Criticism of Nix

[OldTimer1960]

Troup was picked in front of Gronk. The worst thing about the Bills recent misses is that the guy right after is AMAZING. Whitner--Ngata; Maybin--Orakpo; Troup Gronkowski. I wouldn't mind the miss so much if the miss was surrounded by other misses.

 

Nix was not GM here when Whitner and Maybin were drafted.

 

Yes, in hindsight, the Troup over Gronkowski pick hurts. However, Troup has been held back by a back injury that was hard to predict and Gronkowski had missed his last year of college with a back injury.

[thewildrabbit]

I would love for fans to quit making excuses for Nix.

You and me both brother

 

I can only think It must be some version Stockholm Syndrome .. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1920301,00.html Bills fans have been battered for so many years that they forget what a real quality GM could do for a team.

 

The list of mistakes this man has made in every area of the team is almost endless and yet fans are here defending one of the worst Buffalo Bills GM's ever. From openly stating "this team is not that far away" in one of his first pressers 3 years ago. Now in the 3rd year of a never ending rebuild the GM states he will finally select a QB in a not very good QB class.

 

You guys are forgetting that Nix could have easily made attempts to move up in the draft all 3 years to obtain any QB, he didn't! The Redskins gave away the farm for RG3, the Bills under Nix would prefer to let players fall to them. Stark difference.

[Homey D. Clown]

There are many here who think Buddy Nix is "an idiot" because he has blindly not addressed the QB position in his 3 drafts and because he gave Ryan Fitzpatrick a middle-of-the-road starting QB contract.

 

I think that these criticisms are pretty much unfair.

 

First, Nix's only drafts while GM were: 2010, 2011 and 2012. While there were 2 second round QBs and one 3rd round QB drafted over that span whom the Bills might have drafted, none of them were considered such obvious "sure things" that people at the time could have blamed Nix for not drafting them.

 

Looking back the QBs who have been drafted over that time include:

 

2010:

Sam Bradford - #1 overall, gone before Bills' selection

Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, John Skelton, Dan LeFevour and Tony Pike (many here wanted these last two).

Nix did select Levi Brown in round 7 and I think it could be argued that he wasn't any worse than the QBs drafted ahead of him other than Bradford.

 

2011:

Cam Newton went 1st overall.

 

Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder went after the Bills selected Marcel Darius. None of those guys has shown that they are very good starting QBs yet.

 

In round 2, Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick went after the Bills selected Aaron Williams. Now, I'll grant that it would be nice to have either of these guys (or at least it looks that way so far early in their careers). I think this is the only pick in the 3 years where you could legitimately lament that "Buddy blew it" and yet so did many other QB-needy teams.

 

Other QBs from that draft included Ryan Mallett who some might like, but I don't see teams lining up to trade for him and TJ Yates who had a nice run in his rookie year when nobody knew who he was.

 

2012:

Andrew Luck, RG III and Ryan Tannehill all went before the Bills' first pick

 

Brandon Weeden and Brock Osweiler went after the Bills' pick and then Seattle took a chance on the "too short" Russell Wilson and appears to have struck gold - however note it is still early in his career. It is possible that defenses will find schemes to keep him in the pocket and make his height work against him.

 

Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins are "folk heroes" on this board for very brief flashes of good play early in their career. Maybe they will become very good, but the odds are not in their favor based on past drafts.

 

So, for those that can legitimately say that they KNEW that Kaepernick, Dalton and Wilson were going to be very good, I say you had a good eye. I don't however see where Nix passed on any great QBs in round 1. Those 3 from after round 1 fooled most or all of the NFL GMs, too otherwise they'd have gone in round 1 instead of Brandon Weeden, Christian Ponder and Blaine Gabbert.

 

Very well put, and I agree, but this is TSW, and people aren't happy unless they have someone to blame, no matter how much thought and logic you present.

[BillsFan3434]

There are many here who think Buddy Nix is "an idiot" because he has blindly not addressed the QB position in his 3 drafts and because he gave Ryan Fitzpatrick a middle-of-the-road starting QB contract.

 

I think that these criticisms are pretty much unfair.

 

First, Nix's only drafts while GM were: 2010, 2011 and 2012. While there were 2 second round QBs and one 3rd round QB drafted over that span whom the Bills might have drafted, none of them were considered such obvious "sure things" that people at the time could have blamed Nix for not drafting them.

 

Looking back the QBs who have been drafted over that time include:

 

2010:

Sam Bradford - #1 overall, gone before Bills' selection

Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, John Skelton, Dan LeFevour and Tony Pike (many here wanted these last two).

Nix did select Levi Brown in round 7 and I think it could be argued that he wasn't any worse than the QBs drafted ahead of him other than Bradford.

 

2011:

Cam Newton went 1st overall.

 

Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder went after the Bills selected Marcel Darius. None of those guys has shown that they are very good starting QBs yet.

 

In round 2, Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick went after the Bills selected Aaron Williams. Now, I'll grant that it would be nice to have either of these guys (or at least it looks that way so far early in their careers). I think this is the only pick in the 3 years where you could legitimately lament that "Buddy blew it" and yet so did many other QB-needy teams.

 

Other QBs from that draft included Ryan Mallett who some might like, but I don't see teams lining up to trade for him and TJ Yates who had a nice run in his rookie year when nobody knew who he was.

 

2012:

Andrew Luck, RG III and Ryan Tannehill all went before the Bills' first pick

 

Brandon Weeden and Brock Osweiler went after the Bills' pick and then Seattle took a chance on the "too short" Russell Wilson and appears to have struck gold - however note it is still early in his career. It is possible that defenses will find schemes to keep him in the pocket and make his height work against him.

 

Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins are "folk heroes" on this board for very brief flashes of good play early in their career. Maybe they will become very good, but the odds are not in their favor based on past drafts.

 

So, for those that can legitimately say that they KNEW that Kaepernick, Dalton and Wilson were going to be very good, I say you had a good eye. I don't however see where Nix passed on any great QBs in round 1. Those 3 from after round 1 fooled most or all of the NFL GMs, too otherwise they'd have gone in round 1 instead of Brandon Weeden, Christian Ponder and Blaine Gabbert.

 

So you are saying to not blame Nix because he didn't have much to work with on the draft board? Then you go on to say that they "blew it" on Colin Kaepernick, Andy Dalton, and Russell Wilson but you "don't know" if they will be any good because it's so early in their career. In their short 1-2 year career, all of them, they have taken their teams farther than Aaron Williams, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Kelvin Shepherd have combined. I think I speak for all of us here when I say I was sitting on my couch on draft day, 1/2 drunk, only knowing what I've read from google, Kiper, and McShay and I would have STILL drafted ANY of these quarterbacks over who we picked. Then we'd be having a different conversation right now.

[CodeMonkey]

The list of mistakes this man has made in every area of the team is almost endless and yet fans are here defending one of the worst Buffalo Bills GM's ever. From openly stating "this team is not that far away" in one of his first pressers 3 years ago. Now in the 3rd year of a never ending rebuild the GM states he will finally select a QB in a not very good QB class.

 

You guys are forgetting that Nix could have easily made attempts to move up in the draft all 3 years to obtain any QB, he didn't! The Redskins gave away the farm for RG3, the Bills under Nix would prefer to let players fall to them. Stark difference.

This post sums it up perfectly. A good GM makes things happen. He doesn't sit and wait to see what happens.

Last year was the time to make a move for a QB. Nix did not, because he felt he had his QB ... the same one he just cut. Now he either admits to another rebuild cycle and waits a year to get a QB, or takes a QB this draft regardless if he likes the QB much or not. Not a nice corner Nix has painted himself into.

[machine gun kelly]

The posts that make the most sense here is not just Nix missing on the QB, but it's the poor choices while here. No need to keep writing about it, but I'll be happy when he retires. Whaley comes from an excellent drafting team in the Steelers so I just hope he has a vision similar to what the Steelers have done over the years.

[Mr. WEO]

I agree with the OP. Even if we had drafted Russell Wilson, he never would have played. Chan was all in with Fitz and that lead to both of their dismissals.

 

So if we had Russell Wilson on our roster right now, most everyone would still be clamoring for a new QB.

 

You must admit one thing. Buddy Nix took a shambles of an O-line and turned it around pretty quickly and inexpensively. If Fitzpatrick would have progressed as he was supposed to, this draft would be for best player available in just about every round.

 

I don't believe this at all. Seattle had just gone "all in" with Matt Flynn, paying him a big chunk. Yet Carroll saw enough in preseason to name Wilson starter. I'm guessing even everyone's slow witted "Megamind" would have seen the same in Buffalo.

 

The endless claiming on this site that Wilson was some sort of unknown quality is pure revisionist history. He is playing now exactly as he did at 2 different top college programs.

[Cheddar's Dad]

I have been a Nix fan since he was hired. But I've come to see him as failing to deliver for the team and fans. Forget QB for the moment. When Nix became GM, he converted our D to a 34. That didn't work out. He then switched to a 43 and paid 100 mil for a DE and another 30 mil for another DE. The 30 mil DE was injured for much of the season and when he did play, looked like nothing special. The big buck DE showed up on occasion but was not worth what he was paid. How much did last year's spending lead to not making a competitive contract offer to Levitre last year which led to his loss this year? Did it lead to not spending for free agents this year? This year he hired a coach that wants to switch back to the 34 making the big buck DE a part time player.

 

Then there's Fitz. He started one year red hot after having a decent previous year. Nix panicked thinking he needed to make a substantial contract offer or lose him. Fitz signed the contract and almost immediately crashed.

 

Now, I'm concerned that Nix is about to make another error and use the 8th pick for a 2nd or 3rd round quality QB. Many fans here think the bozo QBs available this year can step in and do what the QB's in last years draft did; start immediately. Ain't gonna happen with this group. Tarvaris will start this year. Next year starting caliber QBs from Georgia, Clemson, Louisville, and perhaps Texas A & M will be available but because Nix picked a bozo this year leaving a big hole at another position that might have been filled with 8 this year; he , Whaley or someone else will try to fill that hole next year and pass on one of those QB thinking we have a young one from this year to develop. On and on it goes and Buffalo continues to struggle in the cellar of the AFC East.

[Maury Ballstein]

Nix did not have the luxury of passing on QBs like Kaepernick, Dalton, Wilson or Cousins. It was idiotic. Even the Patriots have a better back up plan for Brady than Nix had for Fitzpatrick for God's sake!

 

agree.....not sure why the OP want to give Nix a pass..........you do understand Nix's JOB is to build a successful franchise? He has failed miserably.

 

passing on kaepernick and wilson is a grave offense and makes me question Nix's eyesight, did he not see ole 7th arm ragarm play?

 

just a joke to leave a franchise in the hands of a career backup for this long. the whole culture in the locker room with gailey/wanny seems terrible just failures all throughout every level of the franchise lately.............Hopefully Marrone with a little help from Stevie and CJ can move this thing the other way fast................Nix can hit the bricks.

[BuffBill]

There are many here who think Buddy Nix is "an idiot" because he has blindly not addressed the QB position in his 3 drafts and because he gave Ryan Fitzpatrick a middle-of-the-road starting QB contract.

 

I think that these criticisms are pretty much unfair.

 

First, Nix's only drafts while GM were: 2010, 2011 and 2012. While there were 2 second round QBs and one 3rd round QB drafted over that span whom the Bills might have drafted, none of them were considered such obvious "sure things" that people at the time could have blamed Nix for not drafting them.

 

Looking back the QBs who have been drafted over that time include:

 

2010:

Sam Bradford - #1 overall, gone before Bills' selection

Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, John Skelton, Dan LeFevour and Tony Pike (many here wanted these last two).

Nix did select Levi Brown in round 7 and I think it could be argued that he wasn't any worse than the QBs drafted ahead of him other than Bradford.

 

2011:

Cam Newton went 1st overall.

 

Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder went after the Bills selected Marcel Darius. None of those guys has shown that they are very good starting QBs yet.

 

In round 2, Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick went after the Bills selected Aaron Williams. Now, I'll grant that it would be nice to have either of these guys (or at least it looks that way so far early in their careers). I think this is the only pick in the 3 years where you could legitimately lament that "Buddy blew it" and yet so did many other QB-needy teams.

 

Other QBs from that draft included Ryan Mallett who some might like, but I don't see teams lining up to trade for him and TJ Yates who had a nice run in his rookie year when nobody knew who he was.

 

2012:

Andrew Luck, RG III and Ryan Tannehill all went before the Bills' first pick

 

Brandon Weeden and Brock Osweiler went after the Bills' pick and then Seattle took a chance on the "too short" Russell Wilson and appears to have struck gold - however note it is still early in his career. It is possible that defenses will find schemes to keep him in the pocket and make his height work against him.

 

Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins are "folk heroes" on this board for very brief flashes of good play early in their career. Maybe they will become very good, but the odds are not in their favor based on past drafts.

 

So, for those that can legitimately say that they KNEW that Kaepernick, Dalton and Wilson were going to be very good, I say you had a good eye. I don't however see where Nix passed on any great QBs in round 1. Those 3 from after round 1 fooled most or all of the NFL GMs, too otherwise they'd have gone in round 1 instead of Brandon Weeden, Christian Ponder and Blaine Gabbert.

The guy is one of the worst GM's in football, plain and simple. He has put this franchise in a position at the QB spot where it is years away from being competitive. Some people blindely support anyone associated with the Bills, but the facts show that this guy has done worse then Levy, Donahue or just about anyone else over the past few decades in Orchard Park. The only GM who can't scout Pro Days and get involved in free agency at the same time. What does he have to show for three drafts, all with pretty high picks? The best pick is obviously Spiller, who has had two more or less disappointing seasons, and one good season as a part time back. Dareus has been underwhelming for the most part, considering where he was drafted, he is a good pass rusher but couldn't stop the run very good if he had the other team's plays. Aaron Williams has played like an undrafted free agent, not like a second round pick who was chosen ahead of Andy Dalton. Gilmore was OK, but he was called for more penalties then just about any other DB in the league. His biggest error is blatantly ignoring the QB position and trying to fill it with other team's garbage cast offs. He is bad, face the truth. Time to move on from a guy who got his big break at the age of 70, who does that? Edited March 26, 2013 by BuffBill

[DDD]

Remember, this is the same genius who agreed with Gailey that Trent Edwards was a better QB than Fitz. So far, he has failed miserably as GM and will likely ride off into the sunset soon leaving a bigger mess than he inherited.

 

+1

[Leelee Phoenix]

Not only has Nix been a failure as a GM, he's become a joke around the league. He did come into a bad situation, but he's unquestionably made too many mistakes.

 

I hate to parrot Jerry Sullivan, but how in the heck do these Buffalo GMs still have their jobs this year after coaches being fired. It makes no sense.

Edited March 26, 2013 by Leelee Phoenix

[bobobonators]

Dalton and Kaepernick are more so products of the systems/organizations they play for. The only QB we really missed out on was Russell Wilson who despite his sensational rookie year still has the jury out on him (And considering he went in round 3 clearly a lot of other teams missed too).

 

Dalton and Kaepernick play for teams with very good defenses. The Bengals don't ask Dalton to do too much while the 49ers have a uber talented team and good scheme built around Kaepernick. Overall I feel like the success those players have had more so goes to show that putting people in a position to have success and utilize their skills works.

 

What I knock Nix for is his inability to hit on the players he has drafted. Troup and A.Williams being key players. Both second rounders who are struggling. And Nix better hope that Dareus, Gilmore, and Spiller live up to their potential too because if they turn out to be just decent players (Or in Spillers case a guy that can't stay on the field) then Nix has a indefensible record.

 

Overall its hard to find a QB but when you draft pieces to build the rest of your roster you better build that roster. Had we hit on those 2nd rounders this team would be in a much better position with that alone.

 

Perfectly said.

[hondo in seattle]

Nix is definitely not an idiot, nor are our regional scouts. Any personnel man at OBD knows far, far more about player evaluation than 99.99% of the people posting here. Saying "Nix is an idiot" might make the ego feel good. But the truth is that the people making such assertions are more idiotic about the NFL than Nix. Nix, Whaley and our scouts are experts at their jobs.

 

However, the issue isn't whether Nix is an idiot or not. The real issue is whether or not he's more competent than 31 other GM's. Or even better than half of them. And, so far, there are valid reasons to questions this. Let's see if better coaching makes our draft picks and FA acquisitions look better.

[mannc]

Nix is definitely not an idiot, nor are our regional scouts. Any personnel man at OBD knows far, far more about player evaluation than 99.99% of the people posting here. Saying "Nix is an idiot" might make the ego feel good. But the truth is that the people making such assertions are more idiotic about the NFL than Nix. Nix, Whaley and our scouts are experts at their jobs.

 

However, the issue isn't whether Nix is an idiot or not. The real issue is whether or not he's more competent than 31 other GM's. Or even better than half of them. And, so far, there are valid reasons to questions this. Let's see if better coaching makes our draft picks and FA acquisitions look better.

 

You make a lot of unsupported statements here to support Buddy, but the evidence suggests that the Bills last 3 drafts would have been more productive if the picks had been made according to the TBD consensus, or even a random TBD participant.

Edited March 26, 2013 by mannc

[Maury Ballstein]

Nix is definitely not an idiot, nor are our regional scouts. Any personnel man at OBD knows far, far more about player evaluation than 99.99% of the people posting here. Saying "Nix is an idiot" might make the ego feel good. But the truth is that the people making such assertions are more idiotic about the NFL than Nix. Nix, Whaley and our scouts are experts at their jobs.

 

However, the issue isn't whether Nix is an idiot or not. The real issue is whether or not he's more competent than 31 other GM's. Or even better than half of them. And, so far, there are valid reasons to questions this. Let's see if better coaching makes our draft picks and FA acquisitions look better.

 

yea none of us could have done a job as well as nix did? you can be subservient to Nix's title of GM and bow to the crown if you want, i see a guy who didn't pull the right strings way way too often. 99.99% more is a stretch. i feel comfortable in more than a few posters here to handle Buddy's job better. I don't see it as that far fetched.

 

Fitzcontract/Aaron Williams/Kelvin Sheppard/Faith in Wanny/Gailey..........he might not be an idiot but unless he show's me the baby(Geno), I kinda laugh at what has happened here. Kinda stinks as a bills fan to have this take.

[Leelee Phoenix]

Nix is definitely not an idiot, nor are our regional scouts. Any personnel man at OBD knows far, far more about player evaluation than 99.99% of the people posting here. Saying "Nix is an idiot" might make the ego feel good. But the truth is that the people making such assertions are more idiotic about the NFL than Nix. Nix, Whaley and our scouts are experts at their jobs.

Spare me.

 

Yes, they know more than us because they have access to a lot more info, because of their job. The concept that many people have about sports professionals being these genius experts is so off-base that you have no idea. The main reason these guys get jobs is by making tons of connections, and hoping you kiss the right butt along the way.

[bobobonators]

Spare me.

 

Yes, they know more than us because they have access to a lot more info, because of their job. The concept that many people have about sports professionals being these genius experts is so off-base that you have no idea. The main reason these guys get jobs is by making tons of connections, and hoping you kiss the right butt along the way.

 

I fully agree.

[HeHateMe]

If Nix is not an idiot then I must not know the correct definition of the word...

 

I will say he is a moron that has set this Franchise back with his inept leadership.... how bout you try to call some more crank callers..while pretending to do your job... Old, Bumbling, Southern FOOL.

[bobobonators]

If Nix is not an idiot then I must not know the correct definition of the word...

 

I will say he is a moron that has set this Franchise back with his inept leadership.... how bout you try to call some more crank callers..while pretending to do your job... Old, Bumbling, Southern FOOL.

 

better.