jahnyc

I am not comfortable with where we are, but let's see where we will be at the end of pre-season. I don't think it makes sense to move Teague to LT. He has not played the position in years and he is three years older. He would be only a stop-gap measure, and that does not make sense to me when you have a rookie quarterback. I could see us drafting a LG and/or LT. A drafted LG may be able to step in and start, but I doubt a drafted LT could. Signing Gandy and possibly Womack may help for depth, but not for developing a strong group of starters.

Before I get some nasty posts, I thought that I read that Williams counts $9 million in cap space. this year. I described it in an earlier post as $9 million in base. I assume some of that must be from residual bonus or roster payments.

Are you sure that the salaries of Wire, Williams and Clements are the result of typical rookie contracts. With regard to Williams, I am not aware of many high first round picks making $9 million in base. For Clements, I thought that most first round picks in the last year of the their contract typically don't make big money (because of the large up-front bonus received upon signing). I guess what I am asking, is whether the escalators in the contracts of these players is typical. I don't know the answer, but I was surprised that Wire, a back-up safety, somehow managed to trigger his escalators.

I agree, it would be the right thing to do, but I also don't want the Bills to give him away. I guess it is a non-issue since he probably would not report to the Bills.

1. If we can't get a first day pick, we should keep Henry. I understand that it is the last year of this deal and that he may hold out, but he is reasonably priced and would be an outstanding back-up for Willis next year, particularly since we can't be entirely sure about Willis' durability. 2. If some of these numbers are accurate, maybe we did not have the cap space to sign either Williams or Jennings. That would explain the lack of effort in re-signing them (I still think that TD made a decision to move forward without them a long time ago). 3. I know many of you have praised TD for not overpaying and his overall management of the cap, but I am still a bit mystified about the cap numbers for Williams, Clements, Wire and Moulds. I also think, as noted above, that we did not have the cap room for P. Williams or Jennings and that is at least part of the reason for their departure.

I don't understand why TD's supporters get so defensive about his performance to date. I am not calling for him to be fired, but his tenure has, at best, yielded mixed results. No playoffs and only one winning season (barely).

I think we all need to be objective about TD's tenure as GM, and I don't think it is unerasonable to be critical about some of his draft picks, acquisitions and coaching choices. He has had time, the resources and the control to get this team to the playoffs. To this point, his efforts have not resulted in that goal. Maybe we are on the "upswing," but after four years of not making the playoffs under TD's watch, reflection, analysis and criticism are justified. In this context, a review of TD's efforts can not be interpreted as impatience or ignorance.

I agree with you. I would also add the following three points: 1. TD had an opportunity to build the team from scratch (both in terms of players and coaches). It has been four years and we have not reached the playoffs. This is the bottom line. 2. We have made some good free agent acquisitions, but our talent from recent drafts is still not good enough. Too many marginal selections (Denney, Wire, J. Reed, Bannan etc.). 3. I am worried about some of our current contracts. For example, is the Williams contract standard for a very high first round pick or were these escalators unusual? I also find it odd that Clements, in the last year of his contract, suddenly get bumped up to $6 million per year (what were the benchmarks in his contract, were they unusual?). These contracts are really starting to hurt us.

I am not sure the economics work for a restructuring of MW's contract. I would assume that if he agrees to extend his contract it would not be for less money than he is making now. He is making $9million per year. I doubt he would restructure his contract so that over the next four or five years (or whatever number of years his contract is extended) he makes less than $9 million per year on average. In other words, he is not going to agree to an average salary of $4 or $5 million even if we offer decent bonus money up front. I just don't see that happening.

From Lenny P's Tip Sheet (ESPN) 1. Some interest in T. Henry, but no one has offered a first-day pick. 2. Bills would be interested in Kelly Holcomb if he does not sign with Browns. Am I the only one surprised at how quiet the Bills have been so far?

Interesting that the teams in the AFC East have taken some hits this offseason. The Bills have lost Jennings, Williams and will hopefully trade Henry. The Jets have lost McKenzie, Ferguson and Jordan (interesting, similar position losses to Bills, a RT, a DT and a back-up RB, all solid players). The Dolphins cut some decent players and have little room to sign free agents (plus they were terrible last year and will start Feely this year) The Pats have lost Weiss, Crennel, Patten, possibly T. Brown and Bruski.

But can we afford to pay him $9 million a year going forward? There are many on the board that seem pleased that we are not overpaying for free agents and challenging the worth of players like Williams and Jennings. I don't get that. I think you pay for what you need, even if it may be more than you should be paying. Having said that, I still can't rationalize paying Williams $9 million a year. Do Walter Jones, Ogden or Pace make that much? Is he in their class?

I have not been critical of his play, but I am not sure any player is worth $9 million a year. Even if Mike Williams is considered very solid, I don't think many right tackles are being paid more than $5 million per year. I am sure that he would take an extension/restructuring that would give him bonus cash now, but I doubt he would do so if his comp is significantly lowered over the life of the contract from what he is currently making.

There is no way that he would extend/restucture his contract and take less money. I can't believe that we are going to pay this guy $9 million dollars when he probably should be paid in the $3 million range.

I know the long-snapper from KC has apparently scheduled a visit, but I am a little surprised at the lack of activity by the Bills. I thought that releasing Bledsoe and starting Losman was only the first part of the story. The second part (at least my expectation) was that the Bills planned to improve the o-line. I think that many of us interpreted TD's statement that the offense needed to improve to mean that there were going to be additions to the o-line. So, we lose Jennings, Williams and no trade for Henry. I am starting to believe the following: 1. We are going to go with Anderson and Edwards. 2. We will not be able to find a quality LT free agent (unless we trade for Shelton-- not even sure he is "quality"). 3. There is not much interest in Henry (because of the strong draft for rbs and teams know that Henry will not come back as the back-up). It is way too early to be concerned, but I would like to think that next year's team will be an improvement over 2004.

Are we in good cap shape for 2006? I believe that the contracts of Fletcher, Milloy, Clements and Posey all expire at the end of this year. No Bledsoe as well. I would think that we will be well under the cap in 2006 with some possible free agents to re-sign. Mike Williams' contract is a disaster. We could get two good OTs for the amount we are spending on Williams. I am also surprised at Villarail's cap number. Did he perform to his contract last year? Not sure.

I hope you are right, because Ben R.'s success last year was the direct result of and made possible by a strong o-line in front of him. JP will not duplicate that kind of success without an improved o-line from last year.

I think that TD will sign a free agent guard like Mayberry from the Eagles and then draft a LT. This is probably the most cost effective (not the best) way to deal with the o-line. For DT, my guess is that TD will go with Edwards/Anderson since there are few quality free agent DTs available.

I agree. It seems like there are many changes and none of us have a sense of where things are going. Losing Jennings and Williams does seem baffling, particularly since LT and DT free agent options are limited. Throw in the release of Bledsoe and efforts to trade Henry and we have a great deal of uncertainty. The bottom line is that we need to improve this offseason. Starting Edwards at DT and/or Teague and LT will not cut it.

Anderson played very little last year and is a real mystery going into next season. Edwards started as a rookie and played poorly. He has shown some pass rushing ability but I have my doubts as to whether he can be an every down player. DT is a crucial position and losing Williams will hurt.

I think he is due a large roster bonus that the Packers can't afford. When will he be cut (and become a free agent)? When is the deadline to get under the cap? Does GB need to cut him to get under the cap or will the trigger date for his waiver be the date his roster bonus is due?

My overall point is that it is not always easy to find effective replacements for departing free agents. I think with the possibility of Jennings, Price and Williams leaving, we need to focus on upgrading rather than merely filling these positions. Recently, we have lost to free agency or cut P. Price, A. Winfield and R. Brown. I think losing Price hurt more than any of us anticipated and resulted in the Bills using a second round draft choice (Reed) and a first round pick (Evans) to replace him. Yes, he was asking for too much money and he wanted to go to Atlanta (and we did get a Atlanta's first round selection), but losing him hurt the offense nonetheless. I think we were lucky that McGee was able to step-up after Vincent got hurt. Otherwise, TD's lower cost (and older) replacement did not work out particularly well. Now we are likely to move Vincent to saftey, which is probably not cost effective in terms of what he is being paid (as a starting cb). While R. Brown was at the end of his career, TD took a significant risk going with Pucillo and then Smith at LG. It Tucker may have stabilizied the position, but it seemed kind of stupid to me to go into the season with that kind of hole at LG. In terms of our current free agents, I don't have a problem with Jennings leaving via free agency. Unfortunately, there do not appear to be decent LTs available in free agency. We need to upgrade this position. I hope the answer is not Teague, Williams or a draft choice. I hope we resign Williams and Price. Individually and as a group, Anderson, Bannon and Edwards scare me. I hope TD realizes that the defense could taka a big step backwards without Williams in the middle or an adequate replacement.

If Williams and Jennings leave via free agency, I hope TD does not think that players currently on the team's roster can replace them. I have no confidence in Edwards, Bannon and Anderson to effectively replace Williams. Similarly, I don't think that Teague or Mike Williams is the answer at LT. Obviously, these are two crucial positions. I think that the DT position is undervalued. Being able to stop the run has been the key to the overall performance of our defense. We all understand the importance of LT, particularly with a young, inexperienced qb. Sign Williams and find a LT (Shelton or Tra Thomas) in free agency.

If you have the time (and the money), consider Smith & Wollensky's on 49th and Third Avenue. Good steak and sides. Expensive. They also have a "grill" next door which is less formal.

I agree, this is a disaster. How do we fix this? I don't think it makes sense to restructure because I doubt MW will be willing to take less money in the additional years that we would want to add to the contract. In addition, with MW's past issues, why would we restructure by giving him a cash bonus now to lower the current cap hit? Makes no sense to me. Cutting him also makes little sense. We likely will need to replace J. Jennings at LT, so cutting your starting RT would make filling the holes on the o-line that much more difficult.