Bob in STL

1. To many holes, this thing will take time, but we will turn it around. 2. Not gonna make a splash in free agency, gonna build through the draft and keep our own players. 3. The fans are great and deserve better ... I know we have to show you the baby. yada yada yada

Agree. Sounds about right but they missed a few points. 1. Bell - good backup LT indeed. Now that he is healthy maybe he gets better? If not expect a long season. 2. Levitre - he is not a power blocker but he is a very good player. 3. Wood - unproven at center but looks like a keeper. 4. Urbik - Urbik lovers amaze me as he has never really played. Huge question mark in my mind. 5. Wrotto or Pears? Either way it is not much but I hope and pray that Pears is a player because we already know that Wrotto is not. Depth - Hangartner (C/G), Rheinhart (G), Howard (G/T), Wang and Hairston (T) --- scary, especially at OT. Buddy Nix amazes me to essentially sit pat with last years line. Let the games begin.

Problem is some of the second and third stringers on our team could end up starters or play significant amnounts of time. Especially on defense were we will rotate the front 7 a lot. I would hate to see top prospects get hurt (See Easley last year).

I think our starters will struggle on O because it is the first game, we are young, and we had no mini camps. It is harder to get the O going than it is the D. Starters will hardly play. The first preseason game --- time to play at game speed against another team with full contact. This game gets the blodd flowing but both teamns will play a simple gameplan and Chan will look at last years backups and the new kids for a long time.

I understand the plan and all that. 3-4 years of "building through the draft" means we have to draft good players. We shall see.

Far below average. Hairston will only play if we have injuries. He is a project with good upside but that is all he is right now. Bell is average when healthy and below average at run blocking. Pears might be better than the past few starters at RT but not saying much there. Injuries will kill us. Wrotto, Hairston and Wang are the backups and that is not good at all. If our two starters miss a lot of time we are in big trouble. Not much blocking help from TE and RB either. Scott Chandler and Fred Jackson can block. Nelson and Spiller cannot. Would love to see us pick up a veteran OT for better depth.

The second round picks are no better. Well .... maybe McKelvin, Wood, Spliller, and Dareus will develop into star players? 2001-Richard Seymour - Pro Bowler 2002-Daniel Graham - Decent player 2003-Ty Warren - Very Good Player 2004-Vincent Wilfork - Pro Bowler 2004-Benjamin Watson - Decent player 2005-Logan Mankins - Pro Bowler 2006-Laurence Maroney - Good Player 2007-Brandon Meriweather - ? 2008-Jerod Mayo - Looks like a stud 2009-no pick 2010-Devin McCourty -- TBD 2011-Nate Solder --- TBD I would say they win in a landslide. Notice that 5 lineman are picked out of 10 players and they are their best picks too (along with Mayo at LB)

Wow. I commend the optimism but some reality please. This team has been rebuilding for how long? A fourth round pick is not much for one of our better players. I think a likely scenario is that Evans has a great season for Baltimore and our 4th round pick becomes more like a 5th. Then we find out our WR talent is less than we thought so we draft a WR in the first two rounds as we continue to fill the same holes over and over again. Meanwhile, we will pick up more "future starting tackles" from other teams practice squads. Some people think this is dumping a salary but we are so far under the cap why bother? I truly think the Bills want to see what the young kids can do at WR. So now Easly needs to play and Johnson and Nelson need to continue to improve. Buster whats-his-face is another wild card in the mix. I would have loved to acquire a player for Lee Evans, especially a quality OT that can swing from right to left. Now that would have been a good move. Teams that draft well and develop OT's apparently don't like to give them up. Hear that Buddy?

When my kids were young I prefered that they did not watch South Park and tried to keep it off. Not easy to control what the kids take in these days.

Great report Fitzbeardy. Much appreciated.

We should improve for the reasons you state. We need to start winning games in our division. It will be hard to place any higher than 3rd in our division unless the Jets have a melt down.

Well he won't "bolster" anything with another Cornell Green type signing. I am not sure there is anything out there thats better than the players we have. At least we can say Wang and Hairston are developmental. I hope your right.

Chan has indeed alluded to work ethic issues with Maybin. Howe many times has he said "it is up to him" and "he has the talent". What has Maybin done to bulk up and play the run? I dont' see the desire or the attitude at all. Childish celebrations for making 4th quarter sacks against 5th string players in preseason games. That is all I have seen of Maybin. OK, he also does the occcasional piling on after a tackle, let not forget that either.

You guys are slipping. I was scrolling down looking for "pay-off not donation".

Me too. Once again I feel that way too little was done to adddress the skill level of the tackles. They drafted another OT prospect in the 5th round. The well intended atttempt to acquire Clabo was unsuccessful. Bell and Pears do not strike fear into anybody. Worse ... what if they get hurt?

I still remember his goodbye Buffalo tweet.

Wow, our three biggest questions marks are all going to be great. Thanks Buddy. You rock.

His college career was about 10 games. Looking at the contract he scored he already won the lottery, that is part of the problem.

Poor rationalization. Hindsight being 20-20, trading up for MaCargo was a waste of two picks. No other way to look at it. I totally agree with the last part though. Pick the best players on the board, do not reach by position.

LOL. WOW! You actually think we can sign players by fans tweeting to them to come here? Too funny. Quick, lets all tweet to Payton Manning next. Ha Ha!

? Fletcher and Spikes never played with Biscuit, or Talley or Paup. Biscuit played with Paup for 1 year. I remember Tracy, Jacobs and Stratton in the 60's. Lets not forget Skoupan and Villapiano, and Isiah Robertson in the 70's. What about Conlon, Carleton Baily and Ray Bently and Marvcus Patton? Of course there is also Covington, Maddox and Holocek? I cannot recall when we had worse linebackers than now, maybe in the early to mid 70's ... and that is a maybe.

Clabo - We went after Clabo which was the right thing to do. He was by far the best player to add at RT a position of need. Clabo stayed put. Some people see that as a problem with Buffalo but I think it says more about the great program Atlanta has going on right now. I do not know what we offered Clabo but I am happy we did not overpay for a RT. Anyone notice that no other teams were bidding for him? The rest of the RTs are a big drop, including Gaither. Not sure the rest of the RTs are any better than Pears. I would prefer to sign a vet but after Langston Walker and Cornell Green maybe holding on to the cap space is a better plan? Seems like the Bills are content to see what Pears can do and to develop Wang and Hairston. 2. Poz - He took the money and ran. I liked him ok and wanted to keep him but not for $8M. No way. 3. Burnett - Would have been a good replacement for Poz. Don't know why we did not try? Maybe we did? 4. TE - Maybe we do not have any big plans for a TE in this offense? This is oen area that amazes me. Again, no one else is knocking the door down for these TEs. 5. Moats - Sounds like they are giving him first opportunity to get in the field more, even if it is at ILB. You people that think playing him inside is hurting his development crack me up. He is still unproven on the outside as well. He will most likely play both positions in the preseason and if he makes plays he will be on the field in some capacity. I am sure Moats undserstands this is an opportunity, not a punishment. 6. Punt Returner - Brad Smith is much more than a punt returner. Good signing here.

It is much clearer now ... we are using the Pittsburgh Pirate model, not the Pittsburgh Steeler model. The Pirates are having their first winning season in 18 years!! I feel better now that you provided that common sense.

I guess beating the offer might be a novel approach? Seriously though, is Poz worth this kind of dough? Nix is saying they are not going to be big player in free agency. What happens when the Bills do not meet the minimum salary threshold?

Great move Buddy ... what did you say "we draft'um, develop'um and then sign'um." ???? Not a huge fan of Poz and he is not a natural 3-4 ILB but he still is the best LB on the team, now gone. I sure hope they pick up a decent vet from somewhere. I see a gapping hole at ILB.