Ronin

If Brad Smith is our #2 then we're in a world of hurt! He's a role-playing WR at best? He's a STs/return guy. As a WR he's a 5th tops. Evans signed his own career death warrant when he resigned with the Bills several seasons ago.

Very nicely summed up. I would add that he can't play the pass worth a crap. His numbers were inflated due to the lack of much talent on the D-Line. Few people actually stop to consider that maybe he has "high numbers" for tackles that are inflated because the rest of the D sucks. He plays in the middle, what's he gonna have, 60 tackles. It's common sense. He's not a big TFL or sack guy and few of his tackles are real impact tackles, rather routine tackles downfield. Anyway, I agree with your assessment here. Poz isn't worth half of what the Jags just paid him and he won't make it anywhere near through that contract before they find out how good he actually is, if he can even stay healthy, and it's my guess that he won't be on the Jags after the '13 season. Yeah, and it's kind of funny that Gailey talks about the Draft as the way to go to correcting things. After Dareus this Draft too sucks as bad as the others before him. And let's be real here, Denver was already taking heat for not selecting Dareus and many thought that the Panthers might take him 1st overall, so was it really "great drafting" to take a gem that fell? Hardly. It was a complete no-brainer. For how good our "new and improved front-office" really is, we should look at the rest of the Draft. If anyone is impressed with that then they're delusional. The bottom line is that you need talent and we don't have any. The expectations for this Draft after Dareus are no higher, perhaps lower, than those for other drafts prior to Gailey. Dareus should be a monster, but you need more than one player. There isn't a ringer or anything close in the rest of the starting 10 on D. Offensively there's not a whole lot either until further notice. Steve Johnson, average Fitzpatrick, and an aging Jackson aren't going to get it done behind a low-end OL. By the time this team may be good Dareus will be at or near the end of his contract, and if the team hasn't proven itself by then, why would he stay in Buffalo unless he gets top dollar.

LOL No doubt. It was obviously just one in a list, many others of which were "going out on a limb" too. I just posted it due to another thread discussing it. More like finding an expired condomn. ; ) Didn't he have a high motor too. LOL

Why not, we're the Bills. That's what we do. LOL

Well, making excuses for his play isn't exactly a great argument to build around either. His injury wasn't the entire season either. Over half the season was already over. Besides, other players play through injuries and often do well. Maybe that's another knock on him, who knows. Otherwise we can sit here and mince words, but I wasn't as impressed with him at Clemson as most were. Yeah, he "took it to the house," but name a big game against a good opponent where he did that? You might find one, but that's about it except for returns. Aaron Maybon did the same thing at PSU. He "BAM, took it to the house with a sack" often in his last season there, but against whom? I mean if he had 4,000 All Purpose Yards in some B or C league would that impress you? IDK, we'll see, but I'm just not seein' it. He doesn't have anything close to optimal size for a rushing RB, and if we can get him to simply return kicks well and as a top returner, and simply catch 500 yards worth of passes, I think that's about all that anyone is ever going to get from him. I just don't think you're being objective. ... imagine that in a fan forum. ; )

They had already released Jenkins, ... I'm pretty sure. LOL Many teams have beaten the Bills with a fraction of the talent that the Jets have. No one's going to be confusing the Bills for playoff contenders this season.

14. Aaron Maybin, Bills LB: It wouldn’t shock us if the No. 11 pick in the 2009 draft was out of the league by next year. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/21/16-defenders-who-could-be-cut-before-the-season/

By the way, my research thinks that this guy Williams that they selected in round 2 also isn't going to be a very good player. We'll see as usual, but if you watch his "highlights," you'll notice that frequently he was a half-step behind the guys he was supposed to cover very frequently. Well, if that was happening in college, guess what, it's definitely going to happen in the NFL except it won't be a half-step, it'll one or two steps. I only see his potential value at Safety. So we'll see. I thought that the rest of our draft sucked.

Thank you! But believe, me, I've scrutinized Spiller's stats more than this entire forum combined. You need to break down the information, not simply look at singular numbers and decide he's great or going to be great. The only NFL data point that we have is that he's thus far been a bust. If he does not seriously break out this season it will be all but impossible to argue that he has BUST written all over him. Otherwise, we do disagree, as I stated as well, but again, what are the most important parts, the most pertinent to his success in the NFL, of Spiller's NCAA stats? Would they not be how he performed against the top Ds, let's say top-50. I mean if he can't play well against the top-50 collegiate Ds, like Maybin, then why is there anything in those stats to suggest that he'll succeed with the cream of the crop of players that make it from that level to the next creating even more challenging Ds? I appreciate your fandom and hopes for Spiller, but don't let them taint reality here. Can you name one bright spot, one asset, one of anything significant that Spiller showed last year that he even has a shot at starting in the NFL? Other than his early season what was it, 95-yard KR for that TD, he was nothing but a footnote the rest of the season. He averaged a well below average 21.4 ypr otherwise and even with that long run his average of 23 ypr was still below average. He didn't prove that he can run the ball even to an average level, and he's supposed to have blazing speed, his only asset as he's not a contact runner. His open-field moves were supposed to be electric, and in college they may have been, but in the NFL the NFL speed caught up to him and will continue to. He showed no moves whatsoever, not even once that I recall. This is a story that rewrites itself every season in the NFL for those players drafted that have speed as their sole asset, like Maybin and Spiller. So again, hope all that you want, I'm merely suggesting that your faith and hope are misplaced, I wouldn't expect it to happen, there's absolutely no evidence that suggests it will unless you consider his performances against some of the worst defenses in college ball to be that evidence, but none of those players are even in the NFL, so it would not seem wise to use that as a baseline. Otherwise, there was no evidence of speed by Spiller last season. None. He's too small to be good apart from having such speed, and if he didn't have it last season relative to NFL players/defenders, it's not going to magically grow on a tree since then. If he bulks up, he certainly won't get quicker. Do you still disagree?

That's fair, although they haven't revamped it entirely, I still have concerns. Dareus was a great pick although somewhat of a no-brainer. The Broncos have taken quite a bit of heat for not taking Dareus and the Panthers have even taken some despite their "major need area" pick as well. The Bills would have been laughed across Lake Erie and into the Yukon had they passed on Dareus. Spicoli stoned out of his mind would have made the same pick, so let's not give the FO a mountain of credit for putting their underwear on forwards with this pick. Otherwise, I don't see much in this past draft that screams that the "new and improved" FO is any better.

To everyone on this thread, has anyone considered that if the Bills leave Buffalo after Ralph's death, that he will have been the only owner in the history of the Buffalo Bills forever. ... or at least until such a time as Buffalo would be selected for an expansion team. LOL Nice legacy, huh. I don't trust Ralph! He's screwed us over, whether intentionally or not, for decades.

OTOH, if he's so committed to having them in Buffalo, then why hasn't he even reciprocated the efforts of Golisano and others that have expressed the desire to keep it in Buffalo too? The easiest way to keep the team in Buffalo, while reducing the chances of a sale to a team that may not do so if it passes after his death, and to circumvent any future meddling by his family members, all of whom are on record now stating that they do not want the team, would be to sell it to new ownership, or even arrange such a sale while keeping him honorary (or real) owner until such a time as it is no longer expedient, now, while he is alive. Yet, he refuses to do so. Unless he's protecting us from some fugly truth, something that I doubt, I doubt that he cares what happens after he's gone.

It is, but isn't it the FO's responsibility to do their due diligence like the quy you quote said? Short answer: Yes This is why our team sucks, because they don't do it. I'll even add to it, in one of Maybin's "big games" at PSU the team had like 8 or 10 sacks, ... kinda like "everyone's a winner." Our FO doesn't know it's mouth from its sphincter.

Agree with you there for the most part, except that Poz is expendable and can't play pass-D worth a steamer. It's not like anyone should be upset if the team keeps him, unless they pay him as better than he is, which is an average NFL linebacker that is better at stopping the run than he is at pass D where he sucks, and as a player that can't seem to stay healthy much less finish 16.

Sure, feel free. I agree that Spiller has a much better track record, but not of upside. He's diminutive to start, and if you look at his time at Clemson, of if you had, you'd have noticed that all of his big games came against low-end opponents. As a rusher, 5.0 is absolutely nothing special in the NCAA and if anything is an anti-predictor of how well such a player will fare in the NFL. Otherwise, his biggest asset, namely speed, is not something that should require "time" or development in the NFL, agreed? As such, did you see even an inkling of "special speed" last season? You can disagree and argue all you want, just don't be too disappointed when he doesn't step up. If he ends up being a role playing RB that can catch five to six hundred yards of passes out of the backfield and improve his returning skills, I think that's the best we're going to get out of him in Buffalo or the NFL. We'll see though, but I'd put big money on it. ... and no, I don't want to wager. LOL Still though, at Vegas if there were such a thing, I'd put big money on his disappointing once again this season. ; )

More importantly, his pass coverage skills and abilities are abysmal. Put another way, he sucks against the pass. His "run stuffing skills" are perhaps slightly above average rendering him expendable.

Maybin made a living on pure speed at PSU in his last season there. He really did nothing any other season. It is predictable, just as it is with Spiller, that when speed is a player's only asset upon entering the NFL, that it is the first thing to get neutralized since the NFL is a whole echelon higher in terms of speed in that way. LBs run like college DBs often. Heck, some NFL linemen run faster than some collegiate LBs, etc. Offensive linemen are much quicker, etc. It was fully predictable that Maybin was going to be a bust. He's not sandbagging, he simply doesn't have the frame or toolset to be successful in the NFL. He was always a backup prospect at best for anyone that knew what was going on and despite the high rankings of a bunch of scouts and others in the business that should have known better and who simply looked at his sacks and decided he had chances when he had none. Spiller is in the same category. His speed was neutralized last season. If he bulks up he'll probably lose even more speed thus limiting his options there. He's not going to get any faster, so anyone waiting for him to become anything more than a role-playing backup is fooling themself and he may not ever even become a reliable role-playing backup. I don't see Maybin playing football after this season. I don't see Spiller on the Bills after the 2012 one if he doesn't bring at least solid backup stats this year and prove that he can run the ball or at least be a reliable receiving back or returner. Dareus should be a monster. LOL Great point. The ones that people should be PO'd at are our illustrious front office and scouting staff that have screwed the pooch for years.

He's also 30 now.

Positives: Freddy Jackson and C.J. Spiller provide the Bills with a nice 1-2 punch in the backfield. To date Spiller doesn't provide anything.

You talk like you became a Bills fan prior to this season. It's the same front office in charge with the exception of Nix, who relies on the same staff that has summarily dropped a deuce on Wilson's desk annually for picks that should have done just that, generated game-changers, on or about the last weekend in April every year. Good luck with that.

We should never have drafted Spiller because he was ridiculously overrated. But when everyone like sheep dance to the beat of the same media bilge, then what do we expect. Unfortunately, and for anyone that looked at Spiller independently instead of upon the relatively shallow assessments of the pro raters, there was very little basis for assuming that Spiller would break many big plays as a rusher out of the backfield. Oh sure, he did it against the worst Defenses in college, but so did 100 other RBs.

Doesn't it ring any bells or cause you to ask, why you have to repeat statements like this every year around this time as a rule now? You're right. Think about all the needs we have. Besides WR on offense there isn't a spot except for maybe Wood at C, that we cannot upgrade in substantially. Spiller sucks leaving only Fred Jackson there and he's heading out of his prime. On D, might be better to ask where we don't have needs. I mean which spot on D would anyone argue can not use an upgrade? Unlike you I already am numb to this organization and just waiting for Ralph to kick the bucket to see what happens with it. Not that I wish him any ill will, but this nonsense about keeping this siht in Buffalo "for the fans" is like keeping a load in your underwear while being told that it's so that you can keep your own underwear so that you don't have to have new ones. This team, without having lost anyone significant, is actually worse off than it was last season. How is that even possible? Our last two top draft picks have been complete busts too. All it tells us is that Gailey too isn't a good coach. Not as if this is news or anything, but the FO doesn't have a clue what they're doing, and that reflects in the coaching. Wilson's so far out in the weeds that who knows what his mental condition is. I still have no idea, besides longevity, why he ever even made the Hall of Fame. He's never done anything significant. Wash, Rinse, Repeat... The only question that I have is do the season ticket holders regret having spent their money on this? If so, then why did they? I wouldn't spend a dime on this. In fact, the only way I'd even go to a game anymore is if I got free tickets, free parking, and free transportion and either the weather was good or I was inside. They always talk about what great fans Buffalo has and how intelligent they are in a football kind of way, well this team is an insult to intelligent Bills fans.

And you don't think that the play of the team is driving that or something? The team, not its fans, determine that it's Groundhog Day.

All I know is that Fitzpatrick is 4-10 as a starter. Losman was 3-11 in his first 14 starts. Edwards was 9-5 in his first 14 starts. Holcomb was 4-4 in all of his Bills starts. So why is Fitzpatrick being considered good by anyone.

Edwards got more benefit of the doubt than Losman did. Kelly Holcomb was better.