The Bills did some things over the weekend, so we need to discuss them. The news that garnered the most attention and most discussion over the past few days was the hiring of fat Gandalf, Rob Ryan. When you need to figure out a way to run down Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots in the AFC East, nepotism is obviously the first solution you turn to.
Rob Ryan was a train wreck in New Orleans, but honestly, if you look at his resume and remove the name, you’d be okay with adding someone like that to your defensive staff. I think we’d all be okay hiring a defensive assistant who has been a defensive coordinator for four different teams and was the linebacker coach of two Super Bowl winners in New England as long as his name wasn’t Rob Ryan. So to me, it’s not really a big deal, unless you’re really concerned about how Rex is captaining this ship, which is legitimately worrisome.
The bigger news of the weekend came from Boca Raton, FL, which now seems to be the epicenter of any major Bills offseason move. Remember last March when the Bills brass hammered out the LeSean McCoy trade while partying on Terry Pegula’s yacht? Well this time the boat was used by Bills brass to get a contract extension completed for GM Doug Whaley. Kim Pegula even tweeted out a picture of Whaley signing on the dotted line, with Terry and (barf) Russ Brandon standing beside him, all three in short-sleeve shirts. I support the Bills making all their offseason moves on Pegula’s boat, by the way. It’s not like they’ve had a ton of success operating from inside the administration building in Orchard Park, so why not pass around a bottle and drunk dial teams while cutting through the waters just off the Atlantic coast? “Hey is this Jerry Jones? Jer, its Doug Whaley. Terry Pegula is here with me and he’s prepared to sell you one of his oil wells for Dez Bryant.”
Anyways, the new contract for Whaley is the far bigger news story of the weekend that came out of One Bills Drive, but garnered far less attention because it’s not as “LOL Bills” as hiring Rob Ryan is. This should be seen as a big deal. The Bills have ensured stability in the front office (at least seemingly) for the foreseeable future as both the head coach and general manager now have long-term contracts in place. So much for all those “inside sources” telling reporters about a rift inside the organization and a one-year ultimatum given by Pegula to Whaley to fix this. Who exactly is Vic Carucci’s source inside the Bills organization? Is it one of the beer taps in the Jim Kelly Club?
Now, from the outside, you can hear the news about the Bills giving their general manager a contract extension and chuckle. Imagine you’re a Steelers fan watching SportsCenter’s bottom line on Sunday night and seeing that news scroll across the screen that the Bills gave their general manager a contract extension. Since you’re a Steelers fan, you’ll have to take a break for a second from clogging your arteries with sandwiches that have French fries on them and put down the yellow hanky you enjoy waving in other people’s face constantly and try to put together rational thought, which is difficult enough for you on any given day, but especially difficult after having 18 Iron City Lights the night before while celebrating Joey Porter sending your favorite team to the AFC divisional round. Once your mind is clear, your Steeler-fan thoughts on the Bills might be something like this:
“How’s come the Bills gave their general manager a contract extension!?” you howl, dribbling Heinz ketchup on your XXXL white Polamalu jersey. “Fer cryin in da sink, dose guys have missed the playoffs 16 years in a row!”
Yes, for someone not really paying attention to the Bills (so everyone outside of Buffalo), it might not making any sense at all to reward the general manager for another football season that ends before Week 17. But it would not be fair at all to blame Whaley or Rex Ryan or Terry Pegula for everything that’s frustrated you for nearly two decades. It’s not the time to let one of them take the fall.
Whaley has been with the Bills since 2010, initially overseeing the pro personnel department under Buddy Nix before succeeding Nix as general manager after the 2013 draft (so yes, blame good ole’ Buddy for EJ Manuel). Has Whaley done an excellent job since taking over as GM? I would say no, the team still hasn’t made the playoffs and he’s made his share of moves that haven’t worked out. He’s traded away too many draft picks in my opinion for too little in return. I’ll defend the Sammy Watkins trade until my death because Sammy’s a stud, but he’s made other draft trades that just haven’t worked out (the Bryce Brown/Stevie Johnson moves, Mike Williams, Matt Cassel – although he made up for that by sending Cassel to Dallas for a fifth round pick in 2017). The roster has lacked depth at certain positions and has been too mediocre at other positions.
Where Whaley has excelled is picking guys up off the scrap heap for next to nothing and watching them become productive players for the Bills. These signings include Dan Carpenter, Mario Butler, Kyle Orton, Chris Hogan, Richie Incognito, and Mike Gillislee. Max Valles and Leonard Hankerson are guys Whaley signed in late December this past year who might join this list next year. His more expensive free agent moves have produced mixed results, but he definitely hit the jackpot by bringing in Tyrod Taylor in March. Thankfully, the Bills staff had the foresight to not only take a flyer on Tyrod, but to give him the starting job in August. He’s not a great quarterback, but he was as good as the Bills could have possibly hoped for when they picked him up a few weeks into free agency.
In May, it will have been three years since Whaley took over as general manager. Getting rid of the general manager because you want to hold someone accountable for another season without the playoffs would have been the wrong move. It’s too soon to ditch a general manager who is still in the process of building a roster. I think people underestimate just how bad this roster was when Whaley took over in 2013. They were a 6-10 team, but they really didn’t have the pieces to inspire confidence that they could make a big jump in the standings any time soon. Whaley’s moves have helped to change that.
The Bills have gone from a perennial 5-to-7 win team to a perennial 8-to-9 win team since Whaley (and the Pegulas) took over. That’s good, but it’s still not good enough. They have to take the next step in 2016 and find a way to break into the double digits in wins, something they haven’t done (of course) since 1999. If the Bills fail to improve or even get worse in 2016, then it might be time to question keeping Rex and Doug for the future.
Do the Bills have the people in place that will finally end their playoff drought and turn them into a true contender? I don’t know. I feel a lot better about the general manager than I do the head coach. Unfortunately, the head coach might be the de facto GM considering some of the additions to the roster that have connections to Rex. That has the potential to be a huge problem (“No Rex, we’re not going to sign your son to be our fifth wide receiver). At the same time, the wrong move would be to start tearing apart your organization just because the Bills have missed the playoffs 16 years in a row and you’re mad. Doug Whaley’s only been the GM for three years. Rex Ryan has only been the head coach for one year. Those are the numbers you need to focus on. There’s no point holding Rex responsible for stuff that happened to the Bills while he was the defensive coordinator of the Ravens or Whaley responsible for stuff that happened while he was in Pittsburgh’s front office. We have the scars of those losing seasons, Rex and Doug don’t.
If you want to get upset about nearly 20 years of losing, point to the guys in the front office who have been here the whole time (oh hi, Russ). How some of these people are still employed here baffles me. I need the Pegulas to go Ari Gold with a paintball gun through the Bills’ offices to weed the old guard out.
I think it’s fair to be frustrated or upset with the Bills if you’ve been following them through this entire drought. It’s okay to say you’re down on them and won’t get excited again until they prove they can win. That actually makes a lot of sense. If you want people fired because they missed again in 2015, man maybe take a step back off the Peace Bridge. The roster still isn’t complete and Rex clearly spent the 2015 season experimenting with what he had on defense to formulate a plan for 2016, when the team would have (we hope) a more talented roster. If this plan fails, yea then go ahead and put up a FIRE EVERYONE billboard.
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