bobobonators

Anyone here have any interest in Chris Gamble from the Panthers? Solid, veteran CB to compliment Gilmore.

Just heard. YAY.

Quadruple UGH

and this is not to say that 1st round pick or high-end FA's = success. There are plenty of high picks that are busts. My point is that when you avoid these positions in the top part of the draft and in FA year after year, eventually it's going to start to catch up to you.

I've argued this before, I couldn't blame Levitre for leaving. On draft day he had no choice on his destination. If I were him I'd do the same thing: see who can provide me a combination of the most money + the best opportunity to win. For example, if the Lions offer around the same as Buffalo or slightly more, I'd probably stay in Buffalo (assuming he likes it here). But if a team like SF offfers me the same amount of money or slightly more than Buffalo, I'd be foolish to stay in Buffalo during the prime of my career.

Guys, i have no agenda. I've said before if we can upgrade at QB, then we should. However, i'm not giong to say that ANYONE not name Fitzpatrick would be an upgrade. All nonsense aside about Fitzpatrick, you sit there and look at our offense, we have a bunch of overachievers but not much in terms of elite talent. Stevie Johnson is an overachiever - he doesn't have break away speed, he's not extremely physical, he doesn't have great hands, but he's solid. He's not a game-changer. Fitzpatrick is another overachiever. Freddy is another overachiever. When CJ Spiller was not on the field, which up until this year was quite often b/c our coaching staff failed to realize that if you draft a player at 9 you should start him, we do not have a single 1st round pick at any of the skill positions on the field on the offensive side. Actually, i couuld be wrong, but we don't have a single 1st or 2nd round pick at skill positions (QB/RB/WR/TE) on the field when CJ has been standing on the sidelines. I challenge any of you to find me another NFL team that does not have a single 1st or 2nd round pick on the field at QB, WR, TE or RB. The closest one I can think of is the Patriots who don't have any 1st rounders at any of those positions but have had Gronk who was taken in the 2nd. We seriously need to begin to address the offensive side this offseason - including QB. We've completely ignored it the last 3 years, and that can't be argued. At the end of the day you cann only do so much on offense with overachievers and undrafted FA's.

I'd be willing to go +8mil/year for Levitre: 1. He's our best Olineman 2. He's versatile and can play tackle for a few games if needed 3. He's already been successful in B-lo and is a sure thing at the position 4. He's been extremely durable 5. Our O-line is relatively young and pretty solid - I'd like to keep it as a strength of this team as opposed to possibly taking a step backwards there too. I'd prefer to spend high draft picks on skill positions as opposed to drafting a replacement to Levitre (i.e., I'd prefer to draft a high-end WR or TE and sign Levitre as opposed to drafting Levitre's possible replacement and signing a FA WR).

hey man, i was on the road and couldn't read your entire post properly. referring to SF barely having the edge on offensive talent, i flat out disagree. there's no point in comparing who has more talent at QB since we're discussing the support around them, so forget about who has more depth at QB. As for RB, you may say that CJ + FJ are > than gore, however CJ didn't even really start regularly until this year. Frank Gore has had back-to-back +1200yd seasons with 8td. The fact that we require two players to do what one player on SF does, doesn't necessarily make us better at that spot. But if you want to say that CJ and Freddy are better than Gore, fine, I'll give you that. But then we lose BY FAR at WR; BY FAR at TE; BY FAR at OL. So the only spot that we even hold a candle to SF on the offensive side is at RB. In 2010 we drafted two defensive players in fist 3 rounds: Troup/Carrington In 2011, our first 4 players drafted were on the defensive side: Dareus, Aaron Wiliams, Sheppard, Searcy In 2012, our first overall pick was on the defensive side as well, followed by another in the first 4 rounds: Gilmore/Bradham. Our major FA signings over the last 3 years: Mario Williams, Anderson, Barnett. Meanwhile, lets look at our starters at the "skill positions" on the offensive side over the past few years: Donald Jones - undrafted - garbage Ruvell Martin - undrafted - garbage Brad Smith - College QB playing WR on the Bills - good NFL player but only average at best at WR Marcus Easley - 4th round - garbage Nelson - undrafted - has played well for us but not an elite talent Scott Chandler - 4th round - has played well for us but not an elite talent either Naaman Roosevelt - undrafted - garbage Fred Jackson - undrafted/NFL europe - great a few years ago; production has taken a massive hit last 2 years Spiller - 1st round - our best offensive weapon - didn't even start regularly until this season. TJ Graham - 3rd round - we'll see how he pans out but showed very little rookie season. In short, we have sure picked up a lot of garbage talent for our offensive skill positions over the last couple of years. We may have hit a homerun with Spiller, but Spiller has yet to even start a full season. I'm actually amazed that when you take into account that Fitz is a 7th round pick, and Stevie is a 7th round pick, that our offense is still WORLDS BETTER than our defense. So here we are going into 2013 ripping on Fitzpatrick when he's played well above his level with nothing but marginal to garbage talent around him compared to a defense that has nothing but 1st round picks and massive FA signings coming in dead last or near dead last in every defensive statistical category year after year. Meanwhile lets look at San Francisco over last couple of years: Crabtree: 1st round, top 10 pick Randy Moss: HOF Vernon Davis: 1st round, top 10 pick; 2nd best TE in all of football Ted Ginn: top 10 pick AJ Jenkins: 1st round Gore: 3rd round Lamichael James: 2nd round Braylon Edwards: 1st round, top 3 pick There's no comparison. Don't even bother looking at the OL. Yet somehow Alex Smith would just step right into Orchard Park and magically make Donald Jones or Ruvell Martin into great WR's . Alex Smith never even threw for 20td's in San Fran with nothing but pro bowlers at TE, WR, RB, and the O-line. Yet fitz has thrown 23, 24, 24TD's the last three seasons with the likes of Roosevelt, Martin, and Donald Jones lining up at WR. Give me a break.

Look at alex smith's numbers in 2011 and fitz's numbers that same year, and then look at their teams respective records. There's a clear disconnect there. There's more than one way to skin a cat. If christian ponder can lead a team to the playoffs then its not all about the QB. Mark sanchez went pretty deep into the playoffs too. If there's an upgrade at QB in the draft, by all means draft the kid and start him. We'll see how it plays out. I think with the right level of talent around him, fitz can take a team to the playoffs. Many on here don't. That's fine.

Pick 6's- nonsense man. Hown many pick 6's has Fitz thrown in last 2 years? 1 for sure off top of my head..maybe 2. Interesting to note, as the great alphadawg would tell you, is that QBR takes all this good info into account, yet Fitz with a qbr 5 points higher than smith in 2011, did not make the AFC championship game. Look elsewhere besides QB for the major problem on this team.

Let's also not ignore the main problem, or the 800lb gorilla in the room: over the last 3 years, our major signings and majority of draft choices have been on the defensive side of the ball. Yet the defense has ranked at the bottom of the league in defense year after year. So not only have we ignored adding any major talent to the offense, our focus on defense has been an overwheling failure. And our biggest offensive acquisition - CJ spiller - didn't even start until this year. How is a team, and an offense, supposed to overcome those epic shortcomings by the coaches and mgmt?

Fitz hasn't been able to adjust or gailey and co. Weren't able to adjust? I think its more the latter than the former. Was fitz even allowed to audible at times? There were times where the playcalling by gailey was downright criminal. The difference between the talent on the niners roster and the talent on the bills roster is worlds apart. Factor in a coach who is much better than our retread coach, and that wass the primary difference between the niners in 2011 and the bills in 2011, and not the QB (imo) Now as for Kaep and the niners in 2012, I'm not going to argue that because the niners became an incredibly dynamic team after kaep took over.

Who cares about competion %? LOL. The one poster stated how fitz's accuracy isn't up to par. I'm sure if alex smith had a higher completion % you would be the first one on here chirping about how alex smith has a higher completion % and that fitz is so inaccurate. But he generally hasn't, so now who cares. Weren't you the one who also said that the new QBR is the almighty indicator of a QB's success? God knows you said that about 20x in another thread. Alex smith had his best full season in the NFL in 2011, statistically speaking, yet Fitz still had a QBR that was 5 pts higher than Alex Smith. Let me guess, that doesn't matter now either right? So Fitz had more yards, more TD's, a higher completion %, and a higher QBR than alex smith in 2011..but who cares about all that, fitz sucks. When you even start to take into account the disparity in talent on the offensive side (and the coaching staff) between both teams, those #' should be even more damning for Smith. Alex Smith went to the NFC championship game in 2011. What was the main difference between the niners in 2011 and the Bills in 2011? It sure as heck wasn't the QB, it was everything but. Can we upgrade at QB? Sure, and eventually we will. But let's not make fitz out to be a 3rd stringer and players like alex smith to be tom brady.

Joe Flacco 17 Passes Dropped 57 Overthrown (11.1%), 1 INT 5 Underthrown (1%) 34 Thrown Wide (6.6%) 96 "Bad Throws" (18.7%), 1 INT 9 Passes Batted At Line (1.8%) Adjusted QBR: 101.3 Ryan Fitzpatrick 27 Passes Dropped 41 Overthrown (8.2%) 1 INT 17 Underthrown (3.4%), 2 INTs 28 Thrown Wide (5.6%) 86 "Bad Throws" (17.3%), 3 INTs 13 Passes Batted At Line (2.6%) Adjusted QBR: 99.8 Eli Manning 28 Passes Dropped 35 Overthrown (6.7%) 1 INT 14 Underthrown (2.7%), 1 INT 26 Thrown Wide (5.0%), 1 INT 75 "Bad Throws" (14.4%), 3 INTs 10 Passes Batted At Line (1.9%) Adjusted QBR: 101.1 Andrew Luck 33 Passes Dropped 53 Overthrown (8.8%), 2 INTs 17 Underthrown (2.8%), 3 INTs 38 Thrown Wide (6.3%), 3 INT 108 "Bad Throws" (17.9%), 8 INTs 13 Passes Batted At Line (2.2%) Adjusted QBR: 91.6 Looks pretty good to me, using these stats.

I think you're probably right that Smith > Fitz. I just don't think it's clear cut is all. Smith still has a lot to prove IMO..you can't just forget the previous 6 years of his career before Harbaugh got there. I'll just wait until he does it elsewhere without Harbaugh before i say that Smith is clearly better than Fitz. Because looking at Smith pre-Harbaugh, he was a disaster.

Though Alex had an INSANE 70% comp percentage this year before his injury, when they went to the NFC championship game in 2011, Alex had a completion % of 61.3%. Fitz had a completion% of 62% in 2011. In 2011, Alex was nothing more than a game manager leading the niners into the playoffs. I don't think it's a matter of Alex Smith learning anything with Harbaugh. It's a matter of Harbaugh making the offense work for Alex Smith. Of course, if Alex Smith goes to another team and continues his progress, than i'm wrong!..lol

The only thing I'll say about this point is that with the Bills' offense over the past few years, do we really even know how good our O-line is at pass protection? With all the quick passes, screens, and dump-offs we run, the offensive line hasn't really been asked let the QB sit back there for 5 seconds and pick the defense apart. I think it'll be interesting (and possibly scary) to see how this offensive line holds up if the scheme changes with more deep routes in the gameplan that require much more time to develop. Just a thought.

Vick has thrown 51 TD and 30 INT and has 11 rushing TD's and has 31 total fumbles over three seasons for 62 total TD's and 61INTs/fumbles in 35games Fitz has thrown for 71TD and 54INT and has 1 rushing TD's and 23 total fumbles over three seasons for 72 total TD's and 77 INT's/fumbles in 45games. At the end of the day, both turn the ball over way too much. Scumbag factor = draft a QB and keep Fitz as opposed to drafting a QB and bringing in Vick.

obviously he's not a long term plan..

His career completion % is higher than Alex Smith's. What really affected the offense in about 75% of the games (IMO) this season and last, is a defense that is ranked about last in every critical category.

Last time I checked, you like the Bills too. Fitz is on the Bills, therefore by association he's YOUR average QB too. Accept it or have a mental breakdown. The choice is yours. Well said.

Vick has played, 10, 13, and 12 games the last 3 seasons. he has played 16 games only once in 10 seasons..why would it be any different now at 33?

UGH.

your argument is weak. people are willing to look the other way at players who talk a lot and say stupid things as long as they give 100% on and off the field. re your comparison: if i married a porn star like you say she can be the biggest bimbo in thew world, but i'd at least expect her to put out 100% of the time and not slack off in the bed for 6mo's out of the year.

i agree with everything you said. i always find it amusing how teams get so much praise for drafting a player like Wilson or even Kaep - if the team was that smart, they would've taken them in the 1st round and not risk waiting till the 2nd or 3rd round..you have to be lucky and good as a GM/Franchise. We are neither.