jahnyc

Injuries suck.. The season is relatively short, and I hate seeing good players out. All of the ACL injuries during the preseason throughout the league have been terrible. Only wish Kiko the best and good health.

Hasn't Whaley only been in charge of the last two drafts? It seems to get complicated if we try to give him credit or ding him for any drafts or specific draft picks before the last two. I cannot give Whaley all that much credit for the Watkins pick since Watkins was viewed as the top WR in the draft going into that draft and the Bills gave up a first and fourth to get him. My view is that a GM shows drafting expertise when a player far exceeds expectations based on where he was picked or the GM bypasses more highly rated players at a specific position and drafts a player with a lower rating who turns out to be the superior player.

Not sure why so many posters get defensive about our draft grades if they are poor. A lot of our drafts have been average or worse over that last 12 plus years, and many times the draft experts have been right about their assessments of our drafts and our drafting. The Bills seem to have good talent at a number of positions now. Is that primarily the result of good drafting or solid free agent pick-ups? It would be interesting to see statistics that show for each team the percentage of starters that are draft picks versus free agent acquisitions, and for a deeper dive, the quality of our drafted starters versus other teams.

I agree that character and leadership are critical. I think there are some on the board who would argue that our lack of success over the last number of years is due to in part to not taking risks on character. i do not think this is the case. Rather, our poor record in the last 12-plus years has been the result of average or worse drafting and not enough resources devoted to coaching and free agency.

Not sure why people are so dismissive of Polian and his views of our QB situation. I think most football people share his assessment and the QB position has been a disaster for the Bills since Kelly retired. I understand how difficult it is to find a quality starting QB in the NFL, but I am in the camp of drafting a QB every year until you fine a quality one.

Another guy on the NFL Network had the Bills on his "worried" list for our draft because we reached on every pick. I do think we have had more weird drafts than most teams over the last 10 years.

Good that murder is a non-starter.

Is McCoy obvious at the amount we will be paying him, his age, running style and trading Kiko? Would it have been better to draft a RB in a draft with good RB prospects or try to get Murray at a better price and without having to trade Kiko? I believed that we would try to sign another starting guard, so the signing of Incognito made some sense as a second guard acquisition even if he had not played in a couple years, assuming he would not be a distraction or hurt us in free agency. The signing of Cassel is fine, but is it much of an upgrade from Orton? He passed his physical, but will his foot be fully healed and not cause him trouble? Are you okay with EJ at QB? I agree that Clay is obvious and I hope it happens, but should we have waited to cut him until we signed a new TE, particularly after losing Smith as well? The biggest needs going in to free agency were the o-line and TE. O-line still needs to be addressed. If we can get another starting caliber guard and tackle through free agency or trade, it will all make more sense, at least in the short term (i.e., next season). I have no idea about Harvin. If Roman can figure out how to utilize him in a consistent way and Harvin has success with kick-off returns he may be a worthwhile signing. Ultimately, you cannot look at each individual signing in a vacuum. Do all of these pieces fit together and did we make best use of the cap space available? Those will be two of the most important questions going forward.

I thought we needed an end zone threat (a big WR and/or TE). If we had that, then Harvin as a luxury pick-up would be fine.

I don't think we are getting Clay at this point, but we will see.

I do not understand all of our moves so far. I get it that it is still very early and a lot can happen before training camp and the start of the season, but I have to think that free agency did not go as expected by the front office. I like the re-signing of Hughes, the extension for Williams and the signing of Felton, but not much else makes sense to me. McCoy is a significant upgrade, but he is not a north/south runner (i.e., ground and pound) and we gave up Kiko. Plus we extended McCoy for big money. Harvin seems like a luxury, will take up $6 million in cap space on a one-year deal and has had locker room issues in his past. We all know Incognito's history and he has been out of football for a couple of years. At QB, have we really upgraded? Clearly the front office intended to upgrade the o-line, but it has not happened, and it was horrible last year. At tight end, the pursuit of Clay made sense, but it does not seem like we will get him and we cut Chandler. Who will play at TE? We have not re-signed Spikes, but in Ryan's defensive scheme, do we need more linebackers with Kiko traded, Rivers cut and if Spikes does not return? Searcy signed with the Titans, will he be missed? A splashy start to free agency, but is it a solid start?

Great trade for Hughes, but Whaley has overpaid or under received in all of his other trades. I think his lack of experience shows in a number of ways and the Bills could have benefitted greatly from a football czar.

I did not think that the Bills should pay Spiller the $4.5 million that was supposedly offered, but I also do not think that McCoy is worth more than $10 million per year. Running backs are not as valued, have short careers and this seems to be a strong draft for running backs. I get it that the Bills likely will restructure McCoy's deal, but I assume it will still have significant short and long term cap ramifications, particularly if base salaries are converted to bonuses. Clearly, the Bills defense played well last year without Kiko, but if they lose Hughes and Spikes, will the defense be as strong this year? I must admit, I also was looking forward to seeing how Kiko would perform in Ryan's defense, but it appears that Ryan did not think he was a fit.

Levitre played well in Buffalo. Not sure if it was a difference in schemes or because of injuries that he has not performed well for the Titans. McCoy should be an upgrade, but at what price? His cap hit is approximately $10 million, and we traded Kiko (a former second round pick) and are not re-signing Spiller (a former first round pick). Does not seem like good overall value to me, which seems to happen a lot with the Bills. Letting quality free agents depart can be the right decision, as long as you have quality replacements for those players. This has been the problem for the Bills.

It will be depressing if Hughes leaves the Bills. The team has lost a lot of talent over recent years (Byrd, Levitre, Spiller and Hughes (likely)). With the trade of Kiko, that is a bunch of first and second round talent out the door with only McCoy in return. I get that Levitre and Byrd have been busts with their new teams, but that is due to injury, which no one can predict. Plus, the Bills have not found an adequate replacement for Levitre at guard, which has really hurt the offense. If Hughes leaves, I hope the Bills have a plan to replace him with a quality player.

A couple of things. I hope the Bills made sure that McCoy would be good with the trade and that he would be willing to restructure before making the trade. If not, the incompetence of the front office continues.

The cap hit is a killer. $10 million plus. No one is spending that kind of running backs now and the draft is strong at the position. Can't extend him because he is 27, and may only have a few good years left. I would much rather have a couple of solid free agents plus Kiko. The Bills need an experienced person running this front office. This is not smart.

Jake Locker, if he is healthy.

Glenn and Wood are the only true starting caliber players on the o-line, and both had a down year last year. CK was supposed to be a right tackle, and he was drafted in the second round for that reason. If draft talent evaluators thought he would end up being a guard (a position he had never played), CK would have been drafted much lower. I would be surprised if CK turned out to be a starter at any position on the o-line in the future. Williams should not be counted on at guard. Back injuries are tough, particularly for older players. Even when healthy, Williams should not be starting. Henderson needs to improve his play. Maybe he will, but I am not sure whether he will be the answer at right tackle. Seems to me that we need significant upgrades for the o-line. Bringing in one new starting guard will not be enough. I think the o-line will be the real test for Whaley. Finding a QB is difficult, but it would be fair to judge him on his ability to fix the o-line because there are options available in free agency and through the draft.

No, the current players on the o-line cannot be instantly upgraded through coaching alone. The o-line needs a significant infusion of talent. The jury is out on CK, Richardson and Henderson. Not sure if two of the three will be in the league after a few years.

I like Roman and I think he will be an improvement over Marrone/Hackett. I also like Rex, and would much rather have him as the head coach than Marrone. Losing Schwartz is unfortunate, but we probably will not see a decline in the overall play of the defense. Overall, I think things will be better with Rex and staff, but the key remains finding a starting caliber QB if we want to make the playoffs and have a shot at progressing through the playoffs.

Should be an advantage for the Bills/Rex in assembling a coaching staff. Roman would bring a lot of experience, and if we can keep Schwartz, both coordinators will be strong and experienced (for the first time in a long time). If Roman is the guy for OC, it will be interesting to see if we hire more offensive staff from the 49ers and who the pick will be for offensive line coach. On defense, will Rex bring in his own guys or will we keep some of the current assistants? I bet there will be no real budget constraints for hiring assistants and staff. Hopefully, this will mean that Rex will assemble a first rate staff, particularly since he can start making offers now.

Of course I am okay with the Bills thinking outside of the box, but who would be helping them with this thinking process? They did not retain an experienced football czar and that leaves them with Whaley and Brandon. Maybe Whaley can be helpful, but for once I would like the Bills to hire someone as HC who is hot and other teams want. I am not saying this would guarantee any kind of success, but given the level of experience of the people involved with this search, it may give me more confidence that they have made the right decision.

I really hope that the Bills do not make an odd choice or pick one of the candidates for head coach that no one else is seriously considering.

Not sure why this guy is any better than some of the other candidates. Not seeing it, particularly given Cinci's uneven offensive performance this year with pretty good players.