RK_BillsFan

I'm sorry, but even as a bills fan, lets put the patriot hate aside. The answer is no. It did not matter.Every team did it, it's pretty much fact. Pats got caught doing it is really the only difference. Where is my proof that it didn't matter? 18-1 They went 18-1 that season, after they were being carefully watched by the entire world. Are you going to tell me that they got all their info in training camp and that is all they needed? To be fair, 2 teams came very close to beating them in the regular season (giants and browns).And that 1, the one they actually lose? Lets be honest here. I remember watching that play and having time to ask if they whistled the play dead before the throw. That followed by the most ridiculous catch probably in the history of the NFL by a third stringer no less. Second SuperBowl against the Giants, the reason the Pats lost was actually entirely because of the very first offensive play the Pats had. Brady made a mistake, one that not only does he not normally make, but was absurdly bad. I've re-watched that play several times, his check down was open 6-8 yds in front of the LOS. All he had to do was throw it to him and IMO, the Pats would have won, regardless of how the rest of that drive went. Get off the Brady hate train. He is a hall of fame QB and one of the best to ever play. The fact that he is a bit of a cry baby and a giant douche is irrelevant. When you can put up similar numbers to Peyton and Brees and have almost no one worth a dam to throw too, it shows his worth. He hasn't had a true #1 WR since Randy Moss and before that...... never. Even now, all he has are a bunch of #2's, Slot WRs and TEs which, of you know, thanks to the use of Gronk and a murderer helped redefine the importance of the position. And don't give me Anthony Gonzalez this and Jimmy Graham that, they are both amazing, but what they did in NE was far more important in changing the TE position and how it's viewed in the NFL.

So guys, the question is, would you swap EJ for Fitz. For all the Fitz haters..... he had 1 WR to throw to..... and he was no #1 WR at that. He also was in a terrible offensive scheme that tried to nickle and dime it's way to victory. Fitz doesn't have a big arm and can't throw it deep. EJ has a big arm but can't hit a barn on his deep throws. EJ has far better weapons to work with. His D is also slightly better, however lets remember that when Fitz played, his D was bad due to scheme, and much less due to personnel (We do have better personnel at this point thought). This is a question that should be acked at the end of the year based on how both QBs do for the season. Last season Fit's stats as a starter were: He started nine games for the Titans last season and went 217 of 350 for 2,454 yards with 14 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. EJ's stats for his first season: 10 Games // 180 of 306 for 1,972 // 11 Tds and 9 Ints. If you look just at those stats and make a quick note that the Titans D was not as good as ours, nor is their running game, there is no way you can sit here and say you wouldn't take Ftiz over EJ. All this nonsense about, oh EJ has a bigger Ceiling. Everyone rookie QB drafted in the last decade had a bigger ceiling than Fitz. This isn't a question of who should end up better, but who would probably do better this year. Ftiz on a team, and not a retirement home carousel wouldn't probably win us more games this year. Lets change this vote, add in The Sanchize, Tim Tebowing Tebow, and Jamarcus Russel.

The problem with Fitz is, you really shouldn't rely on him to win you football games. Honestly, if you put him in an Alex Smith game management position I think he'd be fine as a starter. His arm strength is a bit of a concern, but boy can he run sometimes.. Always liked Fitz, but in the end he's nothing more than a stop gap. He's a poor mans Alex Smith. Much better than we give him credit for.

can we please get rid of TJ. it's not even funny anymore

I think the answer is, we have to wait out the storm and see what EJ produces. It's really just that simple. And honestly, we don't need a Brady or a Manning. I'd be happy with Alex Smith. If EJ could manage 300 yds a game, and less than 1 int a game, along with staying healthy all season, I think we could be a 10 win a season team, as we stand right now. Our running game is probably when all is said and done, top 10. Our D, if focused a little more on running is probably top 15. If we can keep our offence on the field and minimize mistakes, and have an actually passing attack that could even remotely resemble the year we had Mould and Price go bonkers, i'd be extremely happy. I think too many people want to have super amazing superstars, rather than a team of all B+ characters. Realistically, If you told me that Wattkins, Woods, and Williams all ended up with 900 yards and 7 touchdowns for the season, none of which would be stellar, but all respectable stats, i'd be overjoyed by our accomplishment for the season. To get back on track. QB wise, again, weather the storm, I'd picture you're looking at no less than 2 more years of EJ pending this season.

So i won't lie, i have only really seen this threads title name pop up and ignored it. However, as fate would have it I came across some footage of the fall. Not sure if this view of the fall has been posted, but i went through a few pages and didn't see it, so hopefully additional footage of the idiot almost killing himself. http://i.imgur.com/FykkzWq.gif

So not that it helps anyone's case but the reason the team was not sold before Ralph died was due to the tax savings his family will get when they do finally sell the team. As has been stated several times on the boards and in articles posted, if the team was sold the family would have to pay taxes on the value increase of the team from the original value to where it was when it was sold. So the taxes on the amount gained from 25k? Up to its sale value of let's say 1 billion. When sold now after his death, the taxes will be based of the teams estimated worth and the value it actually sells for. Team is estimated at 850million? And to be sold for 1 billion. That's a rather large savings. Also if Ralph didn't do anything for the team in terms of keeping them where they are, why is there such an iron clad agreement to keep the team where it is until 2020. That seems pretty silly to me. Keeping the bills in New York through a very simple, non binding agreement is actually not so simple a matter and the fact that u actually believe that is astonishing for a perosn of your so called intelligence and insight. Please remove your pompous self from whatever high horse you're on and crawl back under the rock you normally live under.

Overall, i'm generally ok with the draft we've had with the exception of Preston Brown. There just seems to be other LBs that could have been better. Then again, maybe they know more than us considering it's their job to know.

He is still there and so is Max Bullough, Trevor Reilly, and DeDe Lattimore. We could get any of them and be a good end to the draft.

i'd be ok with this

if we trade down from 9 to anywhere between 10-17 i'd be ok with this, since we'd have another second. But taking martin at 9, i just can't/don't want that. I'd rather take Arron Donald. However his jump up the boards really helps us in the possibility of finding a trade partner.

I think he could be our sleeper pick, especially if we manage to trade back a few spots. I would actually be ok with him at 9, but even happier if we got him at like 12-14

I mean, don't get me wrong, Lee seems like a great receiver, if you're looking for that #2 that just always seems to be there. But we have Woods..... Why do we need a clone?

Anyone else just hoping that EJ makes it through the season healthy and we get to see what he's able to do while constantly behind the wheel?

Um. For the person looking for what the bills offered and concrete evidence, I don't have the link right now, but i do remember reading several places that the Bills offered a contract somewhere in the 40 million over 4-5 yr range with it being 10 million-ish a yr the first 2-3 yrs. I'll report back when I find it. The simple fact is, Byrd didn't want to be here. While he is a great player at his position, and yes we could have afforded to pay him the kings ransom, he wouldn't have stayed. Update: Bills Offer, while we have no idea what the final numbers would have been, was a multi-year deal, that was front loaded. Byrd would have been given 30 million a year over the first 3 years ( although this is not guaranteed money), which is actually more than he will make with the Saints over that time. It seems that, and this is unofficial, the Bills offered 45 over 6 years, 30 million over the first 3. This is basically a contract where the Bills are covering themselves in case Byrd loses a step over those years or that "injury" comes back to hurt his overall play. Something tells me that in 3-4 years, we will hear about how the saints have to deal with this massive contract that they used on Byrd and now have to come up with money for the rookie safety that did well last year. Doubt they will pony up 19 million a year the safety position.

So i read the article from the Jill cheerleader..... and there are some issues that i agree with, mainly the thing where they had to buy and resell team calenders with their own money. That seems strange. The Golf tournament auction where the Jill would have to sit on a mans lap in the golf cart, is indeed wrong in terms of whats acceptable. The rest? Yes.... they tell you how to eat your soup.... because you never know where the person is coming from. Who knows if you know the proper way to eat, sit and conduct yourself in public. Oh no.... you can't have pictures on your facebook. I'm a teacher..... I can be fired or suspended not just for my own pictures, but pictures of my friends that they post. I'll give an example. A fellow teacher was suspended when his daughter poster a picture of herself wearing a tee-shirt from Game of Thrones, with a quote from the show on it. Said teacher was tagged in the photo. The board of directors saw this, felt it could be deemed as a threat an suspended him. When you become a person that suddenly represents a major business and become somewhat of an idol/icon or someone that people would strive to emulate, they are going to put harsh restrictions on you. As for the rest of the info regarding how they look. You're a dancer, and i'm sure in the contract they signed it stated that they are basically being hired as model, which allows them to hire and fire based on looks and physical ability along with having strict rules on appearance. The only thing i did not agree with was the mandatory hair cut. The part about the stylist being related to a higher up..... well no ****...... welcome to the real world, everyone you get recommended to is related to someone higher up than you. TL:DR They will probably lose their case in court, and have their contract restructured by the start of the season. or Russ is cheap, no more Jills

i feel like we could just pick up Antonio "Tiny" Richardson ( i think that's the guy) in a later round and get the same level of player.

won't lie, after I started doing some mock drafts using fan speak sim, and with some friends I would be really happy drafting him in the first, especially if we managed to drop back a few spots.

At the start of the Off Season I was really high on drafting a RT with our Number 9 pick. That was because most mock drafts at the time and team info had some amazing prospects falling to us. Another thing to remember is, this is indeed football and a hard sport. If glenn goes down, and we were to have save, Matthews that could easily slide over to the LT spot, it would be amazing. However I still felt, as with most, that #9 for a RT is high and our best bet would be to trade down. It's been almost 2 months now and I still feel that trading down would be our best option from the #9 spot. It doesn't have to be far, hell we could run some smoke screens and flat out lie to raise the interest in our pick. The lions really want a safety, but could you imagine them with Mike Evans? A little birdie told me that the Steelers could use a big receiver and might trade up if the price was right. The Giants could also be interested in trading up. They have a large amount of needs/wants and at the #9 spot there will be some great picks for them. Hell. Someone call Jerry and tell him god wants the cowboys to have a BIG WR or TE, or that if they want a safety to stop all those ridiculous long plays from ruining their season, to jump ahead of the Lions. But now i'm off on a tangent so back to the main point. At the #9 spot, I think the player that would be most ideal for our team, if we could get him, would be Mack. While we DO have a new for WR and TE, have you looked at our roster? 5 TEs, and a TON of big and fast WR that aren't entirely proven, ie the same as any rookie. This coaching staff doesn't care how amazing your stats are on paper, go look at DaRick Rodgers. I can't see us taking Mike Evans or Ebron at 9. TL:DR we really should trade down from #9 unless Mack is there and even then it should be considered.

So..... how the heck do you trade? Or is that something you have to pay for? Also, when I use Fan Speak's draft sim, I always run multiple sims and use the different big boards to see what changes from round to round. It gets really wonky around round 3 with players that sometimes fall. Also lets remember it's updated every week.

Since there are a lot of other daft threads with mountains of pages, I thought it would be nice to have a place where you can post your draft, and rather than make a new post when you are updating, just simply update your post? Sounds like a great way to have 1 thread that we can all reference. So I did a few mock drafts on FanSpeak yesterday. By a few I mean I did like 50-ish. I'm clearly not going to post all the results from each on, but I found it interesting how many different first picks we could have gone with. With that in mind, I also did some strange drafts where I drafted someone interesting that has not really been discussed. Things I found from my draft: 1) The 9th position is a strange position for us to have due to our needs and the depth at certain positions. 2) There are a lot of possibilities for the first pick 3) We could use the draft to pick up eventual replacements for aging Vets. 4) I still believe trading down for the Bills would be the best option in the first round, and we don't need to go very far. Even if we only pick up an additional 3rd, it would give us an enormous amount of flexibility. My stance on who to pick with the first pick has changed. At the start of the draft season I was head strong on getting an RT with out first pick. The chances of them being there was supposedly high at the time. Due to the depth of OT's I will no long push for that to be our first pick, however I will not be upset if it is. So what does my new draft look like with what I feel is a realistic view of how things will unfold based on what teams actually value and not just what someone is ranked? Round 1: People I'm ok with grabbing with #9 in order of preference. Khalil Mack, Arron Donald, Jake Matthews, Greg Robinson, Mike Evans, Eric Ebron I don't think I need to explain anyone here with maybe the exception of Arron Donald. He doesn't fit a major need. This is true. But we have some aging or not right cogs in our machine and he may be able to either replace them eventually or fit a specific need. Also I'm not 100% sold on Mike Evans and Eric Ebron and taking them at 9 would be an "i guess i'm ok with that" selection My dream choice here? Khalil Mack Round 2: Choices in no order but i will try to keep them in groups by position Troy Nikals, C.J. Feidorwicz,Jace Amaro, Antonio Richardson, Xavier Su'a-Filo, Gabe Jackson, Cyril Richardson, Allen Robinson, Donte Moncrief, Martavis Bryant, Cody Latimer, Brandon Coleman, Kyle Van Noy, Chris Borland, Shayne Skov, Carlos Hyde, Charles Sims Lots of Picks here. There are even some running backs, but I would love to pick one later in the draft. This all really comes down to what we did with the first pick, and how the draft if going. What I think will be BPA that fits a need: C.J. Feidorwicz Round 3: Choices here are again in no specific order, and some may repeat from above C.J. Feidorwicz, Antonio Richardson, Cyril Richardson, Chris Borland, Max Bullough, Yawin Smallwood, Lamin Barron, Shayne Skov, Carlos Hyde, Charles Sims, Donte Moncrief, Martavis Bryant, Cody Latimer, Brandon Coleman Lots of choices. Pretty easy to see needs being addressed here and replacements for aging vets. The draft starts taking some weird turns here in the simulator, it's pretty much a crap shoot on who's actually still on the board. Pick I'd like for this round: Antonio Richardson Round 4: Lots of repeat names, and in some cases players dropping wildly into later rounds here. C.J. Feidorwicz, Max Bullough, Lamin Barron, Charles Sims, Donte Moncrief, Martavis Bryant, Cody Latimer, Brandon Coleman, Zach Mettenberger, Tom Savage Draft really starts to slim down at this point. Lots of options but only a few picks left and teams know the value of these players. I would find it very hard to believe that some of these players make it down this far. Realistically: Cody Latimer Dream: Charles Sims(I doubt he will be here though) Round 5: It's all Fubar Everything is Fubar here. The fluctuation between who is and isn't here at this point of the draft is ridiculous, so i'm just going to list who I'm hoping is here and that we get due to him sliding. Pick: Max Bullough Round 6: Go outside, nothing to see here Pick: Rough Touch Ultimate Frisbee Round 7: I just don't really know what to do with 7th round picks. I can Hope/Pray that some injured players fall here. Dream Pick: Zach Mettenberger So whats this all really come out to. Well it's a pretty wild and long trip through the draft. Some of the choices are hopefully and probably impossible, others are minor reaches, and some are just about right, fitting needs at about the right round for that player to go. TL:DR A Draft I would be more than ecstatic to see: 1) Khalil Mack (Dream) 2) C.J. Feidorwicz (Slight reach) 3) Antonio Richardson (Fills need and good value for the round) 4) Cody Latimer or Charles Sims(Fred Jackson isn't getting any younger) 5) Max Bullough (Falls due to possible character issues/ Its hard to get in trouble in B-lo) 6) Go tanning or something 7) Zach Mettenberger (Need a third QB/Project) What do you guys think?

We don't have to be the ones in play for Evans. Thats the Beauty of it. Look at the teams after the Lions. Titans, Steelers, Giants, Ravens, Cowboys. All could use another primetime reciever. All you have to say is so and so is looking to trade to 9 because they really want Evans.

I'd rather have Van Noy in the second round that spend a #9 pick on Barr or Mosley. Just seems like a better deal.

i do not see us taking Mosley at 9. He just isn't good enough to get that high. New idea to throw out there. What would the lions agree to if we said we'd let them have Evans. All we have to do with swap 1 spot and maybe pick up a 3rd. I'm pretty sure that the lions would be ok with that. Just food for thought.

I feel that, due to the inability to truly pinpoint what teams will do ahead of us, even now that FA has kind of slowed down, makes it' pretty impossible to tell what the Bills will actually take with the 9th spot. To get this point out of the way, my thoughts on Ebron are this. The guy is a beast, and I am a lot higher on him now than i was a few weeks ago. However, i still remain firmly entrenched that is he is not a #9 pick. I just don't think the Bills need him that high, although if we were to trade back to say, idk anywhere down to 16th, I'd be fine taking him out of the top 10. Trading down is something a lot of ppl on this board have been talking about, and with this draft it makes a lot of sense, but it happening is another story. With that in mind, our draft really should be focused on the Offence. RT/LG/TE/ and while we all love F.Jax and CJ, a RB in the mid to late rounds would probably be a wise investment. It's been stated several times, and it should be noted again, Our O-Line was decent last year, but our biggest problem with it, outside of it's inability to hold for 1 more second, has got to be it's inefficiency in the run game. We have 2 great Rb's and we used them a TON last year, and actually i think we had the most running plays ( can't remember if this is true), but we did not have the best of success. We did well but were not overly amazing. Shoring up the O-line would be a great step, also makes sense financially since these players can be locked up for 4-5 years, are young and would most likely be immediate upgrades to our team. In terms of our D. We saw what a real D-Coordinator could do with our talent last year. We have a new one, with a different philosophy, and still have a glaring need at LB ( i'm not the biggest fan of Spikes and we still don't have a true Strong Side LB). Our Corners might be pretty set. Our safety position though, that is up in the air at this point. Would you guys really be upset if we nabbed HaHa Clinton Dix with a first round pick? Also it's remains unknown what we would really need to have the D run smoothly with yet another new D for the team to learn. The ideal draft? We trade down, and preferably stay ahead of the Jets/Phins because they need what we need in many ways, only exception being someone giving us the farm for our pick. Trying to think of teams that we could get some picks from that are far back and really all I can think of is maybe San Fran looking to add some fresh blood to the D or maybe trying to get another Weapon for Kap to throw too. Hell.... maybe they want to grab Ebron and use the 2 TE model that the Pats abused.So we trade down, what are we looking for: Positions by round, with no emphisis on which one would be needed more, draft any of the positions noted would be fine with me as long as the player is ranked well, IE no more Goodwins and Grahams. 1) S / WR / TE / RT / LG 2) WR / RT / LG 2) TE / LG / RT / WR 3) LG / RT / WR / S / TE / RB 4) LG / RT / S / LB / RB / CB 5) LG / RT / S / LB / RB / CB 6) S / LB / RB / CB 7) S / LB / RB / CB