Wing Man

Here's my limited depth chart: WR Evans TE Stupar/Nelson/Matthews LT ??? LG Levitre C Hangartner RG Wood RT Green SE Spiller/Parrish WR Johnson/Parrish RB Jackson/Spiller/Lynch QB Edwards/Brohm/Brown

The overriding feeling I get from this depth chart is the lack of quality depth at every position except RB and DB. The 2011 draft will be more important than this year's. Anybody sporting a 2011 mock draft board? I'm psyched already.

If he sheds just one block in sixteen games this year, it will be a 100% increase. Huge upside...

Have you seen Spiller return kicks? He was an all-American kick returner at Clemson. He is THE playmaker for the Bills, if not this year, then in his sophomore campaign. He will likely split time with Fred Jackson in the backfield, Lynch be damned. Hopefully, Gailey will utilize the spread offense to provide additional space for Spiller to do his magic. We need something to cheer for while we throw bricks at Captain Checkdown on the TV. With Edwards on the field, I just hope Spiller's up to converting on 3rd and 25 a lot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFcecMcS6bA Sorry, background lyrics less than optimal. It's the best highlight package I've seen online.

Maybe we could get Justin Long to play LT for Lynch.

As long as he stays healthy, C.J. should have a better year rushing. Passing is dependent on the QB and we don't appear to have any worth a dime, so he'll almost surely do worse. Kickoff returns were C.J.'s specialty at Clemson, but he did have 1 TD in 2009 returning punts. It'll depend greatly on Bruce DeHaven's ability to arrange blocking for him. That outlook is a lot better.

Need a wingman in Vegas?

Both Reed and Carter are great WRs, but Carter got better press and exposure during and after his career, hence, he's going in first. Rice was one of the top football players at any position in the history of the game.

As nice a city and as good a people are in Buffalo, the city was 2d in the nation in population decline in percentage terms last decade (Syracuse 3d, Rochester 8th). Corporate interests or members of the corporate community, such as those which might take over the Bills in future years, are interested in profit maximization, often recklessly. Local commitment and ownership will be key to keeping the Bills in Buffalo. If a deal can't be struck and other opportunities present, the Bills might surely move faster than you can say Mayflower.

This is a great way to lose your job due to overexpectations. God forbid they finish third in the division this year.

Maybe Lynch will decide to maybe retire.

I'm sure Jenny Craig will do just fine.

Stay tuned for the next 1.5 seconds for further developments.

Just not for us this year.

Maybe he and Edwards can have throwing contests in-between take out window shifts at McDonald's next year.

Within a barn of the intended target?

Saban should be on the Wall of Fame, end of story. That's one injustice that will be resolved after Ralph passes, IMHO. When Knox was here, everyone complained about his run, run, pass, kick offense.

Waste Management is hiring.

Edwards is an easy equation to solve. He just doesn't cut it. Hoping he'll channel Jim Kelly won't make it so. He always looks great in training camp and in the pre-season and then nose dives somewhere in first six games. By the second half of the season, he's in free fall. I know that Gailey has "the touch" with quarterbacks without obvious talent or success. I expect that Nix and Gailey will rapidly discover that Edwards will be an obvious discard next off-season. I can't imagine they'd give him a fifth season to prove that he's NFL material despite Nix not having all of his pieces in place. I'd be pleased if they discovered that before the Dolphins game. I didn't see any fire in him that gave me any confidence that he was going to take absolute command of the field in 2009 or 2010. Everyone will say that he didn't have any blocking. Kelly would have ripped his line apart on the sidelines if they didn't block for him. They did. Edwards made excuses for his offensive line. I like the guy, I do, but he's just too fragile, physically and mentally.

This is about an agent trying to get top money for himself. What rookie football player decides on his own, except for Crabtree, that he should be better compensated? Spiller isn't stupid, he'll be in camp relatively soon after he tells his agent to stop #$%&ing around and complete the deal.

Thanks for the excellent post. How about the Buffalo Bills of Toronto? It's kind of a scary thought. Lord knows that the Erie and Niagara county governments couldn't find their ass with both hands, so it's unlikely that a new stadium will be built during the Ralph Wilson era. They'll want some sort of guarantee from the new owners that they won't move the team before making an commitment of this magnitude. Actually, the logic of that seems pretty rational. Delaying a decision, however, makes a possible move for the Bills more probable. Won't say it will happen, just makes it more difficult for new ownership to ampliify future value without a state-of-the-art facility. It's the new reality. To make their investment work, they need to increase the value of the team. That requires greater revenue streams which won't happen without big changes in the Bills' revenue structure. Don't look for the new team owners to pay more than a pittance of the cost of a new facility. Instead, look for an instant demand for, at the very least, major taxpayer financed stadium upgrades and significantly increased ticket prices after Ralph passes and the team is conveyed to new ownership, whomever they may be.

Sorry to offend, but I'd take DeHaven over April at this point IMHO. April's special team looked lost after the rule change eliminating the wedge technique. April never seemed to find a working alternative to create major return yardage. I acknowledge that he was stripped of quality special teamers by incompetent football management, but he rarely showed any skill to overcome. DeHaven is at least as good as April, and he gets CJ Spiller to make what should be a huge contribution. I expect he will return at least 3 kickoffs and punts this season for TD as long as he stays healthy. Spiller could conceivably be riding the bench more often than not in the RB spot in his rookie season, but I expect him to be huge on special teams.

This team could be 6-10 again this year and still be a better team than last year. If they hit on six out of ten of these, they could win 7.

Well, I'm impressed, and I'm not easily impressed.

Spiller is in the top 3 in voting for rookie of the year.