VOR

Huh? He's 19. He's supposed to play the field for at least 5 more years and then get serious.

The team that has the best chance to win is the one with the better defense. That's true now, as it was back in the early 90's. My point in talking about a watered-down league is how the Bills probably stood a much better chance of winning a SB against the competition of today, instead of the powerhouses they faced. And which team is more on a roll? The Steelers are 8-2 in their last 10 games while the Cards are 6-4 in their last 10 games.

Same here. The Bills of the early 90's were the Cardinals of today and lost, mostly because they faced great teams in the SB. Unlike this new era of watered-down football.

Also, each team will have 3 tags to keep players (1 franchise and 2 transition) and the top-8 teams can only sign as many players as they lost, for no more than they signed elsewhere. It's far from the bonanza players thought it would be. Plus I believe their pensions vanish.

So you believe Obama has no control whatsoever over interest rates? Okay, go with that one. I'll still wait.

I'm waiting, for several reasons. The main reason is because I have an adjustable rate mortgage that I got 3 years ago, and my rate reset to 3.75% (from 5.375%) at the beginning of this year, and I'll save over $350 in payments for the next year. The other reasons are that I can't see rates going up with the housing markets and economy being so bad, and word is that Obama wants to lower mortgage rates further.

Johnson will be lucky to get multi-year offers for the vet minimum salary this off-season. He should have taken the Bills' offer last year. But sometimes people have to learn the hard way.

Still too much and no way the NFLPA allows that. That's a $4M discount from his franchise tag.

Again, considering the fact that no player has ever signed a deal averaging less than his franchise number, I'd say that the NFLPA does have a lot of power over this. Not to mention that agents don't want prospective clients to hear that they've negotiated below-tag contracts. It's career suicide either way. But okay, what would be reasonable? $12M a year? Would you still pay Cassel that amount based on his pedestrian numbers last year? Would you pay even $10M a year?

I'd still take Larry English.

Also look for Fitz and Boldin to get CRUSHED by Steelers' defenders, whether they catch the ball or not.

I think what you'll see is the owners doing to the players what happened to them back in 2006 (although it was of their own doing since they waited so long). They'll stall negotiations until the last possible second, expecting the players to start to get scared that they they won't be hitting FA (since they'll need 6 years in the league instead of 4 and since there will be 3 tags to keep them).

Thanks, didn't see the Senior Bowl measurements. That's good size, I think I'm sold on him. Pass rush is definitely a priority for the Bills. I'd be curious to know if the "experts" think he has room to add bulk to his frame. His height doesn't concern me, and actually it seems better to be a little shorter, since it's harder for the OT to gain leverage.

#2 is THE key to the new CBA. There is no way the owners agree to give a higher percentage to the players (59.5% of total revenue) than what they're giving now, and they'll be looking to drastically cut that percentage, probably looking to give a higher percentage (compared to the previous CBA) of shared revenue, that still comes in lower than what they're getting now. But thanks to their stupidity in giving-away the farm because they were under a deadline, they'll have a tough fight on their hands now that the players have tasted that much money.

True it's not black and white. But in your examples above, it was still defense that played a large role in the teams winning, even if we imagine that fluky play never happened and the Patriots won 14-10. You hold a team to 10 points, or even 17 like the Colts did to the Bears, and you usually win the game. Given the choice between a great offense and a great defense, I'll take the great defense, and that's a lesson I learned the hard way (4 times).

He'll be out of there next year.

Not really. A lot depends on ZONAs defense as well. Given the choice between the 2, I'll take Pitt.

This is so ridiculous, there's no point in even continuing to argue anymore. Why do you keep saying Cassel is a "sure thing?" If you mean "able to beat bad defenses," then yes, he's a "sure thing" in that respect. But outside of that, he's far from a sure thing, and on the contrary, his performance against Pittsburgh after 10 full starts and almost 11 full games is troublesome. That is, for a "stud" QB who is allegedly worth $14M a year. The NFLPA can't do anything about it? LOL! You're either naive or a homer.

Defense wins championships. Look at the Giants last year as exhibit A.

Looking at the videos, English has excellent burst off the line, shoulder dip, and speed in pursuit. And according to NIU's website (which often lie), he's 6'3" and 255#. I'd take him at 11th overall (even better if they can trade down a few spots and grab him) and go center in the 2nd. I'm not overly impressed with the other DE's.

The Pats lost Pioli. That's far greater than adding Reese, who nobody wanted these past 2 years. And those Young and Jones picks...

LOL! Cassel is so far from a "stud" player, it's actually funny. "Stud" players don't fail to show-up against the better NFL defenses, especially after over half a season of starting. And who cares if Morris was their top RB? The fact remains that the Patriots were 6th in rushing in the NFL this past season. It's not like their running game was an albatross, and in fact, was one of the best in the league. No, showing you can only beat bad defenses isn't better than not having proved you can't beat bad ones (i.e. a rookie who is unproven). Again, the issue is paying him $14M a year, or even anything over $10M a year. Once you get outside of the top 5 rookies, the pay scale is so far below that number. Yeah...given 4 years in a system, a great supporting cast, and against a weak schedule and defenses. Cassel is the ultimate caveat emptor. The NFLPA doesn't care about how desperate teams are for a QB/player; they're only interested in pushing-up the franchise tender. Any contract averaging below the franchise tender pulls the franchise tender down or at least doesn't change it. The NFLPA doesn't want that. Hence the reason NO franchise player has EVER signed a contract averaging less than his franchise tender. You think that's a coincidence? You think that the NFLPA would make an exception for Cassel?

The opposition barely laid their hands on Brady last year with the exact same O-line. And the Patriots' rushing attack averaged 10 fewer yards per game this year compared to the Falcons, while having the same yards per rush (4.4). Beyond that, no one would say the offenses were remotely comparable. Anyone would be hard-pressed to name the Falcons' 2nd WR, much less their 3rd WR and TE. And I anticipated you comparing Cassel to Ryan, which is why I said " t's not like he was a rookie or 2nd year player and took an average offense playing a hard schedule and did what he did." Ryan was a rookie taking over a pedestrian offense whereas Cassel was a 4th year player taking over the greatest offense in NFL history. Cassel becomes untradeable once he signs the franchise tender, because I'm betting (despite the stupidity of some GM's) that no team will want to pay $14M a year for him, plus the huge signing bonus, PLUS surrender draft picks, given he's only shown he can beat average to bad defenses. As I said, the NFLPA will demand that Cassel's agent look for deals that average over the franchise tender, because taking a deal below it decreases the franchise tag's value (and no franchise player has ever signed a contract that averages less than his franchise tender). They'll tell him "if you can't get a contract for at least the average of the franchise tender, you will have to take the 1-year tender." Now if he were a RFA or still under contract for his 7th round salary, I'd say he'd be a shoo-in for a trade because teams would seriously consider giving him $6-7M a year and a commensurate signing bonus, plus surrender a draft pick. But $14M a year, plus a huge signing bonus, plus a draft pick or picks, given his struggles against good defenses (and the fact that he didn't play well against the Steelers, which was later in the season, means that "he'll only improve" is far from guaranteed)?

An average QB with the same amount of time in the NFL (4 years, in the same system no less) could have put up the numbers Cassel did, with that supporting cast. Virtually the exact same offense last year (obviously with Brady) broke NFL records for scoring. And against a much harder schedule than this year's. It's not like he was a rookie or 2nd year player and took an average offense playing a hard schedule and did what he did. But let's look at the stats. He had 5 games where he scored more than 2 TD's and none were against top defenses (all were ranked 15th or worse). When he did face a defense ranked 14th or better (5 times), he had 1 TD, 4 INT's, and 3 lost fumbles. Hardly the stuff of legends. So you wouldn't call him average? What would you call him? A top-3 player, which is what he'll be tagged/paid as? Why would Reese have said he's worth a ton? I don't know. Maybe for the same reason he was unemployed for the last 2 years. But let me backtrack on what I said that no team will offer a 1st rounder for him. I don't underestimate the levels of stupidity of some GM's. I'm sure someone could be impressed that he threw for multiple TD's against the likes of the Broncos, Jets (once), Dols (one), Raiders, and Cardinals (across the country in frigid Mass when the Cards already wrapped-up the division), and added over 400 yards in the Jets and Dols game. But it will be a costly mistake, namely his (the GM's) job.

If he's franchised, his agent will be obligated to look for deals averaging at least the franchise tag tender of $14M a year. While teams want a QB, who would pay that much for an average-at-best one? I liken Reese to Donahoe. More or less irrelevant since the coach was so good.