Cash

Any reports on Easley?

I'm sick of hearing about what a "threat" CJ is. No one cares about empty threats. Come back when he actually does take a couple to the house. Until then, could we please have a moratorium on "he's a threat to score every time he touches the ball"? That statement does not sync up with actual NFL results. No beef with you personally or your other points. Just really really sick of that one nonsense argument.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/5036/career;_ylt=AgV_EFdlu5eelgiLEpomGVj.uLYF High AZ yardage = 511 (56 yards/game). High AZ YPC = 3.7. High AZ TDs = 5. Big-time bust until he got to Chicago. Yeah, well, everyone in the top 300 is basically a high pick. I have to say, I love this exercise, but don't really like your criteria. First of all, a 7th round pick can never be a bust under any circumstances. If he ever plays in a regular-season game, that's a win. Second, the list becomes pointless when you include all draft picks and UDFAs. So only 0.5% became stars with 2nd/3rd teams? Who cares? What percentage of all draft picks and UDFAs become stars for their original teams? And there are plenty of good players who aren't stars. So basing the list around only stars is kind of silly, if you ask me. According to your argument, signing Scott Chandler (or Urbik, or Pears, or whoever) was a waste, because there's a very remote chance of him being a star. But what's the opportunity cost? If the Bills (or any team) followed your advice, who would they sign instead of another team's cast-offs? No team can fill out a roster (much less a training camp roster) without a bunch of minimum-salary-type guys. So if none of those guys have been cut by another team, who will they be instead? More UDFAs, most likely. And are those guys MORE likely to become stars than the Scott Chandlers of the world? If the answer is yes, then your strategy is great. Otherwise, it's not very helpful. The nature of late-round picks and UDFAs is that they weren't drafted high for a reason, the team has no investment in them, and they won't be given the kind of leeway that high picks get. So the Wes Welkers and James Harrisons of the world aren't very informative, in my opinion. Most of these guys won't pan out in the first place, or if they do, it'll frequently take a few years for them to develop. Sometimes they can stick around with one team until they develop (a la Jason Peters or Pat Williams), but sometimes they get cut in the interim. Look at Danny Woodhead last year. The Jets knew he could play, but he was 4th on the depth chart because there were higher-profile (and better) guys in front of him. So he was the odd man out when the Jets needed a roster spot. If Woodhead had been a 2nd-round pick, there's no way he's behind Joe McKnight on the depth chart, and no way he gets cut mid-season. I do think it's very valuable when you look at actual busts, i.e., high-round picks that did nothing for the team that drafted them. Because these are the guys who were (usually) given every opportunity to succeed, allowed to make mistakes without being cut, given extensive coaching resources to help them succeed, etc. And what this thread shows is that very few of those guys ever turn it around with another team. I think the lesson here is that if you're hoping to find another Thomas Jones or Marc Columbo, you'd better have a good idea of *why* he didn't do anything with team #1. In the case of Buster Davis, Buddy Nix thinks that the problem was injuries. I'm not sure if Rex Ryan has a justification for signing Maybin beyond "he went to high school with my kids" or "the Bills are incompetent," both of which are fairly weak. For me as a fan, this thread has shown me that when the Bills sign another team's bust, I should keep my expectations very low.

Brees was a Pro Bowler in SD before moving on to NO, although he did look like a bust his first couple years. Gallery has been with the Raiders his whole career. Simeon Rice might be a decent one, but I think he was pretty good as a rookie for the Cardinals. Maybe 10 sacks? I remember my relatives in Phoenix being really psyched when they had Rice and Andre Wadsworth at the ends. (Wadsworth was "the best DE prospect since Bruce Smith" who went #3 overall, had something like 5 sacks in his first 3 games, then tore up his knee and never really played again.) It's interesting that two of the definite players who make this list - Thomas Jones & Garrison Hearst - were top 10 picks by the Cardinals, and Rice might be a third. Says something about Cardinals management, I think. I agree with your definition of a bust. It seems like most of the candidates in this thread were either low picks/UDFAs that one team gave up on, or high picks that played well, faded, then rejuvenated themselves with another team. I'm surprised at how few true busts have ever actually panned out for another team. Definitely an argument against signing a guy like Gholston or Maybin. On the other hand, RB seems to be the most likely position to find a gem in a former bust (Benson/Jones/Hearst). Definitely an argument for giving CJ Spiller a long leash.

Great question. Donte wasn't offered a contract, but I would say that his 5 years of (disappointing) production count as distinguishing himself. Whitner wasn't really a bust - he was probably our second-best defender over the course of his career. And more importantly for this discussion, SF isn't taking a flyer on him as a reclamation project, they're paying him decent starter money to be a significant part of their defense. So I definitely would not count Whitner, even if he blows it up with SF.

Yeah, that would make me pretty comfortable, too. I still don't get the Poz hate. He's a solid but unspectacular starter. And loyal enough that Jax had to back up the truck to get him to leave town. Good for him. I know I wouldn't turn down that kind of money.

New Orleans traded two #1s, two #3s, and a few garbage picks, got 2 good years out of 3 Ricky was on the team (maybe 1.5 considering injury), and ultimately got two #1s from Miami in return. I'm sorry, but that worked out just fine for New Orleans. I think it's much more appropriate to exclude trades. A team could think that the "bust" is capable of turning it around, but also feel like they'd rather take whatever compensation is being offered than commit more time to developing the "bust." In any case, if you get something in return for him, it's not such a bust. Leaving as a free agent should count, though. If John McCargo suddenly became an All-Pro, would it matter that the Bills never cut him? As long as the player in question never distinguished himself during his rookie contract and wasn't offered a new contract, that's basically the same as cutting him.

I refuse to believe that neither Bryant McKinnie nor Jared Gaither is better than Cordaro Howard.

I arrived at that conclusion by watching Jones play. He's welcome to prove me wrong, but I doubt he will. And physically, they're not particularly close. If you dig up that WR picture from Camp Fitz during the lockout, you can see how much bigger Easley is.

I hope so... Jones is a nice feel-good story, but let's get real, he's not a starting WR in the NFL, and probably never will be. Easley probably won't be ready for prime time this year, but at least he has the size, strength, and speed to be a legit starter down the road. I hope he puts it together.

I think Chris Brown said that it's the same labrum that sidelined him last year.

But why does it have to be all or nothing? Okay, so d-line and linebackers come before o-line. No problem. But what's stopping them from signing Morrison AND McKinnie (or Gaither, or Waters, or Starks, or whoever)? Why was Plan A to hope Bell becomes a stud and never gets hurt, and Plan B was to panic and move Levitre over? I just don't get it.

No surprise, no big loss. Gotta figure Morrison will be at least a wash if not an upgrade. I just wonder why the Bills sometimes behave like a team that's trying to win (LB corps), and sometimes don't (OL, Evans trade)? If Demetrius Bell or Erik Pears went on IR a couple weeks ago, do you think the Bills would have signed Bryant McKinnie or Jared Gaither? If it happened today, would they sign Flozell Adams or another Morrison-esque veteran? I strongly doubt it. Both the head coach and the GM have publicly expressed concerns with the O-line, but the response has been only to shuffle around the existing players. That's puzzling. If the Bills treated the LB position the way they do the O-line, the response to Torbor's injury would've been the signing of an undrafted free agent or other young, inexperienced, unpromising player, and increased reps for the guys already on the team. Maybe moving Danny Batten back inside.

Count me in. I like how PO'd she looks in that photo, too.

Welcome back! Did you get everything sorted out with those day traders? To answer your question, no. That play didn't remind me of Darryl Talley at all. Much too handsome.

Uh, no. Extra points are made about 99% of the time. 37 yard field goals are made maybe about 80% of the time. Big, big difference.

Wow, the bolded part is just incredibly wrong. So far from correct. Nothing personal, but that is just a false statement. Remember that Plan A for replacing Peters was to move Langston Walker to LT. So the Bills didn't even think "go with Bell" was one of their options. Starting Bell was a fallback once it became clear Walker wasn't working out at LT in the preseason, and there was no one else on the roster to replace him. But wait! Let's rewind a bit. Peters was traded prior to the 2009 draft. We already held the #11 pick, and traded him for the #28 pick. We used those picks on Aaron Maybin and Eric Wood, respectively. However, the Bills could have easily chosen to use either pick on a LT prospect to try to replace Peters. Michael Oher would've been a great pick at #11, and that's right about where he was rated pre-draft. Eben Britton, Sebastian Vollmer, or Will Beatty would've been reasonable picks at #28, and the latter two were also available when the Bills drafted Jairus Byrd at #42, and also when the Bills traded up to pick Andy Levitre at #51. So yes, there were certainly other choices besides just "sign Peters" or "go with Bell." The Bills convinced themselves Langston Walker would work out at LT, so they passed up other options, and when the Walker move failed, that's when they had no choice but to go with Bell. But that problem was the Bills' own doing. No sympathy for a team that dug themselves into their own hole.

Not sure how that adds up to savings for the Bills. Because every time you put a guy on IR, you sign a new guy to replace him. The Bills haven't carried <53 players during the season at all, so putting guys on IR would cost money UNLESS you put high-salaried guys on IR and sign minimum-salary guys to replace them. Which hasn't been the case, as far as I recall.

So two off seasons rebuilding only the three-man defensive line, check. How many additional off seasons will it take to rebuild the five-man offensive line? Two more, or maybe three because there's more positions to address? So let's tentatively schedule the playoff tailgate for 2014, and hope a QB falls into our lap at some point as well.

The Bills are like $30 million under the cap and very low on talent. One of the few talented players just got traded in what might be a cost-saving measure. It's hard to blame anyone for voting with their wallet. If Ralph won't spend money on this team, why should we?

Wow, our coaching staff appears to have defused a potentially problematic situation through openness and communication. I'm surprised and pleased. Benching Jackson was a mistake, but how you handle your mistakes is usually a lot more important than the mistakes themselves. It's nice to see some good news for once.

Sorry, I forgot that going 4-12 puts you beyond reproach. Turns out the coaching staff must be really good at their jobs.

This. +1 to everything in this post. I was hoping "Trent Edwards is our QB. Oops, wait, turns out he sucks, now he's cut," was going to be the last of the head-shaking mismanagement from this team. Sadly that was not the case. I also put moving Moats back to ILB in this category. The problem is that Gailey (and just about every coach) constantly talks about competition - how important it is and how great it is. "Competition makes everyone better." "We just got better at that spot because we brought in two guys to compete." Etc., etc. Levitre's demotion from entrenched starter to "guy rotating with the 1's, competing for a starting job" was spun by both Gailey and fans as healthy competition that'll be great for the team. But there was NO ATTEMPT made, either this offseason or last, to bring in any competition for Demetrius Bell. One of the shakiest starters on the team, no depth behind him, at probably the 2nd-most important position, and the Bills decided they were all set. That's insane! And now the coaches look like boobs because Plan B is to take the guy who just got demoted at LG (and yes, going from entrenched starter to competing for a starting job is a demotion. Levitre & Rinehart have been rotating with the starters since that fateful day) and stick him in as a starting LT. It would make a lot more sense if you hadn't just undermined him by playing him with the backups. Anyway, I'm getting a little off track. My point is that it's fine for them to think (although I'd use the word "hope") that Bell would develop, but it's not fine to assume that that's the only possibility, and there's no need for depth or competition to push Bell's development. They didn't need to sign a big-ticket free agent (wouldn't have hurt, though), but they needed to do something. A cheap veteran, a decent draft pick, SOMETHING.

Yep. Waiver-wire pickups. I'll give you Merriman, though, because they "re"-signed him to a contract. For the record, Barnett was not offered a contract by his previous team. Legit free-agent signing, though. All waiver-wire pickups or cut by their previous teams. On second thought, I'm not sure about Martin. But I'd be shocked if the Dolphins had offered him a contract when we signed him. Scott was acquired under Jauron. Did he sign a recent extension that I missed? Both UFAs, neither offered a contract by their previous teams, although the Jets did theoretically want Smith back. I think we all get that "building through the draft" doesn't mean you literally never acquire a player any other way. I mean, the numbers don't work. You usually get 7 or 8 draft picks a year, and the roster is 53. So yes, some players must be acquired through free agency. But minimum-salary guys and waiver pickups (except Merriman) don't really count. They're like the undrafted free agents of free agency. Yes, occasionally you'll find a Jason Peters, but most of them are just warm bodies. Here's my point: Of the players you listed, how many of them are good? How many are starting because they are average or better NFL starters, and how many are starting by default? I count 5 starters, including Brad Smith. Maybe I should give you Andra' Davis as well, so that's 6. But that's it. No one else can be considered a "significant" free agent acquisition. John McCargo wasn't a significant free agent acquisition for the Bucs, and Mansfield Wrotto isn't a significant free agent acquisition for the Bills. I don't care if Urbik or Rinehart wind up as starters, unless they wind up as good starters. Someone has to start at every postiion, whether you have anyone good at that position or not.

That's because he was benched. (In only one game so far.) Had Gailey done the more common preseason move of starting Jackson, but taking him out after a few plays so that Spiller could get a lot of time with the 1s, I doubt Jackson would've been upset. But that's not what the Bills did. They benched Jackson in favor of Spiller, and that's specifically why Fred Jackson is upset. And despite the vast gulf between their current abilities as NFL RBs, Gailey praised Spiller's performance in the Denver game, and currently says that they're both #1 backs, and that Jackson is "slightly ahead." We're reading between the lines a bit, and thinking that it looks like either Gailey or someone above him wants Spiller to start, and is probably going to make that happen. Both Jackson and Levitre expressed confusion over a lack of clear communication from the coaching staff. Not a good sign. Plus, haven't all the Gailey boosters been talking up what a great culture he's instilling in the team, and how that leads to winning, etc.? I don't know about that. What kind of message does it send when Fred Jackson works hard and performs well, only to be benched for a #1 pick who continues to underperform? Now, if it winds up only being 1 preseason game that he gets benched for, Gailey can do some damage control, and probably everything will be fine. But if Spiller starts the regular season opener, what message does that send to the rest of the team?