TimGraham

The NFL has said there will be a draft in 2011 no matter what.

I did not drink any football players under the table last week.

I love him as a player. But I wouldn't want him anywhere near my locker room.

The difference between what I face in my job and what I do here is that I don't get paid to come here. ESPN pays me to deal with the comments I receive at the bottom of my blogs and in my mailbag and wherever else. When I come here it's because I enjoy it. When I stop enjoying it, then I will find something else to do. If your wife nags you at home and you decide to go out with the boys to have some fun, do you feel compelled to walk up to a table full of women and ask them to yell at you because, after all, that is what's waiting for you at home? I haven't pulled the plug on the thread. I intend to be around. But I'm not going to stop by every day because I need TBD to maintain my health insurance and retirement plan. I don't expect to be treated special, but when I feel like dropping by, I'll drop by. To all of the people who have offered their support and understanding, I appreciate your sentiments. You're the reason I got motivated to become involved with the site to begin with. When the Super Bowl is over and things settle down, I'm sure I'll be around more frequently.

Schottenheimer is going to say he wasn't interested the next time he talks about it publicly, too. That's the gamesmanship involved in these matters. And Joe Mesi didn't suffer a brain bleed. I've never been more comfortable with my sourcing, folks. Choose to believe what you want.

Maybe it's time to shut this down.

Sure, I can tell you my sources. Then they would never speak to me again. And all of the things they know they would keep to themselves. That means you'll get less information. In reality, you have two options: 1) Believe me based on my track record. 2) Dismiss my story.

I've never professed to be a draft guru. Saturday is my travel day during the season, so I don't get to see as much college football as I would like. I can't project any prospect's NFL career, especially at that position. Brian Brohm was the No. 1 player in Mel Kiper's mock draft a couple years ago. As for the Bills' QB position in general, I think it's manageable for the short term, but they don't have a franchise quarterback on the roster right now.

I agree. You would think this has been some sort of wakeup call. But we don't really know what's going on with Ralph.

How many agents have we heard from? Have we heard from Gruden's? Weis'? Harbaugh's? Holmgren's? Chances are we have -- in a way. That's where you get "sources." And then you need to discern who has the best sources, people who write for church bulletins and have cable-access TV shows, or connected reporters at newspapers and major TV networks.

You're absolutely right. The only way to beat San Diego is in a shootout.

That's an interesting take. I have no idea what you're referring to, but I thank you for sharing.

Mariucci looks like he might be headed to Oakland. I spoke with Trestman recently and he said he was happy in Montreal. I'm skeptical, but he has no reason to lie. He's always been a straight shooter with me.

I have mixed emotions on that. I covered that 2007 Dolphins team. It was a mess. He was misguided by his convictions, but I admired him for being authentic and -- although sometimes maddening to deal with -- true to his vision. The guy can coach a defense, and he's one of the classiest people I've ever covered. But I do think he'll get another shot.

Not other GMs. Other people who want to be GMs.

Peter is connected and doesn't make stuff up or say things for effect. There are a lot of personality issues in the NFL, and I can see a top candidate being turned off by the Nix hire simply because they might have crossed paths at some point. But I personally haven't heard serious backlash within the NFL except from some insiders who would like that have had a crack at interviewing for the GM gig.

I haven't been able to find one. It was the same when I was covering the Sabres. The NHL didn't track them. So what you had to do was call around to the other 29 teams and compile a list. And two of them, including the Leafs, had a policy of not giving out that information. So the list always had problems. I'd imagine it would be similar in the NFL.

A 3-D thread about a one-dimensional writer? I'm all for it.

The Jets don't have a first-round bye. So the Bills wouldn't be allowed to interview him until the Jets' season is over. No sense in contacting the Jets now.

The Bills don't want anybody to know anything about their search. I think there has been an overload of information on this job relative to other job searches I've covered.

A lot of gamesmanship going on right now. I wouldn't be surprised if Cowher is pulling some media strings to help drive up his price. If teams get nervous that he might actually return to CBS, then they might throw more money at him. Or maybe he simply doesn't like what's out there. We're left to guess.

Umenyiora is the only player on that list who does anything for me. Pennington is shot. He's coming off a third shoulder surgery, and this one could be a career-ender. The best he can hope for is a team taking a flyer on him as their backup. Ferguson is a decent player, and maybe he helps serve as a stopgap if you convert from 4-3 to a 3-4, but he has a lot of mileage on that body.

Editor's note: I had a couple of requests to start a new thread because v2.0 was beginning to get a little unwieldy. I've split off everything beginning with Tim's latest round of replies into this one. Members might also be advised to read and understand "A point of emphasis on manners" before posting in this thread. And as always, Tim, thanks for agreeing to do this. -LC Garrett hasn't only been ignored by the media for the Bills opening, but for ALL openings. I think that's because he's so beholden to the Cowboys that he's entrenched. I'm not privy to what's in his contract, but considering his salary, I wouldn't be surprised if he gave away some of his freedom to look around for head coaching jobs.

My pleasure. I know I haven't been on the site as much as before, but finally moving into the new house the day before Thanksgiving threw off all my routines. As things continue to settle down, I'll be around more.

The only thing I can think of is symbolism. New Year's Eve, starting the new decade fresh. I can't read anything else into it right now. I don't believe this signals any other move on the horizon. The coaching search seems like it will take a while.