The writing had been on the wall for former Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley for a while now, and that made it extremely awkward as he tried to run the NFL Draft.
While ostensibly in charge of the Bills draft, Whaley was marginalized during the three-day process, according to Albert Breer of the MMQB. Rumors flew with reckless abandon, and it was unclear who was actually in charge of the operation. One source called it “the weirdest three days.”
Whaley was shifted aside in part by new coach Sean McDermott, who grew in power heading up to the draft. While he was not formally running the process, he had veto power over virtually all decisions, and was allowed to pull prospects from the team’s draft board if he did not want them.
Whaley had been on the chopping block for some time leading up to the draft. The decision to fire him really couldn’t have come as a huge surprise.
