Utah John

Drafting QBs is almost always a crap shoot. For every Cam Newton there's a Jamarcus Russell. Some of the difference comes down to talent, athleticism, personality, brains, memory, drive, and leadership ability. A lot also comes down to coaching, O line play, and the skill of the RBs and WRs. There are a lot of very good QB candidates available this year. The top few guys might not do any better with the Bills than someone listed a few slots further down. I would rather see the Bills take the best QB available at 12 and keep their other picks. There are lots of holes on this team needing talent upgrades, both for starters and for depth. And, rookies are much cheaper so they help with the salary cap, and then when the rookie contracts are up you keep the best and do what you can with the rest.

So did I. I was ecstatic. I thought Mack deserved to go #1 overall in the draft.

Simpson (best player in Bills history) Smith Bledsoe Williams Patulski

He was our #2 due to injuries and lack of talent, but in truth he's JAG. That's a lot for JAG. There are talented WRs who will become available as FAs and in the draft. Relax.

Charlotte has grown due to all the Buffalo people moving there. Now that Buffalo is becoming desirable (thanks, Canalside) Charlotte will level off.

Oh, I see. Instead of just signing him as a FA when we could have, but didn't do because his salary was too high, we give up a player or a pick to get him just so we can pay the salary we wouldn't pay in the first place.

He was the greatest football player I ever saw. The first year Rich Stadium opened, I was a freshman at UB and I got a job as a vendor at the stadium. That was 1973, the year he broke 2000 yards in 14 games. There were times when he was just unstoppable. I think he did kill his wife and her boyfriend. How to reconcile those is a puzzle. I no longer have the sense of honor that I had for him, as a trailblazing black man who transcended sports. I respect him as an athlete and that's all. So maybe my answer is not to reconcile those facts at all. I just acknowledge they're two aspects of a single person,.

OK, if AJ is as good as all that, and is ready to start and win -- move up in the draft by trading picks and Shady, and draft Barkley. Or do that if you aren't sure any of the rookies are really going to be better than AJ.

I have been looking for any kind of official info saying the fish are releasing Pouncey, and I can't find any. Is this just a rumor? I think Miami boxed themselves in by giving Pouncey a contract too big for his value. Same thing the Bills did with Cordy Glenn. But we got value in exchange and the fish would be getting nothing. This doesn't sound solid to me.

Barkley is the BPA. He's by far a better RB, than any of the QBs on offer are as QBs. The Bills have been pulling off shocking deals that make sense in hindsight. How about our #12, a 2nd rounder, plus more, AND SHADY for the Browns' #1 -- the Bills which always have a strong run game lock in our next great long-term back for the next 8 years. I know, this probably won't happen but it could be they think both Peterman and McCarron are capable guys. Not all the teams that win have the top-notch QB we want -- some do it with great defense and a good running game. I'm not even advocating for this, just pointing out there's another path forward that no one is considering.

My takeaway from this is that Miami is now more likely trade their first rounder (#11, just before the Bills pick). Some other team is likely going to trade up for that pick.

Don't overlook what happened with Dion Lewis. He was very effective for the Pats last year. He signed with the Titans for a four-year, $23 million deal that includes $11.5 million guaranteed. The Pats couldn't match. Why? The contract they gave Gillislee last year. Lewis was so much better than Gillislee that TD Mike was scratched for most games. So the genius Pats did succeed in stealing our backup RB (and that did hurt, no question) but now they've lost their own top RB. Karma.

This does NOT mean Lawson or Hughes is on the way out (although the way things are going, never say never). A few years ago the Bills were so stocked with D linemen they could roll out two complete four-man lines without much change in performance. Guys got old (Mario), guys left for FA (Branch), guys got rich and then lazy (Dareus). Whatever the reason, the Bills need a massive rebuild. This seems like a good signing at a reasonable price.

A QB does so much more than just pass the ball to a receiver like they do in a combine. There's the mental aspect, the ability to use his eyes to fool a defender and get a receiver open, the ability to anticipate a receiver's moves and throw him open, the ability to handle the ball to fool D linemen about what play is happening, the ability to scramble and/or good pocket awareness & mobility, the ability to think clearly when the pressure is on, the ability to recognize what a defense is about to try to do. If it was just passing ability, Rob Johnson would have been our starting QB for 10 years. That didn't work out so well. He was a great passer but a mediocre QB. So it's great that some of these guys have big arms, but do they have the other tools they need too?

They'll let Hogan replace Amendola, but they're going to miss having a Welker/Amendola gnat finding holes in the zone.

There is another possibility, which is that Peterman is the starter and the bridge to the future. He had one chance, against SD's killer pass rush, and he started OK but his team let him down. Then he fell apart. That doesn't mean he's terrible or useless. We put up with a lot more, a lot worse, from Todd Collins. Peterman is not the long term answer but he's a viable option if the shiny new rookie struggles.

Theoretically we could get Watkins back AND have the Rams second rounder, which they spent to rent-a-Sammy. The key question is, will we pay him enough to get him back. I want to point out this is exactly the same question we'd be asking right now if we hadn't traded Sammy, and were trying to re-sign him now. With the key difference that we have that extra 2nd round pick. Of course we didn't have Watkins' services last year, so that might have made the difference in making the playoffs. Oh, wait... Well that was an uninformed comment and I apologize. Watkins agreed to terms with KC yesterday. For a lot more than the Bills were willing to pay now, or would have been willing to pay now if Watkins was still here. So my point is still valid. If we had kept Sammy for last year, we'd have lost him yesterday, and we wouldn't have that 2nd rounder to help get the QB we want.

I respectfully disagree. If the moves don't work out, we'll look like we tried and failed. The meatheads in the clown car are the ones who don't try.

So who's next? Can we find a team desperate for a tight end, who will take Charles Clay off our hands (and our budget) for a 5th or 6th?

And so they got 2nd round pick for a way-overpriced, often-hurt, pretty good player. I'm OK with that. Especially if it was a pretty good player who wasn't going to be on the team next year anyway. A second for Glenn, and the first third for Taylor. Yeah, I'm OK with that.

Glenn like Dareus had his future in Buffalo sabotaged by Whaley. Overpay a guy and he's got to be dropped sooner rather than later.

Cut Incognito and you have to replace him, probably someone not as good who costs more. Doesn't make sense. From everything I've seen he's a great benefit in the locker room and a true leader. Keep him and let him retire here in a few years when he's ready.

The Bills dumped a lot of veterans who had the mindset of loserdom. Yeah, it's the Bills, show up on time, put in a little effort, go 7-9, the fans still love you. The biggest difference pre-McD and post-McD is that the team is now looking ahead to winning. The lazy guys are gone. Players who want to work harder are here. Does Suh fit? I think he does. Put him into a losing situation and he'll be a cancer. Put him into a winning situation and he'll play to win. He's not a leader but he's a potential force. Don't overpay. If the cost is too high let him be someone else's guy. For the right price he could help a lot.

So the Vikes are all in for this year. There's no way they can keep all the FAs with so much cash tied up with Cousins. And good for them. Championships don't go to the faint-hearted. BUT, is Cousins really that good? I read the Washington Post web site a lot and the fans there were pretty lukewarm about him. I think the Vikes will put a team around Cousins that's very strong (for now) and with GB's roster depleted due to all the money Rogers gets, and the Bears and Lions being the Bears and Lions, the Vikings have a good shot at winning their division. So they'll be in the top four or five teams, just a little above where they were last year.

So it sounds to me that Jackson is combination of Tyrod Taylor and a QB. That could be a really good combination. Taylor's running last year was held down by the OC and that was a shame. There were a lot of first downs there for the taking but TT had been coached not to run for them, and ended up not completing a pass instead. In 2016, he took those runs and kept drives alive. But, regardless of his running, he just couldn't throw receivers open. Last year he didn't have any good receivers but in 2016 he had Watson and Woods so no excuses there. If you can take Taylor's running skills and add the things an NFL QB is supposed to do, you've got something special. This is how I read Lamar Jackson. He could be the guy we need, particularly if we don't need to sell the farm to get him.