ChanOverChin

I see the roster playing out as follows (w/ the signing of RB R. Bush, WR A. Bolden, and OG J. Evans, positions of need right now): QB: Taylor/Manuel/Jones. RB: McCoy/R. Bush/Gillislee/J. Williams. FB: Felton. TE: Clay/Dray. WR: Watkins/Bolden/Woods/Hankerson/Salas/Lewis. OT: Glenn/Henderson/Mills/Kouandjio. OG: Incognito/Evans/Miller. OC: Wood/Velasco. K: Carpenter. P: Schmidt. LS: Sanborn. DL: K. Williams/Dareus/Washington/Bryant/Worthy/Douzable/Hughes/Sh. Lawson/M. Lawson/Enempkpali/Alexander. LB: P. Brown/Ragland/Z. Brown/Lattimore. CB: Gilmore/Darby/Robey/Moore/White/Seymour. S: A. Williams/Graham/Blanton/Anderson. I think the Bills keep Sh. Lawson on the final roster, hoping that he only misses only three games. RB K. Williams gets added to the roster after Week 4. LB E. Striker will battle LB Lattimore for one of the final roster spots. I've got Lattimore winning that battle for now because he is more of a proven player in the NFL, but that could certainly change. Striker's uncanny ability to get to the QB has to be seriously considered. I think the Bills will be forced to add RB R. Bush at this point with KW out for four weeks. I'd like to see the Bills add WR Bolden who they could get for the vet minimum (about $950K) and OG J. Evans who would also come cheap. Bolden is a big WR who would help to improve the offense in a lot of ways. Evans would boost the play of the O-line with his size and experience. Adding Evans would give the O-line excellent depth. OT S. Henderson and OT Mills will fight for the starting RT job. I expect Henderson to be healthy enough to make the final roster, but maybe not at full strength enough to be the starting RT. FB Felton is better than FB/TE Gronkowski, but Felton may be waived if Gronk can show some skill on offense and ST. Gronk could play FB, TE, and ST very cheaply. OT Kouandjio is on the bubble. TE Gragg, WR G. Little, DT Zimmer, S D. Williams, and S Meeks all have a shot at the final roster spot depending upon what the Bills are looking for. WR/ST ace M. Easley won't likely make the final roster because of the horrendous knee injury he suffered last year.

Why not go after RB Arian Foster instead?? The combo of McCoy and Foster would be something else in a run heavy offense.

FiretrUCK John Clayton!!

The show has become incredibly political. Granted, it is sad to see a young man gunned down because he happens to live in a bad neighborhood, but do we really need to have Obama pushing his blatant gun control agenda as a big part of the show and then laying heavy guilt on the professional athletes to help push the agenda on the public as well??

Easley won't likely be healthy enough to make the final roster. Henderson is currently at 302 lbs. He needs to get up to 320-325 lbs to make the final roster, which I think he can do. Kouandjio's and Dray's roster spots are not safe, but they are the early favorites. Guys like Listenbee, Little, Annen, Striker, Gronkowski, Zimmer could all surprise. D. Williams and Meeks might also be in the running for the final roster spot. Joe B. is in love with R. Groy. Why?? Sanborn will make the final roster. He's not shown on Joe B.'s list. Oops!! I agree that Lattimore is a better player than R. Johnson and will likely make the final roster. I see the roster playing out as follows (w/ the signing of WR A. Bolden and OG J. Evans, two positions of need right now): QB: Taylor/Manuel/Jones. RB: McCoy/K. Williams/Gillislee/J. Williams. FB: Felton. TE: Clay/Gragg/Dray. WR: Watkins/Bolden/Woods/Salas/Hankerson/Lewis. OT: Glenn/Henderson/Mills/Kouandjio. OG: Incognito/Evans/Miller. OC: Wood/Velasco. K: Carpenter. P: Schmidt. LS: Sanborn. DL: K. Williams/Dareus/Washington/Bryant/Worthy/Douzable/Hughes/M. Lawson/Enempkpali/Alexander. LB: P. Brown/Ragland/Z. Brown/Lattimore. CB: Gilmore/Darby/Robey/Moore/White/Seymour. S: A. Williams/Graham/Blanton/Anderson.

What I got from the ESPN conversation is that there is the possibility that IF things go bad for the Bills this year that Whaley and the Ryans would be in survival mode with each blaming the other for the losing season in hopes that one group would be retained instead of BOTH groups being dismissed. It would become a power struggle of sorts at a certain point in the season. This kind of thing happens a lot when a high profile HC is involved. I remember when B. Cowher and T. Donahoe had their power struggle. The Rooneys eventually entrusted Cowher with both the GM and HC duties. There comes a point in time when a high profile HC realizes that he can't win if he isn't able to acquire the type of players that he desires. When a GM and HC don't work towards the same goal (i.e. the GM doesn't totally believe in what the HC is doing) then that doesn't always happen. However, it appears to me that Whaley is doing everything that he can to help Ryan obtain the players he needs. In fact, it seems to me that Ryan is telling Whaley what to do and Whaley is trying to fulfill his every want. The problem they have is that as a team they have not managed the salary cap very well AND have built the team ass-backwards. They should have worked to acquire a franchise QB as a top priority either through the draft or by trade. Instead, they have tried to fill every other position first and then paid many of those players very handsomely. Now they have to hope and even stake their own jobs on a lower level player like T. Taylor being able to carry the team on his shoulders in 2016 and beyond. It wasn't the best plan and if Taylor doesn't produce this year both Whaley and Ryan could find themselves out of a job.

From what I heard on ESPN radio this morning it sounds as though ESPN believes that Rex and Rob Ryan are planning to espouse their control of the Bills this season. This all stems from the fact that Vic Carruci reported back in January 2015 that the Pegulas issued an ultimatum to both Whaley and Rex Ryan that either they get the Bills into the playoffs in 2016 or they will both be fired. The implication is that Rex is now "all in" meaning that if he is going to go down then he is going to go down "his way". "His way" means that Rex is going to surround himself with people who believe in him as a HC and in his defensive philosophy. He has added Ed Reed and vet DC Rob Ryan already, which fortifies that thought. He has also let guys like star player DE Mar. Williams fly the coup because they were not "all in". He seems seriously pissed at Mario for the way that he behaved last year. ESPN seemed to think that if push comes to shove that the Ryans will stick together (they are very close after all) and overtake Whaley if need be in order to stay employed with the Bills and then eventually usher in THEIR choice for the new Bills' GM job. It will certainly be interesting to see how this all plays out. Of course, winning solves all.

You wanna bet me that Roberts is on an NFL roster this year?? I didn't think so.

26, the initial thread didn't show highlights of the player. I'd be willing to bet that the average Bills fan doesn't even know who Roberts is and he's been productive in the league for SIX years now.

Look, I can't help it that the Bills are in the situation they are in where they can't afford to pay big money to name FA players. For what Roberts will cost the Bills he is worth signing. He can help the team in several ways. If you are a Bills fan you should be happy with that. There's no guarantee that they will even sign him since 4-5 other teams are hot on his trail. What does it say about our current status at WR if Roberts can come in and become the #3 WR??

Roberts has been in the league for six seasons and is a solid player. He could be a pretty good #3 WR ahead of the likes of Hankerson, Salas, and Listenbee. If he can double as a KR/PR he would be well worth signing. Roberts Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJYRtNemfVM.

I expect Sh. Lawson and R. Ragland to be very good players. Those were easy picks for the Bills. Heck, FireChan could have made those picks and came out looking like a genius. They were both top 15 rated players. What could make this an historic draft for the Bills and one of the best ever is if QB C. Jones eventually becomes a franchise QB. And it could happen.

Look, it's pretty obvious that the Bills will keep Taylor, Manuel, and C. Jones at QB. The Bills nothing by cutting Manuel because his $2M+ contract counts against the cap no matter what they do. The new rule that brings the ball out to the 25 yd line on touchbacks will eliminate the need for KO specialist J. Gay. Thus the Bills keep only 1 kicker (Carpenter). My projected 53 man roster makeup at this time. I expect more players to be signed/injured, which will certainly change the final makeup. This takes into account that the Bills sign WR/KR A. Roberts and that DE/DT Sh. Lawson will start the season on injured reserve. QB(3): Taylor/Manuel/Jones. RB(4): McCoy/K. Williams/J. Williams/Gillislee. FB(1): Felton. TE(3): Clay/Dray/Gragg. WR(6): Watkins/Woods/A. Roberts/Hankerson/Salas/Listenbee. OT(4): Glenn/Henderson/Mills/Kouandjio. OG(2): Incognito/Miller. OC(2): Wood/Velasco. K(1): Carpenter. P(1): Schmidt. LS(1): Sanborn. DL(9): Dareus/K. Williams/Washington/Bryant/D. Zimmer/Hughes/M. Lawson/L. Alexander/Enemkpali. LB(5): Ragland/P. Brown/Z. Brown/Reddick/Striker. CB(6): Gilmore/Darby/Robey/Moore/C. White/Butler. S(5): A. Williams/Graham/Blanton/Anderson/D. Williams. The season outcome will hinge on key players staying healthy and Taylor/Watkins/McCoy having a big year.

Hardy would be a nice addition for the right price. Rex may be able to handle him. Another guy to consider is DT/DE D. Easley who was recently released by NE. I would consider adding both of them with Sh. Lawson expected to be out for 5-6 months, meaning that he could miss 4-6 weeks of the 2016 NFL season. Both guys are athletic enough to play DT and DE in Rex's scheme. The top 50 available NFL FAs list came out recently. Easley and Hardy were listed at #3 and #4 overall respectively. Of course, there's a reason that guys that are as talented as these two are still available. Sign these two guys and our defense could loo like this: Hardy/Easley/Dareus/K. Williams/Hughes Ragland/P. Brown Gilmore/A. Williams/Graham/Darby.

The new KO rule is that touchbacks will now come out to the 25 yd line. That change may affect a team's strategy on KOs as a result. Teams may now decide to not kick the ball into the end zone so that may put more of a premium on KO returns, thus the signing of Archer. Archer also returns punts. He could also play some RB and WR. He's a HR hitter for sure. The knock on guys like him and Goodwin is that they are too slightly built so they just don't hold up tot he NFL punishment.

I said that Bledsoe sucked when he was with the Bills. He was obviously a good QB at one time, but that was mostly when he was with the Pats. Belichick fleeced the Bills by trading Bledsoe for a R1 pick.

Great topic. So many terrible QBs, which speaks volumes. My thoughts: D. Flutie was better than most give him credit for. He deserves to be #4 overall. T. Taylor has a lot to prove to be where he is. Fitzpatrick and Lamonica could both be higher on the list. Bledsoe was good with the Pats. He totally sucked with the Bills. The remaining QBs on the list should be tied for last. None of them were worth a damn.

Slausen is a bruiser who could really help with the running game. Our OL coach has familiarity with him.

Very good players are not drafted every year for one reason or another. This is one of those players. This kid can really play!! Check out the video highlights on him.....and it's not like he didn't play with and against some of the best players in the country. Striker is considered one of the top ten UDFA for 2016. In fact, he's listed at no. 5. I would put him at no. 1. This kid could have easily been a R2 or R3 draft pick. He'll be an excellent ST player at the very least this year. He's fast, aggressive, and knows how to get to the QB. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bndBUxbJBc4.

There are a lot of very good players left to be taken in R1. I'd like to see the Bills make a trade to acquire another R2 pick. They must come away with a DT, an ILB, a WR, and a QB from their remaining picks. it would also be nice to acquire a S and an OL. How high a priority is acquiring a QB?? That is the most interesting to me. QB C. Cook, DT J. Reed, ILB R. Ragland are all desirable R2 picks.

Whaley has done a lot of good things for sure and is willing to maneuver on draft day, which I think is very necessary. However, he has also made some very poor decisions: 1. Trading two R1 picks and a R4 pick to draft WR S. Watkins when he could have gotten WR O. Beckham with one R1 pick. It's almost NEVER a good idea to trade multiple R1 picks for any positional player other than a QB. 2. He supported the drafting of QB EJ Manuel in R1. 3. He has failed miserably to obtain a franchise QB. That's really where the search and the resources need to begin. 4. He has built the organization ass-backwards by paying out big money to many positional players (Dareus, K. Williams, C. Clay, etc.) and now not having the money to even sign a franchise QB, which is where the big money SHOULD be spent. The Bills can't make the playoffs because they can't beat the f'n patriots!! They can't beat the f'n Patriots because their QB play is not even close to that of the Patriots' QB. That's a big problem folks!!!

Except Reed is a so-so player for #19 overall. As was mentioned, I would trade down and still get him. It's not a given that Lawson will be gone by #19 overall. I would take Rankins over Reed as well. The Bills would be "settling" if they were to take Reed at #19 overall.

The Bills select DE Shaq Lawson at #19 overall if he is still available and they don't trade the pick. Reed is more of a run stuffer than anything else. Lawson is simply a better player than Reed.

Realistically, it could mean a few things. maybe the Bills really want him....maybe they don't. They could just be trying to see if the teams that draft behind them in R1......namely the Jets, Denver, and possibly others would be willing to trade for him. Trading up for a potential franchise QB is likely to draw more action and more draft picks than any other positional player. I happen to think that the Bills actually like Lynch, but that Rex would prefer to try to win now by selecting top notch defensive players early in the draft and rolling the dice with TT at QB. I'm not saying that I agree with that strategy, just that that is what Rex would prefer to do. I don't know enough about Lynch to know if he is a possible franchise QB or not. I don't get to meet with him and watch him work out. If I was convinced that he would be a future franchise QB I would be inclined to select him at #19 overall.

BR reports that both the Bills and Jets are "extremely interested" in Lynch and would likely have to trade up to get him most likely because there are other teams that are interested in him as well. SF (select well before the Bills in R1) and Denver (select well after the Bills in R1) could be two of those teams. My opinion regarding this issue is that a franchise QB is a very, very difficult commodity to acquire, which Bills fans know all too well not having had one since Jim Kelly's playing days in the 1990's. If the Bills believe Lynch is a franchise QB they should do what they can to get him....within reason.