richNjoisy

he's free - he was undrafted. Carr is a non-compensation restricted free agent, so any team that signs him will not owe the Raiders a draft pick. (Yahoo! Sports)

I THINK the only issue is when the Bills will go WR and how many times. At 11, that is projected to be too soon for the top ranked WR. So, do the Bills still draft one if they cannot trade down? Or do they take the more appropriately ranked (best player available) at CB, DE, DT, or OT? Next, do the Bills wait until pick 41 or trade up to nab the WR they desire?

you are correct. I have watched this guy play for years - I WANTED to put him in the Randy Moss/Terrell Owens mold. But I couldn't. Yes, he is "out there" at times but, unlike Moss and Owens, his outbursts are either MEANT to be funny (and often are) or are the result of BAD TEAM PLAY. He wants to play on a team that plays well, executes, and has a chance to win. He knows he is a very good receiver and that to play on a continually underperforming team is a waste. Let's face it, the Bengals have been a joke for years - constantly having players in trouble with the law and/or the league. I'd want out too. Chad is a great receiver and whomever gets him - if he becomes available - will hit the jackpot. The only asterisk I have is that he HAS been getting hurt lately.

This guy is also coming off an ACL injury last year. if I were a raider fan (God forbid) I would be ripping my hair out. I guess they are trying the be the NFL's version of the NY Knicks. Woo hoo! We play the raiders this year!!!

It is ironic that the Bills - for their needs - have TOO HIGH a pick (pick 11). Unless a trade is worked out , however, I just cannot see the Bills not drafting a WR in round 1. If a trade partner can be found, then the Bills will trade down. There has never been a more obvious year to do this. If the Bills stay at #11, they simply will have to draft a WR. Yes, a CB is still a need but not a glaring need. Due to last year's incredible injuries in the secondary, the Bills were forced to throw player after player into the front lines. The result? On the field training and the Bills now have a very good idea as to what they have. That information plus the overhaul of the defensive line (Stroud! and Johnson) and the return of Poz and the addition of Mitchell means less pressure on the CB's as the run game will be much improved and opponent offenses will face more frequent 3rd and longs. A CB is still needed but he can be drafted later and nursed more slowly. Now, it is true that most rookie WR's are not very productive. But there have been exceptions (Fitzgerald, Boldin, Colston, Cal Johnson to name a few rcent ones). Peerless Price was actually pretty decent his rookie year many moons ago. The role of a rookie wide receiver on the Bills will be to stretch the defense (so he needs to be fast) and he needs soft hands (he needs to be able to catch the Fade in particular). Over the middle, we still have Reed and Parrish so there is no need to put the kid into the middle of the short field. But the Bills HAVE to make it less attractive to double and triple team Evans. So, if the Bills cannot trade down or (pick up a veteran and a later pick in a trade), they will simply have to overreach for the best WR on the board at pick 11. I am terrified of Malcolm Kelly. He has not run yet and probably for a good reason - PLUS he already has had reconstructive surgery on his left knee. I think the Bills will go for Sweed, Manningham Hardy or Jackson. The Bills need a trade partner!

Nope - that would actually not fit the Raider mold. Trading for Chad would be a GOOD thing. Why do that?

I agree with you that he is a great WR but look at the situation realistically - the bengals are in no position to demand let alone receive a 1st rnder for him. They will be lucky to get a 2nd. If I were the Bills, I would get involved in the deals being discussed. I would offer a 4th and a conditional pick in 2009. Then, if the Bengals bite, I'd say "wait a minute" and talk to Chad about a contract extension. The Bills also need to get serious in their contract talks with lee Evans.

also, from kffl Bills | Team has showed interest in R. Davis Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:13:17 -0700 Vaughn McClure, of the Chicago Tribune, reports the Buffalo Bills have shown interest in restricted free-agent WR Rashied Davis (Bears).

Redskins | Hackett reportedly turns down offer Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:15:49 -0700 The NFL Network reports free-agent WR D.J. Hackett (Seahawks) reportedly turned down a contract offer from the Washington Redskins.

The age-old problem with a trade is finding the right partner. Ideally, the Bills would like to trade down only 3-6 slots to assure themselves of one of the top 1-3 WR's. A trade down from pick 11 to, say pick 16 is worth about a 3rd. To pick 18 is a 3rd and 4th. If someone dangles a decent player too at a desired position (CB or WR), then the pick charge can be lowered. Of course, there would then be the issue of cap hit(s) etc for each team. I, too, would like the see the Bills trade down since the top WR's are rated to go starting around pick 15. Top CB's, on the other hand, should start going around picks 6-8. At pick 11, we are probably looking at, at best, the 3rd best CB. I see no reason to trade up this year in round 1 unless the top CB is knocking their socks off. Will Malcolm Kelly ever run a 40? Without one, I can't see the Bills risking drafting him at pick 11. -RnJ

You are really oversimplifying his response - to your own detriment since it is upsetting you. Marv did not "shout" anything close to that. What he did say is that the answer to the question is not a simple "yes" or "no" which means exactly that. Thus, IF the Bills were to give up their 1st this year then a number of things have to happen - not only a pre agreement on an acceptable deal with Turner - but also players of interest for the Bils not on the draftboard at pick 12 and players of interest ON the draftboard for the Chargers. Plus, there will undoubtedly be other compensation to the Bills (such as the Chargers 1st or the chargers 2nd etc etc)/ The list is long of possibilities. Informing the media of this would simply help other potential trade partners (Tennesee). Therefore, it would be FOOLISH for Marv to answer the question. relax, man. Marv is a pretty savvy guy. and his 1st draft was , arguably, one of the best in Bills history.

Here's a link I found: http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/sto...19/daily19.html

Here is how Rick Gosselin's 2006 mock draft looked - he seems to be one of the most accurate guys out there: http://forum.signonsandiego.com/archive/in...hp/t-60251.html Now, here is his latest 2007 mock: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...ft.2dc3375.html

I have been following this a bit over theyear's and one guy DOES seem to get it better than the others. Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning Times. He whipped Mel again last year. Here's a report from the Pittsburgh tribune (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_450235.html): Mel Kiper Jr. might be the self-proclaimed guru of the NFL draft, but he has nothing on Rick Gosselin and Clark Judge. Gosselin, of the Dallas Morning News, and Judge, of CBS Sportsline.com, easily outscored Kiper in mock draft predictions for the first round of last Saturday's draft. Gosselin and Judge had the highest scores among national prognosticators, according to an informal study conducted this week by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Credit was given if the expert had the player going to the correct NFL team -- even if that team's draft slot changed because of a trade. Gosselin correctly identified 15 of the 32 first-round selections, including nine of the first 10. He even predicted that Santonio Holmes would fall into the Steelers' lap, although Gosselin didn't take into account that the Steelers would trade up to the 25th pick in order to get the Ohio State wide receiver. Judge was next with 13 correct submissions. He hit six of his first seven picks and nine of the top 13. However, he erred when he had the Steelers picking Miami wide receiver Sinorice Moss with the final pick of the round. Kiper? He had only seven picks identified, although to be fair his mock draft was submitted two days before the Houston Texans decided to make North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams the No. 1 overall selection. And Kiper did have USC quarterback Matt Leinart falling to Arizona with the 10th pick. Pete Prisco of CBS Sportsline.com ranked third on our list with 10 correct predictions in his mock draft. Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated should be awarded an asterisk next to his score of eight. Dr. Z admittedly was at a disadvantage because he had to submit his picks to the magazine a week before the newspaper/online pickers made their selections. Being affiliated with the league apparently didn't result in NFL.com experts Vic Carucci and Pat Kirwan acquiring too much inside information. Carucci had just five correct picks, misfiring on 26 of his final 28 picks. Kirwan had only four right after whiffing on his first 18 selections. It also was a long day in the war room for Tribune-Review columnist Mike Prisuta, who correctly identified just five of the 32 selections in his mock draft. ****************************** Here's the link to Gosselin's latest mock - he has us taking Lynch: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...ft.2dc3375.html

In my field (meteorology) one tool used in a forecast is "persistence" - if it's 2 degrees above normal today it will be 2 degrees above normal tomorrow (for example) But, quite obviously, it is only one bit of information used otherwise this would be an easy business. These so-called football "experts" seem unable to look beyond last year's records and/or their personal biases (Miami and Dallas always seem to get extra weighting) I can guarantee you , the Bills will not END UP having faced the second hardest schedule. Going in, based on last year's records, it is the 2nd hardest. That is not the end all. One reason is...SURPRISE!.... teams improve or degrade from year to year. Every time the Bills beat a team from last year's "elite", then the number swing both ways (our strength of schedule decreases while our opponent's increases). Simply put, use the schedule from last year as one means of predicting a team's final record but one must also consider where each team is heading. Not to mention how injuries will come into play as they always do. The Bills, regardless of what the experts say, have improved the offensive line which was already showing improvement the latter half of last year. The loss of Willis is not a big deal - he was very unimpresssive. Our run game did not degrade when A-train came in. Our defensive line is improved. JP improved markedly last year and there is every reason to expect him to continue to improve ESPECIALLY if he has more time to throw. The draft is important though - we need a new RB and a new LB. I am hoping for Willis or poluzny (sp) and Pittman -RnJ

When can season ticket owners purchase extra tickets (individual) for select games?

What he said. Yep, this is the stupidest mock I have seen so far. He may have only 1-2 picks right in the top 10

Schobel was signed to a five-year contract extension on Sept. 8, 2004 The contract was worth about $23 million, including a $6.75 million signing bonus, which locked him up through the 2009 season.

If you are posting this in reponse to the very negative comments coming from the out of town media (particularly ESPN), then I am with you. But, the jury is truly still out on a few of your points. Yes, Marv didn't overpay for Fletcher or Clements as the Redskins and 49ers did respectively. The coaching staff is clearly the best the Bils have had since Marv's days. I agree that he drafted well last year but we should assess this by watching them play for at least one more year (but, it is my expectation, that the 2006 draft will eventually be rated one fo the best in Bils history round-for-round). As to the offensive line, this is one place where the pundits are (mostly) blasting the Bills decision to pay so much to Dockery and Walker. Again, we need to see them play to see if they give JP more time to throw and open up holes for whomever is carrying the rock. I certainly am content with what Marv has done this offseason and if I have to choose whose opinion to trust (Mortenson/Kiper or Marv's), I think I will trust Marv. RichNJoisy

We all have to be careful assuming we undertsand the Levy-led draft strategy based on only one year. Yes, last year's #1 pick was considered a reach by the "experts". But proof in the pudding has shown that the selection of Whitner was a good one (at least so far). Let's see how this draft plays out - we can continue to speculate but the Bills are only showing us that they are INTERESTED in filling the RB role and that they like fast, to-the-line-of-scrimmage LB's. One can assume they are interested in CB's too but they may simply play with the cards they already have (youboty, simpson, whitner and McGee) BTW - I have finally lost all respect for mort and kiper etc. Did they watch McGahee play? Without the jets games, he positively reaked. -RnJ

Our and your bad! At a;most every tailgate, Lisa and I would take a stroll over to the pinto - hopefully in time for the "ketchup toss" I love the balling bowl "ploy": drink (what is it? whiskey?) out of the ball and then drop it keeping the holes UP. If you fail you drink again (who supplies the booze?) Goal is to get opposing fans to "play" and then get too drunk to attend the game. gotta love it.

This is reasonable - however, how high would YOU offer as the conditional? If as high as #1 - forget it - unless the condition is we win the super bowl. I'd make it a 3 and maybe 3/4 with as high as 2 on something ridiculous like 1600 + yards. But We have other posters going with John's offer of a 1st swap (McBride and apuszczalowski) I'd be willing to bet you all this will not happen. I never bet unless I am really really certain. So, I gues you know how I feel, huh?

No way The value of a RB is not a 1st rounder. Swapping with the chargers (pick 30) is more costly than trading them our 2nd round pick PLUS we will have to pay turner a ton more $$ than drafting, say, Lynch No way. The game of "chicken will be won by levy. or like they say inthe movie Wargames, "the best way to win is to not play the game" trading picks is a dubious practice at best and for a fiscally conscious team (like the Bills) it is even more unlikely. I still predict IF a trade takes place, it will be a third at the highest.

Our plan is to get the hell out of dodge for like February and March (post football season of course!)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17662270/site/newsweek/ I never have to worry about the word getting out about how great a place Buffalo is. The only people who believe me are former Buffalonians and the very very very few people who "get it" Hopefully, the recent NFL deal will mean it is more likely than not, I will have a local NFL football team in red-white and blue with Buffaloes on the helmet to cheer for when I settle in my new digs enjoy the article. -RnJ