Tag: Doug Whaley

Doug Whaley has second interview for Steelers GM job

Doug Whaley has second interview for #Steelers GM job:

There appears to be legitimate interest in former Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Steelers will hold a second interview with Whaley regarding their vacant general manager position.

Pittsburgh has more than taken their time in finding a new GM, post Kevin Colbert steeping down. The Steelers have interviewed at least 16 different candidates during their search.

Whaley, 49, was in Buffalo from 2013 to 2017. He was dismissed by the Bills after the 2017 NFL draft and was replaced by current general manager Brandon Beane.

That year’s draft had Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott already on board, however, Whaley was let go right after… as was the team’s entire scouting department.

Despite just interviewing in Pittsburgh, Whaley is a known commodity there already. Whaley worked under Colbert for 10 years before joining the Bills.

Whaley has not worked in the NFL since his stint in Buffalo and he is currently the vice president of player personnel for the XFL.

Whaley first interviewed with the Steelers in March.

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Doug Whaley interviewed for Steelers’ vacant GM position

Former #Bills GM Doug Whaley interviewed for #Steelers’ vacant GM position:

The Pittsburgh Steelers are pulling a page out of the Buffalo Bills’ handbook. in a way.

The Bills’ current front-office brass would tell you that they do their “due diligence” on everything. The Steelers are certainly doing just that.

In an effort to find a new general manager, Pittsburgh has interviewed 16 candidates. For those wondering, yeah, that is a lot.

And they’ve cast a net so wide it hit a former Buffalo general manager in Doug Whaley.

The Steelers announced over the weekend that the former Bills GM had interviewed for the position.

Whaley, 49, was in Buffalo from 2013 to 2017. He was dismissed by the Bills after the 2017 NFL draft and was replaced by current general manager Brandon Beane.

That year’s draft had Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott already on board, however, Whaley was let go right after… as was the team’s entire scouting department.

Despite interviewing in Pittsburgh, Whaley is a known commodity there already. Whaley worked under now former Steelers GM Kevin Colbert for 10 years before joining the Bills.

Colbert stepped down from his GM post after the 2022 draft.

Whaley has not worked in the NFL since his stint in Buffalo and he is currently the vice president of player personnel for the XFL.

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Former NFL GM on whether the Eagles or Giants have the brighter future at QB

Former #Bills GM Doug Whaley gave some insight into the #Eagles and #Giants’ future at the QB position and which team has the better signal-caller. It wasn’t even close #FlyEaglesFly

The Eagles will face the Giants twice over the next five weeks, and the state of the quarterback position will be a topic of discussion for both teams.

Philadelphia (4-6) has a much better playoff outlook than their rivals from New York (3-6) and with both teams having multiple first-round picks in next April’s NFL Draft, upgrading the quarterback position could be an option for the general manager’s of both organizations.

Hoping to get a better outlook on the future for both teams, Mike Kaye of NJ.com spoke to former Bills general manager Doug Whaley, about Jalen Hurts, Daniel Jones, and the quarterback position for both teams.

“Philly, absolutely,” Whaley told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday. “With Jalen, even if you get another quarterback, you got a guy on a second-round pick contract. But you also know he’s got some upside because he has shown flashes, he’s just got to be [more] consistent. So you still may have a possibility of him growing into that position.”

Whaley told Kaye that he’s seen enough from Jones over the past three seasons to get a total understanding of his skill set and where he falls short.

“To me, Daniel Jones with as many starts as he has, he’s pretty much ‘what you see is what you get,’” Whaley said. “What you’ve seen is what you got. And is that really bad? No. But is it really good enough to take you where you want to go? And he’s on that first-round contract.”

Through ten games of his first full season as a starter, Hurts has thrown for 2,159 yards, 13 touchdowns, and five interceptions. While questions remain about his accuracy and arm strength, you can’t discount his ability to make plays with his legs, while not turning the ball over on a consistent basis as well.

The leadership qualities and moxie that Hurts displays are intangibles that some feel Jones lacks with the Giants.

Jones, the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft, has thrown for 43 touchdowns in 36 career games, but he’s also been madly inconsistent while playing for two different head coaches and an inept general manager.

In the end, Whaley went with the Eagles because Hurts is a second-round pick, in the second year of his deal and Howie Roseman can still use draft capital to improve the position if he sees fit next spring.

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Doug Whaley compares his Bills to current team

Former Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley talks Buffalo Bills.

Former Bills general manager Doug Whaley, whether folks like it or not, does have his fingerprints in this current Buffalo team.

Whaley was a member of that search party which landed on Sean McDermott. Of course, how things eventually went, the two were never part of the same front office on a game day.

Because of that, in most cases and in the logical sense, Whaley is a predecessor to the current Bills regime and the proof is very much in the pudding in regard to that. The Bills right now are doing a much better job than Whaley’s ever did.

The ex-GM himself can even see that and recently compared the two. Appearing on the Go Long Podcast with Dunne & Monos, Whaley broke down what he sees in Orchard Park now compared to what was there before.

Whaley still thinks the rosters he assembled were good enough, but explained the distinct reason why he believes it didn’t come together.

“There’s a difference between having talent and having a talented team… We had a collection of really talented players, but they weren’t a talented team. You can have a guy that may be less talented, but fits in that team structure better than a guy that’s more talented,” Whaley said. “That’s exactly what the Bills have right now.”

Whaley went onto explain that the constant changes in coaching staffs and front offices, such as the type of one he worked in prior to McDermott’s arrival, makes finding such a work environment difficult.

“That’s the issue you have when you’re always changing coaches,” Whaley said, who played a part in the hiring of Doug Marrone and Rex Ryan as well.

Hindsight is 20/20, but the Bills did finally land on the right mix in their front office and coaching staff which has allowed them to build an all-encompassing product which works together like Whaley is describing. Whaley added that the current Bills have the type of team where you can find players that fit for specific jobs. His teams didn’t have that luxury and he would add players that perhaps would work in multiple systems in the future.

This naturally makes building a roster or really even committing to one coach for the long-haul pretty tough.

But through those tough times, Whaley mentioned that he thinks the Bills learned from it. During their first search for a coach which landed on Ryan in the end, Whaley said he and the Pegulas talked to many different types of coaches, from new names at the time like Adam Gase and Frank Reich, to a Super Bowl winner like Mike Shanahan.

Having seen so many different types of football guys appeared to help the Bills land on McDermott… or so Whaley at least believes helped a bit.

“We really wanted to give them the total spectrum about the type of coaches that were out there,” Whaley said.

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Report: Terry Pegula ‘loved’ Patrick Mahomes, Bills thought he’d fall

Buffalo Bills co-owner Terry Pegula “loved” Patrick Mahomes prior to the 2017 NFL Draft.

Playing the “what if” game is always a dangerous one. But we’re about to anyway. What if the Bills did draft Super Bowl winning, MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes in 2017?

A report on Wednesday states that had team owner Terry Pegula had his way, or at least insisted that things were done how he wanted, perhaps likr Jerry Jones would do, the current Kansas City Chiefs QB would be playing for the Bills right now.

According to a report in the newly-founded NFL newsletter Go Long with Tyler Dunne (subscribe), the team’s co-owner wanted to draft Mahomes with the No. 10 overall pick at the 2017 NFL Draft. Former team executives Doug Whaley and Jim Monos both backed that Pegula mentioned multiple times prior to the draft that he was very impressed with the Texas Tech QB.

Naturally it’s important to preface that the Bills are currently 7-3 and in the driver’s seat to win the AFC East with their 2018 first-round pick and starting quarterback Josh Allen. Everyone at One Bills Drive is happy with the way things currently sit.

But in the report, Whaley even reportedly told Pegula “This is your team,” prior to the 2017 draft, in an attempt to explain that he has the final say because it was widely-known by the Bills’ scouting staff that the owner loved what Mahomes could do.

However, it doesn’t take much more than an educated guess to see what happened in the end. Just prior to the 2017 draft, Sean McDermott was hired as head coach. He clearly did not want Mahomes at the No. 10 overall pick, so the Bills traded back with the Chiefs, took Tre’Davious White there, and eventually landed Allen with extra first-round picks via the Chiefs deal.

We all already knew McDermott was pulling the strings at the year’s draft because hours after it, the front office was cleaned out, including Whaley and Monos. A week-plus later, Brandon Beane was hired as general manager.

Again, we all lived happily ever after (or happier than a 17-year playoff drought).

But in an added twist, in 2017, the Bills still had hoped Mahomes would be there in a trade back to pick No. 27. Despite McDermott’s relationship with Chiefs head coach Andy Reid (their relationship was probably helpful in pre-draft trade discussions), the Bills were not sure what QB that Reid & Co. coveted with the No. 10 pick. Could it be Deshaun Watson (who went No. 12)? Nope, it was Mahomes, and now here we are.

As stated: Things did workout for both the Bills and the Chiefs. KC has risen to higher levels than Buffalo since 2017, but who knows what could have happened with the “what if” scenario here. Maybe Mahomes is ran out of western New York for liking ketchup on his chicken wings like he does with his steak? Maybe the Bills win a Super Bowl already?

Or… maybe we can just keep riding into the 2020 postseason with Allen and see what happens and just admit that maybe this Pegula guy had it right on Mahomes?

For much, much more on Allen, Mahomes, and the Bills’ fortunes moving forward, click here and visit Go Long with Tyler Dunne (subscribe).

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Report: Ex-Bills coach claims he wanted to draft Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott

Former Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach claims he wanted the team to draft Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott.

The jury is still out on Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, but he has instilled some confidence in the organization and its fans that he could finally be a long-term answer for the team at his position.

But one former Bills coach has revealed, or claimed, that he wanted the team to end their post-Jim Kelly drought for a franchise quarterback much sooner than (potentially) Allen. Former Bills quarterbacks coach David Lee told TheAthletic.com that he suggested to the coaching staffs and front offices he worked with in Buffalo that he wanted the team drafted two guys: Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott.

The two claims connected to quarterbacks are a bit different, though. In Wilson, he was selected in the third round of the 2012 draft with the No. 75 overall pick. Lee and then-Buffalo general manager Buddy Nix maintain the team planned to draft him, but not until the fourth round. He was already off the board.

Wilson is probably the best player that was selected in that entire draft, but at the time, the NFL wasn’t as open to the idea of smaller QBs like it is today. The now 31-year-old, 5-foot-11 QB has a Super Bowl title and seven Pro Bowls, including one just last season.

In Prescott, Lee suggested he and the front office at that time, led by then-GM Doug Whaley, were not on the same page. Lee liked Prescott, who was a fourth-round pick in 2016 and went on to be a two-time Pro Bowler most-recently in 2018. Whaley evidently liked Cardale Jones more, who ended up being the QB the Bills took in that year’s fourth round just a few picks after Prescott. Jones last played a football game in the XFL.

Hindsight is very 20/20 here for the Bills and Lee here. By comparison, Wilson would’ve been the total game-changing pick. Prescott might not be at that elite level, but you can’t argue he isn’t good. Only supreme talents get the franchise tag placed on them, and that’s exactly the contract Prescott is playing under in 2020.

By now, the question “what could have been?” is likely being pondered, but hopefully Allen puts any of these concerns to rest in 2020 and who knows what could’ve happen if Wilson or Prescott ended up in Buffalo. Would they have succeed to the levels they have? We can only wonder, but it is worth mentioning how different circumstances can be from team-to-team.

 

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Karlos Williams apologizes to ex-Bills GM Doug Whaley

Former Buffalo Bills running back Karlos Williams has walked back some statements he made reflecting on his past with the Bills while speaking to The Athletic. 

Former Buffalo Bills running back Karlos Williams has walked back some statements he made reflecting on his past with the Bills while speaking to The Athletic.

Williams did not hold back when discussing the Bills’ general manager back in the day, Doug Whaley. The former back who had a strong breakout season in 2018 used some profanity laced words in the interview, and find a way to make it worse than that.

“Doug Whaley can die in a hole and drink bleach. I’m dead serious,” Williams said.

Whaley, who now works as an executive in the XFL, apparently made Williams mad when the Bills drafted Jonathan Williams and signed Reggie Bush, he explained. Since the story was released on Thursday, Williams has now apologized:

The former fifth-round pick of the Bills was eventually released by the team in August 2016 after showing up to training camp out of shape and being suspended for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He did eventually latch on with the Steelers, but then had a third suspension attached to his name. On February 21, 2019, he was reinstated by the NFL but hasn’t been signed by a team.

Williams conducted the interview because he’s attempting to make a comeback in the future with the CFL. He signed a 2020 futures contract with the Toronto Argonauts. Williams added in the interview he refused to play in the recent XFL season because of Whaley’s role with the team.

 

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Which Doug Whaley players are left on the Bills after 2019?

List of Buffalo Bills players connected to former GM Doug Whaley after 2019 season.

With 2019 NFL season in the books, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane have officially been at the helm for three seasons.

That’s three seasons of drafting, signing free agents and letting players formerly associated with the team’s former front office, led by general manager Doug Whaley, go.

With the current on-goings of the Bills, here’s the latest update on the Bills’ diminishing connections to Whaley, former head coach Rex Ryan, and the team’s past here:

LB Lorenzo Alexander

Buffalo Bills outside linebacker Lorenzo Alexander. Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Following the 2019 season, linebacker, special teamer and team leader Lorenzo Alexander announced his retirement. The 36-year-old signed with the Bills to play special teams in April 2016, but due to injury saw a huge role with the team’s defense and earned a Pro Bowl nod with 12.5 sacks that year. In his Bills career, Alexander played 64 games, recording 274 tackles, 24 sacks and three interceptions. His leadership is what made him most appealing to the team’s current front office.

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