Sorry Cman, I almost always agree with you and "like" your posts, but I disagree here. To begin with, it's a Mehta article...not even going to read it. He's a trash reporter and makes shit up to suit his own agenda. Secondly, I disagree that Douglas is a bad GM and has royally screwed up. He might've made some mistakes, but they're not franchise-altering ones like our most recent GMs have done. He inherited a P.O.S. team and has had one FA and one draft to begin fixing things. I'm going to give him a bit more time before I fault him.
I posted in the other thread that I think Douglas has been fine and that it'll take a while to rebuild this team. First of all, there is no perfect path out of the dark hellhole that the franchise was in when JD took over, especially with Gase at the helm. It's going to be a bit messy. I think it's fair to critique the Morgan selection in the 4th round or wanting another WR in the 3rd round. Most of the other stuff is impatient nonsense or putting a negative spin on something. JD may not be the answer but I'm years away from coming to that conclusion. If the team was healthy and had a competent coach they could win some games. As for the article... 1) Ryan Griffin: it's $4m guaranteed for a TE. There's nothing bad about this contract. The fact that he doesn't have a catch this year is more on Gase than anyone else (outside of that brutal dropped pass). Griffin can play a role, that's well-established. Is it a surprise to anyone that Gase doesn't scheme to get his better players involved? 2) Fans and media need to stop acting like Robby Anderson is Jerry Rice. People are up in arms over a WR who gave us 50 rec for 750 yards and 5 TD. If Robby was still here we'd still be a brutal 0-3 with the worst offense in the league. To me, it's clear that Douglas wanted to sign short deals to maximize cap space for the '21 offseason. I don't think it's malpractice to expect Crowder/Mims/Perriman to be a decent WR core. We haven't seen Mims yet and the other two have been injured in a season where there are soft tissue injuries all over the league. 3) Darnold. We'll never know what JD thought about Darnold when he took this job. It's possible that JD wasn't a believer from the jump. 4) Critiquing his draft class three games into a COVID season where there are a million injuries is a case of looking for something to knock. What if Mims comes back in Week 5 and looks like one of the steals of the draft? What of Zuniga looks like a piece? 5) The Fant contract that people love to bring up has an out this offseason. 6) What OL were we going to sign this offseason? Conklin was the only decent option and it's possible he had no interest in coming here. It was a weak OL class. It's easy to criticize moves without offering better alternatives. 7) Maccagnan still deserves a ton of the blame and it's not lazy or convenient to say so. It's the truth. When you whiff on five straight drafts it's going to take a while to recover. 8) Jamal Adams: good riddance. He's great at what he does but I'm fine with not paying a box safety $16m/year during a rebuild. I don't really care what coaches, FO, or owners ever say publicly. They're going to back their guys and give you PR-speak. They're never going to say that they're tanking or building for the future or have low expectations for the season. I lol'd at this line... "His disjointed and erratic communication skills to those outside of the building have been a significant issue." Keep dreaming, Manish.
Well we can’t know what JD is thinking, since a GM will rarely, if ever, show his hand. And he would never publicly say he’s punting on 2020. But we CAN see his actions. he held out for a 6 year deal. He didn’t sign any big FA contracts, and most of them are on one year deals. He traded for draft picks. He re-tooled the entire OL. this is a GM who knows he’s inherited a huge pile of shit and is stocking up draft picks and cap room for the future. I look back at the last ten drafts for us and it’s literally a pile of dogshit...if Idzik and Mac had just drafted by looking at this board and using that consensus, we’d be WORLDS better, and not even close. It’s infuriating to me that these professionals can be so god awful horrid while fans can call it out right away. Calvin Prior was NEVER the right pick. Quinton Coples was NEVER the right pick. Just like Leo Williams was never the right pick. Adams was a very good player, but to choose a fucking safety when Watson and Mahomes were on the board was NEVER the right pick, and Mac should have been fired on the spot. there is a shit ton of bad drafting in the last 10 years that needs to be cleaned up. I don’t know if JD will turn out to be the guy, but I do know that he is the first guy in decades to at least come to us with the right pedigree, background, experience, and recommendations. Remember, our last GMs were Mac, Idzik, Tannenbaum, and Bradway. The reaction to all of those was...they hired WHO??? None of them had any business being. GM. Bradway, for all his scouting background, was a horrible talent evaluator and possibly the WORST negotiator I’ve ever seen....trading out of the first round to take a kicker? Firable offense. Tanny had the best success but it went to his head with all the 3 and 4 man drafts...you can’t miss if you do that, and no one is right all the time. Idzik? Nuff said...possibly the worst GM in the history of football. Mac was terrible as well for so many reasons...no OL drafting, taking Hack, passing on two great QB prospects to take a safety (who is NOT Ed Reed by the way), ignoring pass rush...so many things. that shitshow can’t be fixed in one year yes, JD could have done more...I would’ve kept Robby AND signed Perriman...we had the space to do that...but I also am ok with his approach to build it from the ground up via the draft...that’s how Pittsburgh does it, Baltimore does it, etc. but we need a real coach instead of the hack we have now
The Bills had a franchise QB, a starting RB who averaged 5.1 YPC, John Brown who had a 1,000 yard season, and, based on PFF (which many on here love to quote), the 21st ranked offensive line. They also spent the offseason prior to the 2019 season overhauling their offensive line. Their starting RT was drafted in 2019. Their starting center was signed in 2019. Their starting LT was drafted in 2017. Their starting LG was signed in 2019. Their starting RG was signed in 2019. So after overhauling their offensive line in 2019, they finished the year rated 21st in the league. It wasn't until a year later after playing with each other for an entire season, are they now ranked in the top 15 in the league, three games in.
I was referencing what they did in the 2019 offseason. They addressed both positions and solidified a third while also adding a tight end into the mix. I guess we can wait a year to see how Denzel Mims and Perine pan out but that was still nowhere near enough to address the glaring whole we had at WR. And I'm not necessarily bashing Douglas's plan to solidify the OL first I just hate when people pretend it's one or the other.
Joe Douglas has had 1 free agency, 1 draft with this team. For Manish to say that Maccagnan doesn't deserve much of the blame because he's been gone for a year and a half is letting Macc off very easily. Should Joe have tried to do a lot more, especially with WR, I think you can make an argument that he should have but Joe is signed here for 6 years and I am not convinced Joe is truly buying into Gase/Darnold. I think Joe may be all in on the idea of picking his own guys, which most GM's subscribe to.
My point was that they did not completely overhaul their offensive line and see immediate success. It took a year for them to finally start to gel. I do think that Douglas could have gone after one more WR, but at the same time it is hard to blame him when our entire team needed help at every position. Kind of hard to fix every issue in one year. The Bills had pieces in place when they fixed their line. We did not have any
My guess is he knew that 2020 wasn't a playoff year for this team and that there were few building blocks in place when he arrived. One of the few there was became a malcontent and was dealt for a haul that exceeded many expectations, both posters here and the media. He can be criticized for the lack of weapons Sam has. But unless he has a crystal ball, he couldn't have expected Crowder, Mimms, Perriman, and Bell to all go down early in the season. He could've brought back Anderson and I was all for it. His chemistry with Sam was worth a slight overpay, maybe 11 million per year. He could've taken a second WR in the draft, but what are the odds that that WR wouldn't get hurt or contribute much if healthy. Maybe the plan is to take a WR early in the 2021 draft, one who can make an impact early on. He brought in a few FA OL to patch up unit that was neglected for years. He drafted a top OT prospect and an OT on day 3 who could become part of the OL later on. There should be more OL help coming next offseason. Bottom line is the team had way too many holes to fix in one offseason, and that's before considering a global pandemic that caused a truncated training camp with no preseason. Has Douglas been perfect? No, but he can't dig out of the mess his predecessors left him with in one offseason. I'll wait and see what he does in 2021. If he doesn't address the skill positions, doesn't continue to upgrade the OL, and brings in a bum to replace Gase, I'll lose faith in him.
Douglas deserves some blame. He didn't have a flawless off-season by any stretch. 1) Griffin's contract is fine. He was one of our best targets last year (sadly) and he makes absolutely nothing even with the extension. He's a solid TE2 despite the awful drop this week. 2) We should've kept Robby Anderson. This is a reasonable criticism of Joe D. He's not a great player (Ted Ginn Jr. or Devery Henderson), but he's an NFL wide receiver. We don't really have many of those. 3) Another mid-round receiver wouldn't have suddenly fixed our shitty receiver problem but this was a great receiver class and it's an understandable criticism to not walk away with two. Blame whomever you want, but if Perine is on the roster with 75 year old Frank Gore and our season is on the verge of being over, Perine should be getting 75% of the snaps. We spent draft capital on him. He should play. 4) Signing Flacco was an indication that we'd have a better team than we have and a fighting chance in games. So if Darnold went down, we could rely on the other talent + running game and steal a game or two with defense + clock control while Flacco made the right plays. Carrying FOUR quarterbacks is asinine too. If Mike White showed you enough to keep, then Flacco should be released. If we're 1-7 and Darnold gets hurt or benched, I'd rather see the kids than Flacco anyway. 4a) Taking a quarterback shouldn't be criticized. You keep drafting these guys in the mid-rounds as long as Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes are not on the roster. That's how you end up with Gardner Minshew and Tony Romo types. 5) Kalil was a disaster but he gets a mulligan for that one. It was a desperation heave with a fringe NFL player in Harrison as the starter. 6) The roster distribution is mind-blowing right now. We have 9 defensive lineman for three spots and 4 outside linebackers for two spots. None of them are special teams standouts. We have 5 safeties. We have 4 tightends and none of them are the long snapper. This is while we have only 5 receivers and two of them were inactive last week. We have 8 offensive lineman and 3 inside linebackers (one of them is Alec Ogletree). What kind of dumbfuck roster distribution is this? 7) Criticizing quotes like"we're excited about the playmakers "we have is a stupid Mehta thing to do. He gives cliche answers like every other executive in the league. It's fine and not a big deal and stupid media tactics that make him a hack. 8) Why did we release Brian Winters? To save $6.5 million that we weren't going to use? I don't see Larry Allen on the roster anywhere and Van Roten has been underwhelming. Not sure about the lovefest for Lewis either. Our guards suck. We should've kept Winters (and I've criticized Winters getting beat on the inside move for what seems like a decade). He inherited a garbage roster and should be criticized. He also deserves more time. But there's been a couple mistakes.
The only thing I hold against JD is not signing Robbie. But if we get the WR from LSU all will be forgotten. I like that JD has an eye on the future. That's why I don't judge JD ON ONE YEAR OF WORK.. He has a plan. Next year's roster will be very different from this year's due to 80mil cap space & all the picks we have 2 #1, 1#2, 2#3, 1#4, 2#5, 1#6, 1#7 not to mention 2#1's in 2022. I trust JD 100%. That doesn't mean he is perfect, but all in all I'll trust JD & his decision making.
sorry but i'm not ready to put to much blame on Joe D yet, considering he inherited a team with not much talent to start with and a coach who should NEVER have been hired in the first FUCKING place, imo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. we all though he was up grading the O-line this off season at least most of us did and with no off season and training camp and the lack of depth, still one of the biggest problems on this team, combine that with all the Fucking injuries and the fact that we have nobody to throw the ball to right now lets cut him some slack. and besides that when did anybody on this site put any stock in what manish had to say...
What pieces did they have in place that we didn't have in place heading into this offseason? They had 1 starter return on the OL from 2018 to 2019. It was a total overhaul. They had the QB (which we had) and that's about it. They drafted Singletary and Knox, signed Beasley and Brown. They addressed both areas top to bottom in one offseason.
I think we're confusing each other with the years. In 2019, the Bills revamped their entire offensive line and added weapons and pieces on offense. I agree. My point was that the offensive line didn't show promise that same year. It only is now starting to look promising for them. If you are holding the Bills to that standard, you have to hold Joe Douglas to the same standard. Joe Douglas has not had two years to work and make changes. What if he does it in reverse? The Bills signed weapons in 2019 but had a shitty offensive line. The Jets improved their offensive line but have shitty weapons. You are throwing some fault at Douglas for not addressing other areas of need and comparing his work to the work of two years under the Bills. If you had this discussion at the end of 2019, we would be saying that the Bills made all of those moves on the offensive line but it was all for shit because they were still ranked in the bottom half of the league. It was only until this year that the line actually looks promising. And that's not even taking into account the massive problems our previous GM left us with. Horrible draft picks, horrible contracts, etc. And, it was all at the start of a pandemic, which made a HUGE difference in injuries and player development throughout the offseason.
My point isn't about when the OL paid off, it's what they actually did. Douglas made close to no effort to upgrade any other position on the team outside of OL. That's where he's at fault. I'm only bringing up the Bills because they are in our division, are usually equally as incompetent and somehow pulled it off with a far less talented QB than what we have. Now Allen is an MVP candidate and Darnold can't get anything right. You can trace that right back to the help the front office gave him and most of it came during one offseason.
My issue is not that he could not fix everything over night and it is too early to judge anyone from this draft. But he had money under the cap and not give up draft picks and he could have signed Clowney as an example to help this team out now and in the next 2 seasons That is a hole on this team that has been here for yrs an could have partially been addressed. He may not be the best outside pass rusher but he was one very good player that showed an interest and could help fill a need we had. The other example is that we let some waiver wide receivers like Senu that could have helped in the short term with Sam till they developed or drafted another receiver. Now this team is devoid of talent but he could have helped make that void smaller. Does it translate to wins maybe not but it helps this team be competitive and keeps the fans interested in this crap show. HE saved money and it does not take a genius to do that see Idzik but how he spends it next yr to me will be a determining factor. Slow and steady does win the race but at this point with the fans and this record and the player talent you cant be slow all the time.
The Jets only had 1 starter return on the OL There was no Beasley or Brown to sign as FA this offseason, only Perriman. Not keeping Anderson was probably a mistake, but I'm not going to kill him for that. In terms of the draft, Gase supposedly wants/needs fast, shifty-type WRs who can get YAC for his offense, not possession WRs. Gandy-Golden didn't fit that profile, neither did Bryan Edwards. Devin Duvernay is said to have extremely tight hips and poor agility, and is a slot WR, so he wasn't a fit, either. Gabriel Davis isn't dynamic with the ball in his hands and has a limited route tree, so he really wasn't a fit, either. So who is the WR that Douglas should have drafted???? I was upset following the draft, but just researched those 4 WRs, and none seem to be a fit for Gase's offense, so would have been yet more players that wouldn't have fit Gase's scheme, so why waste the draft picks? We already have too many players (Sam, Bell, Herndon) that don't fit Gase's scheme and he isn't making use of what they can do well.
This post sums up pretty nicely the biggest issue with our team right now. We're building around a coach that hasn't had a productive offense unless there was a HOF QB changing plays at the line. But we knew that already. Good thing the Dolphins move on from Gase before he made them move on from DeVante Parker.
Excellent post! All your points are excellent, especially #4, #5, and #6! I didn't read Manish's article. I think I've ever only read one and that was enough.
All four of those receivers would've been good fits for what this team needs over Zuniga and/or Perine. Especially if Perine doesn't look like he's going to be a bellcow (which he wasn't in college). Not sure how big physical receivers that can catch slants and body corners (AGG and Edwards specifically) are not good fits for a WCO.
