simpleman

With a little over 3 weeks left before the Oct. 29, 2013 4 p.m. ET Trade deadline, I wanted to open a discussion on the validity of a strategy of building your team through trading for proven players rather than using mid to late round picks on players with a low probability of ever becoming impact players. It seems to be a better strategy to build depth using proven players than drafting unknown projects who have never taken a snap in the NFL. It helps lessen the question of "Does College talent actually translate into NFL talent?" It is a big step up from dumpster diving, and it would seem to be a safer bet to get decent players for depth and backup than drafting unknown players. It seems there are many teams who value the draft picks more than depth players, and if a team were to reach out to such a team packaging their mid/late round picks, I wonder if they could fix their depth problems quicker while being as effective as the normal strategy?

With all the recent trades for players this year, would I bundle a couple of mid to late round picks for a proven player? In a heartbeat. We need talent and depth all over the field. Look at our picks the past 3 years. I would consider trading a couple of any of our mid/late round picks next year for a decent backup or starter. Look at our history with those picks. Fifth to seventh round draft pick last few years: S Jonathan Meeks K Dustin Hopkins TE Chris Gragg Zebrie Sanders OT Tank Carder LB Mark Asper OG John Potter Arthur Moats, LB Ed Wang, OT Danny Batten, LB Levi Brown, QB Kyle Calloway, OT

If the price is right and he is willing, why not. At this point he is as legitimate as EJ. And if he plays well while EJ rests his knee injury , let the best QB win.

Do you really think comparing RGIII to Manuel at this point, and Tuel & Cousins at any time is a good idea?

I agree, sounds like the perfect opportunity for the Jags. Hope it works out well for both Josh and the Jags, if they do. Hope the Bucs fans enjoy their lost year. Guess they are looking at getting lucky next year like the Colts did with a top pick and all the QB in the draft.

Maybe I'm old school and FB is a dying position, but I love seeing smash mouth football with a FB plowing holes up the field!

In my book anyone that requires a constant double team from the opposing team is earning twice what a player who us drawing single coverage. I admit I don't see tapes of JUST him, I see the whole game as a fan. But he is one of those players on the team that I don't see any major problems with so far this season.

To clarify, I did not say we should have traded for him. I'm saying that other teams are willing to upgrade during the season, why are the Bills not trying as well. And yes I was trying not to turn this into another thread trashing a certain OG. What have the Bill's done to bring in talent this season? (Not pre season) I can think of at least a certain CB and a certain OG that definitely need an upgrade at their position. When a player so stinks up their position they cause the whole line to become dysfunctional.

While the Bill’s sit pat on a dysfunctional offensive line with almost $20 Million in cap space, the Raven’s trade for an upgrade on their O-line. While Monroe is no all star, he is a potential upgrade for the Ravens, with possibly years ahead of him. The Ravens are trying to constantly upgrade the team both in and out of the season. The Bills FO?

Why is it we can't see a positive on Easley and even mentioning his name in the same sentence as Tasker is premature, but even though Manuel has shown little in the preseason and 4 games into the season, it is alright to consider him our new Franchise QB and compare him to Kelly. If it is too soon to give Easley any credibility, why is it alright to anoint Manuel the savior of the Bills. I have seen flashes of talent from Easley, A Williams, Kiko and Woods. Even McKelvin has impressed at times. I have seen little above average from Manuel, although we all hope it is coming. Let's be consistent in our praises and expectations here.

While he is not there yet, I definitely think of Tasker when watching Easley. Now if we could just get a chance to see what Easley can do on the field as a receiver.

There is little question Byrd is potential top 10 safety TALENT. But just like Da'Rick and hundreds of other NFL players who had talent, there are other factors like heart, desire, focus and willingness to put in the effort required to turn that talent into results on the field. His actions this preseason/season and his Byrddogging make it difficult for me to believe he will ever again be willing or able to put in the effort or make the sacrifices required to turn that talent into results on the field for THIS team. I think his mind is so poisoned against the Bills organization that him being the player he was is now impossible. His not playing out of spite is so against logic and his own self interest that it shows just how far beyond repair his attitude is. If he had went out on the field and played his heart out, the Bills could have possibly worked out a trade that would have been good for him and good for the team. Now he has so lowered his value that will not happen. I believe he really has cost himself real money when he does sign with another team. He has made a bad situation much worse for all sides. just for the pleasure of spite.

go at it, just use comments from this board that actually fit the players.

This is a question, not a comment. Has Easley lined up as a WR in a regular game this season? I don't remember seeing it if he did.

The problem I see is that the posters are more and more flaming the other posters instead of taking their frustrations out on the players, the coaches and the FO. They are the ones that deserve the scorn. It has gotten worse this year than in years past. There are many threads where 1/4 of the posts are simply snarky remarks about fellow posters and all out flaming. People need to lighten up and not over identify with someone else. It is like posters pick their favorite player, coach or executive and if anyone is critical of them, the poster takes it as a personal attack on themselves. Attack the players, the coaches and the front office. They are the ones that TRULY deserve your scorn.

I just can't put the blame all on the players like Rogers & Brown. They don't have the talent or the ability required to be a successful NFL player. If they were lazy and not trying their best I would fault them. (Thinking of a player like D'Rick). But it does not appear to be the case with either, they are simply over their heads with their level of talent and ability, not a lack of drive or effort. I do put the blame where it belongs, the front office and to a lesser degree the coaches. It is up to the front office to assemble a team of at least passable professional NFL players. And it is up to the coaches to either get enough out of the players to make them passable professional NFL players, or inform the front office that they are not capable of being a NFL Pro and convince the FO to get them a replacement to try to work with. The failure of the FO is not because they are limited by cap space, the limits are self inflicted. Yes, there may not be long term solutions out there, but there are passable (not great)players out there that are at least better than what we have now. Buffalo fans are gullible enough to keep accepting excuses and accepting yet another term of rebuilding, to the point we are now the team that holds all the present NFL records for futility, so there is little pressure on the FO to at least achieve a team composed of a minimal level of competency at all positions. I no longer accept the promise of next year and having to write off yet another current season.We deserve at a minimum, a competent team on the field each and every game, even if we have no chance of the SB or playoffs. The FO is not giving us even the minimum.

Now it is reported that his suspension was longer because he was caught cheating by having a testing center employee substitute his sample for another. It sure sounds like another player on the road to self destruction. It sounds like he thinks the laws and rules don't apply to him and he committed fraud. It is not just a substance abuse issue.

Bleacher Report. postulates that "Peyton-Hillis-nfl-career-in-jeopardy-after-release-from-tampa-bay-buccaneers" Sad to see another athlete with heart is probably leaving the game. And NO this is not a “Sign Um” post. He is only 27. He gave his all on the field. Like many others. This is not just about him, it is being discussed in another thread. His release is no doubt due to his declining production due to his badly beat up body. But the article mentions the decline in the fullback position in general. What this posting is about is asking if TBD believes that fullback is a dying position? And if it is, is it permanent? Or do you think the evolution of football is more cyclical and the current fad of a dominating fixation on the “passing game” at the expense of the other half of the game, the “running game” may not be permanent. That like the wildcat and the hurry up, it is just a hot fad that will someday fade and the power running game will make a comeback?

I was shot down in another another thread for saying this about the Bills. But I feel this reaffirms what i said there. The "hurry up" offense simply makes a talented and effective team even more effective. There are no shortcuts with the hurry up. You can not just coach any team to simply go faster and make it better. You must first assemble the proper talent and coach it into an effective team. Only then you add in the "hurry up " component. Both the Bills and the eagles are trying to skip the first part of the process and jumping directly to the 2nd part. The sloppiness and penalties are the result of hurrying up your play without first having enough of the coaching and paying enough attention to the essentials. Kelly and the Bills made the KGun work because they already had the talent and the basics down before they added the hurry up.

It seems to be almost universal on this board that Brown is an obvious liability on this team. None of us is a professional NFL coach, so either we are missing something not so obvious about his ability, or the coaches or front office are the ones not cutting it. If someone is so obviously a liability at their position and yet 3 games into the season is still is kept in there, who's fault is it that they are even playing in the game? If the coaches and the front office are not either finding the talent on the team, or going out and bringing in talent to replace them with someone who is at minimum not a liability, it is their fault. Not the player trying his best, but being put in a position that he is not qualified to be in.

Hands down Brown is not cutting it. I think TJ and Chandler are beginning to create serious doubts, but I give them a couple more games to go one way or the other. I would like to see exactly what Easley has as a WR (already looking good on ST) and Gragg have to offer to see if either of them actually have what it takes considering my doubts about TJ and Chandler. If EJ works out as QB, I see our needs shaping up as a TE early in the draft , a LG (or a decent FA), later rounds a safety(don't see a Byrd in our future or even our present anymore) , a lb, a corner.

As others have mentioned, Lev wanted more than he was worth, more than a good, but not great LG is worth. He was a good LG, not a great one, like Bruce Smith was at his position. The problem was not the choice of the front office of who to tag, they underestimated how much Byrd's agent could completely muck up the whole affair. The problem is that the Bills did not make plans or properly set their priorities on replacing Lev with another good LG who would get the job done. They tried to get out of this too cheap,and it bit them. But then again, I guess it depends on your point of view. If it is all about the bottom line, maybe it worked out just fine for them. While for the fans and people who care about the "game", not the "business" of football, it turned out the worst it could have.

:worthy: Pettine !!!

Yes, but not when it worsens into “ Whiner Planned Fakeitis”

Oh I get the point now. You got the point, you just like being a criticizing troll to other honest posters, not to add anything substantial to the conversation. I have you on the troll list now.!