Buffalo Bills Fire GM Doug Whaley

Not even 24 hours after the end of the NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills have fired general manager Doug Whaley.  Owner Terry Pegula issued the following statement:

The firing certainly came as no surprise.  Since coach Sean McDermott was hired in January, he has been the "One Voice" of the Buffalo Bills.  Every press conference and every statement regarding football matters has come from the mouth of Sean McDermott.

Whaley essentially was relegated to a figurehead.  Just this past week came word from inside the organization that Whaley and a number of scouts and others within the personnel department would be fired.  And that's exactly what happened. What was somewhat surprising was how quickly the move came.

So after seven years with the Bills, the last four as general manager, Whaley joins Tom Donahoe, Marv Levy, Russ Brandon and Buddy Nix among general mangers who failed to get the Buffalo Bills over the hump to make the playoffs.  By the way, the Bills lead all major American sports teams having gone the longest without seeing a playoff game.  The Bills drought stands at 17 years.

And Whaley has had a huge hand in draft mistakes; the first one was his first draft in 2013 when the Bills made E J Manuel their number one pick.  Manuel was thought to be the team's quarterback of the future, but he couldn't hit wide open receivers with 10 yard throws.  In fact, not one player drafted in 2013 is still with the team.

The jury is still out on receiver Sammy Watkins.  In the 2014 draft Whaley gave up a first round draft choice the following year to the Cleveland Browns for the right to move up five spots in the draft and select Watkins.  If they had stayed at Number-9 in the draft they could have had any number of great receivers, but they've been stuck with a player who has struggled with multiple injuries during his three seasons with the Bills.

So now in addition to his search for a general manager and coach for the Buffalo Sabres, Terry Pegula will now also be searching for a general manager for the Bills.  For Bills fans there's always next year and for Terry Pegula there's always somebody else to hire.