yungmack

I don't think any of the highly touted QBs in this year's draft are worthy of the three pick. And while I don't think Fitz is in any danger of going to the HOF, none of the QBs seem to me to be an upgrade over him. The Bills offense is okay. Not great but serviceable. The biggest problem is the defense. And that's the area I believe Nixley will focus on.

Nice point.

Not just Modrak. Pretty much every rating service had him as a first round pick.

"Back in the day," it seems most of the really big linemen were obese. One of the startling things I've noticed in the last few years is how fit so many are today. You see a 6'6", 320 pound guy and he's "cut." Yeah, there are still fat guys around (B.J. Raji for example). But it's amazing to me how many of the "big boys" are not.

Because of the throwing motion, and the style of offense at Nevada, and critical running aspect of his game, the QB he is most compared with is Tim Tebow. As in "a project." Keep your eye on the kid from TCU as a possible later round pick.

Gailey addressed this very thing in his post season wrap-up. He acknowledged that Bell has to get stronger, and that he really couldn't even work out last off season because of his injury (the legs especially couldn't be worked). And he didn't practice on Wednesday's during the season. Here's what Buddy said about Bell in Mark Gaughan's article: "Listen, there's one thing about that guy that we know for sure, he won't bail out on you, because if he was going to he would have done it this year. He played hurt the whole year. ... He'll get stronger and be healthy and be a good player." Two good things here: Gailey and Nix recognize what needs to be done. And Bell is committed to doing just that. I think the kid has a breakout season in '11.

The city of Pittsburgh is only about 10% larger than Buffalo. Its football team seems to do alright.

Mayock has him rated tied for fifth. Gabbert is his top pick right now. BUT he's made it clear these are preliminary picks. In the two or three weeks before the draft is the time to really pay attention to his comments.

Let's say that Troy Polamalu was coming out this year. Do YOU think he'd be worth a top 5 pick? Me, I'd run to the podium to draft him at #3 this year. If you watch the Steelers at all, you already know they go from an okay team when he's out to a great team when he's playing.

:lol:

http://www.breezejmu.org/sports/article_9214e788-2438-11e0-9f54-00127992bc8b.html

If you're interested in a real sub-par facility, check out the Bengals. I believe they still don't have an indoor practice building.

It seems to me that the baseline for drafting a QB is Fitz. In other words, is there someone available who is a marked improvement over Fitz? If your answer is yes, then grab that guy. If not, expend your picks elsewhere. I have watched Locker, Mallet, et al many, many times; in my opinion, with the exception of Newton, none of the guys being talked about here are currently better than Fitz, nor do I think they ever will be. As to Newton, he's intriguing. But I'm not yet sold on him as the guy you spend the #3 pick on.

For those who think this is a puff piece for the NFLPA, please note this is from FORBES, about the most pro-ownership, anti-labor magazine going. As to the GB profits, note that this is a one off, that earnings were much higher in previous years (about three times as much) and most likely will be again. The value of the franchise is different from the annual gross and net income so you can't compare one year's profit against the total value of the franchise. Well, you can. But it's loonie to do so.

This is the clearest article I've read on the CBA. Plus it has some excellent info on the $$$ floating around the league. http://blogs.forbes.com/sportsmoney/2011/01/10/numbers-show-nfls-economic-realities-for-lockout-unwarranted/?partner=dailycrux

What are your opinions on Kellen Moore?

This is not meant as a refutation of your post, but Williams did say that his success recently has a lot to do with having Stroud next to him. Which makes me wonder just how much Schobel's presence would have improved the D.

There is no one in today's game who compares. He excelled at every sport he tried, and excelled at every position on the football field. The closest persons to him would be Jim Thorpe and Jim Brown.

Oops! He's with the Saints. Don't know why I thought he was in Seattle.

You left out Joique Bell who is backing up Lynch in Seattle.

Had he played a continuous ten years with one team, without the off-the-field distractions, I truly believe he would have gone down as the greatest back in history. A couple of interesting things about Cookie: Paul Brown signed him out of high schoolthen hid him in Canada where he learned to play -- and excel at --rugby. And he was one of the AFL players who forced the league to move its pro bowl game from New Orleans because of the racial climate there. That was a huge event at the time, first because pro players never, ever went up against owners at that time. And secondly, because black players were supposed to be just grateful they were even allowed to play the pro game at all. Jack Kemp and other white players joined in the "rebellion." Meanwhile, over in the NFL, the status quo ante prevailed. The Redskins, for example, didn't even have a black player until 1968. Guys like Cookie made the AFL cool, great, and by the time of the merger, the better league. I'd like to imagine that when he died, a chorus went up in The Afterworld of "Lookie, lookie, here comes Cookie."

The LA Times today reported that the first 3 head coach interviews John Elway has planned are with Mike Mullarkey, Perry Fewell and Eric Studesville. Oh, and Wade Phillips just signed on as D coordinator in Houston. A very Buffalo day over all.

Not 6th rounders, but Kurt Warner and Tony Romo were unsigned FAs.

You're not nuts, but you'll be treated that way by a certain segment around here (many of whom are nuts). The Bills have so many holes to fix that getting rid of adequate players (Poz and Whitner in your example)is not likely unless, as in the case of Whitner, the price to keep them is too high as this would simply increase the number of holes to fill. I think this is exactly what Nixley did this year. They kept players they estimated were "good enough" and -- except for the puzzling Spiller pick -- their draft choices and free agent signings showed where they believed the Bills were weakest (Even the Spiller pick could have been based on their view of a weakness if they didn't really believe in either Lynch or Jackson going into the season). The one area in which they clearly succeeded was WR. Injuries skewed the impact of the draft and FA signings so it's unclear if, say, Wang, Urbik, Davis or Edwards would have made a big difference in the record. Going into next season, if Batten turns out to be anywhere near the hype, if Merriman regains form, if the rest of the nicked and injured guys are back, then the LB corps will be better, maybe a lot better. Another big IF: Shawne Nelson. If he gets his migraines under control, he has the talent to be very good, which would lessen the need to spend time and money on yet another TE. Bottom line, you don't get rid of guys, no matter how inadequate we think they are, unless you can replace them with someone better.

Maybin's exit seems to be building up a head esteem.