LABills08

Schobel's approach is suspicious. So, he is definitely playing this year, but if his choice was between the Bills and retirement, he would have retired? Why didn't he just demand a trade?

Bills can't get more than a 4th round pick for a dude who has sat out all offseason and is owed 8 million dollars for this season and beyond. Furthermore, Bills have 0 leverage in any trade discussions (unless multiple teams show interest). I think this is a very positive sign to be honest. I mean, first off, this whole Schobel spectacle was a huge joke. It didn't make the franchise look all that great. I know its a banal platitude, but it was time to show Schobel who was boss. Don't forget that he was going to be collecting a pay check until he retired. It was by the far the most overt insult to the Bills since the Peters hold out. By the way, who is to say he was going to be all that great at OLB in a 3-4? I imagine he would have adapted, but I don't think he is built for that kind of role. Not at his age. I would have taken him over Kelsay to be sure, but again, I too share the belief that Kelsay might be on the outs this season. He has no position. Also, the Bills wouldn't have done this JUST to make a point. They clearly have faith in the talent taking Schobel's spot.

It is. I put up this thread and made sure it was the first one. Of course, I should have known, at TBD there can never be enough threads talking about the same thing.

Further tweets by Schefter: # Adam_Schefter Maybe LB Aaron Schobel retires, maybe he is traded. But every indication is that he and Buffalo are now done with each other. 4 minutes ago via ÜberTwitter

I tried to put it up here before the 200 other threads about this go. I will say this, about time. I'm sure Nix decided they had enough of this. And I don't blame them. Schobel was putting them in a terrible spot and it was incredibly unprofessional. I'm not quite sure how this board can be on Spiller's case (and Maybin's last year), but give Schobel a pass. Everyone was ready to welcome him back with open arms it seemed. Yea, I know he was upfront about his uncertainty. What he wasn't upfront about was that he was going to drag it on to the extent he did. Not fair to the coaches, nor to the players who are out there working hard everyday. And I imagine Gailey finally said, "look, I'm not going to look one of our young linebackers in the eye and say you are cut b/c Schobel decided to come back from his 8 month hiatus". Wouldn't be the right message to send to the team and I'm glad they made this decision.

McKelvin will be starting over Florence. Florence will be nickel back.

That is fair. Maybe I was overzealous in saying Maybin and Nelson would be pushing for starting spots on a lot of NFL teams. I'm not a Bills homer who overhypes our prospects. I just think Nelson is a special kid who is going to have a breakout year, so long as the ball is thrown his way. In the right system, Nelson has the chance to catch 40 balls. The question is whether Gailey will pass the ball enough to give a 2nd year guy that many chances. Our young kids never had a chance to get involved under Dick, so it will be interesting to see what Gailey does. As for Maybin, maybe you are right. I just think the 3-4 suits him very well. Remember that Torbor has played the 3-4 before and that could easily be why he is seeing 1st team reps. Maybin is 21, has had 0 TC experience and never has played OLB. There is a steep learning curve. If Edwards thinks that Maybin is holding up the 1st team bc he has more to learn, than I can see why Torbor would be thrown in there in respect to efficiency (remember, Torbor played under Edwards all last season). There is no way Maybin gets less reps than Torbor once the season comes around. I expect to see Maybin at weakside for the majority of passing plays no matter what. But, I really hope he gets reps against the run. He is not that undersized for a linebacker and should be able to make some plays against the run. Don't forget, the kid is an athlete and he hustles. You can say whatever you want about him, but you can't deny him those basic traits. And so long as a football player has that, you can't criticize him too much. He might might be a pro-bowler, but I think he'll have some big moments.

You should have included JP Losman. Anyways: 1- Agreed 2- Agreed 3- Disagree. Guy has played 3 seasons. 2 out of those 3 seasons have been very strong (behind a terrible offensive line). One season was his rookie season (where he was given votes for rookie of the year, despite losing to Peterson). His second season he made the pro bowl. He had one bad year, it was last year. And, to be fair, he pretty much lost his job to Jackson bc of the suspension. He had SOME chances to win it back. But not many (despite what Bills fans think) 4- Ridiculous to put him on the list. he has only played 19 games. And had flashes of brilliance. 5- Maybin. Another ridiculous person to put on the list. He's 21, only played 1 season and missed all of TC last year. Sure, Orakpo would have been the better choice, no doubt. But just bc he is playing with the 2nd team defense does not make him a flop. I look to see a strong season from him this year. I would also add that last year's draft produced 5 present or future starters in Nelson, Byrd, Levitre, Wood and Maybin. All of them would be pushing for starting spots on the majority of teams in the NFL. Pretty good scouting there. And by the way, the 2010 draft looks impressive at the moment. Easley, Troup and Carrington all have looked impressive in camp. And even though Spiller has yet to sign, I think we all know what we can expect from him. I will be the first one to go on a rant about how ****ty the Bills drafting has been over the past decade. But, these past two drafts lead me to be pretty optimistic. In fact, I predict breakout years for several supposed "busts". I think a lot of our young talent is going to put it together all at once and surprise some people. We shall see.

I understand what you are saying, but I imagine that Matthews is waiting for Spiller to sign before he does. That is generally how it works. So, Spiller's signing will not be impacted at all by Matthews IMO. Spiller will set the market for RB's. Not Matthews.

I thought Harris was one of the impressive young rookies in camp last year?

+1

There is no reason to think the Bills can't win 7 or 8 games this year. But, I've always felt that is the case. They will surprise people, but they still don't have playoff talent. That being said, Gailey loves E. Wood. Its hilarious the way he talks about him.

No way he weighs 190. But, if he weighs anything less than 230, thats an issue. This didn't exactly make me happy either Link

Interesting article. I'm all for a man of principles. So long as he can correlate that to winning, I'm all set.

I think that is about right. Part of him has to feel like giving Brohm a chance. He has more physical gifts than Edwards. And it sounds like has been making all the right throws. Trent has always looked a lot better in practice than in games. And I think the coaches know that.

Is there really not a up to date thread discussing the fact that Brohm has potentially emerged as a strong possibility at starting QB? Even Gailey suggested that he had made some giant strides. I still think Edwards is going to be #1 in this ridiculous pecking order Gailey has set up for training camp. But, I have a feeling that Brohm is going to start at least 10 games this season.

How much money is freed up if he retires?

I think that is a fair point. And, lets be real, no one wants Trent to succeed more than Bills fans. If our hole at QB could be miraculously filled, it would be wonderful. Going into draft day 2011 with the sole goal of filling out our O-Line would be quite the luxury. And I agree, the entire system last year was garbage. Looking at how Gailey and Nix have run the team so far and makes it even more apparent how unfit Jauron was for the job of HC. Having a no huddle offense with a rookie offensive line was crazy. Having a 3rd year QB running the no huddle was just as crazy. Trent had a different O-coordinator every year. And last year Schonert got dismissed a week before the season started. AVP, was an average QB coach and had no business calling the offensive plays. That being said, Trent needs to accept some of the responsibility. His inability to throw down field cannot be understated. And his unwillingness to throw into traffic is equally troubling. That is not stuff that can be coached. That is all instinct. So, while I would love to see Trent succeed, and I think the coaches are going to give him every opportunity to take the starting job.... I won't be sold until he can cosistently make NFL throws. You can blame his failures on the coaches all you want. But a good number of players were not sold on Trent either. So there is more to the story than just bad coaching.

I imagine Ellison will be on his way out. In any other scenario it would prob be Mitchell, but we need a guy w/ Mitchell's size on the roster. That being said, I don't understand this sentence: I understand Davis is the guy calling the plays and thus is seen as the most likely to start. But Poz is far and away the better player and he too is adept at play calling. Davis might just be calling the plays at the moment bc he is the only guy who has previously played in the 3-4. Regardless, there is no way Poz is out of the starting lineup. 0 chance. Mitchell's best shot is taking out Davis.

Kelsay has no place as a starting OLB. I'm blown away that he is being called the starter. I'd rather have Mitchell on the outside. And if Mitchell can't be on the outside, but Poz on the outside. But, Kelsay? No way.

Where is the mention of the 3rd round pick?

That is good news, I missed that. Where did you find that info?

True. Though Steve Johnson is known as a pretty solid route runner and Evans is known as one of the better route runners in the game (or so I thought...). I have to imagine that aside from being a big knock on the QBs, it is a pretty big knock on Hardy.

Just read the article on Buffalobills.com Link I'm hoping there will be a video update, but who knows. Interesting tidbits: -Sounds like Gailey is unimpressed with the QBs. Big time. -McKelvin is looking very good -Easley is looking like he is going to push Hardy and Johnson. All reports on him have been impressive. -No mention of Maybin. In fact, they had Ellis and Kelsay starting at OLB. Geez. I hope that is just a temporary solution. I'm one of the few who seems to be optimistic about Maybin's chances at OLB. But, I'm surprised Ellis is getting first team reps over him.