dpberr

This is an easy answer. You keep him. I don't think the tendon was properly operated on the first time nor did Merriman properly recover from that first surgery, which was the equivalent of a patch job. Everything was rushed by the Chargers and the player, so the problem was never properly resolved when he came to the Bills and re-injured it. Twice. Now it has been repaired properly with the appropriate amount of rest and therapy. I have full expectation that you have a Shawne Merriman at 100% for opening day. You have not seen a fully healed Merriman for years. Now you will. There is no way the Bills are cutting him. It is akin to the injury to Kyle Williams. If you take the time to properly repair and recover from the problem, you are good to go.

Message boards don't exist without negative people. It's the point or counterpoint of which message board excellence is born. That being said, I see no negatives for either owner, team, player or fan with the events of this week. It's been a fine week for Bills Nation.

It's the story that nobody will cover or ask questions because there has been no press release and it's not obvious to the national beat writers. The article where he was interviewed about staying at home and spending time with his wife cemented it for me. He hasn't been involved, and that's the plan. Nothing nefarious. It's part of the transition. I've never been one that assumes Wilson passes on and leaves the team to the wolves. It's a multi-million dollar international company. It's his legacy. There has always been a plan in place, and now, we're in the early hours of watching it executed. To me, the end of the 2011 season marked the end of one ownership and the early days of another. While it's still Mr. Wilson's money and team, the incoming ownership is managing the process, the first run of sorts to get their feet wet. I think that's why things are markedly different this year with the numerous re-signings of our own players and landed MW. Fans should be excited about Mario Williams and delighted that there's a future for the team in Buffalo.

Think about who was not involved in the process and who was involved in the process. The passing of the torch began with the courting of Mario Williams.

Did Meachem have an agent? He broke the "protocol" on several levels. One, you don't sign with a team you didn't visit nor have a relationship with and secondly, you don't sign with a team while being hosted by another team. That's very bush league and front office people remember that.

Nix wouldn't be that forward with those comments without a plan in place and probably and a ridiculous amount of questionable player tampering behind the scenes to allow him to make those comments to the media. If there was even a question about free agents coming to Buffalo, Nix would have kept quiet. In my opinion, the Bills already have commitments from players. Exciting days to be Bills fans. Wonder who we got.

If not in a Bills uniform, it's addition by subtraction if he goes to the NFC. I don't care if the NFC has all the top pass rushers.

The Roger Goodell era will be about making examples. Early on, it was on the players. Now it's on the teams. If Dallas and Washington got hit this hard over contracts, New Orleans should be expecting the very worst when it comes to punishing Loomis, Williams and Payton.

+1.

TE is a young man's game. When you compare to the TE killers in Foxboro, both those guys are young. You'd be better off drafting a compliment to Chandler.

I like the selection of Ingram. I don't like the cornerback selection. Enough with the cornerbacks. Would rather Wagner, the OLB from Utah State. I have no idea who Mitchell Schwartz is.

It's in the NFC. Good. Glad it's over there.

I think he's a good player. Didn't understand why he signed with the Bills in a 3-4 last year, but now with the transition to a 4-3, the move looks brilliant from the front office.

I agree with only one thing to add: The guys you mentioned played the majority of their careers before free agency. Arguably your players mentioned are "team first" types of guys. Green Bay is very successful. How many marquee free agents do you see giving discounts or officially acknowledging they'd like to play there? Or traded there?

Winning doesn't cure everything. I thought it did, but it can't be relied upon as THE magnet to attract players anymore. I follow the San Antonio Spurs in basketball. Four recent NBA titles. Future HOFs on the roster. Under Gregg Popovich, they've never missed the playoffs. He's a coaching legend. Yet year after year, free agents go to anywhere but San Antonio. All the team does is win. In the NFL, teams like the Patriots and Packers should have players knocking on their door willing to play for them. However, more often than not, the big names always go elsewhere. I remember the world was literally stunned when Reggie White picked Green Bay in the dawn of free agency. Green Bay? No NY? No California? I wish it was just about winning. That'd be a straightforward problem to solve. Now, I'm sure players look at NY state taxes, laws, media market, etc before even getting to football-related topics. And that's if you don't have your agent in your ear telling you which places are lousy and which ones are great based on his or her bias.

Good news. On another note, +1 to the OP. I love the hilarious simplicity of your thread title. The "per him". Very funny touch.

The Bills would be crazy to go after Peyton Manning. Health, age and money issues aside, that would not only paralyze but kill team morale, irritate virtually every player agent outside of Manning's agent and piss off the players union. You don't throw your starting quarterback under the bus, especially ones you just signed last season. You'd never see a player or free agent trust the Buffalo front office ever again. You'd see draft picks being advised to not accommodate the team. A move like this is chemotherapy to Bills/player relationships. You want proof? Watch where Manning lands. Outside of not wanting to steal his brother's thunder, I guarantee you Peyton will be in 1) an NFL city that does not have a quarterback represented by Manning's agent and 2) a less than stable quarterback situation with no established starter with money tied up extensively to the starter. That means no NFC East. No San Francisco. No New York, and probably no Houston.

Per PFT, Manning prefers the AFC to the NFC. Makes sense. My bets on where he lands in order: Tennessee Kansas City Arizona Miami All four teams could throw their starting QBs under the bus with an upgrade (which is questionable in my mind given his health) at the position.

Irsay not only got a ridiculously accommodating and lucrative lease with Indiana but also got the taxpayers to buy out $48 million from his lease with the Hoosier/RCA Dome. On top of that, it was discovered after that deal had been executed, the taxpayers were on the hook for $70 more million in unpaid construction costs of the Dome going back to it's construction in 1984. With no lease payments coming from Irsay, taxpayers ate the entirety of that found cost. New crew in charge in Indiana and they want some changes. Those changes would impact Irsay's already tenuous ability to pay.

The Colts will be spending the next couple years getting their financial house in order. They are in cap hell with big contracts and lots of future dead money. The bigger deal though will be Irsay successfully defeating the state's pressure to redo the LOS lease. The state wants better terms and is willing to put the screws to Irsay to get it done. Irsay is the poster boy for soaking the taxpayer for sports venues.

I'd hate to be a GM that's getting major pressure from ownership to sign this guy. The medical risk just is not worth it. It took Mike Vick two years to get in real game shape with a year being away from the game and that was just rust from rotting in prison. Manning is coming back from an injury that prevented him from throwing a football for over a year in one of the most sensitive parts of the body. Any team buying Peyton Manning is really buying his services for 2013, not 2012. Unfortunately, with the amount of money you'll be spending, you, along with your ownership and fanbase will be expecting results in 2012, but it's not going to happen. You certainly aren't going to get the well oiled, practice all year round Manning Machine of the mid 2000s with his consistent cast of characters. In some ways, Manning could be considered a "system" quarterbacks of sorts. Dome quarterback, with a team offense that did not experience a lot of overhaul from one year to the next. He had the same center and linemen in guys like Jeff Saturday and Rien Diem, wide receivers in Harrison and Wayne, tight end in Dallas Clark and only two running backs with James and Addai for years. Consistency alone is a considerable advantage for a team offense.

I understand why the Rams want to trade the pick. If I were them, I'd ask for a package of conditional draft picks spread over the course of three to four years, (if you can do it) to minimize the upfront cost to bidding teams to get more competition and spread out the potential windfall. It keeps my team salaries from busting at the seams with two years of high draft picks and I have a chance of picking up some high draft picks in successive drafts. You infuse talent over a time period. Gives the Rams a lot of flexibility in meeting whatever team needs they've got year to year. Why force yourself to take extra players in the draft this year if you don't want to? If RGIII excels two-three years from now, those conditional draft picks you have in your cupboard becomes very valuable.

I think there is a good shot he could be in a Bills uniform. The Bills play the 4-3 in which he excels, and have either the most or close to the most money available to offer him in a contract. As a player he'd have to like that the Bills have Dareus and Williams on the line already. Those are all positives in our team's favor.

I can't read between the lines with Nix because I believe 97% of what he says to the media is nothing at all...or nothing we all haven't already figured out. What I do believe is that during negotiations, Nix told SJ about his plans for the team. I don't think his agent or SJ would have signed a five year deal if they felt that the front office wasn't going to make a significant investment in upgrading the team. SJ is now the fourth Bill (Fitz, Pears, Lindell) that's decided to stay with the Bills. I don't think that's coincidence.

I'm not a fan of resigning Bell this year. I think given the lack of comparable talent and youth in the free agent market, teams will throw lots of money at him simply because of the weak class. Don't pay Mercedes prices for the Cadillacs. I'd like for the Bills to resign Chandler. It'd be some consistency and production at a spot that's been a desert wasteland for so many years and a position Nix doesn't appear keen on drafting players. And yes, the Bills have the money. It's a question of will or won't, not can or can't.