richNjoisy

That IS a risk but looking at the Niners needs - my guess is that they need a DE more than they need a LB. Jamaal Anderson or Gaines Adams seem to be their likely pick...depending on who is still there. Trading up is very costly this high up. Trading up out of the 2nd into the lower part of the 1st is nowhere near as costly and can be highly beneficial.

This is absolutely correct - the Tampa 2 defense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_2) -- not a bad writeup -- is designed for speed and gang tackling. Fast D-linemen shoot the gaps and disrupt the play call. Meanwhile, the LB's are supposed to attack to the line of scrimmage going to the ball. So many people here are hung up on having to have a HUGE Sam Adams-type to clog the middle. I also agree with ganesh about Kyle Williams. I was AMAZED to see a rookie defensive lineman play so well. He has nothing but upside folks. What a great draft Marv had last year. Seems to me that Patrick Willis would fit in very nicely in this defense. He SHOULD be there at 12. should be.....

1st off: No way Marv's trades a 1st round pick for a RB - and a backup RB at that - on the last year of his contract. No way 2nd off: VERY low chance Marv's trades a 2nd round pick for a RB - and a backup RB at that - on the last year of his contract Maybe a third and something else. I betcha Marv is offering a 4th or a 5th.

Wait a second - I thought the patriots already won the division in 2007. At least that is what the "experts" have all but declared. Now I'm confused......

Thanks! I am cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season. Can you remember the last time the Bills had an offensive line that other teams FEARED? Unless you were watching the game in utero - you had better be at least 30 years old! Maybe this will be a first for a lot of the "young" Bills fans. (young in quote since my definition of this term seems to be changing. I wonder why....) Aging in Joisy, RnJ

great post, Nanker I wish I could say that my cynicism could finally limit my amazement / shock at how worshiped belicek is and how reviled Levy is Your points about Polian are valid and once you pointed it out, the comparision between Marv's moves the past two years and Polians do come out. The recent Patriot moves have been, without question, declared as Godlike and the rest of the league might as well give the Lombardi Trophy to New England right now. And yet, this past offseason's move contradict the kind of moves New England made prior to the three SB wins. The Patsies have spent gobs of money on some good but some questionable players. They have borrowed from the future to pay for today. They have actually LIMITED their depth while increasingly their injury risks (older players). Is this the formula for success? It is unclear if the Bills overpaid for Dockery/Walker/Whittle. I highly doubt the McGahee trade was bad for Buffalo (regardless of how the "experts" have reamed the Bills for the trade - I wonder sometimes how many games the "experts" actually watch or are they just stupid?. In any event, last year the Bills played much better than the year before while facing the toughest schedule in the entire league. It is possible, JP will be determined to be the best QB drafted in 2004 (not Manning, not Rivers, and not Roethlesberger). Last year's Bills draft MAY be the best draft the Bills have had in 20 years. Again, it remains to be seen but so far it looks like it was beyond fantastic. All this makes me give Marv the benefit of the doubt - if he thinks the three OL signed are worth it, if his 2006 draft is indicative of the skills he has in evaluating rookie talent then he has my support. screw the experts. what skilll have they shown? -RnJ

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...art1/index.html purrrrrr

I don't know about you, but it is kind of hard to imagine a Bills line that opens up big holes. wow, a hole. Next, can you imagine a Bills QB going back to pass and having the time to throw that, say, Tom Brady always has? wow, time to throw. People here are SO concerned about the RB position. But all you need is someone who can hit the holes (see, "wow..." above) quickly -not to mention how a good passing game makes running easier. this all sounds good (but hard to imagine) to me

sorry for the delay Lisa and I are in! Walk my man Walk! -RichN and RevN JOISY

yes and they should have beat them but they fumbled twice within the 5 yard line and ended up losing by about 7

My source is kffl.com (oh yee of little faith )

Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Of these 8 possibilities, I will eliminate tennessee, houston, kansas city, and tampa. (a guess) I doubt it would be jacksonville. so, I predict dnver at colts, or new england at colts, or new orleans at colts. I'd love to see brady get crushed befoe the bills even suit up. (heh heh)

If you are correct, that means we have to move up from 12 to 7 to get ahead of Houston. The trade value tables say that to move up would (value 1200 to value 1500) would cost us our 1st (1200 + our own 3rd {value 220} + our 4th {value 78} = 1498) So to move up from 12th to 7th costs us a 1st, 3rd, and 4th round pick. We'd still have our 2nd , baltimore's 3rd, and our 6th and 7th round picks plus baltimore's 7th. as Hemet mentioned, is this worth it when Marshawn Lynch will be there at 12 anyway?

I hear ya - but the Bills wanted to draft Whitner - or so they said last year - and most everyone believes they could have traded down and still have gotten him but they did not. I have heard the comments that the Bills were afraid someone else would draft him if they traded down...yada yada. My point is - this means that Levy already has had the opportunity once to do what you are suggesting but instead used the pick to draft the guy he wanted. He doesn't like to take risks when his guy is there. So, although I like your suggetsion, my own prediction is Marv will draft his guy or move up to draft him. Man, though, won't it be exciting if Peterson is there at 12! -rgg

Last year, the NFL poster child team was the Miami Dolphins. Wow! Nick Saban! Wow! Daunte Culpepper! it's Miami! wow! The Bills were cannon fodder (along with the Jets) Now, the jets are "hot" and the Bills remain, the dumbest folks around. Donte Whitner? He plays football? Whatta reach! But people still listen to them and buy their rags. Experts? my behind. Now, the McGahee trade is the Ravens 'steal of the century'! Righton, experts, Right on. I have been catching the news: GREAT blocker! Whatta receiver! Explosive to the hole. Breakaway speed. Stupid stupid Bills. Stupid stupid stupid. The Bills spent HOW MUCH on offensive guards? How much on an avergae RT from Oakland? (Quite honestly, I don't know much about these players...but who should I trust more....the experts or marv? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) The Bills traded Eric Mould last year for a 5th rnd pick that they turned into starting DT Kyle Williams. RT Terrence Pennington was a 7th round pick last year. Now the Bills get a 3rd, a 7th this year and a 3rd next year? For Willis? In a draft LOADED with quality RB's? stupid Bills. Stupid stupid stupid.

just an FYI: Losing Nate and London would matter for the 2008 draft.

You guys seem to think that this is an automatic either-or Although great RB's can make a poor O-line look o.k. a great O-line can make an average RB look great. IF (a moderate IF I grant you) the new offensive line of: Peters - Dockery - Fowler - Whittle - Walker 6'4"330 6'6" 335 6'3"295 6'4"305 6'8"345 Backups (Pennington, Preston, Butler, Merz) and MAYBE Gandy A good run game aids the pass game. Evans is a top ten WR and JP is clearly above average and may be top 10. What JP needs is one more WR - might as well use the draft In any event, with time to throw JP will excel. The key is the new offensive line. If McNally harnesses these guys and give JP time to throw and opens holes up for the RB, then we will score.....a lot. I'd draft Lynch or Willis in round 1 ( a trade up MIGHT get both of them if Willis falls beyond pick 20) I am assuming Kyle Williams will play even better next year, McCargo will contribute, and the players will understand the defensive scheme better (2nd year of playing it). Now, if we can only find a way to beat the Patriots..........

I heard the same question (Why?) from Mike Golic this morning on ESPN Radio. He even said, get this, "McGahee has breakaway speed". Other than one run against the Jets last year in the Meadowlands, I can't recall any other instance of "breakaway speed". McGahee was slow to the hole and seldom pulled away from anyone except big , fat linemen. He couldn't block, he didn't know the playbook, occasionally forgot what the down and circumstances were, was often off the field with a "boo-boo", and for the life of me I never noticed a dropoff in our run game when A-Train came in. good riddance. -RnJ

Ah, John, I seldom disagree with ya - of course this topic is sooo much conjecture and trying to predict Marv has been, to say the least, difficult. But - pending free agency - I cannot see the Bills going D in round 1 after going almost 70% defense last year and already committing this year's 5th to defense (Hargrove). I see the Bills going OT, WR or TE (Levi Brown, Ted GinnJr., Greg Olsen). Okoye IS intriguing and I can also see the Bills going Leon Hall or the top LB on the board, BUT - IMO a defensive selection would mean that, in their opinion, that particular player should have been long gone by pick 12. I believe the Bills HAVE to give JP some weapons other than Lee Evans THIS year - via the draft (or may FA) my 2 cents...

I agree with this. Kelsay's numbers (88 tackles and 5.5 sacks) makes him a decent -to - above average DE based on the stats alone. That, combined with his knowledge of the system, youth, the fact that he got these numbers in rotation with Denney, and the observable steady improvement in his play all point to this being a very good signing. Hargrove is also ours due to his RFA status. Have the Bills tendered him yet? Should be a very interesting draft. I will be excited if both OT Levi Brown and Okoye are both there at #12. Go Bills!

I have been keeping myself as educated as I could possibly be (within reason) about the NFL salary cap and how to structure contracts. Ever since marv's pronouncement last Friday I have - for the first time - started considering a shift in how contracts are structured. Obviously, the method in the the past 10 years or so has been to keep base contracts (non guaranteed money) as low as possible and use the signing bonus divided by the lebgth of the contract as a means of circumventing the cap by effectively "borrowing" cap space from future years. As Kazoo has correctly pointed out, this can nail a team if a player gets seriously injured or simply does not play up to the size of his signing bonus (the only guaranteed money a player gets) . The question is, Is this a new era? The Bills have $32 million in 2007 cap space which they claim they will spend (rookies are accounted for already so the total is for FA signings alone). Player salaries CAN be guaranteed even if they are released. Thus, a high base salry can be the same as bonus money EXCEPT it all has to count for the given year. It cannot be spread out over several years. For the player, all that matters is guaranteed money. Period. Length of contract is a joke a player would actually benefit if he were to get a high base salary and then make it easier for a team to release him in subsequent years without penalty (cap hit). For example, let's say (for kicks) that the Bills offer Nate a 6-year deal with a $12 mil base salary and a $4 mil bonus. That's $16 mil in his pocket for 2007. The rest of the contract can be whatever....say $6 , $7, $8, $9, $10 so the contract is listed as 6-year, $56 million. He pockets $16 mil right away. Bills take on $12.67 Mill on the cap. That leaves $20 mil left to spend. And they only risk at most a $3.3 cap hit in 2008 reducing by 2/3 mil every year. The "normal" alternative contract to this would be a 6-year,$56 mil contract with a base of $2 mil and a signing bonus of $14 mil. Nate still pockets $16 mil but the Bill only take a 2007 cap hit of $4.67 mil leaving them with $27.33 mil to spend in 2007. But, if Nate is hurt or blows, eventually his release will accelrate money onto a future year's cap ($13.333 in 2008 reducing by $2.67 mil every year). This method guranatees that a team will have lots of cap money to spend every year but the limitation is not borrowing from the future. although, a team would be in a great position to do so if it is poised to win a championship and a difference maker is out there to be signed. I am still unsure if this type of bookkeeping can compete. But I don't think that it should be dismissed so handily. I say, let's see what marv can do with his $32 million kitty. Go Bills! -Rich

The 2002 draft produced some good defensive players and some horrible offensive players. Interesting Haynesworth played alongside Stroud in 2002 and actually had fewer tackles his rookie season than Kyle Wiliams did this year (and Kyle rotated a lot) Henderson had similar numbers (one more tackle) than Kyle BUT John had had 6.5 sacks his rookie season - a huge number I grant you. Here's Kyles numbers: TOT SOLO AST SACK STF STFY FF BK INT YDS AVG LNG TD PD 2006 53 33 20 0.0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 1 I think Kyle, if he bulks, up this offseason will be the real deal. He's high motor, smart, and has only scratched the surface of his potential. Not bad for a 5th round pick that we got from the Moulds deal. All reports from the Bills coaching staff said that McCargo was picking up his game right before his injury. My take on this remains that the Bils will stand pat on the D-Line, try to sign Kelsay, lose Fletcher, try to sign but probably lose Clements, sign Denney (?), try to sign Thomas (who knows), and then draft WR, TE, and OT/OG - they may also go CB in round 1 but I am leaning towards them putting Youboty in as a starter. -rgg

Would some of you 'experts" out there please remind me of the number of rookie DT's who played stellar their first year in the league? Everyone is so ready to discard McCargo and Williams to find that great DT who (I assume) will play great in his rookie season. C'mon guys - name some names (with stats) Have any of you looked up the current great DT's to see how they performed in their first or even 2nd years? Most - if not all - of them did not play that great at first. Why? It takes a year or two to amass the bulk and the skills to flourish amongst all those 300 lb offenive behemoths. Remember, in college it was men against boys - how many time did one of the great college DT;s have to face one, let alone 2 or more NFL caliber offensive linemen? I just do not see the Bills drafting another DT in rounds 1 or 2. As to CB - maybe, but they DID draft heavily in the secondary last year. Time to discard them already too? Meanwhile, how exactly is JP supposed to put points on the board if the Bills don't draft some offensive linemen to keep him upright and somebody to take the heat off of Lee Evans? A tight end who could catch would be nice too........

The Blizzard was when I decided to go into meteorology - I was a freshman in high school then - so that makes you 2 years younger?? Your idea about bringing in the old o-linemen is interesting but it is hard to say if the oldtimers can get through to such young men. How different is it in the "trenches" today? As to Peters, I would have to say "no way" - Peters is a very good to great left tackle. THAT is the most important position on the line. Don't event think about breaking that my friend. The release of pettigout (NYG) has me intrigued today. He has been a LT for a number of years but also played RT for 2 years and guard for 2 other years. Lasy year, befoe his injury, he was playing GREAT (not simply good). McNally worked with the kid when he came to the Giants. It will be very interestign to see if he is brought in for a look see. -rgg

I simply can't see marv using another high pick on a DT this year. It is true that McCargo did not impress FANS (such as myself) this past season. But, there are several reasons why I predict no high DT selection in April: 1.) The Bills felt strongly enough about McCargo to trade up for him last season. It seems to me to be way too early for the team to give up on this guy. 2.) He had moved into the starting lineup right before his injury (albiet in rotation) This is an indication that he was progressing - his injury interrupted this process 3.) Kyle Williams surprisingly made it into the starting lineup. DT is notoriously a position where a young player takes YEARS to develop. The fact that Williams actually played WELL (not great I will grant you) strongly suggests that he may be a very good player in this league someday - maybe even as early as next year if he bulks up this offseason. If so, his pick was a huge hit for the Bills. 4.) The Bills 2006 draft was heavily weighted on the defensive side and it showed on the field. If the Bills want to tak the step to the next level, they need to give JP more weapons to work with. IMO, that means at least 2 out of 3 of the following: A.) a very good possession receiver (I like the idea of signing FA Drew Bennett but I can see the Bills drafting a WR in round 1) B.) another stud on the offensive line (either through FA or through the draft) C.) a dependable TE who can catch The impending loss of Nate Clements and Fletcher-Baker is also a concern (especially the loss of Clements). However, the Bills drafted 3 DB's in the first 4 picks last year (Whitner, Youboty, and Simpson) which means the Bils have already put a deposit down on the replacement for Nate. Thus, Nate's replacement may already be on the team. I'd like to see the Bills sign Bennett and Draft a good OT or OG in round 1 or a TE. And then a LB in round 2.