Dibs

I'm not defending him here.....I wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.....but the QBRs you gave for him are way off. Yr1: 55.9 Yr2: 77.1 Yr3: 50.0

Bell made a pro bowl for us as a rookie. I think that discounts 1984 as the all time worst.

What are we meant to be seeing?

As far as I'm aware....with recent discoveries in how genetics work....and please don't take this as gospel as I am purely working from memory..... It seems that certain genetic traits can be switched on and switched off based upon environmental effects on grandparents, parents, & mother while pregnant. This explains things like why after only a couple of generations of eating more red meat the average height of a group of people increases. With the mysteries of genetics still largely being a mystery, I think it is too early to claim that homosexuality is not genetically linked......though I personally think it unlikely to be so(based upon certain anthropological studies on animals).

Me too.

It really spells out how ridiculous the term "pro bowler" has become. It used to mean that a player was at the top of their position. Now it sometimes means that.....and sometimes means that they are merely popular.

You are indeed correct. There have been new housing estates(suburbs) open up here in the past decade which have had a caveat on the land stipulating that the owner cannot have cats. I personally think that is going too far as a good cat enclosure helps ensure the protection of the native fauna. .....and you are also correct about them being hunting machines. Even with an enclosure one of my cats once managed to grab a young pigeon, somehow pull it through the chicken wire, and deposit it still living in my lounge room. One can only imagine how many birds the two of my cats would have killed over the years if they had been allowed to roam free.

Fair enough. Thanks for putting up with me grilling you about it. How long do you have the subscription with them for? (Just in case I want to grill you over something else later.)

I rarely use "gay" as a pejorative. I have found however that I actually do use it fairly often when I talk about Brady. I think it is due to the juxtaposition between the NFL player stereotype of being manly men....and the gay man stereotype of being less manly than normal and somewhat feminine. I think the usage in Brady's case is quite dissimilar to simply disliking something and calling it gay.

I have a cat enclosure accessed from my laundry window so my cats never go out into the open world. It protects my cats from disease and accidents.....and protects the many beautiful native birds in my area. I don't think anybody would be too happy if one of these were to be killed.... http://www.pbase.com/ian_c/image/111755283 http://www.pbase.com/ian_c/image/98198694 http://www.pbase.com/ian_c/image/99678922 http://www.pbase.com/ian_c/image/96143890

LOL...that should be sooooo true....but... I've met people who say "But I enjoy smoking! Why should I quit something blah blah blah.....driving is dangerous blah blah blah." I usually reply along the lines of "You wouldn't enjoy it if you weren't already addicted to it." Some people are just nuts.

Are you sure? They both had 5 PDef....but Whitner also had 1 INT(for TD), 2 FF, 1 FR.....while Wilson had none. The ranking system you are quoting seems extremely weighted towards completion percentages considering it is suppose to be ranking Safeties. Who were the top 7?

No....not nuff said. I'm not knocking Wilson here....just explaining why he was rated so high..... Wilson was rated 8th because of the extremely high number of tackles he had(104, 3rd for Safeties in league). He had an extremely high number of tackles because our LB corp didn't. Edit: Perhaps Whitner was ranked lower because he only had 83 tackles this season(behind an all pro LB corp)....in 2010 with Bills he had 140 tackles!

Too many concussions?

I find this article very interesting. I'd still like to know if it was the Bills who closed the door on him or if his pride stopped him coming back for the better deal....but.... The article shows that the Bills FO were doing the smart and wise thing.....trying to re-sign a good starter calibre player that they had drafted. (Please not I did not call him great. He was/is merely good/decent.....and better than what we were left with). Up until now I assumed we had acted like so many times in the past and simply let a player of starter calibre leave because we were cheap(not willing to spend veteran money)....and stupid(assumed we could easily find an equal or better replacement in the draft). I'm sure you all hold the frustration that I have had over the last 15 years in seeing a Bills team with many sub-par starters and no stars continually let solid players hit the end of their rookie contracts and walk. It seems to me that Nix has finally put a stop to that nonsense.....fingers crossed.

On this part you are sorely mistaken. QBs that are a good gamble of becoming franchise QBs are typically identified as such by all teams and are selected in the top 4 draft picks. These QBs have roughly a 50% chance of becoming good starters and a 20% chance of becoming star QBs. The other QBs who grade highly enough to be considered 1st round picks are far from "good gambles". I will predict that by draft day there will be 3-4 QBs who are graded as 1st rounders(non top 4). With this is mind....if I were GM.... I would assume that I won't have a top 4 pick in the following draft....and also assume that I will not be able to trade up into the top 4 ala Redskins 2012 draft. I would wait until my pick to see how many(if any) QBs have been selected. Assuming the number selected is 2 less than the number of predicted 1st round QB talent.....I would endeavour to.... Ttrade down in the 1st round.....hopefully picking up another 2nd round pick....and another 4th Round 1: QB Trade down in 2nd round. Pick up an additional 3rd, 4th & 5th pick Round 2: WR Round 2: LB Round 3: QB Round 3: OL Round 4: CB Round 4: LB Round 4: LB Round 5: WR Round 5: LB Round 6: BPA Round 7: BPA Prior to draft.... Re-sign Levitre, Byrd, McKelvin Cut Fitz, Brad Smith, Kelsay, McGee....maybe Barnett depending on assessment from new defensive coaches. Sign FA LB Sign FA WR

If we keep Fitz we are only $0.45M better off than if we cut him. As for the other 2 QBs..... The concept really isn't how much we can save by dumping them(as they are no longer on the Bills roster).....it is how much will it cost us to re-sign them compared to other FA QBs. I don't think you have a proper grasp of what a Free Agent is. Levitre and Byrd are Free Agents. Their old contracts of $1.2M-$1.5M/yr no longer exist. If we want to re-sign them it will be costing us a considerable amount more than that. I don't know how much.....at a guess I would say somewhere in the range of $5M-$7.5M/yr.....though it might be a bit more as they have now both made the pro bowl. Also....other teams may outbid us for their services. We may have no choice but to let them go. I'm a bit confused with these names listed. Did you mean keep them? If we offer them league minimums....and no other team outbids us.... Choice will get $0.7M/yr McIntyre & Merriman will be on $0.825M/yr These two are Restricted Free Agents. That means we actually have some say in whether we keep them. Their minimum salary(if not offered more from a different team) will be $0.7M/yr

Yikes.....the Jets will be hit with an additional $4.3M if they cut him. $17.15M cap hit! This is a clear example of why the rookie salary system needed to change. The Fitz situation seems small in comparison to Sanchez.

I'm sorry....I must have misinterpreted what you meant when you used the adjective "young".

....yet you list Welker who will be 32 as a FA pickup you would like in your sig.

In my household, I am in charge of finances(because I'm good at it and my wife isn't).....and my wife is in charge of everything to do with colour coordination and style(because she's good at it and I am not). I guess I'm just too masculine to have a strong opinion like so many others in this thread on colour coordination and style of uniform. (I like the red one).

What a difference one playoffs makes. Before the playoffs he was considered a good chance to be let go by the Ravens......now people are saying he is worth "best QB in the league" money. Personally I think this is just the first step in contract negotiations. Ravens: "$20M you must be joking! $12M is all we can offer." Flacco: "I'll go onto the open market. $18M." Ravens: "$14M....or we will simply tag you for $14.6M" Flacco: "I'll hold out! How about $16M?" Ravens: "$15.5M" Flacco: "Done!"

...but what would you be happy we paid for him though? I really liked John from Helmet's fantasy about swapping 1st rounders and throwing in a 3rd. I would do that deal in a heartbeat.

You could be right about their cap funds. From what I can see they have $3.9M of room and have 2 starters hitting FA.... OG Leonard Davis & S Dashon Goldson (pro bowler).....plus a handful of backup & situational players.

You realize that the list you gave was for UFAs yes? That means they are Free Agents. That means that none of them are under contract. You can't cut Spencer Johnson(or any of them) because he is a Free Agent.