simpleman

Converting OT to G is always a possibility. In addition to the others mentioned these are players I have for value picks in the later rounds if they should last longer than expected. 1.) If trade down, late 1st Taylor Lewan (LG) 2 Cyril Richardson (LG), 3.) Morgan Moses, OT 4.) Dakota Dozier (LG) Anthony Steen (LG) 5.) Brandon Thomas (LG), 6.) Chris Watt (LG)

Thanks Astro . Just the type of info I always appreciate. I'm always looking for names to research and get the enjoyment of being a fantasy drafter/manager.

To think that professionals should be subjected to harassment off the field and by their own teammates is sad. Saying that is the way it always has been, and must be is even sadder. Check out this article by a former player and a class act about his experiences with a winning organization and a great coach a generation ago.. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10458607/lose-crucial-parts-code-nfl-locker-rooms

The other thought in my mind is, if we traded Stevie and somehow replaced him with a FA WR we thought was a better value than him. Why wouldn't the other team simply grab that other player themselves, since he was a better value than Stevie?

How about going this direction in the discussion. If you think Buffalo would be better without Stevie. Show us a specific path how the team could be better. A third round draft pick has repeatedly been tossed around in the thread. Okay, what wide receiver/TE available in the draft in the third do you believe will make us a better team this year than with Stevie? What WR/TE in the third has a reasonable possibility of a bigger possible upside than Stevie does for the future? If we were able to trade Stevie and use the pick on another position, what FA would you use his saved cap money to replace him that would at least be as good as Stevie? I'm looking for specifics here, real names and players. What are the real options. Just cutting him gives us no players to replace him and saves us virtually no cap dollars, so I don't see that as a real option. Show us how subtracting Stevie adds or makes the Bills a better competitor this year. Understand I am neutral here, I'm looking to see a clear path how it makes the team better. Which is all I want as a fan.

I too have been hoping for Skov in the 3rd. But comparing Borland and Skov will be much easier after the Combine.

It is very tiring that individuals on this board need to make everything so personal. You make a reasoned post judging the attributes of a player and they take it as a personal attack on them and their beliefs. Football is a business, players and coaches are employees. A good business will try to put out the best "product" they can , making what they consider a decent profit. 1.) Stevie is not a legitimate #1 receiver compared to the general standards of the majority of teams in the NFL (The competition) As in the PFF post here he was recently rated as a solid starter/valuable role player. He is a legitimate #2 in the league. 2.) The Bills consider him a #1, their fault 3.) He has a contract which pays him as if he is a #1 (their fault), he is not performing up to the value of his contract 4.) Because he has a contract that wildly overvalues his performance and ability, it will be very difficult to find another team that would trade for him, since he is not worth that much to other teams that have a proper sense of value. 5.) We can not cut him since our cap hit would be counter productive. Besides he is a solid player, just not worth his inflated overvalued contract. Why get rid of a solid starter if it won't save money or make you a better team. 6.) In order to succeed as a team and a business we need to find (via trade, FA or the draft), a true #1 receiver 5.) It does not matter how nice a guy he is off the field, it matters what he does on the field to win games and make the team a success. It is not personal, any possibility should always be on the table, and open for discussion here, concerning what would make the team a better team. Every player is always on the table for trade, cut, replacement. No one is exempt. It is a business, period. Both sides, please stop making it personal.

Football is a business. All of them were good players at one time. But good players are soon injured or used up quickly in this business, and all of them are past their expiration date. Good moves by the Saints. Such is life as an NFL football player.

We are not talking about him as a number 1 receiver. He is a hopefully reliable Vet presence with our rookies growing around him. He still has a few years left, but this is his last real contract. He tried to go for his payday 3 years ago and found out he would not command big bucks even at his peak. He made 3 Million + last year. And GB will not offer him anywhere near that this year. I can't imagine anyone offering him more than 3 Million a year anymore. I see him going for much less. What do others think he will sign for, even away from teams with a great QB?

For all the talk of analytics and value, I would think that players like Jones would be exactly the type of players Bills management would be looking at the virtues of right now. I don't think Jones would break any banks.

Personally I would rather have 100 focused threads that properly discuss the merits of the individual player than on one unmanageable 40 page thread that degenerates into a dozen meandering ADD discussions. Then again I am not one of the generation that claims they can multitask 20 things at once and ends up doing all 20 things badly. Notice how one contribution already was not about the merits of a free agent, but about the merits of choosing a FA over drafting a player to fill a position. Not at all what this thread was about.

Looking for a FA veteran WR for the team. Without breaking the bank. Hopefully the off season can allow him to fully recover from his PCL sprain last season and return to somewhere near his game the year before. What are the views on James Jones? Would he be an upgrade over Stevie? How does he compare to our current group of WRs? I mentioned Decker in another thread and most felt he was going to be asking for too much. And if that was the case I would agree. I can not see paying much more for any reciever than we already are for Stevie this year. http://www.rotoworld...242/james-jones http://www.nfl.com/p...2507183/profile

If the price was right would you sign Kenny to an incentive laced contract to see if we could revive his career? He has the size and the potential. Is he past history, or does he still have as much potential as a possible mid round draftee?

After working on my draft board last night I used the program again. Now this is a draft I would like. Matthews and Mewhort could give us a stout Oline. ASJ is a big tall TE who immediately improves our offense. Skov on the inside with Kiko outside gives us a better defense against the run. Murray is later round competition to help push EJ. Boston is there to try developing in case we need more potential if we are forced to tag Bryd and replace him next year. Latimer is a pure project in the 7th to gamble on at WR. 9 OT JAKE MATTHEWS TEXAS A&M 41 TE AUSTIN SEFERIAN-JENKINS WASHINGTON 73 ILB SHAYNE SKOV STANFORD 105 OT JACK MEWHORT OHIO STATE 137 QB AARON MURRAY GEORGIA 169 S TRE BOSTON NORTH CAROLINA 201 WR CODY LATIMER INDIANA

Working on my draft board on possible value picks if they drop to the 4th. Looking at Donte Moncrief WR. I wondered what the raps were on him. From what I found he is big and tough. He has good hands and good moves. He is not afraid to block down field. He does not have the speed of a Goodwin, but would seem a good outside receiver and good in the middle with his size and moves. Any info, links on him? Any comments on what his weaknesses are?

I don’t think anyone questions the talent that Colt has. The problem is that his off field issues negate his talent. Using a draft pick on him would most likely be a waste. As he seems determined to self destruct. He has an incredibly long history of legal run ins, spiraling worse and worse. He is facing a felony cocaine charge. The legal system and the judge bent over backwards to give him a break, allowing him to avoid a felony conviction for drug possession and use and fleeing arrest when he was first caught. All he had to do was complete a drug addiction treatment program and they were willing to drop the charges. He refused the opportunity multiple times. The judge has lost patience with him, which is a very bad sign. Unless Colt admits his problem and is willing to overcome it, he will be just another another chapter in the tragedy stories of talented athletes that have destroyed themselves. And he has shown no inclination to even try to save himself.

Thanks for all the info. I still would prefer ASJ in the 2nd. But I see Niklas as an asset on the field the first year as an extra relief for our QBs. As a good blocker he could be on the field with CJ as not only a blocker, but as a pass threat in the middle. With Goodwin as the speed threat and Stevie/Woods as the Middle threat, Niklas and CJ all on the field could really give the offense some options on third downs. It seems as a true receiving threat he has a lot of upside, but will take a year or too to develop, he still has issues with his hands and catching. But in the mean time he could be a relief option and a great blocker for our RBs. Looking at the youtube video I also saw Sklov 's video. I really want him in the third, or high 2nd if we somehow trade down and get another 2nd.

I am working on building my draft board. After ASJ I don't know much about later round TEs. Anyone have some good links or video of him, analysis, or who saw him play and can comment. From what I read he is green, but is an excellent blocker, has decent hands. Has good size, not fast, but good underneath. Any input would be appreciated.

I found the same thing when I took Watkins. I never was able to draft any decent OL when I took Watkins. I lost out on ASJ and also never could get either Borland or Skov at LB as well. Hope that is just the sim. As you said OL was a lost cause when I went WR in the first.I sure hope FA would work is that was the case in real life.

Interesting that on about 10 runs Boyd was always there in the 6th. And Johnny Football fell to the 2nd in many rounds. I found that it was best when I chose Robinson in the 1st. I never got the chance for Astro's R1 - OT GREG ROBINSON R2 - TE AUSTIN SEFERIAN-JENKINS R3 - ILB SHAYNE SKOV That would be draft heaven. It was a learning experience. I found myself pressured in the 4th round to draft a safety, thinking about Byrd probably being gone. It even messed up my draft board and strategy when Clinton -Dix was there in the 2nd and I could not refuse. It was a fun sim that really got you thinking and realizing how when talent falls and you can't refuse, it really ruins your strategy.

Go ahead and contribute to the pockets of rich billionaires. As the saying goes, "There's a sucker born every minute". Sounds like a lot of them are from Buffalo.

I proposed this in another previous thread. It meets all our needs and then some. As was stated, 2nd round talent this year is 1st round talent in many other years with so many players coming out early. The 49ers are just one or two players away from a Superbowl next year. Anquan Boldin and Mario Manningham are FA and Crabtree is in his last year. So a top WR could be a priority for SF. A number 9 could conceivably give them their pick at WR. They have a large number of picks. They could give Buffalo their 30th (1st); 55th, 62nd (2nd); and 94th (3rd) in exchange for Buffalo’s #9 & Buffalo’s 7th rounder. They would get a top 10 pick and still have a low mid 3rd round pick. With the 30, 41, 55, 62, 73, 94th picks in the top 100 Buffalo could get: Possibly AJS or another TE or one of the Richardsons for the Oline in the first Slov lb in 2nd Antony Steen or Zack Martin og with the high 2nd and a pick for BPA in a need area Or Gabe Jackson or Tre Jackson for Oline in the 3rd and BPA in a need area. Mettenberger, Boyd or McCarron QB in the 4th

I guess if you think that is good football, you may like that. The problem was that 1.5 seconds included a lot of draping and contact that was suppose to be a penalty under the rules. A lot of that draping was before the ball was in the air or not in the area of the ball. A lot of it could have been PI or holding according to the rules. Not that it would have mattered in this game the way the Broncos played.

By the start of the 2nd half I kept thinking, did someone slip a Mickey into the Bronco's Gatorade before the game? How could a WHOLE team with that much talent that had made it to the Super Bowl suddenly turn into the 2012 Bills at their worst? LOL!

I see what you are saying. After a decade of "building through the draft" we are still "building". If a team wants to "win this year" and not someday in the future by "building a dynasty" through a draft, then your method makes sense. Teams that are a player or two away from completing a dynasty can afford to build that dynasty through the draft. But the Bills are, and have been for a long time far, far away from even starting such a dynasty. I am frustrated at never even having a team to root for that is actually just seriously competitive in over a decade. I want a competitive team NOW! No more 3 year plans that never are successful, and end with yet another new 3 year plan , onward into infinity. You are right, except for maybe in the first two rounds, it is unrealistic to expect your drafted player to be be a true impact player on day one. It takes even a normal talented player time to grow into their postion in an NFL where everyone already there is bigger, better trained, more experienced. and faster than the players they faced in college football. Kiko was an exception for us last year, and even he hit the wall somewhat later in the season. I hope he continues his development next year, we all have such high hopes for him. I would expect we could get starters in FA that are better than our current starter in many positions we are weak in. But I would not want to go crazy trying to bring in superstars at huge dollars who we would build a dynasty around. They would simply be short term hired guns. Older veterans with something still left in their tanks for a year or two to let us be seriously competitive now, while giving us the time and luxury to draft those rookie pieces of a future dynasty, letting them grow into their positions and replace those veteran hired guns. Being seriously competitive now with the addition of the vet hired guns, while their drafted rookie replacements develop and learn from the vets they will ultimately replace. If that is what you are basically saying, I am all in!