KOKBILLS

The way they explained this on the NFL Network is...The Saints only submit the player as their Franchise Designation...It's the league office that decides the position based on where they lined up...In other words the Saints have zero control over it...

I was waiting patiently for this thread...It's a little late though...Already almost 4 hrs into Free Agency... A bit of a different twist this year...Not so much the Bills have not signed anyone yet but rather they will only sign bottom tier UFA's... Nonetheless I'm glad this thread is here and I look forward to reading the arguments on both sides...

When he said that I thought to myself...Well...He did not say "The Ralph..." That's not a good sign... I'm certain you're right about the cap situation...I'm super-skeptical that Saints will want to spend the majority of that cap savings on Byrd...He's only one player and they are creating holes...And if they do sign Byrd I'll be very interested in the structure of the deal and the guaranteed cash...It seems to me to be a real bad fit (not on the field of course) on the surface...But we'll see...

They had Murph on from Noon-3 PM...Murph interviewed Whaley at 1 PM...Pretty much non-stop football talk...Evan talked some football when they were interviewing Rob Ray...Don't know how much more they could do today...

While I really appreciate what Carpenter did last year the Bills drafted Hopkins for a reason. And the kid beat Lindell out fair and square...Now...If Hopkins is still injured then of course it forces the Bills hand a bit and getting Carpenter in is important, if not vital...But if Hopkins is healthy, and bombing 50 plus yarders the way he was last camp, then I think you move on and go with the kid...

I don't disagree the Bills would be better served to fill out the roaster in other ways...Look...Revis is not coming to Buffalo and this is a completely hypothetical discussion among Bills fans... The "good grief" was for attaching Revis' name to the 4th CB...If in this completely hypothetical situation the Bills considered Revis the last thing they would be thinking about would be the CB depth at the 4th position...They would be bringing in one of the best cover corners in recent history...That's all I'm saying...It would have nothing to do with depth and everything to do with a #1 shutdown CB... Revis is learning today that the $16 million figure may be a his one way ticket out of the NFL...It's certainly too much, and almost any team that pays him that will likely be renting him for a year...So we'll see how that goes...As far as Byrd vs. Revis...I'd rather not overpay for either to be honest...But if the money is close to the same I take Revis all day...But if it's Byrd for $8-9 million or Revis for $16 mil...Then yes, I'll take Byrd...

4th CB? Good grief...Revis may or may not be a pain in the ass...That seems to be a thing with great CB's anyway...No question they can be prima donna's...But this is Darrelle Revis we're talking about here...He's elite...One of the best CB's of all time...His presence on the Bills Defense would be game-changing...Again assuming he can stay healthy... http://tracking.si.com/2013/09/19/tom-brady-darelle-revis-best-cornerback-patriots-buccaneers-nfl/

I'm not crazy about the contract drama either...But maybe that calms down a bit after this ordeal...We'll see...And there really is no reason to trade for Revis when he's going to be released...That's why this is a complete hypothetical...But if anyone asked me if I would take Revis for Spiller straight up I would absolutely do that deal...It's nothing against CJ...I like CJ...But a healthy Revis is special...REAL special... I'm assuming you realize how much better Revis is than Robey right? Revis is elite...It's called Revis island for a reason...With the Bills pass rush, having Revis on one corner would be amazing... So the Bills CB depth chart would be Revis, Gilmore, McLovin, and probably Robey 4th...Robey would still play a ton...Now...Brooks, and most importantly Rogers would be in big trouble...

The only question with Revis would be the knee...I'm assuming he's fine...He returned to Pro Bowl and was the Sporting New Comeback Player Of The Year...Maybe he's not quite what he was before...To be honest I'm not 100% sure... That being said I would take a 100% healthy Revis over a 100% healthy Spiller any day, and twice on Sunday...Good NFL RB's are pretty easy to find...CB's like Revis come along once in a decade...Spiller is only 2 years younger than Revis and he's playing a position that is not conducive to a long career...Plus the Bills have Freddie and they can go out and get another RB...You can't go out and get another Revis...He would instantly turn the Bills Defense into one of the best in the league...Again assuming he stays healthy... I'm not saying the Bills would even consider this...Because I'm sure they wont...And I would rather have Spiller and Revis...It's completely hypothetical...But still...If Revis' medicals were all good, I'd do Spiller for Revis in a heartbeat...

Wow! Things are certainly getting interesting...

I had the pleasure of seeing Peppers live at UNC and at Carolina while I lived in Charlotte...I probably saw every game he played in College and his first 8 years in the NFL...He was an absolutely amazing player in his prime...Huge, fast, and powerful...What a special player... His play has really fallen off in the past year or two...I can't believe he's 34 years old...Good grief where does the time go?...

For me at least, the Byrd signing has a lot more to do with the Bills ability to keep their best players than whether or not I think it's a good idea to spend $8-9 million per year on a FS with PF in both feet... I think it's more than legitimate to make the argument that the money could be better spent...I think it's possible Byrd has peaked, the PF will continue to bother him, and by the time we get two years into the deal he'll be greatly over-payed...I also think it's probable Byrd plays at close-to-the-same-level for at least another 2-3 years, so if you pack most of the cash into the first three years it softens the risk...I think all in all it's better for the team to keep him, but the argument to let him go and use that money to sign a couple good mid-tier vets is legit no question... That's what makes this deal so polarizing...There are real good arguments on both sides...

Just wanted to congratulate all of you for helping this thread hit 100 pages... It may surprise some...But after listening to the callers on WGR and Murph's show tonight I think we're dealing with at least the top 10% of Bills fans as far as intelligent opinion is concerned right here in this thread... It may not be perfect...but it could be worse...A LOT worse...

I think it was all for cosmetics...They were getting obvious grief from some teams when UFA's were signed at 12:01 PM in the past...Knowing there was no way those teams were not talking to agents, and therefor basically tampering, they had to do something...So they set up this window for what used to be the illegal tampering time...

They can't...But they've been talking and negotiating for two days now...Things leak out...

Jon Beason... I think he would be the perfect match for Kiko...He's a leader and a heck of a good player when he's healthy...

Maybe it's just that...Who knows...Lots of unanswered questions still I guess...

Maybe so...And maybe he didn't... But at the end of the day it's still tough to leave a team that good...That's all I'm saying...

Right... I have no doubt Parker will try to make certain the deal looks amazing on paper no matter where he signs...The truth is, any salary figure after the first three years of this deal is going to be prime picking for cap cutting no matter where Byrd goes...At that point he's a 31 year old Safety who has never been the fastest guy anyway, and admittedly has suffered from PI in both feet...I realize not everybody is going to look at it this way...But to me what really matters in the Byrd deal is the signing bonus and the first three years...I can't imagine the Bills are going to insult Byrd with less than the $22 million guaranteed Dashon Goldston got last year... So...Anyway...To me at least...If Byrd signs a deal that pays him less than the reported $30 million over the first three years it's probably not as good a deal...Because the chances he plays year 4 of any deal he gets this year is 50/50 at best...So if he does that it's as simple as wanting to play elsewhere...And considering the Bills record since he's been here it's really tough to blame the guy for that...

Well... That and the fact that Seattle has more than earned a "hometown deal" if in fact that is the case with Bennett...They earn it on the field...Tough to leave that team...

That's exactly what I was thinking... If Byrd leaves and the contract ends up being in the $8 million range I think it's pretty clear he did not want to be in Buffalo...I can't imagine the Bills offered less...Especially if the AP report was accurate...

And now this... Albert Breer ‏@AlbertBreer 5m Word is that Jairus Byrd's asking price has scared some teams off. He's looking for more than $8 million per year, and may well get it.

It's pretty hard to find anyone with a big board out there that does not have Matthews in the top 5... If the Draft falls that way it would be awfully hard for the Bills to pass on him...He's likely the most NFL ready prospect in this entire Draft... Not to mention the bloodline factor...

As long as it's not with the Bills I'm AOK with it...

If it does I think we should have a "Whaley Avatar Day" in honor of our GM... Because that would be pretty freaking awesome...