The firing of Rex Ryan aparently shocked Bills G.M. Doug Whaley (Jeffrey T. Barnes, AP)
The Buffalo Bills haven’t reached the postseason since 1999. In other words, this franchise hasn’t been on the right track in a long time. During the end of the year press conference, Doug Whaley, the Bills general manager, expressed that he had no idea why Rex Ryan was fired.
“We had just finished our weekly phone conversation with (Bills owner Terry Pegula) — myself and Rex,” Whaley explained, recalling the circumstances around Ryan’s firing. “Rex asked to speak with (Pegula) privately. After that, I was informed that Rex would no longer be our coach. I wasn’t privy to the conversation so I cannot get into those details.”
For the general manager not to be a part of the hiring and firing process is a real head scratcher. Rex seemed to have a lot of control in the personnel process drafting defensive players in the first, second, and third rounds of the 2016 NFL Draft. The early front-runner for the Bills job is interim coach Anthony Lynn. It remains to be seen who will lead Buffalo heading into 2017.