The Bills have spent most of the week looking for a new General Manager. It’s still not clear whether the General Manager will be a traditional General Manager who runs the show, or whether it will be a G.M. in name only, who ultimately works for coach Sean McDermott.
Here’s the problem the Bills are facing: Unless they’ll be hiring someone currently not under contract with another team, they’ll have to offer true G.M. powers in order to avoid having the hire blocked.
That could be one of the reasons why the description of the job has shifted from “front office candidate” to General Manager. And that shift could give a team like the Panthers or the Texans reason to ask tough questions about whether Brandon Beane or Brian Gaine, respectively, would actually be getting the powers necessary to permit the move.
Of course, the Panthers or the Texans may not be inclined to make an issue out of it. And if the contract does indeed give the new G.M. true G.M. powers, there may be nothing to do.
The challenge then would be ensuring that the next G.M. realizes that his contract doesn’t mean what it says, and that he shouldn’t actually try to exercise those powers. Otherwise, he could be led out of the building by security before the end of the first season, Kokinis-style.