Mike Shanahan, How the Bills can land him.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 8:22 AM EST Comment 47 comments

I think most of us here are excited that Mike Shanahan is at the top of the Bills shopping list for a new head coach. Yes, we must temper our enthusiasm, we hear the talk, Ralph won't pay the money, Why would Shanahan want to come here over a major payday in Washington, but it appears he is willing to listen to the Bills sales pitch. With that in mind, I will lay out the sales pitch and strategy the Bills should use to land Shanahan after the jump!

I think Mike Shanahan can be a benefit to this organization even if he doesn't become our head coach. The key to this happening is by hiring him as a consultant for the rest of the season. The job responsibilities would be......

1.) Look at the film of our offense and grade our current players. Ask which ones he doesn't think are worth keeping.

2.) Look at the offense the past 3 years, and tell us where we could have done better.

3.) Discuss 2010 Draft prospects with the front office and scouts.

4.) Help current coaches with advice in offensive game planning and film break down.

Let him know, we want you to be our coach and are willing to pay you to do so. but we also understand, you probably won't accept a job until after the season, so you can see every opportunity available. Come help us out until then as a consultant, and you can really see what we have here, so you can have a good idea of what you would take over.

I think this is the best approach to land Shanahan.

It gets him here with no strings attached.

It gives him an insider look at what we have so he can see if he can win with what's in place soon.

If he doesn't decide to take the job, our current front office and coaching staff can learn some things about offense they are lacking in, and maybe gain some extra insight into the 2010 draft from his perspective. Maybe see some things they didn't realize, especially on the offensive side of the ball..

I think if the Bills take this approach, it is our best chance of landing Shanahan. He could figure out if Trent is spent, or would fare better in a west coast offense, and might find some players he really likes here to convince him to take the position. He also might pick up some things beneficial to him, like what to look for when drafting defensive backs.

Please Mr. Wilson, pay what it takes to hire Mike Shanahan as a consultant for the rest of the season, then go from there.

That I believe is our best chance to land him in Buffalo as the next HC of the Bills.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.

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The two best ways of landing Shanny are very simple:

1) Offer him 7-7,5 mio. dollar per season

2) Give him complete power of football operations

by BillsfanfromDenmark on Nov 21, 2009 9:36 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

He is making 7M sitting on his butt next year.

"Play like hell and win." - Perry Fewell
Your daily source for Buffalo Bills information.

by MattRichWarren on Nov 21, 2009 10:23 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Man, I could use some of that....

If I were a fired NFL coach like Shanahan or, ahem, Jauron I would be sitting on a beach somewhere happily counting my unearned millions.

Of course we could make things more challenging, Lisa, but then the stupider students would be in here complaining, furrowing their brows in a vain attempt to understand the situation--Seymour Skinner

by Ron From NM on Nov 22, 2009 6:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I hate the beach. Gimmie a golf cart, a six pack and a nice afternoon on the course. :-)

"Play like hell and win." - Perry Fewell
Your daily source for Buffalo Bills information.

by MattRichWarren on Nov 23, 2009 2:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

now that’s what i’m talking about

Never put salt in your eyes

by J2 on Nov 24, 2009 9:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't think so.

Shanahan is due about 7 mil per year from the contract Bowlen has to pay out.

Ralph could give Shanahan a 4 year guranteed contract for $25 mil. Where in year one, he gets $1, in year 2 he gets a $1 and would earn $13,98 Mil via the broncos the first 2 year then give him $10 mil in year 3 and $15 mil in year four, that’s roughly 6.25 mil a year + a 14 million bonus from Bowlen.

What head coach wouldn’t take a $39 million 4 year payday?

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 9:54 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Pat Bowler would have a (justifiable) atomic bomb go off.

"Play like hell and win." - Perry Fewell
Your daily source for Buffalo Bills information.

by MattRichWarren on Nov 21, 2009 10:24 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

gotta work the angles

if we want to get Shanahan here in a way Ralph would be comfortable, the remaining years on Shanahan’s contract definately gives some creative financing ideas where Ralph could get him at a price he would be OK with Bowlen paying the bonus for firing Shanahan.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 10:34 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Shanahan doesn’t make the rest of his Broncos’ contract if he takes another coaching job. He won’t accept a job that doesn’t pay him what he would make to not coach.

I signed up for Second Life about a year ago. Back then my life was so great that I literally wanted a second one. In my Second Life I was also a paper salesman and I was also named Dwight. Absolutely everything was the same. Except I could fly. - Dwight Schrute

by kaisertown on Nov 21, 2009 10:55 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If Im not mistaken.

The two years left on Shanahans’s contract states that bowlan has to pay the difference between shanahan’s salary so he is one of the top paid 3 coaches in the league, which opens up creative financing.

Bowlen is responsible for the 7 mil a year the next 2 years, We could give shanahan a 4 year $25 million contract guranteed, where we pay him $1 in years 1 & 2. Bowlen would have to pay him $14 million for the first two years.

Then give him Shanahan $10 mil in year 3 and $15 mil in year 4.

Going this route we get Shanny for 6.25 mil a year, he gets close to $40 mil for years, a win win for everyone except pat bowlen.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 11:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Should say

close to $40 million for 4 years.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 11:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That would never happen though. The Broncos have the right to contest something like that and I highly doubt the league would allow a contract like that. Here’s a quote from the Rocky Mountain News:

The Broncos are responsible for that amount even if the coach gets another job, but his new contract doesn’t equal what the Broncos were paying him. So the Broncos would have to pay the difference. The Broncos, for example, are still scheduled to pay part of Scott O’Brien’s salary even though he took a job as the Patriots special teams coach.

The two teams can argue about the difference, and even go as far as getting an arbitrator to decide, but the Broncos will be paying some of O’Brien’s salary no matter what.

http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/broncos/archives/2009/02/broncos_inbox_f_8.html

I have a hard time believing that the league and an arbitrator would agree that Denver would still have to pay Shanny 14 mil despite him signing a 4 year 25 mil deal here.

by kaisertown on Nov 21, 2009 11:55 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

they would.

once a contract is set, it is set……bowlen is on the hook for 14 million more, even if the bills backend payment until he is no longer on the hook…….

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 11:59 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

once a contract is set, it is set

As someone who deals with contracts on a daily basis, the popular contract law saying comes to mind:

“There’s never been a contract that can’t be broken.”

2010 Bills' truth in advertising: "Look out Cleveland, this year we score 6!" - bluecollarbuffalo

by thefourwinds on Nov 21, 2009 2:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

why?

Bowlen fired him, if he didn’t want to pay off that contract he shouldn’t have fired him so soon into into it.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 2:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

this is your best fanpost Buffalo Kid

always got to give props when someone writes a good fanpost. This is a unique approach to the coaching fanposts we have and will continue to see.

First, a major question is how much money would it cost to get Shanahan in here as a consultant? If it would cost us the same as one year of coaching is it worth the money to have no guarantee he’ll stick around?

Second, I love the idea of letting him grade our players. If we can get him to look at our roster, watch some games and then dissect the team we will have him hooked. Shanahan is a mastermind and if he even starts that I get the feeling hes the kind of guy that won’t want to leave until he solves the puzzle. The kind of person you ask to get you started on the first few moves of a rubik’s cube and then they can’t put it down till they are done.

Third, that idea also allows us to let Shanahan know we are willing to get hte pieces he wants. If he grades out and says “I would want to steal one of my old linebackers to replace Ellison” we cna let him know we are down with that. If he tells us he wants to trade up to get Clausen to fit an offense w ecan say we’ll get on that as well. It allows a give and take where management and Shanahan can get a feel for whether or not they like each other and can work together.

Fourth, one down side, if he does this and hten takes another AFC job – say the Raiders – he takes all his knowledge of our organization with him. Dangerous….

Fifth, this would get our young players AND vets to play SO friggin hard. THey will know that Shanahan – a two time Super Bowl winner – is analyzing their every move. A guy who is here to build a winner. For the locked up vets you want to impress to convince a guy like him to stay and help make you a champion. For young guys and vets with contracts running out you want to convinc him to let you stay. I love it. It could even inspire TO to play his butt off and stick around for a year. It would also get Fewell to put in younger players – Shanny has never been a defensive guy. He might be all for keeping Fewell around because the guys love him.

"you just have to know there's always going to be adversity. None of these games are going to be easy. Nothing will be given to us" - Paul Posluszny

by poz on Nov 21, 2009 10:01 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Is there any team?

Fourth, one down side, if he does this and then takes another AFC job – say the Raiders – he takes all his knowledge of our organization with him. Dangerous…

Who wants to steal what we know?

These guys are clueless……….

It would be a trojan horse if anyone stole what the Bills organization currently knows about football.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 10:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Unless....

You want to develop a DB

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 10:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

“Who leaps out of the rabbit?”
“Lancelot, Galahad, and I, leap out of the rabbit….perhaps if we tried a large wooden badger.”

by neverbeentobuffalo on Nov 21, 2009 9:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I bet a Million,

First, a major question is how much money would it cost to get Shanahan in here as a consultant? If it would cost us the same as one year of coaching is it worth the money to have no guarantee he’ll stick around?

A million should do the job, for the date.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 10:24 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He wouldn’t coach the Raiders since they, ya know, fired him…. I get the point though. :-)

"Play like hell and win." - Perry Fewell
Your daily source for Buffalo Bills information.

by MattRichWarren on Nov 21, 2009 10:25 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He wouldn’t coach the Raiders since they, ya know, fired him…. I get the point though. :-)

hahahaha, if I had Brians power I would write “I WILL BAN YOU”. But since I don’t, I simple “touche” will have to do!

But as you noted, the point remains. There is a risk to bringing a guy in to consult only to have him run off somewhere else….

"you just have to know there's always going to be adversity. None of these games are going to be easy. Nothing will be given to us" - Paul Posluszny

by poz on Nov 21, 2009 10:34 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There is a risk.

But i think his insight into the 2010 draft is worth a million, if we are drafting a QB in round 1.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 10:47 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ARE YOU REALLY?

OK with the front office as is, spending a first round pick on a QB?

I’m not……..

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 10:49 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Draft

What makes you think he has any insight on the upcoming draft. Do you really think he has been sitting around digesting everything that the college teams are doing???

by Bob on Nov 21, 2009 2:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Since he got fired,

He has been anaylizing film and brushing up on the 3-4 defense from what I have heard.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 2:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He’s been going from NFL city to NFL city learning about stuff. He visited the Patriots and a couple other teams.

"Play like hell and win." - Perry Fewell
Your daily source for Buffalo Bills information.

by MattRichWarren on Nov 23, 2009 2:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks Poz!

Everything Shanahan is missiin is what we have,

Everything we need is what Shanahan has,
’
I want him to be the next HC very much!

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 11:15 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Noooooo Clausen

If he tells us he wants to trade up to get Clausen

I’ll take Jake Locker anyday over Clausen

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 12:11 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Jake Locker is really an interesting kid, and I sure view him as the QB with by far the most upside of any QB coming out of college. His strong arm, toughness, competitive nature, willingness to take chances down the field, terrific athleticism etc. – all these things are very compelling to me to say the least.
Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy are two QB’s I need to watch more tape of to make a thorough analysis of what they’re about as QB’s, although I liked what I saw from Bradford last year. McCoy really lacks arm strength but he sure is a bright QB, who would flourish in an offense like Denver’s or NE’s, where they spread WRs out all the time.

by BillsfanfromDenmark on Nov 21, 2009 1:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I think Locker is the one we want to draft.

He has the arm.

He has the size,

He makes plays on his own.

He knows how to run for his life.

Perfect for us.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 2:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Locker

There is a good chance that every team that needs a QB is looking at Locker and crossing their fingers that he will declare for the draft. So its possible that three or four teams that probably draft ahead of us are in need of a Locker

by Bob on Nov 21, 2009 2:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well we know....

Cleveland, Detroit, and St’ Louis will finish below us, I see us picking somewhere between #4 and #10. Can we get Locker there? I sure hope so.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 2:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And Cleveland and St Louis both will be looking for QBs

"Are the Bills better than we think, or do they just suck the life out of most teams they play and drag them down to their level? - oompaloompa

by Joe P. on Nov 21, 2009 4:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

With Spags,

St Louis will probably draft defense if spags retains his position. As for cleveland, Mangini might draft locker since he doesn’t like what he has, but who knows? A few more Brady Quinn performances like today may make him decide otherwise.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 23, 2009 3:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Bills fans should be cheering hard for Brady Quinn to play well down the stretch.

by kaisertown on Nov 23, 2009 6:46 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Rothisl

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 2:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Rothlisberger was drafted at #11 if im NOT mistaken.

So there is hope for Locker

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 21, 2009 2:54 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

after two other QBs who were taken 1 and 2.

"you just have to know there's always going to be adversity. None of these games are going to be easy. Nothing will be given to us" - Paul Posluszny

by poz on Nov 22, 2009 4:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

excuse me

and 4

"you just have to know there's always going to be adversity. None of these games are going to be easy. Nothing will be given to us" - Paul Posluszny

by poz on Nov 22, 2009 4:05 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Leinart fell to tenth as the second QB taken. It’s not crazy to think that one of them could be sitting there, especially if Buffalo ends up drafting 5th or 6th.

by kaisertown on Nov 22, 2009 7:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah but realistcly we’re picking around the 10th pick again this years. I think that a lot of ppl are forgetting how many teams are actually worst then us this year.

Captain of the "Promote Bob Sanders to Deffensive Coordinator" band wagon.

by CanadianBillsFan on Nov 22, 2009 1:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There’s currently six teams worse than Buffalo. I think picking 6th is as likely as 10th.

by kaisertown on Nov 22, 2009 5:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yes there are currently 6 teams that are worst then the Bills, but there are 3 other teams that are just as bad as us too. With our luck we’ll finish the years just good enough to be better then those teams too, leaving us with the 10th.

I hope not, but bad luck everywhere does seem to be the Bills moto for the last few years.

Captain of the "Promote Bob Sanders to Deffensive Coordinator" band wagon.

by CanadianBillsFan on Nov 22, 2009 7:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think.

qw are picking top 5 with the departure of the monolith.

There's not a wide receiver who is fast enough, that J.P. Losman can't overthrow him on a fly pattern.

by The Buffalo Kid on Nov 23, 2009 3:07 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

monolith?

Captain of the "Promote Bob Sanders to Deffensive Coordinator" band wagon.

by CanadianBillsFan on Nov 24, 2009 4:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I haven’t done the math so I am only speculating….

4 teams have a worse record than Buffalo.
Of the 5 teams tied at 3-7 (could be six if the Titans lose tonight), the Bills have the toughest strength of schedule I think since the Seahawks get the Rams twice and play the lackluster NFCW and the Raiders and Chiefs play each other twice while the AFCW doesn’t have any team doign really well. That leaves the Redskins who are in a tough conference like Buffalo but like the Bills play a last-place schedule. Again I haven’t worked the numbers but the Bills are probably eighth or ninth right now in terms of draft order if it took place today. They’d be in the same spot if Tennessee loses. Head ot head losses don’t count in determining draft order.

"Play like hell and win." - Perry Fewell
Your daily source for Buffalo Bills information.

by MattRichWarren on Nov 23, 2009 2:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs