wilcoam

Interesting post Yes, I would agree that DW is out there signing alot of very historically durable backup players That will surely help with regard to having much better depth in 2017 and beyond However not so much with regard to fielding the best possible 22, lol Unfort more talent left or was released than we have gained so far jc

Well, it would the only actual 2016 'starting player' the Bills will have signed to date in this years FA, lol Sounds good as a long term addition even if he's not ready in Sept 2017 jc

Sure, he would also make me feel better about our WR 'depth', in the sense that if you bring in alot of WR#4's and WR5's into camp one might stay healthy and project into actually producing like a WR#3 However let's honest, the guy was WR #4 on the Raiders, and though he played in all 16 games the last two seasons, he only totalled 16 receptions each of those years, our Bills are still taking other teams C and D players and projecting them as B or A players, mostly because mgmt refuses to bring in better quality FA's or spend high draft picks at this position, we are still dumpster diving Though I'm sure 1-2 of these divers on the 53 roster given more snaps will rise above, it is still not a long term replacement for a real playmaking WR#2 say in this years draft, or in comparison to the teams we compete against, even if Andre signs next week, right now it is still one of the worst talented groups of WR's in the league jc

Sorry, the number comp picks awarded are solely based on the number of FA's signed versus lost up to a max of 32 per year Those who claim differently unfort do no understand the system In 2015 our Bills lost 3 FA's and signed 1 The other FA's signed didn't count against the comps because they were ineligible Based on having been released (Harvin) Or signed after the draft Or in Felton's case was based on opting out of a contract In 2017 we will only receive comp picks if we sign less eligible FA's than we loose With Hunter going to Pitt we are currently -1 And if our other FA's don;t sign until after the draft/Jun 1 they become ineligible Again the NFL compensates NFL teams who lose more FA's than they sign However if the Bills fan base feels signing marginal FA's today Is of greater important than getting compensated with high draft picks by the NFL tomorrow so be it I think most other NFL GM's, quite successful one's, will always take the 3rd round and 4th round picks But hey, whadda they know? Our fan base seems convinced comp picks rarely work out??????? Yet at the same time talk about how Kevin Seymour will surely make a big impact in 2017 lol jc

No offense John, but I do not currently see an NFL ready WR#2 or a WR#3 on this roster However I do see alot of WR#4's and depth guys who will have to fight off each other in camp to make the team, lol That would have included Hunter!!!!! So yes, a good plan moving forward If our Bills ever want to address basically having one the worst WR corps in the NFL on an annual basis Would be similar to the Texans who I believe last year used two of their 3 highest picks on young WR's last year? That could include taking one at #10 and I don't see how that would be a reach Nor a problem to have two #1 WR's like other teams have Course that does not preclude our Bills from trading down and getting an extra high pick to achieve this Nor ignoring the WR position altogether as they have been doing Fingers crossed they address it because as a fan I'd like to watch better talent at this position on the field jc

I agree with Scott Law 100% And yes DW has had some success with signing fringe depth players Lorax and Zack being the two most recent hits However fans overstate the percentage of his success and then apply it to every depth no name FA signing with vigour Fans just forget the 6-8 guys we signed last year that didn't contribute much and were subsequently released For example I loved the Justin Hunter pickup Its a head scratcher why we are not resigning him But everyone forgets almost all the bit parts secondary players we signed last year none of which worked out Not to mention a couple of O-liners that flat out stunk and were released So DW's hit rate is really only around 25% if you actually do the count jc

I agree 100% HarmonK, great post On the Bills board during this very time during the off season I kept saying the entire draft and FA were focused on Rex swapping out 2014 4-3 players for 2015 3-4 players, moving even further away from our former #2 overall D, but folks kept telling me, relax, Rex and DW knew that they were doing, especially when it comes to the D Well they didn't....The fans were wrong.... And I fully understand our Bills need to fill a 53 person roster most of which are not starting players and or depth I'm not saying don't sign some FA's However its both short term and long term stupidity to keep signing high priced FA's for 1-2 seasons When instead you can have free draft picks that get you players with much lower salaries for 4 years Its common sense jc

Well we disagree Teffle, I have not seen the $$$ committed on Davis yet, but if DW had signed him to be our DE starter, I would be as equally critical because like Poyer, Davis is clearly not an NFL starter, but we didn't, I think its clear to most Davis will be a rotational sub, and hopefully a decent one at that Unfort at over 3.25M a year, and I think I nearly chocked when I typed that, at that $$$ Poyer is clearly not just a rotational sub, he's getting starter money, and based on his very un-prolific career to date, I think its a huge downgrade from what we've had on the field the last couple of years, since Poyer was only a ST teams player for 75% of his short career, and in the 6 games he started at S, he was among the worst rated starters in the NFL, bottom of the barrel So nothing whacky there at Teffle.... Folks will say DW found Lorax and Brown last year, so Poyer, Hyde, others will all be 'diamonds in the rough', no they won't, for every Lorax and Brown signed, there's a whack of Anderson's, Velasco's, Drey's, Moore's, Blanton's that don't work out, no matter how many fan pages are dedicated doc claiming stab the time its a great signing, the reality is DW ratio of success in FA signings is still under 25%, maybe even only 20%, which might be a very solid hit ratio for an NFL GM, that's the actual probability of each signing actually contributing or working out I think Poyer will not work out but Davis will, and I'm on the fence on Hyde, depends if he's the nickel CB, he'll do fine there, but as our starting safety with Poyer? Nope, IMO its a major downgrade, but we will see.... jc

Considering Shaq is a raw rookie with only 7-8 NFL games under his belt, and Hughes can be weak vs the run, this is a terrific FA addition, IMO maybe the best FA signing of this off season, plus his versatility is a plus jc

Again I disagree, the thread has morphed into a great discussion about the importance of building this team through the draft, which is the natural evolution of the thread once one realizes how future comp picks can help this franchise jc

I choose Adams, the reasons are simple, I don't dislike Davis, but he is rated to go anywhere from the 9th to 15th, Adams is a top 5 prospect, so his bust potential is lower than Davis, and if Adams should magically fall to us I do not see how you pass up on him Next I would never draft for need, especially just for the 2017 season, I am looking for the best player over the next 4-6 years, considering I am likely to extend the team option, and franchise for a year if a longer term deal cannot be worked out Finally while #2WR is an important position, IMO #1SS or #1CB is of a much greater need if you consider our main opposition in the AFC and our division is NE and Tom Brady, which is why my 2nd pick would be Lattimore, as I do not think our Bills have had a player like either Adams or Lattimore in quite some time However the reality is that Adams and Lattimore are likely gone b4 we pick, so Davis, Hooker, and Foster are more likely to still be there, I think Robinson is dropping to the late 1st, Hooker is my 3rd pick, for all the same reasons. PS - I'd feel much better about Hooker and or Adams starting for us in 2017 and beyond in consideration that we just released our two starting safeties and replaced them, for now, with 2 guys whom hardly have any starting exp in the NFL, and don't have any ceiling close to the guys we cut, let alone, a #1 draft pick, especially considering you face Tom Brady twice a year

For what its worth Zack had a top 5-10 PFF rating through the initial 11-12 games but as RB's pile dup yardage against us he swooned big time in the last 4-5 games, I believe that's the tail off folks are referring too, which affected ratings in whatever metric you want to use for all our starting LB's and Shaq The tail off was prominent enough that I was very surprised when he was named an alternative to the pro-bowl because lots of other ILB had better ratings jc

Actually, no offense, but I would absolutely c**ck block Sean if signing a career backup like Poyer and whatever #6 WR we picked up this week results in negating a 2018 3rd round pick, for its DW job to educate Sean how that works, so as not to lose valuable draft compensation Its not just getting draft picks, its getting young prospects at a very low set salary for 4 years, which is paramount to a small market team like the Bills being able to build a 53 man roster in comparison to all the big market teams with much larger budgets However, I agree if it was for a 7th, big deal, which is why I'm not critical of our Bills/DW of not getting comp picks last year, we never really lost any prominent FA's, but this year we lost 2 big one's, including a mega FA, this is the year above all years to get compensated regardless of how many FA's we did or didn't have jc

I cant blame DW and our Bills for not making a bigger splash in FA, I get that we are a small market team, and playing the football version of moneyball Which is why the draft and picks are so important because they freeze the overall salary of a group of players for 4-5 years So we have to stop giving them away picks on trades for depth, and stop moving up in the draft Instead when we can be moving back and compiling more draft picks And we need to start taking every comp pick we can get to mirage the loss of FA's More draft picks is the long term answer here I feel more confident getting real starting safeties there than say signing folks from teams where the guys didn't even start, I mean, c'mon... jc

Most of the experts say only one QB will be chosen in the top 10 this year Now its mid March and the draft is still a long time away so I expect it'll change So I sincerely doubt our Bills trade TT, get a 2nd and then trade high draft picks to one up for what is projected as a weak crop of QB's You never know but I put it at less than 3% jc

Bang on Scott Law While it always possible a fringe signing like Poyer who is career backup turns into a diamond in the rough Even DW's who hit a couple of FA's backup homeruns last year is only likely batting under .200 with these kind of players I'm happy to eat crow if Poyer is even an adequate replacement for Graham but it's not likely... jc

J Poyer has started a grand total of 6 games as a starting FS in the NFL his short 3-4 years And got really low player ratings while doing so Hey maybe in 2017 he'll turn into Zack or Lorax Or maybe he'll be an overpaid bum out of football by this time next year I just hope we don't lose a 2018 3rd comp pick by having signed him for these gazillions jc

I disagree H20, Rex created numerous open roster spots by releasing players not suited for his unique 3-4 D Now Sean is doing it for the secondary So our Bills created even more such spots by releasing players Again, I'm jot against losing comp picks if its for dymanamic FA singings But if its to cover released players its their own mis-management Ask yourself is signing a backup DE for $750K and backup S for 1mK worth losing a 2018 3rd and 4th round draft pick at $580K a year for 4 jc

Like all drafts you have to look beyond 2017 needs and quality players than can contribute over a 4-5 year period Having said that in terms of need I'm not even convinced Hyde is starting S for us for he has never been I see see 5 starting holes at the moment, RT, 2 WR, 2S, and a C They might go need at WR-Secondary Then again if Howard is BPA at #10 whose to say its not a terrific pick Ditto Reuban at ILB I just worry about picking a backup QB Cos we have some major major starting holes jc

I didn't know Brady was a comp pick, wow... I keep saying it, Jones and Seymour were comp picks last year Seymour could be the starting nickel CB this year and or the starting outside CB or if not he;s moving up the depth chart These picks can be very useful the following year.... And no I think the draft is the way to go And accumulating draft picks by trading down and getting them thrown in trades The draft gives you a low guaranteed salary for 4-5 years That's small market team economic heaven.... Then when you have cap money FA compliments what you've drafted by plugging a starting position plus adding depth players jc

So we have 2 safeties that can switch to CB in a pinch, and Darby as our #1. Not a bad start to the secondary, especially with the draft supposedly being deep there. I'll add my commentary to say we have 2 depth safeties, one that can likely start at nickel CB, but have yet to prove they are quality S or C NFL front line starters, great upgrade at depth, an upgrade on nickel C as compared to NRC, but likely did not solve either of our long term starting S or C positions Just like we signed similar depth at WR the last 2 days but you cannot say with sincerity any of those WR's can play #2/#3 in the NFL, so these draft picks are going to be uber-improtant his year, unlike say last year where none of em started for us, we can't afford that again... jc

Of course, having a healthy Sammy and hopefully a 1st or 2nd rd draft pick starting, with Clay, and Shady looks great on paper Until the injuries start Fine O'Leary looked decent last year when Clay was injured But so far not much on that WR depth chart except at least one of em once caught 30 passes in a single season, lol The #3 WR is almost a starter but so far I would not claim any of these guys are it Still early though... And does not leave us much room for drafting a Howard, a Humphries, a safety at #10, let alone a future QB Lots of starting holes still jc

Just my opinion but our Bills do not seem to want to bring in starters or higher profile FA's this year We've basically signed solid backup's and depth players So the starting holes will remain going into the draft unless you apply good will koolaid that everyone will be the next Lorax/Zack IMO offensively we are still down WR #2 and WR #3 Inevitable someone here will make an argument one of these WR will be a #3 starter I ain't buying it Though the guys we brought in, plus Listenbee, provide solid WR injury depth Some folks will argue backup TE is a need but others will say its a luxury We still do not have a quality starting RT IMO defensively is where all the major holes exist Our 3 starting LB's are currently Ragland, Brown, and Lorax So I would disagree that starting LB is a need Unless you argue that Lorax is more of a rotating 3rd down specialist or Preston isn't up to snuff But others will say Lorax is a starter and Preston will bounce back so there will be a debate about need here Absolutely gonna need 2017 versions of Zack/Lorax depth here and at DT-DE We do not have a #1 corner and thats gotta be our biggest hole Unless you hypothizie Seymour or Hyde is stepping in Oh vay.... Both of whom are more known talent wise to be better in the slot or nickel CB's And I think (though folks here will disagree) that we still don't have two starting safeties I view Poyer as depth, and Hyde as our starting nickel CB So I agree with you that we still have alot of starting holes in our secondary Unless folks here argue endlessly that Poyer and Hyde are our starting safeties Yikes, I hope not, but that's just my opinion So I see 6 starting holes, RT, WR#2, WR#3, #1C, #1S, #2S Others will see less Some will say starting QB is still a hole but of course I disagree, lol jc

No, we are currently negative 2 We signed 6 FA's against only losing 4 Now the Cowboys DE counts against the 2018 comp picks jc

I like the depth singings, its bodies that can catch the ball, works well for #4 and #5 WR's But lets's be honest Its not like any of these guys are legit NFL #3 and up WR's We still currently have one of the worst WR corps in the NFL And its not any upgrade over last years talent But yes, its still early in FA and there's the draft A Mike Williams and or Corey Davis changes the entire picture jc