billsfan89

Who is clamouring for a coach who is 15-17? I understand that he was somewhat in demand a couple of years ago when he was hired by the Bills but his record with the Bills is still a work in progress.

No his record in two years in Buffalo is 15-17. I doubt that would get him a job elsewhere in the NFL. His college record was good for that program but I doubt he would be an offer better than what he has with the Bills. I think overall its much better to just stay with the Bills. Franchise QB's aren't going to fall out the sky but the defense and special teams is good and the offense has some talent.

Franchise QB's don't get traded, they don't hit free agency (Drew Brees was a once in a life time thing), they are very rare to find later in the draft (Tom Brady is once a lifetime lucky find and even a Russell Wilson type is a once a decade type thing). And finding a franchise QB high in the draft is hit or miss. Finding a top QB is hard even finding a good Tony Romo type QB is hard as hell. So unless EJ steps up you are going to be bringing in a reclimation project or a flawed QB like Orton.

The offense needs a shake up. The talent on the offense needs an upgrade for sure, but the coaching on the offensive side needs an upgrade too. Marone might be willing to keep his offense but adding in another mind who likes to run a similar offense but can add additional concepts and better positional coaching might improve results.

Lack of a reliable passing game is what really hurt CJ. Teams loaded up the box and keyed in on Spiller. Chan had some success because he schemed his whole game plan around CJ. Without a reliable passing game CJ was never going to be effective. Players like Reggie Bush, Sproles, and Spiller are all only effective in a passing game that diverts the attention of the defense.

Spiller is likely gone. I think its best for both teams to move on from each other. Spiller needs to be in a different offense, one that will use him like a Sproles type back. The Bills have a decent assortment at RB, enough where they don't have to waste the 2-3 million in cap space to retain Spiller. The team should bring in a mid/late round RB just to add another RB to the mix. Freddie is a role player, Boobie is limited, and Brown un-proven. Getting another back in the 4th round or later adds another option to the team. Keeping Spiller doesn't add much.

The Bills need to target guard and tight end with those top two picks. Both are areas of need where you can find impact players in that range (ESP at pick 50). Likely that the Bills can resign Hughes and still go after another big free agent. But that still leaves you with other holes on the roster. You gotta hit with that pick at 50 to get the roster close to contention.

Keep in mind if you trade for Matt Ryan you are going to kill your draft both this year and next (You are going to trade at the very least this years 2nd and next years 1st). You are also going to severly damage your free agency for this year and beyond. Ryan's cap hit for 2015 is over 20 million. Even if you restructure Mario to free up an additional 4 million that doesn't leave you much money to get other players. That means letting Hughes go and not being able to sign anyone else for more than 2 or 3 million. It might be worth it to bring in a player like that but with Ryan you limit the ability to upgrade the roster elsewhere, and while I think the team would be close with a franchise QB its not like QB is the only issue.

Sanchez is a marginal starter. My big issue with him is he isn't good enough to win you games but he is turnover prone. If you assume that our defense will be good again then we can't have turnover machine at QB. Turnovers when your offense can run up and down the field have less of an impact than when you are depending on your defense. Its the same reason why I don't want a guy like Cutler at QB either. Ideally I would make a trade for RGIII but I wouldn't give up the picks needed to make that happen.

Hackett has to be fired as OC. Even if Marrone wants to keep his offensive system he needs to bring in a new mind to adjust the offense and work with the players differently. But other than Hackett I don't think anyone else needs to be fired. Marone improved a 6-10 team to 9-7, Schwartz put together a defense that was one of the best if not the best in the NFL, and Crossman's Special Teams unit was good. The defense was Super Bowl caliber, the special teams pro-bowl caliber, and the offense was pop warner.

I don't want him, Marrone should be the coach next year. Bring in a new OC to help install a new offense and upgrade the talent on the team via free agency and draft. The team improved from year 1 to 2 under Marrone. He has at least warranted one more year to see how he follows up on this success.

The OC needs a change. The offensive system hasn't worked for 2 seasons. The talent on the offense also needs to be addressed. Guard and Tight End seem to be weak points outside of QB. I would also throw WR as a secondary need (Hard to say if Woods is a number 2 WR or not). QB is of course the primary need on offense but its not like there weren't other issues with the offensive talent on the team. But the play calling and coaching on the offense hasn't helped the talent too much.

Whaley has gotten a lot of talent for this team. Some head scratching moves but a lot of solid picks too. In free agency he let Byrd walk, re-upped Aaron Williams, brought in Gilmore, Spikes, and made some other solid smaller moves like Dan Carpenter (Although he did bring in C.Williams and has had some misteps). If I was rating his tenure it would be a B-, for every bad move he has made there has been 1.5 good moves. That ratio is never going to be perfect but it needs to improve if this team is going to go to the playoffs and beyond.

I am not oppose to having him come in and be a consultant. The guy knows football and would be a good voice to have. At his age I seriously doubt he wants to be a GM or have any type of power play. Its a limited role and knowing what the guy did for the team and the success he has had elsewhere I like the move a lot.

Would be werid if Schwartz was hired by another team to coach and the Bills hired Rex to coach the defense. That would be the second Jets defensive coach and the second head coach to take on this defense. Rex will get a ton of shots to be a defensive coordinator, I do think the guy might even take a year off (The guy will still be a hot commodity a year from now).

Even the best GM's can struggle to find a QB. QB is the hardest position to find. A ton of top draft choices at that position are busts. Finding QB's in later rounds is almost impossible (A Tom Brady or even a Russell Wilson type is a once a decade type thing). Even Good QB's also almost never become free agents let alone franchise QB's (A Drew Brees situation is probably never going to happen again). The only other option is trading for a QB, and you are either trading for a teams high profile backup, or trading for a revival project (Both usually don't work out). EJ is your QB or you have to draft one in the 2nd round, grab a QB in free agency, or trade for one. Cutler leads the pack as far as free agents, although Mark Sanchez, Jake Locker, Brian Hoyer, and Mike Vick are options. As far as trades go RGIII is your best option and isn't going to come at a cheap price. As far as round 2 QB's I think they wouldn't be much of an upgrade over EJ and that pick would likely be better off used to address OG or TE both serious needs.

The guy seems to have made his money playing a game and is going to step out before hanging around too long and further damaging his health. From a football perspective this is a hit since the team is going to be in the market for a QB to compete with EJ (I don't think the team drafts a QB around pick 50). But if I was Orton getting a last chance to start and going out with a good season isn't a bad way to go. The guy made a lot of money for a QB who never got that huge starting QB money so why keep playing if your heart isn't fully in it?

Cutler appears to be the best free agent QB out on the market. The team does not have a 1st round choice and Orton retired. So you have to look at our QB situation as EJ vs. the 2nd round market and the free agent market. If you look at the free agent market Cutler is the only viable guy to give you an upgrade over EJ. I am not sure Cutler would fit with what we need (Any QB the team brings in needs to play more conservative since our defense can win games). I also think Cutler wouldn't want to come to Buffalo either.

If the Bills retain Hughes and resign Dareus for the long term its going to be a lot easier to get a big time free agent to come here and be one of the last pieces needed as opposed to in the past where they might have been one of many pieces needed.

Everything comes at a cost was my main point. If you send that valuable pick to get Brees then you are also committing a lot of salary to that position too. Its worth it considering how important getting a QB is. But it comes at a cost. Having 20 million at QB means letting Hughes and Dareus go. And it going to mean making a lot of other more difficult choices all around the roster.

Yes but you have to acknowledge that taking on a nearly 20 million dollar cap hit in one position would mean letting players on the defense walk. Hughes would certainly be done and it might mean letting Dareus walk next year.

Cutler would be the only QB I would really want over Orton. But I wouldn't be willing to pay the price to get him. Orton and EJ battling it out is going to be better than any of the free agent QB's out there besides Cutler (Who I think has issues and wouldn't be a fit for the team). As far as drafting out second round pick should be spend along the O-line.

Bills need to just win next week and wait to see how the scenarios shake out. But the Steelers winning this week would be a huge help.

I think with 8 wins at a minimum Marrone stays for next year. He has developed the team esp the defense and special teams. The O-line has regressed and the QB situation has failed to develop much (Granted not a whole lot to work with when he got here). With another off-season and only one major free agent the team is in a position to at the very least upgrade the O-line and keep the defense elite by resigning Hughes and getting Kiko back. Overall its hard to see this team developing to anything more than a fringe playoff team without an elite QB or even good QB. Seems like the team will have to build around the defense for next year.

I would like to see McKelvin play back to the slot. Last year under Pettine McKelvin really played well covering slot receivers. Even this year he was playing a lot better in his latter games. Gilmore and Graham have really done a good job as a tandem. Good to see Gilmore becoming the player he was drafted to be.