Eliot Wolf for GM of the Buffalo Bills

[3rdand12]

Good stuff here. I'll add that I see this draft as a key one for Doug. If John Miller works out, he and Darby alone are a decent take from a draft with no first rounder. But the next two years are pivotal and we'll need more than that. We can't do anything in free agency this year and provided we can re sign our own, won't be able to do much in FA next year either. Meanwhile we're trying to reshape the roster for 2 coaches who do things quite differently than their predecessors. To me this is the time for he and the scouts to step up and prove their mettle, work with the coaches and get the young talent they need. Thing is I feel good about that, I think he'll come through. Whether the coaching staff can capitalize is another question.

Aaron , i don't want sound repetitive. But this is another reason continuity is important. Gms have a hell of a time bringing players for all these different coaching styles.

 

Marrone really had some odd ideas about what his O line should look like, and i feel that was a setback. significant in fact.Whaley has tried to repair those errors

The Offense is much closer for Roman Via FA.

But now Bills need to supply the Ryan defense with players.

Tough damn job.

But Whaley is the best Bills have had in years, and all my suspicions in regard to Jim Overdorf have been scattered by the 4 winds.

Buffalo Bills appear competently managed these days.

May i suggest, the team well find its footing this coming year with Rex as HC. Crazy talk but i can see it. and thats with out koolaid

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

To the Bolded. This GM allowed Levitre to walk and then tried to replace him with garbage players is absolutely correct. Some of those players were outright cut after a few games. 5 mill for Chris Williams to play 3 games! So the GM did that, that year with basically three rookie QB's on the roster along with no QB coach. Unbelievably moronic!

 

Now this year we all saw what a decent O line and run game that actually can make a first down will do for a young developing QB. When Tyrod was forced to throw more then run he didn't look so good. Anyone of those three young QB's might have progressed quite differently with a better line in front of them.

 

Richie Incognito wasn't Doug Whaley, nor was Tyrod Taylor. Both those players were brought in because of Rex Ryan. It was Ryan who stated he would take responsibility and vouch for Incognito and like you mentioned FC it came a year later than it should have when you consider what that 2014 line looked like. Ryan also liked what he saw of Taylor at Baltimore and tried to trade for him when he was with the Jets. The one position that a team needs to have to get anywhere is an elite franchise QB and Doug Whaley's version of that is EJ!

 

 

From what I've read it was the Colts who initiated the trade with trading away #1 pick LBer Jerry Hughes for Bills LBer Kelvin Shepard because new Colts GM Ryan Grigson wanted more toughness and size on defense!

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000165264/article/indianapolis-colts-trade-jerry-hughes-to-buffalo-bills

 

Dumping Stevie Johnson because he didn't run precise routes so EJ would have less trouble finding a WR was foolish after EJ was benched after three games. QB Kyle Orton could have really used a WR like Johnson who was always open. The trade for WR Mike Williams was lame. The trade for RB Bryce Brown (who did nothing in Buffalo) with a #4 pick which is the same round draft pick the Buffalo Bills got for Marshawn Lynch,

 

• 6 Mill on an older elite RB in a trade because the teams scouts can't find one in the draft.
• 100 million for a DE in free agency because the scouts can't find one in the draft...Aaron Maybin... Shawne Merriman
• Stupid money for an above average TE because the scouts can't find the talent in the draft.
• Look at what's happened at RG and RT over the last few years because the scouts can't find the talent in the draft.
• This team got incredibly lucky to find an all pro LG off the street because they couldn't find one in the draft.
• The Buffalo Bills are in cap hell and they aren't even paying 10-20 mill per for an elite QB!
• two first round picks for a WR when the team didn't already have an established franchise QB to throw to him! Not to mention that WR wasn't even the best WR in the draft so far.
• To top that off if the trade hadn't been made for Sammy this GM stated he would have drafted TE Eric Ebron

This team has been bad for so long that even a below average GM looks brilliant compared to having an owner as team president who hires an older ex-team HC as GM, has no GM or hires a retired head scout pretending to be the GM.

 

Doug Whaley has been a rookie GM learning as he goes at the expense of the Buffalo Bills winning games. This team still has a huge void at the top of the org chart that has no NFL football operations mind with the acumen in building a winning franchise!! The Buffalo Bills are in desperate need of another Bill Polian type president of football operations!! If the CEO Russ Brandon was really interested in seeing this franchise become a winning franchise he would push the new owners to hire that man to help the current GM.

So every good move made was someone else's doing and every bad move was his alone. Got it...

[BobbyC81]

Is he related to Wolf Blitzer?

 

Wouldn't that be a great name for a linebacker?

[Nihilarian]

Fair enough. I think he's a good GM who's been held back by coaching staffs he didn't get to hire, but gotta acknowledge that it's perfectly debatable until we actually start winning. It's good to hear from both sides.

This has to have had a huge impact this past year alone. Especially If it's true what I've read here that Whaley wanted to hire Hue Jackson as HC. With better coaching last year that team makes the playoffs IMO.

 

Then after hiring Jackson while somehow retaining Schwartz or even hiring someone who knows how to utilize that highly paid front four better than what we saw last season. That new HC in Rex Ryan causing a ton of turmoil amongst the pro bowl D-linemen and then making them all look below average... much less than some of the highest paid players in the league.

 

All this must be particularly difficult for Whaley to deal with as someone who doesn't appear to have a say in who gets hired as HC. Now after helping to build one of the very best defenses in the league he must be very frustrated to need to rebuild that defense to fit Ryan's 3-4. It's like 2010 all over again.

 

I can only imagine that at this point that even if he wants to draft more talent for the offense to upgrade the line at RG, RT, then bolster the receiver corps after losing Chris Hogan, he can't. Now it looks like the team will be drafting for need with the first few picks for the defense.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

Wow so Levitre who left before Whaley officially became GM is his fault but all the credit goes for signing Richie goes to Rex. After stating that you have zero credibility. There are many amazingly crazy things posted here but this is got to be one of the most ignorant things I've read.

 

I'd ask who should be GM if not Whaley, but asking you that question is a complete waste based on your ability to reason.

 

 

To the Bolded. This GM allowed Levitre to walk and then tried to replace him with garbage players is absolutely correct. Some of those players were outright cut after a few games. 5 mill for Chris Williams to play 3 games! So the GM did that, that year with basically three rookie QB's on the roster along with no QB coach. Unbelievably moronic!

 

 

Richie Incognito wasn't Doug Whaley, nor was Tyrod Taylor. Both those players were brought in because of Rex Ryan. It was Ryan who stated he would take responsibility and vouch for Incognito and like you mentioned FC it came a year later than it should have when you consider what that 2014 line looked like. Ryan also liked what he saw of Taylor at Baltimore and tried to trade for him when he was with the Jets. The one position that a team needs to have to get anywhere is an elite franchise QB and Doug Whaley's version of that is EJ!

[papazoid]

win or go home

[Nihilarian]

Wow so Levitre who left before Whaley officially became GM is his fault but all the credit goes for signing Richie goes to Rex. After stating that you have zero credibility. There are many amazingly crazy things posted here but this is got to be one of the most ignorant things I've read.

 

I'd ask who should be GM if not Whaley, but asking you that question is a complete waste based on your ability to reason.

It's not the fact that the team let Andy Levitre leave as he simply wasn't worth what Tenn gave him. It's all about who he was replaced with and that falls directly on new GM Doug Whaley who took over after May 13th 2013.

 

It was a myriad amount of scrubs that started that 2013 season at LG, including Colin Brown and Sam Young who were both outright cut after a few weeks of playing. Then the guy who took over at LG was the man brought to be the backup center from one of the weakest O-lines in the league in Doug Legursky. Legursky was promptly released the next year because he too stunk it up. The next offseason Whaley signed another total scrub in OG Chris Williams and gave him 5.5 mill guaranteed ...to play in exactly 3 games. His contract was terminated July 2015.

 

The grade that Colin Brown got was about the very worst I've ever seen an offensive linemen grade at (-30.1) and Legursky graded at (-12.5). To put those numbers in context Cordy Glenn graded (+23.0) and Levitre graded (+12.3) his last year in Buffalo in 2012.

 

Doug Whaley allowed those scrubs to play all the while knowing he basically had three rookie QB's on the roster attempting to develop. He knows better now and that is why he franchised Glenn and paid Incognito,

 

 

In 2014 the buffalo Bills fielded one of the very worst offensive lines for most of the season and Incognito was right there available and ready to sign. As FireChan stated he was pounding the table in this forum for the Bills to sign the man all that year!

 

It was Rex Ryan who came in and stated he wanted to take a chance on Richie Incognito and vouched for him, so the Buffalo Bills signed him! http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bills/2015/02/07/richie-incognito-rex-ryan-contract-jonathan-martin-miami-dolphins/23040525/

 

Incognito wasn't the only OG that Rex Ryan was chasing, as he went after LSU OT La'el Collins and wined and dined him to attempt to get him signed with Buffalo and instead Collins signed with Dallas.

 

http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/05/04/reports-bills-coach-rex-ryan-dining-with-lael-collins-in-louisiana/

 

It's a darn shame Rex Ryan screwed up the defense so badly last year because he did do some great things for the betterment of the offense. He was instrumental in hiring OC Greg Roman, bringing in Tyrod Taylor and Richie Incognito. Had the Bills been able to sign La'el Collins then last years line would have even been so much better IMO.

[Uffalo Ills]

So every good move made was someone else's doing and every bad move was his alone. Got it...

Lol got em

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

Aaron , i don't want sound repetitive. But this is another reason continuity is important. Gms have a hell of a time bringing players for all these different coaching styles.

 

Marrone really had some odd ideas about what his O line should look like, and i feel that was a setback. significant in fact.Whaley has tried to repair those errors

The Offense is much closer for Roman Via FA.

But now Bills need to supply the Ryan defense with players.

Tough damn job.

But Whaley is the best Bills have had in years, and all my suspicions in regard to Jim Overdorf have been scattered by the 4 winds.

Buffalo Bills appear competently managed these days.

May i suggest, the team well find its footing this coming year with Rex as HC. Crazy talk but i can see it. and thats with out koolaid

 

I'm skeptical but also can imagine it. Lets hope your signature is right.

 

After all we did go 8 and 8 last season in year one with 2 complicated schemes.

This has to have had a huge impact this past year alone. Especially If it's true what I've read here that Whaley wanted to hire Hue Jackson as HC. With better coaching last year that team makes the playoffs IMO.

 

Then after hiring Jackson while somehow retaining Schwartz or even hiring someone who knows how to utilize that highly paid front four better than what we saw last season. That new HC in Rex Ryan causing a ton of turmoil amongst the pro bowl D-linemen and then making them all look below average... much less than some of the highest paid players in the league.

 

All this must be particularly difficult for Whaley to deal with as someone who doesn't appear to have a say in who gets hired as HC. Now after helping to build one of the very best defenses in the league he must be very frustrated to need to rebuild that defense to fit Ryan's 3-4. It's like 2010 all over again.

 

I can only imagine that at this point that even if he wants to draft more talent for the offense to upgrade the line at RG, RT, then bolster the receiver corps after losing Chris Hogan, he can't. Now it looks like the team will be drafting for need with the first few picks for the defense.

I do think we'd have been in the playoffs with hue though we'll never know for sure.

 

I don't know how many pieces on defense we really must get right away. We may be fine with a linebacker drafted high and a nose tackle in the mid rounds, no? That'd give us the ability to work on the o line and/or wr at the same time.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Aaron

[3rdand12]

It's not the fact that the team let Andy Levitre leave as he simply wasn't worth what Tenn gave him. It's all about who he was replaced with and that falls directly on new GM Doug Whaley who took over after May 13th 2013.

 

It was a myriad amount of scrubs that started that 2013 season at LG, including Colin Brown and Sam Young who were both outright cut after a few weeks of playing. Then the guy who took over at LG was the man brought to be the backup center from one of the weakest O-lines in the league in Doug Legursky. Legursky was promptly released the next year because he too stunk it up. The next offseason Whaley signed another total scrub in OG Chris Williams and gave him 5.5 mill guaranteed ...to play in exactly 3 games. His contract was terminated July 2015.

 

The grade that Colin Brown got was about the very worst I've ever seen an offensive linemen grade at (-30.1) and Legursky graded at (-12.5). To put those numbers in context Cordy Glenn graded (+23.0) and Levitre graded (+12.3) his last year in Buffalo in 2012.

 

Doug Whaley allowed those scrubs to play all the while knowing he basically had three rookie QB's on the roster attempting to develop. He knows better now and that is why he franchised Glenn and paid Incognito,

 

 

In 2014 the buffalo Bills fielded one of the very worst offensive lines for most of the season and Incognito was right there available and ready to sign. As FireChan stated he was pounding the table in this forum for the Bills to sign the man all that year!

 

It was Rex Ryan who came in and stated he wanted to take a chance on Richie Incognito and vouched for him, so the Buffalo Bills signed him! http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bills/2015/02/07/richie-incognito-rex-ryan-contract-jonathan-martin-miami-dolphins/23040525/

 

Incognito wasn't the only OG that Rex Ryan was chasing, as he went after LSU OT La'el Collins and wined and dined him to attempt to get him signed with Buffalo and instead Collins signed with Dallas.

 

http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/05/04/reports-bills-coach-rex-ryan-dining-with-lael-collins-in-louisiana/

 

It's a darn shame Rex Ryan screwed up the defense so badly last year because he did do some great things for the betterment of the offense. He was instrumental in hiring OC Greg Roman, bringing in Tyrod Taylor and Richie Incognito. Had the Bills been able to sign La'el Collins then last years line would have even been so much better IMO.

This is a very reasonable post

I'm skeptical but also can imagine it. Lets hope your signature is right.

 

After all we did go 8 and 8 last season in year one with 2 complicated schemes.

I do think we'd have been in the playoffs with hue though we'll never know for sure.

 

I don't know how many pieces on defense we really must get right away. We may be fine with a linebacker drafted high and a nose tackle in the mid rounds, no? That'd give us the ability to work on the o line and/or wr at the same time.

Nothing wrong with being skeptical. Thats better then pessimistic- al

[Nihilarian]

I must consider what Whaley walked into, and the coaching changes he has suffered.

 

Everyone can have an opinion. But no one here is Right.

Its somewhere in the middle.

Lets call Whaley average.

 

I personally think he has more recently developed one hell of a scouting team. He really has rearranged the deck chairs nicely post Nix.

Sure he missed wildly early, but he does seem to be honing his craft. To me at least

Any one who says Coaches do not drive the draft are lying.

GM wants to please the HC. be on the same if you will

BPA an all that? just talk once you have enough talent built up.

My take is that there is still a systemic problem in the offensive player evaluation that goes far beyond Who Buddy Nix replaced in Tom Modrak and whatever scouts Whaley replaced.

[3rdand12]

My take is that there is still a systemic problem in the offensive player evaluation that goes far beyond Who Buddy Nix replaced in Tom Modrak and whatever scouts Whaley replaced.

please tell me more.

I know he shifted Monos.

Lets take this apart for fun.

What is the current hierarchy ?

I might agree there are weaknesses. But interested in detailed opinions about the scouting staff

[atlbillsfan1975]

Anyone who thinks Whaley is the problem is sorely mistaken.