Koufax

I have said many times before, but will say here in agreement with Tolstoy and others: 50 shares of a winning experience in a game (or maybe 35 for the guys coming back the next season) are worth more than the one or two spots on the draft slot a loss gets you. The only exception to this might be a week 15 or 16 game by a team picking in the top 4 in an imbalanced group (the difference between Julius Peppers and Mike Williams, or Petyon Manning and Ryan Leaf), and even then I have my doubts whether it is instead a crap shoot. Winning is a really valuable experience for all players and teams, especially young teams. Moving from 13 to 9 in a draft has a small, uncertain, and somewhat random effect on a team. I'll take the winning every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

I definitely agree he needs time and not being on the field does not indicate any failure as a pick. If we get Nate back he has even more time to develop, but I don't think he needs to have training wheels, and I would like to see him play in games this year, not so I can judge him as a success or bust, but so he can speed up his learning. Acknowledging his particular situation, at the same age from the same school at the same position, Nate played 16 games as a rookie (for a team coming off a 8-8 season and dropping to 3-13, so not a perfect blueprint) and had 53 tackles, a sack, and three picks. I'm not saying Ashton needs to accomplish that, but DB is not the QB position and does not require years of grooming. Also, even if the team can't focus on him catching up at the expense of others, you certainly hope and expect that he has been able to make a great deal of progress understanding the system since he has been back with the team. So again, in full support of Ashton and with full patience (because I want him to help us win a Super Bowl in the next five years a lot more than I care about him contributing this season), I think it is reasonable to expect that he has had some time to study and practice and close the knowledge gap with KT somewhat, allowing his physical talent advantages to cover some more of the gap. I would really like him to get on the field in the next four weeks for his own development, and so we can all say "wow, this kid has skills" and get excited. If we re-sign Nate and have Nate and Ashton at CB, with McGee as nickel (and returns obviously) and KT as a backup, and have Dante and Ko at safeties, I think that is the kind of secondary that can be a key piece of returning to the playoffs and winning a Super Bowl, and other than expensive veteran Nate is a tremendously young and cheap secondary as well. Go Bills!

We are effectively working without a cap, since Ralph will probably keep us under it anyway. When the speed limit is raised to 150mph it impacts the Ferrari Redskins, but not the Taurus Bills. I certainly hope I'm wrong and they make the numbers work revenue wise to be at the cap and be the best football team we are allowed to be.

Clarification: I'm a big Youboty fan, and think he will be fine and a future starter. The point I was making is that he has not been able to move ahead of KT on the depth chart right now. I think he will definitely pass him by the 2007 season, but I had hopes that his physical talents would be able to overcome his missed time to start his rookie year. Possibilities: 2006 KT > 2006AY due to circumstance (rookie/missing time). or 2006 AY > 2006 KT, but DJ either has made a mistake in evaluating this, or does not want to rock the boat while playoff hopes are alive. Either way I would love if we can find a way to get Ashton on the field (hopefully in a blowout we are winning?) in 2007, both for his development and experience, and so that he can be better evaluated. I definitely want to re-sign Nate, but if KT is a good nickel, and Ashton can step in as a starting corner, it gives us a backup plan. I find that backup plan scarier if Ashton finishes the year without playing a down.