Ramius

Russ tells the truth: "OMG why is Russ tipping his hand to everyone in the league? Doesn't he know a thing about subterfuge!" Russ doesn't tell the exact truth: "OMG Russ is a huge liar! He has no credibility around the league!"

I'm sure sooner or later someone will B word that this is an "in-house" promotion, and that the Bills are afraid to look outside the organization for promotions.

This is wrong. Statistically speaking, Stevie is a #1. If we go by your definitions, there's only about 5-8 "true #1 WRs" in the league.

Well, the front office is the same, if you conveniently ignore that we have new hires at GM, Director of College Scouting, Director of Pro Personnel, and a revamped scouting department. But other than all of those differences and changes, then yes, the front office is basically the same. You really will gripe and complain about everything. You got what you wanted with Buddy gone, and yet you still continue to complain.

All along i've believed and have been saying that his footwork, not his accuracy as a passer, is the biggest culprit when he makes bad passes or sails the ball. And what do you know, they're already focusing on correcting his footwork problems.

Graham is a lock for the roster. No way the team cuts a 3rd rounder going into his second season, especially when they've been raving about him the past month. Goodwin was drafted to add speed to the roster, not to replace graham. You can have multiple small world-class speed WRs. Its not a "one or the other" situation. If they didn;t like Graham, he would have been cut with Nelson and Jones.The fact that the coaching staff gutted the entire WR corps and kept Graham and Stevie as the only 2 WRs with experiences tells you that they think highly of him.

1. Keep your GM who should have never been extended and should have been canned with the coach. 2. Announce raising of ticket prices on the same day as #1. 3. Hire the interim coach as your full time coach, despite the fact he did very little (from my point of view) to change the culture or inspire the team down the stretch. They looked just as listless as ever under him. 4. Steal underpants 5. ??? 6. Win Stanley Cup

Signed or not, the franchise tag counts against the salary cap.

Stevie, Woods, Goodwin, and Graham are locks to make the team. So if we're only keeping 6 WRs, that leaves 2 spots for Brad Smith, Easley, Rogers, and the rest of the camp bodies.

Your argument, and CJs talent on the field, are EXACTLY why it is most beneficial to draft for BPA over need, especially high in the draft.

EJ was down here in Tallahassee yesterday meeting with his agents, according to my friend who works at the hotel where they had the meeting. He had no idea what for.

I'm only quoting this little hissy fit, but i'll address all of your tantrums here. The reason Alabama has won 3 championships in 4 years is due to Nick Saban. The guy is one of the all-time best college coaches out there. Yes he gets good talent, but he develops players better than anyone, and puts them in the best position to succeed. Plenty of teams get so-called "top recruiting classes" that end up going nowhere. In college you need to develop talent, not simply recruit it. Tennessee was in or near the top 10 in recruiting classes from 2009-2011, and where'd that get them? Even FSU itself, in the waning years of Bobby Bowden, was still in the top 10 in recruiting rankings, but because no talent got developed, we went nowhere in those years. Recruiting can be a useful tool to address how much overall talent a team is likely to add, but at the player level, the star-ranking means very little. Yes, teams that recruit in the top 10 are typically going to have the best talent, but at the player level, a 5-star vs a 4-star vs a 3-star is meaningless. Check out this little article where it explores the likely 2013 1st round picks and how they were ranked as recruits coming into college (it was done prior to the draft, so thats why their list is based off of a mock draft). http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/-nfl-draft/news/20130424/nfl-draft-picks-as-recruits/ The star rankings of the 2013 top 15 (all picks prior to EJ) are as followed: 2-4-4-0-0-4-3-4-5-3-5-3-5-3-4 As for FSUs WRs, Rashad Greene is the only player who is currently about to breakout into potential superstar. He should be a high round pick, but he's still improving, so EJ didn't get him at his best. You laughably bring up Willie Haulstead in your argument? Willie Haulstead? The guy had a good year in 2010 with Ponder. He unfortunately got a concussion, and missed all of 2011. In 2012, he racked up 3 catches for 31 yards. So 3-31-0 is the production EJ got from Haulstead. Kenny Shaw and Christian Green are nice compliments, but there has been nothing showing that they'll be anything more than above average college players. Kelvin Benjamin has all the physical potential in the world, but he needs to learn to run routes, high point the ball, and become much more rounded. Last year with EJ he was a redshirt freshman. I don't know where you're getting this "FSU was ridiculously talented at WR" bullcrap from. As everyone said previously however. I do thank you for completely disproving your own point with this latest post.

Here's a few notes, addressed at the ridiculous arguments of both JohnC's. Regarding WR talent: The WR corps is in the midst of a renaissance. In 2011, they struggled with drops, and had lots of young players on the roster. The senior leaders were decent college players, but not great. Burt Reed was a UDFA last year, and Rodney Smith was a UDFA this year. The talent is really starting to blossom, with, Rashard Green leading the way. He should be a high draft pick in a year or 2 when he declares. There's other young talent that has played well at times too. The corps improved quite a bit from 2011-2012, but should improve much more this season. The TE position is largely unimpactful in the passing game. The WRs have a chance to be very good, but EJ will have gotten to play with them when they were young and ascending, not at their best. And John, if you are such a wealth of college football knowledge, you'd know full well that star rankings for recruits usually mean very little in the grand scheme of things. Ranking HS players is an even bigger crap shoot than ranking college guys for the draft. Regarding the "basically a 4 year starter" comments: This is a lie and is patently false. EJ started 4 games as a freshman and 3 as a sophomore, both in place of an injured Christian Ponder, before starting 25 in his final 2 years. So he got half a season's worth of starts spread over his first 2 seasons. That's most definitely not "basically a 4 year starter." Regarding the NC St game: Jimbo Fisher has since come out and put the blame on himself for losing that game, faulting his ultra-conservative play-calling in the second half. EJ didn't play great, but Jimbo spent the second half playing run-run-pass-punt and trying to sit on the lead. You can't "lead your team to a win" when the coach refuses to call your normal offense. Also of note: Jimbo refused to let Hopkins try a 51 yarder that would have made the score 19-10 in the 4th. The offense allowed a blocked punt which gave NC St the ball on our 35 to set up the game winning drive. The defense allowed 3 4th down conversions on the final scoring drive for NC St.

SJBF, while Brad Johnson was a decent QB during his career, and certainly not "franchise" guy, I have always disagreed with your argument of the '02 buccs. Brad Johnson played at a pro bowl level that season for TB and was a huge reason as to why they won the SB. So he doesn't really fit the argument, as Tampa got top level QB play in their Super Bowl season, even if it wasn't from a franchise guy. You'd need to go back to dilfer to find poor QB play on a SB winning team. But I agree top level QBing is essential, and a requisite to win in today's NFL.

You guys know all too well that WEO thinks he's cool by being "that guy" on the interwebs. He's always going to take the most pessimistic and anti-bills take that one possibly can. Whaley was genuinely excited and enthused about EJ.

We'll know a lot more in a month when mandatory mini-camps start. Its way too early to speculate that he's going to holdout or not show up until the start of the season, just because he's skipping some voluntary workouts. Plus, the FO is now freed up from draft prep, so we'll see what moves/discussions towards a long term deal are made in the next month or so.

I thought you meant Jimbo Fisher.

Dareus' rookie contract was made after the new CBA was in place. It's a 4 year 20 million dollar deal. He's not getting the ridiculous amounts that the rooks were getting. And for #3, you forgot to add: throw a hissy fit, holdout and then finally show up like a fat sack of crap, harming your team. Admit that you've not given your all, because your lennie-like brain cannot handle higher adult functions except for, "Philly's gonna let me pet the rabbits." Further justify your point by getting hurt after signing a huge deal and then allowing yourself to balloon to such a weight where a mechanical device (designed to aid your rehab) can no longer handle your obscene girth, causing you to fall and require a second surgery.

I wouldn't say EJ is jittery in the pocket at all. I will say that what he's guilty of times (and i've said this before) is leaving the pocket when pressure comes as opposed to stepping up. Its not being "jittery," its something athletic QBs who can make plays with their feet tend to do. Hell, Favre, McNabb, McNair, Rodgers, etc all started their careers looking to run more when things broke down. RGIII did it last season. Its just something a lot of young QBs do when they're learning the NFL game. To be a great one, however, you need to learn when to run and when to step up and make a play with your arm. And that CAN be taught. That being said, i've only watched every game he's played, so i'm not sure if i'm an appropriate source to comment on him. And at times, i've been his most vocal critic (just ask the girlfriend). But i've also been his biggest fan, and i've done my damnedest to provide an accurate, non-homer perspective on what EJ brings to the table. That's why i call out these flat-out lies, and the same vocal minority that keeps perpetuating these lies. That and their lazy, baseless comparisons to Losman just because both have a big arm. Perhaps we should compare EJ to Jamarcus Russel and Vince Young, because they're black? Bottom line, EJ's potential is different than other previous QBs, because they're not simply basing his potential on physical skills and how he might play. They're basing his potential on the brilliant play he's actually shown on the field over the course of entire games. We've seen the world class play he's capable of, multiple times (2011 bowl vs ND, 2012 vs Clemson for 2 quick examples). He just needs to play at that high level more consistently. And i think he can do it.

In Kurt's case its probably what his wife told him to say.

Great read, and hopefully this will dispel some of the mcshay parrots that simply repeat, "durrr, derp, EJ is inaccurate, EJ is jp losman." When the pick was made, Kurt Warner admired and praised EJs accuracy on the NFL network.

Lots of good info in this thread. FSUs defense was one of the best in the nation, and the offense was solid, but not great. In 2011, the OL was bad, which definitely affected EJ. Hell, in the Champs sports bowl against ND, FSU started 4 freshman on the OL. The OL inmproved in 2012, but at times was suspect in pass protection. FSU has featured a relatively strong running game the past few seasons, which was a reason why EJ's TD numbers weren't as high as others. He threw for 18 and 23 TDs, while the team rushed for 20 and 40 TDs in those 2 seasons respectively. The WR corps is in the midst of a renaissance. In 2011, they struggled with drops, and had lots of young players on the roster. The senior leaders were decent college players, but not great. Burt Reed was a UDFA last year, and Rodney Smith was a UDFA this year. The talent is really starting to blossom, with (as Dave mentioned), Rashard Green leading the way. He should be a high draft in a year or 2 when he declares. There's other young talent that has played well at times too. The corps improved quite a bit from 2011-2012, but should improve much more this season. The TE position is largely unimpactful in the passing game.

I can weigh in when I get home from work and i'm not on my phone. Too tough to a complete breakdown right now.

That would be fine, if you're talking about the old guard and Mickey Andrews' defense that was run under Bobby Bowden. The defensive system and scheme and types of players recruited are completely different after that side of the ball was revamped in 2010 when Fisher took over. Comparing FSU DEs under Andrews (small, fast, chase after the QB) to the ones under Stoops and now Pruitt, (big, powerful, grown ass men) is apple and oranges. Werner may be a bust, but if he is, its not because he's an "FSU defensive end".

For those still continually trashing EJ, read this... http://espn.go.com/b...-in-first-round As for the comparisons to Losman, they are nothing but sheer laziness, perpetuated by those posters with an axe to grind and those rooting for EJ to fail already. The similarities between Losman and EJ start and end at a big arm. EJ is smart, accurate, can move around, has a lightning quick release, is a great leader, and most importantly, his intangibles are through the roof. And yes, i have watched every single game EJ has played. I live here in Tallahassee.