The Buffalo Bills haven’t made the playoffs in 17 seasons, but the team still managed to make headlines several times this off-season. The upheaval actually started last December with the firing of head coach Rex Ryan after a Week 16 loss to the rival Miami Dolphins. 

Between announcing major changes to the coaching staff and front office, trading away of some the team's best young players, and having one of the team's star players sent home ahead of a preseason game, a lot unique things have happened to the Bills in recent months.

TSN.ca takes a look at the low points, the high points, and everything in between that has transpired in Buffalo. 

Dec. 27, 2016 – Ryan fired as head coach; Anthony Lynn named interim HC

There was a strong sentiment that Ryan, who signed a five-year deal ahead of the 2015 season, would be fired at the end of his second season at the helm. Ryan's tenure in Buffalo was cut short of that mark by a week, after the team fired him following a 34-31 loss to the Dolphins on Christmas Eve.

More often than not, teams allow a head coach to finish the season before relieving him of his duties. When the opposite occurs, there’s generally a drastic set of circumstances warranting early dismissal. For Ryan, this was reportedly refusing to bench his starting quarterback, Tyrod Taylor, during the Bills’ final game of last season in order to avoid the possibility of Taylor getting injured and the team being on the hook a for reported injury guarantee of $30.75 million.

Lynn took over head coaching responsiblities for the Bills' week 17 contest, after serving as the team's offensive coordinator since Week 3 of that season when his predecessor Greg Roman was fired by Ryan. Lynn began the season as Buffalo's running back's coach

Jan. 2, 2017 - Whaley's disasterous end-of-season press conference

Doug Whaley's end-of-season media availability couldn't have gone much worse than it did. Whaley told the media that he didn't make the final decision regarding hiring Ryan, nor did he have involvement in his firing. He also admitted that at the time, that the next Bills head coach would report to the Pegulas and not him. As a result of what he said at the press conference, the events of the day drew attention from national outlets and not just local Buffalo ones, and the Whaley's role and real authority with the team was heavily criticized. 

Jan. 11, 2017 - McDermott hired as head coach

After dealing with all that accompanies the notorious Ryan for two years, Buffalo plucked the under-the-radar Sean McDermott from the Carolina Panthers to become its new head man on the sideline. McDermott had not held the title of head coach on any level prior to his opportunity with the Bills. Despite being a fairly young 43 years of age, the coach quickly established himself as a tough, serious leader – really the complete opposite of Ryan.

Mar. 8, 2017 - Taylor restructures contract to stay in Buffalo

As evidenced by his benching in the last game of the 2016 campaign, the Bills seemingly did not want to pay Taylor the large option in his contract. In order to remain with the team, Taylor restructured his previous six-year deal to a two-year one, which is essentially just a one-year ‘prove it’ deal. As opposed to the excess of $27 million that Taylor would have been paid this season, he's now owed about $10 million.

April 30, 2017 - Whaley fired

Whaley, the man chiefly responsible for hiring Ryan, somehow retained his job as general manager well after Ryan's tumultuous tenure ended, despite Whaley having served as GM two years prior to Ryan's arrival. Instead of firing Whaley at the end of the regular season, team owners Terry and Kim Pegula, opted to have Whaley fired the day after the conclusion of the 2017 draft.

With a reported rocky relationship between Whaley and McDermott, it's believed that the current Bills head coach was part of the push to have Whaley ousted. Oddly enough, the team allowed the former GM to pull off a draft-day trade with the Kansas City Chiefs in this year's draft, to move from the 10th overall slot down to the 27th to gain the rights to the Chiefs first-round pick in the 2018 draft.

May 9, 2017 - Brandon Beane hired as GM 

Beane was serving as assistant GM for the Carolina Panthers before coming over to Buffalo in a vertical move. McDermott reportedly has a very good relationship with the Pegulas and has quite a bit more power and influence with the team than most first-year head coaches around the league are given. Though Buffalo interviewed several candidates for its vacant GM job, Beane was viewed as the favourite from the very beginning of the search because of his ties to McDermott..

Aug. 11, 2017 - Watkins traded to Rams; Darby traded to Eagles

One of just many things that Whaley was criticized for during his time as GM was the bounty of picks that he traded in order to move up from the ninth slot in the 2014 draft to fourth in order to gain the right to select wide receiver Sammy Watkins.

The former Clemson star showed flashes of brilliance with the Bills as the team's top receiving option, but he couldn't manage to consistently stay healthy, missing 11 games the past two seasons. The Bills declined Watkins’ fifth-year option on May 2, and Beane traded away the oft-injured receiver to the Los Angeles Rams for cornerback E.J. Gaines and a 2018 second-round draft pick.

Cornerback Ronald Darby, who the Bills drafted with a second-round pick in 2015, had similar set of circumstances as Watkins in that he impressed early as a rookie, but regressed after that. Entering his third professional season, Darby was shipped off to the Philadelphia Eagles for wide receiver Jordan Matthews and the rights to a third-round pick in the 2018 draft.

The Bills announced the trades involving Watkins and Darby simultaneously on Twitter and subsequently created quite the buzz online.

Aug. 21, 2017 - Boldin abruptly retires after two weeks

Anquan Boldin, who has had a career worhty of Hall of Fame consideration, signed with the Bills on Aug. 6 and then announced his retirement from the club on Aug. 20. Boldin played in just one preseason game for the Bills, telling the media that he was retiring because he felt that his services were currently needed more as a humanitarian than as a football player.

Aug. 26, 2017 - Dareus sent home prior to preseason game vs. Ravens

Marcell Dareus, the Bills star defensive tackle, was sent home and not allowed play in the team's third preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens reportedly, because he was late in arriving to the stadium for the game. This was the latest slip-up by Dareus, whose Bills tenure has included multiple suspensions.

Aug. 28, 2017 - Ragland traded to Chiefs

Perhaps in another attempt to completely rid the Bills of the previous Ryan-Whaley regime, 2016 second-round pick linebacker Reggie Ragland was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs for a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft. Ragland, a star at Alabama, missed all of the 2016 season after tearing his ACL in the summer of that year. Ragland had reportedly (hyperlink) been in danger of not making the Bills 53-man roster for this upcoming season