Shoutbox

A competent GM can do a lot with $4.175 million. Cutting Barnett, Wilson, and McGee each saved less money than that, and all 3 of those players are better than Kelsay. I can see the argument for keeping Fitz and Brad Smith, but there really isn't one for paying a mediocre 33 year old backup DE $5 million/year. The only one remaining is that he's a great locker room cheerleader, but I wonder how positive an effect this has had when the defense has finished among the worst in franchise history for the past 3 seasons.

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Cutting Kelsay would save $4.175 million in cap space with only $0.800 million of dead cap money. This is starting to get REALLY ridiculous now.

It's the right move because age was really creeping up on him last year, and the NFL is a young man's game. Nevertheless, I'm still pretty bummed that George Wilson is no longer a Buffalo Bill. The guy was nothing but class throughout his underdog career. One of the few bright spots during a very dark era in Buffalo Bills history.

I will stand by my assertion that Fitz has value as an above average backup NFL QB. If he could beat playoff-caliber teams in spite of a bumbling head coach, no #2 WR, and one of the worst defenses in franchise history, then he wouldn't be a back-up NFL QB in the first place...he'd be a top-10 NFL QB...an assertion that I have never made. Your expectations for a back-up NFL QB are unreasonable. Wise up, son.

The vast majority of players on the Bills are never going to be "great." Do you only want to keep Pro Bowlers and let everyone else go? The vast majority of players on the Bills are associated with a "losing Bills culture." Should we release all of them too? Fitz is a very solid backup NFL QB and can be an effective game manager as a starting QB with a better head coach, another starting WR, and a supporting defense that is not regularly among the worst in franchise history. He's a well-liked guy in the locker room, and he would be a great tutor for the next true "franchise" QB. The Fitz haters are getting out of control with their irrationality at this point in time. Stop taking 13 years of misery out on individual players.

The 5-2. As the vertical passing game grew in popularity, defenses needed an extra linebacker to counter.

That's a whole new topic altogether, so I'll just say that I disagree and will point to the born differences in size/speed of the OL/DL as one of many examples.

But that's a ridiculous argument, as you at least point out in your post. Our 6-10 2012 Bills could beat the snot out of the very best pro football teams from the pre-merger era, due to modern football standards for size, conditioning, game strategy, etc... You can only compare teams from the era in which they played. And while the 1990 Bills had a strong defense, it wasn't among the truly elite from the late-1980's/early-1990's. The offense certainly was among the very elite back then, but they at least had comparable rivals (Montana/Young 49ers, Aikman's Cowboys, Moon's Oilers, Marino's Fins, Elway's Broncos). The 1964 Bills were arguably the most dominant pro football team ever assembled from the 1960's. Their defense was simply unrivaled and set records for rushing defense and sacks. The seeds of the modern-day NFL defense were planted in Buffalo in 1964. Not only was the relatively new and innovative 4-3 defense perfected here by Joel Collier, but he even implemented the earliest 3-4 schemes ever seen in football. The offense wasn't too shabby, either. The Kemp/Gilchrist/Dubenion triplet (with Hall of Fame lineman, Billy Shaw, plus Lamonica as an awesome change-of-pace backup QB) could stack up well with any other offense that the AFL or NFL offered back then.

The 1964 team was the best in franchise history, followed closely by the 1990 team.

Ralph Wilson = Fredo Corleone

!@#$ this !@#$ing ****. i'm !@#$ing done with this mother!@#$ing nfl !@#$ing buffalo yet again. Staley Swindle, AAFC merger exclusion, just give it to 'em, homerun throwup, spygate swept under rug, now the reed hate, !@#$ you nfl. suck my big fat polish sausage you !@#$ing !@#$s.

Everyone reading this needs to google "Carly McKinney photos" immediately.

Or better yet, how about offering some words of encouragement to the guy? He's a Buffalo Bill, after all, and seems like a decent character aside from behaving a bit like a typical 22-year-old on the internet. None of the CB's on this team looked all that good this year. Even Gilmore had his share of rough play. I'm okay with keeping our 5 young guys (Gilmore, McKelvin, Williams, Brooks, Rogers) for one more season to see how they do with different coaching and a better pass rush.

I think 2005 was the worst Bills draft of the 21st century, slightly worse than the 2000 draft, when you factor in Sammy Morris plus the lack of available talent in that 2000 draft pool. The 1st rounder in 2005 went to Losman because of the trade in 2004. And then the only remotely productive NFL player was the major reach in the 2nd round, Roscoe Parrish, a 5'0" 100 lb chronically injured WR who had a few very nice punt returns but that's it.

I wish the Bills would move training camp and all of the preseason games to Toronto but leave the 8 regular season games at RWS. But whatever.

The Bills can save an additional 20 million by cutting Kelsay, McGee, Smith, Wilson, Barnett, and Fitz before March. There is simply no excuse for losing Levitre or Byrd to free agency.

As long as Mario is rushing the passer on every passing down and is never in coverage, I think he will be happy. As for the 1st round draft pick, the Bills need to pick Moore or Werner if they fall to us regardless of the QB situation. A 4-3 base DL of Moore/Werner - Dareus - KW - MW would be the best in the NFL when all four are healthy. Jones, Mingo, and Howard are also very intriguing as rush LB's and would be worth the 8th pick if the Bills are confident that they can land their preferred QB in the 2nd round.

It's worth mentioning here that there are only 9 DL/LB players currently on this roster that the Bills have made a substantial investment in, by contract (KW, MW, Anderson, Barnett) or by draft pick (Dareus, Carrington, Troup, Sheppard, Bradham). Everyone else is either a late round pick or a free agent signing who can be released with a negligible dead cap hit (or is named Chris Kelsay and should just retire immediately). Let's review the 9 players: 1. KW - drafted in 2006 as a 4-3 DT, can also play 3-4 NT very well in certain schemes. 2. Troup - drafted in 2010 as a 3-4 NT, can also play 4-3 DT according to his college history. 3. Carrington - drafted in 2010 as a 3-4 DE, played very well as a 4-3 DT last season. 4. Dareus - drafted in 2011 as a 3-4 DE, also plays 4-3 DT equally well, can also fill in at 3-4 NT 5. Sheppard - drafted in 2011 as a 3-4 ILB, played 4-3 MLB but appears to be a little too slow to be a long-term starter at this position 6. Barnett - signed in 2011 as a 3-4 ILB, has plenty of career experience at 4-3 WOLB 7. MW - signed in 2012 as a 4-3 LDE, is a unique talent with the body size to play 4-3 RDE, either 3-4 DE position, 3-4 OLB, and maybe even 4-3 DT on occasion. 8. Anderson - signed in 2012 as a 4-3 RDE, has the size to play standing 3-4 OLB but not sure how good his cover skills would be here. 9. Bradham - drafted in 2012 as a 4-3 WOLB/SOLB, would probably play 3-4 ILB, doesn't really have the pass rushing skills to play 3-4 OLB So for the most part, these guys have enough versatility to play in either defense package but with a slight preference toward the 4-3 base. Coach Pettine will undoubtedly continue with this "versatility" theme and only drafts or signs guys who can play well enough in either.

Very nice effort, OP! My only criticism is that you're not pessimistic enough about our WR, LB, and CB situations. I would have marked 7 positions as RED: 1. QB#1 - best chance at upgrade is within the first 3 rounds of the draft. 2. Levitre - pay the man. 3. WR#2 - I'd look for an affordable veteran free agent option here to take some of the heat off of SJ. 4. 3-4 OLB / 4-3 DE - several options with draft or free agency here, but we need another versatile starting caliber pass rusher to pair opposite MW because Mark Anderson is a very major question mark. 5. 4-3 MLB - Kelvin Sheppard is way too slow to be a reliable starter. Either free agency or a 2nd/3rd rounder should suffice. 6. Byrd - pay the man. 7. CB#2 - McGee will be cut, McKelvin may likely leave, Aaron Williams is better suited to backup FS, and Brooks/Rogers were regularly torched. Free agency is the best place to look, unless the Bills act like the Bills and once again draft a 1st round CB with Dee Milliner.

Drafting a franchise LT would be the smart thing to do, given this year's pathetic QB class. KC can grab their QB in the second round.

I regularly drop deuces that weigh more than 12 lbs. Not impressed with his commitment. Next...

Drew Bledsoe in 2002. And in 2011, Fitz was 13 passing yards short of having the 2nd best season passing yardage performance in franchise history. Just another reason why stats rarely tell the whole story. Sad to say, but the best post-Kelly QB the Bills have had was Doug Flutie. He had the mobility that Drew didn't to work behind an atrocious OL, and he wasn't nearly as prone as Fitz was in throwing game-changing interceptions.

I hope Stevie Johnson doesn't read this comment. It will make him sad. Wait...what am I doing in this thread? A Bledsoe vs. Fitz debate? This is only slightly more exciting than an Eddie Robinson vs. Kirk Morrison debate.

And don't forget his greatest innovation: deliberately breaking the NFL rules of conduct to gain what was deemed an unfair advantage over opponents. The BB+TB Patriots are a dynasty of "really really good", but not "great." Coach Bellycheat and Marsha Brady will make the Hall of Fame, and they deserve it for their many wins, their 10 division titles over really weak opponents, and their 5 conference titles together over a 13-year period and counting. But the Hall of Fame will always have room for the Dan Fouts types and the Don Coryell types (a guy who deserves to be in now, by the way, but that's for another thread...). To be considered "great" you need to win multiple Super Bowls without illegally gaining access to the opponents' entire playbooks beforehand. Jeers to overpriced beer in Toronto...cheers to the new Buffalo Bills dynasty that begins this September!