Trader

You make a great point. The interview process for the Pegula family is a kind of meet and greet. They are getting to know the people around the league who coach teams from different perspectives and are learning what works and what does not work. I think the process is very encouraging for them and for the Buffalo Bills. I am confident that they will make a great decision here just like the one to sell all that oil exploration land a few months prior to the price of oil getting cut by 60%.

I interviewed people for a living for over 40 years. I also have extensive negotiations experience. I do not believe the interview process that the Pegula's are using is flawed. Actually it appears to be quite sophisticated. Kim's role is likely that of an active observer of the subject being interviewed. This role is not to ask questions but to evaluate the subjects responses to the questions both verbal and nonverbal As some of you know non verbal communication is a talent that is better developed in most women than it is in men.; Whaley's role is not to be minimized the coordination role is huge with this number of interviews and in this many locations Also I am sure that he prepared a list of football questions for each of the subjects. Some of you noted that Pegula is an engineer by training. Engineers are very detail oriented and I doubt that the proceedure is haphazard. This guy did not make billions of dollars by accident. This process constrasts sharply with the one used by the prior regime when Marone was hired.Frankly I thought at the time that the selection proceedure reflected a lack of energy by the organization. Ralph was not about to interview 15 candidates and I suspect that Nix just wanted to finish his duties and get on to the semi retirement phase of his career.

Let's see....looking at the standings today the Bills are tied for a super bowl berth. Why change anyone in the front office? At the end of the season there will be an evaluation of the organization, that is the time to see if there are any changes warranted both players and management.

I have been watching pro football for 50 plus years. This offensive line needs time to come together. It may take half the season to do so. The first half of this game showed who EJ is right now. The second half showed us who EJ can become. I hope that the offensive coaching staff, head coach and GM are up to the task of developing the full potential for this team. Playoffs will not happen this year but this team can make great strides in the second half of the season. The best case scenario is for a slow start and a strong finish. The fans are going to need more patience. Bad coaching and bad fans can put us back to square one again.

Cordy Glen is coming back that frees Henderson to move to RT. Assuming no OT injuries and that is always a big assumption they will be pretty good at Tackle. Kouandjo would certainly be great insurance if he could contribute this year but clearly that is not going to happen.

I think it is fair to say that right now it looks like a wasted pick. But I think that you have to examine the front office strategy as a whole. They picked three offensive linemen. They rolled the dice on two of them and right now they are at 50% positive. That is great for any draft. Richardson is performing well and Henderson is exceeding expectations. Two out of three is great. Maybe Kouandjo will come around next year maybe not but if Richardson and Henderson both pan out and Kouandjo fails you have to give the front office a B+ to A for a grade for o-line picks. Kouandjo or no Kouandjo.

I am sure that one of the local race tracks could provide a safer alternative to racing on Transit Road. The 70's Bills had Mulligans VIP club. The 90's Bills had Kelly's home. Apparently there is not enough "action" in town to keep these young guys out of trouble.

They cannot rely on Marcel this season. They need an emergency replacement now!

So change it to the Niagara Frontier, or the Niagara Power. The only Buffalo's who lived in Buffalo did so at the Zoo. The connection to Buffalo Bill Cody was that he did a few shows here as well as everwhere else in the world. Most would get used to it in a year. Some would never but it's always been a bend or break world.

The Bills need to make the assumption that Daruis will not be in the lineup for a minimum of 4 games and possibly faces a season long suspension. They need to find a DT who they can rely on this year. His career in the NFL is in serious trouble.

I am assuming the 600 million dollar premium paid over the existing estimated 900 million current estimated value is enough to convince the Owners of the trust who also own the Bills. Other than your family members is there anything that you own that you would not sell for say 200 million dollars?

So here is one way an out of town owner could buy the bills and break the lease. Let us say that a prospective owner is willing to part with a total of 3 Billion. He offers 1.5 Billion to the trust. That should blow all other offers out of the water. He then offers the county 1.5 Billion to buy out the lease. The politicians run for cover as they usually do and vacillate. A taxpayer group sues to bring the issue to a referendum. The voters go to the polls to vote on a 1.5 Billion dollar windfall. If it is a Toronto group the deal even gets sweeter because most of the pro take the money and run folks do not go to the games anyway and they are not going to buy seat licenses and they get to watch the Niagara Cascade play on TV anyway. I am no financial genius so if I thought of it you can bet the smart guys have too.

I think that Tom Brady will retire in one or at the most two years. He has too good a life ahead of him to retire as a banged up cripple and I believe he will want to go out on top. The Doors that are open to he and Gisele on an international basis are unlimited. Forget Buffalo and Boston It's about Life on the jet set for them with few stops in Hollywood, Milan, Paris and Singapore to pick up periodic cash infusions. Ocasional stops to meet with agents and financial advisors at Credit Suisse or Goldman Sachs. Then back to the Riveria, Monte Carlo and Rio working in some skiing in Switzerland and Aspen. Why in the world would he want to play football beyond two years?

Except that Lewan has been described as "quirky". He has had serious run ins with the law. Yes I know so has Henderson but he is a 7th round flyer pick not a first rounder. It just could be that they did not trust Lewan.

Exactly I think the word hypocrite fits here. If New England drafted Kouandjio he would be the steal of the draft.

We Have TJ Graham who is a lot like Beckham and Goodwin who is something like Beckham only faster. Beckham is less than 200 lbs and under 6 feet tall. In college he hears footsteps. If he hears footsteps in college they are going to sound like elephants in the pros. Beckham's production last year paled in comparison to Watkins. If we drafted another undersized receiver the fans would have gone bonkers.

This is right on as an analysis. Also all the analysis had Watkins as the very best WR in this draft. The "best" requires a premium. Watkins has more ball skills than Beckham who is a combination of a speed and route runner who is not going to out fight a DB for the Ball. The Bills need a guy who can win the contested battles. I also want to see our running backs behind these huge linemen. It is possible that the Bills will have the biggest OL in the league next year.

So we paid for Watkins in future picks. What about teams that got compensatory picks? didn't they lose player to get the "welfare" pick from the league? Should they not be considered to have surrendered value for that pick? It should be all about net losses and net gains no matter how the player is lost or acquired. Is that not the only standard that counts? Mel Kiper never played and he never coached, he never had a job as a scout, he knows what he reads and looks at film. It's the equivalent of your neighbor who is an auto mechanic looking at your x ray and telling you that you need surgery.

I am usually not hyper sensitive about negative comments and Buffalo. I have traveled a lot and I totally understand who we are and are not but. ..... ESPN and the other negative commentators need to be flagged for applying a double standard to our draft. The same guys who had Richard son and Ku Jo. high on their draft boards and list Watkins as the only true number 1 wr in the draft give us a C or a C- . By what standard? Oh they don't like how we got the number one pick? Do they criticize the Jets or SF by how they got the compensatory picks? Don't you have to subtract who they lost and then add who they gained to get a net net? How the Bills got the Watkins Pick has nothing to do with this years draft and everything to do with next years draft. Looks like WR envy to me.

Bills need to make a max effort to sigh TE Jordan Najver from Baylor compares to Crockett Gilmore who was drafted in the third round.

Mike Williams could show them the town! Seriously I hope these guys don't blow their last chance at a great life!

TE Najvier (Spelling? )

This is a very good pick of a player who is an "un-reach" . Yes some medical question marks or else he would have gone in the first. I predict that the Bills will back up their bet on him. They have another draft choice and there is also a pretty good free agent tackle in Eric Winston still out there. Whaley did say he was being brought in to "compete". All draft picks no matter how highly rated are risks.

Could be up or down. These Bills are not going to reach for a position just because they have a need. If the right tackle is not there they will not use the second round pick on him. Look for them to be active up and down the board for the rest of the draft. For those of you that worry about next year don't. Next year will be the year for free agent acquisition. It's tough to be a credible destination for free agents unless you have a winning record and show you are a contender. One thing is clear though EJ has the franchise on his back.

I am actually embarrassed for them when they talk football. Someone needs to ask them if it is such a bad thing to draft an OT in the first round then how do three of them go in the first 8 picks.