Buffalo Bills 2014 Draft: Rd1#4 WR Sammy Watkins; Rd2#44 C. Kouandjio; Stevie traded

[brian_griffin]

Continued from previous thread: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1562107

Edit: 2014 Bills Draft choices:

Rd1#4 (#4) WR Sammy Watkins, Clemson, Jr. Pick acquired from Cleveland for BUF 2014 Rd1#9, 2015 Rd1, 2015 Rd4.

Rd2#12 (#44) T Cyrus Kouandjio from Alabama. Pick acquired from St. Louis along with 2014 Rd5 (#153) for BUF 2014 Rd2#9 (#41).

Rd3#9 (#73) MLB Preston Brown, Louisville.

Rd4#9 (#109) CB Ross Cockrell, Duke.

Rd5#13 (#153) G Cyril Richardson, Baylor. Pick acquired from St. Louis along with 2014 Rd7#6 (#221) and 2015 Rd5 for BUF 2014 Rd5#9 (#149).

Rd6 (no selection in 2014 draft)

Rd7#6 (#221)

Rd7#9 (#224)

Click to read more...

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

1. Pegula
2. Jacobs
3. Golisano

Are my wishlist for next Bills owner. All 3 would be great but this is my order of preference. Pegula would be considered even more of a god if he ended up buying the Bills.

 

[brian_griffin]

Not responding to anyone in particular...

Not clear there's any strong motivation either way for a rapid sale. Assuming reported facts are true, and the team can't be moved, wouldn't it make sense for the Trust to operate the Bills, with profits accruing to the Trust?

Would the trust want to sell quickly? Not clear to me it would...

Would a new owner want to buy sooner rather than later? There could be larger benefits to waiting, especially since any sale will likely have significant debt financing.

I certainly don't have enough information to form an opinion.

 

[Husko]

Not responding to anyone in particular...

Not clear there's any strong motivation either way for a rapid sale. Assuming reported facts are true, and the team can't be moved, wouldn't it make sense for the Trust to operate the Bills, with profits accruing to the Trust?

Would the trust want to sell quickly? Not clear to me it would...

Would a new owner want to buy sooner rather than later? There could be larger benefits to waiting, especially since any sale will likely have significant debt financing.

I certainly don't have enough information to form an opinion.

Well, legally speaking, the trust would be under a fiduciary duty to maximize the interests and profits of the organization, and carry out whatever other instructions they have. So a good baseline question would be when a sell would maximize profits?

 

[msm29]

Not responding to anyone in particular...

Not clear there's any strong motivation either way for a rapid sale. Assuming reported facts are true, and the team can't be moved, wouldn't it make sense for the Trust to operate the Bills, with profits accruing to the Trust?

Would the trust want to sell quickly? Not clear to me it would...

Would a new owner want to buy sooner rather than later? There could be larger benefits to waiting, especially since any sale will likely have significant debt financing.

I certainly don't have enough information to form an opinion.

The Trust could maintain control of the team, make a few couple hundred million dollars per year and cash out down the road with slightly fatter pockets, or it could sell now, make it's $500 million-$1 billion and call it a day.

I'm guessing Mary Wilson isn't concerned with a year or two of profits.

Also, there are at least five seasons where the Bills can't be moved. If Wilson sells right away, it means that owner has to spend five years in the community before picking up and leaving. Any owner who wants to move a team to LA/Toronto would be better served buying Jacksonville, SD, Oak, etc. and moving right away.

 

[MayDay]

1. Pegula
2. Jacobs
3. Golisano

Are my wishlist for next Bills owner. All 3 would be great but this is my order of preference. Pegula would be considered even more of a god if he ended up buying the Bills.

Jacobs (74), Golisano (72), and Robert Rich, Jr. (73) are all well into their 70s. I'd rather none of them buy it because I don't want the franchise to be right back in this state of ownerless uncertainty 5 years from now.

Yeah, Ralph lived well into his 90s, but I think everyone realizes that is an aberration, even among billionaires. We shouldn't expect every owner to have unusual longevity. Average age of death for billionaires is 78.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Jacobs (74), Golisano (72), and Robert Rich, Jr. (73) are all well into their 70s. I'd rather none of them buy it because I don't want the franchise to be right back in this state of ownerless uncertainty 5 years from now.

Yeah, Ralph lived well into his 90s, but I think everyone realizes that is an aberration, even among billionaires. We shouldn't expect every owner to have unusual longevity. Average age of death for billionaires is 78.

Jacobs has several sons. The Jacobs family is going no where. I put Golisano 3rd due to his age and I am not sure if he has any heirs. Pegula could be in the same boat, he is in his 60s. What happens god forbid after Pegula? Would Kim and his daughters really run the Pegula empire afterwards?

Most owners are old because you must be a billionaire to become a NFL owner. And most billionaires aren't exactly young people.

 

[Djp]

Jacobs has several sons. The Jacobs family is going no where. I put Golisano 3rd due to his age and I am not sure if he has any heirs. Pegula could be in the same boat, he is in his 60s. What happens god forbid after Pegula? Would Kim and his daughters really run the Pegula empire afterwards?

Most owners are old because you must be a billionaire to become a NFL owner. And most billionaires aren't exactly young people.

I agree with Jacobs with his kids could take over.

I see Buffalo getting a group of about 10 people who buy the team. One person maybe puts up enough of his own for 40%

 

[MayDay]

Jacobs has several sons. The Jacobs family is going no where. I put Golisano 3rd due to his age and I am not sure if he has any heirs.

Difficult to find information on his family situation online aside from the fact he's been divorced a few times, but according to this Forbes profile Golisano has two children.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

I agree with Jacobs with his kids could take over.

I see Buffalo getting a group of about 10 people who buy the team. One person maybe puts up enough of his own for 40%

It would be amazing for Jacobs to buy a majority of the team and 10-20% of it is bought by Buffalo area businessmen. Then hopefully after Jim Kelly beats his health problems he can be brought in as a figure head and given an Elway esque job with the Bills as President.

I just hope with our new owner we can get rid of all the garbage that is the problem with this franchise. That means bye bye Overdorf, Littman, Brandon etc. no need for any useless executives dragging the team down like these guys have for the last 25-30 years.

Surprisingly our situation hasn't looked dire at all after Ralph passed. I am confident we will get a new owner with rock solid local ties and that the Bills will be here for another 50+ years. So many people who hate the Bills want us to move to LA or Toronto. Jacobs buying the team will shut those ignorant clowns up for good.

GO BILLS

 

[Fotes18]

It would be amazing for Jacobs to buy a majority of the team and 10-20% of it is bought by Buffalo area businessmen. Then hopefully after Jim Kelly beats his health problems he can be brought in as a figure head and given an Elway esque job with the Bills as President.

I just hope with our new owner we can get rid of all the garbage that is the problem with this franchise. That means bye bye Overdorf, Littman, Brandon etc. no need for any useless executives dragging the team down like these guys have for the last 25-30 years.

Surprisingly our situation hasn't looked dire at all after Ralph passed. I am confident we will get a new owner with rock solid local ties and that the Bills will be here for another 50+ years. So many people who hate the Bills want us to move to LA or Toronto. Jacobs buying the team will shut those ignorant clowns up for good.

GO BILLS

Brandon is not the garbage, he's actually quite the opposite. He's a brilliant Businessman that is extremely well respected in the NFL and Sports Business world. He's also the likely reason why the Bills are still viable and a healthy franchise in Buffalo. He's also the reason why there is some sorts of change in Buffalo right now. You think Doug Whaley gets a crack at the GM job if Brandon isn't there? No, they would've never went pulled a top exec from another franchise, Ralph simply would've promoted from within.

People often forget that Ralph essentially got really lucky with Polian. He wasn't a real hot name out interviewing for a ton of GM jobs. When Ralph gave him the GM job it was viewed as a mistake, and that Polian wasn't ready. Ralph just promoted him to the job to keep him from leaving to take a personnel job elsewhere.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Brandon was a Low level Florida Marlins exec when he got his start. He's not a football guy and it showed when him and Levy were virtually co-gms and after Marv left Brandon actually was the GM. He was so bad that they thought hiring Buddy Nix was a great idea.Who initiated the Toronto series? Ralph and Brandon. He should be let go with the rest of the bean counters when new owners come in. I want every single executive gone so we can start fresh and eliminate the stench of the last 15 years from the team.

 

[Fotes18]

Brandon was a Low level Florida Marlins exec when he got his start. He's not a football guy and it showed when him and Levy were virtually co-gms and after Marv left Brandon actually was the GM. He was so bad that they thought hiring Buddy Nix was a great idea.Who initiated the Toronto series? Ralph and Brandon. He should be let go with the rest of the bean counters when new owners come in. I want every single executive gone so we can start fresh and eliminate the stench of the last 15 years from the team.

I like you and all but you should really do some research.

He was much better than a low level exec with the marlins.
The NFL has him on many executive business boards for a reason, he's an extremely intelligent business mind.

Whether you hate it or not, the Toronto series original deal was sheer brilliance. Straight Revenues and it raised the season ticket base from Ontario by something like 50%. The "Co GM's thing" wasn't true, Marv was the GM, Brandon was being trained starting as early as John Butler, per bosses orders. Up until January of 2013 Ralph still called the shots. Boss gets what the Boss wants. It was then Brandon who realized there were better men for that job and had Ralph hire someone else. Ralph chose Buddy, not him.

All in all, Brandon deserves a ton of credit for the Bills even still being here. You can fail to see that all you want but it's the truth.

 

[jBuds]

Tom Golisano has been dating former tennis star Monica Seles for five years?

Wow.

Had no idea. Seems like a.... An odd match...

 

[MayDay]

Tom Golisano has been dating former tennis star Monica Seles for five years?

Wow.

Had no idea. Seems like a.... An odd match...

Yeah.

Remember reading about that back when he was Sabres owner.

Golisano could potentially be a good Bills owner. Don't know why he is so disliked by so many Sabres fans.

He rescued a terrible, bankrupt team that was at risk of relocation. Under his ownership the team went from the standings basement to the President's Trophy and two straight conference finals. He brought stability to the franchise, helped get us the Winter Classic, told Jim Balsillie where he could stuff it when he was sniffing around, and finally sold to the team to Pegula for probably less than he could have gotten from Balsillie or others.

Did he make some bad decisions and policies? Certainly. Briere and Drury, the Slug jerseys, to name a couple. But in my mind, the good out-weighs the bad and I'll always be grateful to Golisano as a savior of the franchise.

 

[whiplash]

Mike Williams got a nice welcome home: http://www.buffalobills.com/news/ar...75d-8f43-ab8086902c10?campaign=fb_buf_article

 

[jBuds]

Yeah.

Remember reading about that back when he was Sabres owner.

Golisano could potentially be a good Bills owner. Don't know why he is so disliked by so many Sabres fans.

He rescued a terrible, bankrupt team that was at risk of relocation. Under his ownership the team went from the standings basement to the President's Trophy and two straight conference finals. He brought stability to the franchise, helped get us the Winter Classic, told Jim Balsillie where he could stuff it when he was sniffing around, and finally sold to the team to Pegula for probably less than he could have gotten from Balsillie or others.

Did he make some bad decisions and policies? Certainly. Briere and Drury, the Slug jerseys, to name a couple. But in my mind, the good out-weighs the bad and I'll always be grateful to Golisano as a savior of the franchise.

Absolutely undoubtedly agree. No question.

 

[Fotes18]

Yeah.

Remember reading about that back when he was Sabres owner.

Golisano could potentially be a good Bills owner. Don't know why he is so disliked by so many Sabres fans.

He rescued a terrible, bankrupt team that was at risk of relocation. Under his ownership the team went from the standings basement to the President's Trophy and two straight conference finals. He brought stability to the franchise, helped get us the Winter Classic, told Jim Balsillie where he could stuff it when he was sniffing around, and finally sold to the team to Pegula for probably less than he could have gotten from Balsillie or others.

Did he make some bad decisions and policies? Certainly. Briere and Drury, the Slug jerseys, to name a couple. But in my mind, the good out-weighs the bad and I'll always be grateful to Golisano as a savior of the franchise.

I once had a friend describe Golisano like this to me. He said Golisano the perfect "wartime owner" and I completely agree. Can take a situation that's cloudy and clear out the mess and clean it up to make it healthy.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

1. Pegula
2. Jacobs
3. Golisano

Are my wishlist for next Bills owner. All 3 would be great but this is my order of preference. Pegula would be considered even more of a god if he ended up buying the Bills.

I would flip all. Pegula might be the worst in that bunch. Hes honestly a sideshow. You xould almost say Jerry Jones like but the NFL isn't popular enough for him to have enough attention. I saw a headline when he bought the team that said "Title in 3 years" Seems pretty bold but after that he hasn't brought in any major Free Agents that make a difference. In fact the team is worse than when he got it. Granted as much as the politician wannabe Golisano isn't beloved somehow the team was really great under him(or so my hockey friends that like the Sabres say) Maybe the ceiling from him was placed too high but they also didn't win a title. So it wasn't invincible.

I would go:

Jacobs(Obviously his ties are well documented and he has many sons and everything has a loophole that they could make it work)

Golisano(a little fuzzy on what it would look like after he passes but not a bad current option)

Pegula(sideshow. If this team is ran anything like the Sabres currently are you might s well look for that loophole where Ralph runs it from his grave)

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

I like you and all but you should really do some research.

He was much better than a low level exec with the marlins.
The NFL has him on many executive business boards for a reason, he's an extremely intelligent business mind.

Whether you hate it or not, the Toronto series original deal was sheer brilliance. Straight Revenues and it raised the season ticket base from Ontario by something like 50%. The "Co GM's thing" wasn't true, Marv was the GM, Brandon was being trained starting as early as John Butler, per bosses orders. Up until January of 2013 Ralph still called the shots. Boss gets what the Boss wants. It was then Brandon who realized there were better men for that job and had Ralph hire someone else. Ralph chose Buddy, not him.

All in all, Brandon deserves a ton of credit for the Bills even still being here. You can fail to see that all you want but it's the truth.

Brandon was GM for three years, the same amount of time as Levy was.The Toronto series may have been sheer brilliance for Ralphs pockets but it was nothing but terrible for the actual team.Losing a home game,especially ones late in the season going from the outdoor elements to an enclosed dome with fans who weren't even cheering for the Bills was bad.And the record showed.

Brandon was president for a whole month before getting a 5 year extension on the Toronto Series.Why?Because he is good at running a cheap organization and finding ways to make money appear out of thin air i.e The Toronto series.And just this past few months he realized the errors of his ways regarding the Toronto series and cancelled it for this season.78 mil over 5 years may seem like a lot for a team like Buffalo, but do you think about the other 25 successful teams would surrender a crucial home game every year for a mere ~15.5 million a season?

Brandon isn't a football guy he is a bean counter.And yet he is the President of the team and our former GM for 3 years.I can't wait until he is gone,and I am positive if Jacobs does buy the team he will be.He sounds like a nice guy and all but he reminds me of the Bills era from 2000-present and I want ALL traces of that team gone.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Bills playing the Lions on Thanksgiving?!?!!

http://nfl.si.com/2014/04/08/2014-n...yll-be-playing-detroit-lions-on-thanksgiving/


This would be amazing. Lots of storylines too with Schwartz facing his old team. Please make this happen nfl

 

[whiplash]

Brandon was GM for three years, the same amount of time as Levy was.The Toronto series may have been sheer brilliance for Ralphs pockets but it was nothing but terrible for the actual team.Losing a home game,especially ones late in the season going from the outdoor elements to an enclosed dome with fans who weren't even cheering for the Bills was bad.And the record showed.

Brandon was president for a whole month before getting a 5 year extension on the Toronto Series.Why?Because he is good at running a cheap organization and finding ways to make money appear out of thin air i.e The Toronto series.And just this past few months he realized the errors of his ways regarding the Toronto series and cancelled it for this season.78 mil over 5 years may seem like a lot for a team like Buffalo, but do you think about the other 25 successful teams would surrender a crucial home game every year for a mere ~15.5 million a season?

Brandon isn't a football guy he is a bean counter.And yet he is the President of the team and our former GM for 3 years.I can't wait until he is gone,and I am positive if Jacobs does buy the team he will be.He sounds like a nice guy and all but he reminds me of the Bills era from 2000-present and I want ALL traces of that team gone.

You should probably know: every single NFL team employs an entire army of what you call bean counters. He's not the only the Bills have and if he's gone, they will just replace him with another. He should never have been a GM. He's not that anymore. What he came in as was a well-respected money guy and just because you refuse to acknowledge as much, doesn't make it less true.
He was only recently put fully in charge of football operations and the first thing he did was help get Whaley and Marrone in place as GM and HC. The second thing he did was try and get the Toronto series you hate so much (rightfully so) cancelled "Russ Brandon has been working for months to convince everyone at One Bills Drive that moving on from the Toronto series is in the organization's best interests" (http://www.buffalorumblings.com/buf...3068/bills-toronto-series-no-game-2014-rumors)

Feel free to not like him but at least bother to actually read up on the history before you trash the guy. Or let's put it this way: you want Tom Donahoe back?

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

You should probably know: every single NFL team employs an entire army of what you call bean counters. He's not the only the Bills have and if he's gone, they will just replace him with another. He should never have been a GM. He's not that anymore. What he came in as was a well-respected money guy and just because you refuse to acknowledge as much, doesn't make it less true.
He was only recently put fully in charge of football operations and the first thing he did was help get Whaley and Marrone in place as GM and HC. The second thing he did was try and get the Toronto series you hate so much (rightfully so) cancelled "Russ Brandon has been working for months to convince everyone at One Bills Drive that moving on from the Toronto series is in the organization's best interests" (http://www.buffalorumblings.com/buf...3068/bills-toronto-series-no-game-2014-rumors)

Feel free to not like him but at least bother to actually read up on the history before you trash the guy. Or let's put it this way: you want Tom Donahoe back?

No I don't want Donahoe back but I want a top tier football guy as President. Of course every team has bean counters I just don't believe any of the front office execs of the worst franchise in the league should be back when new ownership takes over. Littman, Overdorf, Brandon Etc are the problem with the Bills. And yes I have researched Brandon, don't understand why he is so well liked around here. He promises us no stone un turned in our coaching search and he hires practically the 3rd guy interviewed. It's nice you say Brandon got us to cancel the Toronto series, except you don't mention anywhere that he was one of the driving forces behind getting it in place in the first place and one of his first moves as president was to extend that series for another 5 years. It's nice to see that he worked so hard to undo HIS mistake. He is the Bills version of Larry Quinn.

 

[sabresfan65]

Bills playing the Lions on Thanksgiving?!?!!

http://nfl.si.com/2014/04/08/2014-n...yll-be-playing-detroit-lions-on-thanksgiving/


This would be amazing. Lots of storylines too with Schwartz facing his old team. Please make this happen nfl

It can only be Buffalo and Miami, since this is the year the Lions play the AFC and they are the only 2 home AFC games the Lions have. Buffalo is a better story from the Schwartz angle.

 

[enthusiast]

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