Here's our problem: Draft Rounds 1-3

[Big Turk]

1 minute ago, Mango said:

This is nit picking, but Kiko for LeSean shouldn’t count as gone. Same as Hughes for Bradham. 

 

Point still valid 

 

It was Hughes for Sheppard

[cba fan]

40 minutes ago, Mango said:

This is nit picking, but Kiko for LeSean shouldn’t count as gone. Same as Hughes for Bradham. 

 

Point still valid 

In my post with the playoff team roster.

WE are assuming Bills still get Shady as Chip Kelly called Bills and wanted a draft pick. Bills said look at roster and pick any player instead. They picked Alonso.

 

Bill could have given the pick or a diff player. I think they still would have made a deal.

[Heavy Kevi]

20 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

I was willing to give McDermott and Beane the benefit of the doubt early on although I remained skeptical of what they claimed they were doing.  I have always viewed Beane as a figurehead GM who marches to orders delivered by Russ Brandon or one of his bean counter surrogates just like Whaley did.  Some posters get really bent out of shape when I say many of the Bills roster moves are motivated by cutting player payroll but making personnel moves to save real $ -- NOT necessarily cap $ -- has been a recurring theme on Bills teams for the entire length of the drought.  The Bills have spent the last seventeen years developing some pretty good players through the draft and as UDFAs and then letting them walk away in FA rather than pay them or getting skinned in trades because of their desperation to get rid of players.   That was standard operating procedure under Wilson's ownership and it seems to be continuing exactly the same under the Pegulas: draft a first round DB -- develop him into a Pro Bowler --  let him walk in FA -- draft another first round DB to take his place.

 

Plain and simple, I don't think this is "roster building" with the purpose of building a winning team in the future but simply to insure that the bottom line stays healthy.   That's very cynical, but I've been a Bills fan since 1963, so I can't help myself.  It's just the same manure that OBD has been shoveling and Bills have been accepting for 17 years.   When the Bills draft their "future franchise QB" in the first round in 2018, the fans will get all excited and run to buy/renew their season tix ... just like they did when the Bills signed Terrell Owens in 2009 and Mario Williams in 2012.

 

Well that's your opinion to have, but you said you wanted to give them them the benefit of the doubt early on, and my argument is that it still is early on.

 

Also, I'm not buying what you are selling about saving cash. Maybe with Ralph, but Pegula doesn't need the money, not even a little bit. This is not his livelihood like it was with Ralph, it is his hobby. Just before buying the Bills, Terry sold a piece of property for 4.1 Billion so he would have liquid assets to buy the Bills. Somebody who can make a couple small shifts in his other business and yield several billion is not worried about a few million here and there on a football roster. He wants a championship he just doesn't know how. I would be willing to believe incompetence before nefariousness in this case.

11 hours ago, Bills Pimpin' said:

2017:

Round 1: Tre White and a 2018 1st.

Round 2: Zay Jones

Round 2: Dion Dawkins

Round 5: Matt Milano

 

Free Agents: Micah Hyde

                        Jordan Poyer

 

Looks like a decent start to me.....

 

I agree with this.

 

Separately I will argue that all the turnover is because we keep changing coaches. Time to settle in with McD and give him a real chance.

[TigerJ]

I agree with the OP that poor drafting has been a huge obstacle to building a winning franchise in Buffalo.  I would add that drafting has also been negatively impacted by the lack of continuity on the team.  New regimes come in with their own particular philosophies, offensive and defensive schemes, and they need to retool the player personnel because a lot of players don't fit all schemes.  Ron Darby and Stephon Gilmore are good man coverage corners but don't fit a largely zone scheme. Ragland may turn out to be a pretty good LB for KC, but didn't fit what McDermott wants to run on defense.  Kiko Alonso didn't fit what Wrecks Ryan wanted to do.  There are more examples from your list too.  It's nice when you can draft a scheme versatile player, but their are not enough of them to fill out your whole roster, and GMs aren't looking for players who can do what a future coach wants.  They focus on who can help the most under the team's present circumstances.  Sometimes you have to change out your head coach and GM, but Buffalo has done it on occasion when maybe a little more patience might have allowed for eventual success.  The poor drafting record comes from both a poor personnel staff and the frequent turnover of coaches and schemes.

[artmalibu]

Trust the process

 

I liked the 2017 moves and the position the 2018 draft. 

 But, it will take and epic draft to take the Bills to the promise land.   At minimum  it will take a hit on studs OL, DL, and LB plus a couple contributors. 

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

All I can say after looking at that is WOW!!! Whaley you suck.

[BigDingus]

It's all because the new coach wants players to "fit his scheme" and throws out all the former coach's picks. We don't ever just build up talent, we spend the first years deconstructing everything the previous regime did, then draft new players to fit those holes they just made themselves.

But before anything takes off, the coach gets fired, so the next one starts all over.... Dumping players and creating new holes.

[Fadingpain]

So this team is minus all the first and second round picks from recent years, as though they were all packaged to move way up in the draft and get a stud QB, minus the actually moving up part or the stud QB!

 

And people wonder why we are perpetually bad.