BillsFan4

America was (partially) founded on protest. I don't get how you can hate a guy for peacefully protesting... It's one of our rights as American citizens. It's part of what makes this country so great. Freedom of speech is a constitutional right. I will never forget what a veteran friend once said - freedom of speech is one of the things he fought for, so someone expressing their constitutional right is not disrespecting him at all. It's honoring what he fought to preserve. Anyway... He would not be my first choice, but I'd take Kaepernick as a cheap veteran backup QB. I'd only be interested if he came cheap enough, though. He plays a similar style to TT, so the offense could pretty much stay the same if Tyrod happened to miss any games, and I don't trust Cardale in the backup spot yet. I think the Bills could use a veteran backup QB (not necessarily Kaep). I think a good veteran QB could do Tyrod and Cardale some good. Not really sure Kaepernick is the right guy for that, though. I want an experienced, team first type guy who would be willing to help mentor Tyrod and Cardale.

Sweet! IMO this gives the WR depth chart a pretty nice boost. He is easily the #3 WR, and maybe the #2 the way the current WR depth chart sits right now. If the Bills can find a #2 WR before the season starts, and slide Holmes and all the other guys they've signed down 1 spot, I think our WR depth chart looks better than last year.

I think you have to be smart with your QB picks in the first 3 rounds. IMO You can't just say "we are going to draft a QB with one of our first 3 picks every year". You have to look at each individual draft, and then see how that draft plays out and who is available when you pick. I don't see where it would be that great of an idea to force a QB pick just so you could say you drafted a QB. You should be getting a player who can contribute right away with 1st - 3rd round picks. If you're using one of those picks on a QB (who may or may not deserve to be picked that high) every single year, your team depth is going to take a big hit. Plus you have to allocate roster spots to all these QBs. By next year the Bills would probably be having to carry 4 QBs (Tyrod, Cardale, QB pick this year & next year's) and then having to cut 1 the following year. How do guys ever get a chance to develop that way? How do you split up reps? Which QB do you give up on before their rookie deal is even over? I agree the Bills need to take chances on QBs in the draft. But I think you have to let the draft come to you. You can't just force a QB pick no matter what.

Let's see if EJ even gets the backup job first, before we start wondering who would win in an EJ vs Tyrod showdown... EJ is 0-5 in his last 5 starts, though. If by some crazy chance EJ does start when the Raiders play the Bills, I will take the Bills for the win.

Good luck EJ! You handled your time here with class. I hope you have a successful NFL career!

Nice! Glad to hear this.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/rangers/2018-nhl-winter-classic-likely-to-be-held-at-citi-field-with-rangers-vs-sabres-sources-say-1.13268887 "The Winter Classic likely will make its New York debut on New Years Day 2018, with an outdoor game at Citi Field in Queens between the Rangers and Sabres close to being finalized, two sources confirmed to Newsday."

Quesfion, since I didn't follow Trubisky's college career all that closely before he became the starter - Why did it take him so long to start in college? He had a not so great QB in front of him the past few years. Why wasn't Trubisky able to beat him out to start? He's probably one of my 2 favorite QB's from this draft class. But I'd be terrified to take this guy with a top 10 pick after barely a season of starting in college. There's just so little to go on, and we've all seen plenty of QBs have 1 good year in college. Look at Hackenberg, Barkley, etc etc. They tore it up their first year. People were calling them sure fire 1st overall picks. 1 good year in college simply isn't enough to go off of IMO (especially for us fans). I definitely see potential there, but he's still quite a project IMO. I'd take a shot on this guy if he made it to our 2nd or 3rd round pick. But for me personally, I just think it's too big a gamble to draft him at #10. And definitely no interest in trading up for him. Not with 13 starts. That's crazy. Trading up to the top of the draft for a QB almost never works for the team trading up anyway.

That kind of pisses me off, if that's really all it would have cost to put the 2nd round tender on Groy, that Whaley didn't just give him an extra $800k. They had to know Groy would draw interest. I think he would have been (and hopefully still will be) a great backup to have around this season. I get trying to save money, but we're talking $800k in extra cap space to guarantee you have some excellent offensive line depth. Seems well worth it to me, especially with Wood coming of injury.

I actually like this signing quite a bit. He is without a doubt an upgrade over Goodwin as our #3 WR in my opinion. He has enough speed to be a deep threat, like Goodwin, but he is much more versatile overall. You can put him in multiple different spots. He runs a wide variety of routes and is known as a crisp route runner. He's got good cut ability, and has much better hands than Goodwin. He caught everything that came near him in 2015. This is a very nice depth signing IMO.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-manuel-finally-secures-bills-backup-job-after-2015sep23-story.htmlhttp://www.buffalorumblings.com/2015/9/8/9275871/matt-cassel-re-signs-with-buffalo-bills-nick-oleary-released Cassel definitely was advanced to #2 as soon as he was signed. EJ was even inactive until Cassel was shipped out. He didn't suit up for a game until after the trade. There were a number of reports that the coaches (especially Greg Roman) were pretty mad that Whaley shipped out Cassel in trade too- https://mobile.twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/658290029114949632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw http://www.buffalorumblings.com/buffalo-bills-rumors/2015/12/20/10629580/doug-whaley-butting-heads-with-buffalo-bills-coaches-per-report I know there were more reports by WGR and the Buffalo News about how the coaching staff was mad about Cassel being traded too, but I didn't have time to hunt around for them right now. Of course Rex is going to support the move publicly though, that's no surprise. But there was way too much smoke for there not to be fire IMO. And his actions speak louder than any words. The only time EJ was ever ahead of Cassel on the depth chart was when he was literally forced there by Whaley.

I think they use a radar gun at the combine, right? The combine doesn't use the computer chip in the ball like (I believe) they do for those sports science segments, do they? I thought those computer chips measured the velocity like 3-4mph higher than the radar guns do or something like that... I'm not sure though... I'm no expert, that much I do know. lol

IIRC, didn't he have a shoulder injury at the time though?

I think we will use at least 1 pick on WR. Maybe 2 if they trade down and acquire more picks. I don't really have a problem if they don't use a pick on RT or QB, as both are areas of weakness in this year's draft. DB is very deep though, so I'm sure the secondary will be addressed. Not every hole has to be filled this year, either. It's most likely more of a transition year anyway, as guys learn the new schemes and the coaches evaluate the roster & start making the necessary changes.

Hopefully he will only be used as a backup. If he's our starting RT again I will be pretty bummed. It seemed like the majority of the time a defender got by the O line, it was Mills who got beat. If he is our starting RT, let's hope Juan Castillo can work miracles... Or that Mills is a better fit in the new zone blocking scheme.

They will add WR's. There is plenty of time still. The season doesn't start for 6+ months yet, and training camp doesn't start for almost 5... Not every single issue has to be addressed in the first few days of free agency. Be patient, let the plan unfold. Personally, I'm glad the Bills are not breaking the bank for a bunch of expensive free agents. I'd rather see them go after some bargain signings and actually have some cap space left for later in the offseason and training camp, when more good players will shake loose. They don't have to use up every bit of cap space this season either. That wouldn't be a bad thing. I am very confident that the Bills will add WR's though. They really have no choice but to do so. They can't go into the season with what they have... I don't see them trying to set up TT for failure either. IMO The WR position will be addressed when they find the right fits.

I am starting to think the same thing, that this wont be one of those "all in" years where we spend to the cap, and it wouldn't be a bad thing IMO. It's more than likely a transition year while the players learn the new systems and the coaches learn which players fit and which don't. No reason to spend every bit of cap space they have. It'd be nice to see them thinking more long term for a change. But it is still very early in the offseason. I don't think we've seen the plan unfold yet. There will be plenty of good football players released between now and the start of the season. The Bills still could end up signing a bunch of guys, who knows. I'm just going to wait and see what happens. But I'd have no problems with it if they didn't go spending a bunch of money this season and actually built up some cap space for the coming years.

Interesting chart. It shows how velocity numbers correlate to QB success. It's definitely a big deal... Sorry I don't know how to make the image bigger. You have to click on it to see it.

So the Patriots don't have a 1st, 2nd or 3rd round pick in this year's draft now? That's unusual for them.You usually don't see the Pats notmpicking until the 4th round of the draft, or signing free agents to high price long term contracts with lots of guaranteed money. Maybe they are going all in on next season? Or maybe they have a trade in the works for Jimmy G to recoup a number of the lost picks.

Sad to see Corey Graham go, but it was kind of expected at the salary he was earning and cap space his release would clear. I was actually kind of surprised that he wasn't released the other day before Aaron Williams was. But after the Hyde and Poyer signings I thought maybe he had a chance to stick around just due to his versatility (playing CB and S), as that seems to be something McDermott values. Although I don't know if Graham is really capable of playing CB anymore... Hes getting up there in age, and IMO his play did fall off a bit last season. I kind of like that McDermott is making over the secondary. It's one of his areas of expertise, so I trust him that he knows what he's doing. He did a very good job developing that secondary in Carolina. Josh Norman was a late round pick that he helped turn into a top 5 CB. I have more faith in McDermott than I have in any Bills HC in a long time. It's a nice feeling! I expect there will be more moves to come. The last 2 releases in the secondary were followed shortly by 2 signings in the secondary. Even if a move doesn't happen now, there's still a long time before the season starts. More good players will get released around the league as the offseason goes on and training camps get under way. There's still plenty of time to fill any holes on this roster. We don't play any games for a long time yet. And who knows, maybe this year will be a mini rebuild, where we release more players that don't fit the new vision, slowly fill those holes with younger guys with upside (as they have so far) and don't spend to the cap to roll some of that savings into next year. It's too early to know what the plan is though. I'll just sit back, wait and watch.

Man that would stink if he for signed away from the Bills and we got nothing for him. He was surprisingly good filling in for Wood last year. I hope we don't lose him.

Yes, I did list Roesthlisberger. And I listed Rivers, who was taken before him in the draft and has had much less success...I know the Bills missed out on Big Ben. But the point still stands. He went outside the top 3-5 (and even outside the top 10). It appears the most successful QBs in the NFL went outside the top 5 to me. Just goes to show what a crap shoot the draft is. I just don't see where you need to plan a season around having a draft pick in the top 5. There have been just as many franchise QBs found outside the top 5 as there have been in the top 5. Like you said, we need to scout QBs better AND pull the trigger more often. But we don't have to draft in the top 5 to find our franchise QB. Personally, I think it's more important to try and build a winning culture in Buffalo after these almost 2 decades of losing, and it's hard to do that if the goal of the front office is a top 5 pick... This is the best 3 year stretch this team has had since the playoff drought started. I want to keep building on it. There are plenty of successful teams that have found their franchise QB outside the top 5, and without cutting a bunch of talented players to tank a season. Edit - also, I don't really see where it matters at this point about wanting to cut a bunch of players and not sign Tyrod and tank etc. It's obviously not happening. So I choose to look at the actual situation that's in front of me and find the best in it.

A number of the most successful current NFL QB's have been found outside the top 5 of the draft. Tom Brady - 6th round (5 Super Bowl wins, 7 SB appearances) Drew Brees - 2nd round (super bowl win) Aaron Rodgers - late 1st round (Super Bowl win) Tony Romo - undrafted Ben Roethlisberger - mid 1st round (2 Super Bowl wins, 3 SB appearances) Russel Wilson - 3rd round (1 SB win, 2 SB appearances) And pretty soon you might be able to add more guys to that list of successful NFl starting QBs, like - Derek Carr - 2nd Dark Prescott - 4th Kirk Cousins - 4th And then you have other franchise QBs like - Andy Dalton - 2nd Joe Flacco - late 1st (1 Super Bowl win) possibly Teddy Bridgewater, if he's able to come back from injury (who was a very late 1st round pick) Ryan Tannehill, if you consider him to be a franchise QB Then we have the top 5 picks - Eli Manning - #1 (2 Super Bowl wins) Carson Palmer - #1 overall (zero Super Bowl appearances) Matt Ryan - #3 (1 Super Bowl appearance in his 8th year starting) Cam Newton - #1 (1 Super Bowl appearance in his 5th year) Robert Griffin III - #2 (zero SB appearances) Andrew Luck - (zero SB appearances) Matthew Stafford - #1 (zero SB appearances) Blake Bortles - #3 (zero SB appearances) Philip Rivers - #4 (zero SB appearances, and Big Ben has 3, who was taken after him in the same draft) Alex Smith- #1 (zero SB appearances) Sam Bradford - #1 (zero SB appearances) Too soon to tell - Goff, Wentz, Mariota, Winston. So I don't see where drafting a QB in the top 5 is a make or break thing for the Bills. Seems like they have as good or better chance of finding a successful franchise QB outside the top 5 to me. They just need to start drafting more QBs, whatever round that might be.

I don't see it that way. Tyrod is a smart kid. I don't think it boiled down to money alone. I think he probably seen that this was his best chance of having success out of the teams that were interested. He could stay here with a new coach who wants him to stay and an OC who's system he's already been in for a year in Baltimore, that he feels is QB friendly and believes he can have success in. A place where he has the #1 rushing attack in the entire NFL to help take the pressure off him. A place where he's already familiar with most of the team and is a leader in the locker room and on an offense he just led to top 12 in scoring 2 years in a row... Or he could take a little more money to go to the Browns or Jets where they both appear to be in full rebuild mode, with questionable O line's and questionable talent and coaches that may be on their way out the door at season's end. Tough choice... Like I said, Tyrod is a smart guy and he doesn't seem to be driven by money alone. Ome thing you can not question is his work ethic. He busts his ass trying to get better and he wants to have a long career in the NFL as a successful QB. He's already had some success with Buffalo's offense and I think he wants to stay and build on what he's already done instead of having to start over. I think he feels this is his best chance at success in the NFL is here and I tend to agree with him, given the other choices out there for him.

I hardly ever even check the Buffalo News' sports section anymore. It's gone so far downhill it's barely worth reading anymore. Some of the new writers are good, but most of the old crew doesn't write much of anything worth reading IMO. So I refuse to give them the clicks. Obviously some, like Sully, have been garbage writers forever. But ever since that fallout the Buffalo News had with Pegula shortly after he bought the Sabres, things changed for the worse. Most of their cool inside access, behind the scenes pieces disappeared and they started writing more and more slam pieces. They seem to have some vendetta against Pegula and the Bills/Sabres.