hondo in seattle

Harbaugh... "I don't know... I don't know..." Colin... "You're not giving me a lot to work with."

Conor's analysis certainly leaves something to be desired.

Yolo's convinced me on this. Just like the final roster, the 90 man roster needs the right mix of youth/potential and age/experience. Maybe Rex is repaying a debt a bit by giving Hunter a chance to restart his career. But he probably also sees Hunter as someone who'll have a positive influence on our young OL. If Hunter makes the final cut, great. But more likely he'll be a good teammate during camp who ends up on the street. While having a competitive squad during the season is the most important thing, having a good 90 man roster during camp matters too. Good "camp bodies" are better for the team than bad "camp bodies." #3 is a true statement but there's a flip side (no pun intended), of course. Love & loyalty from a coach motivates players to play harder and makes FAs less likely to seek greener pastures. It's a tough balancing act.

Thanks Yolo. This could explain the signing.

Rex says... "I think he impressed some coaches with how athletic he is. He looks like he's in great shape. It'll be fun watching him compete." "He's a guy that did a tremendous job for us early. I think in an ideal world, there's some players for whatever reason are better in multiple roles and being almost like a utility guy who can play guard, tackle, tight end. He can give you a lot of that versatility. Smart, athletic guy. That's why he's here." http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/19307/rex-ryan-expects-bills-to-sign-ot-wayne-hunter Awesome Hunter highlight:

9 years in the NFL. Started for the Jets in 2011. Out of football for a couple years. 34, almost 35, years old. Never particularly good. Worked out for the Bills on June 17. Don't get this signing.

My oldest Bills memory is of Mini Max Andersen swallowing his tongue. The whole concept was very frightening to me at nine/ten years old. But thanks for the perspective... Will sleep more at ease tonight. Stay thirsty my friend.

I suppose Buffalo comes across as possibly another city Ryan has conned though the author isn't that overtly negative.

Reading QtR's other posts, I realize we're probably not far apart. But I gotta comment on Drew Brees. There's no doubt that he's benefited from Payton's coaching and offensive scheme. But once he matured as a pro, Brees had a 104.8 passer efficiency rating one year with SD - better than 7 of his 9 seasons with NO. Brees has uncanny accuracy and - throwing out a couple bad games - tends to make really good decisions with the ball. Brees "throws receivers open" better than virtually anyone. With or without Sean Payton, Brees is one of the best QBs of his time. But Sean Payton gave Brees an offense that's perfectly suited to his skill set and together they produced monstrous passing yard totals. So what's going to happen in 2015? Will Payton adapt to Brees declining skills and CJ's limited - but unique - skill set? I think Payton, Brees and CJ will have fun this season.

I guess I should have been more specific. When I said "scouting reports," I meant the amateur scouting reports produced by media types who said Watkins excelled at only two routes: the go and the bubble screen. I have no idea what real club scouts had to say. Disappointingly, they don't usually share that information with me. There's a point here. Replay does show missed opportunities. Still, an OC should design an attack that actually gains yards and scores points. Not an offense that should of/could of gained yards and scored points. We don't how much Marrone was involved in the offense. Was he the de facto OC like Sean Payton in NO? Not sure. But we do know Marrone was involved to some extent and the offense was unproductive. Since Marrone was also the HC, he deserves all the blame he gets. How much blame Hackett deserves, I personally can't say.

Yeah, if the second theory is true, it's especially irritating because Marrone was supposed to be a master of offensive line coaching. When Marrone was hired to be the Bills HC, some NO players congratulated him and commented to the media about what great work he did with the OL there. I thought it was interesting because he was actually the OC in the Big Easy but apparently in name only - none of the Saints in the media praised his coordinating skills. I guess Marrone was actually a highly paid OL coach in NO so I expected him to be good at least at that one thing. He wasn't. Maybe with Sammy's ribs healed - and ,hopefully, the OL's problems also healed - we'll see Sammy on more screens this year.

Yolo, I think I heard/read someone from the Bills saying the same. I'm bothered though that even Sammy's detractors said he ran a mean bubble screen and Marrone rarely made use of his ability there. On another note, interesting comment from Football Outsiders in 2013: "Unless something new comes to light, I’m sold that he’s [Watkins'] a high first-round pick with as much to offer as Percy Harvin, if not more." http://www.footballoutsiders.com/futures/2013/futures-clemson-wr-sammy-watkins

I remember reading scouting reports on Sammy saying he's only proficient with two routes: the go route and bubble screen. Curiously, Marrone overused one of those (though infrequently targeting him) and grossly underutilized the other.

Awesome post, Bandit. Someone once posted some similar data comparing OBJ to Sammy. Both of you reached the same conclusion: Sammy was misused. Had he been used more like OBJ, he probably would have put up OBJ type numbers. I've read informed articles that articulately argued Roman is one of the great run-coordinating gurus of our day. But as a passing game coordinator, his record is mixed. It'll be interesting to see what kind of passing attack he puts together and how he uses Sammy, Harvin, Woods and Clay. Sadly, I'm old enough to remember this.

It's an intriguing possibility but too many ifs for me to be confident... If Roman is as good as some say he is and his final year in San Fran isn't the true barometer of his abilities... If EJ or TT quarterbacks better than they've ever QB-ed before... (Or if MC QBs as good as his very best years...) If Incognito regains his form.... If the rest of the OL plays well, not like last year... If Harvin learns to be a full-fledged WR... If Shady isn't beat up after leading the league in carries over the past 5 years... If Shady is beat up then this could matter: If Freddy hasn't finally become too old for the NFL... It's going to be interesting to watch.

Maybe I'm just old but I've never used Reddit at all. TBD, with all the discussions and links to articles, satiates my Bills cravings. Welcome, Sol Invictus!

I'm hoping for more but here's what I'll predict. McCoy: 1250 yards rushing Harvin: 500 yards receiving.

Couldn't agree more

KD is right. Fortunately, I don't think we need our D to be that level to get to the playoffs.

To me any analysis of last year's statistics is meaningless. Our OC is different. Our entire offensive coaching staff is different. Our offensive scheme is different. Our QB will be different. Our lead RB will be different. Our TE is different. Our OL and WR corps have changes. Looking at last year's stats to figure out where to focus this year is football archaeology. It's like digging up ancient ruins in Egypt to figure out Cairo's plan for improving it's economy this year. It's just not relevant anymore.

Sorry CB - missed your earlier link. Weird how different sites disagree so much about his weight. If this rating is valid, it's very interesting. OT is a position of need for the Bills and look who declares for the supplemental - one of the top OTs in the country! Whaley and his guys must be studying game tape right now.

6-7 but only 280 pounds? Might need some more muscle on his frame. https://clemson.rivals.com/cviewplayer.asp?Player=444034 In comparison, Cordy was 2 inches shorted but 68 lbs heavier in college if the information is right. http://fftoolbox.scout.com/nfl_draft/profile_display.cfm?prospect_id=2871 A different site has Battle at 6-7, 290 pounds. Still lanky for a OT. http://mydraft.mockdrafthq.com/player/view/Chris%20Humphrey/247

UMC, I'm with you. I've owned a lot of Bills t-shirts and sweat shirts over the past 40 years but only one Bills jersey: #22.

Didn't the 49ers trade Montana when Young was the backup? Sometimes a team just decides it's time to move on.

You're right. CJ isn't very powerful and doesn't break a lot of tackles. But that one year, he did successfully run away from a lot of tackles. I'm sure Payton's plan will be to get CJ into space and I think Payton's bright enough to figure out how to do it. CJ won't be among the rushing leaders. But he might be among the leaders in all-purpose yards if they use him on returns and he stays healthy.