WhitewalkerInPhilly

I think they're about to. According to Chris Brown, this is coming at as June 1st cut, meaning that the now the front office has another 7 million to play with now that they will have to pay in 2014. They wouldn't do that if they didn't intend to spend it.

Sounds reasonable for backup money. I swear to god, the story broke between me leaving the house and me getting to my car...

Get it DONE Buddy...it may be one of the last things you do as GM.

Seconded. I balked when I saw his age but seriously, those numbers from last year are phenomenal It's certainly worth considering, especially as his price would likely be on the lower end and I would immediately feel better about our CB situation.

Look, I don't think that anyone here thinks that Fitz is solely responsible for our failures and successes. But the truth of the matter is that we saw Chan Gailey use Fitz about as well as he could possibly be used, and it simply isn't good enough. Metzelaars pretty much summed it up: Fitz is an average to below average QB. You can win with an average QB if you have a dominating defense. We didn't, not will we this year, even with Pettine. I do see the line of reasoning in "Fitz isn't the best long term solution, but he's the best for now"...in fact, I used it last season quite a bit. Marrone has zero obligation to or history with the man. Marrone and Hackett are bringing in their own system, and all signs are pointing to it being very West Coast Offense, which relies on very accurate passing. All that does matter, and *should* matter is whether he thinks Fitz is capable of running his scheme. Nix's comments released today do not bear that up.

Also agreed. Would I love to have Levitre back this year? Oh hell yes. But now that he's made it to the open market, and with all the other problems we have the money we spend on him would be gilding the lily of an already solid O-line while our LB and WR corps are abysmal.

That is, admittedly, me reading into it. But again: last year, and even now THIS year, you have draft "experts" talking about how Glenn would be a perfect fit at guard instead of Tackle where he is now. If Buddy's designs were indeed to move Glenn to that position, then he would not be "set at tackle" because his starting Left Tackle would be elsewhere and we would be in the exact same situation as last year. Might I be wrong? Yes. Might Nix consider Levitre's departure so serious that he couldn't even CONSIDER someone else on the roster. Also yes. But it certainly would affect the odds if I was going to bet against the Bills taking an OL player in FA or high in the draft.

You know, while I have to say that the Deadspin people should definitely be looking into getting a good lawyer on retainer I have to say it's kind of nice to get a quick peek in at how things are going. It confirms that Nix feels the same way about the QB situation as many of us do: There is no immediate clear cut answer at this point as to who will be starting (at least until the draft), Fitz is not making backup money and is causing serious cap problems and if he's not going to negotiate the best plan would be to simply bite the bullet and cut him. To me it also is comforting that Nix feels safe about our O-line, even with Levitre departing. Considering the number of people who have been screaming "Take a tackle at 8 overall and move Glenn to guard" it makes me feel better about that situation. Overall, I don't think Buddy looks any worse than he did already.

Meh, I'd be ok with this. Last year I was shocked when Florence got the cut and not McGee, for what I assume was a salary related issue. I'm ok with him doing what McGee did last year for less money than McGee.

Dear God...so, the 49ers, who already had the talent to be a Superbowl team, get Boldin for a 6th round pick and STILL have 14 PICKS! The Ravens are losing a lot of players to free agency, while the niners are looking strong with young talent. I'm glad we don't have to play them this year.

I think we're paying him waaaaaaay too much. OK, he's a great returner, but this is an awfully big leap of faith for his coverage skills.

Exactly. There has been a trend to make the DE mode than just a line occupier, like how JJ Watt is being used in Houston. I can see a three man front of Williams-Dareus-Williams. Yes, all the time as being a coach for the Ravens and DC for the Jets leaves him completely unprepared for running a 3-4 defense...wait, I can't tell if you were being sarcastic or not.

Also, after thinking for a moment, I can see Scott fitting in well into 46 formation. I've rambled on about it before, but it essentially has the OLB and one ILB in a 3-4 system rush the line while keeping one ILB and the SS in at run support. It seems to fit Pettine's desire to bring pressure, and fully utilizes his tweener nature.

Very much so.He was talking about running a nickel as a base, and that as the league keeps getting pass happy we need to use more DB's. In the Jets greatest triumph under Rex Ryan (knocking NE out of the playoffs) the entire strategy was using a ton of DB's creatively. We'll see how free agency goes, but I would be intrigued to see a system running 5-7 DBs that mix up packages to bring in the SS to act as linebacker for run defense or on blitzes. I really want to see what Pettine can do!

Considering the McIntyre is talking about shopping around, this makes a certain sense. He was underused before, and with Chandler out at TE for a while, so if we're creative we can use him effectively.

He's lost a step. Living in Philly and watching a bunch of the games, I can tell that he's slowed down and not nearly at his best, and not worth the money he was getting paid. Could we get him dirt cheap? Maybe. He's on the wrong side of 30 in the speed position coming off one of his worst years ever. Probably not a long term solution, but it would end the "we have no one opposite Gilmore" problem for a year.

Well, let's all take a deep breath and remember that it's only a mock, and Kiper...well, he's not the most accurate. That said, Glenn was a phenomenal steal at LT. He did a bang up job as a rookie, and with a full offseason of prep, plus a HC whose background is with the O-line, Zebrie Sanders coming off IR and one of the deepest lineman drafts in decent memory. Do I think that we'll make a run for QB? Maybe, but the two areas where I have no fear for the bills is at RB and the O-line.

Well damn, I'm going to need a new name...

While I think we can all debate who is the best choice for each spot, I think everyone posting here an agree on a certain mentality: it's not so important that we pick up a big name during the offseason. I would much rather get 3-4 mid range acquisitions and plug the obvious problems at ILB and WR in advance. If we decide to let Levitre go, we can fill that spot during the draft.

I'm behind it. He's a good 2nd tier talent, and we can pay him as such. We need depth at TE, even if we supplement in the draft.

Eh, I don't think we was worth the cost. I would much rather us get someone else at WR or possible snag Keller from the Jets and try to run a lot of 2 TE

Of course they want him. Whether or nor Baltimore is willing to let him go after losing Ray Lewis is another story altogether. While an excellent player, he's going to get overpaid by whoever wants him the most. I would be happy to have him, but he's going to cost a bundle.

I would be ok with it under a very specific set of circumstances: 1) The Bills aren't willing to trade up to ensure they get Geno Smith 2) Geno Smith isn't available at pick #8 (I don't trust Barkley) 3) We decide that the money that it would take to keep on Levitre would be better served by getting 3-4 new free agents in that will immediate gaps at SS, WR and LB 4) Whoever is brought in is an absolute stud in the trenches and would be an immediate starter 5) we take a QB at the first possible opportunity in round 2 This is the only set of conditions where this would seem acceptable, considering the gaping holes we have everywhere else. Other than that, we have a lot of probe

I would argue that Dareus has had his peak performance while he was our nose tackle when he subbed for Williams. But really, we'll see.

I concur with the growing consensus that trading our 1st round pick to the niners is a good idea. For fun, I started working out where I would people in different schemes and I don't know about all the doom and gloom that people have been tracking. First of all, we haven't hit free agency yet. Personally, I'm hoping for Pace at LB and Landry at SS from the Jets, who already know how Pettine's system works. Landry should get paid, and Pace should have a low base, high incentive short term contract since there are only a few more good years. Moore would likely be a relatively affordable renewal for DE/OLB Second, there's Pettine's system to take into account. Pettine has talked about a hybrid 3-4, 4-3 and more recently utilizing a "nickel base", and considering his background this is sounding like a 3-3-5 system, where players are highly interchangeable around the field. Anderson was utilized as a hybrid DE/OLB for the Pats, and Moore would fit into that as well I believe. Another aspect is that Pettine likes his DE's not only to set an edge, but to attack the quarterback, like he did with Ngnata with the Ravens, and like JJ Watt is used by the Texans. Suddenly the front seven looks like this NT: Kyle Williams/Marcell Dareus/Troup DE: Marcell Dareus, Mario Williams, Alex Carrington OLB: Mark Anderson/Kyle Moore/Nigel Bradham ILB: Moats, Sheppard, Morrison Ok, the ILB corps leave much to be desired, but Minter and Teo would be decent second round pick improvements, followed up by a 4th rounder to help with depth That leaves the secondary. A lot of people have suggested that Aaron Williams be moved to safety due to his athleticism and physicality but getting beat in 1 on 1. While he isn't the best fit for SS, I do think he could do well as a NB if that indeed is going to be a base (or very common subpackage). I am somewhat worried about our #2 CB, but it looks like McKelvin is our guy for now (ugh) but there is still time for Rodgers and Brooks to take that away from him. I am still holding out hope for landing Landry, since he would make for a great 1-2 safety punch with Byrd (who we say we are going to franchise) as that open up room for use in the 46 formation. I did a post about that before, but the 46 is a variation of the 3-4 where there there are actually 4 down linemen, with the NT directly on center, the weakside DE (Mario) is in charge of quarterback rushing and breaking up reverses/counter plays, and the SS comes down to act like a linebacker, which would be a perfect fit for the athletic Landry. Am I sitting with a big old pitcher of Kool-Aid as I write this? Yes, with an extra bottle of bourbon but that's beside the point. While things aren't good, we can shuffle our players to minimize the loss of the old, dead weight players and we have the cap space to keep the ones we like, draw in some new ones in FA, and few choice picks in the draft can get us into fighting form (if not elite status) fairly quickly.