ChanOverChin

As the roster is currently comprised (and barring injuries), these are the positional battles that will determine final roster spots: 1. Kouandjio vs Pears vs Henderson - Battle for starting RT. K is a super stud. Only his injury status kept him from being a R1 pick. However, Pears and Henderson are good enough to both stick as well. I would keep them both. Good OTs are hard to find and are expensive. Nod: Kouandjio. 2. TJ Graham vs Hogan - Hogan has the edge right now because he can give them a solid poss. receiver and play ST, which is what the #5 WR needs to be able to do. Graham is basically a speed WR, which the Bills already have in Goodwin. Nod: Hogan. 3. Legursky vs Asper - Battle for backup OC. Legursky has more OC experience and can also play OG. Nod: Legursky. 3. Moeaki vs Gragg - Mo is more proven, can block well and catch well. Nice safety valve for Manuel. Gragg is all potential at this point. Nod: Moeaki. 4. M. Williams vs Woods - Battle for #2 WR. Williams is more proven, but Woods has a tremendous upside. Woods is a star in the making and could actually be our most productive WR his year. Expect him to break out in a big way. Williams easily takes the #3 WR spot. Nod: Woods. 5. Carpenter vs Hopkins - Carpenter is cutch and experienced. Hopkins has a big leg and is accurate. Being able to prevent KO returns is a very big deal because the opponent starts on their own 20, can't make any game changing plays, and our ST doesn't get beat up by having to make tackles at full speed. I'd keep them both at this point. Nod: Both. 6. Dombrowski vs Moorman - Do you want experience or just a big leg?? I'll take experience. Powell had just a big leg and we saw how he fared. Nod: Moorman. 7. Sylvester vs R. Johnson - TBD, but Sylvester has 4 yrs of pro experience and can play ST. Nod: Sly. 8. Meeks vs Ladler - TBD, but since was a R5 pick you would think that he team has high expectations for him. Nod: Meeks Your thoughts.

jboys, You misunderstood. Those WERE my comments. I was just referencing his projected roster.

From Rodak's list, the guys on the fringe are: Tuel, Summers, Hogan, Dombrowski, Bryant, Wynn, Charles, R. Johnson, Meeks. No guarantee the Bills take 3 QBs. Dixon is not a FB, and thus, won't be used like one. Pears and Henderson could both make it in addition to the 8 OLs that are listed. Moorman is not the player he used to be, but could still make it. TJ Graham vs Hogan. The difference is that Hogan catches everything and can play ST. Graham drops too many balls. Not much completion for Bryant, Charles, and Wynn, but that doesn't mean that all 3 make it. Without Alonso we're a lil thin at LB. Sylvester vs R. Johnson for the #6 LB spot. Meeks vs Ladler for the #4 safety spot. There's a better than 50% chance that Hopkins sticks as a second K because he would be invaluable if he can prevent KO returns 98% of the time.

The three keys to the Bills having a winning season this year (in no particular order): 1. Manuel 2. Manuel 3. Manuel. The QB position is that important. If T. Brady were the starting QB for the Bills then the Bills would be winning the division almost every year with a 25-2 record vs the Pats instead of the other way around. Even with all of the improvements that the Bills have made (Watkins/Kouandjio/Spikes/etc.), and they are significant, the Bills still don't command much respect around the league. Why????? It's because nobody truly knows how well Manuel will perform. Manuel doesn't have to be all-world for the Bills to make the playoffs this year, but he does have to be pretty darn good (and much better than he was last year).

The answer is that he needs to play for as long as it takes for him to be comfortable with the offense/his responsibilities AND the coaches are comfortable with him running the offense . I don't think you can say one quarter here, two quarters there. It may be an extra series or two in one game and even a series less in another. The coaches need to use the preseason games 9all five of them) to get Manuel ready for the season......whatever that takes. But by the same token, they need to not put him at risk unnecessarily. It's a fine line to walk. Suffice it to say, if the coaches aren't able to get Manuel comfortable through the preseason then it's going to be a very long reguilar season to endure.

For those of you who think Summers doesn't make the team I say you're just not paying attention. Marrone is trying to build a build, strong team, even by NFL standards. Bigger OLs (the Bills have the biggest O-line in the league) along with guys like Summers and L. Smith (who is used as a third OT) both to protect Manuel and to improve the running game.

I think AW should be even higher on that list. He just exudes confidence. It'll be interesting to see whether they pair him Searcy or Graham.

I don't think Summers has to beat out Dixon to make the team. Dixon is definitely better at running the ball. Summers can block as a FB (the best blocker of the RB/FB group) and has real value as a ST player.

I think Dixon is a given to make the final roster. He can play RB/FB, but his best contribution will likely be on ST. He's a monster ST player. Consider that many teams keep a combination of 4-5 RBs/FBs. New England always has for instance. Jax/Spiller/B. Brown/Dixon are all locks. Dixon is not a FB. Rodriguez has been completely invisible to this point. I won't say that Summers is a lock, but he has a lot better chance to make the final roster than many of you think. Writing him off so easily is a mistake. I just think that because of the way that the roster is currently comprised that Summers will find his way onto the roster. He offers something that they don't have..........that special type of blocker, especially for short yardage and goal line situations. The difference between winning and losing the close games is converting on third and short or scoring from the one yard line instead of turning the ball over or being forced to kick a FG. That's why guys like Summers and L. Smith deserve strong consideration and why both will be kept to do the so called "dirty work".

Summers will make the team fellas. Count on it. Not because of his ability to play FB, but because he is an excellent ST player. The Bills don't have anyone like him on the roster. He will also be a nice benefit to have in short yardage and goal line situations. He's obviously built for blocking, but can also sneak out of the backfield and catch the ball as a change up. If the team only takes 6 LBs (Spikes/Alonso/Rivers/Brown/Bradham/Pollard), which is what I think will happen, then Summers will essentially take what would be the 7th LB's spot as a ST player.

Fluffhead, your name says it all. I also listed Hogan #6 on the WR depth chart. What he does well is catch the football. Pay attention to what is going on in camp. Hogan has steadily risen up the depth chart. If he can play ST he has a good chance to make the team at this point. Easley has proven that he's not going to be one of the top 4-5 WRs on the team. He has seemed to find a niche for himself on ST, however. He was considered to be our best ST player last year.

C'mon, nobody said that Hogan was a better player than M. Williams. MW is a virtual lock to make the team, when he's healthy. Hogan is not. Hogan has shown well in camp thus far and deserves to be projected onto the final roster at this point. That's all I'm saying. That could easily change. Graham has great speed, but that doesn't mean much if he doesn't catch the ball consistently. Not being a reliable catcher of the football is the exact reason why he has found himself sliding down the depth chart. I hope Graham starts to show something in camp because if he doesn't wake up he's going to get cut.

Nobody said that Hogan was one of our top WRs. He's listed exactly sixth on the WR depth chart. No, he's not W. Welker, but he's shown pretty well so far both this year and last year. This is the kind of guy that you're supposed to root for, not shiiiiitttt on. So far, he has outplayed Elliott/Bardin/Easley/Williams/Graham, which is why he has been projected where he is. When one or more of those guys outplays him then he'll deserve to be moved to the back of the pack.

Summers is too valuable on ST to just throw him aside in favor of Dixon at FB. He's a blocker and a tackler on ST who can be a difference-maker. There will be guys who will be selected primarily to play ST....Summers is one of those guys. Anything he gives on on offense is gravy. Guys like A. Dixon, C. Graham, Easley, Summers, Bradham, Pollard, P. Brown, Du. Williams - these guys will be the core of the ST. I'm going with Moorman right now because he is a proven player and D-ski is not, but I'll admit that Moorman looked quite shaky last year. He's definitely not a lock to make it.

I think we're going to be pleasantly surpised by Hogan. Every team in the league needs a player who catches everything in sight in order to move the sticks. The writing is on the wall for Pears and his somewhat large salary. He's also one of the oldest guys on the roster. He'll be gone just as soon as the Bills reach a comfort level with Kouandjio and Henderson. Hairston is healthy again and considered to be starting caliber. Marrone likes him so much that he's trying to fit him in wherever possible on the starting O-line. He could be the starter at RG. At the very worst he would be the backup LT/RT. What has Unga done??............ What has Legursky done?? All the Bills seemed to do last year was look for ways to replace Legursky in the starting lineup. Unga is far from a sure thing and is certainly a bubble player. He would be one of my bottom three at this point. Legursky vs Unga will be an interesting competition to watch. Keeping only Manuel and Lewis doesn't sit well with me either, but why keep a third guy like Tuel when you could pick up a vet on the street who is better than him??

I saw this final 53 man roster projection on another site and thought it was pretty close to accurate: 2QB-EJ Manuel, Thad Lewis 4RB-CJ Spiller, Fred Jackson, Bryce Brown, Anthony Dixon 1FB-Frank Summers 6WR-Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, Mike Williams, Marquise Goodwin, Marcus Easley, Chris Hogan 3TE-Scott Chandler, Tony Moeaki, Lee Smith 4OT-Cordy Glenn, Cyrus Koundjio, Seantrel Henderson, Chris Hairston 4OG-Cyril Richardson, Chris Williams, J.J. Unga, Kraig Urbik 1C-Eric Wood 2LE-Mario Williams, Jairus Wynn 2RE-Jerry Hughes, Manny Lawson 2DT-Kyle Williams, Stefan Charles 2NT-Marcel Dareus, Alan Branch 2ROLB-Kiko Alonso, Ty Powell 2MLB-Brandon Spikes, Preston Brown 2LOLB-Keith Rivers, Nigel Bradham 6CB-Leodis McKelvin, Stephon Gilmore, Nickell Robey, Corey Graham, Ron Brooks, Ross Cockrell 4S-Aaron Williams, Da'Norris Searcy, Duke Williams, Jonathan Meeks 2K-Dustin Hopkins, Dan Carpenter 1P-Brian Moorman 1LS-Garrison Sanborn Unless somebody really surprises, the Bills don't really have many strong contenders to these guys. QB: Tuel has a shot, but he'd just be holding a clipboard. RB: No true contender to this group. FB: Summers is a tank. TE: Gragg has an outside shot, but Moeaki is far more talented and accomplished. WR: Graham/Elliott/Bardin will challenge, but ultimately Easley is a stud on ST and Hogan is a very, very good possession receiver. Don't need Graham with Goodwin on the roster. OL: If the Bills keep nine OLs then Legursky could beat out Unga, but I like Unga at this point. K/P/LS: If healthy, Hopkins is going to make the team. Moorman makes it, but he's not the punter that he used to be. DT: Bryant has a shot, but I like Charles better. DE: No real contenders. LB: No real contenders. CB: No real contenders. S: I do think that Ladler could unseat Meeks. Meeks vs Ladler will be one of the training camp battles to watch.

Mike Williams has been injured. He will be good to go by training camp. The team is just being careful with him. He's not going to be cut. Legursky is on the bubble because Urbik can be the backup OC. Urbik makes the team as the starting RG or backup OC. No way does Searcy get cut. That's just a ridiculous notion. TJ Graham is on the bubble because the team has a lot of talent at WR . Watkins/Williams/Woods/Goodwin are locks. Graham/Hogan/Elliott/Easley/Bardin will fight for the last two spots. One of those guys will have to be a very good ST player, which means that Easley or Elliott (both excellent ST players) have the inside track for one of those last two spots. Graham and Hogan are probably the best two WRs of the five mentioned. Dixon is a lock fr ST alone. Caussin is camp fodder. J. Smith is a virtual lock because they need a blocking TE. He can also long snap. Chandler and Moeaki are locks at this point. Gragg is the guy on the bubble because the team won't likely take four TEs. Our LB locks are Spikes, Alonso, Rivers, Brown, and Bradham. Bradham has received high praise. Lawson is a lock as a DE. He can also play LB. Brooks is no lock, but he's too good for the Bills to cut given what they currently have. Gilmore, McKelvin, Graham, and Robey are locks. Cockrell makes it most likely, based upon his great athletic ability and intelligence. Brooks would be CB #6 and would be especially important to keep if Graham is moved to one of the starting safety positions, which is a very real possibility. Meeks, Ladler, Pollard are bubble players, but two of the three may be kept just because there is not a lot of depth at LB and safety. Carpenter is a lock based upon what he did last year. Hopkins is a very good kicker and is very young. Since the Bills spent a R6 pick on him they will give him a very long, hard look. Thus, the Bills could take two kickers and use Hopkins on kickoffs. If Hopkins could out punt old man Moorman he could solidify a spot for himself.

I think the obvious player choices are Watkins and Spikes. Watkins will loose up the opposing defense and make us much better just by being on the field. Spikes makes our run defense legit for the first time in a long time. Guys will follow his lead, The guy who you really need to keep an eye on is C. Graham. He will be a fan favorite before too long. He will play in the slot and on all four phases of ST. He's a leader and his "can do" attitude is infectious. He's going to make impact plays when he's on the field. When Graham bolted for the Bills, his former HC, J. Harbaugh, said, "Man, we REALLY didn't want to lose that guy".

Unlike many years, this year in particular the Bills have made a lot of significant changes and additions. From the additions of WR Watkins and OT Kouandjio in the draft to ILB B. Spikes to CB C. Graham to WR M. Williams to RB B. Brown and ST demon A. Dixon to many others. For me, the most significant addition has to be DC J. Schwartz. This guy is a former NFL HC so he can lend a lot of his experience to Marrone, the other coaches, and the players. He is known for being very smart/intellectual (Georgetown Univ. grad). His former players rave about how he is able to take a complex scheme and make it easy for them to understand. He has kept most of the terminology from last year's defense because in his words, "it's just easier for me to learn the new terminology than to expect the players to learn something new". His schemes will be aggressive and he will emphasize and scheme towards being very strong vs the run. Stopping the run is a very high priority for him. he got his start in the NFL while working under B. Belichick, but really set himself apart as the DC in Tennessee under Fisher. Who would you say is the single most important acquisition for this upcoming season??

Searcy going to make the team. He's got great instincts and is now one of the more veteran safeties that we have. I see him as more of a SS than a FS because of his size. C. Graham will determine who the starting safeties are this year. If he is moved to safety then I expect him to start. In that case I would expect A. Williams to start at SS and Graham to start at FS. Williams is big enough and athletic enough to start at either safety position. If Graham stays at CB, then I would expect Searcy to start at SS and A. Williams to start at FS. I prefer the former scenario because we need to put our best players on the field and Graham is one of those players. I think we need to watch to see how Robey compares to Graham in covering the slot WR. If they're comparable then I think Graham could shift to FS. if not, then Graham could be the thrid CB covering the slot. Since so many teams start with three WRs, starting three CBs and two safeties is pretty commonplace and the third CB needs to have starting caliber ability.

Kenny Ladler should have been drafted by all rights. Many scouts had him being drafted in R5 or R6. He ran a slow 40 time for a safety (in the 4.70s) at the combine, which turned teams off. However, he's capable of running the 40 in 4.55 sec., which is much more respectful for a safety. Ladler is very athletic and has good ball skills as the video link below illustrates. He has the best chance to make the Bills roster in my opinion from the group of UDFAs that the Bills have signed this year thus far. Just like I thought N. Robey had a legitimate shot to make the Bills' final roster last year, I think that Ladler too is good enough to make it. When you consider that the only legit safeties on the roster include A. Williams/Searcy/D. Williams/Meeks, his odds seem pretty good. I think the first three listed are safe, but I think that Ladler could beat out Meeks when it comes right down to it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP7d6BHodSs&feature=player_detailpage.

KW would certainly be a nice addition if healthy. We'd have some great depth with him in the fold. You might even see Schwartz experiment with Dareus at DE in the 4-3 because he's agile enough to play the position. I'd sign him for the right price. Finley is another guy worht pursuing. You're obviously not going to pay hima big money, long term contract. He's likely to get a 1 yr $1.5M to $2M deal. Don't sleep on Moeaki though. He's already turning heads in OTAs. He's very smooth when turning up field after the catch and has great hands. Very capable of making one-handed grabs. I would not be surprised to see him supplant Chandler as the starting TE by opening day. A TE group of Moeaki/Finley/Chandler would be very nice. Finley is intriguing because of his 6'-6" frame and long arms. He's the jump ball guy that the Bills don't have yet.

Sometimes I like to repeat myself. What can I say?? Pete and repeat.

Finley is well worth a look see if he's ever cleared to play again. He suffered a very serious injury and may not play this year at all or will need significant time to recover. I agree that Moeaki could be a real nice player for us. Chandler is dependable. Smith is a great blocking TE. Gragg has potential. Caussin is camp fodder. At 6'-6', Finley would give Manuel a nice big target to throw to.

Finley is well worth a look see if he's ever cleared to play again. He suffered a very serious injury and may not play this year at all or will need significant time to recover. I agree that Moeaki could be a real nice player for us. Chandler is dependable. Smith is a great blocking TE. Gragg has potential. Caussin is camp fodder. At 6'-6', Finley would give Manuel a nice big target to throw to.