Rotoworld ranks Whaley as worst GM in NFL

[Chicken Boo]

I must be the only one who doesn't think he is all that bad

 

 

 

CBF

 

You're not. I like Whaley. This is just the mob mentality because of the miss on EJ/Watkins draft day trade.

 

I really don't get the hate on Whaley. This team has talent.

 

 

Edited April 19, 2017 by Chicken Boo

[Wagon Circler]

The joke will be on them when we win IT ALL IN 2018!

Enough with the negativity already.

[Best Player Available]

Winston is a real QB you can build a team around.

Living for awhile in the Tampa Bay area. And watching Winston last year. I have too agree with this.

He is becoming a vocal leader on the team. And his football intelligence surprised me at the NFL level. Both Winston

and the Bucs are a team on the rise.

 

 

 

imo

[xsoldier54]

I read the article. It's full of BS. Claims it was Whaley who pushed for EJ Manuel which isn't necessarily true. Also claims that they benched Tyrod that last game of last season because Whaley wanted to let him go, but McDermott convinced ownership to keep him. Also not true. It relies on The Buffalo News for much of it's information, which should be enough to discredit the rating all by itself.

[njbuff]

Not much can be said now of Whaley........ just let him do his job.

 

It goes back to when the Pegula's first took over. They should have fired EVERYONE the instant they put pen to paper when they bought the team.

 

Whaley is getting his chance to get his team out of the mud and quickly. It is up to him to hit an immediate home run with this draft. If his draft choices this year provide very little immediate help to a team that desperately needs it, then he should be shown the door at the end of 2017.

 

I know it's a crappy deal for Whaley, but he put himself in this situation.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

Not much can be said now of Whaley........ just let him do his job.

 

It goes back to when the Pegula's first took over. They should have fired EVERYONE the instant they put pen to paper when they bought the team.

 

Whaley is getting his chance to get his team out of the mud and quickly. It is up to him to hit an immediate home run with this draft. If his draft choices this year provide very little immediate help to a team that desperately needs it, then he should be shown the door at the end of 2017.

 

I know it's a crappy deal for Whaley, but he put himself in this situation.

....how could they?...the Marrone exodus was unforeseen......so fire the administration gang (Whaley, Brandon, etc) AND lose your HC?.....so you're left with minions as a neophyte Owner?....you're a helluva lot smarter than that..........

[JM2009]

....how could they?...the Marrone exodus was unforeseen......so fire the administration gang (Whaley, Brandon, etc) AND lose your HC?.....so you're left with minions as a neophyte Owner?....you're a helluva lot smarter than that..........

There's a thing called hiring fresh, new football minds.

[blacklabel]

Never fully understood the immense hate for Whaley. Sure, he hasn't batted a thousand, no GM does, but when you compare him to the guys that were running the show before him, he's done a lot better. Tom Donahoe, Marv Levy, Russ Brandon, Buddy Nix... all of those guys took heat for different reasons. Donahoe wanted to build a team based around "big name" free agents. Levy and Brandon really had no business being GMs and for all intents and purposes it was mainly Dick Jauron that had the final word on the drafts in that area. Thank him for guys like Whitner and Maybin. Then you get Nix and Gailey who built an offense out of late-round and undrafted players. Don't get me wrong, they got some great production out of guys like Fred Jackson and Stevie Johnson but Nix always got slammed for always "standing pat" in the draft and not making any flashy trades or moves. I remember many fans being frustrated with the way all these guys did their business. They didn't go after any solid free agents, they "let" their good players walk, etc. etc. It wasn't all bad, but it wasn't great either.

 

Then you get Whaley who is a polar opposite of these guys. He's not afraid to make trades, he re-signs key players, he signs some solid free agents, he makes efforts to go after the "big fish" out there in some years and simply in terms of numbers, the teams he's built have been the best ones out of the drought. As it stands right now, the Bills are 24-24 throughout Whaley's time as GM. I get it, not good enough, but you have to give some credit where it's due.

 

People slam him for the Watkins trade, they blame him for EJ, they throw shade because he's not a very good public speaker (but, let's be real, being a smooth talker with the press really isn't an important trait for a GM to have), he gets blame for hiring Rex when all signs indicate that that decision was made largely by the Pegulas and Brandon, we all remember the red wine story. And I recall very clearly that Hue Jackson was at the top of Whaley's list in 2015 and Jackson left his interview almost 100% positive that he would be offered the job. But in came Ryan and his merlot to win the job and keep this team stuck in the mud for the next two years. He gets blamed for letting Chris Hogan walk. The only reason people gripe so much about that is because the kid went to New England. Had he gone to somewhere like Jacksonville or Minnesota or Kansas City, people would have been like, "eh, he's replaceable." No one knew the WR group was going to get so slammed with injuries last year. Even so, he still went and found Justin Hunter and got some decent production out of him. He drafted Karlos Williams who turns in a fine rookie season only to throw it all away for a box of Ring-Dings, so they cut him, find Gillislee off the street who performs even better. He found Alexander, Z. Brown, etc.

 

In terms of drafts, it's true that they haven't done great but you can't say he didn't do his job in providing his HC with the players that would fit their schemes. Marrone preferred giant OL, so Whaley gave him two in 2014. Ryan had to flip the defense to a 3-4, so Whaley goes and gets players that fit that scheme.

 

I know he hasn't fixed the QB situation but neither have over half the other teams in the league who are still searching for their franchise guy. And they haven't been in a position to make huge leaps up the board to draft a top QB. They didn't have the resources to do what the Rams did for Goff or what the Eagles did for Wentz or what Tennessee did to get Mariota. They've been stuck in the middle of the rounds and they know they can't give up tons of picks to move up for any of those QBs who, just like every year, all had plenty of question marks coming out college.

 

I just think he's done more positive than negative during his tenure. Someone said the entire front office should have been cleared out when Marrone left. How does that make any sense? Especially when you have brand new owners who were just barely getting their feet wet in the NFL. You're going to let Marrone have that kind of affect? "Welp, Marrone ditched us so let's take it out on everyone else and fire them and leave our new owners with no one to guide them." Sure, you can hire new people, but the Pegulas would have been extremely out of their element had they done that.

 

I realize it hasn't all been great, but I feel like the guy gets a bit of a bum rap. If they don't make the playoffs this season then I can understand a change being made in his position. Just be ready for another two or three playoff-less seasons as they gut the team and try, try again.

[JaCrispy]

 

Winston is a real QB you can build a team around. TT is just a guy that we are paying money to because McDermott coaches scared.

...and shots have been fired!

[Bill_with_it]

Living for awhile in the Tampa Bay area. And watching Winston last year. I have too agree with this.

He is becoming a vocal leader on the team. And his football intelligence surprised me at the NFL level. Both Winston

and the Bucs are a team on the rise.

 

 

 

imo

Anyone who doubted Winstons abilities as a qb well they probably dont know what a franchise qb looks like. College success doesn't always project to the NFL level, however, if tou are running a true pro style offense and running it with these ease that Winston did against the teams that Winston did in the fashion that Winston did, youd be hard pressed not ro fine success in the NFL.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

There's a thing called hiring fresh, new football minds.

...because they are abound everywhere...Walmart...Kmart....Kohls...Home Depot.....prolly shoulda just called your boy Matthews to league us to the promised land.....good Lord, some never change with their ubiquitous fertilizer............

[OldTimer1960]

 

You're not. I like Whaley. This is just the mob mentality because of the miss on EJ/Watkins draft day trade.

 

I really don't get the hate on Whaley. This team has talent.

 

 

I think Whaley has done a decent or better job as well. However, I am just getting tired of the "run him out of town" agenda of the local media and some fans to the point that it is almost a foregone conclusion that he will eventually be gone. If that is the case, just pull the trigger and get it over with. I can't stand to read any more "opinion" articles trying to position Whaley as a failure by asking "who gets the say if he and McDermott disagree?" "If they take a defensive player first, clearly Whaley has lost control", "he is clearly on the outs since the management is obviously preventing him from talking to the press", etc.

[Billy Zabka]

Whaley has not drafted well, managed the cap poorly, come close to finding a franchise QB (in fact the only decent QB found was by Rex), or sniffed the playoffs in his tenure here. He is not hamstrung like past GM's here by Ralph's thriftiness.

 

Doug Whaley simply isn't good enough. Being a better GM than Marv Levy or Russ Brandon doesn't mean jack squat.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Billy Zabka

[JM2009]

...because they are abound everywhere...Walmart...Kmart....Kohls...Home Depot.....prolly shoulda just called your boy Matthews to league us to the promised land.....good Lord, some never change with their ubiquitous fertilizer............

It's amazing that other organizations manage to hire new GMs. Whaley is not a good GM. Pegulas should have cleaned house.

Whaley has not drafted well, managed the cap poorly, come close to finding a franchise QB (in fact the only decent QB found was by Rex), or sniffed the playoffs in his tenure here. He is not hamstrung like past GM's here by Ralph's thriftiness.

 

Doug Whaley simply isn't good enough. Being a better GM than Marv Levy or Russ Brandon doesn't mean jack squat.

This.

[Bill_with_it]

Whaley has not drafted well, managed the cap poorly, come close to finding a franchise QB (in fact the only decent QB found was by Rex), or sniffed the playoffs in his tenure here. He is not hamstrung like past GM's here by Ralph's thriftiness.

 

Doug Whaley simply isn't good enough. Being a better GM than Marv Levy or Russ Brandon doesn't mean jack squat.

Not only is he not good enough, he's clearly in over his head. All the small things he manages to blunder upon lead me to believe on those blunders alone he cant manage the largescale stage of GM.

[stuvian]

I like some of DW's moves but until he hits on a QB he's on borrowed time

[Augie]

I like some of DW's moves but until he hits on a QB he's on borrowed time

There is a current shortage. More than half the league is in the same boat, and he's got a guy who's borderline top two thirds. It's the name of the game, unfortunately, and we haven't hit on one yet.

[billsfan714]

Whaley has not drafted well, managed the cap poorly, come close to finding a franchise QB (in fact the only decent QB found was by Rex), or sniffed the playoffs in his tenure here. He is not hamstrung like past GM's here by Ralph's thriftiness.

 

Doug Whaley simply isn't good enough. Being a better GM than Marv Levy or Russ Brandon doesn't mean jack squat.

Great post, cut right to the crux of his tenure. I would bet dollars to donuts if the Bills cut ties with Whaley,he never get another NFL GM job again.

[Rochesterfan]

your take on RBs is different than what I expected after your whining in the Gillislee thread

Whaley signed Kolb that season and he got hurt in TC. Everyone jokes about the wet mat but that's not why he didn't end up playing, that simply gave EJ more reps in TC. Kolb was concussed in one of the preseason games and had to retire. He has severe effects from it still. He didn't intend to go into the season with those 3. He worked out other vets who were available in late August and they all sucked (which is why they were available as you know). Thad actually won a couple games as the backup, as you know.

A worse transgression was Marrone going to the Cleveland game on TNF with only EJ and Tuel active QBs, and Thad who actually had playing expertise on the PS.

 

Agreed - people act like he planned to start EJ out in year one. That was going to be Kolb's team - hence the plan from Marrone to run a more uptempo offense. When Kolb got that concussion- it changed everything.

 

Whaley to me is an average GM - he (like the GMs in Pittsburgh) works closely with the coaches and tries to take their input into consideration. His job is and has been to field a team that his coaches can win with, but he has been stuck with bad coaches that he did not choose.

 

I want to see how this plays out with Sean for a couple of years. I think his drafting has been alright, but I do not like the trade ups, but I think he was trying to get something specific for his coach - especially last year.

 

Considering a GMs job is to find talent and he has found (even via trade and FA) multiple Pro-Bowlers and added them to the roster and the record has been middle of the pack every year (7-9 wins) - I would say a ranking of 12 - 23 would be more accurate.

[Scott7975]

I dont think Whaley is the worst, but he is average at best.