mjt328

If anyone besides the Patriots gave Stephon Gilmore $14 million per year, the critics would be talking about how that team vastly overpaid. Obtaining Brandon Cooks is nice. But don't forget they won't have that 1st Round Pick in the draft, and Cooks is scheduled to hit Free Agency in only two years. Listen. There was no way the Bills (or any other AFC East team) was going to close the gap with the Patriots this offseason. Especially when you consider that Tom Brady takes a massive pay cut to give his team extra cap space. (His $14 million cap hit is roughly the same as Tyrod Taylor). The Patriots are annual Super Bowl contenders. Our current goal is 10 wins and a Wild Card birth. The Bills need to just make smart decisions in the Draft and Free Agency. Get a little bit better every season. Doug Whaley has a proven track record for letting players walk (Jairus Byrd, Mario Williams) and finding Pro Bowl bargains in Free Agency (Ritchie Incognito, Tyrod Taylor, Lorenzo Alexander, Zach Brown). Obviously the drafting has not been good enough. But hopefully with a stable coaching staff, Whaley can get us back on track on Draft Day too.

The concern about Wide Receiver is way overblown. 1. It's clear this team is still primarily a Ground & Pound/Run-First offense 2. Tyrod seems to have trouble going through multiple reads on a single play 3. We already struggle to get Sammy Watkins and Charles Clay involved with enough targets 4. The free agent crop of WRs was not strong this year 5. We still have the NFL draft coming up In the era of free agency, it is very difficult for an NFL team to be strong at every position. So it is important to prioritize, based on your key players and coaching staff. To invest lots of resources at WR would be stupid and wasteful. Were the Bills supposed to break the bank for Alshon Jeffery or Desean Jackson, just so they can get 2-3 targets a game? The people complaining about Doug Whaley not flushing money away on big names - are the exact same people that would crucify him for getting us into salary cap trouble on guys that aren't producing enough. (For example... Charles Clay).

It's always a mistake to judge Free Agency by splash signings. There are still lots of good players on the market that can make a difference. Even if you believe Doug Whaley is terrible at drafting and totally clueless at building a winning roster, nobody can argue that he is good at finding value in the free agent market. The last two years, the Bills have nabbed the following Pro Bowlers while dumpster diving in free agency: Ritchie Incognito, Tyrod Taylor, Lorenzo Alexander and Zach Brown. Some of our better depth players like Mike Gillislee and Ryan Groy were also bargain bin guys off the street. Meanwhile, the big name signings like Charles Clay and Percy Harvin have made much less impact.

Unfortunately, there is not a single reason. There isn't a "single thing" we can fix to get ourselves pointed in the right direction. >> Most of our 50+ year history, we had ownership that set us behind the rest of the NFL. Ralph Wilson considered it a success to simply own an NFL team and keep it playing in the City of Buffalo. Winning was second to profit, and surrounding himself with people he personally trusted. He fired Bill Polian in the middle of our Super Bowl run. And despite our pathetic results, guys inside the organization have constantly found themselves getting promotions (see Russ Brandon). >> The lack of leadership in this organization has trickled down, causing poor selections for General Manager (Levy, Brandon), terrible coaching hires (everyone), a lack of unity within One Bills Drive, a lack of accountability - and most of all - no clear direction for where this team is headed. Our only two winning seasons over the last 15 years was followed both times by the head coach quitting. Every time we start making some progress, a decision is made that forces us to start over. >> Thanks to everything above, the Bills have been unable to land themselves a "franchise level" quarterback. This can be attributed to a number of factors. They haven't taken enough chances in the draft, passing up guys like Andy Dalton, Russell Wilson, Derek Carr, etc. When they have gone after someone, it's been a horrible choice (Manuel, Losman). The decent veteran QBs they have had were all pushed out the door too early (Flutie, Bledsoe, Fitz), in favor of completely undeveloped youngsters. >> Drafting overall has been dreadful. Levy was pathetic. Donahoe was terrible, and regularly wasted high picks. Even though things have improved with Nix/Whaley, there are still a lot of mistakes happening that keep us from getting those true game changers.

I'm a little late to the party. But I really had to respond to this one. First of all, it's one game. And it happens to be a game that we won big. So complaining on a player's usage is absolutely pointless - unless the argument is about fantasy instead of real life. This team is built to win. Not put up gaudy numbers. Fans need to realize a few things: 1) It's not all about statistics. Being able to draw double-coverage is significantly contributing to the team. Several All-22 reviews showed that Watkins drawing extra coverage contributed directly to Percy Harvin's touchdown catch - as well as Robert Wood's 3rd down catch directly before it. 2) Our team is loaded. There is NO WAY that every single offensive player is going to contribute heavily each week. You will probably see 2-3 guys put up numbers each week, and the rest will not. Especially for receivers on a run-heavy team. Teams are going to have FITS trying to handle all of our weapons every week. 3) Quarterback play does matter. How many top WRs in the league have a below average QB. That's what Sammy dealt with ALL of his rookie season. He still almost broke 1,000 yards. 4) Taylor threw a total of 5 incomplete passes the entire game. Sammy was targeted on 3 of those, and none of them were remotely catchable.

Cheating is never OK. I don't care how "small" the infraction is. What is the point of watching professional sports if the teams aren't on the same playing field? I would be sick to my stomach if the Bills won the Super Bowl, then found out they broke the rules to do it. I would never watch the NFL again. I've heard some people DEFEND Brady by saying that Aaron Rodgers is doctoring the ball too, or that Jerry Rice used stickum years ago. If that's the case, they should suspend Rodgers too. And it should seriously raise questions about the legitimacy of Rice's receiving records.

Nix's first year (2010) was a complete disaster. But everything after that was pretty good. This team's turnaround started in 2011 with the selection of Marcel Dareus. There has been a steady flow of incoming talent ever since.

I think the Bills had a solid gameplan for Free Agency. But things haven't quite worked out the way they wanted (Bulaga resigning, Miami making room for Clay). And now they aren't sure how to make the "halftime adjustments." Anyone that knows anything about Greg Roman's offense knows this... You need a very strong offensive line. You need some very good tight ends. We have neither. And as the days pass, people are going to start realizing how bad we screwed this up. Doug Whaley apparently made efforts to address both spots. But his initial targets failed to pan out. Our Free Agent options are now dwindling into nothingness, along with our cap space. And anyone that thinks we can just "fill these holes" with the draft obviously isn't paying attention. This draft is extremely weak on both Tight Ends and Offensive Line. As our former coach used to say... "Don't confuse effort with results." Even if Whaley made a huge effort to address these spots -- it's appearing like he failed miserably. We aren't going to catch New England (and we may have been passed up by Miami and New York), without strong blocking. We've spent $25 million in Free Agency and our O-Line is still a mess.

By far, the best way to construct a winning franchise is to build around a Top 10 quarterback. There is absolutely no doubt. Unfortunately... When you look at things realistically - that just isn't going to happen any time soon for the Bills. Good QBs don't hit free agency. They aren't available for trade. You generally need a Top 3 pick to get a top prospect. So what is the next best option? Build the best defense in the NFL, then support it with a great running game, strong O-Line and smart game-managing QB. It's definitely not the most common way to win a Super Bowl. But it has happened a few times, most recently with the Seattle Seahawks.

Julio Jones was hurt almost the entire season. The list is based on 2014 performances, so no way he's on it. Matt Ryan and RGIII didn't play well. Byrd and Foster were hampered by injuries. None of them will be on the list either. Josh Gordon will definitely be in the Top 20.

I agree that it's completely "possible" that Jeff Tuel becomes a good NFL backup eventually. There is a small chance that he becomes an NFL starter. He's young and has plenty of room to develop/improve. The problem is... The same people who are big Tuel supporters, are often the same people who are ready to throw in the towel on EJ Manuel. Now if you can wait for a raw UDFA talent with average measurables to develop -- WHY IN THE WORLD can we not be patient with a physical talent like Manuel? It makes absolutely zero sense.

It's hard to predict what age it will come apart. But it always does. Usually without warning. Brett Favre played at an MVP level at age 40, with his team on the verge of a Super Bowl. At 41, he was completely shot. It would be silly to discount Brady, just because he's 37. It's possible he could go another few years before his play drops. It would be equally silly to assume he can play at a high level forever, just because he feels good or because several other players were successful past 37.

This is ridiculous thinking. Last year, four tackles went in the Top 15. Eric Fisher, Luke Joekel, Lane Johnson and DJ Fluker. All played on the right side as rookies. Johnson and Fluker are expected to stay there long term. Three of those four teams made the playoffs. And one of the best teams in football - San Francisco - has a stud right tackle they drafted Top 10. Left side is marginally more important, but not as much as some make it out to be.

Not sure what Schwartz has planned for scheme, but I don't think DE is a huge need. Last year, Alan Branch did a good job starting as a DE on early downs. Jerry Hughes replaced him in passing situations. From what I understand, Manny Lawson will become a hybrid DE/OLB. That's three capable starting players, with a wide range of skill sets. If Schwartz can't make it work with those guys, he needs to tweak his scheme instead of asking us to invest another draft pick in the front 7. Safety is a need though, simply because we don't know if Da'Norris Searcy, Duke Williams or Johnathan Meeks can handle the spot. We don't want another LG situation on our hands.

Better idea. How about we keep him. Then if we happen to land a good receiver, we can get rid of Kevin Elliott, Chris Hogan, TJ Graham or someone that is worthless. No matter how much you dislke Stevie, he's definitely better than those guys.

This was the part that stood out to me. People love to talk about "busts" and "steals" - and many fans like to pretend drafting is just a roll of the dice. The truth is, evaluating a player's overall talent isn't that tough. It's trying to predict which guys will be hardest workers at the next level, and which guys will try coasting. Tom Brady is probably the biggest steal in the history of the NFL. But looking back at his college career, game film, stats, physical traits, combine numbers - there was absolutely nothing at the time that hinted that Brady could be anything special. Nobody (the Patriots included) saw the guy as anything higher than a mid-late round pick. There was something inside Brady that could not be seen or measured by scouts.

Eric Decker was an average #2 receiver before Peyton Manning came around. I don't think he's an exceptional talent, and the contract he demands won't be worth what he brings to the passing game. Personally, I would rather take the chances on hitting a home run with someone like Hakeem Nicks, Jeremy Maclin or Kenny Britt.

Best news I've heard in awhile. Go Andre!!!!!!

CJ Mosley is overrated because he plays on Alabama. I think Shayne Skov and Yawin Smallwood are better prospects, and they may be available in the 2nd-3rd round.

Most coaches have big egos, and prefer bringing along the scheme that worked best for them. If Schwartz is smart, he will copy Pettine's defense exactly - with a couple tweaks to improve gap control against the run. However, highly doubt this will happen.

Most of those teams actually were in pretty bad salary cap trouble. Pittsburgh had to decide between Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown. They chose wisely. Baltimore's biggest free agent was Joe Flacco. Combining his massive contract and Ray Rice (from the year before), left them in a position where they simply couldn't afford an aging possession receiver. New Orleans brought back Marques Colston, and of course had the looming contract of Jimmy Graham coming up this year. With Jordy Nelson, James Jones and Randall Cobb, Green Bay didn't need Jennings and they knew it. They played most of 2012 without him anyway. New England is (as usual), the exception to the rule. I think they knew Welker was easily replaceable. They decided to go with a younger Danny Amendola. He got hurt, but Julian Edelman filled in nice this year. The big losses to New England's offense were Gronk and Hernandez.

It's been stated several times in this thread, but it bears repeating so that everyone on the board gets it. We DID NOT run a 3-4 defense last year!!! We DID NOT run a hybrid either!!! My estimation is that we ran a 4-3 base about 30-40 percent of the time. The rest of the time, we were in nickel.

Goodall has to be the WORST commissioner in NFL history. Constantly messing around with rules that don't need to be changed. It needs to stop right now. He's already pretty much eliminated kickoff returns from the game. He's made it completely impossible to tell what a catch is. Illegal hit penalties are inconsistent and turning the sport into two hand touch. And now we may be looking at a snow storm moving the freaking Super Bowl to another day. That's not even counting all of his proposed ideas like expanding the regular season or adding more playoff spots. Ugh.

I agree with this completely, and this is why I think some people may have a problem seeing a direct correlation between spending and winning. A team like Seattle is winning, but not breaking the salary cap. But this has more to do with player age than anything else. Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner, etc. are still on their cheap rookie contracts. When these guys start hitting free agency, the Seahawks will have to decide whether to pay their guys or not. If they start letting those guys walk, I'm certain the winning will stop. Same thing with Carolina and a young talent base that includes Cam Newton and Luke Kuechley. Even a team like Denver is fairly young, with the exception of Peyton Manning being under center. They signed their big free agent this season (Ryan Clady) to an extension over the summer. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the St. Louis Rams who are still stuck by the pre-rookie salary cap rules - and stuck pending tons of money on the rookie contracts of Sam Bradford and Chris Long. I also think it's misleading to look at rankings when most of the teams are within the $2-6 million range. The difference between the team ranked #10 and ranked #25 is almost nothing. The best way to judge the effect of spending is to simply watch how yearly winners (New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New Orleans, Green Bay) handle their free agents when they have room to operate under the salary cap. I have a very hard time seeing any of those teams letting Jairus Byrd walk with over $18 million to work with under the cap.

Maybe there isn't a direct correlation, but consistently sitting at $10-20 million under the cap (while letting our talent walk) definitely says something about Buffalo's commitment to winning. Teams like Washington are big spenders, but they make poor decisions about who to spend it on. That's why they aren't winning. Teams like Carolina (and to a lesser extent Seattle and San Fran) are winning and have lots of cap space, but that's mostly because the big stars on their teams are still young and playing on their first contracts. Long-time winners - New Orleans, New York Giants, Baltimore, Pittsburgh - these are the teams that have lots of veteran Pro Bowl players on their second contracts. These are the teams with a legitimate excuse to let free agent talent walk, because otherwise they would go over the cap. If the Bills really believe that signing Byrd would hurt their chances at bringing back Dareus next year - then I completely understand the reluctance to offer a massive contract. Unfortunately, I'm more inclined to believe (based on watching this team for 25 years), that our contract negotiations have more to do about the front office's "perceived value" of players. If they don't think a guy is worth the money he's asking (whether it be Byrd, Levitre or Peters), they simply won't give it to him - regardless of whether they can afford it under the salary cap or not.