When did TD disrespect other front offices

[RVJ]

Donahoe has no leverage.

 

But that didn't stop Donahoe from talking tough about the trade that never was, and likely never will be -- at least not on Tom's terms.

 

"We weren't presented with very much, to be honest with you," Donahoe said after the draft. "We have to hear something that makes sense, other than somebody offering a player we don't want or somebody offering a late-round pick, which we're not going to do."

 

Donahoe was at it again on Monday: "If not being offered anything is being greedy, then we were greedy," he said. "We were willing to discuss anything but somebody has to offer you something so that you can have a conversation."

 

Said one league insider in response, "Can't this smug !@#$ shut up?"

 

The source described Donahoe as an "egomaniac [who] will never learn his lesson about being disrespectful towards other people [and] decision-makers in the NFL."

 

Perhaps Donahoe is still stinging from past draft-day trades, which included giving up a 2003 first-rounder in 2002 for Drew Bledsoe, and then giving up a 2005 first-rounder in 2004 for the guy who will replace Bledsoe after three mediocre seasons.

 

But even in connection with the Bledsoe trade Donahoe talked tough, saying initially that he'd never give up a first-round pick for Bledsoe and then boasting that he would have given up two first-rounders for the former New England quarterback, whom Donahoe said he decided to acquire after seeing him throw against the wind in pregame warm ups (perhaps Donahoe should have withheld judgment until after watching tape of Bledsoe throwing against the wind -- and at the same time against coverage and a pass rush).

 

The deeper problem seems to be that other league insiders don't appreciate Donahoe's public statements regarding trades and trade offers. Yeah, it's a competitive business, but there's a certain code of conduct when it comes to talking publicly, expressly or implicitly, regarding other front offices.

 

At the core, its a matter of respect. Donahoe doesn't give it in situations like this, so as a result he rarely gets it from some of the most respected figures in the league.

 

http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm

[cåblelady]

He didn't.

 

It's not like we're just going to GIVE Travis away for nothing.

[RVJ]

One time on fan tv...they had the guy that runs Pro football talk on.

He was the most arrogant SOB I ever heard.

[MrLocke]

I think playing a hard a$$ in trade negotiations evenutally come back to bit you in the butt.

[todd]

To be honest with you, I don't believe a single word that POS web site publishes. The guy is rarely right, and is obviously a site designed by a ignorant rookie. It's there to generate ad revenue, and is clearly low budget.

[bartshan-83]

Even if that stuff was true, I in no way see how Donahoe betrayed any "code of conduct." He didn't mention any specific teams or GMs, he didn't even mention the trading partners that had been discussed earlier (PHI, TB, AZ, etc.)

 

I agree with Todd, the author is sensationalizing to sell ad space.

[Bill from NYC]

To be honest with you, I don't believe a single word that POS web site publishes. The guy is rarely right, and is obviously a site designed by a ignorant rookie. It's there to generate ad revenue, and is clearly low budget.

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The thing is, in a way, GMs are competing for each other's jobs. They have to play hardball.

TD is a tough guy, as are most GMs. Ego-maniac? He is probably modest when compared to Parcells and some others.

I agree, the article is nonsense.

[Mark VI]

Florio has had it out for TD for 3-4 years, since TD once dissed him. I know some folks here remember the details but I don't.

 

There may be some truth to a point but when his credibility barely has a pulse, one has to wonder about a motive or agenda coming into play.

[duey]

My God...that whole "article" is a complete load of bull sh--. Honestly, all that website does is post links to articles around the country, and then some guy gives us his halfass take on each article's content.

[Coach Tuesday]

That article conveniently fails to mention that TD fleeced the Falcons w/the Peerless Price trade, which may have something to do with the reason teams are wary of dealing with him again.

 

Fleeced the Falcons w/Price, got fleeced by the Pats with Bledsoe... you win some, you lose some.

[TigerJ]

Frankly, I don't see "smugness" or "arrogance" in Donahoe's public statements. When a reporter asks him why a trade didn't get done, how's he supposed to respond?

[CoachChuckDickerson]

The deeper problem seems to be that other league insiders don't appreciate Donahoe's public statements regarding trades and trade offers. 

 

LOL! I can see how "Stay tuned..." can get somebody's panties in a bunch.

[Tipster19]

I was wondering that myself, TigerJ. Publicly I think TD handled himself just fine. He gets attacked by just about everybody for not trading Henry. What is he supposed to say and do, nothing?

[BillsGuyInMalta]

Florio was called out on his erroneous report by TD and a few other GMs a few years ago, and the NFL investigated and Florio closed down for a bit after admitting his sources were simply "expanded rumors". He came back, and apparently people still visit his garbage site.

 

What I hate about Florio the most is that whenever he "scoops" anyone, its usually just him finding the information on another website, then editing the time of his post to make it appear that he was the first to report it. The guy, and his website, are the Arizona Cards of the NFL journalism league.

[Arkady Renko]

Was he the one who said we would be hiring George Seifert a year or so ago?

[EC-Bills]

The thing is, in a way, GMs are competing for each other's jobs. They have to play hardball.

TD is a tough guy, as are most GMs. Ego-maniac? He is probably modest when compared to Parcells and some others.

I agree, the article is nonsense.

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Don't forget to include Randy Mueller in the arrogant (and also looking for work) category.

[plenzmd1]

I was wondering that myself, TigerJ. Publicly I think TD handled himself just fine. He gets attacked by just about everybody for not trading Henry. What is he supposed to say and do, nothing?

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TD had to respond the way he did , especially once Denny came out for the third time and said they would have made the Shelton-Henry trade. Denny was forcing TDs hand to come public that the Bills just did not want Shelton, or least felt that Shelton-Henry was a bad trade player for player. Now with Clement being gone, does Shelton get cut as well?

[1billsfan]

Florio was called out on his erroneous report by TD and a few other GMs a few years ago, and the NFL investigated and Florio closed down for a bit after admitting his sources were simply "expanded rumors".  He came back, and apparently people still visit his garbage site.

 

What I hate about Florio the most is that whenever he "scoops" anyone, its usually just him finding the information on another website, then editing the time of his post to make it appear that he was the first to report it.  The guy, and his website, are the Arizona Cards of the NFL journalism league.

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Yet we continuously see posts here with a link to this phoney football site.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

One of the other oft repeated untruths that seems to be regarded as fact now is the concept that the Pats fleeced the Bills completely with the trade of our first for Bledsoe.

 

One can see where this conventional wisdom comes from as the results over the past 4 years are simply that NE has three rings and the Bills have one year of a winning record, but this concept conveniently ignores several facts:

 

1. On the field the year after the trade, Buffalo did incredibly well because of this trade and NE stunk because of this trade.

 

Specifically, Bledsoe made the Pro Bowl as a reserve based on his 2002 Bills performance and deserved this nod (if you disagree then simply state which QB deserved the second reserve honor more). On the field he set numerous Bills records, completed numerous receptions to Moulds/Price and before opponents caught up to a predictable Kevin Killdrive offense and Belicheck gave everyone a roadmap on how to defense Bledsoe and the Bills (a roadmap Killdrive never adjusted for) ran a Bills O that not only passed well but saw Henry slide into the Pro Bowl as a reserve rusher. Definitely BB was correct in logging up 2 wins facing Bledsoe whom he knew so well, but even with this result the Bills improved the W/L (the ultimat measure) from 3-13 to 8-8.

 

On the other hand, the Bledsoe cap hit from Belicheck being forced to make the trade (BB correctly chose Brady over Bledsoe) resulted in NE being unable to replicate the cap casualty purchases which were a key to their 1st SB win and this team failed to even make the playoffs after an SB win (the fact they did win the SB once the Bledsoe cap hit was out of the way provides further indication that the cap acceleration of the dumb Bledsoe contract killed the Pats in 2002.

 

If anyone got raped by this deal in 2002, it was the Pats big time.

 

2. Part of the GM job is running the team, but the other part is running the business and in addition to the immediate on field benefits of the trade for TD, the off field benefits to the Bills business of acquring Bledsoe were incredibly subsantial.

 

This was a team coming off a 3-13 rebuilding year. By acquiring Bledsoe in the manner we did, TD brought incredible business benefits to the product he was responsible for in addition to the one year on the field benefits.

 

From replacing the mistake of RJ and moving the Bills beyond the Flutie/RJ dispute to the welcome Drew ceremony at OBD to the excitement of the 2002 improvement of the team's record, TD simply managed a fantastic job of promoting the Bills product after a dismal year. The Bledsoe trade was part and parcel of continued and new updrades of the the Bills ticketing, pre-season camp arrangements and other business activities that the Bledsoe acquisition was central to supporting.

 

Thosr two things being said, W/L on the field is the bottomline and the heady days of 2002 were immediately followed by a total production outage from Bledsoe in 2003. Nevertheless, a sensible assessment of this trade should find this one a wash at worst with 2002 very good and 2003 very bad.

 

The true TD error was not in trading for Bledsoe in 2002, but in resigning him in 2004 after he had a goshawful season in 2003. One can credibly claim that by cutting him the Bills would have had added a long-term zero to this trade by walking away with nothing, but given the deficit in ability to sell the product the coming of Bledsoe helped reverse in 2002, even if the Bills has simply used him for 2 years and walked away with no cap liability by cutting him prior to 2004, the trade would have been a wash from my perspective. If one chooses to theorize about the broader view of the future in assessing the real world impact of this trade on the Bills, that is where one reasonably needs to take into account that the TD move to replace the Drew traded pick resulted in us getting AT's choice and resulted in us getting McGahee.

 

Overall, I am really sorry as a Bills fan that TD extended the Bledsoe deal prior to the 2004 season. Bledsoe may go down in NFL history as having killed two seasons with acceleration of his cap hit. However, I as a Bills fan remain pretty happy with TD having made the trade. Replacing RJ with a former starter QB who led the Bills to extraordinary improvement in 2002 and setting off a chain of events that led to the acqusition of McGahee is fine by me. I wished we had walked away from Bledsoe after 2003, but hindsight is 20/20.

[Sound_n_Fury]

Said one league insider in response, "Can't this smug !@#$ shut up?"

http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm

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I think he was talking about Florio....