legitimately criticize the job Nix has done since becoming GM.

 

That said, with this roster, it's playoffs or bust, and Nix has said as much himself.

On your comment on the 2010 draft, I don't believe you should characterize 7th rounders who don't make the team as busts. In fact I don't think it's fair to call 5th rounders busts.

 

As far as waiver and free agent pick ups, you'd have to include Kirk Morrison and Colin Brown… both solid pickups.

 

 

[eball]

I don't care if Troupe makes the team and Carrington plays 10-15, drafts are judged on impact not filler. The guys you mentioned, outside of Spiller, are roster players 51-53. I wouldn't be so sure that Carrington is going to make it either. Right now he's running with the 3's and Heard outplayed him at the end of last year. You can give the draft an incomplete but you're really just delaying the inevitable. The 2010 draft gets an D-/F. Hopefully Buddy has learned his lesson and will not be spending an entire draft on small school guys.

I hear you, man, but Carrington is another guy who was playing out of position last year. We can nitpick on whether the draft is a C, D, or F, but I agree it wasn't anything to write home about outside of Spiller.

 

By far, the biggest mistake this "regime" has made was when Gailey hired Edwards as DC. That's not on Nix. Edwards just wasn't equipped for the job, and it did set the Bills back a bit on developing their personnel. Thankfully Gailey recognized his mistake after 2010 and brought Wannstedt into the mix as insurance, and a lot of the guys they already had are good fits in the 4-3.

 

I think we've seen in the 2011 and 2012 drafts that Buddy wants big time players from big time programs.

 

On your comment on the 2010 draft, I don't believe you should characterize 7th rounders who don't make the team as busts. In fact I don't think it's fair to call 5th rounders busts.

 

As far as waiver and free agent pick ups, you'd have to include Kirk Morrison and Colin Brown… both solid pickups.

A bust is a bust; either they make the team or they don't (but I understand your point).

 

I think Morrison would have gotten attention from other teams so I wouldn't characterize him as a guy nobody else wanted.

 

Brown -- agreed.

[dpberr]

A very interesting subject. Thanks for the post.

 

I'd grade Nix at A for mining for talent at the free agent bin of NFL-Mart.

[PromoTheRobot]

A very interesting subject. Thanks for the post.

 

I'd grade Nix at A for mining for talent at the free agent bin of NFL-Mart.

Since we follow every move by the Bills it's easy for us to look at the players we sign. But I have no idea how to compare Nix's record to other NFL front offices. I assume it must be good. I am semi-familiar with the Patriots* moves lately and know they whiff a lot.

 

PTR

[hondo in seattle]

I think his adds, especially with Urbik, Rinehart and Chandler have been excellent. I vaguely recall reading that Buddy pulled some type of procedural "fast one", or maybe it was some kind of head fake (leading Cowboy staff to think he coveted a player on their team, so they protect him only to then have Buddy swoop in and take the player they really wanted) that landed Chandler. Anyone else recall this?

I also think that while Buddy's an excellent talent evaluator, a complete perspective has to take into account that Buddy has benefitted from inheriting a very favorable waiver wire "order" - in his first few years he had nearly the first pick of the waiver wire availables.

 

I don't remember if this was confirmed or just a rumor... but yeah, I remember something like this too.

 

BTW, I think Doug Whaley in his position as Assistant GM is responsible for scouting pro players. Not to steal any of Nix's thunder, but Whaley deserves credit here too.

[BobChalmers]

You're acting like Merriman has actually contributed to this team. Other than a hefty paycheck and a so called "veteran presence" he has done jack squat.

 

An exaggeration. Merriman was the Bills best pass rusher at the start of last year.

 

Now, that's not exactly high praise considering how bad the pass rush was, but he was the only guy getting some pressure for those first few weeks.

 

In the pre-season last year, he was amazing - if he's healthy this year, there's every reason to believe he's a huge steal.

[Punch]

An exaggeration. Merriman was the Bills best pass rusher at the start of last year.

 

Now, that's not exactly high praise considering how bad the pass rush was, but he was the only guy getting some pressure for those first few weeks.

 

In the pre-season last year, he was amazing - if he's healthy this year, there's every reason to believe he's a huge steal.

 

I was impressed with his run stopping, as well. It's an area of his game he's worked hard to improve over the past few seasons and it shows.

[eball]

Let's not pretend Merriman has contributed anything the past two seasons because he hasn't. Those calling it a wasted move by the Bills are correct in that regard. It was a risk, one acknowledged by Nix at the time, and as I've said before, it's not our money so why do we care what Ralph spent? Merriman's compensation hasn't kept the Bills from keeping or acquiring any players.

 

If Merriman is finally healthy and makes an impact this year, the move will have been "worth it" in my opinion.

[Punch]

Let's not pretend Merriman has contributed anything the past two seasons because he hasn't. Those calling it a wasted move by the Bills are correct in that regard. It was a risk, one acknowledged by Nix at the time, and as I've said before, it's not our money so why do we care what Ralph spent? Merriman's compensation hasn't kept the Bills from keeping or acquiring any players.

 

If Merriman is finally healthy and makes an impact this year, the move will have been "worth it" in my opinion.

 

No one's pretending. He played reasonably well last season in the brief time he was healthy and anyone could see that, but the amount of time he's missed since signing here negates that relatively meager on-field contribution. He's made a much larger contribution off the field, which is all anyone is really contending in this thread.

[eball]

No one's pretending. He played reasonably well last season in the brief time he was healthy and anyone could see that, but the amount of time he's missed since signing here negates that relatively meager on-field contribution. He's made a much larger contribution off the field, which is all anyone is really contending in this thread.

You're preaching to the choir, but I've learned that getting all "rah rah" about Merriman's professionalism, the attitude he brings, and the fact he has been a vocal advocate for playing in Buffalo don't amount to a hill of beans to the "what have you done on the field?" crowd.