dogma+

You're most likely correct on salary. If his new contract in any way resembled what Jacksonville gave him, it wouldn't be worth it. That's why in my original post I said only if the money is right. I'm not saying that Brooks CAN'T be a good blitzer in the NFL, but I am saying that I certainly would not expect him to be. If you watch Brooks tape, you will see why people have categorized him as a soft player. The reason is that whenever he is going up against adequately larger than him, he doesn't bring the same tenacity as he does against the smaller guys. YouTube highlight reels show just that - highlights. And even in those you can see that the majority of his big hits were against receivers and RB's of his size. In the NFL, the average QB is around 6 foot 4 and over 210 pounds. That's why in college you see a lot more thundering QB sacks than you do in the pro's. Secondly, in the pro's you're most often not going to show that your blitzing your DB in a man-man formation as you do in college. You're going to be pulling DB's back, zoning the QB, and blitzing hard off the end. This creates a problem for many college blitzers who try to transition their game to the pro's. In college, pure speed would get you there. In the pro's, this technique not only gives the blitzing CB 5 more yards to cover but he also has to beat a much faster and more agile tackle or blocking RB. Last but not least, if you look at the best blitzing cornerbacks in the NFL, you see a pattern. They're mostly bigger guys. Adrian Wilson, probably the best pure blitzing DB of the mid 2000's is 6 foot 3, 230 pounds. Charles Woodson 6 foot 1, 205 pounds. Eric Berry 6 foot 212 pounds. There are the rare player like Coleman who are smaller and turn out to be good blitzers, but they're the exception - not the norm. In case you're wondering, Brooks is 5'10, 190 pounds. PS) Hard hits on special teams have little or no effect on blitzing. On Special Teams you have 30+ yards of ramp up time, and many times there is no one in your way to block you to the returner.

Well, this leaves us with a very young defensive backfield. I understand the move. Florence is an outside corner. He's not exceptional in TE coverage or in blitzing. So that does make him a bit conventional and also one dimensional. However as much as I understand the move, I don't like it. Drayton was by far our most consistent playmaker in our defensive backfield. He forced 4 turnovers last season and had 12 passes defended. Not to mention he hasn't missed a game since his first year with us. To put that into perspective, McGee has had only 11 passes defended in his last 3 seasons combined and has missed 22 games during that time period. I would have parted ways with McGee before I let Drayton go.

Not by a long shot. He was probably the most consistent corner on the team.

Agreed. But that's not what I did and I'm not that person. Shore Talk assumed I was based off of one thread and decides to put his foot firmly in his mouth. You're right. Because working as a professional scout and watching thousands of hours of film is equivalent to "How much would you like to deposit? Thanks, come again." Too many fans make the mistake of thinking we already have X amount of Y position and therefore we shouldn'tnt sign another Y. Proffesional teams do not think that way. They look at any player that holds the ability to improve their team. There are starters, depth, and situational players. All are needed on some capacity to be a successful team. For what it's worth, I don't see Brooks transitioning to be a quality blitzer in the NFL. ShoreTalk made an assumption and I hate assumptions. They're a fallacy in their very nature and more often than not they're wrong.

The problem I see is that even with the plethora of 1st and 2nd rounders we have no true blitzing threat from the CB position. You're right though, another team would most likely out bid us anyway.

I have no problem with someone disagreeing with my assessment or ideas. In fact, I like conversations in which people grow and learn from each others experiences. But his post was not meant in good faith. It was condescending and insulting. You are right though. Drew would be a luxury. I wouldn't be surprised if the Jets re-signed him. Look at his post. I copied his condescending smilies.

lol

Who are you? What are your credentials? How much experience do you have scouting players? What film have you watched of Drew? Oh whats that? None? You're just assuming that I pulled a name out of a hat and said "hey! lets sign him". Not thinking about the fact that I scouted him coming out of college, and have followed his career. Ive watched his game film. Have you? Next time you decide to act like a tough guy, perhaps you should try picking on someone who wasn't a professional scout for many years. I've forgotten more about the game of Football than you have ever known. :worthy: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Considering a large amount of that weight is IN the lower extremities... no.

Exactly...

No big deal. Bruce was 300 pounds up until around '87. And even then he played at about 285. That's not true at all.

If you "got it", you would realize that I didn't really mean his number was 00. So as I said, flew right over your head...

LOL. Flew right over your head, huh?

Aaron Williams will be a top 5 CB in the NFL by the 2013 NFL season. I was absolutely blown away watching Aaron in training camp last year. For a rookie, he was unbelievably good at turning and planting his push off foot to drive into the receiving lane. His lateral pursuit is better than McKelvin's and McKelvin was going into his 4th year. He was giving Evans fits. It's too early to say for Gilmore.

The Jags just released Drew Colemen and his $7 million contract. If willing to sign for a reasonable amount, Coleman would be a very good pick up. He is serviceable in pass coverage, but his true skill is in what he brings to the run defense and pass rush. He is a fast player, and a sure tackler. He has a good punch on the ball carrier, and has accumulated 8 forced fumbles in the last two seasons. Approximately a quarter of his blitzes result in sacks. Coleman was top 10 in the NFL in "stops" in 2010 according to Football Outsiders. "Stops" are defined as "The total number of plays by a defensive player that prevent a successful play by the offense, defined as 45% of needed yards on first down, 60% of needed yards on second down, and 100% of needed yards on third or fourth down. In general, "plays" refers to tackles, passes defensed, fumbles forced, or interceptions. The exception is when discussing pass defense data from the FO game charting project, in which case "plays" refers to all charted passes with the given player as the listed defender." In pass coverage, think of McKelvin. In run defense, think of Antoine Winfield. In pass rush, think a slightly softer Adrian Wilson. For the right price, the Bills could bring him in to play obvious rushing downs and pass rush situations. But I'm afraid that there will be plenty of teams interested in his services and his price is going to be a little too much for us and what we would use him for.

You're welcome.

1 -- The importance of a Left Tackle is highly exaggerated by fans and media. NFL coaches will often refer to "tackles" being important. Not just the left tackle. It wasn't until the mid 90's that the Left Tackle position became glorified and sought over exclusively. The LT is seen as more important because he protects the majority of QB's blindside, and as a result many of the better defensive athletes start their DE career at RDE (from college up to pro). As far as skill set goes, a good LT is presumed to have good footwork. Their backpedal is smooth, their stance is wide but strong, and they are able to chop their feet and swivel their hips in an arc like motion while maintaining upper body strength and a strong platform with their legs. However, a good RT has much of the same attributes. A large arm span is also a notable attribute, as it is reasonable to assume that the larger your arm span, the longer your arms are. With the long arms and a strong upper body, you can "chuck" and keep the defender further away from your body and therefore further away from your QB. 2 -- Levitre's arm span is 32.5 inches. 3 -- N/A 4 -- OLB's is a 3-4 are glorified DE's. In fact, if you look at an ALL-22 field camera for a majority of 3-4 plays, you will notice that the OLB's are in nearly the same position and stance as a 4-3 DE. 5 -- A good backup player is a player with the skill set and drive to play at a level that is reasonably sufficient to the demands of the team for that particular position. A good backup does not have to play similarly in style or level to the starter. He simply has to play at a level that gives the team a reasonable chance to win a game without the starter in play.

You're absolutely right. Im just having a discussion of principles at this point. More fun than mowing the lawn .

The scenario you're describing is only if they changed numbers AFTER training camp. Which is why the FO told Kelsay and Mario to figure out the number thing now. As far as leaders being cut, I can think of a few from the top of my head just from last season. Peyton Manning, Lofa Tatupa, Channing Crowder, and our very own Nick Barnett. Locker room leaders are cut all the time.

I say "leader" in jest, because that's what many people on here seem to think of him. But either way, leaders get cut all the time. The NFL is about winning games, not being popular in the locker room. People keep spouting that because they JUST learned about this fact even though that fact has been around forever. Hundreds of players have changed their number. They all buy the remaining jerseys. It's not difficult. It's not time consuming. It's a very simple process. By the way, Mario does not have a Bills jersey yet. Technically, his number right now is 00. I don't think there are many fans running around with 00 on it. In fact, i'm not even sure if it is for sale.

This is a Chris Kelsay thread and I'm voicing my opinion on Chris Kelsay. Other posters respond, ask me questions, and I answer them. In what is that a crusade? I don't think anyone is arguing that he has to give it up. My opinion is that it would be have a nice thing for a leader of the team to do to welcome the new player on the team. It's stressful to leave your team, city, and home to come play for a different town. Mario could have chosen any team he wanted to, but he chose Buffalo. In my opinion, a leader of a team should be willing to sacrifice himself once in a while for the betterment of the team and to welcome a new player. As you said, players start to identify with their number. That means Mario identified with his number. And he's not only leaving his team, town, and home but he's also leaving his number. It would have been nice for Kelsay to do. That's just my opinion. Others disagree. But I think Mario may just get his number back anyway, as Kelsay may not make it through training camp. Bingo.

There's a logjam at RDE and it isn't in Kelsay's favor. We have Kelsay, Merriman, and Anderson competing for one spot. My guess would be that Kelsay (if he makes the team) will be on the field for only obvious running downs. If Anderson has a liability, it's in the run game but even that is much improved. Kelsay will be switching from LDE to RDE and we will be asking him to go against many team's best offensive linemen (their left tackle). Mark finished 2nd in voting for Defensive Rookie of the Year. He has been on 2 Championship teams. The guy knows what it's like to win. In comparing Mark's game to Chris, the first thing you notice is the speed. Anderson is worlds faster than Kelsay. He was the fastest DE in the 2006 draft. On paper, he's 2/10th's faster in the 40 than Kelsay but on the field it looks as if he's half a second faster. His lateral movement can not be compared to Kelsay because Kelsay is so flat flooted that he often looks as if he will fall over if needed to change direction on the fly. This is one of the reasons why he is so poor at reverses. The other reason is play recognition. Anderson gets to the QB not only with his upper body strength and speed, but also by reading the linemen and the backfield. That is key. Kelsay is often hesitant off the line, so as to not put all his chips into either the run or the pass. He plays it safe. And that's not even delving into the role that Merriman will play. I'll talk more about this when I release my Training Camp videocast. I go to Training Camp, video tape the practices and then analyze the film and draw out the plays so others who haven't done this before can see what we look at. It will be posted to YouTube a couple days after each practice. In my opinion, the right thing to do would have been to give Mario the number. What is the opposite of "right"? (and I dont mean left ) I'm a troll because my opinion differs from yours?

Often times people in power do the wrong thing and still have the support of his/her peers.

Good point. But for the scenario to be truly compatible, you would have to be worlds better at being President of the United States that Obama, Bush, or Clinton. Maybe i'm wrong on the leadership aspect of this. But I feel that if I were Kelsay, a supposed leader on the team, I would gleefully give up my number for Mario.