ChanOverChin

It sure would be nice to have ALL of our best players on the field at the same time for a change. Last year: Ragland was out for the year. Watkins missed most of the year. Sh. Lawson missed about half the year. Dareus missed the first four games. A. Williams missed a lot of games. Clay missed some time. Getting Ragland, Lawson, and Watkins on the field full time this year will be just like adding three brand new sup stud FAs. I think Ragland especially is really going to open some eyes this year.

Adding Macklin or Decker would greatly improve the WR corps and the offense overall. Maclin stretches the field better. Decker is a bigger target and probably better in the red zone. He is more of a possession guy. Z. Jones will be our new possession guy. I would add either one, but I believe that Maclin is the better overall player because he can stretch the field and would come cheaper. He has ties to McCoy, McD, and the Bills' WR coach. Give the Bills WR Maclin and TE Barnidge and the Bills could have the best offense in the AFC. Top offensive players would then include: QB Taylor RB McCoy/Tolbert FB DiMarco TE Barnidge/Clay WR Watkins/Maclin/Z. Jones/Holmes. That is some serious offensive talent.

Pay attention. Pitta is done. He is not physically able to play football anymore.

Reggie Ragland may need to be on that list.

This would have been a good idea a couple of years ago, but not now. Besides, it's a pipe dream. The Chargers are simply not going to trade Rivers. I think the Bills would be wise to give Taylor their full support this year. With guys like Watkins, McCoy, Clay, DiMarco healthy for at least most of the year I think that Taylor could prove to be a top 10 QB, especially in Dennison's offense where the play action pass will be set up well.

Having $15.758M is a significant amount of cap space to have at this point. The Bills need to be smart with it. It appears that they have the wherewithal to sign TE Barnidge, S Byrd, a CB, and a pass rusher if they so choose.

The Bills had $11.558M in cap space prior to today. Having cut S A. Williams the Bills will now have Williams' cap savings of $4.2M added to their total, which amounts to $15.758. That total includes the top 51 players of the 87 total currently on the roster. More cap space is always a good thing.

We had a lot of injuries last year and that has to change. I think the gains this year will outweigh the losses as long as our core players can stay healthy for most of the year. I'm talking about guys like Taylor, Watkins, Clay, Glenn, Dareus, Hughes, K. Williams. The new coaching staff seems to have better schemes than that of the previous staff and better suited to our current personnel. That has to count for something.

It's too early to make these kinds of projections. The Bills are still being rebuilt at this point. If they can fill a few more holes who knows what can happen. The new schemes/coaches can definitely make a difference. The Bills would have been in the playoffs last year had Carp. made the 40+ FG in the second Miami game. They would have beaten the Jets w/ Taylor at QB.

The hard part will be to convince Barnidge to come to Buffalo because he probably thinks he's a better player than Clay.

Yolo, I'd actually love to see the Bills keep them both. Just wondering what people think the Bills are thinking on this issue because of the Clay cap and injury issues. Barnidge is playing Denver, Jax, and Buffalo against each other. My sources seem to think that he would prefer to sign with Denver, but that he could be had for the right price. At what price do you think that he would sign with the Bills?? My guess is $3.5M per season. I think the Bills would look to sign him for 2-3 years if possible. He is 31 currently. Barnidge would be a huge add to the offense. I'd really like to have the Bills be able to evaluate Taylor for the long term with the likes of McCoy, Watkins, Jones, Clay, and Barnidge on the field for the majority of the 2017 season.

When I think of Brandon Beane I think of the name Billy Beane, you know, the Babe Ruth of baseball GMs, who is famous for getting great value for players at a very affordable price. Could the former be considering the luring of vet FA TE G. Barnidge to Buffalo at an affordable price with the intent of having him REPLACE TE Ch. Clay as the Bills' #1 TE?? After all, the Bills' new GM wasn't the one who signed Clay to an outrageous contract, one which amounts to about $9M for this season. That's a high price to pay for damaged goods. The bottom line is that the Bills need to create cap room both for this year and for the future. As a result, you can bet your sweet patootie that they will be examining all existing contracts and looking to unload any high priced contract that is not commensurate with a player's production, most especially if that player cannot be counted because of poor health, and in Clay's case, a bad knee. The Bills could probably secure Barnidge's services for about $3.5M per year. Much more affordable than $9M. Obviously, I'd like to see them KEEP Clay, but only if his knee is not going to be a chronic problem. The Bills have already let it be known that they have concerns about Clay's knee. It would be ideal to have BOTH Clay and Barnidge at TE. Dennison's offense, which is all about ball control, pretty much requires it. Adding Barnidge would be just like adding a very good possession receiver. At his best, Barnidge is comparable to Carolina TE G. Olsen. McD's familiarity with Olsen has allowed him to see first hand the benefits of having a great pass catching TE in fold. Most teams would kill to have TWO very good TEs because that scenario allows for much more deception. The higher level TEs can block like an extra OL, catch like a WR, they can sneak out into patterns when the defense doesn't expect it, and they can create mismatches in the middle of the field against slower LBs as well as outside of the hash marks against smaller DBs. The question is, "Would the Bills want to REPLACE Clay with Barnidge to add a solid, healthy TE at a much more affordable price and to create cap space in order to be able to add more vet FAs or just add him to the mix at TE"??

Shaw66, I wish it weren't true, but the Bills have obvious concerns about Clay's knee. That's the main reason why they have brought in Barnidge for a look see. Clay is also making a boatload of money so they're in the process of evaluating that as well. They want to sign Barnidge, but he wants to go where he can be the #1 TE and be paid like it so he's keeping his options open.

Byrd and Hall are working out for SF currently. Hopefully they keep their options open. I think Beane will look for bargains at this point. The Bills have about $9M in cap space available. He knows that he can't afford to sign anyone major, but he also knows that it is very important that he give his HC enough fire power to at least show what he can do. Even if the Bills don't win more than 8 games this year McD will be evaluated to determine if he is the long term solution. I expect more help to be on the way.

Word is that Beane and his staff meet daily with McD to discuss adding potential FAs and other players in order to improve the weakest positions on the Bills' current roster. Below is a lost of the current Top 50 available FAs. The weakest position groups currently include: S, TE, DE, LB, CB and depth at RB and WR. S: With Hyde and Poyer as the only proven players you just know that the Bills are looking to add here. They already had planned to meet with S T. Boston, but he signed with the Chargers. Possible Add: S J. Byrd. With Gill Byrd as one of the Bills' current DB coaches may eventually be inclined to sign with the Bills. TE: Clay has been injury prone so do the Bills really have a #1 TE that they can count on for 16 games?? O'Leary and Logan are nothing more than role players. Possible Add: TE G. Barnidge. Barnidge is holding out for a team that would make him their #1 TE. He would be a huge addition to Dennison's ball control offense. DE: The Bills currently have Hughes, Sh. Lawson, and R. Davis at DE. L. Alexander will surely play DE in obvious passing situations, but more depth is needed. An injury to Hughes would be devastating. Possible Add: DE P. Kruger or DL J. Odrick. LB: Ragland, Alexander, Hodges, P. Brown, Humber make up a pretty good group, but Alexander may need to be spelled so that he can contribute as a pass rusher and ST demon. Possible Add: D. Levy. CB: Darby, White, and Seymour are likely the top 3 and are a very inexperienced group. Wright, Coleman, and James are likely the next in line. This group could still use an upgrade. Possible Add: CB B. Flowers or CB A. Verner or CB L. Hall. The Bills worked out CB S. Shields, but adding Flowers, Verner or Hall (or even 2 of the 3) would certainly upgrade this group. WR: Watkins, Jones, Holmes, C. Brown, Streater, and Tate are probably the top six. That's not a bad group as long as Watkins can stay healthy for 16 games, but will that be the case?? Possible Add: WR A. Boldin or WR V. Jackson. Both are up in age, which is why they are likely still available. Still, both would be an upgrade over what the Bills currently have. RB: McCoy, J. Williams, Tolbert are the top 3. The Bills may want a fourth RB to give McCoy some relief and may want someone who can fill the 3rd down back role. Possible Add: RB DeAngelo Williams. Yes, he's 34, but he can still play. He was extremely effective when RB L. Bell was on the shelf. What should Beane and co. do to improve this team to make it more competitive in 2017?? Top 50 – 2017 NFL Free Agents List RK Player Pos. Team Age Note 1 Tramaine Brock CB SF 29 2 King Dunlap OT LAC 31 3 Ryan Clady OT NYJ 30 4 Perry Riley ILB OAK 29 5 Nick Mangold C NYJ 33 6 Isa Abdul-Quddus S MIA 28 7 DeAndre Levy 4-3 OLB DET 30 8 Austin Pasztor G CLE 26 9 Darrelle Revis CB NYJ 32 10 Brandon Flowers CB LAC 31 11 Paul Kruger 3-4 OLB NO 31 12 Elvis Dumervil 3-4 OLB BAL 33 13 Gary Barnidge TE CLE 31 14 Alterraun Verner CB TB 28 15 Ladarius Green TE PIT 27 16 Sam Shields CB GB 29 17 Aaron Williams S BUF 27 18 Cyrus Kouandjio OT BUF 24 19 Corey Graham S BUF 32 20 Jairus Byrd S NO 30 21 Sio Moore ILB ARI 27 22 Dan Williams DT OAK 30 23 Jared Odrick DT JAX 29 24 Anquan Boldin WR DET 36 25 Marcus Gilchrist S NYJ 28 26 Leon Hall CB NYG 32 27 Orlando Franklin G LAC 29 28 Erik Walden 3-4 OLB IND 32 29 Trent Cole 3-4 OLB IND 34 30 Jacob Tamme TE ATL 32 31 Sen’Derrick Marks DT JAX 30 32 Dwight Freeney 4-3 DE ATL 37 33 Josh Bynes 4-3 OLB DET 28 34 Colin Kaepernick QB SF 29 35 Mario Williams 4-3 DE MIA 32 36 Tony McDaniel DT SEA 32 37 Cam Thomas DT LAR 30 38 Jason Jones 4-3 DE MIA 31 39 Marquess Wilson WR CHI 24 40 Kendrick Lewis S BAL 29 41 Rey Maualuga ILB CIN 30 42 Rashad Johnson S TEN 31 43 Stevie Johnson WR LAC 31 44 Leodis McKelvin CB PHI 32 45 Tyson Jackson DT ATL 31 46 Vincent Jackson WR TB 34 47 Arthur Jones 3-4 DE IND 31 48 Paul Soliai DT CAR 33 49 Steven Terrell S SEA 26 50 Roy Miller DT JAX 30

I can certainly appreciate all of the Doubting Thomases with regard to Williams' prospects. He hasn't accomplished a darn thing and I actually thought he looked slow, weak, and not very confident with the carries that he had last year. But this is a new year. The man is now fully healthy and very confident in his ability. All I can say to you is, "watch the tape that I posted". Williams has great vision. He hit the hole hard and has good speed for a 220 lb RB. He even has a little shimmy to his game. I expect him to produce a lot better than last year and secure the #2 RB position. Tolbert will specialize as the short yardage/goal line big back. The other RBs on the roster are nothing more than camp fodder.

If you're counting on Jordan Johnson to be the #2 RB you're much more likely to be disappointed. J-Will gained his yards/TDs vs top flight SEC competition. He has legitimate R2 talent. The tape doesn't lie. He couldn't perform at his best last year because he wasn't fully healthy, but he has proclaimed himself to be so this year so let's see what happens. BTW, M. Tolbert will be used much more as a RB this season than as a FB so the Bills really only have ONE true FB on the roster. He will likely be the short yardage/goal line big back that the Bills have severely lacked the last several years. He's not a true FB in the sense that DiMarco is even though he weighs 250 lbs.

RB Jonathan Williams had a great 2014 season in which he ran for over 1,000 yds and scored 12 TDs. He got injured and missed the entire 2015 season. That didn't stop the Bills from selecting him in R5 of the 2016 draft. J-Will was expected to be as high as a R2 pick, but being out for an entire season really hurt his draft selection. Williams admits that he wasn't fully healthy in 2016. His foot hadn't healed to the point to allow him to cut like he needs to in order to avoid defenders. Now fully healthy J-Will has something to prove and should have a great opportunity to do so with Gillislee gone and not much proven completion on the roster behind McCoy. Here are his college highlights from 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSQBZWUznSI. Who does he remind you of??

The depth of this Bills team is relatively weak. That may be their ultimate downfall. Players are going to be injured so when there is a big drop off in talent from 1st string to second or third string that's when the team begins to lose game. Again, it is the PLAYERS who win games, not the coaches. There's not a whole lot McD and his coaching staff can do when they have to field lesser talented players because their depth is weak.

No doubt that the new coaches and new schemes will have a very big impact on this season, but I maintain that it is the players that make the difference. In essence, the talent of the players matters more than the scheme. The point of this thread is simply to point out that the Bills are more talented this year than they were last year, although they still have some obvious holes to fill. Hopefully, they will continue to work towards that end. The Bills do need to get to a point where the schemes and the coaches mostly remain the same. There's a reason why teams like New England and Pittsburgh are in the playoffs virtually every year.

It certainly does appear that the hiring of McDermott and Beane is a big improvement over Ryan and Whaley, but only time will tell. Lawson missed about half the year and wasn't in tip top playing shape when he did play. I expect to see a whole new player this year with Lawson coming back fully healthy, in top condition, and ready to impress his new coaches. Lawson was expected to be selected as high as #11 overall in last year's draft, but was passed over because of the shoulder injury. He is taylor-made for the 4-3 DE position. Expect him to be a high impact player this year. Gillislee would only be a big loss if McCoy gets injured and misses a lot of time. He's a loss, but not a big loss. The Bills can make up for his loss by sharing the touches that he would have had amongst Taylor, J. Williams, Tolbert, and DiMarco. Who knows, maybe the Bills will consider adding vet RB De. Williams on the cheap. He is a former member of the Carolina Panthers (McD's former team). The Bills would have made the playoffs last year had they beaten Miami in their second meeting. And that would have happened had Carpenter made the 40+ yd FG late in the game because with a playoff bid on the line I'm confident that the Bills would have beaten the Jets in the final game of the season had they really wanted to. Just think how different things would be had Carpenter made that FG and the Bills had made the playoffs. Ryan would likely still be the Bills' HC and Whaley may still be their GM. The point is that the Bills should have made the playoffs last year. That bodes well for their chances this year since I think that it's pretty obvious from the info above that they are a more talented team this year.......and I don't think they're done adding players. I'll also add that I firmly believe that Dennison is a better OC that what the Bills had last year and that McD/Frazier's defensive better suits the Bills' defensive personnel that Ryan's scheme. In addition, the McD-led Bills are likely to be more disciplined and less mistake-prone than the team that Ryan led.

Here's a list of the player lost and gained in 2017 thus far. Players Lost: Defense: CB Gilmore CB White CB Robey-Coleman S A. Williams S C. Graham LB Z. Brown DE L. McCray Offense: QB EJ Manuel RB Gillislee FB J. Felton WR Woods WR Goodwin OT Kouandjio ST: Carpenter Sanborn Players Added: Defense: DE Sh. Lawson (R1) - Missed most of last year MLB R. Ragland (R2) - Missed all of last year OLB G. Hodges OLB M. Milano (R5) OLB Vallejo (R6) CB T. White (R1) CB L. Coleman CB Sh. Wright S M. Hyde S Poyer Offense: QB TJ Yates QB N. Peterman (R5) RB Tolbert FB DiMarco TE Saxton WR Z. Jones (R2) WR Holmes WR Streater WR C. Brown WR Butler WR Listenbee - Missed all of last year OT D. Dawkins (R2) OG/OT Ducasse ST: K Hauschka P Rehkow LS Ferguson S Anderson - Missed all of last year My take: Defense: CB Gilmore and LB Z. Brown were significant losses although Gilmore was very inconsistent last year and is not generally regarded as a good tackler. The Bills played most of the year without S A. Williams, which was a big loss for them. Lawson, Ragland, Hodges, Hyde, and White are all significant adds. Expect Hughes and Dareus to be a much better player in McD's system where they won't be expected to drop into coverage. Alexander may struggle as a 4-3 OLB, but should thrive as a designated pass rusher. Offense: WR Woods was a good player, but was often out due to injury. WR Goodwin was good at times, but also often out due to injury. DiMarco, Z. Jones, Holmes, and Dawkins are all significant adds. Peterman is an upgrade at QB. Tolbert gives the Bills the big back they need to move the chains in short yardage situations and could be a force near the goal line. WR Listenbee could surprise with his speed to get deep down the field. The biggest difference that I see on offense is that the Bills appear to be better equipped to convert on short yardage situations, which could go a long way towards extending drives and ultimately putting points on the board. ST: Hauschka looks like a big upgrade over Carpenter, whose consistency had fallen way off. Hauschka will be a real weapon in close games since he is capable of kicking 55-60 yd FGs. Rehkow looks like he could unseat Schmidt since he has a stronger leg, can kick EPs/FGs in a pinch, and can also kick deep on KOs. Overall: The Bills' talent appears to be better than last year, greatly helped by the fact that they essentially were handed extra R1 and R2 picks this year in Lawson and Ragland respectively. I believe that Denver has the best blocking scheme in the league and now the Bills will be utilizing that scheme under OC Dennison. QB Taylor has a chance to be a more productive player due to the nuances of this offense, which stresses the run game and a lot of play action. If studs like Watkins and Clay can finally stay healthy for the majority of the year this could be a much improved unit. But that remains a big "IF" at this point. I'd still would like to see a quality TE like G. Barnidge added to this group for more balance and unpredictability. The 4-3 is a much better fit for the Bills' defensive players, especially for DE J. Hughes. Having DT M. Dareus for the entire year will go a long way. Having Ragland, Hodges, Alexander, and P. Brown at LB is an improvement over last year. Expect Alexander to be moved around like a chess piece to wreck havoc on the opposing offense. Hyde is a difference-maker at safety, but the Bills could sure use a guy like S J. Byrd to balance things out. The Bills have capable, but not great CBs. They will depend upon rookie CB T. White and second year CB K. Seymour to do a lot of the heavy lifting along with CB Darby, who had a down year last year. CBs Sh. Wright and L. Coleman add some nice depth. I believe the Bills will be much improved at K and P, having added Hauschka, the third most accurate K in NFL history, as well as rookie P Rehkow, who was the best punter available in this year's draft. Expect LS Ferguson to be adequate regarding the long-snapping duties. The Bills have a plethora of possible solid PRs and KRs on the roster. At PR, they have B. Tate, C. Brown, Hyde, Poyer, and White. At KR, they have Tate, C. Brown, J. Williams, and Listenbee. S Anderson and LB Alexander are both standout ST players.

This is a HUGE signing!! Hodges gives us a playmaker who can run and cover. Prior to signing Hodges I was beginning to think that the Bills were going to tank this season in order to be in position to grab a QB in the top 5-8 picks. That's because they still have some glaring holes. One of which WAS at OLB. Now the Bills have Ragland, Hodges, Alexander as their possible starters along with P. Brown, who we all know is a very capable LB. Brown is too slow to play OLB so I expect the Bills to experiment with Ragland to see if he is a capable OLB. I expect the starting LBs to be Hodges (OLB), Ragland (MLB), and Alexander (OLB). Alexander will be the chess piece that is moved around to create problems for the opposing offense. It's possible that Brown may force he way into the lineup at MLB. In which case Ragland and Hodges would be the OLBs. Expect Alexander to play OLB, some DE in obvious passing situations, and lots of ST.

The Bills still have too many holes to expect to win 10 games in 2017. They have big gaping holes at OLB, S, and even at CB. The Dennison offense requires TWO high quality TEs, but the Bills only have one. I think an upgrade is needed at #2 RB as well since J. Williams did not show much last year. Ideally, the pass rush would need to be upgraded as well. How good is Sh. Lawson?? R. Davis?? We really don't know. New offensive system and new defensive system to adjust to. Those are big question marks. McD may need some time to acquire the types of players that he needs to play within those systems well. I do think that T. Taylor is a much better QB than most people think he is. In a new offensive system, which I think will suit him well, Taylor could really break out this year and become a steady top 10 QB.

Nice job. I think we're still gonna see some guys added right up until opening day that will definitely affect this list. The LB and S depth especially is really weak.