Diary of a Small-Market Team in the NFL

[DFlo]

Diary of a Small-Market Team in the NFL (http://www.footballdraftnotebook.com/Blog/Diary-of-a-Small-Market-Team-in-the-NFL)

Here's a piece I wrote about the struggles of a Small-Market Team in the NFL and what we as Bills fans can look forward to in the future. Basically a bunch of thoughts I think most of us Bills fans have been dealing with over the years.

Let me know what you guys think

[YardRat]

Nice article, but I don't ever recall Nix saying he doesn't see Fitz as the future of the franchise.

[DFlo]

Thanks for the response man.

I thought I remembered Nix clearly saying that. Alluding to the fact that he likes Fitz but believes the Bills could use a franchise guy. But I can't seem to find that anywhere. At the same time, he did say that Gabbert would have been the pick if Dareus was not available to the Bills at 3 during the draft. What I'm getting at is that Nix would have no problem replacing Fitz for a franchise type QB, meaning that he doesn't believe Fitz is the future of the franchise.

[better days]

Thanks for the response man.

I thought I remembered Nix clearly saying that. Alluding to the fact that he likes Fitz but believes the Bills could use a franchise guy. But I can't seem to find that anywhere. At the same time, he did say that Gabbert would have been the pick if Dareus was not available to the Bills at 3 during the draft. What I'm getting at is that Nix would have no problem replacing Fitz for a franchise type QB, meaning that he doesn't believe Fitz is the future of the franchise.

I have read a rumor on message boards say that the Bills would have drafted Gabbert if he were there but I NEVER heard Nix or anyone else associated with the team say that.

Nix has said anytime a FRANCHISE QB is there you draft him. I don't think that qualifies Gabbert myself. He has a number of Questionmarks.

Read this board, & you will see the hope has not been sucked out of the Bills fan base. The negative fans on this board have always been negative, at least for the last decade, they did not become negative 5 days ago.

[CuseJetsFan83]

luck would be a franchise QB if he would have turned pro as a junior......gabbert is a servicable qb, same as ponder, but a franchise qb... i dunno

[Mr. Pink]

No offense but putting POS in the same class as Pat Williams is laughable. I honestly couldn't read past that.

[DFlo]

I think it was in the press conference right after the pick where Nix said that. Not arguing that Gabbert is a franchise QB - I am not a fan of his - but I am pointing out that the Bills are looking for one.

Anyways, bump for those who haven't had a chance to read this yet. I'll just post the article in here:



Diary of a Small-Market Team in the NFL


The offseason is a time of hope in the NFL. It is a time when the disappointments of seasons past are forgotten, fan bases rejuvenated, and the common fan can gradually begin to ‘Bill’-ieve again. However, for one small-market team the end-of-lockout euphoria and revitalized hope towards the future was short-lived. It took all but 5 days for reality to suck the hope out of the entire Bills fan base.

Reality can be harsh. It can bring with it the bitter chill of a truth too hard to swallow. For most teams in the NFL, reality is a cycle of peaks and valleys. Having some good years and some bad ones. Some playoff runs and some years at the bottom. Maybe even a Super Bowl or two. But for the Buffalo Bills, reality is a state of dormancy with highs of mediocrity and lows of a league-wide laughing stock reputation. A dormant phase that can test the loyalty of even the most devout Bills-Backers.

Quick question: Why do the Bills have such a loyal fan-base? Because only the most loyal of human beings can put up with what they put up with - the rest were weeded out during the Mularkey/Jauron era’s.

But other small-market teams have proven to be successful in the NFL (see Packers, Green Bay.) Why can’t the Bills be more like them?

First off the Bills are a small-market team in a state with a relative high income tax-rate (8.97% compared to say Texas or Florida with 0%). Therefore, right off the bat the Bills must pay more for their players to compensate for this than other teams. Secondly, to put it nicely, the Bills do not have the geographic appeal of most of the other teams in the NFL. Add to that a sense of uncertainty regarding the future of the organization centered around a cloudy succession plan for their aging owner, Ralph Wilson. And for good measure, sprinkle in a somewhat frugal owner, a culture of losing, and a jaded fan base. And there you have it. This is why the Bills can’t be more like the Packers or the Colts.

If the Buffalo Bills have so little going for them, how then can they compete with the ‘have’ organizations of the NFL?

It boils down to two things. They must out-draft their competitors and be able to maintain their home-grown talent. The Bills over the years have been one of the worst drafting teams in the league with early-round blunders like Mike Williams, JP Losman, John McCargo and the Aaron Maybin debacle. The second part of the equation is retaining your home-grown talent. The Bills have, again, struggled with this as they have failed to retain top players like Pat Williams, Jabari Greer, Jason Peters, and just recently Paul Posluszny. This problem is a little bit more complicated in that you can’t just throw more money at these players. They must want to spend the next significant part of their careers in your city and sacrifice their bodies for the benefit of your franchise. With uncertainty at the top of the organization, a culture of losing, and a fan base growing more and more impatient - simply put, players just don’t want to play out their careers in Buffalo.

The organization took a step in the right direction and addressed the drafting issues with the addition of Buddy Nix in 2009 and his subsequent promotion to General Manager in 2010. Now, it’s time for them to address the second part of the equation and build something special that players want to be a part of. Scouting is a significant piece of the puzzle, but the only way to get over the hump and compete with the elites of the NFL is with a franchise quarterback. It’s time for Buddy Nix to pull the trigger and invest in a franchise quarterback for the team. A franchise quarterback will not only give a team an identity, but also organizational stability in that coaches will be given at least a few years to develop their team around their quarterback.

The Bills currently have a stop-gap quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick. A guy who Nix has stated the team can win with, but doesn’t see as the future of the franchise. At the same time, the Bills, along with a few other teams, have a golden opportunity. This opportunity comes in the form of a talent loaded quarterback crop for next year’s draft class, headlined by Stanford’s Andrew Luck. If the Bills can get their hands on a guy like Luck, it will do wonders for their organization as well as the city of Buffalo.

Now the quarterback they take doesn’t have to be Andrew Luck, they just need a quality franchise quarterback. Although many see Luck as the best quarterback prospect since Peyton Manning, that’s not why I brought him up. I brought him up because he’s already proven that he can take a laughing stock program like that of Stanford and turn it into an elite championship contender. It won’t be a Mark Sanchez-like situation in which he inherits an elite defense to mask his mistakes and ease him into his role. The next franchise quarterback the Bills take is going to have to do it himself with mediocre talent surrounding him. The chips will be stacked against him. It will be easy to fail. That’s why it’s critical to get the right guy. The bottom line is that the Bills can’t afford to miss on a quarterback this time around.

The franchise is at the tipping point. The new regime has settled in. They have brought in some talent. Whether the Bills dip back into mediocrity or take a giant leap forward will depend on who they bring in as their franchise quarterback. If they get it right, it will restore the hope of a city. If they get it wrong, the cycle will repeat itself. Your move, Buddy Nix.

[better days]

I think it was in the press conference right after the pick where Nix said that. Not arguing that Gabbert is a franchise QB - I am not a fan of his - but I am pointing out that the Bills are looking for one.

Anyways, bump for those who haven't had a chance to read this yet. I'll just post the article in here:

You may have heard Mel Kiper or someone like that say that, but all Bills official press conferences are available on the official site. No Bills official said that.