2003Contenders

It's all about semantics, isn't it? After all, there is a subtle difference in saying that we "gave up" picks vs that we "invested" draft picks. With that said, it is a true statement that we INVESTED a 1st round, a 2nd round, and 5th round draft pick on JP -- just like we invested a 1st and a 4th round pick on RJ back in 1998. Let's hope our investment works out better this time.

You are probably right. I imagine that JP is going to make his fair share of mistakes. In fact, if the wild stallion comparison to Favre come close to being true, we can buckle ourselves down for a wild ride in 2005. In Favre's first full year as a starter, he threw 24 picks. But he also had firm, capable coaches in Holmgren, Reid, Gruden, and Mariucci that recognized his potential. With Wyche, Clemments, and Mularkey on hand, let's cross our fingers... BTW, the Packers also made it to the playoffs that year -- and didn't have near the supporting cast that we have.

Before I get started, let me reinforce that I am not a Bledsoe apologist -- nor do I subscribe to the theory that the organization is always right. With that said, I will say that I agree with this move 100%, because I think it is time to move on. Like Bledsoe or not, if you are calling the trade that TD made to acquire him "an error", then you really don't know much about the game of football. Even if Bledsoe admittedly didn't do everything for us that I had hoped he would, his acquisition achieved all of the following: 1. Provided instant credibility in a way that drafting a first round QB never could have. Let's not forget that we picked 4th in the 2002 draft for a reason... We were a horrible 3-13 the year before. Recall that Joey Harrington was selected one pick ahead of us that year. Now there is talk that the Lions' patience is wearing thin with him. They still do not know whether or not he is the answer, while we've decided to move on without Drew. With a veteran you're more prone to make these kinds of determinations than you are with a young player that you keep HOPING will get better. The Lions (with Harrington) nor the Texans (with Carr, who finally came on last season) invested high picks on QBs that year, and neither team has finished as high as 8-8 since. The Bills were 8-8 or better 2 out of the 3 years Bledsoe was here. 2. Through the first half of the 2002 season, Drew was arguably the MVP of the NFL. Let's not forget that he crushed many of our team's single-season passing records. Look at what happened with attendence. 3. The success of the passing game inflated the value of Peerless Price. If that doesn't happen, I can guarantee you that Peerless still leaves for the highest bidder -- and we have no leverage (or logical reason) for using the Franchise Tag to secure that 1st round pick. You could even argue that we traded our #14 pick and Peerless for Drew and the #21 pick. I think even Drew bashers would make that deal (especially back in 2002) every time. 4. The successful shift from 3-13 in 2001 to 8-8 in 2002 identified us as a team on the verge. Surely that is what attracted such important free agents as Takeo, Sam Adams, Lawyer Milloy, etc. I find it highly unlikely that all of these guys come here if Drew doesn't have that magical 2002 season. I could go on talking about Drew also being a good guy in the community and all that, but that dilludes my point, which is that we reaped enough benefits from having Drew on the team, that it was certainly worth the (then) future middle-of-the-first-round draft pick that TD gave up for him.

I liken this move to the Flutie/Johnson move that TD made back in 2001. Flutie was a known commodity, who wasn't getting any younger. RJ, due to his past injury situation, was still somewhat of an unknown commodity. We had so much invested in RJ that TD and the coaching staff had to at least see whether or not RJ was the long term answer. Unfortunately, he proved not to be. "No harm done", says TD. "Now we know. Adios, RJ, I'll trade for Drew Bledsoe." We were in a similar situation with Drew and JP this year. Drew, the known commodity and JP the unknown. None of us knows just how good JP is going to be -- and neither does the coaching staff. I've read speculation that this move was based on how good JP has looked so far in the off-season, but that doesn't tell us anything -- and the coaches know that. The truth of the matter is that with so much at stake -- and with a team built to win now, the coaches needs to know right away whether of not they can count on JP. They don't have 2-3 years to let him while away his time on the bench and watch as Bledsoe leads us back to another borderline winning season. If JP isn't up to the challenge, then we will know -- and we can head into 2006 with another plan in mind. Kudos to the team for taking a chance at being great -- rather than playing it safe and settling for "good".

Two reasons... 1. J.P. now knows that he is the starter. There is a difference in pre-season preparation in knowing that he is THE guy versus the possibility that he COULD be the guy. TD has always been a firm believer in knowing who your QB is and avoiding any kind of off-field distraction. That's why, sad to say, I predict that he will NOT bring in someone like Brad Johnson or Jeff Garcia. Rather, I expect a low key acquisition like Charlie Batch or Kordell Stewart -- capable backups, but not really likely to compete for the starting job. 2. They wanted to treat Drew with some class and give him the best opportunity to latch on with another team as the starter elsewhere. So while other teams are trying to figure their QB situation out, Drew will have a leg up on the competition for a starting job in Dallas or Cleveland.

Actually what I found most interesting about the Bledsoe discussion is that, according to Clayton, the Bills have NOT asked Bledsoe to take a paycut or comepete for his job. He said the team wants to close the Bledsoe chapter and move on. Golic's concern was that he didn't think that the team wanted to take such a leap of faith with Loseman, which is why he predicted that Bledsoe would be back. Clayton said he agreed with Golic, but that the Bills were committed to Loseman. That part of the conversation ended with Greeny saying, "We'll get our friend Tom Donahoe on here to get to the bottom of this."

Personally, I see where Felser is coming from. Marino was probably the GREATEST PASSER in the history of the NFL, but as an overall QB, he was arguably not in the top 10. In my mind, the Dolphins couldn't RUN the ball during Marino's glory years because Dan REFUSED to run it. I do not want to say that he sabotaged the running game -- but you COULD always tell when teh Dolphins were going to run or pass because Dan gave it away at the line of scrimmage.

Uh, as I mentioned in a post earlier, Wal-Mart actually has pretty good benefits. So this Medicaid argument doesn't hold water. And before you suggest that Wal-Mart forces people to work 39 hours just so that they don't have to pay them benefits, every employee that works 28 or more hours is considered full time and eleigible for benefits. Like I said, I worked there during my college days. The pay wasn't the best in the world, but that is what happens with younger workers like myself (at the time). The people that had been there for awhile and made a career out of retail, were far from well-to-do, but they at least made a living wage.

Here is a great Union Story for you. I work as an IT Manager for a company in Northern Virginia. Last week my computer's hard drive died on me, and I needed a swap-out. So I put in a call to our internal Help Desk -- and they said they'd take care of it right away. Since I've got some important deadlines to meet, I asked them to put a rush on it. An hour or so later, I got a phone call from the Help Desk informing me that they had the parts in hand. But that it would take TWO WEEKS to get my PC fixed. Why? Because the Help Desk employee (not union) was not allowed to physically bring the parts for my PC up to my office. Only a Union Employee could do that -- and the union employees claimed they wouldn't be able to get around to it for 2 weeks! When I asked if I could just walk down there myself and pick up the parts, the guy said no because the Union would file a grievance against me. Since waiting 2 weeks was out of the question, I walked down to where the union guys were working. Did I find guys so busy that they couldn't possibly get to my situation for 2 weeks? Of course not. I found several employees sitting around doing nothing. Fortunately, I manged to sweet-talk one of them into by-passing the two week wait and picking up my PC parts and bringing them back to my office. The funniest part of this whole story is that is ALL that the union employee did. He just physically carried the parts. It was left to the help desk guy and myself (neither of whom is union) to unplug my machine, open up the case, and replace the parts... This story is 100% true.

Having worked for Wal-Mart back in my teens (about 20 years ago), I can tell you that they used to bend over backwards to prevent unions from ever forming. Thus, the company was very proactive about having good benefits, insisting that employees take their lunch breaks, allowing 15-minute breaks every 2 hours, etc. I will have to say that it wasn't a bad place to work. Actually, it was just a year or so ago that I believe it was voted one of the 100 best comapnies to work for in the US. The creation of a union would NOT help the workers there -- and would actually eventually lead to layoffs because the company would no longer be able to sell their merchandise at such low prices and still turn a profit. I think the creation of the union in this case was more of an activist thing (aimed at creating bad pub for Wal-Mart and helping the mom and pop shops that ultimately get hammered whenever a new Wal-Mart comes to town), rather than really trying to make life better for the Wal-Mart employees. At least that's how I see it...

This is a pretty good read... Will Bledsoe Be Back in Buffalo in 2005? The premise is basically what most of us seem to be calling for: that the Bills SHOULD bring Drew back -- but at a reduced salary and with open competition for the starting job.

d_wag, The use of the tag at this particular point in time tells me that the Jets do not feel that they can work out a deal with Abraham and his agent prior to March 2. Since the team is in pretty good cap shape, they can afford to use the tag -- and the brandishing of the tag at this time may, in fact, be a message to Abraham and his agent that the Jets simply do not intend to let him walk for nothing.

I've heard Kelly say nothing of the sort -- and the last statement I heard from him (months ago) was that he thought J.P. was "going to be a good one."

It also serves as a stalling tactic. If they haven't reached a deal with Abraham by March 2, he comes unrestricted and can sign anywhere he wants. As of now, he can only negociate with the Jets -- unless some other team is willing to cough up the required compensation.

Hmmm. I'm not a Drew apologist -- but is he really any more washed up than Garcia or (especially) Johnson?

This guy is probably just a Cleveland fan with a website. He didn't even take the time to look up Drew's contract situation. Drew's base salary is just a little over $3 M this year -- not the $5 to $6M the guy cites. Even if the proposed trade were to occur before the March 2 roster bonus (which the Browns would then be liable to pay), he makes just a little over $4 M. And where does this guy get the impression that Romeo prefers pocket passers. Is he on the record for having stated that?

King is a blow-hard idiot, who really should have no right to vote in things like the Pro Football HoF and League/Super Bowl MVP races. For example, he has played a MAJOR role in keeping Art Monk out of the Hall of Fame, yet he is a major supporter of Michael Irvin? Go figure.

Let's see... Bledsoe's cap hit for his signing bonus from last year alone is close to $2.2 M. The league minimum for a 10+ year veteran is $750K (only $450K counts against the cap). So, we are looking at a minimum cap hit of about $2.9M. This would have to be TD's starting point. IF the team cuts Drew, then they eat the remainder of his signing bonus -- and we're looking at a $4.3M cap hit. So, if I'm Bledsoe, knowing that the team has to pay (against the cap) that much for me NOT being there, I wouldn'st settle for anything less for me TO BE THERE. One thing to remember is that Drew is due a $1.05 M roster bonus on March 2. Since the issue of a paycut is coming up at all, if I were him, there is no way I'd wave this money and take ONLY a base salary, as that money isn't guaranteed. That is, from his perspective, why should he wave the roster bonus -- knowing that the Bills may just be waiting until after June 1 to cut him and spread his $4.3M cap hit over two years? Thus, the best deal I can imagine the Bills making would be to allow Bledsoe to keep his roster bonus -- but to ask him to drop his base salary down to the league minimum. Such a move would change his cap number to: $2.2M + $1.05M + $450K = $3.7 M.

Note that the Colts article says: "The Colts are expected to have approximately $20 million in salary cap space by the start of the league year (March 1). " That implies that there are certain, expected moves that the team could make between now and then that would free up as much as $20 M under the cap.

How about Thurman misplacing his helmet in SB XXVI?

We're not talking about a $200 jersey here. We're talking $75K.

Considering that Jack (at least once) put a gun to Tony's head and played a role in his being arrested for treason, it is interesting that Tony was the "one person" Jack knew he could trust. Still, I love Tony and literally stood up and cheered when he came to Jack's rescue. Also, after Jack made that comment about the "one person", my wife and I started trying to guess who it may have been. Chase? Palmer? My guess is that it will turn out that Jack went to bat for Tony after he got arrested and helped him get off for "treason".

Our biggest problem is the schedule -- and the division in which we play. The bridge between the Bills and Pats is vast and wide. I think we are pretty much on pace with the Jets (depending on off-season moves). I also think that the Dolphins, while still likely to be odious next year, will be improved in 2005. Note that we didn't have a particularly easy time of it in either victory that we had over them last year. Until we can win at least 4 games in our division, it is going to make it hard convincing me that we are Super Bowl bound.

My only fear is that if TD waits TOO long (i.e. right up until the draft) then the RB market may have saturated by then with a number of quality FAs -- and a reportedly deep RB class in this year's draft.

Good point, Nanker. People forget that what we did was spend a 2nd rounder (and a 5th I believe) to make THIS year's first round pick LAST year. With the sheer crap that this class (especially at QB) appears to be, major kudos to the Toms for pulling the trigger. I doubt that a QB of Loseman's quality would be there for the taking with the #20 pick. Time will tell (about both Loseman and the 2005 QBs). Now, let's assume that they stay pat THIS year... Since the DL class looks weak this year, I think you can rule out either a DT or DE (as of now) for our second round pick. The CB class looks to be the deepest -- and there sould be a quality player there for us. So I'd bank on CB... if not, then OL.