jimmy kennedy visiting buffalo tomor

[Conch]

is he still at OBD or did he leave without a contract?

[markghbelobils]

Whats the deal with this guy havent heard anything since this morning .. has anyone else??

[markghbelobils]

hahah i started the same post as you... yeahh idk im trying to figure that out as well

[JStranger76]

Count me in as wondering what the hell is going on here........

[Doc]

His status is he's still a first round bust. But could be a halfway decent backup DT/NT.

[silvermike]

Pssh - you expect the Bills to keep the fans informed? They keep a powerful radio silence on all their doings, until they've been reported by leaks from player/coach agents. I don't know if it's strategy or indifference, but they really keep things quiet.

[Wagner]

His status is he's still a first round bust. But could be a halfway decent backup DT/NT.

 

 

[DanInUticaTampa]

I am guessing he is either still in buffalo or he didn't sign. if he signed, I think they would announce it pretty quickly.

[cåblelady]

Cornell Green barely got a mention (aside from Chris Brown's blog) before he signed.

......and no v-text when he did sign....but, we get a text about Klopen-whatever. Doh.

[oak tree 12]

His status is he's still a first round bust. But could be a halfway decent backup DT/NT.

 

clueless comment,he played very well last year with minnie in their interior rotation. 3 sacks and 19 tackles.

 

you obviously have no idea what you are talking about!

[silvermike]

clueless comment,he played very well last year with minnie in their interior rotation. 3 sacks and 19 tackles.

 

you obviously have no idea what you are talking about!

 

Those basically Ryan Denney's numbers. He's going to need to be bigger than his stats if he's going to be an upgrade.

[Arkady Renko]

Those basically Ryan Denney's numbers. He's going to need to be bigger than his stats if he's going to be an upgrade.

 

It's more impressive to get those stats as a DT than as a DE.

[Red]

Because Marcus Stroud is a big, well, MEOW. I think he's horrible. He can't anchor and will get moved by the slightest whiff of a block. The sooner he's obsolete, the better we'll be.

 

Yeah, I really hate to agree with this because when he was in Jacksonville (pre-steroid bust) he was a force and highly regarded when paired with Henderson.

 

I see Stroud more like a Richard Seymour-type of player in a 3-4. And to be honest, I don't think that the 3-4 these days is truly a 3-4 like the Bills ran in the early 90's. Those early 90's teams had Bruce Smith and Phil Hansen at end, and both were a tad undersized but strong at the point of attack and in Bruce's case...well, the Hall of Fame was not a fluke. With the exception of Jeff Wright, we then always had total studs manning the NT position (think Mt. Washington), which I believe is the true fundamental definition of the 3-4.

 

Nowadays, the players are mixed and matched so much, and things are so hybrid that its hard to get a true vibe for the overall scheme itself and how players fit into it. For instance, Aaron Kampman was awesome as a 4-3 LDE for Green Bay, but then they switch over to a 3-4 and move him to an OLB, and he struggled mightily. Is this an omen for Schobel (should he return) and Kelsay? Kelsay seems way to stiff in the hips to effectively cover anyone, and he was never that great of a pass rusher. So, can Stroud play DE? Well, for starters, he sure is bigger than either Schobel or Kelsay.

 

Time will tell...

[PearlHowardman]

Dunno!

 

In the meantime, here's a good read from a Boston sports site regarding the AFC East. They neglect to mention the Buffalo Bills, unless I'm mistaken.

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patr...e_power_sh.html

[Red]

Who cares?

 

Did anyone hear about Leon Seals? Phil Hansen? Darryl Talley? Mark Kelso? Don Beebe? Steve Tasker? Andre Reed came out of Kutztown State.

 

Probably not. But they all turned into pretty solid players once they got with the Bills. I compare it to low round draft choices. They may not have the glitz and glamour of those 1st rounders, but I'll take a snarling 7th rounder that plays like a 1st than a Donte Whitner-type of pick that so far has talked more than produced on the field.

[rstencel]

And what about Kyle Williams?

 

What about him, hes too small to be full time NT and too slow to move out to end. He would be a situational sub, most likely on pass rushing downs when go to 4 man line, or as rotational player at best. When hes in would have to play a 1 gap scheme, and ILB's would have to take on Guards on running plays, so wouldn't want him in there for too many downs.

[rstencel]

Yeah, I really hate to agree with this because when he was in Jacksonville (pre-steroid bust) he was a force and highly regarded when paired with Henderson.

 

I see Stroud more like a Richard Seymour-type of player in a 3-4. And to be honest, I don't think that the 3-4 these days is truly a 3-4 like the Bills ran in the early 90's. Those early 90's teams had Bruce Smith and Phil Hansen at end, and both were a tad undersized but strong at the point of attack and in Bruce's case...well, the Hall of Fame was not a fluke. With the exception of Jeff Wright, we then always had total studs manning the NT position (think Mt. Washington), which I believe is the true fundamental definition of the 3-4.

 

Nowadays, the players are mixed and matched so much, and things are so hybrid that its hard to get a true vibe for the overall scheme itself and how players fit into it. For instance, Aaron Kampman was awesome as a 4-3 LDE for Green Bay, but then they switch over to a 3-4 and move him to an OLB, and he struggled mightily. Is this an omen for Schobel (should he return) and Kelsay? Kelsay seems way to stiff in the hips to effectively cover anyone, and he was never that great of a pass rusher. So, can Stroud play DE? Well, for starters, he sure is bigger than either Schobel or Kelsay.

 

Time will tell...

 

Lets hope Stroud can play end. Good thing about lineman in most 3-4's is their job is mostly to tie up blockers to keep the LB's free to make plays. So he wouldn't have to make allot of plays as much as make them have to double team him. If all your DLineman force double teams then you LB's can have a feild day racking up the tackles and sacks.

 

Think Stroud could do a good job, as long as is fast enough to have threat of going around end occasionally on passing downs to keep the Tackles honest, or the primary rushing LB plays to his outside, and they force the line to shift to his side so he can work on collapsing the pocket on passing downs. The still need one more end however, as don't think Johnson is answer as every down DE. He makes a good rotation guy though, as has enough speed and size to hold his own, just doesn't have enough moves to keep defenses honest and force double teams IMO.

[manbeast]

Those basically Ryan Denney's numbers. He's going to need to be bigger than his stats if he's going to be an upgrade.

Denney was an end not a tackle those are really good numbers for a situational DT. Only question is How much did he benefit from the guys around him?

[tony320]

We add Kennedy to start short term, pick up his backip/future starter in the draft, and get an extra 3rd roundder to address other needs.

[Sen. John Blutarsky]

As Tim Graham pointed out on his blog, Kennedy probably benefitted from playing beside other outstanding DL in Minnesota, one of which is arguably the best pass rusher in the game.

That's true, but what are we asking him to do? Are we asking him to anchor a pass rush, or to eat up blocks? I sort of see where the Bills are going here. They know they won't get a top notch NT this season, at best they get someone like Cody who's a bit of a risk/project. In the short term, rather than having one giant NT they can actually get 3 big DL and put them all out there at once. In essence they are all functioning as space eating NTs and if they pressure the QB it's a bonus.

 

This is particularly effective if we end up large at OLB as well which would be the case with Schobel and Maybin out there. There'd really be a 5 man line that could move around and morph into different alignments to confuse the offense. The anchors in the middle would be Poz and Mitchell, neither of whom are small when compared to some 3-4 ILBs and who both have experience in coverage as well as playing OLB if they morphed into a 4 man line by having one of the OLBs put their hand down.

 

God forbid, we'd have some versatility.

[DanInUticaTampa]

People get mad when we look at players from bad teams, and then they get mad when we look at players from good teams. what the hell

[Rockinon]

I think you guys don't really understand what is going on here. Switching to the 3-4 not only means that our DEs from last year become OLBs, it also means that last years DTs become DEs. This means both Stroud and Williams will be DEs. And if you guys think Stroud can rush from the outside, wait till you see what Williams can do. The guy has repeatedly been described as a wrecking ball on the offensive line. As for a guy as big as Kennedy, he would be a Nose Tackle for sure. The advantages that both Stroud andKyle Williams will have is power. Both have speed too but what you will see is one extremely powerful bull rush. Any offensive tackle in the league is going to have their hands full with these guys.

[box0life]

I think you guys don't really understand what is going on here. Switching to the 3-4 not only means that our DEs from last year become OLBs, it also means that last years DTs become DEs. This means both Stroud and Williams will be DEs. And if you guys think Stroud can rush from the outside, wait till you see what Williams can do. The guy has repeatedly been described as a wrecking ball on the offensive line. As for a guy as big as Kennedy, he would be a Nose Tackle for sure. The advantages that both Stroud andKyle Williams will have is power. Both have speed too but what you will see is one extremely powerful bull rush. Any offensive tackle in the league is going to have their hands full with these guys.

 

 

If they are going to be such great DE's then why didn't they play defensive end ever in their careers. You would think that if they were great pass rushers, they would have already been defensive ends from the start.

[manbeast]

If they are going to be such great DE's then why didn't they play defensive end ever in their careers. You would think that if they were great pass rushers, they would have already been defensive ends from the start.

Maybe because they never played in a 3-4.

I wonder how this board would score on the wonderlic.

[Adam]

I think you guys don't really understand what is going on here. Switching to the 3-4 not only means that our DEs from last year become OLBs, it also means that last years DTs become DEs. This means both Stroud and Williams will be DEs. And if you guys think Stroud can rush from the outside, wait till you see what Williams can do. The guy has repeatedly been described as a wrecking ball on the offensive line. As for a guy as big as Kennedy, he would be a Nose Tackle for sure. The advantages that both Stroud andKyle Williams will have is power. Both have speed too but what you will see is one extremely powerful bull rush. Any offensive tackle in the league is going to have their hands full with these guys.

The better ones won't have much to worry about. Our defense is transitioning and won't be very good this year. Sure, they will have their moments and maybe even good games, but they won't be very good- and I'm ok with that. As long as we draft well, we will get better. Its not about winning right now.

 

We won't win now, we will draft well. The team is not moving and won't be contracted. The building of a winner starts in April

[bkc]

The better ones won't have much to worry about. Our defense is transitioning and won't be very good this year. Sure, they will have their moments and maybe even good games, but they won't be very good- and I'm ok with that. As long as we draft well, we will get better. Its not about winning right now.

 

We won't win now, we will draft well. The team is not moving and won't be contracted. The building of a winner starts in April

you said it

[JStranger76]

I don't know about this Williams at DE stuff. Two years back when we played Seattle in the opener Williams lined up on the outside quite a few times that game so we could stunt Schobel up the middle. It was painful to watch. Granted, KW was going against Walter Jones on those matchups, but it looked like he didn't even try to get any pressure. I would just rotate Williams with someone at the nose and line him back up at DT when we show 4-3 looks. Playing him at DE is not a good idea IMO.......

[Adam]

I don't know about this Williams at DE stuff. Two years back when we played Seattle in the opener Williams lined up on the outside quite a few times that game so we could stunt Schobel up the middle. It was painful to watch. Granted, KW was going against Walter Jones on those matchups, but it looked like he didn't even try to get any pressure. I would just rotate Williams with someone at the nose and line him back up at DT when we show 4-3 looks. Playing him at DE is not a good idea IMO.......

You have to line up 11 people and there is no way around that. We might not get pressure. We might struggle with the run. A big problem is that you have to go with what you have, and nobody will feel sorry for you if it isn't good enough. Our line was smallish for the defense we have been playing- now they are really undersized. I can definitely see us trading up from our second round slot to get Terrence Cody, because he won't last until our second pick.

[4BillsintheBurgh]

People get mad when we look at players from bad teams, and then they get mad when we look at players from good teams. what the hell

I think of it like a game of whack-a-mole. No matter what happens or how quickly you whack them, there's going to be another one popping up.

[Simon]

I don't know about this Williams at DE stuff. Two years back when we played Seattle in the opener Williams lined up on the outside quite a few times that game so we could stunt Schobel up the middle. It was painful to watch. Granted, KW was going against Walter Jones on those matchups, but it looked like he didn't even try to get any pressure. I would just rotate Williams with someone at the nose and line him back up at DT when we show 4-3 looks. Playing him at DE is not a good idea IMO.......

Williams has earned the right to start in the base defense.

No questions asked.

[rstencel]

Williams has earned the right to start in the base defense.

No questions asked.

 

No way Williams starts in 3-4, at least if play traditional 3-4. He is way too slow to move to end, and isn't going to force double teams, or be able to protect the ILB if plays NT. At best he gets 20-30 snaps a game as pass rusher/rotational player. I hate to see him hit the bench, but he just doesn't fit this type of defense.

[rstencel]

I think you guys don't really understand what is going on here. Switching to the 3-4 not only means that our DEs from last year become OLBs, it also means that last years DTs become DEs. This means both Stroud and Williams will be DEs. And if you guys think Stroud can rush from the outside, wait till you see what Williams can do. The guy has repeatedly been described as a wrecking ball on the offensive line. As for a guy as big as Kennedy, he would be a Nose Tackle for sure. The advantages that both Stroud andKyle Williams will have is power. Both have speed too but what you will see is one extremely powerful bull rush. Any offensive tackle in the league is going to have their hands full with these guys.

 

Agree that Stroud moves to DE, but doubt Willaims does. Most likely Stroud, Spencer Johnson, and John McCargo move outside, with Stroud and Johnson being starters unless they draft/sign someone better.

[Simon]

No way Williams starts in 3-4, at least if play traditional 3-4. He is way too slow to move to end, and isn't going to force double teams, or be able to protect the ILB if plays NT. At best he gets 20-30 snaps a game as pass rusher/rotational player. I hate to see him hit the bench, but he just doesn't fit this type of defense.

Slow is not an adjective I'd use to describe him.

On a track maybe. But in pads on gameday, that boy is quick.

[DanInUticaTampa]

Williams is everything a good NT should be, except his size.

[Thurman#1]

That's just too bad! All the money these guys make they should jump if they are told to jump and play NT if they are asked to play NT. They all think it's about them, and unfortunately the team loses out in the end, which means everyone loses. Some teams realize this like N.England, Indy, Pittsburgh. Indy players were hurt about not playing starters their final 2 games of the year that could have given them a perfect season. Instead, the players generally kept their mouths shut, and did as instructed. Even though they didn't like it they knew their coach believed this would give them a better opportunity to go to the Superbowl! They may have lossed the S.Bowl but they believed in working towards their ultimate goal as a team and it almost played out that way! Indy has some marginal players in some position, and some marquee players as well like Manning, but they are a great team! They are committed to the team and are willing to make sacrifices, unlike Stroud, Unlike Lynch and unlike several players in the Bills organization. Until the mentality of this team is upgraded along with their talent level this team is a sub .500 team. I aniticpate that this team will suffer dramatically this year with the 3-4 shift and I don't expect more than 5 wins. The following year maybe back to 6 or 7 wins. It will be a crucial third year where the Bills with spectacular drafting and personnel moves has the potential to be a 9-11 win team if

the pieces fall into place, and this team begins to play unselfishly as a team for a change. Players like Lynch, Parrish, Whitner, Edwards, will be long gone and a distint memory by then. You remember those names and in three years they won't be there...maybe as soon as this year on all accounts, but I doubt it. This team is a major rebuilding project despite Buddy Nix saying that they are not really all that far away! They couldn't be further!! Stroud will be long gone by then as well anyways!

 

 

It's not about unselfishness.

 

Langston Walker unselfishly agreed to the switch to LT last year, but he was 90% sure it was a stupid move, and sure enough, that move ended up causing him to lose his job.

 

Stroud is our best D lineman, he constantly gets double-teamed as it is, but he's a small guy for a DT. He plays the 3 - hole right now, and even though he's a fraction big for a 3 - technique, he plays the position well because he's faster than most at his size and he's also stronger than you'd expect.

 

But moving Stroud to NT would be a great deal like moving Walker to LT was, he's not built for the position, and he won't play it particularly well for that reason. Stroud would wear down. Kennedy is significantly bigger, he's bigger than his listed weight, and even Kennedy isn't really big enough for a NT. One of the article about Kennedy on TBD notes that he played well last year but was mostly used on passing downs. Even the significantly bigger Kennedy isn't really big enough to play NT on run downs, and Stroud much less so.

[rstencel]

Williams is everything a good NT should be, except his size.

 

play one gap yes, but a two gap scheme he gets owned, and doesn't need to be double teamed. Most 3-4 defenses have the linemen play 2 gap, and require the NT to have to demand double teams to keep the LB's free to make the tackles. Stroud was the DT that was getting double teamed, not Williams. I agree Williams is too good to be on bench, but if play 3-4, don't see how he gets on the field more than 20-30 plays a game, if we are going to have any success at all stopping the run.

[NewEra]

I think we we brought him in hear just to make us think they're doing something. They probably offered him 2 mill a year, he laughed and left. If he leaves, I don't like our chances.

[rpcolosi]

Any news on weather we got him or not?

[BillnutinHouston]

Everyone seems to be locked onto the 3-4 direction, but most seem to have missed the nuance in Edwards' and Gailey's comments about their plans for the 2010 defense. At the end of the day, George Edwards is going to run more 4-3 than many think. If you go back and read his and Gailey's comments, they both stated they intend to use the talents of what they have. So while I think they are looking to get 4-3 players in here, they are conceding that completely turning over the defensive roster in one offseason is tough to do so they will go with a hybrid this year.

[Thoner7]

I think you guys don't really understand what is going on here. Switching to the 3-4 not only means that our DEs from last year become OLBs, it also means that last years DTs become DEs. This means both Stroud and Williams will be DEs. And if you guys think Stroud can rush from the outside, wait till you see what Williams can do. The guy has repeatedly been described as a wrecking ball on the offensive line. As for a guy as big as Kennedy, he would be a Nose Tackle for sure. The advantages that both Stroud andKyle Williams will have is power. Both have speed too but what you will see is one extremely powerful bull rush. Any offensive tackle in the league is going to have their hands full with these guys.

 

A very basic and accurate view of the 3-4. Stroud and Williams can easily play 5 tech. Hell Williams has been playing that role for his entire career, he will essentially be moved 1 yard towards the sideline in the 3-4. Williams is a prototype 2 gapper 5 tech.

 

If they are going to be such great DE's then why didn't they play defensive end ever in their careers. You would think that if they were great pass rushers, they would have already been defensive ends from the start.

 

learn football

 

Maybe because they never played in a 3-4.

I wonder how this board would score on the wonderlic.

 

 

No way Williams starts in 3-4, at least if play traditional 3-4. He is way too slow to move to end, and isn't going to force double teams, or be able to protect the ILB if plays NT. At best he gets 20-30 snaps a game as pass rusher/rotational player. I hate to see him hit the bench, but he just doesn't fit this type of defense.

 

 

 

Agree that Stroud moves to DE, but doubt Willaims does. Most likely Stroud, Spencer Johnson, and John McCargo move outside, with Stroud and Johnson being starters unless they draft/sign someone better.

 

learn football, then comment

 

play one gap yes, but a two gap scheme he gets owned, and doesn't need to be double teamed. Most 3-4 defenses have the linemen play 2 gap, and require the NT to have to demand double teams to keep the LB's free to make the tackles. Stroud was the DT that was getting double teamed, not Williams. I agree Williams is too good to be on bench, but if play 3-4, don't see how he gets on the field more than 20-30 plays a game, if we are going to have any success at all stopping the run.

 

Not true. Go back and watch the games from last year, Williams got the double teams more than Stroud and Schobel combined. There is a a reason the NFL coaches voted him in as a PB alternate (not the fans or media but the best football coaches on the planet)