The New Power Structure at OBD

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Two years of Levy at the helm, then the new structure. We are really seeing it now with all this flurry of moves: Dockery's release, TO signing, trading of Peters, pending move of ST ace Parrish ...

My point is Levy would not approve any of the moves above.

So who's making all these football decisions? Brandon? Jauron? Modrak?

As much as I noticed Brandon's more assertive style after a year on the job, I still find it hard to believe he'll be that bold to make so many big moves on his own. Jauron obviously had to sign off on these moves. It just shows that as much a player's coach as he's known, when push comes to shovel, he'll act. I still think maybe Modrak's voice carries a little more weight in the structure now. The fact of the matter is that this coming draft carries more importance to this organization for a lot of people and he probably assured many of them that he can provide answers to them if they give him tools (i.e. draft picks).

What do you guys think? I've never seen the Bills making so many unusual moves this close to the draft.

[HHURRICANE]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

The Bills could have kept Dockery and Peters and worked on the defense. So these "moves" look more about saving money. How did we get better?

Dockery graded poorly but didn't have any problem getting signed elsewhere.

[jamze132]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

The Bills could have kept Dockery and Peters and worked on the defense. So these "moves" look more about saving money. How did we get better?

Dockery graded poorly but didn't have any problem getting signed elsewhere.

Dockery sucked.

[Tatonka]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

The Bills could have kept Dockery and Peters and worked on the defense. So these "moves" look more about saving money. How did we get better?

Dockery graded poorly but didn't have any problem getting signed elsewhere.

um.. what are you still doing here?

[kernowboy]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

Dockery was awful and nowhere near deserving of $7m a season. He went back to his old team.

Peters, if he turned up, would be overweight and not too bothered so we have gained by losing an unpopular distraction.

Whilst many dislike Schobel, his sack totals are impressive, and teams will be more concerned about him than dealing with Kelsay/Denney. I am interested to seeing how Stroud/Schobel work together.

It was clear to all that the Offensive Line was less than the sum of its parts, and if you have an overpaid line underachieving you shake it up. Only Butler and Walker earnt their wage packet last year.

[Mitchell55]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

The Bills could have kept Dockery and Peters and worked on the defense. So these "moves" look more about saving money. How did we get better?

Dockery graded poorly but didn't have any problem getting signed elsewhere.

Dockery played worse than any OG ive ever seen last year. He also had the help of former PB LT Peters. Also, Peters didnt want to be here and seemed to skip the last game of each season hes been here. He was a distraction and none of our players liked him. He wouldnt return Docs calls, rumor that Stroud sayed he was a problem, Whitner had the facebook post.

[sdbillsfan2]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

Dockery played worse than any OG ive ever seen last year. He also had the help of former PB LT Peters. Also, Peters didnt want to be here and seemed to skip the last game of each season hes been here. He was a distraction and none of our players liked him. He wouldnt return Docs calls, rumor that Stroud sayed he was a problem, Whitner had the facebook post.

HHurricane... How dare you post that . Always consult our very own 15 year old football wizard. By 18 he'll be taking over as NFL commissioner . You obviously know squat about football HH . lol j.k


Actually I really don't see how we got better as of today either ,but I''l wait to see how this plays out .

[HHURRICANE]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

Dockery played worse than any OG ive ever seen last year. He also had the help of former PB LT Peters. Also, Peters didnt want to be here and seemed to skip the last game of each season hes been here. He was a distraction and none of our players liked him. He wouldnt return Docs calls, rumor that Stroud sayed he was a problem, Whitner had the facebook post.

Were you like 7 when we had our line in for Bledsoe. Dockery was better than anything we've had in the last 7 years. Name the better guy smarty.

[JohnnyGold]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

Dockery played worse than any OG ive ever seen last year. He also had the help of former PB LT Peters. Also, Peters didnt want to be here and seemed to skip the last game of each season hes been here. He was a distraction and none of our players liked him. He wouldnt return Docs calls, rumor that Stroud sayed he was a problem, Whitner had the facebook post.

what did whitner say about him?

[kernowboy]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

what did whitner say about him?

Words to the effective of how great it was to have an extra first round pick and expressing no disappointment that Peters had left, the inference being that Peters was not popular on the team.

[Nighthawk]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

The Bills could have kept Dockery and Peters and worked on the defense. So these "moves" look more about saving money. How did we get better?

Dockery graded poorly but didn't have any problem getting signed elsewhere.

He signed with his old team that is known for throwing money around foolishly. Nice try.

[TigerJ]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

I think the philosophical perspective in evidence at OBD is, "why pay big bucks for poor production?" That's why they wouldn't pay Peters after giving up so many sacks last season. That's why they cut Dockery. I think that's playing a role in the rumored decision to shop Kelsay. He didn't produced when he started most of last season. He would have a lot less playing time this season with Schobel coming back presumably healthy, so his production would be even less. Whether your production is going to be better, worse, or about the same from those positions next season is debateable, but Buffalo's going to be paying a lot less to get it. It's something of a risky strategy. These guys were all pretty much known quantities. Their presence seemed like it would produce just more mediocrity, but at least you got something out of them. If you have a lot of turnover, especially among starters, you have a chance to get much better, but you could also be a lot worse. I almost think that's better than continuing to settle for mediocrity. In that sense, I kind of like what's happening.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

I see Ralph Wilson, Jr.'s mitts all over several of these moves.

First of all, let's put them all into a little real world context: Wilson may have gotten a big chunk of cash from the Toronto deal last year, but we have just gone through a stock market crash that has seen the market lose half of its value, if not more. If Warren Buffett and other big money men have lost a considerable portion of their fortunes, it is not at all unreasonable to think that Ralph has taken a significant hit as well. Having started out as one of the poorer members of the millionaires/billionaires' club that own the NFL's franchises, if this were, indeed, the case, it could well mean that Wilson, who has been very concerned about being able to pass on his wealth to his heirs, may not have the kind of ready cash at hand to run the Bills that he had anticipated a year ago.

While I can buy the explanation given that the Dockery move was made to give the team more money with which to make a deal with Jason Peters, the fact that they cut Dockery and still didn't come up with enough cash to satisfy Peters leads me to two conclusions: 1.) that Ralph is hurting (in relative terms) for ready cash; and 2.) that Wilson has decided that he doesn't want to pay underachieving veteran players out of the cash that he has left.

The Dockery move fits both of those criteria. The fact that they did not give Peters the kind of money that Philly gave him does as well. Putting Kelsay and Parrish on the block would be consistent, in each instance, with the second of these two.

It really isn't hard to see an old guy, who owns a football team that hasn't made the playoffs in nine years and wants to win before he dies and has just taken a big hit in the stock market, saying to himself, "That's it! I've had it! I'm tired of overpaying these underachieving slobs. I can lose just as easily with rookies as I can with these guys. Other teams have won with rookies playing key roles, so there is no reason that my team can't as well. If a guy is making big money on my team and hasn't performed, he's gone! If I can't trust a guy to play up to his contract, I'm not going to give him a big-money, long-term deal without some assurances that he is going to perform!"

Ralph agreed to give Dockery a ton of money. And, in his second year, Dockery didn't perform. Ralph gave Peters a nice contract for an unproven guy after he stepped in for Williams at RT and, when he no longer liked the money that he was getting, Peters didn't perform. Wilson gave Kelsay a big contract extension because he was a team leader, but he hasn't performed or led the team anywhere. He did the same with Parrish when his rookie contract was about to expire and Parrish still hasn't learned how to run routes properly or become the consistent game-changer he was supposed to be.

So, in tough economic times, why pay these guys?

Ralph probably feels that, if he gets some draft picks, he may be able to get as much or more production out of some hungry rookies and cheap veterans. And, that will leave him with more cash that he can use to re-sign some of the better performing players on his team whose contracts are going to expire after this season--which isn't going to be cheap or easy to do.

And, of course, Brandon, Overdorff, Jauron, Modrak, et al. take their marching orders from Ralph and what they do is going to reflect what he wants.

So, I see Ralph as being the one who is really calling the shots here. And, I see the current economic situation as playing a major role in what he is doing.

[Historian]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

LTBF you are spot on with your analysis.

(as usual)

[kernowboy]

Re: The New Power Structure at OBD

They once had an instance of a famous commentator on British TV commenting on Premiership Football who made the legendary claim:

"You win nothing with kids"

and that team was criticised for not buying experienced players to replace those who had left instead using youngsters coming up through the academy.

That team immediately won the Premiership

:)