BarleyNY

Yes, this is #1. I like to break the season up into quarters to look at direction. Let's see how they do in the first four games and go from there.

They sure would be. If he'd never been in trouble Gordon would be worth in excess of two first round picks. That doesn't get discounted to a conditional late round pick because he's on his last strike. I can see a team not wanting to give up a lot for him, but no way do the Browns give him away for nothing. They'd be way better off rolling the dice on the 2013 receiving leader. The Browns have been contacted by teams inquiring about Gordon, but don't seem inclined to trade him away. There's been nothing of substance there. The Browns are a team to watch for WRs though. They invested heavily in the position in the draft, got Gordon back and are watching Pryor emerge. They're going to cut lose some talent. Keep an eye on Hawkins. He'd be a nice slot WR.

True. And last season certainly validated his upside.

Whaley used a 5th round pick on Karlos. All anyone has to ask about his selection is: Was he worth the risk at that point? It's difficult for me to lambast a guy for taking a chance with a Day 3 pick on a talented player with off the field issues that were serious enough to possibly derail his career. Players available at that point in the draft all have issues of some sort. IMO it was a reasonable decision to take that risk on that player at that point in the draft. It just didn't happen to work out. Sometimes reasonable bets don't pay off. That's life.

You can never tell if a unit is great, or even very good, in the preseason. There is too much experimentation with players and scheme, variation in playbook usage among teams and differences in usage of talent to get a good gauge of how units (or teams) will fare in the regular season. What you can sometimes tell is that a unit or team is going to be very bad. The Bills defense doesn't fall into that category and that is the positive I'm taking away. What they'll achieve beyond that is anybody's guess. Don't get too worked up about the preseason and remember that the Lions went 4-0 during the preseason the year they went 0-16 in the regular season.

Vick. Unreal speed and arm strength.

That's a fact. It's not so much the total payout on that contract so much as it was all of the guaranteed money and lack of protection for something like this.

That's just perfect for the Maimi Dolphins. Cheesy, overpriced mediocrity with some nice ornamentation to look at.

Thanks for finding that for me. Crap.

http://overthecap.com/player/marcell-dareus/1830/ Just take a look at his contract. Jesús El Savior Christ. He needs to get a handle on his business or things could get very ugly for the Bills. Any word on if there are protections for the team in the event that he would do something like he just did? I'll dig on that.

Lmao. Not as bad as he was an ex husband. Is she ever

That's fair, but the Bills aren't the only team with real issues.

Who knows which Baltimore team shows up in week 1? That team has real issues with their receiving corps and their secondary. If that was the opener in Buffalo I'd have the Bills as a heavy favorite. As it stands I think the Bills are at least even to win. Jest at home opener in week 2 should be a win. The Jest just don't match up well with the Bills. 'Zona at home is going to be tough. Would've been nice to host the Browns here in week 3 and had 'Zona in December. I think we drop this one. The Cheats in NE is winnable without Brady. Sure, Belichick will know all our plays, but they're a lot more beatable without Brady. It'll be nice to have 3 games on Garrappolo going in. 2-2 seems very realistic and I could see 3-1 as easily as 1-3.

I think marijuana testing is gone in the next CBA. But the owners will want something for that, possibly more PED testing. In light of the incredibly addictive prescription painkillers that get doled out to players you'd have to think the owners would rather have players smoking pot than taking that stuff.

The most concerning aspect of this situation is that Dareus will move to Stage 3 in the intervention program. That means a lot of tests, including throughout the season and that his next marijuana violation would be a minimum 10 game suspension. After that it'd be a minimum of a year with no guarantee of reinstatement. The Bills have a lot invested in Dareus and he's important to this team. He needs to get his **** together.

"Removed" is an overstatement. It was reported at draft time - by Schefter, IIRC - that he knew of teams that had a medical flag on Lawson that bumped him down. I don't remember him or anyone else saying Lawson was removed from any team's board. I hasn't been a great offseason. That's for sure. But we don't need to lower the lifeboats yet.

Ooohhhh. Snippy.

True dat. A very real possibility.

I agree with all of this except the Manning part. The NFL quit pursuing his involvement for PR reasons and because he was retiring. Why publicly tear down a face of your league when you can't do anything to him anyway? He'd probably be in the same boat as these guys if he was coming back though. The NFL has let players fight PED suspensions throughout a season and then allowed them to retire quietly before. Patrick Willis and Jason Worilds come immediately to mind. Both had major PED rumors and both walked away in their prime with no real explanation. There were others I can't think of right now that did the same.

Hilarious. And very likely.

Cleveland legitimately could have the first two picks in the 2017 draft.

I think the domestic violence issue is legit. That's way over the line. I remember a ballpark DJ (White Socks maybe?) getting fired for playing Whitesnake's Here I Go Again when Chuck Findley took the mound for the Indians. He had just filed for divorce from Tawny Kitaen citing physical abuse (he did not fight back when she attacked him). You might remember Kitaen as the chick on the sports car in the video for Here I Go Again. She was also previously married to David Coverdale, Whitesnake's lead singer. And here's a little tidbit to add some local flavor: she also had an affair with OJ during his marriage to Nichole Brown and her marriage to Coverdale.

I think this is more about their refusal to interview with him. He can't let a precedent like that occur. If he does nothing to these guys, then what happens the next time a player refuses to interview or do something else he says? This is about keeping control. I'm not a fan of Goodell, but he's got no choice but to go down this path now. And it's not like every single one of these guys isn't almost certainly guilty. Maybe most people don't care, but I do. I'm sick of the cheaters getting away with crap like this and watching them win. They're not being suspended for what they're accused of (PED use), they're being suspended for refusing to interview with the league.

Those are players that have had PED rumors flying around for years. James Harrison is 38. Tell me how that's possible without some serious chemical help.

I see him listed at 6'3" and 348 lbs coming out of college. That's one big dude. Seems like a decent pickup, assuming he's got himself under control.