San Jose Bills Fan

In the last week: 1) Mathieu planned to have this Thursday Night Draft Party in spite of the likelihood that he won't be drafted on Thursday night. And of course the advertisements for the party billed him as First Round draft pick Tyrann Mathieu aka "Honey Badger", a name he's been saying in interviews that he's disassociating himself from. Also as your link states, while he supposedly didn't design the invitations, he apparently sent them out. Apparently he has now come to his senses and canceled the party. http://nextimpulsesports.com/2013/04/24/tyrann-mathieu-cancels-his-first-round-draft-pick-celebration/ 2) An unnamed veteran player met Mathieu on one of his team visits and told a source that he didn't like Mathieu's attitude and the fact that Tyrann only talked about making lots of money but never talked about becoming a great football player. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/23/mathieu-makes-bad-impression-on-current-player-with-history-of-off-field-issues/ 3) Canceled two team visits because he was sick. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/23/mathieu-missed-two-visits-last-week-due-to-illness/ Separately no big deal. All three in one week?

Yonkers!

Three votes for Tavon Austin. Any team with an average quarterback, a good offensive coordinator, a good O-line, Spiller, Freddy, Stevie and Tavon Austin could do a lot of damage. Austin might be the only elite talent available when the Bills draft at #8. Of course EJ Manuel is an elite talent but Austin is the guy I've had a change of heart about.

I was gonna correct Fluffhead on the "scared" vs "frightened" wording and corroborate that you were the author of this fine moniker. No comment. Actually with your store of gifs, custom posters, graphics, and photoshop skills you contribute a great deal. Of course there's your opinions… However weight that against EJ's own words in which he said the Bills liked him a lot. Yes but you were the one to dub Jimmy Clausen as "The Emu" which is still the mother of all TSW wildlife nicknames.

In the mid-20th century the most popular sports in America were baseball, boxing, and horse racing so yes, pro football could decline in popularity. As for the rules designed to increase player safety and shed legal liability, they will have zero bearing on my enjoyment of the sport. None of the NFL's safety initiatives have affected my love and enjoyment of NFL football at all. If anything I like the game more because the game was getting too violence-oriented for me. When players go for "kill shots" and have zero regard and respect for each others health, then there's something wrong, IMO. I enjoyed the sport immensely 20 years ago when our Bills were among the best and if the violence returned to those levels I'd be perfectly good with it. I suppose there are those that like gratuitous violence and will spend more time watching the carnage in MMA… until that sport is tamed to more civilized standards. I believe that people who truly love football will continue to love it. Maybe it will lose some fans… the kind of fans who watch hockey for the fights and who like seeing wrecks in auto racing. As for participation of youngsters in football, that's a separate issue from the popularity of football from an entertainment standpoint. And I don't think the talent pool in this country will dry up… especially when efforts are being made to make the sport safer for participation.

Go ahead. Click on it. You know you want to. You're welcome.

Oh crap. I just remembered we were supposed to send someone over to the Sundowner to replace Kas. I think the guesses here on what sort of contract he might sign are high. I'd be surprised if the Bills were offering more than $2 million per year. This is a guy who was sitting on the open market with little or no interest very late in free agency. Apparently he gave up.

I really like your thoughts and rationales. Clearly you've given this a lot of thought. I agree that the Bills have to consider Austin at #8. He might be the only elite talent available when they pick. I also agree that Tyler Wilson is the toughest QB in the draft. I've watched every video available of every QB and it was a point of pride with Tyler to never show the other team that he was hurt on a play. The kid is a fighter with a lot of moxie. I like him as much as Nassib and more than Barkley.

I just think the lack of arm strength is really gonna limit Barkley as a pro. If we're gonna burn a top ten pick on a QB… Wait… what?

Wasn't that play nullified by an offsides penalty… on him?

Done. Thanks P

Thanks!

It was good knowing you Larry. Rest in Peace

Well I gotta hand it to you. You made it through an entire post without once lobbying for an O-lineman.

I don't think that there's one blanket rule which covers draft day trades. Each transaction is unique to itself based on the teams, divisions, conferences, standings, and the relationship the GMs have with each other.

Tom Ruud has to be pretty high on the list. The Bills drafted him 19th overall. He was with the club for 3 years and had 3 starts. He spent two additional seasons with the Bengals.

At #8 or in a trade down?

Not that it's a major deal or anything but this thread has now turned into the same conversation as 20 other threads.

Agreed. It's an interesting theoretical discussion as abolishing the draft would never happen. But to those who think that a draftless league wouldn't work, I disagree.

Well at least he's being agreeable. But yeah, I was wondering the same thing. I think sometimes people are trying to drive me crazy. Occasionally I hear these voices…

And equally meaningless.

I think "who has the worst QB situation in the league," is a much more interesting discussion than yet another "what strategy should we employ in drafting a QB this year." Sorry TC. Where this post is heading, there's already about 20 other posts discussing the same thing.

Pat played for the Bills for 8 years and the Vikings for 6 years. Also, Pat was an undrafted free agent who the Bills brought into the NFL so there's that. If the Bills weren't such a shabby organization that treated him poorly, he would be retiring as a Bill. Unfortunately the Bills are a shabby organization that treated him poorly. I'm not disappointed in Pat. I'm disappointed in the Bills. I'm guessing that's what you meant.

One unnamed GM was quoted today as saying that he thinks that there are only 13 players who are legitimate first round talents. On top of that there are not many elite talents in this draft. And even the so-called elite talents are all flawed. For instance, I love Dion Jordan but he's had a bum shoulder which has prevented him from working out and improving the one area where he needs to improve the most -- his strength. Milliner has some medical concerns and it was recently revealed that he's already had 5 football-related surgeries. I believe (and I'm not here to debate it) that O-line and D-line are basically non-need positions for the Bills. So, I would probably draft Jordan because even though we have Lawson and Mario manning the OLB spots, Jordan is too revolutionary of a talent to pass up. He could be blanketing Gronkowski on one play and sacking Brady on the next. In the hands of a good DC like Pettine, he could be an incredible weapon. Personally I would take EJ Manuel second. His talent is off the charts and I think he could become a great player. And btw, the Bills have to consider drafting Austin, for the same reasons that they were compelled to draft CJ Spiller. In years past, this would have been a much easier question to answer.

Thank you Boone. Guys on both sides of this debate have lots of ammo and you're not gonna agree. This entire QB class is more polarizing than any I can recall. Just watch the videotape and trust what you see. Even if it ends up that you're wrong on your evaluations, the chances of you being right are greater next year when we do this again.