thebillsbiz

It has always seemed to me that it would make much more sense for Ralph to die as owner of the team then to sell, which it seems apparent that he is doing. People involved have seemed confident (without detailing specifically) that there is a contigency plan in place. If Ralph has draw up contracts that state his heirs agree to sell their portions of the team to, The Kelly group for example,upon his death, they would avoid the capital gains tax. A portion could be left to his wife, this would avoid estate tax and she could continue to owe a non-operational piece of the franchise. This would eliminate capital gains tax, decrease estate tax and move the team to the kelly group as majority owner. This is something these successful men have obviously discussed at length and would appear to be waiting in the wings for the deal to commence. Ralph would never pay appreciation on over 800 million on the profit of this sale, and then presumably soon after leave the money to his heirs to be taxed heavily once again, it would be much less to pay the inheritance tax and then sales tax, rather than capital gains tax and then inheritance tax....simply due to the fact that the bills currently have by far the largest appreciation value due to the fact they have not yet ever been sold. I believe these wheels will be set into motion immediately upon his death due to diligent end of life planning.

OK then by that logic couldn't you agree that keeping him at center and moving wood back to guard would be a stronger combination..Wood doesn't suck at all at RG so he clearly wins that, and hangartner doesn't suck at center as much as urbik sucks at RG

How is it that we are fielding a right guard that analysts are referring to as one of the worst starting linemen in the league when Geoff Hangartner has experience at the position and while not great, will be a considerable upgrade. If you want to make the arguement he is line to get cut, I completely understand that, while I don't agree with making the move simply for financial reasons. But even to cut salary I just don't understand as he is the only potential backup center on the team. If he is not on the team we will only have one center, so if he is not cut wouldn't it only make sense to play him at guard unless needed at center.

How could the front office sit back and justify taking a day or two off on negotiating with a player(who may not be a super star but represented a considerable upgrade at a desperate position) who they had legitimate interest in. Can they honestly say your no where near our priorty right now so why don't you sit tight till saturday or sunday and then we'll talk, and expect him to not right you off. We need to jump through a few extra hoops to get guys..sorry but buffalo is no so cal or south beach but we act like he should wait for the priviledge to come here.

How is it anyone here took that subject line to be misleading, he asked if anyone knows, it didn't say uniform anouncement. Brilliant

Ok this is admittedly a stupid topic to bring up but we are facing an extremely boring offseason of no football and I have been thinking about what could be if a lockout actually happens. First off I would hate for there to be a lock out..and it probably is a long shot, but if there was to be one it might be what buffalo needed to rebuild. If there is no season, the draft order will be locked and the Bills will choose 3rd next year. Selecting so high wouldn't be bad for a team who has as many holes to fill as we do. If Carolina jumps on Gabbert or maybe the Newton hype, we would be the favorite in position for Luck.

It's not whether or not a player is black in itself, it's that many of the more heralded black QB's are usually in that spotlight because they can blow away college athletes with their raw athleticism..They can not usually translate that into the pro game. We can not be blinded by amazing athleticism when an NFL QB's game is played within a pocket using his mind and arm and are encouraged to not rely on mobility. So rather then get caught up in this college spread offense, running QB who didn't actually perform all that well as a natural functioning QB and focus on a few QB's who are so much closer to NFL caliber due to their style and college preparation who will have an easy transition ie Gabbert, Locker, Ponder... And why would we pick Newton 3rd overall when he's rated by most experts as only the third best QB in this draft, first QB off the board should not be the 3rd best at his position, and only 4th or 5th in my opinion. No logic could explain this. He'll be hangin out with Vince Young and Jamarcus Russel soon enough.

Agreed..Lets forget about the one year wonders from junior colleges right now...lets go proven hard nosed guys from Alabama like Marcell Dareus who have been doing it for years.

Completely agree, the 90's uniforms were the best...watch those old superbowl 25 highlights really made me miss those all whites...why not remind people of the real bills and not what they've put on the field since 2002.

Did the OP really say rarely breaks tackles? Rrrrarely gets tackled by first defender you mean right?

Fred will be the absolute guy. He'll get the bulk of the carries and Lynch will be 2nd on the depth chart, he'll spell Jackson and possibly get the majority of 3rd and shorts and goal line carries. As far as CJ goes, he wont be a straight up HB. He wont be taking over as the number one back, not part way through this year or next year. He'll be used as an everything guy, you'll see him used very similarly to the way NO uses Bush. He'll be in the slot, in motions, be the HB in certain sets in long yardage and passing situations and "trick plays". He's not built for taking the bulk of carries in the NFL or for running between the tackles very often. He'll get touches, lots of them, and he'll do very well, but he will not be pounding the ball. He'll get receptions on check downs (we have the perfect QB for that) screen passes and split out wide, and he'lk get stretch play hand off and outside pitches but he will not be number one on the Depth chart.

Well the reason would be the coaching staff seems to want to reevaluate the guys we got and since we had other needs in the first few rounds there would be no reason to waste a pick this year on something we can address next year, apparently they just thought this year could be better used to build other areas of the team. Fact of the matter is, there was noone worth the pick this year like you said before...the moeny is only a possible bonus that could be in the back of their minds...glad to hear you doubt the no football year though, I'm getting sick of hearing it thrown around so often that everytime next year is mentioned people have to say "if there is football in 2011"...the players don't have long enough careers to stand so firm that they will throw away a year of youth and salary

First of all...I said not reaching in one of the first 3 rounders This Year, is there a rookie cap this year Dean? ..Your focused on the wrong post of that post. The point is the potential rookie cap could have played an actual role. My point is in regards to not reaching on the few QB's taken in rounds 1, 2 or 3 This Year. I brought those rounds up just because the only QB's we could have taken ended up being taken in those rounds and it would be meaningless to reach for them if we see an opportunity to get a worthy prospect with our 1st Rounder next year for obvious talent reasons and because we could get him for less money under a cap

This team has done an amazing job of finishing with mediocre records most of this decade not good enough for playoffs but never bad enough to get a significant enough pick to impact the future of the team. We all know what happens when you win two games and draft players like bruce and gradually turn a team around with game changers, they just are so in the middle that its ruining the prospect of aquiring that real influencial playmaker I want to see wins, but if we have to look at another 5 years of 6 and seven wins I'll accept a 3 win season if it gives us a chance at franchise player status

Regardless..They are not unrealistic and expecting some miracle turn around, I don't see them being in the top three, but I'm sure they can forecast a strong likelyhood that they will have an opportunity at one of several more promising young QB's in next years draft whether it be in the top five or 15 and they also see a possibility (and somewhat a probability) that they will get this better prospect at a lesser price then taken at the same position this year...thus justifying the avoided reach within one of the first 3 rounds this year.