Cash

+1!

I don't think it takes any particular football savvy to know that Calloway at least can't play in the NFL. He was an early cut in training camp last year, was not offered a spot on the practice squad, and (to my knowledge) has not been signed by another NFL team. I don't know what more you need than that. As for Wang, yes he's still on an NFL roster, but would you be willing to bet that he makes any NFL team's opening day roster in 2012? That's not a rhetorical question, by the way. I'm legitimately curious. There's a chance Wang develops into a real NFL player, but he's not on pace to do so. I agree with the previous poster that Wang won't ever be able to play (well) in the NFL, but I wonder if there are any Wang supporters out there. Besides jockey shorts, I mean. (Sorry couldn't resist)

Urbik is a stud.

I dunno, I wouldn't be surprised to see the draft thread of any TBD-era player bumped if he had some sort of major positive milestone. Certainly if one made the Hall of Fame

And the other factor is that you have to re-sign 100% of your good draft picks. They only get 3-5 year deals (counting the options on 1st-rounders), so building through the draft is useless if you let any of them walk.

Big time. If the Bills are serious about not signing free agents, not trading for players, and not trading down, then they need to spend heavily on scouting, because their 7 picks need to be a lot better than everyone else's 7 picks.

Maybe take a nap before posting?

Bigger isn't necessarily better, especially if it's too slow, but you're right that Jauron's philosophy was always doomed to fail. I like the part where you want fast guys, but not the bizarre obsession with SMALL fast guys. In fact, sometimes the small part seemed to be more important than the fast part. Maybin over Orakpo, of course, is the epitome of Jauron's crazy small-guy obsession. I think that what you want are guys who are big, strong, fast, and smart. (Duh.) This. People frequently mistook Trent's high completion percentage as indicative of accuracy. Wrong. He was a fairly inaccurate passer who typically attempted low-risk, low-reward passes. Edwards was always very poor at hitting moving targets in stride, particularly if there were defenders nearby.

Hi Mr. Nix!

Why is it a fait accompli that 1.) Evans will be washed up very soon (he's 30, not 35), and 2.) There's no chance the Bills re-sign Evans when his contract is up? Especially point #2. We know the Bills have little interest in signing other teams' free agents. But can't they at least sign their own? How long is this rebuilding project supposed to last? Do we spend 3 years getting rid of everyone over 30, and only then start trying to lock up talented players?

I predict 10.

Serious question: Why should I bother watching any games this year?

I'm still wondering who these LBs are that make 90% of their tackles within 2 yards of the line of scrimmage.

Great post! Seeing the stats for James Harrison makes me wonder why they don't move him to ILB a la Arthur Moats. Don't the Steelers know that Harrison doesn't have prototypical size for OLB? On a more serious note, regardless of Maybin's listed weight, we can all see how skinny he looks in practice footage available online. Forget about TE, he currently looks like a WR in terms of build. He's noticeably smaller than he was last year. I find it very hard to believe that anyone with that (relatively) slight of a physique could succeed at LB in the modern NFL. I can't remember ever seeing a LB that skinny out on the field during a game. Maybe he'll become some sort of crazy outlier, but I don't see it. I feel like he would have shown *something* in his limited action last year if he was ever going to be successful.

I think the problem is not so much that Nix chose to address D-line *first*, but that he chose to address D-line *exclusively*. Here's the entirety of attention to the O-line this offseason: 1 4th-round draft pick undrafted free agents And that's it. Nix continues to talk up Urbik's high ranking on their draft board in 2009, as though that has any relevance anymore. He did make an attempt to sign a RT, so maybe he's not as sold on Pears as he claims, but there's been ZERO attempt to upgrade the LT position, not even for depth. I think the plan is to hope all of the young guys come through. Not a great plan. The more I think about this roster, the more it feels like we're in Year 1 of a rebuild, not Year 2.

Thanks so much for these breakdowns! I'm firmly in the pro-Evans camp, and I feel like he has a positive effect on the offense even if the ball isn't being thrown his way. I just keep coming back to how bad our offense was once he went down last year.

Count me in!

Agreed. Seems totally spot on. This is where I would send non-Bills fans who wanted to get an idea of where the Bills are at.

Both very good scenes. I usually tell people to go to whichever's easier for them to get to. For me, that's Bleacher Bar, so I haven't been to the Harp in a while. But it always got pretty rowdy in the lower bar area. The window itself is in center field, a little left of the mound. The entrance to Bleacher Bar is about where the left-field wall bends into center. It's on the other side of Lansdowne from HOB, maybe about halfway between HOB and the Cask N' Flagon. Great place to watch a Sox game as well. As for parking, I can't help you there. I would think there's some reasonable options as long as the Red Sox aren't playing, though.

I'd put us above the Panthers for sure, but maybe below the Bungles. I think we should be above the Redskins as well. Fitzpatrick >>>>>>>>> Beck. Unless you mean as a musician, in which case Beck >>>>>>>>>>>> Fitzpatrick.

Thanks for the heads up; I'll probably check it out. Any highlights worth mentioning?

I don't see it. This year's team isn't much different from last year's, and last year's was terrible. None of the units (offense, defense, or special teams) was what I'd call good, although the offense was at least watchable (big upgrade from the Jauron/Trent era). Our D should be better this year, but the O? Eh. We'll see.

It seems like only the Panthers' re-signings and Poz got overpaid. Just about everyone else went for what would have been below market value last year.

Gailey's reasoning is very sound at draft time, but not so hot when you consider that Moats has played well at OLB and poorly at ILB in actual NFL games. Also, I thought that you wanted the height and long arms to set the edge in the run game, not for pass rushing? There's a good number of short pass rushers who use their low center of gravity to dip under those 6'5"+ OTs. Freeney, Mathis, & Dumervil immediately come to mind.

I say pass on McKinnie. Beyond being out of shape and maybe washed up, he's got a terrible attitude. I'd rather roll the dice with our atrocious unproven high-character guys than intentionally swallow a poison pill. I'd be singing a different tune if McKinnie was in shape and still displaying Pro Bowl form, but he ain't. Roth would be a very nice signing, but it'll never happen. Well, maybe if Merriman went on IR in training camp. Even then I think they'd just move Moats back to OLB and call it a day.