BB Fan 4 LIFE

J.P. Loss-man 3.3mm A. Crowell 1.9 mm J. Greer 1.0 mm R. Royal 2.3mm D. Preston 1.0mm M. Fowler 3.3 mm J. Peters 4.45mm D. Dockery 6.3 mm Grand total Gross cap space for free agents created '09 = 23.55 mm Minus T.O. 6 mm Minus D. Rhodes - 0.6mm Minus J.Hangartner - 1.42 Minus R. Fitzpatrick - 0.9 D. Florence ??? 5 mm? Total Free Agency Cap Expenditures '09 = 13.9mm Net Cap space Created = 9.65mm Anyone have different figures, or at least a figure for D. Florence?

2008 pick #28 Lawrence Jackson (Eric Wood) 3.6mm 2008 pick # 51 Malcom Kelly (Andy Levitre) 1.5mm Pretty close.

No balloon burst here. I'm aware of who may be replacing Greer at corner. Are you saying any of these is an upgrade over Greer? My point was whoever is replacing Greer (who was our former #2) it will be a net loss. Youboty and Corner were below Greer on the depth chart last year, and would've been again this year if he stayed. Drayton Florence...I'll be honest, I'm not that familiar with. I fetl Greer was competent last year, and he would have been a great Nickel. I've heard Greer and Florence are about equal in terms of talent, that said, given that Florence is coming to our team new, and Greer had experience within our system, I grade this as a net loss. I think Crowell was pretty good. We could've re-signed him, we didn't. There is a chance we could sign one of these guys, and I hope we do. That being said, it hasn't happened. As it currently stands I grade releasing Crowell to replace him with Ellison a net loss. Actually, Hangartner started the most games he had in his four year career: eight. That's 1/2 the season. I don't know what else to call him other than a backup. That being said, I'm praying he's better that Fowler, which doesn't seem too hard. However, again, we destroyed our continuity by releasing our the left side of our line and our center. If I had to concede on one thing, it woudl be that I don't know for sure one way or the other if Hangartner will be better at dealing with Wilfork and Jenkins than Fowler/Preston. As for Dockery, was he a superstar? no. He was a player we knew to be a competent guard in the NFL. He was a guy who was familiar with our system. He was a foundational building block. My humble philosophy, is that when a Front office gets some building blocks in place, (which I think we had last year) you keep them there. You look for the icing to put on the cake. You can't put together a post season team if you're constantly trying to rebuild your foundation. In Free Agency the front office released/did not re-sign the following starters. Peters Dockery Crowell Greer Fowler Preston Royal That's a lot of holes to plug with new people unfamiliar with the system. We did pick up Hangartner Rhodes (3drb) and TO in FA, but only one of those people actually filled a hole. I'd expect this from a team in a total rebuild mode like the Lions, not a team on the brink of the playoffs. Our draft was good in light of the holes we created for ourselves to fill. That being said, imagine what we'd be if would could've been looking for the icing and not the baking powder.

Name calling is for first graders. Are you a first grader? A rookie is a rookie is a rookie is a rookie is a rookie. Being a rookie means that if you float along not knowing what you're doing, its expected. if you make an impact, it's a wonderful surprise. You know, you're probably right, the unproven Wood or Levitre will be better than Dockery. No doubt. i'm sure you've seen tons of film of them pounding NFL nosetackles. Right? Dockery was definitely not better than a rookie. Right. That's why we paid him what we did, and its why the Skins are paying him that way now. All rookies are better than Dockery. ok. Hangengartner is a backup, Wood is ... a Rookie. Can we say they upgrade from Folwer/Preston, no. We certainly hope so, but we really don't know anything about Wood in the NFL, and Hangegartner is a BAAACCKKKUPPP Buffalo! Who are we getting to replace Crowell? Please, enlighten me. List for me the available talented OLBs we're scouting and willing to pay for. Son, sit down, I'm going to tell you something. In the old days, we would have a problem like this and the old man woudl sit down with his checkbook and make it go away. In case you haven't noticed, we haven't been to the playoffs in a DECADE, and those days are over. Ellison is probably our starter this year. Nevertheless, I agree that since we had Ellison last year, and we'll have him again this year, its even. I'm just disappointed we didn't resign Crowell. McKelvin WAS ALREADY GOING TO REPLACE GREER...Hello... McFLYYY...So who is replacing Greer as our #3? Don't know? Neither does anyone else who has posted here. Don't be so gullible Mcfly.

It will be really interesting to see what kind of contracts we sign with Wood/Levitre. We took 'em pretty high, which means we're going to have to pay them. The real question will be whether we actually even saved any money by releasing Dockery and trading Peters. Something tells me we saved a couple million dollars. So, was starting from scratch worth it?

With an O-Line, there is somtehing to be said for continuity. Players who play together for a while get better as a unit. I'd love to see where you got your stat. NFL.com says Trent was sacked 23 times last year. 10 QB's were sacked less, meaning, as a unit, our team was in the top 1/3 in the league in pass protection. Not bad. By releasign Peters, we weakend ourselves at both tackles, and by releasing Dockery and both the Centers who had experience in our system, we're starting from scratch. The whole idea of an offseason, is to get better. What we did, was get worse, and hope our picks will pay off in 2011. I hope....oh god how I hope...I'm on this Board in January citing my own post and saying I was wrong. Only time will tell.

Actually, I think with the exception of Walker, everyone listed above is a backup.

Lets talk here and now 2009-2010 Certain people on this board have been drinking the kool aid in Buffalo. There is absolutey no way Walker is an upgrade over Peters. Further, there is absolutely no way that whatever unproven, late round draft pick the Bills plug in at RT will be an upgrade over Walker, who I thought looked pretty good last year at RT (if he hadn't he wouldn't be getting moved). At center, what you HAD, was a below average center in Fowler. He sucked, especially against Jenkins. HOWEVER, what you HAVE now is a college kid who has never seen an NFL DT. He MAY be an EVENTUAL upgrade, but TODAY, he's an athletic college kid who set down his beer long enough to show up on draft day. Sorry, but he's a DOWNGRADE for THIS season. No one THIS YEAR will even come close to replacing Dockery. He was not worth the money, but our next best alternative, (which is what a responsible FO looks at) was ... you guessed it another college kid...who oh by the way...you reached for high in the draft...so now you get to pay him top flight money, kind of like Dockery, but without the experience. So, for THIS YEAR, despite COMPLETELY losing our OL, We DID upgrade for ONE YEAR at WR, a backup QB, and 3rd string RB. So yeah, right...our Front office did a truly brilliant job....of dismantaling one of the better O-lines in the game and replacing them with college kids who MIGHT be good someday...

I don't think anyone who is not a Bills fan (which I am) would say Walker for Peters is an Upgrade. Dockery's loss is an upgrade...seriously? Wood is a rookie, you have not even seen him play in the NFL, you cant' seriously think he's an upgrade this season. Hangartener...it might be a push. Fine/Nelson (rookie) ...well fine was on our roster last year, and he played behind Royal, who Royally sucked. Nevertheless, he might be an upgrade after a year of experience, but we don't really know, and neither does the FO. It actually probably is Youboty for Greer, not McLovin'. McKelvin was going to be our 2d this year guy...

Did the Peters trade make us better this year? By moving Walker to LT and Chambers to RT, we simultaneously downgraded at two positions. The trade allowed us to get the 2nd Center taken overall, and draft a TE who was not considered one of the top 5 TE's. What we lost was a proven LT who I don't think anyone would argue was not in the top 1/2 of the league at his position, which is the 2d most important on offense. I'm ashamed. Mr. Wilson, you have monkeys in your front office. Call security.

Here's a breakdown of upgrades/downgrades at our positions for 2009-2010. Upgrades Owens for Reed Rhodes for Omon Kelsay for Kelsay on 1st&2d down + Maybin on 3d Down. Downgrades: LT Walker for Peters RT Chambers for Walker LG Lavitrie ® for Dockery C Fowler for ® Wood/2d String Hangengartner (Rosenbagger) OLB Ellison for Angelo Crowell CB Youboty for Jabari Greer Even: Fine for Robert Royal After writing this, I threw up in my mouth a little. Did I miss anything or inaccurately characterize the change?