BillsVet

It'd be easy to compare the situation with Peters, but that's for the other 12 threads going on. Evans has been very professional throughout this process, and it really only when he said a few things after a mini-camp or OTA did it get more notice. I believe he'll be re-upped in short order, but just the fact he's keeping the issue out of the press is a comforting.

I don't think anyone's arguing that he's a bad guy, but it's readily apparent that he's not nearly the athlete that it takes to play LT successfully in the NFL. He was out of football in 2006, and signed a street FA deal with Buffalo. He's the only NFL experienced OT on the roster outside of last years starters. What's more, the other OT's in camp are street free agents, UDFA's, and late round draft picks. It's absurd to think these caliber of players can neutralize the premier pass rushers they'll face this season.

It's worth noting that in a perfect world, Peters should be at camp right now. No question about it. The NFL is not a perfect world though, and Peters stands to earn 3.25M this season. By comparison, Michael Roos of Tennessee just inked a deal that averages 7.1M per, and he's not nearly the player that Peters is. Joe Thomas, by virtue of his rookie deal last year, earns roughly the same. Three years ago, Walter Jones signed a 7 year 52.5M deal, which is probably a lot closer to what Peters seeks, by probably not nearly what he's going to need. FWIW, the argument that Peters is in the league solely because of the Buffalo Bills, well, that's purely simplistic. Everyone's most hated GM picked him up, and ultimately Peters himself asked Mularkey how he could play. He went on to become a starter on the OL, and has only improved his play since that time. So much so that he's handled the most difficult line position and become the most dominant LT in the AFC. The point is, Peters has worked very hard and combined with superior physical abilities is the best Bills OT since Will Wolford. It's not just the Bills who have made him.

I think too many fans have forgotten the Eagles game at the end of last season. Chambers worked hard, but he has about 1/4 the athleticism to handle the LT job. Buffalo has nothing at OT with NFL experience after Chambers. Only the QB position is more important on offense, perhaps the entire team. It'd be nice to say "we'll go with Chambers or Walker at LT" but neither have the requisite skills to play the position.

I thought Overdorf did contract negotiations? Even still, transparency isn't required in this process, and being honest probably hurts the situation. I'll take an educated guess and say there's been preliminary talk between the two sides. Still, it's worth noting that Brown is a mouthpiece for the Bills organization, as Peters and the agent are for their side. A "fair and balanced" perspective is probably out of the question here.

Chris Brown's slight comparison of Kyle Williams' and Brad Butler's situations with Peters is downright laughable. I can't really trust anything that comes out of OBD, especially in light of this talk that there's been no communication. You know that even if Peters hadn't contacted them, they want to know why their best lineman hasn't felt it necessary to report to training camp. It is times like this when a savvy front office type with experience in handling personnel matters would be invaluable. Unfortunately, the Bills don't have a GM, and didn't feel the need to get one.

In all reality here, the Bills have handed out what I'd call two large contracts in the past two years. Both Dockery and Schobel received big deals, and Lee Evans will follow shortly-I hope. The two to Dockery and Schobel put this situation on the map, not to mention the deals for FA OL in NY (Diehl) and TEN (Michael Roos) All the other contracts (Mitchell, Butler, K. Williams, Parrish, and Stroud) are minor to slightly above average deals. I've got to believe the Bills don't have the money to extend Peters, given the enormity of the contracts they've handed out. It doesn't help that the team handed out large contracts to two other lineman and the going rate for young line talent has risen so rapidly. That, and Evans must have a deal soon. I'm not trying to say one way or the other, but as KFBD said, there's issues from both standpoints.

The Butler and Williams agreements shouldn't even factor into this. A Pro Bowl LT at age 26 is far and away different that an average at best DT and promising RG. And neither one are even on the same field as Peters when it comes to future potential. Ordinarily I wouldn't support a player who wants a new deal. Russ Brandon may talk tough, but he's in over his head on this one, and the example RB used repeatedly about giving Peters a deal two years ago doesn't wash. Going into 06, Peters earned the starting RT spot. I'm convinced it was McNally or another OL coach who told Jauron that Peters could make the transition to LT, and it happened after the bye week in 2006 when the OL was hurting under the weight of players like Tutan Reyes and mediocre OLT play from Mike Gandy. So it was that Peters became their go to OL, and the Bills ran behind him more often than not. Now he's proven that he can play the most crucial spot on the OL against some of the best pass rushers in the league. And...Buffalo has no one else remotely capable of handling this job. I daresay that only 3-5 OLT's in the league can play at Peters' level. This is when a savvy personnel man in a GM role is needed. Draft day is nice for taking pictures, but it's what's not going on behind the scenes that is irritating in this case. RB says the team has had no contact with either the player or agent. Frankly, I'm not buying it, and I think Peters has all the leverage in a situation like this and the Bills know it.

I hope we can all say that in January. With a playoff appearance.

Jeffrey Chaditha from ESPN did an article about players that their respective teams cannot afford to lose. Of course Brady, Manning, AP, Haynesworth et al. were mentioned. But if there's a player Buffalo can't lose, it's Peters. Not simply for lack of depth at OT, but because his play has been above and beyond what the average replacement can offer. Jauron sounded authoritative (he spoke above a whisper) when talking about Peters' absence, but it's clear this isn't something he can control. It's up to the front office to sort this mess out. They can continue to stick to principle, but a precedent was set by re-doing Schobel's deal, and he didn't nearly make the stink that Peters has thus far. If it's good enough for one star player, it should be for another. Everyone in that locker room knows Buffalo can't possibly expect to succeed with Peters. And you can bet the front office knows it too.

Ralph will forever be an anti-hero, both reviled and appreciated by Bills fans. He's the one who started it all in Buffalo, and the man who refuses to assure the fans about a long term solution to keeping the franchise here. While the latter may be rooted in financial reasons, many of his recent comments indicate his dissatisfaction with the region in general. On one hand, the average WNY'er can hardly blame him, but going out of the way to make fun of Buffalo at the Toronto press conference a few months ago was uncalled for. Ralph's remains a PR nightmare who has complained about the same issues since the 60s. He was obviously correct about the recent CBA, though the way he's publicly voiced his opinion is what irks me. The NFL is hard of hearing when dealing with revenue sharing and other areas which hurt small market teams. At the same time, it's important for the league's survival that small markets are not completely shut out, which is what might happen if every team becomes unofficially charged with building new stadiums. On that matter, Ralph's right and you've got to give him credit for highlighting these issues.

I'm sure Peters' agent also knows the Bills head into the 08 season with nearly 20M in cap room based on Peter King's recent MMQB column. King-Teams with most cap space (as of 7/21) As much as I'm against re-negotiating a contract with 3 years remaining on it, owners have lost considerable leverage since the new CBA was signed and the financial landscape of the NFL went into the stratosphere. Players like Peters will get a new deal, sooner or later, regardless of principle because he's too valuable to the team. It may not happen this season, but it will eventually.

The main reason Jauron and Jerry Angelo didn't get along in Chicago was because DJ wanted personnel control, to which Angelo said screw you. When DJ didn't produce in 02 and 03, he was gone, and Angelo assumed personnel duties, as would any normal GM. It's reasonable to believe he's got that control in Buffalo, especially given that neither Marv nor Russ Brandon are classic personnel types in the front office. Your argument here that DJ doesn't have overall responsibility is ridiculous, and it's worth noting that many of the picks on this team would naturally fit with what DJ wants. The whole 2006 draft had Jauron's stamp of approval all over it. If you think Levy did anything but take his Metamucil on draft day, you're fooling yourself.

Despite not being an offensive-minded coach, Jauron's responsibility as HC does not begin and end with defense. He bears responsibility for the entire team, and simply abdicating responsibility for the offense to an inept Fairchild is unacceptable. Jauron's had immense personnel control since his hiring. If the team cannot score points, he bears even more responsibility than most HC's in the league. Just blaming Fairchild for the offensive woes is short-sighted and absurd.

It's my impression that the rookie cap allocation is already included in those numbers. Each team has a set amount, depending on draft position, to use for signing rookies.

Seems like there are about 8-10 teams going all out to win this season. And then there are the rest. It's obvious this is a win now move, but NO has a decent amount of room in cap space, with more than 24M. For the record, only KC, GB, TB, MIA, and NO have more cap room than Buffalo according to Peter King in his MMQB column today.

Krazy, you have 72 posts and counting today. That's 3x more than anyone else today. We get that you prefer JP more than Trent. Fine, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but stop bludgeoning us to death with them.

With facts like these, who needs opinions? For the record, Ikegwuonu was a first round talent before his ACL tear, even with his background. Your brilliance is noted.

Go check the game stats against Wisconsin and CB Jack Ikegwuonu who completely shut down Hardy.

You fail to recognize that not all front offices are created equal. Ever wonder why NE, SD, IND, GB, NYG, PHI, JAC, and SEA have success nearly every year? It's because their FO knows what it's doing. They know who to get and how to prioritize their draft. GB's pro scouts had their sh** together and found Grant. Pro Scouting is on the endangered species list in Buffalo, where the department is run by a guy with more failures than the HC. In the Michael Lombardi article on this board, he was spoken to by Bill Walsh, who told an excited Lombardi that there are generally about 8 teams competing to win the SB. It's no different this season. Most teams are pretenders. GB is not, despite the Favre fiasco.

I say this in the context of every GM in the league knows what the Bills holes are. They're as obvious as the sun. In 07 they went RB and LB after trading McGahee and letting Fletcher walk. In 08, they went CB and WR, two huge needs, considering they'd let Clements walk in FA two years before and that the Peerless Price experiment failed so miserably. Guys who get paid to do what we only talk about on this board know the tendencies of people like DJ, especially considering Buffalo has no bonafide GM. Check those drafts from about 94-00. You know, the post-Polian years. Overall, they were dreadfull and didn't result in much more than one contributor from each draft. If you like the guy enough to draft him and he works out, why let him go to FA? Good teams don't do this, why does Buffalo? You said he needed to go. From a contract perspective, he had no leverage. Ultimately, the Bills did not have to deal him. All they had to do was call his bluff and super-punk Drew Rosenhaus had very little to do. You can hate him as a player (he's a jerk), but the Bills opened up a hole by trading him. Imagine having McGahee for one season, and then using the first to move around in the first round. Replacing RB's happens quite frequently. Right now, it's unclear what this team's long term strategy is. Marv talked about character players, though months after his retirement, the Bills FO has eschewed that in favor or risky characters.

The trading of McGahee in turn forced them to select a RB in the first round. Talk about predictable, it doesn't take Nostradamus to realize Buffalo telegraphs their top picks year after year. More than likely draft picks do not help a team win in their rookie season. Think about what the Bills might have done with that first round pick had they kept McGahee. Two thirds and a 7th are nice on paper, but what they generally offer on the field isn't as much. That's why unused draft picks are worth more than a player. It's why first rounders aren't part of too many trades for veteran players. This is not an argument about whether or not McGahee or Lynch are nice guys or not. It's not even whether one's better than the other. It's about allocating resources. Buffalo's spent 2 first rounders on RB's in five years. This in turn prevents them from addressing other areas, like OL and DL.

It should be noted that Jeremy Green wrote this article for ESPN, and his opinion is practically worthless. The real question on offense is whether or not DJ will let his hand-picked (and only interviewee) OC run an offense that scores some points. In two seasons, the DJ's Bills averaged 17 points per game, which as we've seen will not be enough to win. I'm not convinced DJ will allow Schonert to be aggressive, but will revert to his style of the last two seasons that takes less chances and offers little reward.

Surprised no one's said anything about McKelvin. I see him winning the nickel corner job and eventually working his way into the starting line-up. I'm especially interested to see if he can put to rest the talk that his ball skills are sub-par. The team has said he won't return kicks, but he's proven so good at it in college, it'd be a waste for him not to.

7 DB's picked in 3 seasons versus 8 total picks on the OL and DL. McCargo is the highest picked OL or DL. No OL before the 5th round in three drafts. Buffalo has used as many picks (8) on offensive skill positions as they have on their OL and DL. And yet, there's an issue running the football and stopping the run. So much so that the braintrust at OBD decided to give up a third and a fifth on a DT (Stroud) who has had a hard time remaining on the field. And we can't forget giving up a 2nd and 3rd to move up to select McCargo just 2 years ago. Don't forget spending 17.5M on a DL tweener in Spencer Johnson. From a resource management perspective, the Bills attempt to patch up rather than solve problems, particularly on the DL is not the answer. The OL features 3 FA's, none of whom lived up to their contracts last season. Donahoe's way of finding cheap OL and DL has been followed by Marv and Dick's method of spending big on FA OL and DL to focus on more DB's and RB's. Just like the Colts, Chargers, Giants, Jaguars, Pats*, and Packers do. Donahoe's reign of error is eerily similar to what's going on now, albeit with Brandon playing the role of GM. The result is the same however-no playoffs.