wilcoam

- More hype/spin than actual snaps on the field - Still inconclusive but we get 3 free draft picks so there's hope... jc

No Gunner Bill, last year we got zero comp picks because we only lost 2 FA's, none of which would have give n us much compensation To DW's credit it was good year to go out and sign more FA's than we lost This year it's completely different We lost a high profile top tier player, at least in terms of the annual salary he was signed for, which almost guarantee's a 2018 3rd round pick Then we also lost a middle tier player, in terms of the annual salary he was signed for, which almost guarantee's a 2018 4th round pick In return we didn't sign any great players, upgrades sure.... Which is why we are almost assured of high 2018 comp picks If we can fix the current negative one And that's not WGR mumbo jumbo, it's reality of how comps pick work, how the NFL compensates you Though its a head scratcher why many folks here don't seem to want the compensation jc

Yes and no Boatdrinks DW got it right in 2015 when he parlayed lost FA's into 2 comp,picks There's no reason he should not be able to do it again this year Especially since Gilmore's loss almost assures a 3rd round comp pick and Woods loss a 4th round Again the NFL gives out 32 picks a year to mitigate FA losses IMO teams that fluff it off and don't take advantage of it are shortchanging themselves... jc

Its a solid depth WR #4 signing, its a body, who is not known to be injury prone But anyone hyping him to be our #3WR is drinking jugs of koolaid spin He has kickoff n punt return versality which is never a bad thing so he is likely to make the team However its no real upgrade over what we've had the last couple of years The good news because the Panthers cut him he's not adversely affecting our 2018 comp possibilities jc

Sorry, 2003contenders, despite having over 2,000 posts on this site, does not know how the comp picks work The formula for awarding the number of picks could bot be more clearer and so misunderstood Again, the amount of incorrect dis-information on this thread is staggering Estro thx again for the great and factual information and for starting this thread By the way Corey Brown was released by the Panthers so his signing today will not count against jc

Correct the 2017 comp picks are not lost yet However we will have to stop signing FA's And cross our fingers at least 3 of ours get signed before Jun 1st That would give us 2 comp picks, likely a 3rd rounder for Gilmore, and a 4th for Woods We won't get anything for Brown unless 4 of our guys get signed and its likely only a 6th or 7th... Unless we sign a FA that negates... jc

I also found the article informative I can't disagree DW has done a great job with our cap Though I do worry about the quality of talent left versus gained, signing low level depth/starters versus losing more talented starters And that we've signed more UFA's than have left potentially affecting future draft picks We do seem to have the money for resigning Brown or getting one more key starter jc

Still so much mis-information Sorry Cletus you are factually incorrect Yes, 1994 the Ravens have the most picks, until recently the Browns have had the least As part of their building program they had 7 alone in the last two years It's a legit way the NFL designed to help teams that lose high profile FA's to get compensation It's a real head shaker why folks here don't want compensation But of course if you have a chance to sign a real starter, an impact player, nobody is suggesting not signing any FA's Just not signing fringe depth players in lieu of a 3rd and 4th round 2018 pick Our waiting until Jun 1st or signing other released players, not pure UFA's jc

I cannot disagree that the Hyde signing, if replacing NRC, and the Dimarco signing replacing Felton, and the K signing replacing Carpenter Are all solid upgrades DW deserves credit for bringing these players in Ditto Tolbert, Lorax, and the Colton cut/sign isn't affecting our draft picks negatively Well maybe there's a point to be made about allowing Lorax to sign elsewhere but we need starting players Nobody here said don't sign any FA's especially ours However I think its fair to question the Poyer and Ducasse depth signings They are currently costing us 2018 high draft picks which could produce 4 year starters/depth 2018-2021 at much lower fixed 4 year salaries Not to mention DW could use these picks for trades and moving up in the draft NE is.... jc

Still massive inaccurate information in this thread which really disservices Bills fans who would like to learn more about comp picks work The Seattle K was a unrestricted free agent, not a released player The current count is we lost 4 FA's and we signed 5 FA's We lost Gilmore, Woods, McCray, and Goodwin We gained Poyer, Hyde, Ducasse, Dimarco, the K Yes Tolbert was a released player We are currently negative one and are currently not getting any comp picks for losing Gilmore and or Woods and likely Brown This is undisputible fact Next, the post which claimed the max number of comp picks is two is also factually incorrect Denver, Cincy, and Cleveland got 4 last year, we got none But to DW's credit we did get 2 nice one's in 2015 which resulted in drafting C Jones and K Seymour Finally, the last post that said more Bills will end on other rosters is also misleading, yes it 'could' happen, fingers crossed it does However if they sign after Jun 1st we don't get the credit I repeat for current number, negative one, stays 200% factual, as of today Unless things change we are not getting 2018 comp picks jc

Sorry Buddo, I disagree If you take the time to do some reading on which teams have acquired the most comp picks since 1994 You will discover that it matches most of the most successful playoff and Super Bowl teams over the last 22 years I'm not saying its a hard and fast rule not to sign any FA's just to acquire comp picks However to simply fluff it off you are purposely throwing away the compensation the NFL created For small market teams like the Bills to get something back for the free agents they lose in the open market It's beyond dumb not to take advantage of the system Just ask the Ravens who have had the most picks Or the Browns whom have had the least jc

The Bills should be mainly building through the draft However that's impossible to do if you keep trading up, giving up 1st rounders, and other draft picks Though I love watching Sammy play, looking back we should have been trading down every draft Accumulating even more draft picks Not trading them away for Bryce Brown, etc, and or for Sammy, and for Ragland, giving away picks And like 2015 always accumulating comp picks Its the only way to keep players at reasonable salaries for 4 years and more picks increase your hit ratio Look I like DW's work, but my biggest criticism is he's too readily giving away our picks and not accumulating more jc

Our Bills could have easily signed lots of FA's that didn't count towards the formula for getting comp picks Brandon Marshall was one such player There are plenty other examples including Jarius Byrd I can't list all the rest because I do not know of a source on the net listing just released players Another way was to pony up a bit and sign our own FA's like Lorax That also didn't count against Again the OP makes an excellent high football acumen post here Would you rather have Ducasse at your backup G the next two years or a 3rd round pick in 2018 which could net the next John Miller Would you rather Poyer as your backup S the next two years or a 3rd round pick in 2018 that could net your the next Adolphus Washington The answer(s) are rather obvious Again without the nice 2 comp picks DW got us in 2016 Cardale Jones and Kevin Seymour would not be on our roster jc

The mis-information on this thread by the average fan is flabbergasting Look if you will just admit you don't understand how comp picks are awarded or why they are so important that's one thing However to shrug your shoulders and or claim incorrect information is another Nope, if the Zack Brown signs with another team we still get NOTHING We will have signed 5 FA's and had 5 FA's our our own signed There will be no compensation The last time we awarded comp picks was in 2016 based on the FA's we lost in 2015 If you re-call we lost CJ Spiller, D Searcy, and L Smith, but gained TT The result was 2 comp picks awarded to us, a 4th and 6th rounder We picked Cardale Jones and Kevin Seymour 2 solid NFL pickups and a great job by DW by not signing other FA's to nullify the 2 extra picks This year we stand to get much higher picks, likely a 3rd rounder for Gilmore, and a 4th for Woods, who knows for Zack Unless we keep signing FA's or keep releasing players who have to replaced by FA's Then we get nothing And the OP is smart enough to figure that out That signing bum fringe parts FA's like Poyer and Duccase might nullify a 3rd and 4th round 2018 free draft pick Fingers crossed somebody signs EJM, Zack, Douzable, and more of our fringe players and we stop signing FA's jc

Great thread and very football astute Our Bills are beyond foolish to throw away almost guaranteed 3rd, 4th round, and 5th round, 2018 picks If you consider that the NFL came up with this compensation for teams like us that cannot resign our FA's So it would idiotic and then some to negate getting free draft picks for losing Gilmore, Woods, & Zack, and maybe others I mean why copy anything the PATS, RAVENS, and BRONCOS do annually? We must know better, lol And ya know what's worse, releasing players to supposedly save cap $$$$ Then having to sign FA's negating the comp picks And marginal non-starting FA's to boot I'm not saying this is the case yet, that any of the releases or FA's signings will zero out the 2018 picks Yes it's very early on in free agency, and I generally like the job DW is trying to do here, ditto our new HC However If DW moves result in not getting a single comp draft pick in 2018 and I were the Pegula's I'd fire him on the spot Because its incompetent And I were a Bills beat reporter I'd ask him point blank if getting 2018 picks is in the plan.... jc Nope Elite Poster They do not take that into account if you sign more FA's than you lose Its only applied if you lose more FA's than you sign Of which our Bills have been doing annually, signing more than we lose Mostly because we keep changing HC's, schemes, etc, and releasing players I hope this clarifies how it works and fans here finally have a better understanding of the importance of getting comp picks When you lose high profile FA's in which the NFL has a system to be re-imbursed, of course if you use it... jc

Proof? I'm skeptical since from what I can see they didn't even make Woods an offer..... jc

No question we seem to have upgraded our offense slightly with the addition of Demarco over Fulton And a healthy Gragg is hopefully back However I'm not sure how anyone can say with certainty our offense is going to click without still a more viable starting RT And only 2 WR on the roster, both off which are not 100% healthy, and one who has yet to play a single snap in the NFL For those counting we are missing a #2WR, a #3WR, a #4 WR, and a #5WR So at this moment we're in trouble pending more FA and the draft jc

Unfort it does not look like we are upgrading at RT in 2017, lol Guess some of us are holding out on the draft but with so many other starting holes to fill it's unlikely... jc

Great thread!!! Look we already had one of the worst WR groups in the NFL Over the last years we've lost #2 WR (Woods), #3 WR (Hogan), #4 WR (Goodwin) and Harvin So I understand fans panic here, it seems like DW is ignoring the position Though its still only day 3 in FA But if it remains like this going into the draft I have to think we are spending 2 of our first 3 high drafts pick on a WR/CB If that's the plan, great, however it ain't gonna leave any high picks left for RT, S, OLB, and or future QB We will have more starting holes than we did last year jc

I dunno, 3-4 guys out 53 ain't gonna change no culture, lol, I was more hoping we brought them in to perform And I having nothing negative to say about releasing veterans and clearing cap room, its a great plan If that helped bring Lorax back, wonderful, great signing However the plan will likely not work if it leaves us with less talented player wise going into 2017 We still have lots of money So I am also hoping all these releases end up with us signing a bigger name FA to fill one of the many starting holes we now have Especially if it's a #1 corner, and or #2-#3 WR Though not against an #1 OLB either That'll help us going into the draft jc

Every time we get a new HC and make some moves in FA and or and release players there's threads on various Bills message boards claiming there's a 'change of culture' - Only looking back there never was and likely isn't one now, or if there was, the end result was the same What there is a change of HC who is specifically a D HC, who is specifically a secondary specialist, so of course the wholesale changes are going to be in the secondary, no more or less that all the front 7 charges Rex made last year, and the O-line changes Marrone made back when Normal NFL stuff, nothing more, nothing less.... jc

I can be a harsh critic of our Bills, their seasonal record doesn't deserve much praise, and I can't disagree that the FA moves we've made so far seem tepid compared to most other teams, and 2 of the the teams in our division There has been a talent loss on the offensive side, we are down both WR#2 and WR#3, and still have not solved our RT issue, though it is balanced a bit by an upgrade at FB and K, more marginal positions There also been a larger talent loss on the defensive side, we are down an elite OLB, a #1CB, a nickel CB, and two starting S, though one was always injured, and I think we got an upgrade on the nickel CB in Hyde, and 2 free high draft picks in Ragland and Shaq For those keeping track we currently enter the draft down 5 starters from 2016, and need an upgrade at RT, with only 3 high draft picks, so no question its a year of transition and maybe going into 2017 with a little less talent on the field, but hopefully a better managed team with a better D scheme, IMO it's not screaming playoffs Though we do have to give it more time, it's only day 3 of FA, and a new regime, though I'll keep saying that with all this cap savings I'd like to see them spend it on 1-2 quality starting FA's, to say upgrade RT, or WR#3 from last year, if anything so us fans can look more forward to 2017, and see more talent on the playing field... jc

I love the singing Though I agree it is unlikely that he will replicate 2016 in a new system or have as many snaps Still I see him being an depth asset as an OLB, ST, and playing on 3rd downs Look both Zack and Lorax were brought in as depth Zack become a starter when Ragland went down Lorax ended up subbing in for Lawson However when Lawson came back snaps were taken way from both Hughes and Lorax Right now our starting LB's in the 4-3 are P Brown, Ragland, and Lorax, and one of Brown/Ragland are kicking outside I gotta think we're not finished here, that Lorax is the 4th rotational sub And are still looking at Zack or the draft for a young rotational 1st and 2nd down OLB starter jc

Again, I have no issue with a secondary makeover, as long as the releases don't negate 2018 comp picks I will point out though that the secondary wasn't the biggest issue on our D the last 2 years That was the run D So any makeover that helps address the run D is incredible but I sense we are still ways aways from fully addressing that issue jc

I dunno, the PATS already had more talent on their team than us b4 this years FA started Then they lost a couple of key players while we lost twice as many And we are releasing players, starters, and they are not Meanwhile they are trading for and signing serious impact players, mega starters And we are not They seem to be miles ahead of us Now that won't last forever but I can also say that whatever our strategy mgmt wise over the last X years, it didn't work So I'm why anyone is so certain it's working now, sure it could be, at first glance the talent gap is widening Meanwhile we are saving lost of $$$ against the cap But we do not appear to be spending any of the savings to bring in starting talent to compete jc