Dorkington Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I hope we can keep both, or upgrade. If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Levitre. We have ok Safety depth, imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I thought he imposed tremendously as a tackler last year. Made a few great open field tacked that saved a TD or two IIRC. Jerome Simpson made 1 spectacular play, hurdling the little guy, and now everyone is questioning Byrd's tackling. Such is life in the preseason, where everyone forgets everything they really know and starts overreacting to single plays that dont mean anything. I agree that Byrd is one of our best tacklers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoName Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 Great posts and great points. To the few who refuse to play the game. Of course we want to keep both players provided it doesn't put our Bills in a bad position. We also know that the Bills have the cap space to keep both. But just because they have the cap space doesn't mean that they will sign both. It's been a while since the bills have had this level of talent on their roster. And when teams get to this point with talent on their roster, they start letting good players go. The whole point of the thread is this. IF you could only sign one next year. Which one would it be and why. So far it seems Levitre is getting more support. Personally I am not sure that Byrd is the best safety on our roster MUCH LESS a potential top safety in this league. At this point in time, with all due respect to Eric Wood, I regard Levitre as our best lineman. Wood might have the slight edge in talent but durability and versatility matters. I don't think Levitre will ever make a pro bowl but I still regard him as a very good guard in this league (Top 7). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrags Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 To those that are saying Byrd is suspect at tackling. You blow my mind. Byrd is probably the best tackling DB since Antoine Winfield. As to the point of the post, they are equally good but I don't see the depth at S as many see. Search IMO is good but that's all we have at this point. Also, isn't Searcy a SS not a FS? If that is the case, I'd much rather have Levitre than Wilson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonborn10 Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 1. Sign them both 2. Byrd is a very good tackler 3. Byrd's ball skills are overrated - many of his INT's have been horrible overthrows - but he seems to catch most of what comes his way. My definition of ball skills is diagnosing a route early, taking the correct angle to the play, and knowing when to jump a route. I've seen some of that with little to no pass rush. Looking forward to seeing what he does with a pass rush. 4. Searcy is SS 5. Levitre though just a guard is terribly more important to this team than a FS even in a passing league. He has a rookie to his left and a guy with a bum knee to his right. 6. They have the room and money to sign them both before the season opener. Sign them now and get a little bit of an early bird discount. If can only get one to sign then franchise the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Knowing how much he values both OL and DB play, I have to wait for Bill from NYC's opinion on this. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 29 years of fanhood Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 The great thing about this is there is a whole season upon which to base this decision.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrags Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 The great thing about this is there is a whole season upon which to base this decision.... hopefully it doesn't come to that. I think the fear here is that both players are so good, that if we wait until the end of the year they will want such a high salary that we can't sign both and male any other signings or FA pickups. Most here agree that our WRs are suspect at best behind Stevie at this point and the LBs are the same. IF things don't go well this year for those positions then well have to sign someone at those spots to complete the O and D. If we sign Byrd and Levitre before they become league leaders then we should have enough for all of them. I see it as the same scenario as we had with the Sabres and Briere, Drury, Campbell, and Vanek. If we just would have been pro-active about the signings, we could have kept them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoName Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 1. Sign them both 2. Byrd is a very good tackler 3. Byrd's ball skills are overrated - many of his INT's have been horrible overthrows - but he seems to catch most of what comes his way. My definition of ball skills is diagnosing a route early, taking the correct angle to the play, and knowing when to jump a route. I've seen some of that with little to no pass rush. Looking forward to seeing what he does with a pass rush. 4. Searcy is SS 5. Levitre though just a guard is terribly more important to this team than a FS even in a passing league. He has a rookie to his left and a guy with a bum knee to his right. 6. They have the room and money to sign them both before the season opener. Sign them now and get a little bit of an early bird discount. If can only get one to sign then franchise the other. Great post. Agree 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 PTR got it right, there is no reason why we can't have both. That's why the OP started with "if". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bud Adams Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 PTR got it right, there is no reason why we can't have both. Ralph is ch... Sorry, had to. Old habits die hard, even though he's proven otherwise. BA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
....lybob Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 There is no need to choose. The Bills have plenty of cash for both. PTR and if the Bills didn't have the cash I'd cut Kelsay, Spencer Johnson, Edwards, McGee or Brad Smith before I'd let either Byrd or Levitre walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Bills Fan Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 After the release of Merriman, I am expecting them to re sign both! CBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbosrrgood Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 (edited) Let's say you are Buddy Nix and you only have the option to keep Byrd or Levitre. Which one would you keep and why? I regard Levitre as a slightly higher rated guard than I would rate Byrd as a safety. I regard Levitre as being able to play all offensive line spots whereas Byrd only FS not SS. I think that if we lost Byrd, lining Wilson at FS and Searcy at SS would be more effective than plugging in Rienhart at LG if we lost Levitre. So needless to say, my vote would be for Levitre. What about you? Byrd, he could be a potential star with a decent pass rush. Levitre is above average, but nothing special, and a tad undersized at guard. I like Levitre, but some of you guys are talking about him as if he were a probowler. I see a solid producer, not a "top 10 guy". If it was wood we were talking about, that would be a different story. Tackles and centers are the guys that are hard to find on the O-line, Guards can be replace without much fanfare. Bottom line, Safety is a more skilled position, and it would be harder to find an equal replacement for Byrd. As others have said though, there is no reason we can't resign both. I also doubt we would use the franchise tag on either of them (unless Byrd has 9 interceptions again). Edited August 22, 2012 by Turbosrrgood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainwampus Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 IMO, Byrd is better at what he does and harder to replace. This should be a poll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollars 2 donuts Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 +1 I too refuse to play this game! Sign them both. It still would help a great deal if we could find a way to clear off an extra 4 million dollars off our salary cap. ...oh wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malazan Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Levitre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhitewalkerInPhilly Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 There is no need to choose. The Bills have plenty of cash for both. PTR +1 I'm really sure that we can keep them both. Merriman is gone, which should give us some room, and does anyone think we're going to be keeping McGee, Dwan Edwards, Torrel Troup AND Spencer Johnson too much longer? LG and SS aren't generally exactly cap shattering salaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orton's Arm Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Knowing how much he values both OL and DB play, I have to wait for Bill from NYC's opinion on this. GO BILLS!!! We haven't heard from him yet because he's still thinking this over. He needs more time to figure out whether he'd keep the offensive lineman or the defensive back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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