Coach55

Anyone concerned that T.O. may get a bizarre offseason injury. Notice he is the only superstar who is not currently retired... http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?...ce=NFLHeadlines

I question whether or not Brandon has alterior motives. Now with Rhodes as a solid #2 for the next 2 years, he may be looking to move Lynch given his off the field antics. This could also be the reason why he hasn't given Fred a contract yet, knowing that if they do move Lynch and Fred is the #1, he will be expecting a lot more than $2.5mm/yr. Given most backs only last 3-5 years, Jackson could start for 4 solid seasons and be done at 31. Lynch could be good for 6-8 more seasons, however from an economic standpoint if turns out to be "great", they are not going to pay him the money that he wants. If Brandon is truly thinking long term he may ship Lynch away as it would be the better "economic move" without giving up much talent at the starting position.

Just looking for thoughts on what everyone is thinking. Will add other proposed options.

I completely disagree. There may be more draft coverage, but now more than ever people just are concerned with the premier schools. It is just as rare for a player to come out of a lower tier school as it was in the past. However, in this day and age more emphasis is put on the draft as GM's need to save face. Therefore teams stick to their high draft picks based on "potential" and rarely take an undrafted guy of equal or better quality. That's why you have people like Fred Jackson, who could start on most teams, have to take extreme unorthidox ways (via indoor football)and catch a break (series of injuries) to get on the field. People like Mike Williams, Rob Johnson, JP Losman, etc. have all of the physical tools and were highly sought after. GM's don't ever want to admit they are wrong. That's why Clarence Coleman (http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/sports/football/archives/01news/coleman6.htm) was never given a fair shake during the Donahoe era, despite tearing up pre-season for several years. Nobody ever gets everything right, but I think that's what separates the great GM's from the rest. Bill Polian, for example, was never afraid to cut or demote anyone, regardless of when picked.

and he had the team's best mullet.

What happened... back in the day we used to get starters out of the late rounds, now we can't even get practice squad guys (Steve Johnson not included)... Some late rounders 81-96 81 - Robb Riddick (Round 9, Pick 241) - Solid Backup - short yardage guy 82 - Gary Anderson (7, 171) - Didn't play for Bills, but one of the best kickers of all time 85 - Ron Pitts (7, 169) - decent starting Free Safety and now a decent announcer 86 - Mark Pike (7, 178) - Special Teams Extraordinare 86 - Butch Rolle (7, 180) - #2 TE that only caught Touchdowns, literally 87 - Keith McKeller (9,227) - TE who the K-Gun is named after 87 - Howard "the House" Ballard (11,283) - Probowler 88 - Jeff Wright (8, 213) - Starting NT 88 - Carlton Bailey (9, 235) - Starting ILB 88 - Martin Mayhew (10,262) - Starting CB for Washington Redskins 90 - Marvcus Patton (8,208) - Starting LB 90 - Mike Lodish (10,265) - Decent reserved DL and Special Teamer 90 - Al Edwards (11, 292) - Decent #3 receiver and KR 91 - Mark Maddox (9, 249) - Decent Reserve LB and Special Teamer 92 - Kurt Schulz (7, 195) - "I know nothing!" 95 - Darrick Holmes (7, 244) - decent #2 RB 96 - Jay Riemersma (7, 244) - Starting TE Oh how I miss the good late rounders (08 may have been decent - the jury is still out)

How about Rob Johnson? Without the NFL's most sacked per dropback qb (1 per 6.76), Dougie might have led us to the promised land. I rewatched the music city miracle - if we had any offense in the first half, we would have ran away with that game. Instead - good' ol Rob Johnson was sacked 6 times on 28 dropbacks and hit a whopping 10 of 22 passes (45%) for 131 yards. Tennessee only had 194 yds of total offense. ROB YOU SUCK. Wade - What were you thinking!

Eugene Parker clearly likes to take the amicable path in negotiating by advising his players to holdout as opposed to showing up for camp: Hines Ward - 2005 Richard Seymour - 2005 Walter Jones - 2003 Emmitt Smith - 1990, 1993 Derrick Brooks - 2001 Devin Hester - 2008 Cedric Benson - 2005 Laveraneus Coles - 2008 Jason Peters - 2008, 2009 Steven Jackson - 2008 Of his 18 clients listed on Wikipedia, 10 had holdouts. Of the 8 that didn't - 3 were rookies last year.

Parkas? PARKAS?!?! True Buffalonians wear shorts in the winter...

Larsen was basically a 6'5'' 300 lb Norwegian Beast. He didn't start playing football until his Junior year of College and in the two years he was there he had somewhere in the 15-20 sack range. The Bills used a late round pick on him as a potential project player. He spent 2 seasons with the Bills, having 2 sacks in 15 games and was primarily used on Special Teams. He holds the NFL combine record for bench presses at 45. Did 51 at UTEP. He claims his best was 57. Now he is a boxer in Norway 10-0-0 (8 KO's)...

Leif Larsen bench pressed 225 51 times and he had a GREAT career with the Bills....

The draft is a complete crap shoot. There is no such thing as a reach. If you could redraft players after seeing them play in the pros a couple of years a few things would probably be different - - Jason Peters would have actually been drafted - Mike Williams would have not (and he was considered a good pick at the time and Levi Jones was a reach) - Tom Brady probably would have gone before the 6th round - Marques Colston may have been drafted slightly higher than 4th last Less than half of 1st round picks become successful starters. If the Bills "Reach" to take someone who will immediately start, so be it.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/...yers/18830.html I think this a relatively decent description of Fine. So far he hasn't proved this wrong...

Fullbacks are generally a waste as they don't really pose a threat to defenses, thus you don't have to assign a dedicated player to cover them (both in the run and the pass). They are good for opening up holes, but you are better off putting another offensive weapon on the field and spread the d. It works better, plus opens up the pass (hence why the early 90's Bills were consistently a top rushing team, whereas the more recent "run-focused" teams with a traditional FB rarely broke the top 10) As for our "two talented, mobile, small tight ends" - Small - yes. Mobile - eh... not for their size. Talented - Shouman has shown decent talent, but isn't a #1, the jury is still out on Fine. They need a gamebreaker and given the remaining offensive weapons, it would behoove them to bolster more pressing needs (DE and OG) and spend a later round pick on TE. If they really wanted to get interesting they would spread the offense with 3 WR and 2 RB and get the best 5 skill players on the field - but Turk hasn't shown me that he can build an offense around his players yet.

Travis Beckum could be the solution to our TE dilemma. This guy has got everything we are looking for and since he missed most of his senior season should slip to the 3rd or 4th round. He could be an immediate starter. Plus this will allow us to address our DE and OL/LB needs with our 1st two picks. FYI - made known of this person from a big-time nfl insider - can't disclose source. http://www.fftoolbox.com/nfl_draft/profile...rospect_ID=1248

He should hook up with the octomom and start a sitcom - "Just the 27 of us".

Bring in Holt and trade for Boldin... Run and Shoot baby!

Time to bring back the Run and Shoot. Forget our crappy TE's. Bring in Boldin and spread the love.

Royal - not a loss - Mr Fumble shouldn't have been starting anyway Dockery - overpaid, but this left a huge hole - need this fixed (can Bell step into guard?) Greer - loss, yes, but McKelvin should start making Florence a solid nickel Hangartner - is an upgrade at center, albeit a small one, though he is better The team is down to 4 positions to address - TE - Shouman and Fine are servicable at best LG - Demetrious Bell or go to the draft DE - They should cut both Kelsay and Denney and get a decent end with the money they save both overpaid and overrated OLB - Ellison is servicable, but we need an upgrade

Your missing two key personnel - Turk and DJ. They run when they expect you to run and throw when they expect you to throw. Very predictable, terrible play calling, consistent game costing decisions. The talent is there, but can they overcome the coaching quality...

What is the current rumor on the street with respect to the O-Line? Now that we have released Dockery and signed Hangartner my thoughts are as follows: Both Tackles are good - Peters, Walker and Chambers as your #3 Right Guard - Butler is good. Center - I presume Hangartner comes in and immediately starts with Preston and Fowler both being 2nd rate. Left Guard - ??? Guard 3 - I presume they will keep Preston as a backup for his versitility. Does this mean they start Demetrious Bell at LG or do we just have a big hole? As for TE - given our TE's are servicable at best, has there been any discussions of moving Hardy to TE (he clearly isn't that good of a WR as he can't get separation, but his size may make things interesting if he was covered by LBs). Or is he just too skinny?

Sometimes you are just better pulling the plug on guys. Just because they are a 2nd rounder, doesn't make them good. Let's look at some of the Bills' historic 2nd rounders: 92 - James Patten - DT - Bust 93 - John Parella - DT - Bust - didn't make it the first year 94 - Bucky Brooks - WR - Bust - tried to convert him to S his 2nd season 95 - Todd Collins - QB - Never amounted to anything 96 - Gabe Northern - DE - Tried to convert him to LB, good pass rusher, nothing else 00 - Travares Tillman - FS - Travares Who? 02/03 - Ryan Denney/Chris Kelsay - two overpaid, underachieving players who always show glimpses of potential but not enough to be an everyday starter. Hardy showed nothing last year and is now coming off a bad injury... Put him on the PUP and let him practice.... maybe he could be a decent #3 in 2010...

It won't matter. Hardy is going to effectively be redshirted this season and put on the PUP list. This way they won't need to cut any of their receivers, plus give Hardy another year to develop. If they don't. my thoughts is Hardy misses the cut.

You can't forget James Loften - although he only spent a few seasons in Buffalo, he is probably one of the better players to dress in a Bills uniform. Others to consider - Elbert "Goldenwheels" Dubinion, Pete Gogalak - first soccer style kicker in Football changed the game, Steve Tasker - Best special teamer ever - again changed the game, Jim Ritcher - Buffalo Bills Ironman, Ruben Brown - not... It really depends what you are looking for - most talented Bills, most talented player, or players who just truly bleed blue (Freddy Smerlas, Darryl Talley, etc.)