OldTimer1960

Harsh reality losing Ragland for an extended time after losing Shaquille Lawson for a significant time. Last year's defense was not good enough to make the playoffs- maybe was THE reason that they didn't reach the postseason. I think that the Bills' management tried to address that weakness in the draft with Lawson and Ragland, but those plans are now on hold (at least). There is no tangible reason to believe that last year's bad defense will be any better this year - and the offense shouldn't / can't be counted on to carry the load. I know that Mario Williams was blamed for a lot last year, but who will replace him? Who will fill in for Ragland and play at an NFL level? Who will fill in for Manny Lawson who was filling in for Shacquile Lawson? Not a pretty picture 1 week into training camp...

I am trying not to be too pessimistic, but Ragland didn't look like he was in shape to begin with. What will he look like after 3-6 months of inactivity? I know that he will be able to start cardio work and upper body strength training in a couple months, if he has surgery, but if he didn't train hard prior to this injury, then what makes anyone think that he will train after the surgery when he really needs to (and it is much harder to do)?

He has been less than good every year except for his phenomenal 2nd season.

I saw the hat Nick Foles was released today and I took a gander at his career stats as I remember he had a pretty good year not too long ago. I was recalling his 2nd year when he threw an amazing 27 TDs and 2 INTS. For the other 3 years of his career combined he has 26 TDs and 27 INTS! Caution be to those bestowing greatness after 1 good year. Who else were super one year wonders?

Yeah, I was upset that it happened, but that was an incredible play by Cunningham. Joe Klecko of the Jets was an excellent DL who was extra-tough

If have to throw Gary Marangi's name into this competition. In 11 games in 1976, Marangi's completed 35% of his passes with 7 TDs and 16 INTS.

Well, the RBs sure seem to be trying hard to mess up their opportunities. As someone else said, Jonathan Williams will likely earn a suspension for his DWI. Karlos Williams will really struggle to even make the team if reports are correct that he was at least 20 pounds overweight just a month ago. In order to lose serious tonnage like that, he'll have to really reduce his caloric intake and that may leave him losing muscle mass and he sure hasn't shown that he has willpower to push himself away from the table. Gillislie and Wilder will have a great opportunity to make the team as they will get a lot of reps in training camp and preseason games. I would expect that McCoy will be treated with kid gloves in camp and get very little work in the preseason.

I was fortunate enough to see all of these players except for Mike Stratton. I would call it a toss-up between Smith and Simpson for best ever with Kelly right there in the discussion.

I would not call McCoy a middling star - he is really legit (when healthy). I think Clay is one of the better TEs in the game, but not the game changer that Gronkowski is when he is healthy. I don't really understand this kind of criticism. Teams only have a few ways to acquire talent: draft, trade and Free Agency. If you are going to play in FA, then you are going to pay top dollar (at least for the premiere players available). Clay is here to give the QB a good safe option and to make plays after the catch. I am not sure why he wasn't as productive as we expected last year, but some of it might be Taylor's propensity to run rather than dump the ball off to his TE or RB when the play is breaking down. It might also be that Taylor wasn't comfortable throwing the kinds of routes that Clay runs. Taylor hasn't yet shown that he likes to throw down the middle of the field - and that is where many TEs make their living.

I agree with the point that this was not a complete surprise. I just believe that they were making a first round draft selection for the long-term and were comfortable that the injury could be completely repaired with surgery and rehab. Did they get surprised that it flared up now? Maybe, but I would be absolutely shocked if they didn't know it was a possibility. The first half of his rookie season is not his career. Yes, it is disappointing that the Bills' first round pick is going to miss time this year, but that does not mean that it was a bad, stupid or Ill-informed selection. I am actually optimistic that Lawson will be even better after the injury has been corrected due to better ability to lift/train. Imagine, he played very well with a shoulder that was that bad - what can he be like with a repaired shoulder and better strength?

I heard that Jaguars 1st round pick Jalen Ramsey injured his knee in non-contact drills. How could Jackosville's medical staff have missed the obvious potential for his meniscus to tear? That is 2 years in a row that their 1st pick was injured even before the season started! Heads must roll! (Heavy sarcasm) Do you know that Gronkowski was considered a medical risk after missing much of his last year in college with a back injury?

Or it could just be that teams that are currently on top can't afford to keep all of their players and can't afford to pay other team's FA and therefore get compensatory picks. Not sure which is cause and which is effect.

Thanks for weighing in with that insightful commentary.

Stop. If you don't think that the Doctors had a good idea that this was a possibility, then think again. This was a long-term pick and please everyone spare us the "we haven't made the playoffs in 15 years speech". That fact is truly irrelevant with regard to where the current team is and what their hopes for moderate success were this year. The truth is (from my vantage point) the Bills have crawled out of a major talent gap over the past 4 years. They haven't been fortunate enough to stumble into a Manning, Luck, Brady. They are pretty much as good as any team who doesn't have a great QB. "But, but, but they should have gotten a future HOF QB" - those guys are truly rare and even when they come along they are snatched up early in the draft.

I am neither a "sold on Taylor" or a "he isn't the answer" guy, but I think that the measuring stick that you laid out is far too restrictive. Only the true Hall of Famers do much of anything in those situations and those guys are REALLY rare. Yes, you want some hope that you can come back down by > 3 with < 2 minutes left, but realize that defenses have a BIG advantage in those situations- especially against offenses that are designed as "run-first". The Bills are built to win with stout defenses protecting narrow leads or needing a late FG to win. They don't have the offensive fire-power to come back in the last 2 minutes needing a TD. That isn't just Tyrod Taylor, but includes the run-dominant/pass deficient OL and the WRs beyond Watkins. If Taylor is good enough to keep the Bills in contention into tha last minutes of the game then he should be good enough for how this team is structured, provided - and this is a BIG caveat - he doesn't eat up too much cap space to allow them to field a dominant defense. I think he can improve over last year, but i think we already know that he isn't the guy to pay $18+MM to and then have to weaken the defense. If he proves me wrong - I would be thrilled, but those guys are VERY rare.

I would be shocked if the Bills' medical staff did not identify it as a possibility that Lawson would need surgery on his shoulder. They may have thought that he could get through the 2016 season before possibly doing surgery after the season was over, but they had to have notified the decision makers that there was a chance that Lawson might need surgery sooner rather than later. With the $$$$ invested into a 1st round pick, I am sure that all their due diligence was done and they decided to go ahead with the pick anyway with the knowledge that this could happen. As long as they are confident that this is a correctable injury and not one that will chronically bother him/shorten his career then I can't fault them for making that decision - it was a risk/reward proposition, as all draft selections are.

I agree and I did say that I liked the Jones selection at the end of round 4. I was just trying to build the case for why I don't think that he would have been picked much higher if he had come out after 2014.

I know that others may disagree, but I can't imagine a QB who had 3 collegiate starts under his belt being selected in even the 3rd round. He certainly has tremendous physical tools, but QB is more a position where you need quick decision making and great knowledge of the game - both are helped by experience to some degree. Now, I am (still) not saying that Jones does not have the innate quick decision making skills (and accuracy) to become a good QB, but nobody had any evidence of it after 2014's 3 starts and we still don't really know after a few more starts in 2015. I like the pick of Jones for where they selected him, but I think he is going to have a tough time challenging the much-maligned EJ Manuel. I think Manuel is an example of why Jones would not have been a high pick last year - Manuel has close to the physical tools that Jones has, Manuel had a lot of experience and success in a tough conference and, say what you will about Manuel otherwise, but he is a very hard worker and a professional. Yet, Manuel has yet to have success in the NFL. All that was known about Jones was that he is big and has an outrageous arm, nobody really knows how he will work and apply himself and nobody really knows if he can succeed even if he works very hard.

I watched all the plays Williams was involved in vs Texas A&M in 2014 (YouTube) - he made some very nice runs in that game. Likewise, I watched all of his plays vs Alabama fr 2014 - Williams was pretty good against a tremendous defense, but what I noticed from that video was Reggie Ragland making a bunch of plays.

And Taylor need not be thinking that 12-gauge - 11 collegiate games is any threat to his starting job in the next two years.

Wasn't Miller a rookie 3rd round pick last year? Should we maybe see how much he improves in year 2 before trying to grab "aging vet that I've heard of"? Pretty sure Marv Levy said that the typical player makes his biggest improvement from year one to year two. I suggest we wait to see how Miller plays this year before writing the end of his career in stone.

I think this is pretty realistic. I haven't read that he is a punt or KO returner and I wouldn't guess given his size that he would be a killer coverage guy. If he doesn't contribute on special teams, I think that he will have a very uphill battle to make the team.

Good luck, we're all counting on you.

Man, why so negatives? Did you forget to take your Xanax today?

EVERY draft choice in the league is boom or bust to some degree. Many 1st round picks don't fully pan out and about 50% of 2nd round picks never become starters.