marck

As I read and review various draft reports and publications I find that I can't get over the feeling the Mario Williams is th ebest player in this draft. There are three positions that you draft a franchise talent with the 1st pick in the draft, QB, Pass rushing DE and LT. History has shown that teams that do that are successful in the long run. Go back to the 2002 NFL draft. Houston took David Carr, the best player in that draft has turned out to be Dwight Freeney or Julius Peppers. This is why I think there is going to be a shocker on draft day. The Raiders want to get access to Mario Williams, the Texans would prefer to trade down and have no takers so I think the draft order goes as follows: Houston - Mario Williams - DE New Orleans - Matt Leinhert - QB Tennessee - Vince Young - QB NY Jets - Jay Cutler - QB Green Bay - AJ Hawk - LB San Francisco - Reggie Bush - RB Oakland - Michael Huff - S The Bills are at 8 with Ferguson, Ngata and Vernon Davis on the board. What to you all do in this scenario? Questions and comments would be appreciated.

I think this roster with our 2006 schedule could win 10 games and push for a playoff spot. Totally dependent on JP's development however.

I would sign Baltimore Raven UFA - Maake Kemoeatu Here is his statistical profile: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/6163/s...nal?year=career

Here is what my projected 53 man roster looks like after free agency and the draft: Starters are bolded QB (3) - Losman, Holcomb, McCown - Ingals Martin to development squad RB (6) - McGahee, Gates, Bryson, Henderson, Shelton, Burns TE (3) - Davis, Everett, Euchs WR (5) - Evans, Bryant, Parrish, Aiken, Orr - Jeff Webb to development squad OG (4) - Villarrial, Fonoti, Lutui & Gessinger OT (4) - Peters, Walker, McFarland, Gandy C (2) - Bentley, Preston ST (3) - Lindell, Moorman, Schneck DE (4) - Schoebel, Kelsey, Edwards, Denny - Mark Anderson to developmental squad DT (4) - Adams, Kemoeatu, Mahelona, Anderson LB (7) - Spikes, Fletcher, Posey, Crowell, Haggens, Stammer, Ruff CB (4) - Clenents, McGee, King, Greer S (4) - Vincent, Milloy, Blue, Baker The Bills would still have one of the best special teams units in the league, would run a single back, two TE offense and a 4-3 defense with run stuffing tackles and a cover two coverage scheme. Areas of improvement to try and find is a pass rushing edge rusher, better offensive tackles and a dominant free safety. This is my take and I look forward to your collective feedback

I agree, after the cuts the roster does look horrible. But this was the only way to identify and focus on true need areas. The trimming of the roster sets up free agency targeted players, and then you move forward to the draft to fill out the reset of the roster. Please take the original roster, add the free agents and draft choices and let me know what you think of the projected opening day roster in September 2006.

Assume a long term deal for Nate will be for 6 years, he will get a 10 to 12 million signing bonus which prorated over the length of the contract would be about 2 million per year. Then he would receive another 12 to 15 million over the length of the contract making this about a 24 million deal. This would equate to a 3.5 million per year deal with the first year being lower on base salary. This is where you could see the 2006 year at 3 million. Edwards will be gone in Free Agency anyways and we will move forward with new players from free agency and the draft.

Here are my thoughts on how the Bills can make progress this off-season and put a good team on the field in 2006. Release Eric Moulds and save 5.5 million in salary space Release Mark Campbell and save 1.0 million in salary space Release Mike Williams and save 4.9 million in salary space Release Bennie Anderson and save about 800,000 in salary space Release Coy Wire and save about 500,000 in salary space Sign Nate Clements to a contract that averages 3 million per year and save 2.9 million in salary space The Bills will need to make qualifying offers for restricted free agents, Sam Aiken, Josh Stamer, Mario Haggens, Jason Peters, Shaud Willams, Jabari Greer and Jonathan Smith. Those qualifying offers should take up another 3 million dollars Projected cuts and resigning Clements and the restricted free agents would open a total of 13.2 million, the Bills are about 7 million under the cap for 2006. This leaves the Bills about 20 million in available cap space, allocate 3 million for rookie salaries and we have about 17 million to work with. Present roster after cuts: QB - Losman & Holcomb + one to be named later RB - McGahee, Williams, Gates, Burns, Shelton TE - Tim Euchs, Kevin Everett & Ryan Neufeld WR - Lee Evans, Roscoe Parrish, Sam Aiken, George Wilson, Jonathan Smith OG - Chris Villarrial, Justin Gesinger, Mike Gandy OT - Jason Peters, Dylan McFarland, Greg Jerman C - Duke Preston PK - Ryan Lindell P - Brian Moorman LS - Mike Schneck DE - Aaron Schoebel, Ryan Denny, Chris Kelsey DT - Sam Adams, Tim Anderson, Justin Bannon, Lauvale Sape OLB - Takeo Spikes, Jeff Posey, Angelo Crowell, Josh Stamer, Mario Haggens MLB - London Fletcher, Liam Ezekiel CB - Nate Clements, Terrence McGee, Eric King, Jabari Greer S - Troy Vincent, Lawyer Milloy, Rashad Baker, Jim Leonhard You have 48 players on this roster and have very specific needs on the offensive line, defensive tackle, wide receiver and safety. These needs should be initially addressed in free agency. Here are my suggestions on players I would sign to shore up the positions of weakness: OL - LeCharles Bentley, Toniu Fonoti - OG, Kenyetta Walker - OT WR - Antonio Bryant or Andre Davis DE - Kimbala Edwards QB - Josh McCown DT - Maake Kemoeatu MLB - Orlando Ruff RB - Shawn Bryson Bentley would be the anchor to the offensive line, Fonoti was a stud run blocker for the Chargers and would further enhance the interrior of the offensive line and Walker was the player the Bills were going to select in the draft where we traded down and selected Nate Clements. Antonio Bryant and Andre Davis are both home run hitting wide receivers with major upside potential. Kimbala Edwards is tall 6'6", quick and is an excellent edge rusher. DT Kemooeatu is a run stuffing beast at 350 lbs and MLB Ruff has an excellent history as a run stuffing linebacker. QB McCown has playing skills comparable to JP and would allow the Bills coaching staff to not have the gameplan change in case of a QB injury or change due to performance. These moves would eat up about 12 to 13 million maximum leaving us about another 4 to 6 million for additional pick-ups. Now we move to the draft to fill in the rest of the pieces. Assuming the first 7 picks go as follows: 1. Houston - Reggie Bush 2. New Orleans - Matt Leinhart 3. Tennessee - Jay Cutler 4. Oakland - Mario Williams 5 -Green Bay - AJ Hawk 6- San Francisco - Michael Huff 7- New York Jets - Debrickashaw Ferguson This leaves the Bills the next pick, we have Ngata or Vernon Davis as the best players available, many solid offensive lineman if we traded down and of course Vince Young is there to anyone who wants to trade up for him. With this choice I select Vernon Davis, TE of Maryland. This adds the element which is consistent on all of the top rated offensive teams, the element of a dominant tight end. Marv does love the single back, two WR and double TE formation from the old K-Gun and with the two TE's of Davis and Everett the Bills would have an incredible down the seam and explosive dimension few teams have, this in addition to having speed in Evans, Parris and either Davis or Bryant. In the 2nd round I would take the best available OL or DT, whomever is rated higher on their board. I would suggest to draft if available Tatsui Lutui the stud guard from USC. In the 3rd round we have two early picks and possibly a compensatory pick for last year's free agent losses. Here is what I would do, select Jesse Mahelona the DT from Tennessee, S Greg Blue of Georgia and with the sandwich pick, select WR Jonathan Orr of Wisconsin In the 4th round I would persue more depth at DE with the selection of Mark Anderson of Alabama. In round 5, I would draft a 3rd down back who can catch passes and this would be Taurean Henderson who comes out of the passing offese at Texas Tech. In the sixth round, I would select QB sleeper Ingals Martin of Furman who looks like a quality back-up with a good arm and legs to be able to handle the rollout package the Bills will incorporate with JP at QB. Lastly in Round 7, I will add more speed and special teams capability by selecting either Skyler Green or Jeff Webb, wide receivers from LSU and San Diego State. Both players are in excess of 6' and have 4.40 to 4.45 speed. I realize this is a very long post, but I hope you all appreciate the time and effort it took in reviewing the information and putting together a package of moves that address functionality within the salary cap and moves to support the biggest holes on the 2006 team roster. I very much look forward to receiving feedback from all of you.

I have read that Davis is not much of a blocker and is more the flex tight end or H-Back. If the Bills were to go after a TE, much prefer Marcedes Lewis due to size, ability to open up the seam and with size and strength to block. However, I don't want to see the Bills select a TE until at least the 4th round as we have too many other needs to fill with our earlier picks.

What is your manlove relationship with "Brick". You say he has the best technique. That is great but what good is it against 3-4 defensive ends and linebackers such as Shawn Merriman who can overpower or outquick him. He has not demonstrated anything to me technique wise as Senior Bowl practices only showed him dominant aginst the biggest bust of the 2006 draft in Kiwaunka. 264 lb Darryl Tapp took him to school in Senior Bowl practices and ripped his a$$ during the game between Virginia Tech and Virginia. If Darryl Tapp who is nothing more then an outside linebacker and situational pass rusher schools him, what in god's name do you think real NFL players go up against him. Plus I am not really jazzed that you won't be able to run to his side as he is constantly pushed backwards in run blocking. By the time the combine ends he will drop to the 3rd or 4th tackle in this draft, you watch and see.

If that option comes up, you have the choice of a pass rusher who in conjunction with Schobel gives a great edge rush, but it stills leaves the hole in the middle. So, if I had the choice (which I don't think we will have), I would go with Ngata. Here is the best reason why as far as I am concerned. If teams can run and move the football on the ground, a pass rush is not really an effective weapon. However, if teams can't run and are in constant "down and distance" situations a pass rush can be generated from creative blitz packages and by having 4 quality corners where you can generate good coverage and get coverage sacks. In this draft, there are many good corners and edge rushers you can select who can contribute immediatly and our focus should be on ensuring the Bills shut down teams running games and force teams to throw against us. More turnovers are created from offensive passing plays then by the generation and receovery of fumbles on running plays. Teams with the highest number of takeaways are always those whose turnover's caused by fumbles afater sacks and ny interceptions. This is why you get the quality run stuffer over the edge pass rusher.

I have watched plenty of game day tape over the past two years and just can't get a real feel for Ferguson at the NFL level. I can't get over the nagging feeling that in reality he is nothing more then a John Fina clone. As the older members of the board remember, Fina was a late first round pick who had good mobility, could handle the quick defensive ends but had trouble getting push against the run and was dominated by the bigger defensive ends. Now with the swing in the NFL being more and more 3-4 defensive schemes, I have a grave fear that the day of quick offensive tackles will go bye the board as teams start using 285 to 300 lb defensive ends. Even if D'Brick falls to 8, let somebody else take this guy and trade down. The other concern with D'Brick is that he is light (295 lbs), slow (5.30 40 time), and has less then avarage strength (watch the number of 225 lb reps at the combine) In I doubt we'll see D'Brick at the combine other then for just a physical and the meetings with teams. If he participates he will be exposed as to what he really is, an average tackle at the NFL level, with no real significant upside due to physical limitations. In the AFC East, with 4 to 6 "bad weather games" per year, you need power run blocking and offensive line push. These are already defined issues with D'Brick. The Bills must use their top pick to shore up the run defense. Haloti Ngata is from a player projection, very much a Jamal Williams of San Diego. Now, please tell me if you are going to use the 8th pick in the draft, would you select John Fina or Jamal Williams. Myself, I want a quicker version of Jamal Williams to stuff the run and anchor the line for the next 8 to 10 years. In closing there are many offensive tackles in this draft and fewer quality defensive tackles, so that again really defines the choice the Bills need to make. As always, questions and comments.

I agree, Rivers and Brees will be in San Diego in 2006. What makes Rivers really viable is that he has a very low 2006 cap figure as his signing bonus has already been paid and amoritized under the first two years of the contract. In addition, San Diego plays the 3-4 and uses bookend 290+ defensive ends and John Abraham is a classic 4-3 defensive end. Therefore no real fit exists. The Jets are over 30 Million over the 2006 projected cap and will not be able to "franchise" Abraham, they will also lose Ty Law as well. They have a long rebuilding job to do and it will take about three years to complete if everything goes right for them. Along with Green Bay, they are my pick for contention for the top pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.

With the Bills having the worst run defense and a big hole at tackle, who might you suggest we draft.

Just thought I would post a simple snide post to all who are involved in the D'Bustashaw lovefest.

Just to help, none of the 48 juniors or redshirt sophmores who declared for the 2006 NFL Draft are eligable for the senior bowl. This is why Ngata and Mario Williams are not their making D'Bustashaw Ferguson their B word.

Finally, someone else who is starting to see what I have been saying about D'bustashaw Ferguson. This guy does not translate to the NFL as a run blocker and wait until you see his bench press and 10 yard dash numbers. It is then that Ferguson will be moved down the board as a above average tackle with limited upside and will be a solid but not spectacular player at the NFL level. So far at the Senior Bowl practices he has dominated Mattias Kiwaunka, whoppe, Kiwaunka is also going to be a bust at the NFL level. He is a 255 pound defensive tackle who plays with a high base, so of course D'Bustashaw has dominated him. Wait until he sees the likes of a Dwight Freeny, Jason Taylor, Richard Seymour. Jason Peters has the size, strength and mobility to play left tackle in the NFL for a long time. He needs work on technique and has a far greater upside then Ferguson.

After watching the Bills last year I have come to the belief that the area of greatest need is at Defensive Tackle, then the interrior of the offensive line, then a major upgrade at safety, linebacking depth and a quality back-up at RB. Assuming the 1st 7 picks go as follows the Bills have a decision to make. Houston - Reggie Bush New Orleans - Matt Leinhart Tennessee - Vince Young NY Jets - DeBrickashaw Ferguson (Thank God the Jets draft this future bust) Green Bay - Mario Williams Oakland - A.J. Hawk (Remeber Andy Katzenmoyer folks, here is his twin) San Francisco - Jimmy Williams Buffalo - To be determined Detroit - Arizona - The Lions want and need a defensive end/pass rusher or maybe a QB in this spot and the Cardinals need a QB or RB. St. Louis and Cleveland follow and the Rams have no need for offensive tackles and Cleveland is building defensive strength and will go Dline or linebacker. My feeling is that the Bills can trade down to the Rams spot at 11 and still get a quality offensive tackle, but may lost out on defensive tackle stud, Haloti Ngata. I can also live with the combination of Peters/Williams at the tackle spots and think the bulk of the problem with the offensive line is the interrior line at guards and center. This area should be moved on strongly in free agency as rookies are usually unable to start in those positions their 1st year. If the Bills trade down to 10 with Arizona so the Cardinals can select Jay Cutler and pick up the Cardinals 3rd round pick, we could draft as follows: 10th - Haloti Ngata - DT - Oregon 42nd - Taitusi Lutui - OG - USC 67th - Pat Watkins - SS - Ohio State 72nd - Jonathon Orr - WR - Wisconsin 74th - Andrew Whitworth - OT - LSU These selections provide young talent at critical need positions. We also have the possibility of getting a sandwich pick at the end of the 3rd round due to the free agent loses of Pat Willaims and Jonas Jennings from last year and if so, the Bills could add depth at RB with that pick, going with Gerald Riggs Jr. from Tennessee. Anyways, these are my thoughts and look forward to your response.

I follow the NFL, watch as many games as possible on Direct TV, follow all teams, read many publications and have a good working knowledge of issues and history. Dick Jauron is a complete and absolute joke. If this is an attempt to brings the Bills back from the dead, then the attempt was badly misguided. Jauron is a total loser as a head coach, the Bears under his regime were the most offensively inept team in the league. The one "miracle season" was only because of the luckiest set of defensive plays that you could immagine. Remember the Browns and 49 games back to back. Even in that year, the Eagles went to Chicago and "B word-slapped" the pathetic Bears and then they went back to the 4-21, 5-11 team they really were. In addition, this clown believes in the west coast offense and if left to his own hiring of assistants will bring in a Mike Schoop type of offensive coordinator who believes in the three-yard pass, no matter the situation. This is an awful hire, the Bills will sink to the bottom of both the AFC East and the NFL within three years the name Buffalo Bills will be tied to the "on-the-clock" for the 1st pick in the 2009 NFL draft. I am sorry and I love the Bills, but this hire has taken any hope away that the team may turn around and feel that we will be the biggest laughingstock in the NFL, starting with today's press conference.

With Donnie Henderson of the Jets potentially available, I thought I would throw in a couple of initial thoughts about him as the Bills new DC. In New York they played a Cover 2 scheme. Was that more a Henderson desire or was he taking concept direction from Herman Edwards. The reason I ask this is that the Bills personnel does not match-up if they went to the Cover 2. However in Baltimore the Ravens used a very aggressive version of the 3-4 when he was their, they switched back to a 4-3 this year due to changes in personnel. As the Bills are structured now, they do not have the players that fit a "3-4" system either. Therefore, does Henderson make a good potential fit as DC using a base 4-3 and man-up style of back 7 coverage. Any "Donnie Henderson" advocates give me some answers to my questions.

Sorry Nick, just trying to provide a little football guidance to the new guy. If he had watched any of the University of Virginia's games he would see the Ferguson gets no push in the running game and was dominated by the NFL quality DE's such as Kiwaunka and Tapp. If these guys dominate him, for god sakes what will guys such as John Abraham, Jason Taylor, and of course Richard Seymour do to him. Plus I think we can agree the at 298 lbs, D'Brick will need to bulk up and what will be the affect on his quickness once he does bulk-up. Its not going to get better! There is a significant difference between collegiate stardom and NFL performance and I just want the new guy to know the difference.

How about Sherman and him bringing Jim Bates as the DC. Dick Jauron is awful and should bnot be considered for any position of responsibility in the NFL. Outside of one fluke year in Chicago this guy has done nothing. His offensive schemes are a total joke. He is the master of the 3 yard pass on 3rd and 8. Please stop the madness.

I am aware you are a new poster to the board, but I don't get the love feast for D'Brickashaw Ferguson. He is short, light, with limited athletic ability. He is not a dominant run blocker and has problems with speed rushers. If the Bills pick him 8th it would be the worst draft choice since Mike Williams. This guy has NFL bust written all over him. In games this year against Boston College with Kiwaunka, and Virginia Tech with Darryl Tapp run over and through him. Plus Virginia had no running game at all and this is with an offensive tackle who is the "best ever". Do this board a favor, start reading draft reports, reviewing size, speed and strength numbers and review some game tapes before you make such absurd statements. If you do a simple comparision between Ferguson and Aubrn tackle Marcus McNeil you will see the obvious difference in physical skills. Ferguson - 6'4" 1/2 - 298 lbs - 40 Time 5.30 McNeil - 6'7" 1/2 - 332 lbs - 40 Time 4.96 40 yard times are not significant for lineman and a better assessment is the 10 yard dash, but just the physical skills should tell you that D'Brick is way overrated and will fall to maybe the 4th or 5th tackle after the combine.

I watched quite a few Virginia games this year and never saw Ferguson stand out or dominate. In games against BC, VT and Miami along with NC the Virginia offensive line was pushed around, the running game never got off the ground and their QB was running for his life. Here is a link to review their games last year. http://www.collegefootballnews.com/acc/Virginia.htm

I have read many people who think that Virginia LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson is the resolution to our needs at LT. He might very well be, but I look at his size (295 lbs) and technique and feel that he may be a bust as a high draft pick. At the NFL level he would be physically overrun by power defensive ends and ran around by the quick types. He is the classic over-achiever at the college level and will be undersized and dominated at the next level. Wait until the combine and compare his 10 yard dash and number of lifts to other tackles in this draft and you will see how his strength and quickness is less then other unvalued tackles available. The Bills draft choice at 8, is unknown until the effects of free agency are seen. We will need to assess the personnel gains and losses to see which direction the Bills should move towards. If the Bills can make moves at the DT and OG positions it may be possible to move for players in other positions or even move down and accumulate more picks. The one strategy I would not recommend is to trade picks or players for next year's draft. The potential of a new collective bargining agreement has caused many juniors to declare and become draft eligible in this years draft. Next year will be a lean crop of prospects and the Bills should take advantage to the picks they have this year and even move to get more picks if possible. Thoughts and opiniosn are always welcome.

Please review the link below to see Marchall Faulks stats in the years that Mike Martz was the head coach. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/2/2728/career What he does is run more of a spread offense which provides gaps to run through. The Bills have offensive line issues so why not work around those issues by using schemes allowing for different ways to move th efootball.