billsfan89

Kick the tires on the guy couldn't hurt with the suspensions and injuries hitting the backfield hard he could be a good rental to open the season with.

Bold prediction. Bills should be helped by returns from injury, draft additions, and familiarity with scheme in year 2. But being the number 1 scoring defense in the NFL is a lot. I would take the defense vaulting into the top 10. If the Bills defense is number 1 then I think they most likely will make the playoffs this year, the offense would just need to be below average if the Bills defense is the best in the league. I think the Bills defense will need to be top 10 at the very least if they hope to make the playoffs. The offense was 12th last year and even with some regression they should still be a top half of the league unit.

I think the Jets give Fitz a decent deal, they have such a ****ty situation at QB without him. But Fitz doesn't have the best options. They will shell out a decent price for him but not overpay either.

They seemed to get rid of him right as his production fell off. 2013 the last year he was here he didn't the best year. 597 yards in 12 games with 3 TDs. Even had he played the last 4 games it is likely that he would have fallen well below 1000 yards. They got a 4th rounder which is a decent return. In 2014 was the 49ers he had 35 receptions for 435 yards and 3 TD's in 13 games. His production picked up a bit in San Diego with 45 receptions and 497 yards with 3 TD's in 10 games. But he hasn't regained that 1000 yard a season form he had from 2010 to 2012. I do think that the Bills certainly could have used him as a slot receiver. Certainly think he would have preformed well as a slot player esp last season with Tyrod who could have used a shifty receiver like Stevie. No matter what though I think injury caught up with Stevie and his play would have declined. Still I think had the team had him last year Stevie would have give them 55-65 receptions 600-700 yards and 4-5 TD's out of the slot. Which is certainly more than they got out of Hogan last year.

It's not been a good off-season injury/luck wise. But hopefully things shake out positively. I am not uber optimistic but I am not ready to throw in the towel on the season yet either. A lot of these set backs are more so going to be guys missing training camp time which isn't a huge deal.

Franchise Snapper.

Part 5 was by far the most interesting. Tons of stuff on OJ's playing days and on the whole trial. But the post trail OJ era doesn't get the same amount of press and isn't covered much. It is a very interesting to see how a man who everyone thought publicly was a murder carried on with his life after the trial and the civil conviction.

The league salary cap was 143.28 million so payroll at most (If you factor in let's say 20 million over that in signing bonuses and the like just to be generous) is 163.28 million. So that's 59.32 after paying the players. Of course coaches salaries, training and support staff salaries, front office salaries, and team maintenance costs (Travel, equipment, facilities, Misc costs) are going to take up a huge chunk of that. But even if all those additional costs soak up that revenue you still have your ticket sales and local revenue. And most teams don't spend to the cap let alone go well over it. Each NFL teams in terms of real profit probably is making 50+ million in raw profit per year. Good time to be in that business.

I get what you are saying, Monroe at LT is a slight step down from Glenn at LT but then moving Glen over to RT would be a huge upgrade over what was there. But I think that overall that even if the Bills offered that (And Glenn was cool with it for some reason) Monroe still wouldn't accept. I think Seattle and Carolina offer him better locations in terms of there being a pure positional fit and a better overall opportunity for him. To sum up, 1- Glenn isn't going to want to move for a player he knows he is better then, even after getting paid. 2- The Bills wouldn't have the money to lure Monroe away from top teams like Seattle and Carolina who could offer at least as much if not more than the Bills to play his desired position without displacing a very good player at that position.

When you set up a league with non-guaranteed and limited guaranteed deals and players with short lifespans you end up with these types of holdouts. Just a part of doing business. Players aren't going to subject themselves to the wear and tear of another NFL season unless they get taken care of for the high quality years they played under a fairly low paying rookie deal. At 26-28 when most of these hold outs occur the players know they are leveraging the last 2-3 prime years they have for a new big pay day. To burn one of those years on a well paying franchise tag is a risk (Risk of injury, risk of under performance ect). A risk these players just aren't willing to take. I don't blame them but it sucks for the fans, the teams, and the players that these things just don't work themselves out for all parties.

Plenty of reasons to think the team will be better, plenty of reasons to think there could be regression. Both optimism and pessimism are equally valid.

He definitely had CTE but if he wasn't a sociopath he was at best a sever narcissist. I think that the CTE was definitely the source of his anger issues and highly aggressive behavior. But his choices regarding his career stemmed from being either a sociopath or simply a narcissist (Which most highly successful people are).

Rex Ryan always threw DL into coverage when he was with the Jets. If a DE or NT backs into coverage and you blitz off the edge mentally it throws QB's off as there are bodies where there shouldn't be. Personally I don't like seeing it often in a defense, but as a wrinkle thrown in now and again it seems to be effective.

Jags for the first time in a long are a very interesting team. Offensively they put up some numbers in 2015, Allen Robinson emerged as a legit number 1 receiver, Hurns emerged as a legit number 2 threat, and most importantly Bortles looked like he could be a franchise QB with over 4000 yards and 35 TD's second in the NFL. They also have a lot of offensive talent that could be tapped into Marquise Lee could be turned into a quality third receiver, Julius Thomas is pretty solid big target over the middle, and TJ Yeldon out the backfield could develop into a more than solid running back (Chris Ivory, Marcedes Lewis, and Denard Robinson are also solid secondary options depth wise). Their defense was pretty horrid but they added a lot of talent. Malik Jackson is a stud interior linemen, Dante Fowler could have an impact returning from injury, and they drafted two highly regarded defenders in Ramsey and Jack. Overall if their offense rounds out to be more consistent and their defense improves to be more solid they could win their division or make a run at the playoffs. But as far as their "No huddle" offense goes I don't think it will be successful if it is ran similar to the way Marone ran the Bills offense. But the offense is talented enough to make strides to be an elite unit and their defense could improve enough to give their offense enough support.

Berman had a good run, esp since he has been at it since 1979, at 61 I thought he would do it for a few more years before hanging it up. His style was a bit outdated but he was always fun to see.

True but mobile QB's also take more sacks because they keep plays alive. That has it's upside in that you sometimes see more mobile QB's have less intentional throw aways or rushed throws, but you also risk more sacks and fumbles. In the end good QB decision making is the key factor but sacks with mobile QB's can be a misleading stat. If a QB scrambles and loses a yard or makes no gain that counts as a sack even though throwing the ball away would have resulted in essentially the same thing maybe one yard more but it doesn't count as a sack.

No need to rush but if Sammy likely misses all of the pre-season and camp it could result in a slow start to the season for him. He can keep in shape relatively speaking but nothing can replace camp and pre-season in regard to getting ready for the season. Although I agree it would generally be a very easy transition for him to make.

I suspect Schwartz brought them in to be the Nickle and Dime backs. Honestly McKelvin excelled when Pettine put him in the Nickle and he kept that up the next two seasons when healthy. Brooks never show much and never got much of a chance to develop, he is a pretty solid depth option esp on the cheap. Nolan and Rowe will enter as the starters, given the resources Philly had to work with McKelvin and Brooks as you nickle and dime backs isn't too bad and it's made even better by the familiarity they have with the defensive coordinator and his system. Bradham should also be a pretty decent acquisition for them.

3 lockdown corners with Darby, Gilmore, and Seymour along with a good nickle/dime corner would be a huge advantage but lets see what Seymour can do when it actually counts

The XFL's lasting impact will be that it was the first league to popularize the sky cam. Still used in NFL and most leagues broadcasts. Other than that not much to be positively remembered.

I actually think Big Ben wouldn't have been very successful in Buffalo, early in his Steelers days that team was stacked and they minimized Big Ben's impact on games. They played with a great defense, solid Special Teams, and they had a offense that ran the ball a ton and only asked Big Ben to throw the ball when needed. From 2004-2006 Big Ben wasn't that great of a QB, 2007 he started to get better, 2008 he had an OK regular season but a phenomenal playoff run, 2009 he had a good season and since 2009 he has been putting together good to great seasons consistently. So in those developmental years from 2004 through 2006 I think that Big Ben wouldn't have had a chance to develop with the Bills. Let alone have enough talent around him to work through up and down seasons in 2007 and 2008. Granted it would have been much better than drafting Losman by trading away multiple good picks for a bum QB. But I am not so sure Big Ben would have developed in the same way he did with the Steelers in Buffalo.

As far as obvious moves that clearly should have been made at the time (No one realistically thought Brady should have been drafted by the Bills). Since 2000 the following come to mind. 1- Resigning Pat Williams 2- Drafting Gronk over Troup 3- Drafting Nagta over Whitner 3b- Drafting Mangold over McCargo 4- Not trading up for JP Losman 5- Not drafting CJ Spiller Honorable mention Orakpo over Maybin So many boneheaded moves made in the 2010 and 2006 drafts, on top of that throw in the Losman trade and the failure to resign Pat Williams and you have a long playoff drought. In 1 draft the Bills could have had Nagta and Mangold both would have anchored the interior of both the offensive and defensive lines for the rest of the decade and into the next one. In 2010 they could have selected Earl Thomas, Mike Upati, or JPP and then gotten Gronk. The Losman trade was throwing multiple premium draft picks after a bad QB. But the biggest blunder in terms of obviousness at the time of it happening was Pat Williams, Pat wanted to stay with the Bills seeking a fair offer, but the Bills beyond low balled him and he left for a more than reasonable contract with the Vikings where he was a monster DT from 05 to 09 (Not sure how good he was his last year there in 2010 but he started most of their games that season). The Bills let the man who could have anchored their defense for the next 5-6 years walk away because they low balled him. Just such a stupid move, everyone at the time knew it too which makes it that much more frustrating.

Another kick the tires type player, wouldn't mind bringing him in, but overall I think there are other vet options out there that they should bring in before him.

Would be worth kicking the tires on, more so as a punt and kick returner, the Bills could use an option. As a receiver though I don't think he is anything that much above or below the hodgepodge of what is currently there competing at the 3 WR position.

Boldin would be an interesting kick the tires type player, but 2 players That would be of real interest to the Bills would be Kevin Williams as a vet NT option and Vasquez on the O-line.