It sure looks like COO Russ Brandon is putting his thumbprint

[Lurker]

Feel free to start your own message board where you can dictate only "positive" people are allowed to post. Should be a blast to read.

Wow! How come you only have 700+ posts? I'm simply amazed, since the you're clearly the Raison d'être for TSW...

[Anzaloha]

What a festival of sh-- birds this place has become. God forbid anyone say anything positive about the direction of the team.

speaking of birds, do you know what a Lemming is? Because thats what you are.

[BillsFan Trapped in Pats Land]

speaking of birds, do you know what a Lemming is? Because thats what you are.

Because I don't only see the negative?

 

Hee's something positive: you can positively go !@#$ yourself.

[spartacus]

are you blind?? I am going to post this one last time for you.

 

and no, I meant this piece:

 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nf...rs-absent_N.htm

 

July 25th

 

A day earlier, Brandon said he's had very little contact with Peters over the past few months. He added he's disappointed with Peters' decision and how it might affect the Bills' progress through camp.

 

"There's always angst. There's angst every day with all of your guys," Brandon said. "And Jason's a big part of what we're trying to do. But if he's not here, then we'll work around it and move on."

 

Brandon said he's open to the possibility of negotiating a new contract, but only if Peters begins taking part in team functions.

 

In a seperate article on the same day he said : "To be very honest with you, it's really been a road map of silence to date," Brandon said regarding dialogue over Peters' situation.

 

"He hasn't been here to date," Brandon said, "and it's difficult to have discussions with someone who's not here and has elected to not participate in what we're trying to do."

 

 

That's it... If you don't see it, then I really don't see how we can go any further.

 

Brandon told Peters and his agent in January 2008 that there would be no new deal in 2008.

 

The action is what prompted the Peters hold out and subsequent posturing by Brandon.

 

Brandon subsequently changed his tune and promised Peters the Bills would propose a new deal if he reported.

 

Peters reported and it took Brandon until December to propose the new deal.

 

Between Janaury 2008 and now, big money deals have been signed which drove up Peters price significantly (which obviously is a shock to the Bills brain trust)

 

The Bills better sign Peters before this year's top 5 LTs start signing or the money will escalate even more.

[C.Biscuit97]

Because I don't only see the negative?

 

Hee's something positive: you can positively go !@#$ yourself.

 

 

[Magox]

Brandon told Peters and his agent in January 2008 that there would be no new deal in 2008.

 

The action is what prompted the Peters hold out and subsequent posturing by Brandon.

 

Brandon subsequently changed his tune and promised Peters the Bills would propose a new deal if he reported.

 

Peters reported and it took Brandon until December to propose the new deal.

 

Between Janaury 2008 and now, big money deals have been signed which drove up Peters price significantly (which obviously is a shock to the Bills brain trust)

 

The Bills better sign Peters before this year's top 5 LTs start signing or the money will escalate even more.

Ya, except you didn't mention that he didn't report until the day before the season started. Of course they didn't offer him a new deal until after the season. You don't just let players walk all over organizations.

 

Now, I do agree that we need to get him signed. I believe it is worth it to pay him $11 Million a season. 2 years from now the top tackle in the league will probably be somewhere around $15 Million.

[spartacus]

Ya, except you didn't mention that he didn't report until the day before the season started. Of course they didn't offer him a new deal until after the season. You don't just let players walk all over organizations.

 

Now, I do agree that we need to get him signed. I believe it is worth it to pay him $11 Million a season. 2 years from now the top tackle in the league will probably be somewhere around $15 Million.

 

"you don't lete players walk all over your organization"

 

then your organization should not put itself in such situations

 

re-do contracts for your elite players so they don't develop into embarassing situations

 

don't make promises you don't intend to keep - since it further destroys the team/player relationship

[Tipster19]

A lot of the players that we lost or didn't re-sign were holdovers from Donahoe/Levy and that includes Dockery.

 

 

Tipster, good thread.

 

One move you overlook, which in my view may be the most important, is cutting ties with Dockery. IMO that sends a bigger message than re-signing Stroud and dancing around with Peters. The message is: no one on the roster is safe. Don't perform and you're out, regardless of how much we've invested in you. That's a CRITICAL message for the organization to send.

 

Also, and with all due respect, your idea of trading up for Curry demonstrates that you really don't know how to build an NFL team. I'm sorry. You're DEAD WRONG about that. In sum: HORRIBLE idea.

 

I alluded to Dockery but I didn't expand on it but I do agree wholeheartedly with your insight on it. I don't believe the signing of Dockery was Brandon's doing but I do know that his release was. I think that Brandon has a little Polian in him. What I'm referring to is that Brandon doesn't strike me as having any fear to make a tough decision. Man, I can only imagine the crap I'm going to hear about this comparison!

 

I would like to elaborate about my suggestion for trading up with the Rams. First I really don't believe as much as I hope that this scenario were to materialize. It's really comes more from a fan who has had to watch his favorite team draft from outside of the top ten draft prospects. It's from a fan who had to watch his team miss out on the blue chip players in the last several years and have to select from the next tier of players available. Desperate and hopeful? Absolutely. Realistic? Not really.

 

I will say that some of the basis is that if we can't come to terms with Peters before the draft then I think that we better resolve him during the draft. If it gets to be where we should trade him during the draft then I would really want to maximize his value. I think that we can all agree that no matter what OL we would take in the draft, none of us will be confident or comfortable with him being able to replace Peters.

 

I believe that the next best thing to do would be to try and make another position of ours a strength. Nothing would be more better or exciting than for us to replace one blue chip player with another blue chip player. Thinking along those lines led me to conjour up a scenario on how we could get ourselves in the position to be able to draft LB like Aaron Curry. I would think that if we traded Roscoe Parrish for a 3rd rder and also traded Peters and our original 3rd rder in this year's draft to the Rams then this would be close to but not quite the right compensation for them. In this case I would be willing to also throw in next year's 2nd rder to complete this trade for the #2 overall pick so we could draft Curry.

 

I'll agree with you on another thing also. you're right, I don't know how to build an NFL team, I never did it before but I'm sure having a blast trying to though. Draft time/Free Agency/Pre-season is my time of the year. I love this sh--!

[BillsVet]

T19-

 

I know you're working to be positive, but some of these comparisons are speculative at best. The dynamic of Buffalo's front office is such that no one knows who makes final decisions. Consensus rules, with RW having final say. To say Brandon has placed his seal of approval on this franchise says RW doesn't.

 

From a personnel perspective, he's been heading the front office since 1/08. Bill Polian's been in personnel since the late 70s, and brings an immense amount of experience. The result is he doesn't miss with first rounders, and has a team that wins 10+ games routinely. Brandon's only season the Bills (with the 2nd easiest schedule in the NFL) won 7.

 

I do not feel comfortable with a man who came up in the NFL handling marketing and business matters. No other team in the league has someone like this running the show. While I don't hate Brandon, if (and only if) this season doesn't result in a playoff appearance, the entire front office should be re-done, a real GM introduced, and of course the HC let go.

 

Then again, I don't think anyone wants to be under RW and Littman's thumb.

[spartacus]

T19-

 

I know you're working to be positive, but some of these comparisons are speculative at best. The dynamic of Buffalo's front office is such that no one knows who makes final decisions. Consensus rules, with RW having final say. To say Brandon has placed his seal of approval on this franchise says RW doesn't.

 

From a personnel perspective, he's been heading the front office since 1/08. Bill Polian's been in personnel since the late 70s, and brings an immense amount of experience. The result is he doesn't miss with first rounders, and has a team that wins 10+ games routinely. Brandon's only season the Bills (with the 2nd easiest schedule in the NFL) won 7.

 

I do not feel comfortable with a man who came up in the NFL handling marketing and business matters. No other team in the league has someone like this running the show. While I don't hate Brandon, if (and only if) this season doesn't result in a playoff appearance, the entire front office should be re-done, a real GM introduced, and of course the HC let go.

 

Then again, I don't think anyone wants to be under RW and Littman's thumb.

what's more scary is that Brandon was the baseball marketing genius for the low rent Marlins before he joined the Bills.

[Tipster19]

T19-

 

I know you're working to be positive, but some of these comparisons are speculative at best. The dynamic of Buffalo's front office is such that no one knows who makes final decisions. Consensus rules, with RW having final say. To say Brandon has placed his seal of approval on this franchise says RW doesn't.

 

From a personnel perspective, he's been heading the front office since 1/08. Bill Polian's been in personnel since the late 70s, and brings an immense amount of experience. The result is he doesn't miss with first rounders, and has a team that wins 10+ games routinely. Brandon's only season the Bills (with the 2nd easiest schedule in the NFL) won 7.

 

I do not feel comfortable with a man who came up in the NFL handling marketing and business matters. No other team in the league has someone like this running the show. While I don't hate Brandon, if (and only if) this season doesn't result in a playoff appearance, the entire front office should be re-done, a real GM introduced, and of course the HC let go.

 

Then again, I don't think anyone wants to be under RW and Littman's thumb.

 

I actually created this thread accidently but when I started reviewing Brandon's past decisions, I was impressed. Let's not lose sight of our past experienced GMs/football personnel people (Donahoe/Levy) didn't make an imposing DT a priority but brandon did it alsmost immediately. In his first draft the guy came up with a solid draft. Not bad. I know that some are going to say that it's mostly prospects with potential but truth be known, a good percentage of these players never got off the ground due to either injury (Fine and Bowen) or having a better player(s) (Peters/Bell, Reed/Johnson, Schobel and Kelsay/Ellis) in front of them. I'll concede Cox and I'm not too impressed with Omon either. One other thing, Brandon has done all this and kept us in a great cap situation. Not bad for a rookie PR guy.

 

Btw, I like that T19 thing. It's much easier to hunt and peck. Thanks.

[BillsVet]

I actually created this thread accidently but when I started reviewing Brandon's past decisions, I was impressed. Let's not lose sight of our past experienced GMs/football personnel people (Donahoe/Levy) didn't make an imposing DT a priority but brandon did it alsmost immediately. In his first draft the guy came up with a solid draft. Not bad. I know that some are going to say that it's mostly prospects with potential but truth be known, a good percentage of these players never got off the ground due to either injury (Fine and Bowen) or having a better player(s) (Peters/Bell, Reed/Johnson, Schobel and Kelsay/Ellis) in front of them. I'll concede Cox and I'm not too impressed with Omon either. One other thing, Brandon has done all this and kept us in a great cap situation. Not bad for a rookie PR guy.

 

Btw, I like that T19 thing. It's much easier to hunt and peck. Thanks.

 

I still don't think you can specifically give credit to any one person. Again, I don't hate Brandon, but his personnel opinion is limited by his lack of experience. He can make a decision to pursue a guy like Stroud, but he's not the one who knows the personnel side of the house. He relies heavily on John Guy there.

 

Levy/Jauron made DT a priority when they traded a 2nd and 3rd in 06 to grab a 3 tech DT in McCargo. They gambled and ultimately lost. Levy is/was/never will be an experienced GM. Donahoe was, but seemed to collect specialty players and ignored the OL with one huge stinking exception. His failures should not be a reason to avoid finding a real GM.

 

I refuse to grade the 08 draft. There isn't a significant body of work beyond the first round pick. The rest did not contribute, yet I'll give them 09 and 10 to make an impression.

 

As to the cap situation-Littman obviously sets the budget and the front office must live within their means. Brandon does not control the purse strings. They spend to a limit, which is what most teams do already. Outside of Washington and Dallas, teams have been conservative in spending. The Bills are the rule here, not the exception. That's okay if they put a winner on the field and in the end the only thing that matters is wins and losses.

 

I suspect Brandon is the placeholder at GM, with the team working hard not to have to change their front office. If Buffalo misses the playoffs, they'll need to make changes whether they want to or not.

[ChasBB]

It's kind of like evaluating former US presidents. You can't really evaluate them until years later. It's just too soon to give Brandon either a failing or a passing grade. I'll say this -- I think he's TRYING. I think he does actually CARE about fielding a winning team. That's half the battle right there.