KOKBILLS

Pick 9: Mike Evans WR Pick 41: Morgan Moses OT Pick 73: Telvin Smith OLB - I like his speed and length to match up with TE's and play some weak side... Pick 105: CJ Fiedorowicz TE Pick 137: Phillip Gaines CB Pick 169: Dontae Johnson DB Pick 201: Max Bullough ILB

Battle Royal between Evans and Ebron shaping up!!!

Well it's still early...Tough to get a gauge on the teams ahead of us...But I still think it will be Evans, Ebron, Lewan, or Matthews...One of those 4... I'm leaning more towards Evans every day though...Especially after I heard Whaley's comments the other day...I think the Bills are dying to get EJ a big target...

Who needs music to get laid? And if you think Rush is about Geddy's voice you simply do not get it...But that's cool...Not everyone does...

I'm pretty sure all Bills fans remember Aaron's struggles at CB... According to Marrone, Searcy will likely remain in his role as the 3rd Safety...He has a specific role in the Defense and they really would rather not mess with it because they feel he is very effective in that role...Duke Williams and Jonathan Meeks are the next men up if Byrd departs...Plus I'm sure the Bills will look towards Free Agency and the Draft (in the middle rounds) to see what they can get... Just listened to Aaron Williams on John Murphy's show and it does seem like it's still a possibility...The one thing Aaron wanted to make sure he put out there was that Byrd would very much like to come back to Buffalo if they can work it all out...So...We'll see...

Doubt it...

He's next...Seems pretty logical...

Rush is the greatest thing about Canada...Past, present, and future...Period...End of story...

Yep!

Exactly... Lets look at it another way...Lewan is a hell of a good athlete...An incredible athlete for a LT prospect...But Glenn is bigger (35 lbs heavier), has longer arms, he's stronger, and he's only .28 of a second slower than Lewan in the 40...And most importantly Glenn now has 29 games of experience as an NFL LT...It's nothing against any of these good looking OT prospects...But why play games with your very young QB's blindside? Especially when your current LT is arguably top 5 in the NFL in pass blocking efficiency...It just makes no sense to move Glenn...

This deal is going to look like a heck of a bargain after 2014...That's my prediction at least...

I fully agree they should have tagged him to at the very least test the market for the first couple weeks of free agency...Just to see if they could get something for him...They can pretty much remove the tag anytime they want to because there is no way Byrd is going to sign that tender any time soon... Without knowing for certain it's all speculation...But again I'll guess...And my guess is the Bills feel that by not tagging Byrd they are back in his good graces...And they also feel he's not going to get near what they offered him from any team he really wants to play for...So in the end he'll be forced to choose between taking less to play for a contender, or taking close to what the Bills are offering, to a little more, from a team like Cleveland...The Bills are gambling that puts them in a decent position...That's just my guess...

Well...Regardless of where the truth lies do you really believe Marrone or Whaley are going to publicly accuse Byrd of sandbagging? Come on now...Let's not be naive... Here's my theory for what it's worth...And it's just my theory, but hear me out... Byrd suffers from PI...Legitimate PI...It's something he's had before and played through...But...Due to his contract situation Byrd suddenly decides in a very respectful way he's not going to go out on the field unless he feels 100% healthy...Now...Understanding that NFL players almost never feel 100% healthy at any given time during the season this sends a clear message...A message that carries throughout the year...and...into this off season...The message is...If you Franchise me I am going to protect my future by ONLY playing when I'm 100%...Therefor if Byrd suffers say...a papercut...He's out until the thing heals...This is never verbalized...But it's understood...They know what's up... I think knowing this, Whaley and the Bills decision makers were unwilling to chance tying up over $8 million in cap space for a player that was willing to sit out multiple games, while getting paid, for what could or could not be legitimate injury issues...I think the fact that they were willing to spend $30 million over three years for Byrd proves beyond a shadow of a doubt they don't believe the PI to be serious, or chronic, or anything that would keep Byrd off the field in the future...So it's pretty easy to assume the injury that kept Byrd off the field for 5 full games, an injury that can be chronic for someone who basically makes his living running, was questionable at the very least...And more than likely it was a legitimate, albeit minor, injury that was used to send a clear message...

Sorry...But what fans are you talking about? The one-tenth of one percent of Bills fans that are truly happy about it? Because believe me, 90% of the VERY few fans that SEEM happy about Byrd leaving are really not happy...They're more pissed and acting like they're glad about it because that's the tough way to show anger... Even Bills fans who think it was the right move are by-and-large not happy about this... Try the word "some," or "a few..." Less generalization please...

It is interesting... Listening to Whaley today...not to say that he was giving anything away...but it certainly seemed like bringing in a big target for EJ was a top priority...There will be that opportunity at #9 for sure...Ebron or Evans...Maybe in a small trade down...But you can't go too far down if you want one of them...

Point taken...

Believe me when I tell you Bill I'm not a huge Marrone guy either... But in this case not only do I think he's right in praising Glenn, but I also think he was sincere...

I really have no problem with Lewan...But if the Bills Draft him he's playing RT... I generally respect Kirwin...But some of these guys just don't follow the team enough, or do enough study on Glenn specifically to understand the Bills are not going to move a top 10 NFL LT who is still young and improving inside to OG...Marrone heaped a ton of praise on Cordy recently...He seems to love the kid at LT...I just don't know where this crap comes from...Especially when you talk about bringing in a totally unproven Rookie to replace him at LT...Why? They already have a LT...It's not like when they Drafted Cordy...Because they actually needed a LT then...They have one now...They have a good one...Why mess with it?

Agreed... I think Cleveland is one of the very few teams that...if everything was equal...Byrd would choose Buffalo over... Just my opinion...But I'm thinking if Cleveland really wants Byrd they are going to have to go ridiculously high on the offer... When Mario signed here the Bills looked like 78 Steelers as an organization compared to how Cleveland looks now...It matters not what kind of spin Cleveland puts on things, it's going to be a leap and a half for any high-end UFA to put their trust in that organization as it is now...Next year maybe...But right now that thing looks like a train wreck caused by a plane crash when the plane was thrown out of the air by a tornado...

Right...Not all the $30 was guaranteed...But a total of $30 payout if he plays the first three years... No matter how the payout goes...If that $60 million plus figure is accurate that's one hell of an offer...

Not trying to be a smart-ass...But who is overstating their readiness? Marrone stated they were the next men up, but I have not seen much sentiment around here indicating their play would be great or anything like that...Merely that they were next...And they don't have to be Byrd to be effective anyway...The Bills were 2-3 with Jim Leonard as the starter at FS, and the three games they lost were definitely not due to poor FS play...Just saying...

Going back to the 2012 off season, of all the players tagged I'm pretty certain that only Byrd and Dwayne Bowe had any extended holdout...Of course Bowe eventually re-signed...So...

You just KNOW it's going to happen now...You just have to know somehow Watkins will end up in Buffalo... And...Here...We...Go...

Like I said in the Byrd thread this is not going to go over well...At all...It's a public relations nightmare for a team that has missed the Playoffs 14 straight years...That much can't be debated... But in truth, that's just today...And it's only March 4th... What is also the truth? No one really knows how it's all going to play out...Yes the past decade and a half can certainly be seen as a decent clue...No one can be more cynical about this Franchise than I can at times...It absolute feels like we're just cursed and it's never...I mean never, ever, going to get better...And if anyone wants to simply say this Franchise is screwed, and that's just the way it is, I can appreciate that argument...I really can...But there really is no reason, at least no logical reason, why the past HAS to determine the future...Nothing is determined yet...And the Bills can come out of this better...As hard as that may be to believe... Byrd is a FS...Yes he's a darn good one, and yes the Bills would likely be better with him...But it looks like that's not going to happen...So how can they be better without him? Easy...EJ Manual has a breakout year...Done...OK...I realize it's not a given by any stretch, but it really would be that easy...Free Safeties can be replaced...The Bills were 2-3 without Byrd last year and one of those losses came on the last play of the game vs. NE...Another loss was the Justin Rogers game...The third loss was the Cleveland game where EJ got hurt...In that Browns game the Bills gave up a punt return, and an INT return, for TD's...None of those three losses could be blamed solely (or at all) on shoddy FS play...And the Bills had an ancient Jim Leonard out there...There is absolutely no reason to believe this team cannot win without Byrd...None whatsoever... So anyway...Let's not get overly carried away with this...It looks far worse than it may be...We'll see how bad it really is this coming season...My guess is it's really not going to matter much...The Bills always finds ways to lose that go far beyond one position...They like to spread the ineptitude around...

Too true...