TNBillFan

Absolutely right! Spiller is an extremely rare back. He looks like a clone of the Titans' Chris Johnson ---only quicker, in my opinion. I don't know that I've seen anyone hit the hole with as much speed in years. He made Clemson go---he wasn't made by a great Clemson team. I don't know whether a RB should or shouldn't have been the #1 choice, but this kid is very special.

The Bills should pass on a QB until they address other, in my opinion, far greater needs like OT and DT (NG). If they insist on another QB out of this below average class, I'd pass on both Clausen and McCoy. Neither of them is a sure thing. Clausen, another California QB with all that comes with it, will have issues if he is relegated to a small market and McCoy simply isn't physically gifted enough to be an effective AFC East QB. If they want a QB project well suited physically to playing in Buffalo weather, they should go in a later round for Crompton. Physically he has all the throws and he is extremely mobile for a guy his size. He has a cannon for an arm and can be incredibly accurate when he is either protected or has a plan. The knock on this kid (who was rated the #2 or 3 player coming out of HS a few years ago) is that he doesn't see the field when under pressure. His vision seems to narrow down to a third of the field when the big guys start pressuring him. He improved at UT tremendously in that area, though, when they started moving him around---and with Buffalo's line, the QB is going to be moving whether it is "planned" or not. He's not a sexy pick by any means and there is no way he gets labelled a "sure thing", but he is physically gifted, tough, resilient, capable of learning and he would bust his butt for the chance to play anywhere in the NFL.

I love Tennessee and there is no doubt Wade is fast---he's a national level NCAA /Olympic caliber sprinter. He's most likely faster than Hall, but I wonder if he has the football tools to consistently succeed as a starting corner in the NFL. Regardless, I agree with your first round trio of targets. My hope is Okoye.

My friend, I doubt you are heartless---few people really are although sometimes people play the role to show how tough and independant they can be. I also doubt you are an idiot and wouldn't pretend to suggest that you are. I do think you are uneducated and only know the NFL as it exists today, not as it was in the beginning. Learn some history and quit trying to be a big strong capitalist for a minute. God knows, I'm a capitalist, with all the good and bad that comes with it---and so were the early owners who treated the early players like disposable property. Those guys didn't "choose football as their career" the way today's players do with hundreds of thousands of dollars as the league's annual minimum salary. Today's projected stars start with agents and millions of dollars in the bank before they ever play a down. Hell, I hear "rumors" that some even start cashing in while they are in college. Back then players took literally a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per game and if they were cut or hurt, they were out. If Chicago Bears great Doug Atkins---one of the greatest to ever play the game--- had no negotiating power and took whatever Papa Bear offered, I doubt any of them could do anything other than beg for a raise. There was no competition for players' services, the league was run like a co-op. Those guys, even the stars, were paid next to nothing, even by income standards back then. I remember Tom Day, a star defensive end for the Bills in the 60's and a big hero around town, had to suppliment his income in the off-season by being a substitute gym teacher for 3rd and 4th graders at my grade school, P.S. 88. Hall of Famer, Billy Shaw worked odd construction labor jobs to get by and even though he was a full blown star, he wasn't paid enough to take care of his family on his salary in his early years. Until Joe Namath ($400,000) and John Huarte ($200,000) started to be paid big bucks around 1964 because of the NFL v. AFL competition, there were very very few players in either league who didn't have to moonlight during the season. Virtually all had "regular" jobs in the off-season---usually basic labor positions because they had to quit to play in the fall. These stories weren't the exceptions, they were the rule. It was far worse in the 40's and 50's, but most of those guys are gone. I'd bet "chicks" were available then, just like now, but they didn't bring in income. Few of those guys could afford "fancy cars". Finally, the game back then was brutal. Equipment was borderline worthless. The rules literally allowed maiming and many coaches encouraged it. My friend, I'm no socialist, but I know the difference between right and wrong. Today's NFL owes those guys a debt and it could satisfy it and ease terrific suffering without ever missing a meal---not one. Again, Gene Upshaw, the NFLPA, the owners and today's silent players and fans ought to be ashamed of themselves.

The screwing the old timers received without a collective labor organization is one of the big reasons why the NFLPA exists today. I just wonder why, in recognition of its own roots, the NFLPA doesn't step up and do the right thing today. It would take very little diversion of today's assets to get survival money to the remaining guys who built the foundation today's players and owners are enjoying.

Former Bills great Joe DeLamielleure is once again showing the leadership abilities he exhibited as a 6 time All Pro and leader of the Electric Company back in the day. His campaign to help the older veterans should have the support of all NFL fans and Gene Upshaw should hang his head in shame for not being part of a solution to this shameful issue. I've got a feeling, maybe totally naive, but I believe that today's players could, should and would help the older vets, if they knew how bad it is for a lot of them. Congratulations again to a great Bill for doing the right thing. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/p.../702220334/tbd/

Ouch! That's potentially a lot of child support to pay. At guideline rates, he could be looking at 40-50% of his net take-home in combined support payments. Now there's a good reason to think about contraception. No wonder he needs a new contract this year.

Come on. I want the Bills to stay in Buffalo forever, but it is unreasonable to expect any business person and his/her family to eat millions of dollars in lost revenue simply to make Bills fans happy. Bills fans are fantastic, loyal, borderline insane, etc., but not one fan has ever risked his own money to invest in the success of the franchise. Bills fans have supported an entertainment product with more loyalty than nearly any fan-base I can imagine---but not one of the fans have put their own money at risk to operate the Bills. You must be fairly young because you refer to a $25,000 investment in a totally unproven product in the early '60s as if it was chump change. Back then---for this investment---it was viewed as burning paper money by a lot of potential investors. Note, too, that nobody in Buffalo put up that cash. In the early years, both the Buffalo franchise and the entire AFL came extremely close to collapsing and, later, the Buffalo franchise was stalked by outsiders for relocation multiple times over the decades. Ralph Wilson could have cashed out for a profit numerous times, but he didn't. He also could have moved the team, just like owners in St. Louis, LA, Baltimore, Oakland, and Cleveland---but again he stayed loyal to Buffalo. Moreover, you fail to realize/acknowledge or appreciate how much additional money---his own money---- this guy has tied up in the club during the intervening 40 something years. I doubt his "basis" in the franchise is $25K any longer. Ralph Wilson has been loyal to the City of Buffalo for decades. Show him and his family a little respect. The Wilson family didn't create this insane economy and it is ridiculous to think that they should take a personal financial bath just to make "generations of Western NY Bills fans" happy. If the future of the Bills is to be in Buffalo, civic minded investors need to put together a purchase offer that Ralph Wilson can live with while he's alive. If no one in WNY feels strongly enough about the wisdom of investing in the Bills' future in Buffalo, you can bet that people in one of the many "larger" markets will be interested and it doesn't need to be just LA. There are multiple cities, far more economically viable than Buffalo, that have been seeking an NFL team for years.

I've been a Bills fan since the very beginning and I appreciate all that Mr. Wilson has done to keep this team in Buffalo; however, the Wilson family is not a Buffalo family and unless someone moves to buy this team while Mr. Wilson is alive, it is nearly impossible for me to believe that the team won't end up elsewhere within the next few years. It's all about the money. If someone wants to commit to keeping the Bills in Buffalo, the window of opportunity is closing. I could imagine Mr. Wilson selling below top dollar to keep the team where it belongs, but why would we ever think his family would do the same?

I'm just hoping the Bills find some D-linemen this time, regardless of the round.

I’m not saying Justin Harrell is the key to the Bills d-line issues, but if you’re going to post about a player, be accurate. He is in no way worthy of the label "injury prone". This kid’s total college injury experience was a broken ankle in his freshman year and a torn bicep this past season---with which he played the entire Tennessee v. Florida game, one-armed and against doctor’s pre-surgery orders. He is 6’4”, 300lbs and a very good DT. He was not a lazy player and was an above average leader on the Vols. He started 22 of UT’s 24 games his sophomore and junior years. He was All-SEC and the Cotton Bowl Defensive-MVP in 2005. After deciding to return to UT for his senior year (2006)---he was projected as a mid-second to late third rounder after his junior year---he did miss most of his senior year due the torn bicep. He is not the beast that John Henderson was at UT, but he’s a very good DT with an above-average work rate and extremely high character. I bet he’s on the Bills’ board come draft time, but not as a first rounder.

Absolutely true! We could talk about the playoffs, but I don't care about the teams that will be playing.

Why would the Bills have an interest in a 22 year old, 6'4" Left OT who looks trim at 320 lbs. and who has started since his true freshman year? He's played every position on the line except center and was First Team All-SEC (both coaches and writers) as a junior. He's been one of the best O linemen at UT in years, he comes from an Alabama football family ---his brother starts at Auburn---and he is a great student and the epitome of a high character player, never being in trouble of any kind during his years in Knoxville. Nah, not the kind of OL the Bills would like---no big press stories about moving mountains like Big Mike and he hasn't played against good competition in the SEC.

Who's RJ? [Please do not answer that question! I've forgotten and I like it that way!]

A couple of weeks ago I asked whether he would play to his potential for the Bills anymore. I was soundly criticized for my question almost as quickly as it was posted. I still don't think the question was inappropriate; HOWEVER, the answer to my question appears to be a resounding "yes" he will. He is playing his butt off. I still worry about his long term future with the Bills, but my doubts about now were misplaced.