Two 20 year-olds just pulled off a hoax on par with if not better than the job done on Manti Te’o. Deadspin is reporting that on Friday, Buffalo Bills GM Buddy Nix, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Mark Dominik were duped into an embarrassing situation.
The two men ended up participating in a phone call with each other that wasn’t planned, and then the two general managers had their conversation recorded as they blasted the free agency system and more importantly, their quarterbacks.
On Friday afternoon, Buffalo GM Buddy Nix and Tampa Bay GM Mark Dominik shot the shit for about six minutes. They talked about their impending free agents, their frustration with a new three-day negotiating window, and the major handicap of not having a franchise quarterback. They had no idea that a pair of pranksters had set the whole chat up, or that those pranksters were still on the line, listening in.
The two young men over a two-day period, called Bills GM Buddy Nix office which is listed publicly for all to find, claiming to be Bucs GM Mark Dominik. After being able to get Nix on the phone, the two young men got scared and hung up.
Nix began to call the young men back, but they would not answer his call. Nix reportedly continued to call and call. They then came up with a brilliant idea.
They would call Mark Dominik, claim to be Buddy Nix, and had the two general managers thinking they were playing phone tag.
They call the Buccaneers, and while on the phone with Dominik’s secretary, Buddy Nix called again. They answered Nix’s call, didn’t say a word while they were patched through to Dominik.
The two put the call on speaker, recorded with a second cell phone, and listened to what will more than likely be an overwhelmingly embarrassing situation for both franchises.
The problem for Buddy Nix is that even though many would agree Ryan Fitzpatrick is not really good, Nix wasn’t supposed to ever be heard saying such a thing.
When talk turns to the Bills’ moves, Nix says he’s not planning on doing much because he’s handcuffed by Ryan Fitzpatrick. “We’re still struggling here with our quarterback…We’re not really struggling–he’s going to have to do something, or we’ll have to.”
More Nix on Fitzpatrick: “We just can’t afford to pay that kind of money for a guy who’s fighting for probably a backup job.”
The two both acknowledged that they either don’t have really good quarterbacks, or having one makes life so much easier.
The two acknowledge how many problems can be solved just by having a dependable QB. “If you get one, everything’s easy,” Nix says. As director of player personnel for the Chargers, he recalls having Drew Brees and Philip Rivers. In the draft, you can “take the best on the board. Don’t worry about it.”
Dominik recalls telling Colts GM Ryan Grigson, “Look, you got the best gig in the National Football League. I mean, you got a quarterback the first pick, you’re a genius for 10 years now.”
We will now sit back and wait to see what the fall out from such an embarrassing scenario will be.