Bills fire their GM

[RockThatBlue]

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter

Bills have fired their GM Doug Whaley.

[Cynjin]

Guess they didn't like the draft.

[BPindy]

That's strange a day after the draft....maybe the owners wanted one of the Qbs

[NFLfan]

6 minutes ago, BPindy said:

That's strange a day after the draft....maybe the owners wanted one of the Qbs

 

They drafted Nate Peterman. I thought they were going to draft Jim Kelly's nephew Chad Kelly who was the last pick of the draft. I wonder if there was some backlash for not taking Kelly. Having said that, there was speculation that Whaley would be fired after the draft. 

 

Quote:

"The writing seems to have been on the wall for months. Doug Whaley has been fighting reports about his impending firing dating back to last offseason. With the continued reports about Sean McDermott’s growing voice in the front office, it wouldn’t shock me to see a front office overhaul in May. I almost titled the Whaley opinion piece in my draft guide “Why Doug Whaley will be fired after the draft.” Even if Whaley holds onto his job while the scouts beneath him are rearranged, I think his days are numbered at One Bills Drive."

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/platform/amp/2017/4/27/15449508/ten-thoughts-on-the-2017-nfl-draft-buffalo-bills-chad-kelly-james-conner-mitchell-trubisky

[PrincetonTiger]

This is very strange

[jameszeigler834]

58 minutes ago, Cynjin said:

Guess they didn't like the draft.

Rappoport said the new coach was making most of the picks.

[BPindy]

38 minutes ago, NFLfan said:

 

They drafted Nate Peterman. I thought they were going to draft Jim Kelly's nephew Chad Kelly who was the last pick of the draft. I wonder if there was some backlash for not taking Kelly. Having said that, there was speculation that Whaley would be fired after the draft. 

 

Quote:

"The writing seems to have been on the wall for months. Doug Whaley has been fighting reports about his impending firing dating back to last offseason. With the continued reports about Sean McDermott’s growing voice in the front office, it wouldn’t shock me to see a front office overhaul in May. I almost titled the Whaley opinion piece in my draft guide “Why Doug Whaley will be fired after the draft.” Even if Whaley holds onto his job while the scouts beneath him are rearranged, I think his days are numbered at One Bills Drive."

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/platform/amp/2017/4/27/15449508/ten-thoughts-on-the-2017-nfl-draft-buffalo-bills-chad-kelly-james-conner-mitchell-trubisky

 

Ah, I somehow missed their selection. Thanks. Still, I can't remember ever seeing a GM fired within 24 hrs of the draft

[SaturdayAllDay]

Ok so I have been perusing the Bills forums a bit to try and make sense of this, and there is a small chance that this could very well be a big story to follow for the coming weeks/months.

 

Sounds like new HC Sean McDermott has been pushing to get rid of him from day one. He has been attempting to bring over Panthers Asst GM Brandon Beane over to take the reigns at GM. Seems normal enough, they had been working together for awhile and probably get along. 

 

The big issue that is being talked about over on their forums, is that the Bills traded up in this draft a couple times, in front of the Panthers, to pick players of the same position. They jumped ahead to draft WR Zay Jones (Panthers picked WR Curtis Samuel 3 picks later), and also jumped ahead to take OL Dion Dawkins (Panthers picked OL Taylor Moton one pick later). It might be a coincidence, but if Beane gets the GM job we might be seeing an investigation for tampering going on, with the Panthers claiming that Beane was giving inside information to McDermott. The Dawkins pick seems to be the one most linked to possible tampering, FWIW. 

 

The boards also cite this tweet. Probably just coach speech but who knows.

 

I dont put too much into this, as it seems like it would be too easy for these guys to get caught doing something like that and ruin their careers. Who knows though. Figured it was worth mentioning in case it becomes a whole big thing. 

 

[PrincetonTiger]

9 minutes ago, SaturdayAllDay said:

Ok so I have been perusing the Bills forums a bit to try and make sense of this, and there is a small chance that this could very well be a big story to follow for the coming weeks/months.

 

Sounds like new HC Sean McDermott has been pushing to get rid of him from day one. He has been attempting to bring over Panthers Asst GM Brandon Beane over to take the reigns at GM. Seems normal enough, they had been working together for awhile and probably get along. 

 

The big issue that is being talked about over on their forums, is that the Bills traded up in this draft a couple times, in front of the Panthers, to pick players of the same position. They jumped ahead to draft WR Zay Jones (Panthers picked WR Curtis Samuel 3 picks later), and also jumped ahead to take OL Dion Dawkins (Panthers picked OL Taylor Moton one pick later). It might be a coincidence, but if Beane gets the GM job we might be seeing an investigation for tampering going on, with the Panthers claiming that Beane was giving inside information to McDermott. The Dawkins pick seems to be the one most linked to possible tampering, FWIW. 

 

The boards also cite this tweet. Probably just coach speech but who knows.

 

I dont put too much into this, as it seems like it would be too easy for these guys to get caught doing something like that and ruin their careers. Who knows though. Figured it was worth mentioning in case it becomes a whole big thing. 

 

Wow I didn't know SM had that much power

[Cynjin]

1 hour ago, jameszeigler834 said:

Rappoport said the new coach was making most of the picks.

 

It makes me wonder why Whaley was even there, if he wasn't involved in the draft picks.

[PrincetonTiger]

1 minute ago, Cynjin said:

 

It makes me wonder why Whaley was even there, if he wasn't involved in the draft picks.

Agreed

[RockThatBlue]

1 hour ago, NFLfan said:

 

They drafted Nate Peterman. I thought they were going to draft Jim Kelly's nephew Chad Kelly who was the last pick of the draft. I wonder if there was some backlash for not taking Kelly. Having said that, there was speculation that Whaley would be fired after the draft. 

 

Quote:

"The writing seems to have been on the wall for months. Doug Whaley has been fighting reports about his impending firing dating back to last offseason. With the continued reports about Sean McDermott’s growing voice in the front office, it wouldn’t shock me to see a front office overhaul in May. I almost titled the Whaley opinion piece in my draft guide “Why Doug Whaley will be fired after the draft.” Even if Whaley holds onto his job while the scouts beneath him are rearranged, I think his days are numbered at One Bills Drive."

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/platform/amp/2017/4/27/15449508/ten-thoughts-on-the-2017-nfl-draft-buffalo-bills-chad-kelly-james-conner-mitchell-trubisky

Even if this is all true, it still seems odd to fire him right after the draft. If they wanted him gone this badly, they should've just fired him months ago.

[RockThatBlue]

1 hour ago, BPindy said:

 

Ah, I somehow missed their selection. Thanks. Still, I can't remember ever seeing a GM fired within 24 hrs of the draft

Wasn't there a team who fired their GM a few days before the draft? Seems like this happened a few years ago, can't remember who it was.

[RockThatBlue]

8 minutes ago, Cynjin said:

 

It makes me wonder why Whaley was even there, if he wasn't involved in the draft picks.

Bills gonna Bills I guess.

[jameszeigler834]

14 minutes ago, Cynjin said:

 

It makes me wonder why Whaley was even there, if he wasn't involved in the draft picks.

Agreed.

[SaturdayAllDay]

14 minutes ago, RockThatBlue said:

Wasn't there a team who fired their GM a few days before the draft? Seems like this happened a few years ago, can't remember who it was.

I cant think of one off the top of my head, but the Redskins had their GM go AWOL and subsequently fired him right at the start of free agency this year. It might not have been close to the draft but it was still a pretty important time to have a GM. They also have yet to replace him so they went into the draft without a GM. Been a wild offseason so far. 

[RockThatBlue]

5 minutes ago, SaturdayAllDay said:

I cant think of one off the top of my head, but the Redskins had their GM go AWOL and subsequently fired him right at the start of free agency this year. It might not have been close to the draft but it was still a pretty important time to have a GM. They also have yet to replace him so they went into the draft without a GM. Been a wild offseason so far. 

Whats amazing is teams do stupid stuff like that, and they sit around and wonder why their teams suck most years. 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

This is ridiculous. It only makes sense to fire the GM now if he went against some draft order from the owner. And then you have those reports that the HC was making most of the picks. 

 

What a mess 

[NFLfan]

1 hour ago, RockThatBlue said:

Even if this is all true, it still seems odd to fire him right after the draft. If they wanted him gone this badly, they should've just fired him months ago.

 

I agree. I wonder if something happened in the last few days during the draft that hastened his firing -- maybe he and the new coach disagreed on a draft pick or something similar. I heard on the radio that before the announcement of the firing, the coach was talking about how great he thought their draft was. 

 

Anyway, the situation up there has appeared dysfunctional for many years. I thought the GM would have been fired along with Rex. It makes no sense keeping him around only to fire him a few months later. 

[oldunclemark]

1 hour ago, Mr Clueless said:

This is ridiculous. It only makes sense to fire the GM now if he went against some draft order from the owner. And then you have those reports that the HC was making most of the picks. 

 

What a mess 

I cant come up with a  reason for keeping the GM and his staff through the draft and then firing them all..

...who is negotiating with the picks?

[chad72]

Ever since he let Chris Hogan go for cheap and hedged his bets on Tyrod Taylor by giving him that contract, you had to see that coming after the Rex firing. Anyways, Sean McDermott seems like an older former-Broncos-HC-Josh McDaniels-type to me, lot of attitude, hope he can back it up with results.

 

Meanwhile, Belichick hoards on his division rivals' lack of discernment for their own talent (Wes Welker in 2007, Chris Hogan in 2016, Stephon Gilmore in 2017 etc.).

[King Colt]

The Bills owners who have owned the team for 30 months fired their GM the day after the draft. Personally, that makes zero sense.

The Buffalo Bills fired general manager Doug Whaley Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the 2017 NFL Draft. 

More on Bills

• As CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reported on Saturday night (and as far back as March ), this is a move that had been in the works for a while . Still, the day after the draft is a heck of a time to get rid of the GM. 

But it wasn't just the GM. The Bills wound up firing the entire scouting department, and at this time list only two people in their player personnel department. 

Per Mike Rodak of ESPN: 

[WarGhost21]

I'm more mad at them for signing Austin Rehkow before we did...

[CheezyColt]

 

[dgambill]

8 hours ago, King Colt said:

The Bills owners who have owned the team for 30 months fired their GM the day after the draft. Personally, that makes zero sense.

The Buffalo Bills fired general manager Doug Whaley Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the 2017 NFL Draft. 

More on Bills

• As CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reported on Saturday night (and as far back as March ), this is a move that had been in the works for a while . Still, the day after the draft is a heck of a time to get rid of the GM. 

But it wasn't just the GM. The Bills wound up firing the entire scouting department, and at this time list only two people in their player personnel department. 

Per Mike Rodak of ESPN: 

Their reasoning is that the scouting department has completed their work for the year (I'm assuming after signing the udfas). This would be the end of the year for that department and so it makes sense if your moving on the new staff start from scratch on the 2018 offseason. I'm not saying I agree that they should be firing their GM etc (although them and the Jets are perhaps the two most talent deficient teams in the league) but I heard the new HC had a lot of say in this draft so it appears that he will have a lot of say in who the new GM will be coming in. Timing seems very weird but I think only because they didn't want to try to put together a whole staff a couple months before the draft. This wasn't just a GM firing like ours..it was an overhaul to the organization so they likely didn't think they had time to replace and evaluate in time between the end of the season and the draft. Clearly they haven't drafted or evaluated well the past several years and this wasn't just a GM decision thing but an organizational thing. They have to make drastic changes...its been how long since they made the playoffs?? I mean just the way they ended the season and couldn't make up their mind on Tyrod showed they had no clue what direction to take the team and the GM was losing control. Clearly hiring Rex was a hail marry to try to save his job. Unfortunately he just made things worse. Its very interesting that basically the three worst run organizations in football the past 20 years have resided in the AFC East with the New England Patriots. Its the right thing to do...drastic changes were necessary.

[ReMeDy]

It'd be funny if the scouting department knew ahead of time they were going to get fired, so they secretly signed a bunch of awful players. It would be like that Disney artist who secretly put male genitalia in his art as revenge.

[NFLfan]

On 4/30/2017 at 10:51 AM, RockThatBlue said:

Even if this is all true, it still seems odd to fire him right after the draft. If they wanted him gone this badly, they should've just fired him months ago.

 

(See what is in bold)

While it is not their GM that was fired, the Colts fired Jimmy Raye and members of the Scouting Department after the draft. I think the Jets did the same a couple of years ago.

 

I thought the Colts had a very good draft. I wonder why they let go of those who helped the GM choose the players. 

[Superman]

On 4/30/2017 at 7:52 AM, RockThatBlue said:

Wasn't there a team who fired their GM a few days before the draft? Seems like this happened a few years ago, can't remember who it was.

 

On 4/30/2017 at 8:17 AM, SaturdayAllDay said:

I cant think of one off the top of my head, but the Redskins had their GM go AWOL and subsequently fired him right at the start of free agency this year. It might not have been close to the draft but it was still a pretty important time to have a GM. They also have yet to replace him so they went into the draft without a GM. Been a wild offseason so far. 

 

Coincidentally, it was the Niners firing Scot McCloughan about a month before the draft in 2010. Then, Washington fired Scot McCloughan about a month before this year's draft.

 

I guess it's not necessarily coincidental...

[Superman]

On 5/1/2017 at 6:39 PM, NFLfan said:

 

(See what is in bold)

While it is not their GM that was fired, the Colts fired Jimmy Raye and members of the Scouting Department after the draft. I think the Jets did the same a couple of years ago.

 

I thought the Colts had a very good draft. I wonder why they let go of those who helped the GM choose the players. 

 

The new GM wants to reshape the personnel department with his own guys. It is kind of tricky and awkward, but I think it's mostly typical. New GM is hired during draft season, keeps the guys who have been working on the draft for the past year, then once the draft is done, the GM fires a big portion of his personnel staff and hires his own people. 

[PrincetonTiger]

3 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

The new GM wants to reshape the personnel department with his own guys. It is kind of tricky and awkward, but I think it's mostly typical. New GM is hired during draft season, keeps the guys who have been working on the draft for the past year, then once the draft is done, the GM fires a big portion of his personnel staff and hires his own people. 

Agreed 100%