BillsVet Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 I wanted to look at where Buffalo was with regard to certain positions. There are some that as of today remain severely thin. OFFENSE QB: Losman is the entrenched starter. Holcomb could be a cap casualty. Nall could become the 2nd string man should Holcomb be cut. Not big concerns here, but JP must continue improving. RB/FB: Lone back with NFL experience is Shaud Williams. Anthony Thomas may be re-signed but there is nothing official yet. Bills will most likely pick up 2 more backs, perhaps A. Thomas and a pick who may be used in Round 1 or 2 of draft. WR: Lee Evans is the star of the group hands down. Peerless Price is serviceable, but did not get many yards per catch. Roscoe Parrish is an undersized guy with toughness over the middle. Josh Reed is solid but not spectacular. TE: Robert Royal is a steady blocker but has limited receiving skills. After that, Brad Cieslak and Ryan Neufeld are below average NFL TE's. Kevin Everett may be a cut in training camp or even before. OT: Peters is a star in the making at LT. Some would say he already is the best in the AFC. Langston Walker is being touted as a good player on a bad team last season and will start at RT. Terrence Pennington likely moves to being a depth player in his second season. Kirk Chambers signed for probably a depth role. G: Dockery is the big signing of the off-season. Will most likely solidfy a position of need at LG. Jason Whittle, Duke Preston, and perhaps Brad Butler vie for the RG position. C: Fowler is the starter. Average player who worked well with Losman. Preston can play if called upon, but not as good as Fowler DEFENSE DE: Probably the strongest area on the team, at least on the defense. Schobel is a 2006 Pro Bowler and Kelsay was re-signed to a big contract. Ryan Denney gives great effort and is very good against the run. Anthony Hargrove is the other DE in the rotation. DT: Larry Tripplett was frequently invisible last season. 1st rounder John McCargo didn't start, played sparingly, then broke his foot (same injury that kept him out one season in college) and missed the rest of the year. Kyle Williams played tough, but might not be the answer. Tim Anderson was a big disappointment, resulting in his scratch from the season finale in Baltimore. OLB: Takeo Spikes may well be another cap casualty. His salary and lack of play since an Achilles tear could result in his swan song. Angelo Crowell might be forced to the middle with the departure of Fletcher-Baker, but played excellent until a late season injury. 6th rounder Keith Ellison played well, but may not be big enough to handle the rigors of a 16 game season. Coy Wire is moving to OLB, though he has not played the position professionally save for the conclusion of last season. MLB: Crowell could slide over depending on the draft. John DiGiorgio, a UDFA is the current back-up. CB: Only signed CB's are Terrence McGee who struggled last season, Ashton Youboty, and Jabari Greer. Youboty missed significant time after being drafted in the 3rd round but may become the starter in the wake of Nate Clements' departure. Jabari Greer was a RFA who signed a 2 year deal and is an undersized CB. S: Donte Whitner started nearly the whole season and played like a rookie. Ko Simpson was selected in the 4th round and made few errors, though the defense featured the safeties playing deep. Jim Leonhard is the only other safety on the roster. SPECIAL TEAMS K: Rian Lindell is a superior kicker and played extremely well for Buffalo last season. Re-signed in December to a 5 year deal. P: Brian Moorman was a Pro Bowler and impressed most experts with excellent distance and accuracy. PR: Parrish shows good vision, but made some bad mistakes. KR: McGee didn't play as well as 05, but nearly went the distance once and is a very good NFL KR At this point I think the following (as of 3/10) are the most pressing needs: 1. RB/FB 2. CB 3. OLB (maybe more if Spikes is cut and no quality LB's are brought in) 4. DT 5. WR There's strengths at OL and DE along with the Special Teams. After that, it's a little more cloudy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cåblelady Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 We're definately not 6' under. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB2004 Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 I wanted to look at where Buffalo was with regard to certain positions. There are some that as of today remain severely thin. OFFENSE QB: Losman is the entrenched starter. Holcomb could be a cap casualty. Nall could become the 2nd string man should Holcomb be cut. Not big concerns here, but JP must continue improving. RB/FB: Lone back with NFL experience is Shaud Williams. Anthony Thomas may be re-signed but there is nothing official yet. Bills will most likely pick up 2 more backs, perhaps A. Thomas and a pick who may be used in Round 1 or 2 of draft. WR: Lee Evans is the star of the group hands down. Peerless Price is serviceable, but did not get many yards per catch. Roscoe Parrish is an undersized guy with toughness over the middle. Josh Reed is solid but not spectacular. TE: Robert Royal is a steady blocker but has limited receiving skills. After that, Brad Cieslak and Ryan Neufeld are below average NFL TE's. Kevin Everett may be a cut in training camp or even before. OT: Peters is a star in the making at LT. Some would say he already is the best in the AFC. Langston Walker is being touted as a good player on a bad team last season and will start at RT. Terrence Pennington likely moves to being a depth player in his second season. Kirk Chambers signed for probably a depth role. G: Dockery is the big signing of the off-season. Will most likely solidfy a position of need at LG. Jason Whittle, Duke Preston, and perhaps Brad Butler vie for the RG position. C: Fowler is the starter. Average player who worked well with Losman. Preston can play if called upon, but not as good as Fowler DEFENSE DE: Probably the strongest area on the team, at least on the defense. Schobel is a 2006 Pro Bowler and Kelsay was re-signed to a big contract. Ryan Denney gives great effort and is very good against the run. Anthony Hargrove is the other DE in the rotation. DT: Larry Tripplett was frequently invisible last season. 1st rounder John McCargo didn't start, played sparingly, then broke his foot (same injury that kept him out one season in college) and missed the rest of the year. Kyle Williams played tough, but might not be the answer. Tim Anderson was a big disappointment, resulting in his scratch from the season finale in Baltimore. OLB: Takeo Spikes may well be another cap casualty. His salary and lack of play since an Achilles tear could result in his swan song. Angelo Crowell might be forced to the middle with the departure of Fletcher-Baker, but played excellent until a late season injury. 6th rounder Keith Ellison played well, but may not be big enough to handle the rigors of a 16 game season. Coy Wire is moving to OLB, though he has not played the position professionally save for the conclusion of last season. MLB: Crowell could slide over depending on the draft. John DiGiorgio, a UDFA is the current back-up. CB: Only signed CB's are Terrence McGee who struggled last season, Ashton Youboty, and Jabari Greer. Youboty missed significant time after being drafted in the 3rd round but may become the starter in the wake of Nate Clements' departure. Jabari Greer was a RFA who signed a 2 year deal and is an undersized CB. S: Donte Whitner started nearly the whole season and played like a rookie. Ko Simpson was selected in the 4th round and made few errors, though the defense featured the safeties playing deep. Jim Leonhard is the only other safety on the roster. SPECIAL TEAMS K: Rian Lindell is a superior kicker and played extremely well for Buffalo last season. Re-signed in December to a 5 year deal. P: Brian Moorman was a Pro Bowler and impressed most experts with excellent distance and accuracy. PR: Parrish shows good vision, but made some bad mistakes. KR: McGee didn't play as well as 05, but nearly went the distance once and is a very good NFL KR At this point I think the following (as of 3/10) are the most pressing needs: 1. RB/FB 2. CB 3. OLB (maybe more if Spikes is cut and no quality LB's are brought in) 4. DT 5. WR There's strengths at OL and DE along with the Special Teams. After that, it's a little more cloudy. There are a lot pressing needs, with the first two being running back and middle linebacker. I think when its said and done, we have to get a middle linebacker before we get a running back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted March 11, 2007 Author Share Posted March 11, 2007 I simply wanted to demonstrate how thin we are in so many positions. This is why I don't believe we possess the luxury of drafting the best available player. At this juncture, how many players will be coming to the team before the draft? We'll see, but I can't imagine more than 2-3 more free agents. Na, we ain't 6' under, but we're not in a position to do what we want in the draft. This is year 2 of the three year plan. Don't get to worked up becuase we've spent money. This season will determine how good a coach DJ and his staff are. Because they're not going to have as much talent as many other teams in the AFC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Jokeman Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 We're definately not 6' under. Actually we are with the exception of Sam Aiken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I 90 Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 We could see corners and a tight end on day one; we are talking about Marv here. Or a fancy WR to hedge against the end of Evans contract. Our idea of depth likely isn't his -- be prepared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted March 11, 2007 Author Share Posted March 11, 2007 Call me negative, but the Bills do the unexpected on draft day. TD is gone, but I got the feeling he always had to make the decision that wasn't obvious. McGahee was just one example. Last season, I'm willing to bet no one say Donte Whitner coming beyond Mike Mayock. And trading back into the first for John McCargo was probably not in most experts' minds. Could they end up going TE? Well, if they're not high on Robert Royal I suppose so. Just because we all think RB, LB, and CB are areas of need doesn't mean Marv and Dick think so. I've seen Leon Hall on so many mocks that I just think the stars are aligning that we don't select him. There are a bevy of CB's out there with good speed and ball instincts like the draft experts say. Either way, our depth needs improving, and by that I mean a rotation of DT's, another CB, either/or a OLB and MLB, TE, etc, etc, etc. Drafting the best player available is not an option. So trading down may be our solution in Round 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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