QCity

Ouch.

Now that Marcus Gilbert (OT) is off the board (damn you Pitt) I really have no problem gambling on Mallett.

Pretty interesting read. Marcell Dareus makes colossal impression

Update: ESPN retracts their report. The NFL lockout has not been reinstated.

Report: Bills team doctor clears Bowers' knee April 10, 2011

This guy really did his homework. He called Locker at 8, Fairley falling to Detroit, Ponder going high, Bowers being passed over, Amukamara droppping, and still hit the first 6 picks. Wow! Dallas Morning News' Rick Gosselin out-predicts ESPN, SI on Cowboys, NFL Draft #1 - Newton #2 - Miller #3 - Dareus #4 - Green #5 - Peterson #6 - Jones #7 - Gabbert #8 - Locker #9 - Tyron Smith #10 - Ponder #11 - Aldon Smith #12 - Dalton #13 - Fairley #14 - Ingram #15 - Pouncey #16 - Kerrigan #17 - Jordan #18 - Liuget #19 - Solder #20 - Quinn #21 - Carimi #22 - Castonzo #23 - Smith #24 - Clayborn #25 - Amukamara #26 - Watt #27 - Taylor #28 - Watkins #29 - Austin #30 - Sherrod #31 - Heyward #32 - Williams

I love that vibrant old school blue color. So much better than the current drab ones. We may vault from ugliest jerseys to top 5. Bigger picture -

When exactly have the Bills traded down "these past several years"?

Right now Moats is at best a long-yardage pass rushing specialist. And that's being kind. He's a huge liability in the run game and has shown zero success in setting an edge or playing in open space. Did you see the last Jets game? He looked like a traffic cop dancing a tango out there. The guy got 2 timely sacks, but don't mistake him for an every down linebacker, right now he's far, far from it.

Yup. It screws up all the "We never sign any FA" bitching.

If the car is still worth $10,000 when running, then yes, it was a great gamble for only $1,000. If Merriman is half as good as he was 4 years ago then this works out great. As it was said earlier in the thread, 2.5M isn't a lot in today's NFL, and unless any physicians on this board personally examined him, you aren't in a better position to evaluate the risk involved.

Wow major hyperbole, c'mon now. How about this - if he did any one of those things you listed, just ONE, he would be decent. Pick one.

It means I'd like to see him step up and make plays around the line of scrimmage (regardless of our poor front 7) rather than tackle running backs 15 yards down field. I don't think he understands the words "step up" though. Look I don't want to argue this - you feel we need him, I think he's part of the problem.

Did not agree with you, don't know what you are reading. Uh, you're the one who brought up front 7 Ok, so you said compare him to someone other than Polamalu, and now you are comparing him to Polamalu 2 minutes later. Nice. Whitner is a below average player, a mediocre tackler, plays tentative in traffic, and does not possess any playmaking ability whatsoever. I love the people that say "If Donte was a 4th round pick, he wouldn't get all this negativity." Baloney. If Donte was a 4th round pick he would have been CUT long ago and we wouldn't have to put up with all this jock-hugging.

You said it yourself - no front presence. Why on earth are people backing a guy that can't make plays in a 3-4 defense - which is a defense that gives much more freedom to the SS? Losing Whitner does not create a hole, because Whitner is part of the hole on defense. I will miss his entertaining tweets though.

Can't be sure without a CBA in place and the salary cap still unknown. For a man who isn't a afraid to spend money, doesn't it make perfect sense?

Exactly. I would rather have a coach that can admit his mistakes over a bull-headed coach who can't adapt. He made the wrong call on Trent, but he corrected it in the best possibly way - by booting him. It gave Fitz job security for the year and silenced the lunatic fringe that would still be clamoring today that Trent should start.

I don't think Jerry Jones would pay #3 money to a CB when he can just go out and buy one of the best CB in the league (Nnamdi Asomugha) and not lose a single draft pick.

I think most people don't realize that what they are seeing from Cam this season won't translate to the NFL. Newton plays in a heavily modified version of the spread offense that emphasizes misdirection and short runs until the coverage breaks down in the secondary. While some NFL teams use the spread, Auburn's scheme is rarely seen and only used as a gimmick play. How many times did he line up under center? Not often, unless it was 3rd/4th and inches. When he threw from the pocket (again not often) under pressure he was wildly inaccurate, and could easily have thrown 3 picks in that game if not for dropped balls. People love to compare mobile quarterbacks to Vick, but Newton is much closer to Vince Young with a lesser arm at that. I'm all for drafting a QB that will be calling signals for "10 - 12 years", but this isn't your man. He would be a reach in the second round. Fairly was arguably the best player on the field, and it should be interesting to see how heavily he is scrutinized at the combine and how he responds (if he declares).

The Panthers have little to no money invested in Clausen, 6M total over 4 years and that's with a lot of incentives, he's only guaranteed a little over 2M. Plus they already said they will draft Luck first. He's not falling to 3rd.

You can't discount a front-loaded contract and the guaranteed money he received upfront. OBD spent $29 million over 5 years on him, that's 5.8M a year regardless of how they structured it. In his mind (and his agent's) he sees 5 yrs/29 mil and thinks "OK, lets start negotiating up from there." Ain't gonna happen Donte. To be honest, I bet the Bills offered him the figure you stated, about $3M - $4M a year in maybe a 4-5 year deal. He might be worth that. Maybe.

There is no official word yet, but it's not hard to speculate. He was being paid ~6 mil per year (5yrs - 29mil), based on his career-high year in tackles, inflated sense of self-worth, and recent posturing, does it really sound like he is willing to take a pay cut? The Bills are not creating a hole by losing Whitner, in fact it will probably feel like an anchor has been removed from the neck of OBD. Of course fans will scream that the team keeps wasting 1st round picks, and they're right, but it's not news.

A lot of people seem to be afraid to cut Whitner as it will open up another hole, when they don't realize that Whitner is the hole. He probably ranks in the bottom 10 SS in the league in pass coverage and playmaking ability, and is average at best in run support (I'm being generous). The reason he accumulated so many tackles is due to fact the defense couldn't get off the field. He is barely average at SS and wants to be paid elite (7+ million) money. Do people really think OBD should pay this guy Reed/Polamolu money to keep him???

The owner can't buy the remaining seats every single week, that would defeat the entire purpose of the blackout. Fans would come to expect that generosity and think, "Oh, only 4,000 seats left - don't worry Ralph will pick that up, let's just sit home in front of our HDTV's" No one on these boards can say for certain that he would not have bought them. Russ Salvatore has supported and worked with this organization for decades (donating to Bills sponsored charities, chartering flights to Miami games, etc), it wouldn't surprise me if this deal was in place all week. And it also wouldn't surprise me that another deal (Ralph) was in place in case Salvatore had to back out at the last minute.

Hey genius, ticket sales are split 60/40 between the home and away teams. You might want to learn how revenue sharing works. Ralph has bought plenty of tickets in the past, you can't say for certain he wouldn't have bought the tickets himself.