QCity

Less than 20 days away. Here's my opinion - 1) Dre Kirkpatrick, CB, 6'3" 192, Alabama - Elite size for the position. An extremely physical player especially at the line of scrimmage. Very solid tackler and has a reputation for being a hard worker. Great instincts make him the best zone coverage corner in the draft, but he is also a solid cover man as well. Was considered a top 10 player until a marijuana arrest raised some suspicions. 2) Bobbie Massie, OT, 6'6" 316, Mississippi - Massive tackle with long arms and quick feet. His eye-popping numbers at the combine highlight his athleticism. He is very effective at corralling speed rushers and is a solid LT prospect. 3) Marvin McNutt, WR, 6'3", 215 Iowa - The best receiver in the Big 10 last season. Great hands and size, very physical. This is the type of WR Buddy was talking about when he said "we need a guy who's open even when he's not open." 4a) Bobby Wagner, LB, Utah State 6'0" 240 - Smart player with a nose for the ball and a tackling machine. Prototypical build for a 4-3 OLB. 4b) Nick Foles, QB, 6'5" 240, Arizona - Ideal size, strong arm. Was probably slotted as the #4 QB in the draft and a high 3rd round pick until his disastrous pro day dropped his stock a bit. The Bills draft strategy and why we'll take Kirkpatrick: - Don't buy into all the BPA nonsense. That can be interpreted in many ways, especially if you phrase it as "best player available that helps our team the most" - and that's more along the lines of what Nix means IMO. There's also an old saying that you "build a defense from the lines out." That was true in the run-heavy NFL of the 70s and 80s, but has no weight in today's pass-happy game. QB is the hardest position to fill, followed closely by pass-rushers and cornerbacks - and good luck signing a top CB in free agency unless you have the means to hand out $50M+ contracts. - There's a need. Currently our top 4 CB's consist of an oft-injured aging veteran (McGee), 2 shaky (at best) coverage men (Florence, McKelvin), and a promising 2nd year player that doesn't have a full season under his belt (Williams). Yes, we all know that an improved pass rush will help our CBs, but there is still a glaring need in our secondary. Look for the Bills to draft a second corner later in the draft as well. - Nix has also made no secret of our need for CB's with quotes like "you can never have too many" and "don't be surprised if we draft another one high next year." - Nix also seems high on players from strong conferences like the SEC. - The physical traits of Kirkpatrick make him a tailor made matchup against the two-headed TE monster playing in New England.

Haha so true. I just got an email from a friend that thinks we can start 3-1 if that is the real deal.

Yeah that's true, by where I meant which game is in Toronto.

Those are the teams we play, that's 100% certain as the divisions rotate yearly. The only question is in which order and where do we play them.

I've never heard Buddy say we are drafting BPA regardless of position. And I have no idea why you brought up expert analysis. Teams don't draft guards high because it isn't considered an impact position. Same with safeties. The thinking is you can easily swing a T out to G or a CB to S, but not vice-versa. Now it isn't written in concrete, and occasionally one does get drafted high (Whitner, Berry), but it isn't a smart move. Now here's the irony - this thread is titled "Fans have to start taking Nix at his word", and even includes a quote from Nix reiterating what I just said about tackles/guards, and people still don't get it. It's not like Nix has been lying to us all along.

No, if you really want to take him at his word you will listen to exactly what he said, instead of whatever you make up in your mind. Where do people keep getting this BPA garbage? Is it from Spiller? Also, astute front offices don't draft guards high in the first round (regardless of how well Kiper grades him or what he looks like on Youtube).

Yeah it's official - listed on the Eagles site - 5 years no figures released yet though.

Eagles Insider reports a 5-yr contract. Wow! https://twitter.com/#!/EaglesInsider/status/187561418764206080

Make sure you check under your bed at night too.

Nah, they are complaining about the collar louder over there. Edit: now trying to start a petition against the white collar LOL

$10 million a year for 3 years?? He wants 8 years at $120+ million lol. Mike Wallace told 49ers he wants more than Larry Fitzgerald

I think some fans have this team confused with the Yankees.

Indeed. Indeed.

Well I wasn't ever complaining, nor was I bitching. And I am thrilled with the offseason moves. And the reason I "only want to talk about the one contract" is because this is a thread about that signing. Someone posted updated contract details. I commented that the deal looks better now. Someone else mentioned it doesn't matter what we paid him since we are under the cap. I replied that it does still matter and my opinion was $7M/yr is too much for a situational player. I even said that if he does become an every-down player the deal might be worth it. That's a big IF. I thought that was a very level-headed response. Anyways, it's clear you are more focused on attacking me and I've already said my peace, so I'm bowing out of this thread.

I'm just going to respond to this, because everything else you typed seems to be some sort of bizarre strawman argument. Maybe you need to reread what I wrote, because I have no problem with any of our other offseason moves, and maybe not even this one if those $21M contract details are correct. Anderson was not going to get that money wherever he went, you're delusional if you think so. While it's nice to imagine that he wanted to come here to play on a line with Williams/Dareus/Williams, the simple truth is that he was going to go wherever they paid him the most. He's not trying to boost his stats and cash-in on his next contract when he's 33 (lol). This was his big contract payday, and we offered the most. And let's talk about that year with the Patriots, or should I say a year of situational play under the best defensive coach in the game on a team that often forced other teams into a desperation-passing mode. I hope the guy does do well - I hope he gets 20 sacks next year. But TBH, I think any average DE we put on the end of that line could get 8-9 sacks next year. If you take a level-headed look at the guy's entire career and the situation he was in last year - it's hard not to think we paid just a tad too much for him.

Oh I get it. I get it completely. Do you? We played the "overspend a tad and try to build a winning team that free agents will like in future years" card with Mario. For the record I think that was an excellent signing. I also think you were trying to write "tad", and we will have to disagree on just how much a "tad" is. But we don't have to do that with every player going forward, especially not a situational (or rotational) player. And let's be honest, he was a situational player last season and his rookie season - his 2 most productive years. The 5 years in between when he played every down yielded some pretty bland results. I understand that the fan base is frustrated, but the team still needs to spend wisely. Which teams in the league are notorious for overspending? The Redskins, Raiders, and Cowboys. How far did that get them the last decade?

Well, I was just answering your question. And I don't need to see other offers to know that $7M/yr is too much for a situational pass rusher. Now if he can turn into a high production every-down player, then it may be worth it. But he has yet to do that in a 7-year career with 3 different teams.

If Spotrac is correct with those numbers, that definitely looks a lot better. Because it's extremely important to get fair value. You shouldn't overspend on a player just because you are under the cap.

I have no idea where people come up with this "Nix always drafts BPA" garbage. I think 2 or 3 people say it, then 100 people parrot it. Gailey wanted a "waterbug" back. Gailey wanted to run a 3-4, Troup was our new NT and Carrington our new 3-4 end.

Dawkins says Tebow “laid hands” on injured neck

Highlight reel - lol at him destroying that tackle at 2:45 He was moving up in the rounds recently, but he got arrested for destruction of property last week.

Well I never said that. I implied that the majority of fans here can't scout college talent better than Nix (thread title). I'm sure there are a few that can. I also would like to note that when someone is wrong on a message board, it's easy to hide from that prediction and never mention it again. However when someone is right....oh man, you will here about it until the end of time. This gives the illusion that more people were correct. I mean, everyone on this board would have taken Ngata over Whitner, you would be insane not to!!

I don't know, I see a lot of people that can't accurately judge the talent on their own team that they follow religiously, let alone a college team they probably didn't even watch. If you were outraged at the Lee Evans trade, raise your hand. Exactly! Use someone else to assess the talent and tweak it slightly based on what you think we need. I'm a scout!

Fantasy football has incorrectly convinced people that they have more football smarts than the average GM. Fans see a list by Kiper/McShay with 1 paragraph blurbs about players and take that as gospel. Hindsight is always 20-20, but I remember there was a very large contingent on here screaming for Clausen. Of course, today, we only have a group that "knew all along" he was going to be a bust I think Johnathan Martin is the perfect example of this. Kiper and McShay had him listed as the #3 OT back in January/February. People saw this, looked at his size, read a 2-sentence summary of him, and concluded he must be our #10 pick. When I see Martin, I see a guy who played in the Pac-10 and didn't have to face many dominant pass rushers. I see a guy who played with an incredibly smart QB who could read defenses, get the ball out quick, sniff out blitzes and avoid the sack. Of course that's my opinion, I only seen him play 1 game last year. I also think there's about a 95% chance we call Kirkpatrick's name with our 10th pick.

The word I often read associated with Martin is "finesse." Not really what I want to hear when I envision a lineman. The National Football Post thinks he "is going to have a hard time keeping the edge clean at the next level." I think the only reason a lot of people on this board are high on him is because Kiper/McShay initially rated him high in January. He's also a Pac-10 player and didn't face many dominant pass rushers. The only game I saw him play was the Stanford-USC game (awesome game) and Andrew Luck seemed like he was running for his freaking life that entire game. I will be very, very worried if the Bills call his name at number 10 overall.