5. Dolphins show Jason Taylor the door
Don't fault the Dolphins for letting him go. Taylor's skills were waning, and he thought he deserved a bigger role in Miami than he earned at this stage in his career. But the Dolphins completely mishandled the situation, and they received a public backlash as a result. After Taylor linked up with the Jets, he and the Dolphins exchanged an awkward war of words, and 'Phins of yore came out of the woodwork to defend Taylor and blast the organization. It should have been handled better by both camps, and it might take a while for the resentment to subside.
4. Patriots don’t land Anquan Boldin
He's got the diva receiver stigma, but the only thing Boldin ever really complained about was his contract. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick told reporters in March at the NFL meetings in Orlando, Fla., that the team never really considered trading for Boldin. Yet, prior to Boldin's trade from Arizona to Baltimore, reports indicated the Patriots were the favorites to get him, so the truth lies somewhere in between. Boldin could have been a tremendous asset in New England's passing game, and the Ravens merely surrendered a third- and fourth-round draft pick, which is chump change for that kind of talent.
3. Jets replace running backs
The Jets had the best running attack in the NFL last year. Not even a question. It was so dominant that it hid Mark Sanchez's blatant rookie struggles. So, what did the Jets do? They got cocky and replaced Thomas Jones and Leon Washington with LaDainian Tomlinson and draft pick Joe McKnight, who puked at rookie camp. (Side note: Do you realize how difficult it is to toss your cookies at rookie camp? They run around in shorts and no pads, go from drill to drill and try to learn the fundamentals of the playbook. They're not exactly walking to school uphill in the snow both ways here.) The Jets also made a very unpopular decision to dump left guard Alan Faneca and hand the keys to draft pick Vladimir Ducasse.
Shonn Greene looks like the real deal, and Tomlinson could be effective if he's willing to accept a backup role, which seems like a stretch. Maybe the Jets also realized Washington wouldn’t fully recover from that broken leg, and they decided to take a chance on McKnight, who has never lived up to his hype. In the end, though, these are way too many questions and far too many hypotheticals. If the Jets stood still, they would have been just fine.
2. Bills forget to show up for the draft
Running back C.J. Spiller might turn out to be a superstar, but he can't play quarterback or help out a paper-thin offensive line. They didn’t address the O-line until the fifth round, but instead used a third-round pick on a defensive end who might be a fourth-stringer. Buffalo also passed multiple times on quarterbacks Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy. Failure is one thing, but Buffalo's draft performance was downright obnoxious.
1. Bills hire Chan Gailey
He failed to win a playoff game in two seasons as the Cowboys head coach, and Georgia Tech never finished in the top 25 during his six years as the boss there. Gailey was the Chiefs' offensive coordinator in 2009, but he was canned during the preseason. Naturally, the Bills believed the best has yet to come for the 58-year-old, who was hired as their head coach in January.
