Fan in Chicago

Thats my problem - simply having competition does not imply we are in good shape. If anything we added a small question mark to the contingent that looked most solid on this team.

So much for the "keep your own" philosophy. I am mildly bummed. So far our big FA decisions have been: - Loss of Poz and replaced with Barnett (I will give benefit of doubt to FO and call this even) - Addition of Brad Smith (definite +ve) - Loss of Whitner and expected to replace with Wilson/Scott/Byrd/rookie (I call this net negative unless proven otherwise) We MAY be mildly positive overall but certainly haven't done much to bolster our roster with free agents (ours or other teams')

On that note, Aaron Williams better play well else the twitter mafia will be all over him. See the frequency of his twits errr.... tweets

Well, I called a third time and this rep was very friendly. Gave me $150 off ST + $15x6 off other programming. Sweet. I am sooo ready for some football !!

Called twice and even spoke to customer retention and they are not budging at all ! Wonder what the deal is (or not).

As I argued with the Brad Smith signing, if DW costs ~$3 M/yr, it will not affect our signing any OL or Boss (why hasn't he attracted more interest ?). Problem is, there arent too many FA OL out there. Carey ? a potentially injured McKinnie ?

Au contraire - he tweeted 4 hours back that "I want to come back ..." I presume he meant to say "to Buffalo". I don't think he has closed the door on that option. So, considering that the Bengals interest is likely waning, he may be more willing to come back for cheap

So which free agent did you want him to over-spend on ? And which of our own (besides Kelsay) do you think he has overpaid for ? Be specific please

Just wanted to bump this thread as I am very curious about how there is no news about teams interested in Whitner. What a fall from grace for a former 1st rounder. I am again wondering if the Bills will be willing to have him back for a reasonable price (say 4 yr, $4 million each). I realize he is not a high impact player, but perhaps we should keep him till one of the rookies can prove themselves to be a worthy replacement.

Good points. One thing I don't understand is how an O coach like Gailey cannot modify an offense to take advantage of a TE. Any weapon should theoretically add more dynamism to your offense. And given that our OL is not likely to hold blocks for too long, a receiver that can work in the short to medium range should be a very desirable option. I am not entirely content with our TE production from last year but we can chalk it up to needing said TEs to stay back for blocking. Lets see what the FO does. At least their action from last week (pursuing Clabo) indicate that they are not happy with the state of our OL. As is said, the first step to solving a problem is accepting you have one.

Fully agree. Boss + (at least one) OL will make this a very satisfactory off season and instill hope in my heart after many years. I wonder what the situation is - is he not interested in suitors or are the Bills not interested ?

Speaking of Gaither, I remember last year when he was on the trading block, several on this board were summarily bashing the FO for not doing the deal. Stats were posted about how the Ravens OL with Gaither were better at run blocking than with Oher in there. I was also one of those puzzled about why we were not making a strong push to get him. Just maybe, the FO does know better. The best moves may be the ones we dont make.

Now that his release is confirmed, let us look at the possibilities of him coming to the Bills http://www.kcby.com/sports/professional/126484183.html He is 6-0', 250 lb. Good size Age 28. Good age and possibly in his prime Was slated to make ~$4.3 million in 2011 season. Quite cheap Injuries - big concern. He has been injured quite a bit and his 2010 season was, I think, one with fewest tackles (88) for full season played Reportedly good in coverage especially TEs. We should bring him in and have the docs evaluate him. What I would be leary of is having three of our LBs (Merriman, Barnett and Tatupu) all with a history of injuries.

If he swore on your dead body, his intentions may not have been entirely noble.

You have, ofcourse, seen the time stamp on that article (?)

Wow !!! Terrific , if eventually confirmed. P.S. I think Bill in NYC needs a change of pants right about now.

And he has shown results compared to Parrish who had potential but delivered in very small batches. I prefer Smith over Parrish, with no ifs, ands or buts.

Makes two of us.

if it was an either/or situation between Brad Smith and an OL, I would agree. a 4yr/$15M contract is not massive considering our available cap space. We can still sign Clabo and Burnett. Never underestimate the impact of having multiple impact players. If Smith displaces a perennial underachiever like Parrish, I am okay with that idea. Again, acquiring Smith does not negate the possibility of getting OL or LB help. As an example, just imagine Smith and Spiller on the field in a wildcat formation. What does an opposing D do ?

I am not on board with this idea. If we lose Evans, we are left without a veteran WR who is capable of being a #1. Easley is unproven, Stevie needs to prove that last year was not a fluke, Parrish is only a slot receiver. Getting Olsen as a midrange, flat and EZ threat is very tempting but not at the cost of losing Evans.

And Martz is not too big on utilizing TEs in his offense. The Bears also have two other semi-veteran TEs on the roster so Olsen may indeed be expendable. I wouldn't mind getting him for a 5th or lower, if we dont go after/get Boss.

I agree that if Poz wanted to play in a 4-3, it would imply there was nothing we could do realistically do to keep him. However, I disagree with the money aspect. If it took 7 M to keep one position manned adequately, we should have done it. Right now, we have yet another hole and short of signing a replacement, have only rookies to fill it. I agree with the strategy to build through the draft and keep our good performeers. But those two strategies work in tandem. We have a lot of rookies slated to fill important roles on the D. And last year we saw that the rookies will be brought along slowly. Which implies we are going to be short of experienced and proven D players this season. If we lose Whitner and Florence, I will officially stop with the (so-far) blind support of Nix and Co.

I think that sounds like a BS reason - much as I wanted to keep him , his performances seemed quite similar in the 4-3 and 3-4.

Not a spectacular movie but an adequate popcorn flick. Could have been hugely better than it was given the premise, actors and director involved. But, worth a watch. Was quite cool that Ebert was sitting in our row during the screening.