BillsVet

Corrected myself with the Saints in a previous post. Brees is an exception, being that he was allowed to hit UFA after that terrible injury. Not many teams roll from one good QB to another, GB being another example. I just don't see franchise QB's, injured or otherwise, hitting free agency. Of course, Peyton Manning might...

I wouldn't go so far as to put words into my mouth, and if you're alleging this is directed at anyone in particular, you're flat wrong. Go on being self-righteous and defending an organization mired in a 12 year slump that apparently is on the verge of greatness if it weren't for another season of massive injuries. I just have a hard time rationalizing failure year in and year out.

Here's the thing, and it's a nuanced argument so it typically goes over the head of big homers, but you don't let top players get to the season before they hit UFA unsigned. It should be noted for the one millionth time that the deal was closer to 7 years and 64M with about 25M guaranteed. Not exactly the 80M his agent probably reported to the press, but would not have been as high if Buffalo made a decision on the player during the early part of 2006. But I digress. GM's and Pro Personnel types get paid to manage and anticipate issues before they become obvious. A good front office would have made a decision to either re-sign NC during the 06 off-season or franchise and then trade him if they deemed him not part of their future plans. Marv and the rest of management did neither, lost the player, and went about blowing more picks on DB's. Buffalo's motive for all of these player departures is simple: money. I didn't expect for one minute they'd retain all 9 of those departed players, but with their cap situation it's reasonable they could have retained 3 or 4. Not so, and the product never seems to escape the 4-7 win territory while homers rejoice when RW saves money and buy into the maligning talk spewing from OBD.

And how do you replace 80 catches and 1000+ yards next year? No WR on the roster can provide that production and using a top pick takes away from the other positions that need an influx of talent. The marginalization of Stevie continues. More like rationalizing not having to spend on their best receiving threat.

It never gets hard for some to rationalize getting rid of players. In the last five years Fletcher, Clements, Spikes, McGahee, Greer, Peters, Lynch, Posluszny, Evans, and probably Stevie will be allowed to leave for little or no compensation with top draft picks used to replace them. And not surprisingly they'll be a group of homers there to applaud every departure. The more things change...

Baltimore fell to 5-11 in 2007, took Flacco in the 08 draft and have made the playoffs ever since. It's a debate whether that qualifies as a rebuild, but they did grab a QB early. New England hasn't rebuilt since the 2000 season, and I'm sure that Brady wasn't thought of as their franchise guy in April 2000 or a suitable replacement for Bledsoe. They are probably the only team that's not used a high pick on a QB, i.e. a first or second, at the outset of rebuilding. NO didn't draft one high, choosing to sign Drew Brees and Houston traded for Matt Schaub. Having said all of this, Ryan Fitzpatrick is not your long term answer at QB. At least if you want to be better than 8-8, which with a supporting cast is what I think he's topping out as. And right now it's debatable if the Bills will keep enough talent, owing to the financial requirement, to surround him and mask his deficiencies.

A rookie QB with 21 TD passes, albeit in a pass happy league, is nothing to run down. Were it not for Cam Newton, Dalton has had the best rookie season for a QB in years and he was a second round pick. His numbers, again for a QB, are on par with Green's as a rookie WR picked top 5. Rebuilding a team means finding your long term answer at QB. The Bills haven't been in prime position to take one, but you can't go 3 drafts without doing something for the future. Perhaps Nix leaves this one to Whaley when the younger man takes over. Still, I don't know of one successful rebuild where the front office eschewed taking a QB in the draft.

Why the Bills converted to a 3-4 in 2010 remains one of the biggest obstacles to rebuilding that defense and the team. Buddy Nix and his staff forced that upon the coaches and after so many draft picks and UFA dollars, appear no closer to a good defense than the DJ/Fewell unit in 2009. Kyle Williams is best served as a 1 or 3 tech in a 43, not as a 1 gap 34 NT.

Depends on his contract demands. If he's a core player, and I think most agree he is, then re-sign him before he begins his final season. If they let him get close to UFA, the cost goes up and the Bills will say he costs too much. Buffalo has some big decisions to make with Byrd, Levitre, and Johnson. All of them should have new deals within the next 6-8 months.

Your contention remains that Detroit's 3 year rebuild was predominantly on the shoulders of top picks. I would only submit that other teams without the benefit of top 10 picks have successfully rebuilt and done it quickly. The Packers have drafted twice in the top 10 in a decade and have built quite a roster in the past 7 drafts Ted Thompson has run. Baltimore hasn't had a top 10 pick since 2003 and they've successfully rebuilt off the Kyle Boller years. Teams do not need high picks, but if you have them they need to count. Saint Louis has had a bunch and are still a team in transition. Best thing about rebuilding is you don't have to completely bottom out to complete one like Detroit did.

He's the best 6'8" center in the league. NFL that is.

Jay Glazer reported that Buffalo was not listening to offer before Lynch was traded before the 2010 trade deadline. Glazer per PFT re: Lynch There was no long drawn out process for trading ML last year. And while I'm sure some will attack Glazer, this goes in-line with the Bills and their commitment to holding everything close to the vest. Peter King reported that the Bills were a "black hole of information" before the 2011 Draft. I think we can insert that clip from Billy Madison again.

First, I have to ask what the identity of this team is moving forward. Spiller is looking like a nice player, but is this a run first or pass first offense? It doesn't seem like either at this point late into the second season of rebuilding. People here talk up Gailey all the time, but what does this team do well that you can point to and say they're good at? If they're a pass first team, well, now they appear to have two good backs and a mediocre QB. If they're run first, Gailey throws it a lot and abandons the run when things aren't going well or they get one or two scores down. And furthermore, when a team thinks it's rebuilding, just drafting good players isn't enough. Personnel then becomes more targeted and tailored to your team's identity. I just don't get the feeling Buffalo is developing anything than just trying to find players rather than identifying what they want to be. Spiller is an example of that.

Seeing Tashard Choice on the field in third down situations drop passes and run for small gains indicates to me that Chan is in protect mode re: his job. He's not going to allow rookies or lesser experienced players like Spiller to make mistakes when he can take the safe route with people he knows. And he's not calling the downfield throws anymore which were intercepted in games like at NYG. Rather, everything is in the flat, and those short passes every team knows is coming. Chan plays Choice for the same reason DJ had Anthony Thomas start a few years ago when Fred Jackson was waiting in the wings. Thomas was clearly past his prime and offered little, but was the safer option for DJ who had him for three seasons in Chicago. HC's always go with their guys, especially when they need them to get the ball. Coaches are about self-preservation in the NFL and hope that translates into wins. Chan is no different and undoubtedly knows being 10-21 is a lot closer to being unemployed than being 4-12 with cast-offs.

At which point do you run out of excuses for the Bills and their 12 seasons of failure?

How does making the playoffs set Detroit back three or four years? They've gone from bottom of the bottom and turned it into a good team, albeit one with some flaws. Buffalo is not even close to completing their rebuild, but Detroit did it in three seasons.

Only Buffalo could have a RB controversy, and this isn't the first time. The fact that some see Spiller's production as a reason for Jackson's departure shows that fans are prepared for the usual Bills offseason cost-cutting shenanigans.

A few things come to mind reading this thread. Nix was Pro Personnel director when SD made some high dollar signings. Now as Buffalo GM he says they'll build through the draft and he talks RW out of spending. All of this policy sounds more like team restrictions and not the GM's philosophy. That said, Dwan Edwards was a good signing in addition to Barnett.

How in goodness is this an apt comparison? SB contenders similar to the Bills?

Wilson only makes the first round picks. He leaves the late round picks to the personnel guys. Merry Christmas!

Why, so he can be injured again next year? Couldn't someone find a tackle who can play an entire season? Both Bell and Hairston are proving less than durable. Just once I'd like to see this team find someone who can play 16 games.

Didn't care much for the Tebow sucks chants either. Should have seen it coming when someone yelled eff the Catholics on the way in. Tebow's not even Catholic, but crowd behavior wasn't great considering it was Christmas Eve.

Yet if they'd have just followed his draft guide they could have drafted so much better. Someone should propose this as a cost cutting move: Fire the entire college scouting department and order subscriptions to Kiper's service. Imagine how much money RW/Littmann/Brandon/Overdorf could save!

Since when have the Bills been actively signing quality free agents to give them options in the draft? The only decent UFA they've signed since 2006 has been Barnett. I don't see that changing now.

Which NFL franchise takes their fans through the ringer like this one does? This is the same owner who said the team would take a QB last year, but we're not even debating the Toronto thing, which is the main point of the article. It's become so bad we're forced to wonder if the nonagenarian owner is actually lucid.