wilcoam

Adam, I agree with you 100% on the 2018 comp picks but where we differ if that I'd like to see some of the cap savings being created spent on a high profile FA this year because right now I see a significant amount of talent leaving and very little arriving in return, Demarco excepted jc

I'll say it again What prey tell is the point of releasing all these veterans to save cap room if they never spend it on a player who needs cap room to sign? Absolutely go and get Hightower or something similar or a top NFL FA Excite us....damn it...or are the Pegs pulling a RWS here... jc

I also don't understand some fans The one's that just accept every move our team makes is to be applauded Its hard to understand these 17 years of incredible success with all this great decision-making Just saying... jc

First off I'm sorry to see Graham go, he was not only our best player in the secondary last year But he liked playing in Buffalo and rarely got hurt IMO he was a fan favourite, and while not a natural safety was still considered to be among the top 32 safeties in the NFL However in terms of salary and cap its a good business move to release him If you use the savings to bring in other quality players, especially starters I'm just not sure this has been achieved Love the FB Demarco signing, he's a clear upgrade over Felton And I like the upgrade at K I'm just less certain about the 2 safety signings I don't see the 'upgrade' First off you have to a little blind not to notice the two starting safeties playing ahead of Hyde in GB Burnett and Clinton-Dix are considered top 15- 20 safeties in the NFL Talent wise ahead of Graham and well ahead of Hyde who was not a starter in GB So just saying those folks who claim Graham's play was declining he is being replaced by someone younger but considered nowhere near as good In fact Hyde mostly played CB - Nickel slot in GB, not S Where if that where he ends up with us is a clear upgrade to NRC but the jury is out if he is an NFL starting safety Ditto Poyer, I think he is getting 1M on a one year deal, he's an upgrade in depth, not starters That's not saying depth can't start when needed and that one or both of these guys can't pull a Lorax/Zack They can, but its not a given In my mind, what we are seeing is a complete revamping of our secondary, good or bad If I think Hyde will play more 5th on nickel (which we do not know yet) Hoyer will be the 3rd S That means we are still looking for 3/4 starters for 2017 So we are just getting started jc

Great, because the pundits say this is one heck of a draft for going out and potentially finding some decent 4 years starters at C/S, not only at #10 with the likes of Adams, Hooker, Lattimore, and Humphries potentially on the board, but maybe trading back and getting an extra 2nd round pick, and picking up 2nd round secondary talent in the 3rd and 4th rounds jc

I don't see our Bills spending alot of $$$ in FA, and so far no top player has been signed, so I love the idea of using these cap savings to go out and get a player to upgrade our offensive potential, the FB signing was a nice catch, though to a lower level position, I'd love to see a major upgrade at TE #2, though one would think with Leary and Gragg already on the roster RT and or WR#2 or WR#3 would be a higher priority, lol jc

I like DW and I think overall he is trying his hardest to build a winning team in Buffalo However I'd love to ask Chris Brown a point blank question How much credit should a young GM get for continuing 7-9 consecutive win seasons where the team never makes the playoffs? I guess if you're criteria is we competed and we were never a bottom feeder team DW deserves more credit than he is getting However if your criteria is making the playoffs then unfort DW has failed miserably If your criteria is going out and getting talent I see mixed results Some nice hints on FA's especially last year but its been a while since he's gone out and brought an exciting top player here I guess I would like to know Brown's expectations and or criteria jc

Like Zack Brown and or Lorax, in the right scheme and or formation and with the right coaching, Hyde or anyone can bloom However there's no guarantee this will occur just because a message board wills it so with blind enthusiasm, lol Nevertheless I like the FA signing as an upgrade replacement for NRC and as the nickel corner However that's not a full time starting player We will still need a defecto starting safety, alongside Graham, with a better ceiling than Hyde has shown to date I don't think Porter is that either though again a fine depth backup And we still need a starting corner, and at minumum a starting OLB, if you think P Brown is saveable, if not then two of em In otherwords, yes our starting secondary does look worse, for now, though our depth backup is greatly improved We still have a ways to go in the back 7 jc

So am I UDFA, but scheme, formations, and coaching aside, you still need a boatload of talented players, of which alot just walked out the door, with very little coming back in return, though if played right, and we get 2018 comp picks, I won't complain about that Nor am I going on ad infinitum about losing Gilmore and or Woods, both signings are bad deals, so while I wish we would have at least given Woods a reasonable offer during the season, I am fully supportive of not matching those FA offers What I will complain about is not taking the savings we just got from TT, and or the players we released, and bringing in additional talent to make up for what we lost in FA, otherwise what's the point of making those cost saving moves? Remember how excited this fanbase was when we went out and signed Clay, or traded for Shady, or signed Mario, you can look back and criticize those moves, it did not result in winning seasons, but at least as fans we could be more excited about the upcoming season, plus the luxury of being able to watch some higher skilled players play for us on Sunday's, its not a crime to wish our team would go out and get a top 50 FA this off season, and or try to upgrade the talent with a bonafide starter at any given position, other teams do it, why can't we? JC

Nobody said Hyde sucked, and nobody said it wasn't a decent signing, it absolutely fills a nice hole created by having let NRC go I agree as a nickle CB Hyde should be a fine addition, an upgrade to NRC and or what we had in Rambo But as our starting safety, not so much, its likely to remain a position of liability So as the last poster stated, it should not stop our Bills from spending a high draft pick on a young safety with a much higher ceiling That is if you think in this defense a higher level safety is required, or in the pass happy NFL, higher level safeties are needed I do jc

I want to know why Hyde is a "depth player" when he was a playmaker and starter for another NFL team considered better then us. Hyde was NOT a starting safety in GB, he was the 3rd backup safety, he only started games when Clinton-Dix, and the other guy were injured He also wasn't a starting corner, only forced to do so, again with injuries ​He was mostly a 'starting' nickel corner, again, first one off the bench, like HRC ​In fact most folks say GB's corner situation was among the worst in the NFL last year That's not saying much for Hyde's starting ability to date as a primary C or S Though the local GB beat writers thought he was an excellent first of the bench backup versatile type player The way fans here loved HRC and or Rambo off the bench In his 4 short years in the NFL Hyde has not evolved he way Searcy has, let alone anything approaching Graham or Aaron Unless he is a late bloomer jc

I have alot of optimism since we fired Rex, I love the HC hire, and I am more than willing to give him, and our team, including DW, time, and yes it's very early on in the start of a new NFL off season At the same time you have to be blind not to notice that we lost alot of talent the past 2 days, and other than signing a top tier FB, and making an upgrade at K, as a fan, there's really not much to get excited about player wise, yes retaining TT is great, but what about actually adding talent, and renegotiating his contract to free up cap space is even better, what about using those available funds to sign a top 50 FA even if its one of our own? Just saying.... jc

I disagree Logic As I noted originally I said Hyde was a solid signing as a replacement for NRC, even an upgrade, based on his versatility The article you posted is an opinion from GB that backs that up Though folks here keep insisting over and over again that he's not a corner, lol, and that he's a starter, double lol Even though the article you posted flat out states he played mostly corner for the Packers last year (HA!) Even though the article you posted flat out states that he's a key versatile first one off the bench, IE, not a starter (YUP!) My opinion remains that he's just not a quality NFL starting safety, and the article you posted concurs Or to date Hyde has not shown any potential for being as such Could he prove otherwise, sure, happens all the time, but its not a given Fans just repeating it over and over again on a blog website will not make it any more so So right now he's not an upgrade on a healthy Graham or Williams, he's just a body Though agreed he isn't injury prone, and can return kicks, both of which are excellant assets in a backup player And yes, he is certainly head and shoulders above last years depth safeties, same as Nickel CB, that's a plus Agreed, in a league where you play nickel 55-60% of the time, he's your 5th secondary guy, almost a starter And as your article states, and I agree, he excels as the 5th guy, he's a great 5th guy signing He just doesn't solve the need for a real high ceiling starting safety Like GB we should really be looking at using our first or second round pick this April at that position With Aaron released and Graham getting older it's still a huge need jc

Look it's only day one of FA, but the reality is our Bills lost alot of talent on our D 2/3rd of our linebackers, and 3/5th of our secondary Fine we get Reggie Ragland back this year so its like a free 2nd round draft pick Sure, we got some solid depth bodies in Hyde and Porter but none were top FA's nor highly rated starting players I'm not even going to talk about the loss of talent on offense Yes, I love the TT cap renegotiation But its useless if our Bills are using the savings to only sign marginal players Sign a top Corner, or LB, and or bring back Zach, and I'll get more excited You know like fans in other cities who see some top tier talent being added to their roster not just taken away jc

I disagree, I'm not saying we're bottom feeders, but after one day of FA, the reality is we lost alot more talent than we gained I see some pro's, we clearly upgraded at starting/backup FB, and K And I'm happy we worked things out with TT But retaining him initself is not a net plus towards a better offense nor overall record in 2017 Sure, I like the cap savings but only if our team uses it to sign top talent which so far we have not We still lost our #2WR and #3 WR's We still lost 3/5's of our starting secondary We still lost 2/3rd's of our starting linebackers And we only have so many draft picks of which to replace em Yes, we got some bodies to play safety and a backup guard But not top 100 FA's or true blue NFL starters Could one turn out to be like Zach or Lorax, of course, but you're drinking koolaid if you automatically claim it will be so I would still assert drafting a high level young safety is a need going into this draft And Corner/WR has become a necessity And I am concerned these fringe FA signings will nullify 2018 comp picks Ok, its only day one, lots more to come in the off season Maybe we resign Zach next week, or a #3 WR, or a nickel corner But let's be honest and say fans in other NFL cities have lots more to be excited about... jc

Nope, no gospel, but I am also not drinking koolaid and projecting him to be a key starter for the Buffalo Bills either And or doing backflips cos our team signed the 7th best safety FA this off season And then comparing him to project like former Bills FA signings Unlike say the Titans, Ravens, & Jaguars fans who can honestly say their teams signed better potential FA safeties Like the Packers fans I hope we use one our first two draft picks on a future starting safety with a potential higher ceiling jc

They did Ditto Zach Brown And did anyone do cartwheels the we signed them? Nope, because they were all backups We also didn't spend anywhere near 6M a season when we acquired them That's a fact!!!!!!! Hey maybe the guy, like all the above works out here, comes of age Or maybe he plays like a decent backup But is should be noted a perennial playoff team like the Green Bay packers didn't think he was good enough to start for them Nor were they willing to give him that money jc

Fine, he will play safety Here's an article from Green Bay talking about the safety situation there in 2016 http://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2016/5/20/11718762/packers-2016-roster-preview-young-safety-group-leadership For those who are lazy he is considered a nice depth backup who returns kicks BUT NOT A STARTER So yeah he equates to Aaron Williams if Aaron would have been the backup He wasn't I really hope we emulate Green Bay and look to use high draft picks on a young safeties to START I'm the kind of fan who want better players here jc

I'm not mad about losing Gilmore or Williams, we made offer to Gilmore, he simply went where the money was, and Aaron, loved his play, but we can;t keep paying him 6M at this point However I am very saddened by not having even made an offer to Woods, because he not only gave it his all the last 4 years for us, he wanted to remain a Bill, and with so many players who play here, whom do not want to be here, and won;t even take our FA offers, here was a young 24 yr old, a high draft pick, who wanted to be a Bill for 8-9 years, I;m sad our folks didn't at least make him an offer So I can relate to those who want to vent, plus of all the FA's signings today, we didn;t get a single player anywhere near the talent of the 3, plus Zack, that we lost today/yesterday, plus I sure hope we didn;t screw ourselves out of a 3rd round and or 4th round 2018 com pick, which will be the silver lining of having lost Gilmore, Woods, and or Zack jc

I didn;t read all 11 pages in this thread but when was the last time, in the NFL, any team traded a player and give the other team a hight draft pick, first time in recent history I can recall this, very very very unusual to say the least I mean think about it, would you trade Dareus and then include a 2nd round draft pick, it's, well, CRAZY.... jc

Chuckle all you want, a PFF grade can be imperfect, however it's at least a grade that can be more accurate than your average fan's opinion because it does not take in account age, if you like him, or not, size of contract, and or what round they were drafted in, the penalty they took last week, etc Ducasse's PFF rating, in the high 50's, suggest he is a starting NFL Guard, but a every low level one at that, and if the grade is anything close to his skill level, looks like he is a depth guard signing, with maybe the ability to compete for the RT starting job, keeping in mind he's not much of an upgrade over Mills, and anyone else who played it the last couple of years So not a FA signing to get overly excited about, unless he pulls a Zach Brown/Lorax, except of course now he's a Buffalo Bill, so folks will say he's better than he really is, until they see him play anyway.... jc

Unlike most fans here I am not con or pro Brandon He likely does a decent marketing and sales job for our Bills However he was a real lousy GM So this reminds of last years Rex Ryan proclamation of having won the off season Why again are we congradulating Brandon Did he recently achieve anything noteworthy sales or marketing? Did I miss something... jc

Fair enough, yes, so he lost his job, to Clinton Dix and Burnett So the fan base is uber excited about signing the Packers backup safety? Again a solid NFL starting player with nice versatility A nice upgrade on Robey-Coleman fer sure However he does in any way replace either the talent of Graham, Williams, or Gilmore, and is a low level starter Unless he turns into the 3rd coming of Lorax or Zach Brown Still doesn't negate doing exactly what the Packers did, replacing him with a young high draft pick this year jc

Hyde was rated by PFF the 53rd best CB in the NFL last year Which equates to being a serviceable left starting #2 CB in the NFL That's the good news The bad news it cost us over 6M a year with a multiple year contract But he isnt a replacement for Gilmore Or any kind of upgrade over any other secondary player So not sure why everyone is 'excited' about this Unless our New HC knows something about this player we don't Let's just hope it doesn't negate a 3rd round comp pick next year in losing Gilmore And we are looking to draft a real #1 CB in the 2017 draft which is full of potential stud's jc

His PFF rating in 2016, though only through 6 games, suggest he would be a big drop-off from either Williams or Graham So at the moment I view him right now as a depth signing Hope we are drafting a starter and not losing Graham Who was our best rated guy in the secondary in 2016 despite his age jc