MrLocke Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 After rookie signings, we'll only have $3-4 mil left in cap room. So if we do pick up any new bodies, they will need to be cheap cheap cheap. Do all players count against salary cap right now? I thought it was only your top 55 or somewhere around there. Either way once the season starts the roster size will go down quite abit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 He is a DT, though, correct? Played a bit of both IIRC. He is the same size as Mario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanOverChin Posted May 12, 2014 Author Share Posted May 12, 2014 Only the top 51 saaries count against the cap. I think we're in good shape at LB. Spikes is a difference-maker at MLB. Alonso slides over to the weakside and he too can be a difference-maker. Both are impact players. The wild card is Rivers, but he has the size, strength, athleticism to be a very good stronside OLB. He is a former top 10 pick. Then you've got Bradham, R. Johnson, and T. Pollard as backup option at OLB and P. Brown as the main backup option at MLB, although he can play the stronside position as well. This is a very capable group. The problem with Lawson and Hughes is that they are undersized against the run. Schwartz will need to hid that deficiency if the Bills don't bring someone else in. WE may see Dareus play DE at times to guard agains the run and have Branch take his position inside. It just would've been nice to have brought in an all-around DE to play opposite Ma. Williams so that opposing offenses can't key on him. I'm anxious to see what Schwartz's plans are for this group. Pettine's scheme had worked quite well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Played a bit of both IIRC. He is the same size as Mario Really? Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Formerly Allan in MD Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 The Bills biggest need is not a defensive end, it's a productive quarterback. All this talk about commitment to EJ; would you say otherwise when you hope he'll succeed? I hope I'm wrong but have significant doubts about EJ. We should have gone after Murray. With no number one next year, hopefully there will be some decent free agent QBs available if EJ doesn't show more promise than he has thus far. Or Whaley may have something else up his sleeve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo_Stampede Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Chris Kelsay is only 34. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Really? Wow. Byrant is 6-4 300 Mario 6-6 292 So a few cheeseburgers away but basically the same size Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockinon Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 This has me wondering what the plan is too. We only know that our new coach is 4-3 guy. We also know that defenses in recent years have been mixing things up. 4-3 and 3-4 alignments are not what they used to be. I think our new defensive coordinator will have a plan to make the most of the talent on hand. Perhaps, what we a perceive to be a weakness isn't really a weakness at all. It's funny how we assume that a certain alignment will be run in a specific way. Maybe the Bills will still be looking for a DE....maybe they won't. I'd like to think that there is some sort of a plan in place though. I just hope the don't start using terms like "fit it up" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryland-bills-fan Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 After rookie signings, we'll only have $3-4 mil left in cap room. So if we do pick up any new bodies, they will need to be cheap cheap cheap. How could that be? Where does Byrd figure in this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryland-bills-fan Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 (edited) I agree that there appears to be a hole without a good extra ~275 pound defensive end opposite Mario. I'm also wondering what the plan is. They didn't even sniff at a DE in the draft and only brought Scott Crichton in for a pre-draft visit. Some are saying that the DE position was weak this year, and maybe that is the reason for this lack of draft attention from the Bills. Maybe the thought is that we can pick up a cheap, but known value veteran DE from the roster cut-downs, who will be as good or better than any rookie available. Use him for a year an look next year for a long term solution. Edited May 13, 2014 by maryland-bills-fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanInUticaTampa Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I know people are saying here that lawson isn't good against the run, but I think he is pretty good against the run. as bad as the run defense was last year, it looked a lot worse whenever he was absent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogger Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I brought this need up predraft, the wide 9 DE has to be very athletic, not Alan Branch, more Hughes. Kind of more like an olb in a 3-4 front, but a Big, play in space OLB. Anthony Barr, would have been ideal, but ultimately too raw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah John Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 So why didn't the Bills re-sign Carrington? He was a 3rd round pick and played hard for the Bills. Apparently impressed the coaches. The Bills didn't seem to try very hard to keep him on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryland-bills-fan Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Maybe they thought that he wanted more money then he was worth and they could pick up a stopgap veteran to do the same job or get cheap rookie who would have upside. Remember that he never really did break into the starting position and they tried him at both tackle and end. I think they may have decided that he was already at his ceiling without be anything special. Better to try out an unknown with maybe a higher ceiling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockinon Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 (edited) I brought this need up predraft, the wide 9 DE has to be very athletic, not Alan Branch, more Hughes. Kind of more like an olb in a 3-4 front, but a Big, play in space OLB. Anthony Barr, would have been ideal, but ultimately too raw. I'm not entirely sold on the wide 9 formation. But given our defensive coordinator's propensity to use it, I think he has something in mind. There are a lot of different things defenses are doing across the NFL. We know we have talent. The trick is to know your strengths and then capitalize. We may all ready have what we need on the roster......or not. It will be fun to see how they line up and see what kind of stunts they use. Edited May 13, 2014 by Rockinon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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