WhitewalkerInPhilly

This is the one thing I won't quibble about. Eric Moulds was not a small player. Watkins is talented. Dear crap, I don't think he is worth what we traded, but he's talented and "plays bigger than 6'1" Then again, so does Mike Williams. Have we traded Stevie yet?

I am full of patience. What I am not full of is taking someone who seems like a gorramdamn clone of Mike Williams, while giving up a ton of picks in the process, leaving us overwhelmed at WR while having a sh*t ROT, a TE position which hasn't been relevant since Reimersma and a missing FS.

So...those rumors about trading Stevie? I mean, I love him, but we really need something now...

*Sigh* I honestly don't like the pick. I really don't. I mean, I like Sammy Watkins, but really, we paid too much for it... Well, he has this season to prove me wrong.

Goddamn, they really must have liked him

Would you prefer the State University of New York at Buffalo?

Fair enough. If they don't go Ebron in Round 1, but take ASJ/Niklas, I would be thrilled. But the idea freaks me out a hell of a lot less than a receiver (Beckham) who is Robert Woods 2.0, who is in turn Stevie Johnson 1.5.

Yeah, that's been there for a while. It's been our time for 14 f ing years.

Wow. Lotta Ebron hate.

I have to ask, who will make you freak out if the Bills stay exactly where they are, and choose. For me, it's Beckham, and I am currently preparing sacrificial rites in hope this does not happen and these new reports are driving me insane. He just doesn't seem like a good fit for what we want to do, with who we already have. Even Donald or Martin wouldn't do that to me, even if I think that they aren't going to be BPA at 9.

If I only have one guess, it's ebron at 9.

I'm not ragging on the guy. I just don't think that the improvement he would bring is worth the improvement we'd see from any of the other top 5 picks, never mind the cumulative benefit of a Top 10 pick this year, our first round next year, and likely several other picks as well.

I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. Yes, Mack is an excellent athlete, and we could find a way to use him. But we would have to shuffle players, because we already have a decent set of OLBs in Kiko and Lawson, and Mack is less suited as a MLB. It is one thing if the skies clear, light shines down from the heavens and he falls to you, and another to burn a monstrous amount of picks from this year, and possibly next to take someone at 3 who doesn't immediately be a game changer at that spot.

I mostly agree with you, but I don't think Sammy Watkins is the guy. I know, heresy. But we just traded for Mike Williams, who is of similar stature (6'2 to 6'1 and a couple more pounds), is only a hair slower (4.5 to 4.4) and already has a proven track record as an extremely good route runner, with an impressive vertical and ball skills. We already have a Sammy Watkins mold veteran in a very reasonable contract, so I would trade up for Mike Evans before I would Sammy Watkins.

I will state for the record that in the pre-draft days of 2012 I argued fiercely that a little bit of college drinking wasn't going to mean that Blackmon would necessarily have character issues. I was wr-wr-wr....wrong. (whew) Of course, similar concerns were made as to Kiko after the Bills took him last year and thus far I haven't heard a peep about anything going wrong.

Hey!...Oh Wait, you meant the other guy.

Answer: This is the game I like to bring up. Goodwin was matched against Antonio Cromartie,the guy who was supposed to be playing well enough to justify trading Revis. If you go back and watch the game, Cromartie starts playing with a cushion, because the assumption is that the only thing Goodwin is useful is the deep route. He consistently worked Cromartie for chunks of 6-8 yards to keep the chains moving but what everyone remembers is the deep touchdown catch. At this point, Cromartie has started to bump him at the line. Goodwin takes the bump and STILL beats him deep when EJ throws the prettiest deep pass we've seen out of him yet. In four WR sets, I currently see Goodwin lining up on the outside with Williams. He might be a situational player, but as previous years have shown us, having extensive depth at WR is useful as the season wears on.

If it gets Brady saying "Clever girl" I don't care. Especially if he gets mauled immediately afterward.

I really have to ask why a 4-3 under base wouldn't work. From what I understand, Whaley saying that Lawson would be a DE/OLB hyrbrid would be explained by the fact that the 4-3 under is pretty close to a 5-2. Let's run down the list really quick. Big, space eating 3-4 DE prototype as the Strong -Side DE: Alan Branch? Check A 1 or 2i technique NT who can charge a single gap if open, or command a double team: Marcel Dareus? Check A Weakside DT who is slightly undersized, but is quick and charges a 1 gap at the 3 technique: Kyle Williams? Check A pass rusher who would be a 3-4 OLB in a straight 3-4: Not only do we have Mario Williams, we have depth in Hughes. Check and Check. A Strongside LB who plays directly on the line, lining up over the TE and is primarily in charge with setting the edge, but who still has some ability in coverage: Pretty much exactly the description of what they had Manny Lawson doing last year. Check. Run stuffing MLB who hits the running gaps: Spikes? Check. An incredibly versatile WLB who has great horizontal movement and typically does his best work unblocked: #TheLegendofKiko. That makes for a very complete looking front 7. While I would love to see depth, I don't see any position where they would HAVE to take someone in the first two rounds.

I think it's more like more time has caused people to really nitpick. Even at the beginning, no one was saying that this QB class was going to have an Andrew Luck, obvious lock #1 pick QB. Do I think that, given some time,he could really develop? Of course. I just hope this lays to rest the idea of "THE BILLS MUST TAKE A QB, ALL THESE OTHER NEW ROOKIE QB'S ARE TEH GREATEST, WILL BEAT OUT EJ DAY ONE, TAKE ONE NOAW!" And I do really think that, given Cleveland's owner being so desperate to win now that he fired his GM and Head Coach after one season, they can't avoid taking a QB if a good one drops to them at 4.

Good read. I read his article about the Wide 9,written before we signed Spikes. Afterwards, when I was looking for how Schwartz was going to use Spikes, he mentioned that the way Schwartz uses his MLB is like a NT ad I thought "this looks like a perfect fit!" What I like about the setup he described is how similar to Mike Pettine's D-line this theory sounds. It jives with the story that the language is staying the same, and Lawson's new designation as LB/DE hybrid makes a lot more sense if he is supposed to be on the line of scrimmage constantly as the SLB, and would be a backup plan for an edge rusher if Hughes goes down. I do also expect that some Wide 9 will make an appearance this year in obvious pass situations, since it's a way of getting a pass rush without blitzing, something Schwartz tends not to do. Seriously. If official statistics, PFF grades and repeat Pro Bowl appearances aren't enough to sway the man, we're all wasting our time trying to convince someone who has replaces one reality and substituted it with his own.

from your lips to god's aka whaley's ears.

Honestly I Really can't complain that much. i am alright with frontloading some of our home games to the start of the season to help a young team to come together. we say a good, but not amazing kc team get on a run early even though they didn't have a super hard schedule. we play kc, at home, coming off a bye. we have all of preseason to prep for a road game against chicago, which while a tough game seems winynable. the only team we play coming off a bye is the jets, at home, when we are coming off a thursday game. we play a lot of good teams, but we were always going to play them, while we play only a few really, really stunning teams (NE, Denver, GB). we may or may not do well this year, but i can't blame how the schedulers laid it out.

Same here. I am very happy with Mike Williams, but that had left the Tampa WR group in shambles behind Vincent Jackson. I agree about this year. Again, one of the growing trends is use of the spread offense, and we used it extremely well under Chan to help Spiller run the ball. Considering the inevitable injuries and scheme changes which happen over the course of the season, and considering that a rookie WR always does need some time to adjust I could easily see keeping Evans, Stevie, Williams, Woods and Goodwin to give a terrifyingly good group. In a few years, when Williams and Stevie's contracts are up are are getting too high for their level of production, you would still have an immensely talented core of big outside prototypical #1 guy (Evans), DeSean Jackson like speedster (Goodwin) and an incredible route running possession receiver (Woods).

I highly doubt that a CB is the pick at 9. That said, if Graham is going to move to FS like Marrone mentioned could happen, the Bills are dangerously thin at CB. Robey, while a phenomenal slot corner would get torched on the outside. Considering Brooks is the next man down on the depth chart, it would be nice to have someone with the height and speed to play the position. I wouldn't be shocked if a CB would be our #41 pick, especially if we wind up trading back.