That according to the Bills research department. Whaley (40), President and CEO Russ Brandon (45) and head coach Doug Marrone (48) have an average age of just over 44 years of age. It’s the youngest average age for NFL front offices.

“I stood here on January first and made some promises to our fans and quite frankly to people in our organization,” said Brandon. ”One of the things that I mentioned was we were going to do whatever it takes to restore the pride in the franchise moving forward. We talked about being progressive and forward thinking and attacking in everything that we do. We also talked about identifying top talent and empowering those people with making impact decisions. We did that today, by naming Doug Whaley the general manager of the Buffalo Bills.”

Some of the other younger NFL front offices in terms of average age were Cleveland, Detroit, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, San Francisco and San Diego.

“Russ (Brandon) and I talk a lot,” said Nix. ”Our offices are right here together and Doug Marrone too, we talk about everything. We started after the draft. At the time we were so consumed with the draft going into it and even right after talking about the guys we got. Then after things kind of settled down and we tried to figure out the right timing and to me that’s the big issue here. This is the best time.”

“We’ll try to get another one in free agency,” said Nix.

With the 2013 NFL draft concluded, three quarterbacks that made pre-draft visits to Buffalo went undrafted. Arizona’s Matt Scott, Tennessee’s Tyler Bray and Washington State’s Jeff Tuel all visited One Bills Drive earlier this month.

Buffalo also put Bray through a private workout. Seeing the clear focus on adding team speed and versatility Scott might prove to be the more coveted quarterback prospect as he offers the most athleticism of the aforementioned signal callers. But there will also be stiff competition from the other 31 NFL clubs to land any one of them.

“It will be competitive, it always is,” said Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon, who takes part in the recruitment of undrafted rookie free agents. “If you look back historically some of the successes we’ve had with some of the undrafted free agents and it comes down to recruiting and situations within your roster structure and opportunity. We’ll be very competitive.

“If you look at the statistics even just last year, the percentage of undrafted rookies that make rosters and practice squads, it’s significant.”

Nix admitted that there were a couple of times on day two and three of the draft that they considered taking another quarterback.

“Very seriously,” said Nix.

Appearing on PFC Radio Wednesday morning, Davis said he sat down over dinner with Bills President & CEO Russ Brandon, GM Buddy Nix, head coach Doug Marrone and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. When asked for his initial impressions of Marrone, Davis said he came away impressed.

“I think when you meet him, just talking to him, he seems like a player’s coach, down to earth and real and that’s something with a lot of coaches you don’t get a chance to see,” said Davis. ”He was really cool and all the things he talked about you can tell he’s a humble guy that doesn’t make choices because of money. It’s more about what he wants to do in life.”

Davis said he got a “good vibe” from the Bills brass.

“We’ll see what happens when I get there,” said Davis. ”I had a good feeling with them. They’re a good group of guys.”

“I leave tomorrow morning for Buffalo,” Davis told Pro Football Central radio host Brian Harrington Tuesday.

Even though Davis might be traveling Wednesday, his visit to the facility may not happen until the following day.

Davis said he also has a visit lined up with the Jets “in a couple of days.”

The talented tight end is coming off of a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered last October, but said he’s already running.

“I feel good right now,” Davis said. ”I’m only four and a half months out of my surgery and I’m already running and stuff so I know what I’m going to be able to do this year. I will be back to 100 percent.”

He insists he’ll be full go by mid-June, which sounds very amibitious. Typically torn Achilles require 11-12 months of rehabilitation. Davis’ physical will likely be the determining factor in assessing just when he can be expected to get full medical clearance to play again.

The tight end, who insisted he’s more than just a pass catching threat talked about his initial meeting with the Bills saying he dined with President & CEO Russ Brandon, GM Buddy Nix, head coach Doug Marrone and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.

“It was a good vibe,” said Davis. “It was more positive than I thought. I talked to them and they’re a good group of guys. I respected what they were talking about and it interesting. It was a good showing.”

In the next breath he did admit that the quarterback situation is a factor.

“That’s the main part of any team. You need that quarterback and you need that leadership,” he said. ”I’m sure whatever they do they’re going to go in the draft and try to get someone or make something happen. That’s something you have to think about, but I’m sure they have a plan for that, which every team hopes to have. I hope it works out. That’s an interesting situation.”

At the same time it sounds like Davis wants to look at all his options before making a decision, which means his visit with the Jets could go on as scheduled after his scheduled visit to Buffalo.

“I just want to see where the best opportunity is to be able to win,” said Davis. ”I had a great conversation with the Bills. The head coach was really cool. The offensive coordinator was cool. The GM and the president they were all great guys. I had a good time. We had a lot of good conversation about football and life. I liked the conversation we had, but it’s a business so you’ve got to see all your options and then make a decision. You can’t just make a decision after seeing one choice.”

Wednesday’s retirement of DE Chris Kelsay continues the turnover for the Buffalo defense.  Besides Kelsay, the past few weeks have seen the Bills part ways with veterans George Wilson, Terrence McGree, and Nick Barnett.

Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon says it’s all part of the process.

“It’s a different day,” Brandon said Wednesday night on The John Murphy Show.  “We’ve had individuals like Chris, who made his announcement today, Terrence McGee, George Wilson, Nick Barnett-guys who’ve contributed over the years, who are no longer with us.”

“I have all the confidence in the world in Buddy and the personnel department to make those decisions,” Brandon continued.  “That’s what they do in their evaluation process.  We’re two weeks away from the start of free agency and with the draft coming up in April, there’s a lot of work to be done. I’m very confident we will put the right pieces in place to make a significant run.”

The entire interview with Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon is available at buffalobills.com/johnmurphyshow

Bills all-time leading receiver and Wall of Famer Andre Reed is once again a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon when given the opportunity on SiriusXM radio to campaign for Reed laid out why Reed should be enshrined.

“He’s one of the best receivers of his generation,” said Brandon. “That’s what I believe should really be the focal point. The Bills were the winningest team in the AFC in the 90′s. A dominant team with a dominant offense and every single individual associated with our organization and in football will tell you what a big of that offense he was.”

In the next breath Brandon also stumped for Steve Tasker, who was a Hall of Fame semifinalist this year.

“We also need to get Steve Tasker into the Hall of Fame,” said Brandon. “He’s the greatest special teamer of all time. Why is he not in? If you game plan for someone every time he’s on the field, that was Steve Tasker. It’s a third of the game and he needs to be in the Hall of Fame with Andre.”

The HOF Board of Selectors will be whittling down the list of 17 finalists to a maximum of seven for induction on Saturday.

“Ryan Nassib and about 300 other guys are on the radar,” said Brandon. “The connection is there and you understand why. We had the opportunity our scouts to be at the East-West, Senior Bowl and Texas vs. Nation, we’re in the throes of it right now. The scouts have done all their work throughout the course of the collegiate season. The next layer is obviously the Combine and the evaluations on that front.

“There are plenty of good young quarterbacks out there and Buddy (Nix) and his staff will do an excellent job of evaluating that position and all positions. One thing about Buddy is he goes for the best player available and doesn’t reach. He’s stayed true to that in everything he’s done. We got a lot of criticism when we drafted C.J. Spiller three years ago. Buddy will handle that and we’re very confident in the work that he will do.”

Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon told a news conference at the Rogers Centre the franchise is already reaping the benefits of the just-completed Bills in Toronto series.

“Southern Ontario is now our number-two sister market when it comes to fans in Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday,” Brandon said. And he says ticket sales to Bills fans from Southern Ontario have doubled, over the first five years of the Bills in Toronto series.

“When we embarked on this, one of our plans was to make sure that we had more fans come from Southern Ontario back to Ralph Wilson Stadium.,” the Bills President said. “In five years, we have seen that growth go from 11-percent of our fan base from the Greater Toronto Area, to over 20-percent. So it has certainly worked for us back at Ralph Wilson Stadium.”

The President of Rogers Media, Keith Pelley, says the Bills have taken the first big steps toward stoking fan interest in the team and the NFL in the Toronto market.

“The appetite for the National Football league, the appetite for the Buffalo Bills is here in Toronto. We’re excited to be able to extend the five year deal today,” Pelley said.

The Bills new five year deal with Rogers Media includes five regular season games and one preseason game from 2013 to 2017. And the Bills say extension of their brand into Toronto, the fifth largest market in North America, is critical to their future success in Buffalo.

“We by no means, try to replicate the experience at Ralph Wilson Stadium here at the Rogers Centre. We have 55-years of tradition in Buffalo and in Orchard Park, we have five years of tradition here in Toronto,” Brandon said.

“But it is very important to our organization, moving forward in today’s NFL, that we regionalize our brand. Ten years ago, we went East and moved our training camp to Rochester, and we reaped the benefits of that. We’re like many other businesses in Buffalo, especially in the entertainment industry, in the tourism industry—Southern Ontario and Toronto are very important to our businesses.”

And the Bills made no bones about it. Part of the key to their success with the Toronto series is to put a better product on the field.

“Our commitment is that we have to bring a winning product to the field,” Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon told reporters in Toronto Tuesday, at a news conference announcing the agreement. “That’s where we have fallen down in this series. We talk about the atmosphere last year and it was not exactly conducive to what we want to build upon, but the reason for that was, we didn’t play good football—plain and simple.”

The Bills have only won one of the five regular season games they’ve played in the first five years of the Toronto series, the 2011 victory over the Washington Redskins.

Brandon says more wins in Toronto, and in Buffalo and elsehwere in the NFL, will mean more success for the Toronto series, as the franchise tries to extend its’ brand to the vast population center of Southern Ontario.

“From our standpoint, we need to win more,” Brandon said. ” We need a better on-field performance to turn people who are fans of the NFL, not particularly Bills fans, into Bills fans. We have a great segment of avid Bills fans here and over the last five years, we’ve won one game out of five. We need to turn that tide. And we’re committed to doing that.”

Monday night on The John Murphy Show, one of the members of that committee shed some light on the hiring process.  Assistant General Manager Doug Whaley joined GM Buddy Nix, President and CEO Russ Brandon, and Sr. VP of Football Administration Jim Overdorf in Phoenix for the six day interview process.

Whaley says the group got busy as soon as their plane landed  in the Arizona desert last Tuesday night.

“As soon as we touched down, we had an interview scheduled for that night,” Whaley said.  “And from that night, all the way until we left, we had interviews.  One day we actually had three.  We had a breakfast interview and then an interview late at night.  That was very exhausting.”

Whaley says all four Bills officials took part in the interview process, as the team talked to five candidates during their time in Phoenix.  GM Buddy Nix took the lead role in the questioning.

“Buddy headed the whole thing,” Whaley told John Murphy.  “He leaned on us for expertise for picking up different things that came from that interview that maybe he was concentrating on the next question.  Or just different nuances—my expertise on personnel, maybe I interjected on that.  J-O (Jim Overdorf-Sr. VP of Football Administration) answered if the coach had any questions on the cap or contract negotiations.  And  Russ Brandon was there to handle stadium lease questions and the ownership situation.  So we all had our areas of expertise, but Buddy was the main focal point of the interview.”

Whaley agrees with Nix’s comments from earlier Monday, when the GM said the Bills brain trust knew they had their man the first time they met with Marrone.

“I’d have to say he was what we were looking for, and the criteria that Russ laid out before we went to Arizona,”  Whaley said on the radio show.

“It was check mark, check mark, check mark on all of those aspects.  His total package.  His background, his demeanor, his resume, and what he wants to accomplish and how he wants to accomplish it.”

The John Murphy Show airs weeknights from 7-9pm on the flagship station of the Bills,  WGR Sports Radio 550.

Brandon indicated that when the Bills coaching search committee had reached a decision he called Mr. Wilson to fill him in.

“We had a long, open dialogue and conversation,” Brandon told Buffalobills.com. ”I told him exactly why we’re moving in this direction. He was excited and very aware of Coach Marrone’s background. He talked to Doug today and had a great conversation with him and said he’s looking forward to him leading us.”

For more on how the Bills landed Doug Marrone check the home page of Buffalobills.com Tuesday morning.

President and CEO Russ Brandon said over the course of last week the coach search committee met with Marrone five times.

Brandon was clear that Marrone distanced himself from the rest of the pack with each subsequent meeting.

Plain Dealer Browns beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot is reporting that the Cleveland Browns have already wrapped up their interview with Marrone with the Bills up next.

#Syracuse hc doug marrone has interviewed w/ #browns. Is interviewing w/#bills maybe today. Looks poise to go pro.

— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) January 4, 2013

That interview figures to take place in Arizona, where the Bills head coach search committee headed by team President and CEO Russ Brandon and GM Buddy Nix has been stationed since Tuesday this week.

Former Bears HC Lovie Smith is expected to interview over weekend for Buffalo Bills’ head coaching position, according to multiple reports.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 3, 2013

The Bills coaching search team, which includes GM Buddy Nix, Assistant GM Doug Whaley and Sr. VP of Football Administration Jim Overdorf, is scheduled to also interview Denver offensive coordinator Mike McCoy this weekend. It’s been reported that Smith will interview in Buffalo, and Schefter is saying that interview will happen this weekend. Whether it’s realistic logistically remains to be seen knowing these interviews can sometimes last 4-6 hours.

According to the AP, Kelly will interview with the Bills on Friday, a day after the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona. Kelly is considered on of the hotter NFL coaching candidates in the college ranks.

Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon, GM Buddy Nix, Assistant GM Doug Whaley and Sr. VP of Football Administration Jim Overdorf have all been in Arizona since Tuesday interviewing potential coaching candidates. The search committee has already interviewed former Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt and current Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton.

Buffalo’s search committee is then expected to travel to Denver this weekend for a reported weekend interview with Denver offensive coordinator Mike McCoy. That report also came from the Associated Press.

Per LaCanfora’s report Bills President and CEO Russ Brandon, GM Buddy Nix, Assistant GM Doug Whaley and Sr. VP of Football Administration Jim Overdorf met with Whisenhunt. They’re reportedly scheduled to interview Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton Wednesday.

Horton already interviewed for the Cardinals head coaching job today as he’s still under contract to Arizona.

It’s been also speculated that the Bills may catch up with Oregon head coach Chip Kelly as his team gets set to play in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ on Jan. 3rd.

“Yeah, we want to make sure we look at everything relative to our operation and make sure we’re making good and smart decisions,” Brandon told Buffalobills.com. ”And that really focuses on player evaluation and it focuses mainly on cap management. Scouting is still the lifeblood of our organization and it always will be as long as I’m here. It’s just other opportunities that present themselves. You see it throughout baseball; you see it in the NBA. It’s just another resource and a tool that should be in your war chest as you move forward.”

Managing the salary cap as it pertains to players likely means that the analytics will provide an additional layer in assessing what a player’s true worth is to the team based on advanced metrics of on field performance.

Appearing on Bills flagship station WGR Sportsradio 550, when asked where he might be headed to look for a new head coach said, “Arizona looks good this time of year.”

Joining him and Nix on the flight are Assitant GM Doug Whaley and Senior VP of Football Administration Jim Overdorf.

No word on what coaching candidates they could be meeting with, but members of the Arizona Cardinals coaching staff including now former head coach Ken Whisenhunt were relieved of their duties by that club Monday.

He began by talking about his day long visit with Bills owner Ralph Wilson in Detroit on Monday. 

“It was a rather emotional visit,” said Brandon. ”He told me he was passing the torch to me to run this franchise with zero restrictions and zero limitations.

“We understand and appreciate the frustration of our great fans. We acknowledge and own it and we will never run from it. This is an organization with a proud tradition, but I will tell you that this brand has been tarnished. It’s relevancy has been tarnished and it’s unacceptable because we just haven’t won enough games. It’s a production business and we’re in this to win games. It’s time to lead this franchise into the future with a new legacy.”