What have the Bills done wrong this offseason?

[PromoTheRobot]

We failed to make the playoffs.

 

PTR

[Optometric Insight]

We failed to make the playoffs.

 

PTR

Can you do that in the off-season?

[Rocky Landing]

I didn't like the attempt to sign Meachem. That guy is nothing special. I'm glad they passed once his price tag got high, so no harm done there. I didn't like the Teej Graham pick, but we'll see if it works out. I wasn't thrilled about them pursuing Mark Anderson (if you don't know what "regression to the mean" is, google it), but for the money they got him at, it's not a bad risk. I question the wisdom of drafting a 27-year-old backup C who never played C until after his college career was over, but that was a late pick, so whatever. I didn't like the Vince Young signing due to possible attitude issues; hopefully Young either proves me wrong or gets cut in training camp. I would have liked to see a little bit of attention paid to the DT spot -- I know our starters are awesome when healthy, but our backups are mostly 3-4 DEs and underwhelming NTs. Maybe they plan on going Giants style and rotating DEs at DT on passing downs.

 

And that's everything I can think of. Overall, I'm very happy with this offseason; it's the most I've liked an offseason in a long time. Obviously it would've been nice to draft a QB as a developmental guy, but the only one I liked at all (that we had a shot at) was Russell Wilson, and the 3rd round seems way too early to draft that guy. Frankly I'm stunned that Pete Carroll pulled that move, especially after signing Matt Flynn. Even though I hated the Graham pick, I don't know that I would've preferred them to take Wilson in that spot.

I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about regarding Anderson. Are you suggesting that Anderson's performance last season should be considered above his baseline? Did he have games with a lot of sacks that you think should be considered outliers? Yours is the first post on here that I've read that doesn't consider him a good acquisition. Pleas explain.

[Maybe Someday]

I’m just disappointed that we didn’t trade for Reggie Bush so that we’d have the top 3 picks from the 06 draft. The more high picks on the roster the better right!!! Buddy’s asleep at the wheel!!! Or would Ralph being cheap apply here?

[nucci]

I don't know about wrong but I'm a bit concerned about our LBs. I think they'll be ok but not great.

[PromoTheRobot]

Can you do that in the off-season?

Judging by the number of people who keep bringing up no playoffs in 12 years, some people must think so.

 

PTR

[K-9]

Impossible to evaluate at this point. I'll chime in after the season.

 

And this place has no shortage of Team Storm Cloud members to emphatically state that the Bills missed the playoffs already.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[todzilla]

I don't know about wrong but I'm a bit concerned about our LBs. I think they'll be ok but not great.

 

I think with the front 4 being so good, it will free up the LB's to have a better than expected season.

[mountainwampus]

Wished they would've drafted Floyd over Gilmore paired with a 3rd round CB over TJ Graham. Graham dropped so many passes at the combine, I doubt he would've gone any higher than 6th, plus they trashed a 7th rounder on him too. He better be at least as good as Roscoe.

[Orton's Arm]

Wished they would've drafted Floyd over Gilmore paired with a 3rd round CB over TJ Graham. Graham dropped so many passes at the combine, I doubt he would've gone any higher than 6th, plus they trashed a 7th rounder on him too. He better be at least as good as Roscoe.

I think Gilmore is much less likely to be a bust than Floyd.

 

Of course, if Gilmore goes first-contract-and-out, and if Floyd becomes a Pro Bowler, I'll be eating those words.

 

As for TJ Graham: I don't know if he'll be better than Roscoe. But at least he'll be bigger and more physical than Roscoe.

[eball]

I think Gilmore is much less likely to be a bust than Floyd.

 

Of course, if Gilmore goes first-contract-and-out, and if Floyd becomes a Pro Bowler, I'll be eating those words.

 

As for TJ Graham: I don't know if he'll be better than Roscoe. But at least he'll be bigger and more physical than Roscoe.

I have a feeling we're beyond the days of the Buffalo Bills developing first rounders and then letting them walk. At least I hope so.

[K-9]

I have a feeling we're beyond the days of the Buffalo Bills developing first rounders and then letting them walk. At least I hope so.

 

Lets hope the players feel the same way. It's always been a two-way street. For example, the Bills didn't "let" Winfield go. He "chose" to go to Minny.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Rocky Landing]

 

As for TJ Graham: I don't know if he'll be better than Roscoe. But at least he'll be bigger and more physical than Roscoe.

Is Graham really going to be that much more physical? From the footage I've observed (admittedly limited) I thought he seemed less aggressive- more like a gazelle than a horse. On a couple of the highlights that were shown during the draft, I thought to myself: if Fitz ever hangs him out midfield, it might be the end of his career. That being said, he will certainly be faster than Roscoe.

[Mini Max Anderson Fan]

Love the Mario pick

Like the Anderson pick

between love and like on the Young pick (at the worst he's a good backup with a Bette record than our starter, at best he either wins the job outright or takes over midseason for either an ailing Fitz or injured Fitz, takes us to the playoffs and we all finally think we have a franchise QB). Honestly I'm good with either scenario. I LOVE Fitz and want him to play really well, but if he doesn't then we rely on Young.

 

As far as not picking up a WR, TE, LB earlier in the draft or in FA I'm ok with. Buddy knows what he's doing and I trust that he thinks we have something with the guys on the roster already.

 

The draft:

Love Gilmore. This guy alongside Aaron Williams will be our shutdown corners for years.

Love Glenn. Will be our starting LT with Hairston starting at RT eventually. Maybe not from day 1 but eventually. I love how he has been starting and Hairston is in at RT starting during the workouts this week. Chan will see that's he's got to male room and get his best guys on the field at once and will make this perminant at some point.

I have no clue what to think of Graham. Great, he's fast. I get it. That still doesn't make me feel any different about him. To me he seems like Roscoe or Lee version 2.0. I've never agreed with it. Never will. Small, lightweight, elusive burners are not good in this league. Maybe for a year or two but that's about it. Example: Evans, Roscoe, Hester, Hall, etc..... This list goes on and on. I'm not saying he can't or won't be good but I'm cautious to say the least. I hope I'm proved wrong though.

Bradham, Carder were both great pickups. One or both of these guys will start within a year or so.

Sanders is a good guy as a backup at least.

Brooks really excites me. The guy is FAST. The guy was a backup on LSUs defense. They produce CBs like Penn State produces LBs. I have no doubt this guy along with Rodger from last year will be battling it out for the nickle and dime spots when McGee gets cut after suffering a loose hangnail on opening day kickoff and McKelvin hits FA at the end of the season.

Florance was a head scratcher to say the least. Personally, McGee should have been let go. At least you can count on Florance to be there when week 3 rolls around. But McGee is better when healthy. It's just he hasn't been healthy more than 4 games since 08. (sarcasm font needed) at the end of the day I'd rather have Florance but I think Buddy was actually doing him a favor and cutting him early so that he could catch in somewhere early enough to male a play for a starting role.

 

At the end of the day. I think this might be our best offseason EVER. At least in paper. Of course we will have to wait till the bullits start flying but to say I'm optimistic would be an understatement. Can't wait for even training camps to start. Can't wait till it's all right around the corner.

 

GO BILLS!!!!!

 

My thoughts exactly.

[Orton's Arm]

Lets hope the players feel the same way. It's always been a two-way street. For example, the Bills didn't "let" Winfield go. He "chose" to go to Minny.

 

GO BILLS!!!

The Bills never made Winfield a credible offer which might have tempted him to stay. That constitutes letting Winfield go--or at least as close to letting a very good player walk as you're likely to ever see in the NFL.

 

Winfield's two realistic choices were the Jets and the Vikings. Those were the two teams which had shown themselves willing to pay the market price for his services. Of his two choices, he opted for the Vikings.

[sllib olaffub]

I don't know, it's awfully early to judge what the Bill's best and worst moves were. But, to go along with the exercise, I would have to say, again, that I'm not judging, really, based on the idea that I don't think Nix is looking at this Bills team as a finished product. I don't think he was trying to assemble, in other words, the final pieces to the team. Rather, I think his vision is a Bills team that can remain strong and competitive year in and out by replacing aging and costly veterans with rookies who are coming up.

 

Now, to get the Bills where they could be a competitor in our division and in the conference, he had to sign some F.A.'s. He went out and got the guys Wannstedt needed, allowing Dave a nice group of guys to start off with. But, Nix wasn't just grabbing F.A.'s for the sake of grabbing them. He found guys at the right price in positions he needed.

 

I'm sure next year there will be a new QB in town (unless Vince Young lights it up - and maybe still there will be a rookie), and there will probably be a younger TE to help him along. If our WR's don't show a lot this year, there will be additions there, too.

 

I like where Nix has taken this team to date, and I am looking forward to him trying to make the offense as dominant as he's attempted to make the defense.

[Malazan]

They did not listen to TBD enough. Ignoring all that expertise is a recipe for disaster.

[K-9]

The Bills never made Winfield a credible offer which might have tempted him to stay. That constitutes letting Winfield go--or at least as close to letting a very good player walk as you're likely to ever see in the NFL.

 

Winfield's two realistic choices were the Jets and the Vikings. Those were the two teams which had shown themselves willing to pay the market price for his services. Of his two choices, he opted for the Vikings.

 

The bolded text is pure conjecture.

 

Here's what isn't:

 

Winfield was leveraging both the Jets and Vikings against the Bills at the time.

 

The second biggest contributing factor to the money was his eagerness to rejoin Ted Cottrell.

 

He didn't want to stay in Buffalo unless he would have been grossly overpaid to do so. He 'chose' to go.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[machine gun kelly]

A mistake was not taking Kellen Winslow for not that much money as the basketball player, athletic TE. He would have complimented Chandler well. I also think P. Burress for cheap would be another good pick up. There has been too much negative press about Winslow, from people that must not see the last three years in Tampa. I've watched every game and he was the most productive offensive weapon on the team. Burress with an off season is a very good situaltional player.

 

We're as set as we can afford on defense. We bought what we could in the draft and FA. These two weapons get us that much closer to real success

[Rockinon]

I find it hard to believe that the Bills could have done a better job of getting more talent in here. What I am most concerned about right now is the move back to a 4-3 along with Wanny at the helm....hopefully it's a smooth transition. Something else that nags on me is bringing in a QB coach that likes to get in the QB's head. I know, these two things can just as easily be a positive thing but after this many years of no playoffs I just have a hard time drinking too much koolaid.