At the end of last year the Bills had lost their top three offensive linemen (Glenn, Woods and Incognito) and had no weapons at wide Receiver. In spite of these shortcomings the Bills did almost nothing. They used their second pick in the fifth round to select Wyatt Teller. They also went to free agency to pick up Russell Bodine (a back up centr in Cinci who had graded out as the second worst offensivve lineman by Pro Football Weekly) and Marshall Newhouse (who the Bills traded to Carolina for a CONDITIONAL 2021 7th round pick).
At Wide Receiver, the Bills used their 6th and 7th round picks to select Ray Ray McCloud and Austin Proehl. The signed Jeremy Kerley to a one year contract. In addition, they signed undrafted WR Robert Foster. These players were in addition to their retained group of Andre Holmes, Kelvin Benjamin and Ze Jones (all of whom had been acquired by McDermott and Beane the prior year).
During the year the Bills cut all three veterans, Kerley, Benjamin and Holmes, that McDermott/Beane had signed the prior year. They also signed Tyrelle Prior whom they promptly cut two weeks later. Two undrafted Free agents Foster and McKenzie showed terrific promise as the season progressed as did Ze Jones whose production increased tremendously over his first year.
On the offensive line, OC line coach Castillo was forced to juggle guys all year due to inexperience, bad play and genuine lack of talent.
WR coach Robiskie juggled a WR core that had absolutely no veterans in it. He took a bunch of undrafted rookies and turned them into a pretty decent group the last five or six games of the season.
So yesterday, the guys that created this mess at WR and O Line did what bad coaches and Bad GMs do…they pass the buck and fire both Castillo and Robiskie for their own negligence and malfeasance. It is absolutely absurd that McDermott and Beane would choose to pass the blame for their own incompetence on these two guys. There was only one offensive lineman on the roster who could start on another team in the NFL (Dion Dawkins). They moved Dawkins from right tackle to left tackle, a place where many NFL experts felt he wasn’t suited for, and he played decently for a first year position. The rest of the O Line was terrible. McDermott/Beane knew this going into the season and did almost nothing to address the problem yet Castillo gets fired. The WR group that McDermott/Beane brought in (Benjamin, Kerley and Holmes) all were CUT during the season because they were terrible. Robiskie took Foster and McKenzie and made them into serviceable wide receivers yet he gets fired also.
Here is a team that was strapped financially due to the salary cap and who gave their O Line and WR coaches absolutely nothing due to those financial constraints. Combine this with their own incompetence in responding to these needs via draft and free agency and they blame the O Line coach and WR coach??? You have to be kidding me here. What classless and BS move. McDermott/Beane deserve 100% of the blame for the offense’s inadequacies. Yet, as gutless, looking out for them selves guys, they pass the blame and fire guys who had no chance to succeed. Terrible.