Billsguy

Have the Bills hired a full time counselor to deal with these players with off the field problems? Remember the Bill organization from a few years ago who kept saying they were looking for guys with good character? It seems those days are gone! I wonder if all the Bills fans who used to be critical of the Miami Dolphins and others will also be critical of the Bills for doing the same thing? Probably not.

IMO, this is the smartest move the Bills made... period

The draft needs several years to be evaluated properly. You also need to consider the lack of a number one pick next year. It is foolish to jump to conclusions at this point. If you could go back to all the posts on TBD over the last 15 years, you might find that nearly every draft was admired by the fans prematurely and incorrectly. What have all these "great" drafts produced since 2000? Heartache and disappointment for the most part. Keep your expectations low until the Bills prove you wrong. It has been the best strategy this century.

Alabama has had its share of busts in recent years. Hope this guy breaks that trend.

No need to fire him now, the new owner will be doing that within a year and Whaley will be just a footnote in Bills history.

It is certainly in the same class as trading Marshawn Lynch. How did that work out? This is a great trade for the 49er's. They get a proven NFL receiver for a 4th round pick. Sweet deal. The Bills front office seems determined to make their last few months on the job memorable, if not productive! Bad deal. The Bills re-signed Stevie Johnson and Buddy Nix said, "One of our philosophies coming in is that we wanted to keep our good players here. We were able to do that with Steve Johnson." Now Nix wasn't too successful overall, but keeping your best players is generally a good idea. I guess Doug Whaley has a different philosophy. Trade away next year's 1st and 4th round picks to move up 5 slots in the draft. Whaley lets our best safety go for free (Jairus Byrd) and lets our best receiver (Stevie Johnson) go for a likely very late 4th round pick. Is this a winning strategy?

I believe the Bills overpaid, but the men who made the deal (Brandon and Whaley) will likely be gone next year when the Bills have no 1st or 4th rounder. The new owner will most likely bring his own management team and they will have to deal with the empty cupboard. Party today and don't worry about tomorrow. A recipe for success? I don't think so. A 6-10 team gambling like this is not a smart move, but it does smell like desperation. Desperation is an emotional response and not an intellectual one. I would have drafted with my head and not my heart. There is a reason why some teams always manage to fail and others always manage to succeed. Look at Jax drafting Bortles at #3. Does it sound smart or desperate? Jax stinks for a reason and they proved it again. Top draft picks are the lifeblood of an NFL team. If you give them away, you won't succeed. Washington suffered greatly by giving all those top picks to the Rams to get Robert Griffin. It is a bad strategy on the whole.

Yes, it is a bold move. Everybody in The Bills organization and much of the local media are praising the Bills for their "BOLD" move. However, is it a smart move? I don't think so. First of all, I think Watkins could be a very good player. This is not a criticism of him. The Bills just simply paid too much!!! The surrender of two 1st round picks and a 4th round pick for Watkins is just plain overpaying. Would you pay $400,000 for a $250,000 house? I wouldn't. What happens next year when the Bills finish let's say 8-8 in 2014-15 and their first pick in next years draft is #50. This is a very competitive league and next year all the Bills competitors will add top talent in the draft and the Bills will be waiting at OBD with no top pick. By this time next year, Russ Brandon and Doug Whaley will likely be long gone and will not have to answer for this deal. If the Bills had a playoff team or even a near playoff team with a solid, established QB and one of the missing pieces was a top WR, then I would consider this trade and draft choice. However, this 6-10 team just paid for lobster tails with food stamps. It is a luxury they cannot afford! The Bills would have been better off trading down to the middle of the round, draft a guy like OT Zack Martin to bolster a mediocre O-line, add another 2nd round pick and pick up 2 possible starters this year and still keep next year's 1st rounder. Did the Bills suck last year because they didn't have receivers or was it because they didn't have adequate quarterbacking. I think QB was most of the problem and that situation hasn't changed. The Bills went for the shiny hubcaps when they should have gone for the new transmission. Time will tell.

I think Sammy Watkins is a good player, but the price was too high. A great trade for Cleveland. Cleveland did what I hoped the Bills would do. This is close to my worst case scenario. I expected the Bills to avoid making the smart play and they didn't disappoint me.

I agree with you, but I would add Mack to those two. I also expect that the Bills won't get any of them. If they do, it is because they traded away 2015 and beyond. I would hope that some QB's would be drafted early before the Bills pick, but sadly I don't expect any QB's to go in the top 15.

Chris Berman hasn't said anything worthwhile in 20 years! ESPN has some good stuff from a few of their galaxy of "analysts" so I keep the mute button close at hand. On the whole, the NFLN and ESPN are equally annoying and informative. A little here and there from both is acceptable, but wall to wall coverage is unnecessary and obnoxious. The NFL is so greedy it's ridiculous.

It is totally unpredictable, but here are my best and worst case scenarios. Worst case scenario: The Bills trade up by giving up their 1st round picks in 2014 and 2015 plus another 2nd rounder for the opportunity to draft Clowney or anybody else frankly. Why it's the worst? The Bills are not one player away from contending. The trade gives away 3 potential starters for the opportunity to get one. I don't like the probabilities for long term success. I fear this is a definite possibility because I have no faith in the Bills making the smart move. Best case scenario: The Bills trade down and pick up an extra 2nd round pick as a premium for trading 1st round picks this year. They draft Zack Martin OT from Notre Dame (or somebody else highly rated like a top CB) in the middle of the 1st round. Now I think this scenario is very unlikely, but I hope for it. The scenario which won't surprise me: The Bills stay at #9 and draft a reach player who most people think is a late 1st rounder. Probably a safety if history is any guide.

GO AWAY!

Toronto is still the heavy favorite to land the Bills. I would say it looks like 80% likely. The Bills remaining in Buffalo at 20%.

I smell Super Bowl. Bills sign another journeyman.

If you consider the Bucs were going to cut him, the Bucs did OK in the deal. Buffalo takes a gamble, but not the price was not excessive. Time will tell.

I am not too excited by the acquisition of Spikes and Rivers in general, but I am cheered by the fact that Manny Lawson and Nigel Bradham will get a well deserved demotion. The Bills group of linebackers was the worst in the league last year in spite of Alonso's decent play. I think on paper they improved somewhat, but still not contender status. You really don't build championship caliber teams picking up fringe players in free agency.

I've heard this story before. I heard it for the last twelve years in fact. I'll be impressed when they win games.

Time will tell and you may be correct, but history is not on your side. This is a 6-10 team until proven otherwise. The moves made so far still smell like the moves a 6-10 team would make. Bring in average talent that really didn't succeed with mediocre teams. Let's let it play out.

Hard to get excited about the Buffalo Bottom Feeders (aka Bills). Seriously, how does signing part time starters from non-contenders make the Bills contenders? It doesn't make sense. Welcome to Buffalo "Home of the Last Big Contract" for UFA's.

I enjoyed your summary even though most of it is invalid. (No offense intended) I would argue about the big picture. On the whole, you can't build a championship team if your franchise is a bottom feeder. Signing players off the worst teams in the league will not catapult your team into the top echelon of the league. The Bills only hope is that they hit a couple of home runs in the draft. If they continue to bring in borderline free agents, then the future remains bleak!

According to ProFootballFocus.com, a service that grades every player in every game, Williams was the 74th best guard out of the 81 that qualified in the NFL in 2013. He was the 53rd best run blocker according to the service, but just the 76th ranked pass blocker. The Bills formula for success: if the good teams are doing something, try something else. What a dysfunctional franchise!

On the other hand, the Bills re-signed Caussin = Superbowl baby!!!!!

Agreed 100% If the Bills keep the same strategy that they used with Peters, they will go another 12 years without making the playoffs. Peters is a great left tackle and the Bills had him only to let him go because of money. They paid a guy like Kelsay and others, but let an elite OT leave. I would say their priorities were upside down. Hopefully, these were mistakes of the past. Let us see if they get rid of Jairus Byrd in the same way.

Exactly! I favor an update in this area. Some people still think you can "shake off" a concussion or "rub dirt on it" to fix everything. It's 2014, not 1974.