Rico Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Eric Wood is alright, but I would still rather have Jason Peters, what an epic debacle that was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdand12 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 (edited) I find it interesting how people B word about cap space and this player not playing well and that person not doing this......without also including the reasons WHY those things might be happening. Wood is a solid center....which by the way is not (just like left tackle) THAT easy to replace.... be careful what you wish for......because the next player could also be worse instead of better.....we dont have Woods replacement on the roster. Lets see if improved OL play at the guard positions increases Woods productivity before deciding to shitcan a leader in our locker room capologists I dont think we want to ditch him at all ! I think we want him to play much better than last year. Like i said i watched. He struggled in Man pass blocking one on one. Like his knee was bad and he could not set. something was wrong. i can give them a pass. But he really needs to show up his year. and i dont care who is next to him. Its not like he was undecided whom to help he was just getting beat one on one. I am a fan and hopes he blows it up under Roman and Kromer. I honestly root for our guys every game. Very good point that.... we do not have replacement. we only have Urbik. who is practicing at C with the twos. Holy crap...sometimes I hate this place! Strong word? This is a totally uninformed opinion........this happens to every center in the league from time to time. Wood himself said he was not happen with his performance last year so there is no doubt he did not play well.....but to say this is soley on him and discounting "the garbage around him" is not realistic....... There are many factors that come into play on any GIVEN play as to way a center loses ground or does not lose ground on a given play....... disagree. It is an informed opinion. I would not be as adamant about this issue but he honestly was getting killed and the NT/DT was in the QB face before he got his steps waay too often. He was weak. Edited June 5, 2015 by 3rdand12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Eric Wood is alright, but I would still rather have Jason Peters, what an epic debacle that was. You have an uniformed opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Perhaps I was slightly harsh, because the interior of that OL was putrid last season. Cyril Williams, Kraig Urbik, and Erik Pears aren't much to write home about. Eric Wood, from the moment he called out Aaron Maybin, has been a fan favorite. I also like how he described the Toronto series a few years ago, but it doesn't remove the fact his play fell off a little last year. He's a guy to watch in 2015 given what we hope is improved G play on that OL. Don't forget Cyril Richardson (did you mean Chris Williams, who was replaced by Cyril? None were good but Richardson was awful and Pears not much better - can't blame you for mixing them) You're absolutely right that Wood's play fell off last year. Let's hope it comes back with more consistent guards/coaching instruction. My only point is that I don't think the Bills overpaid Wood, at the time he signed the contract he appeared worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 I think this will be Wood's last season with the Bills. I think he will play better this year, but, we need the cap space moving forward. He is below average against the run and inked the deal when we were pass happy with Chan. Or coming off a Chan season. It is true Wood has only had one good season against the run (2011) and did much better in pass than run protection, which was a big deal to Gailey. There were also some crazy contracts given out - Fitz being one example. Per Overthecap, the Bills only save $2.4M if they cut Wood next year. He's got $3.6M of amortized bonus split between 2016 and 2017and apparently about $1.8M of guaranteed salary due in 2016. Not too likely to be a cap casualty, unless he just sucks *and* they can pick up someone for that $2.4M guaranteed to be better Pro Personnel has been hit and miss the past few years and admittedly, Whaley's sample size isn't very large. I would argue however he was in transition to the GM during the winter/early spring of 2013. McKelvin and Wood are the guys who've regressed from 2013 to 2014, and both were signed in the former year. Wood has struggled more since his 2011 knee injury and it's been pretty obvious. IIRC, he admitted his level of play regressed this season and it's not fair to conflate that in the context of the entire OL, although the 2014 OL was very poor. I thought he played well in 2012, especially in pass protection. Can you find the PFF ranking or anything rating him as overall poor in 2012 (he was better for pass than run)? He did admittedly play poorly at times last season, in the context of an overall regressing OL, but I thought your contention was that Whaley was handing out candy to bad performing players? GM has to evaluate and pay players according to how they're performing when their contract comes up, agreed? So if McKelvin and Wood played well in 2012, then the contract has to be evaluated against how they played relative to other players in 2012, and not trashed as bad judgement if they regressed in 2014, not so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 So far cap considerations haven't been much of a problem for the Bills for years. So it's hard to get too concerned about them overspending for anyone. For the most part, I've wanted them to spend more. But I am starting to wonder about next year - and the years ahead - with no big name QB under contract and lots of cap space taken up by other positions. Nothing can beat the overspending this team did on Chris Kelsay !!!! All because they thought he was a great leader in the locker room Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Nothing can beat the overspending this team did on Chris Kelsay !!!! All because they thought he was a great leader in the locker room That particular contract has always puzzled me. The only thing I can figure is at that time, the Bills talent level was down in the basement and they had a real problem with locker room culture and discipline. That's not the case now, and won't be as long as we win more than we lose, so there's really no reason for those kind of contracts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8-8 Forever? Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 This. He produces this year or moves on. I think he rebounds this season with some talent around him and no more idiot coaches. correct. no more high school coaches. finally have a long term ownership. they are back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarleyNY Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 It is true Wood has only had one good season against the run (2011) and did much better in pass than run protection, which was a big deal to Gailey. There were also some crazy contracts given out - Fitz being one example. Per Overthecap, the Bills only save $2.4M if they cut Wood next year. He's got $3.6M of amortized bonus split between 2016 and 2017and apparently about $1.8M of guaranteed salary due in 2016. Not too likely to be a cap casualty, unless he just sucks *and* they can pick up someone for that $2.4M guaranteed to be better I thought he played well in 2012, especially in pass protection. Can you find the PFF ranking or anything rating him as overall poor in 2012 (he was better for pass than run)? He did admittedly play poorly at times last season, in the context of an overall regressing OL, but I thought your contention was that Whaley was handing out candy to bad performing players? GM has to evaluate and pay players according to how they're performing when their contract comes up, agreed? So if McKelvin and Wood played well in 2012, then the contract has to be evaluated against how they played relative to other players in 2012, and not trashed as bad judgement if they regressed in 2014, not so? http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/03/04/five-ideas-bills-can-create-salary-cap-space/ 2. Ask Eric Wood to take a pay cut. After McCoy's addition, the Bills' center will have the fourth-highest cap number on the team. He's the sixth-highest paid center in the NFL in terms of yearly average, at $6.35 million, but ranked 25th in PFF's ranking of centers. Wood acknowledged his play must improve at the end of last season. "I just hope I'm safe," he said. "A high-price center in the middle of the field that could be playing better. I've got to look at myself first. I can't be pointing fingers and looking around. I have to evaluate myself first and worry about my game and constantly try to get better." Wood's a captain who gets credit for being a team-first guy. He can show it by reducing his salary -- let's say by $2 million. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/03/04/five-ideas-bills-can-create-salary-cap-space/ 2. Ask Eric Wood to take a pay cut. After McCoy's addition, the Bills' center will have the fourth-highest cap number on the team. He's the sixth-highest paid center in the NFL in terms of yearly average, at $6.35 million, but ranked 25th in PFF's ranking of centers. Wood acknowledged his play must improve at the end of last season. "I just hope I'm safe," he said. "A high-price center in the middle of the field that could be playing better. I've got to look at myself first. I can't be pointing fingers and looking around. I have to evaluate myself first and worry about my game and constantly try to get better." Wood's a captain who gets credit for being a team-first guy. He can show it by reducing his salary -- let's say by $2 million. You want him to go to Whaley and offer to take a $2M pay cut? Really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarleyNY Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 You want him to go to Whaley and offer to take a $2M pay cut? Really? I'm thinking the writer was suggesting that Whaley should ask Wood to take a pay cut due to his play and that Wood should be willing to cut $2M from this year's salary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 I'm thinking the writer was suggesting that Whaley should ask Wood to take a pay cut due to his play and that Wood should be willing to cut $2M from this year's salary. I think it's worth noting that the linked article had a date of 4 March, prior to the start of the new league year, and included #1 "cut Kraig Urbik" and #5 "cut Bryce Brown" on the list as ideas of how to save salary cap. Methinks the author was kind of desperate for material that day, since neither of those guys are paid all that much. Smart GMs don't, typically, ask a 16 game starter who just changed coaches and systems to take a 43% pay cut and then expect him to give his best effort and loyalty to the team, especially when there's no viable challenger for the position on the team and the author was suggesting cutting the backup center as well. You ask a player to take a pay cut when he's not playing up to expectations with the same system and the same coaches and you've got a replacement lined up and ready to challenge for the job. Some dumb ideas in that article, but good quotes from Wood emphasizing that he's well aware his play didn't meet expectations last year and he needs to step it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincec Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Given his declining play and injury history the Bills should and I'm sure will be looking at center options in the next couple of seasons. For this season he's the guy though so I hope he makes a come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gugny Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Given his declining play and injury history the Bills should and I'm sure will be looking at center options in the next couple of seasons. For this season he's the guy though so I hope he makes a come back. He's started 79/96 possible games in his career and has only missed two games in the past three seasons (32 games played in the past two seasons). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincec Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 He's started 79/96 possible games in his career and has only missed two games in the past three seasons (32 games played in the past two seasons). That doesn't mean that he played well last season or will play well this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 That doesn't mean that he played well last season or will play well this season. No, it doesn't. I believe it was addressing your comment about his "injury history". That doesn't mean he won't get injured this season either, but when a guy has played 46/48 games in the last 3 seasons, his past "injury history" ought to be shelved as a concern, don't you agree? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwalter Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 according to B/R, "above average" might even be overselling him: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2491579-br-nfl-1000-ranking-the-top-35-centers-from-2014/page/12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hapless Bills Fan Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 according to B/R, "above average" might even be overselling him: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2491579-br-nfl-1000-ranking-the-top-35-centers-from-2014/page/12 I refuse to give Bleacher Report clicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 according to B/R, "above average" might even be overselling him: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2491579-br-nfl-1000-ranking-the-top-35-centers-from-2014/page/12 It would've been really hard to just post the ranking? Am I the only one that feels like there's a trend towards forcing people to click the articles instead of giving a quick recap of the important points and letting people see if they want to dig into the details themselves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwalter Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 It would've been really hard to just post the ranking? Am I the only one that feels like there's a trend towards forcing people to click the articles instead of giving a quick recap of the important points and letting people see if they want to dig into the details themselves? apologies: B/R has him rated out as the 25th center in the league, right behind Roberto Garza and in front of David Molk. gave him 25/50 for pass blocking, noting that he was much better in this area last season. gave him 29/45 in run blocking, noting that he improved as the year went on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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