Inigo Montoya

I listened to a little bio and interview with Vander Eshe on NFL Radio a couple weeks ago and he sounds like a McDermott kind of guy. He came from a small school in a rural area and he actually played 8 on 8 football when he was in high school, so there was a huge jump moving to 11 on 11 when he went to college but he apparently adapted quickly. It sounds like he has a motor and a hell of a work ethic, and according to the draftniks talking about him during the radio show, he probably has the highest ceiling of any of the LBs in this draft because he is still learning the nuances of the position. I guess he packed on 20 lbs of muscle before the combine and he still really moved well.

So far I think Beane and McDermott have been spot on evaluating talent. After we traded away our secondary last year I expected us to get torched every week, but they brought in less expensive guys though the draft and in free agency who could ball and our secondary ended up being a strength. (I know Beane wasn't there for the draft) If we don't spend the lion's share of our picks on a QB, I hope McDermott finds his Luke Keuchly LB in this draft. There are several good prospects at LB but I won't pretend to know enough about each of them to say who they should grab. They seem to like multi-year starters, team captains, high motor, high football IQ kind of guys. Solid team players. There's a good chance we get 4 or 5 above average starters on cheap rookie contracts for this depleted roster out of this year's draft. That would be a fantastic foundation to build on. Maybe McCarron is a diamond in the rough or we grab our guy at 12, if not, hopefully the QB gods will smile on us next year...

I have enjoyed the many threads on who the best QB is on this message board over the last several weeks. I don't follow the college game closely and I really don't know much about these QBs except for what I have read on this board. Here is a quick synopsis of what I have learned about the QBs in this year's draft on this message board; 1. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is the very best one for the Bills to draft 2. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is a terrible fit for the Bills and is a guaranteed bust 3. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks, whichever is selected by the Bills, will result in some posters never watching the Buffalo Bills again 4. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is worth trading what ever draft picks are needed in order to move up and draft them 5. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks has serious flaws and we should not waste draft picks to trade up for them, but should draft other positions instead With this knowledge in hand, I confess the only thing that I'm certain of is that I'm glad I'm not McBeane.... Thanks for the write up Gunner, it helps.

I have enjoyed the many threads on who the best QB is on this message board over the last several weeks. I don't follow the college game closely and I really don't know much about these QBs except for what I have read on this board. Here is a quick synopsis of what I have learned about the QBs in this year's draft on this message board; 1. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is the very best one for the Bills to draft 2. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is a terrible fit for the Bills and is a guaranteed bust 3. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks, whichever is selected by the Bills, will result in some posters never watching the Buffalo Bills again 4. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks is worth trading what ever draft picks are needed in order to move up and draft them 5. Each of the top 6 quarterbacks has serious flaws and we should not waste draft picks to trade up for them, but should draft other positions instead With this knowledge in hand, I confess the only thing that I'm certain of is that I'm glad I'm not McBeane....

I saw a report on NFL Network tonight citing sources saying that several teams are really frustrated that Jackson doesn't have an agent because they are having a difficult time getting in touch with the Jackson "camp" to set up interviews and visits. They say it is really impeding their ability to evaluate him before the draft. For a player with some legitimate issues that teams would like to assess, this might really end up costing him some coin. If a team has similar grades on Rudolph and Jackson, and they have been able to get Rudolph into the building and spend a lot of time with him and see what he's like but have not had a chance to sit down with Jackson, I would guess they would feel more comfortable drafting Rudolph all other things being equal. Agents do more than just negotiate the contract, they facilitate the entire drafting process. Any money he saves in not having an agent would likely be eaten up by falling a few spots in the draft.

Be nice to see Gronk out of Foxborough. It's undeniable that the Pats/Belichick/Brady Era is finally drawing to a close. Our long national nightmare is almost over. The sooner it happens the better. There is no way Gronk comes to Buffalo, I don't think signing high priced free agents in the twilight of their career seems to be McBeane's style, and more practically, the Bills are in Cap Hell and are dead broke. McBeane couldn't afford a decent breakfast right now, let alone a high ticket free agent signing.

I still haven't made eye contact.....

I hope the OP keeps posting because I like looking at his avatar. Don't judge me...

As hard as this must be for him, I'm sure it pales when compared to what he went through with his son, Hunter. As a dad I can't imagine anything that could be worse than losing a child. Jim and his family have been through so much. I hope they get a Mulligan on this one. They've definitely earned it.

We’ve got your back, Jim. The Bill’s Mafia is praying for you.

As long as we’re bellyaching about non-sensical rules, I’ve never understood why a running back can stiff arm a defender in the face mask and damn near knock his block off and that’s ok, but if a defender’s fingertips graze the RB’s face mask during the tackle, that’s 15 yards.... Inconceivable!

He didn't have anything new to add, mostly just GM Speak. Says we're not a Super Bowl contender yet, but we're heading in the right direction. Fielded the obligatory "are you going to be wheeling and dealing on draft day" question, and he said if they think there is an opportunity during the draft to move up and make the Bills better he'll do it. Blah, blah, blah... I was hoping Beane was going to bust out a picture of the Bill's Draft Board or allude to some naked pictures he has of Gettleman that he's going to use for blackmail purposes, but no such luck.... It's going to be a long four weeks between now and the draft.

FYI

I will parry your questions about racial and religious attitudes as deftly as my nom de plume Inigo Montoya swats aside the rapier thrusts of the Six Fingered Man, Count Rugen, as those questions can blow up a message board.... As to your other points, I agree that trading up to #2 will be too expensive, and I hope they keep their powder dry and pounce on any of the top QBs who might drop past the #3 spot. I've become a Josh Allen guy.

That defense was already stout, they've improved the secondary in free agency, now this. Hope I can draft the Ram's defense in my fantasy football league this year. I usually wait until the last two rounds to grab my "D". Might have to rethink that strategy this year...

If OBD really wants franchise QB money and won’t back down, I don’t think he is going to make it onto the field this year. This is Gettleman’s first year on the job. He might not want to set that kind of hold out to get paid precedent. After that injury I think OBD needs to prove he’s back to 100% and the only place he can do that is on the field. I don’t see the Giants giving him a multi-year $100mm contact before they see him back on the field. That would be a tough pill to swallow for the Giants.

That is certainly his right. I hope the Giants have the stones to say, “That’s fine with us, just sit for a year without pay. It was nice knowing you. Don’t let the door hit your a** on the way out.” I think that given an entire year away from football he would not be able to stay out of trouble. I have lost all patience with pampered, me first, infantile athletes. ODB is one of the worst. There is no doubting that he is a special talent, but I believe that he is mentally unstable and it’s only a matter of time before he does something so stupid that it costs him his career. I know how bleak our WR position is right now, but I can say with absolute sincerity that I’m glad he’s not a Buffalo Bill.

If you've never been to AT&T Stadium (Cowboy's Stadium) you need to go. It is spectacular. If you contrast that with New Era Field its like comparing an MRE to a four course meal at a great restaurant. Playing in a dome versus the elements in Buffalo might help pad your stats a bit. Next contract might have a bit more money. Quarterback play... Dak Prescott vs ??? No state income taxes in Texas vs New York with some of the highest taxes in the country. Two prime time games a year for Dallas versus a clunker Thursday night game for the Bills. If I had no ties to Buffalo, I'd go to Dallas too....

I appreciate everything he did in Buffalo and the way he represented our town with class. I think he played hard and handled his benching and contract situation with dignity and professionalism. He didn't do anything to foster a locker room schism when all this was going on which could have hurt the team and possibly cost us our playoff appearance. There were times when he was throwing to a roster of wide receivers that was arguably the worst group in the league. I'll always be a fan of TT but it was time to move on for both sides. I wish him nothing but the best in the future, except when he plays our Bills....

Hey Matter, I am all for them drafting a QB in this draft, I just hope they don't sell the farm to move up into the top 5 of the draft. I think the Jet's trade up has made it too expensive to do so. There is a chance one of the "elite" guys drops, but even if they don't I would be happy to grab Rudolph with a later pick. Use those other picks to put players around who ever the QB is so they have a fair chance to have success. I would have no problem going into camp with McCarron, Rudolph, and Peterman competing for the starting job.

Just watched the video and it looks like he is on synthetic marijuana, aka, spice, K2, pot pourri, black mamba. I've worked for 21 years in the busiest ER in my state and I have watched everything change from crack cocaine initially, to meth, to the synthetics like this spice garbage, and now heroin. We never see the "good" experiences with spice, we always get the raving lunatic brought in with the police fighting everyone, out of their minds. I'm not sure how often you get one of these bad experiences with spice. When they are on this stuff it's almost like the are on PCP, they are super strong and seem to feel no pain. It takes everyone piling on them to stop them. It's like a damn rugby scrum. They are psychotic, they can't be reasoned with. All you can do is subdue them and load them up with Geodon or Haldol and wait for them to crash. We don't have a medical test to detect spice in our hospital and I don't know if one exists. My guess is that it is not a tested drug in the NFL CBA. I think some players may see spice as an alternative to marijuana and they don't have to worry about failing a drug test. Unfortunately, every now and then you can have one of these bad experiences. I wish Zay all the best. We all make mistakes. I hope he is physically OK, that was an awful lot of blood coming out of somewhere. I'm sure right now he is no longer under the influence and feels humiliated and embarrassed and is worried that he may have just thrown everything away with one bad decision. I believe in second chances, I hope he gets one.

I was young once too. **** happens. : )

One of the beat writers for the Jets was on NFL Radio Saturday and said Stanford was a solid LB that was stuck primarily on special teams due to team “politics”. He didn’t elaborate on what those politics were. He said that the Stanford signing was going to be a coup for the Bills.

They absolutely had to do something to shore up the run defense this year. You just can not win if you can't stop the run. I don't know if they overpaid or not, I'm not an expert on NFL contracts. I'm satisfied that McBeane knows Star and they see him making a big difference in our defense. In my mind McBeane has accumulated some benefit of the doubt so far. Like everything else that happens before they lace them up and play for keeps, we'll all just have to wait and see how things play out. I'm hopeful.

How does something that specific and detailed get leaked? I could see a leak that the Bills are in talks to trade up and are willing to part with some serious draft capital including the two 1st rounders and some additional picks to do it, but to list the specific picks in every round? If I were the Bills I would be a bit pissed off if this report is accurate, you know the Bills aren't leaking this info. If this report is true, the leak must be coming from the Giant's side. I'm sure the Bills would expect the professional courtesy of keeping their negotiations with the Giants on the low down. Leaking details of the negotiations to the media is just not kosher. We'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.