bourbonboy

Also supposedly a special teams ace, and reportedly turned down a contract with Oakland to sign with us. A player with upside who wants to be here - nice no-risk signing.

I'm not one of the pessimistic 0-16 doom-and-gloom types, but our home schedule is not all as rosy as it may appear - for a Bills team that hasn't stopped the run in years, a non-division home diet of JAX (MJD), TN (CJ2K), STL (SJax), KC (Charles) and SEA (Lynch, if he's back) is not all that appetizing....I was at the TN game this year, and despite being one of the biggest busts of the year, CJ2K (post-illness, lost weight and all, and with almost no passing game) shredded us for 153 yd and 2 TD. If these RB's and their teams are healthy, this is far from an easy schedule. With the exception of STL, all those teams are mostly one-dimensional, so our biggest need for wins next year is improvement in the run D. That's where there's also the most room for improvement, so that's where a large free agent and draft priority must be - please make it so! And then home games will be a whole lot better to attend, and easier to sell tickets to.

Blurb from Rotoworld: Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com notes that Bills LG Andy Levitre "mauled" the Eagles defensive line in Week 5. Prisco's film study gibes with the findings of Pro Football Focus, who rate Levitre as the best guard in the NFL through five weeks. It's an amazing turnaround for the 2009 second-rounder, who had to fight off Chad Rinehart to keep his starting job this summer. I love seeing the word "mauled" being used with the Bills OL!

Rotoworld's take: The Falcons are reportedly competing against the Bills and Seahawks for free agent RT Tyson Clabo. Seattle is looking for one veteran offensive lineman as insurance at guard and right tackle. They're also in on OG Robert Gallery, but will sign just one of the two. It's a pleasant surprise to hear the Bills involved, as they have seemed satisfied with below-average tackle play the past couple of seasons.

Rotoworld's take: Ravens WR James Hardy was reportedly turning heads at recent workouts organized by Derrick Mason. A Bills' second-round pick in 2008, Hardy has been a massive bust, making just 10 catches in 16 games thanks to injury and ineffectiveness. He thinks he can still be a factor if healthy: "I feel my raw ability is why I’m here." His odds of making the Ravens were already long, but they are just about non-existent after Baltimore drafted Torrey Smith and Tandon Doss last month. http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/4635/james-hardy

Here's more info: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/nfl-lockout-leads-to-players-taking-out-cash-loans-with-huge-interest-rates-051511 One firm alone has already issued 25 loans to players already...rates as high as 30%, and the players "love" the lenders. The players don't need more money in the CBA - they just need a paid course in basic home economics! Ridiculous....

if you read the whole article, also worth noting that they see Thigpen as the best bet to come to Buffalo and backup Fitz....I wouldn't mind this at all, he was very good under Chan in KC, as long as we didn't have to give up much for him.

Link: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Peter-Schrager-NFL-2012-first-round-mock-draft-050311 He predicts Seattle will get Luck at #1 - Bills get 10th pick: 10. Buffalo Bills — Matt Kalil, OT, USC: With five rookies contributing on defense, the Bills improve from their 2010 defensive funk and show some real promise in 2011. Ryan Fitzpatrick remains the man at quarterback, and in 2012, they go offensive line, snagging Kalil, the 6-6, 298-pound tackle out of USC. Kalil’s brother, Ryan, plays center for the Panthers. Entertaining read for the true die-hard....

OK - so 7th round ain't great, but it's better than nothing, and there is still talent there. Just 'cause I was bored, I dug up the following take on the top 20 7th round picks of all time (lotsa WR's - Colston, Driver, TJHush): http://camelclutchblog.com/nfl-seventh-round-draft-picks/

I have no problem with cutting dead weight, and it seems everyone but the coaches knew long ago that the tackles are a major liability on this team right now. The only way to get players to WANT to be on this team is if you win games, and sure we've been out of the playoffs for 10 years, but at least we were never the winless team that was the laughing stock of the league. We are fast approaching that status now, if we're not there already.... IMHO, the biggest problem was trying to overhaul the D and O at the same time. Our D wasn't bad last year - who wouldn't take last years D over this years? Most of the problem with last years D was that the O couldn't keep them off the field. Statistics for the first three quarters were above average in most categories. So why not keep the 4-3 for another year or two while you spend some draft picks to fix the O? Instead, now we have a disfunctional O and D both at the same time, and both of which will require years worth of draft picks and free agents (if we can convince anyone to come here now) to fix. As a true fan, it makes me sick to my stomach to think about how far away we are right now from fielding a good team.

Particularly in the 3rd and 4th quarters - they basically ran out of gas because the O couldn't keep the ball long enough. Seriously, I wonder how much better our D stats would've been based on the first 2 or 3 quarters alone....the 4th quarter is where we always got run-gouged

What he said..... If this is to go down, it's in everybody's best interest to do it sooner rather than later so that the shuffled lines on both teams have time to gel. I can see Buffalo maybe planning this all along - figuring that noone would give up a 2nd this yr for Gaither, then Buffalo negotiating after the draft (and after the other LT needy teams had invested high draft picks on LT's), when the Bills are maybe the only serious buyer in town....can the new regime at OBD possibly be that smart? I could think pie-in-the-sky, and hope they could work out a two-fer for both Gaither and Troy Smith - I'd give up a few picks and a few players for that.

I don't know if anyone caught it, but one of Mike and Mike's guests this morning (forget who) mentioned that Philly was looking to trade up...a Bills-Eagles swap of #1's with extra picks (2nd and more?) wouldn't be a bad thing.

Per Bob Matthews column in the Rochester D&C today: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/articl...01/4210375/1011 A few interesting NFL draft odds from www.Bodog.com: Who will be the 9th player selected?...Jimmy Clausen 10-to-11...Dan Williams 2-to-1...C.J. Spiller 5-to-2...Dez Bryant 9-to-1...Anthony Davis 15-to-1. Spiller probably could become the most exciting Buffalo Bills running back since O.J. Simpson. Finding daylight behind Buffalo's offensive line would be the problem. Where will Tim Tebow be selected?... Picks 1-29, 6-to-5...picks 30-50, 1-to-2...pick 51 or higher, 5-to-2. What will Jimmy Clausen's draft position be?...over/under 9 ½. Where will Colt McCoy's draft position be?...over/under 38 ½.

Actually, just the opposite may be true... Cleveland supposedly does not like Clausen....you never know who's blowing smoke at this time of year, but if they're looking to move up, it would only make sense if they're down on Clausen and they think Bradford is significantly better. And if that's the case, and Clevelend doesn't work a deal with StL, then I seriously doubt that they would take Clausen at #7.

Maybe (when he's playing the Bills, anyway) - but the only real value of either (so far) has been as a returner, and Roscoe is a better returner.

Ummm...Parrish was a 2nd rounder.

Yep - and if the Bills couldn't get anything for Parrish last year, the Dolphins won't be able to do anything with Ginn this year. I'll take Parrish anyday between the two of them.

FYI - I didn't see it referenced here, but very interesting observation on the Super Bowl OL's in Bob Matthews D&C column on Monday: The Buffalo Bills should be this lucky — or smart. Here's how the starting offensive lines for the two teams in Super Bowl XLIV were built: New Orleans LT Jermon Bushrod: 125th overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft out of Towson University. LG Carl Nicks: 164th pick in the 2008 NFL draft out of Nebraska. C Jonathan Goodwin: Signed as a free agent March 2006 ... was the 154th overall pick in the 2002 NFL draft by the New York Jets out of Michigan. RG Jahri Evans: 108th overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft out of Division III Bloomsburg. RT Jon Stinchcomb: 37th overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft out of Georgia. Indianapolis Colts LT Charlie Johnson: 199th overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft out of Oklahoma State. LG Ryan Lilja: Acquired off waivers from Kansas City Chiefs in September 2004 ... originally signed by Kansas City as an undrafted free agent. C Jeff Saturday: Signed as free agent in January 1999 ... originally signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in April 1998. RG Kyle DeVan: Signed as free agent in April 2009 ... originally signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in May 2008 ... later waived by the New York Jets ... played in af2 with the Boise Burn in spring 2009. RT Ryan Diem: 118th overall pick in the 2001 NFL draft out of Northern Illinois. link: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/p...AID=20102010307 Indy has THREE starting linemen that were undrafted free agents, and there's not a first round draft pick starting for either side, yet we gotta keep burning up draft picks cause our personnel/drafting has been so bad. Very depressing.

From the Rochester paper today (Bob Matthews column): A check of 67 mock online drafts of various quality Monday revealed.....the most popular choices for the Bills were Oklahoma OT Trent William, Rutgers OT Anthony Davis and Iowa OT Bryan Bulaga. Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant, Maryland OT Joe Campbell, Florida CB Joe Haden, Clausen and Bradford also received multiple mentions. ... WARNING: At this early stage of last year's mock draft epidemic, the No. 1 pick for the Bills was Penn State DE-LB Aaron Maybin.

No problem - he'll be able to help us hold the division lead we build in the early season, then he'll be acclimated for the long playoff run!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4266791

The camp is not moving anywhere...from the Bills perspective, the regionalization/Rochester tie-in is Brandon's baby, and has worked very well. And from SJF's perspective, it has brought them a ton of good publicity, and the increase in applications improves the student body quality, not to mention the football team (show me another Div. III school with facilities like this!)

I wonder how many draft picks were used on the secondary by those teams above us....I'm not about to waste the time to check, but I bet we used more!

I know I am probably in the minority here, but I still say that an experienced OL is not a pre-requisite. I agree that the C position is critical, as he's calling the line plays at a fast pace, but as far as the other OL spots are concerned, a play is a play, whether in no-huddle, hurry-up or standard tempo. Just the opposite, I think no-huddle/hurry-up helps an inexperienced line because: (1) the no-huddle/hurry-up playlist is usually smaller; and (2) the defense is kept off-balance, can't substitute, have time to call plays, etc; and (3) regarding the fatigue factor, this style of offense tends to tire out the D faster than the O. I'm not saying it won't take time to get everyone on the same page, but we definitely have the skill positions for this, and coaches have already commented on how they're going to give Trent more leeway in calling plays/audibles at line of scrimmage....if the OL can just give us some average play, we should be able to make this work.