I'm excited by the hiring of Buddy Nix as the Bills new general manager. I'm excited because I know him, I know his background. He was around when we were playing, more so near the end of my career. From all the people I've spoken with it's a great start for the Buffalo Bills.
Back when I first knew Buddy I respected him, I liked his enthusiasm and that hasn't changed.
I think a lot of people out there were wondering with a rebuilding project like this, do you hire a general manager, or do you hire a head coach first? He's a guy that knows a lot of people and he will narrow it down for us.
Having a GM whose expertise is personnel it's key not only in terms of knowing where to look for players, but who to go after. And it's more than just knowing about players too. It's knowing about people that have to find those players for you. Being a general manager is a lot like being a head coach. You're only as good as your assistants. You're only as good as the people going out there and mining talent for you.
The best part about this hire is his track record is proven. He has the experience and we'll see what happens. In the short time I spoke with him Thursday he knows that change has to be done and he wants change.
I haven't talked to him extensively about what he's looking for in a head coach. I know he's looking for an up front leader, not a coach that is laid back. A coach that will speak his mind, but at the same time command respect. As much I like offense I have to admit I wouldn't mind seeing a head coach with a dominant defensive personality. I'd like to see somebody that's been in the battles and had to perform under pressure.
It's hard for me to say being a quarterback on offense, but if you have a top notch defense they can change the course of a game and really help an offense win. I'd like to see a defensive-minded head coach.
That being said, Buddy knows he's got some major work ahead of him and not just with finding a head coach, but also assembling players that he believes are a fit moving forward. He's coming in and he's already up against it. So we'll see. It's going to be an interesting four or five months, an interesting January, heck an interesting next week.
Looking ahead to this offseason I know fans are excited and hiring a general manager this week is a great step in the right direction because you needed to start there. We've got a GM now that can hopefully get us the people that we need to have in here.
I told Mr. Wilson when we were talking recently that there are decade teams. There are teams of the 70's, 80's 90's and they were just talking about the teams of this past decade on television. I told Mr. Wilson that we're going to start this era from 2010 to 2019 as the era of the Buffalo Bills and it started on Thursday.
