Gabe Northern

Would you like Buddy or Jim Overdorf like to go on the record with a reporter to discuss this plan? "Hey, Allen Wilson...Buddy Nix here. We're about to cut Kawicka Mitchell loose after the draft. Thought you'd like to know and publish it in the paper so it compromises our draft and gives his agent some evidence to pursue an injury settlement against the team. Thanks!"

No idea why people are talking about where Mitchell is playing... Andra Davis was signed as a replacement for Mitchell, who is going to be cut so the Bills don't have to pay his salary. The issue right now is avoiding an injury settlement.

+1 Not going to pay $7 M for that level of performance.

Dude, the Davis signing is to replace Mitchell who will be cut by draft day. Ain't nothing different.

This was an idiotic move. Either he starts, which is pathetic, especially given need to develop Meredith, or he doesn't start and they cut him. There is no way Ralph will pay $3 M for a back up. Thanks to his fat contract, he'll get the Langston Walker treatment the week of the opener. Should have signed him to a reasonable deal and added depth.

We just paid a guy $3 M per year who probably wouldn't have made the Raiders in 2010. These guys are jokers.

Another problem is that the QB changes his reads and behavior based on pass rush. So you could have a guy getting rid of the ball quickly just to avoid getting hammered. I find people on this board are merciless about Edwards missing guys down field. Edwards could get hammered on four consecutive dropbacks, but then everyone remembers how he failed to look down filed on that "one play I saw Lee running wide open." Suddenly it's his fault and starting Det Lions cast-offs at OL has nothing to do with our problem. The key is establishing a rhythm. If a QB thinks that his OL can't match up with a 4 man pass rush, he's not going to be looking down field.

#4 overall for LTs at pass blocking? That's no good?

For whatever reason, people don't seem to understand that Hangman played as well last season as Mel Fowler, Bennie Andersen, and Tutan Reyes in their stints as Bills. He's athletic and everyone says he's smart, but the guy gets BLOWED UP!

Exactly. Paying Lee Evans roughly the same as Larry Fitzgerald is criminal. But the roster sucks. There's not other top performers to spend the money on. What would getting rid of him accomplish? Why focus on how overpaid he is? As they proved with Peters, it's not like the team will use the savings to shore up other parts of the team.

We make sure to lock up Stroud and Lee Evans to top 5 contracts...we provided $21 million in guarantees to Schobel...Whitner, McKelvin, Beast Mode, and Maybin average $5 million per thanks to their slotted salaries...And Roscoe ($3 million) and Kelsay ($6 million) are anything but underpaid. The point is that yeah, our payroll is high, but it's because we draft relatively high every year and we re-sign our players (except for Peters) to contracts that make no sense. http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpag...nfl&id=1429

Um, yeah. Craig Menefee said at the start of the 07 campaign that he couldn't believe how down the coaches were on Losman. Had to simplify the systenm dramatically in 2006 (not Schonert) just so he could comprehend it. Also did not allow him to audible even though the system was based on changing the play based on the defense's response to the specific package. So let's not get into nonsensical projections of 2007...he had some games in 2006 that looked good...they involved tossing the ball 50 yds in the air and having Lee run under it...the team knew it was never getting any better than that. Marv brought in Craig Nall in 2006 and drafted Edwards in 2007...not bad, but should have drafted Cutler.

They test at the combine. That's why Aaron Maybin only weighed 230 and ran a 4.78. Had to wait for 5 weeks of the heavy cycle to bulk up to 251 and run 4.65 at his Pro Day where they don't test.

The reason they have no debt is because Ralph purchased the team for $25K and the stadium was publicly financed. Whoever buys the team will have to incur a lot of debt to complete the purchase. NFL rules require a single person to own 30% of the team. That means at least $240 million plunked down, but probably much more because it is difficult to find people willing to provide $100 million for minority stakes. Oh, and then there's the debt for the new stadium on the Rainbow Bridge. That will have to be privately financed given Niagara County's fiscal situation and will cost at least $700 millon. This is a heavy lift. Not sure it can be done without Ralph selling some interest in the team now. Most transitions -- Modell to Biscotti; Huiezenga to Ross -- involve the new owner buying chunks of the team at a time. Ralph wants to make it as difficult as possible with a one-off estate sale that WNY cannot afford.

Agreed that Campbell is probably garbage, but he's also not suited for the Skins offense. He is not a west coast QB. He's a guy who can fling it all over the field. So I say give him a chance. Especially if it means getting rid of Whitner. If Whitner were a 3rd or 4th rounder, I'd love to keep him of depth. Very versatile. But the guy isn't willing to back up Wilson at SS or Florence at NB, so we need to cut our losses and this is probably as good as it's gonna get.

Gotta get Hangman out of the C. Only Bills fans treated to the likes the Mel Fowler and Duke Preston would fail to realize he sucks. And has no upside. Smart guy though. Can master all 3 interior line spots as backup. Depth is good.

I think there's very little chance they're going to get rid of Edwards when he has one year left at $400K and is a restricted free agent in 2011.

Given our QB situation, it would be malfeasance for them NOT to call Philly to get a sense of what it would take to pry away McNabb, Vick, or even Kolb.

My guess is that Bell and Meredith will go into season as starting tackles, but hopefully be pushed by a signing and draft picks. Strongly support moving Wood to C and Incognito to RG as suggested above. Let Hangartner start the year at C before he's demoted upon Wood's return. Hangartner was probably worst of Guy's pick-ups, with possible exception of Bennie Andersen and Tutan Reyes. Mobile, hardworking, but cannot anchor. Meredith more likely to win the RT job than Bell is to win LT, IMO.

Rather than a "football man" what this organization needed was someone with commonsense. All it required was someone -- anyone -- to say, "okay, we've decided we don't want to guarantee $25 M to J Peters. What is Plan B?" Either this didn't happen, or Littman/Overdorft explained that there would be no Plan B because no one in their right might could believe it makes sense to move a 375 lber who loses focus on his footwork to LT, particularly in 3-4 divison (LBs off edge). Of course, this was only compounded when he couldn't earn the spot (he held or was run by on every play by 3-4 OLB James Harrison in preseason) and Littman/Overdorf explained to Jauron that Mr. Wilson doesn't pay $3m base salaries to back-ups. Very sad day when our COO was out selling the idea that Walker would perform well at LT and many fans so pissed at JP that they were willing to believe it. This was an organizational failure, not a problem with Brandon not having enough power, or John Guy having too much say internally.

Bell is not the type of "pile pusher" needed at RT. He might develop into a decent LT because of his quickness and athleticism or he might continue to suck. But he will never be the choice at RT. And, yes, getting a veteran makes sense. Levi Jones played well for the Skins last year. Acquiring him would have spared us about 400-500 Peters threads throughout the course of the year. And please don't talk of FAs needing to fit in with the "youth movement." "Youth movement" is a euphemism for "a bunch of guys who don't cost anything."

Yeah, they mainly run block... until they're asked to pass block. WTF? Do defensive coordinators not move pressure around to take advantage of weaknesses in protection in your world?

Ralph never offered anyone $10 million per year. It makes me ill to see people continuing to make this claim. The suggestion that the Bills were considering those dollar figures was put out there by A) agents looking to set new highs for their client's compensation and B) the Bills who wanted their fans to believe they went "big game hunting" with real dollars. Shanny is working for $35 million over 5. There is no way he turned down $15 million in guaranteed money no matter where in the NFL it was being offered. That just doesn't happen. You like Chan? Fine. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. But don't pretend these guys offered what it takes to seal the deal with Shanny, Cowher, et al because obviously they did not.

Wanted: headcase former Pro Bowler on the downside of his career. Willing to pay top dollar. Locker room disruption a plus.

This "where else would they go?" line of reasoning is pretty divorced from reality. Buffalo's economy is smaller than Louisville, Kentucky's and a small fraction of the size of Portland, Oregon's. Where else would they go? Anywhere else.