simpleman

Hunter signed with the Steelers on the 15th.

You are wasting your breath on this one. Like typical Bills fans, everyone chooses to bury their heads in the sand about his injury. The fact that the statement by the same front office that soft sold and mislead us about Ragland's injury last year also said that Kujo "should" be ready for training camp does not concern anyone. Even if he does return 100% and with no lingering aftereffects, everyone is unconcerned about the team getting enough reps for the new line to gel with such a major change with him missing all offseason workouts and practices before training camp. And the fact that everyone seems to accept as fact that the lingering effects of an old injury effects him enough that he can't play RT, while not being concerned how the lingering effects of his latest injury might effect his future performance as well. I have brought this up repeatedly and have been ignored. In another discussion someone mentioned Austin Pasztor at about 5 Million, which would be a huge upgrade over Mills, and do-able with our cap space. That would seem more reasonable considering the lack of viable OTs in the draft this year.

All selections are a gamble, even the number one picks of the draft. But I don't see the odds being very high of getting a true #2 WR beyond the first round this year. There are many potential #3WRs in the draft that could contribute this year, and might even have a slight chance to develop into a #2 within a year or two, but I would not expect to find a legitimate #2 beyond the first round. We have only three serious picks this year. Beyond the 4th, all picks are real gambles, and other than that rare lucky strike, they are depth, backups and developmental role players, not true impact players. Due to our failure at FA, we have unfilled needs at #2WR, starting LB, starting S, and starting CB. We still don't have a Franchise QB. We have a bridge QB and a long-shot developmental QB and need to get at least another QB prospect both this and next year. Three legitimate picks and all those pressing needs. If we want to fill our #2WR needs, I see us using our #10 to get one. Otherwise we need to trade down far enough in the 1st to get another pick in the 2nd and grab a #3WR there in the 2nd and hope he can fill the #2 WR role this year until we can get a legitimate one next year. But I see us using that #1 pick on a QB next year. I guess we will be forced to kick the can down the road again and just have to hope for some kind of miracle again next year.

Hope he was cheap. Thought our other new signings were suppose to be return guys. Not much value at WR. We now have a ton of depth #4 and #5 WRs, a possible #3, and no legitimate #2.

Sounds like you are defining Josh Jones. Played SS and FS. I also believe he has played CB/LB. All the physical skills and qualities you look for. The problem is, he is a work in progress and has a lot of lot to learn. He needs to tighten up his fundamentals and mechanics. He could be a real gem if he develops and is willing to put the time and effort into doing so. While I would not expect great things out of him his rookie year, has a potential high future ceiling. I'd take him in round 2 if I was selecting a Safety there and not expecting great things from him in his first year. But he COULD be a piece for this team's future. While a lot of posters here like Baker, he just does not have the size to be a real force in the NFL. Like the Bills found out with CB Robey, he is a heck of a player, but you can't coach size. They had to give up on him because real NFL guys like Gronk will eat them up and spit them out without even trying because he is the size of a gnat to them. Bubba may be just a little taller than Robey, but he still has smaller hands, short arms and is undersized. Again you can't coach size.

I agree, he is more of a Robert Woods. Although I'm not sure he would be quite as good as Woods was. But then again, I have not seen him play enough to know. I really like his ability & potential, but I'm not sure I would use OUR 2nd on him. If we were to trade down in the 1st, grabbed a QB in the late first, and picked up an extra late 2nd, I would take him. I would definitely take him in the third if we had not already taken Williams, Davis in the 1st.

Kupp’s appeal and strength was never as a burner. He is a precise route runner, with decent size, football smarts and great hands. He won’t outrun them in space, he uses movement and misdirection, coordination and speed/direction changes to get separation, not blinding speed. A middle of the field, slot guy who will fight for yards after the catch in traffic. A perfect complement to Watkins. But don’t expect him to be there beyond the mid 2nd round. Not sure he would be a #2, but would be a perfect #3 WR. “Crafty route runner, setting up defenders and using hesitation to create spacing. Clearly leans on his technique and trusts it. Sticky hands with the natural coordination to pluck the ball. Excellent awareness at the catch point and doesn't need to gear down to assess his surroundings after the catch. At his best on in-cutting and post routes to manipulate space in the middle of the field. Not shy about using his abusive stiff arm to pick up extra yards, refusing to concede as a ballcarrier….. Marginal long-speed and lacks explosive twitch in his patterns. Relies more on timing/nuance than burst to create separation mid-route.” http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/2006951/cooper-kupp

Yet again we are rebuilding the team to fit the schemes of the new head coach, rather than selecting a head coach with the ability to build schemes around the existing talent. Is there a lack of coaching talent out there that has the ability to design offensive & defensive schemes based on the existing talent? Do NFL teams prefer coaches that require a rebuild over coaches that have the ability and the talent to design a defense and offense around existing talent? Are the egos of the NFL head coaches so big that they want to have total control over the offensive and defensive schemes, rather than select and hire the best offensive and defensive coordinators with the ability to design schemes to fit the existing talents of their respective units? We have suffered through constant setbacks the past 17 years as the team has constantly discarded players and schemes and we had to suffer through yet another 3 years “In Rebuild Hell” every time we hired a new head coach. Wouldn’t hiring a head coach with the talent and the ability to recognize the strengths of weaknesses of the existing players on the team, and hire a staff that would best allow him to create the schemes that best fit those players and allow them to excel make more sense? Imagine a draft & a FA where you actually had the luxury of using it to tweak the lineup to make it better, stronger. Rather than to rebuild it to fit a rigid strategy and schemes that the new head coach calls his own and is identified as “his scheme”. Every coach seems to require 3 or 4 drafts to rebuild the team “In His Image”. Or do NFL teams desire and count on that constant 3-4 pass they get from the fans on delivering a winning product on the field by using that tired old excuse that it takes 3-4 to rebuild? It sure seems to have been a very successful strategy for almost two decades, and over two different Buffalo NFL ownerships, on how to consistently deliver a sub par product to a gullible audience, and still make a respectable profit.

Only in Buffalo would a career #4 WR be talked of as a #2 WR. Buffalo fans are used to a very low bar. A nice depth signing, bit not a real #2. Certainly not anyway close to an equal replacement for Woods.

I Honestly don't know a thing about him. But he appears just by the pff grade to be a major upgrade over Mills. Anyone know anything about him? Playing for the Browns last year, I can't hold a lot against him. The problem would be how much would he cost, I would not overpay for him.. While an upgrade over Mills, he is by no means a star player, but looks like a definite upgrade, especially at pass blocking, almost double the rating.

Hard not to get at least a 4th in a trade down. The first chance would be trading down 2 spots from 10-12 and getting a 4th and 5th from the Browns. It would not seem worth it to me though. We should have a shot at Davis or Williams at 10. Could lose out on both at 12. Even worse, the Browns might use the pick on one of them. I expect our picks in the first 3 rounds will be a choice of 3 among, WR, S,CB & LB. (not that those would necessarily be my choices.) I do think that unfortunately, our best chance that the Bills do pick a QB this year is someone in the 5th. If Kelly is there, I would expect it to be him.

I see your point, but it is all about Whaley. Butler must know that he is a dumpster dive. He might be an acceptable depth player, but it is about the fact that rather than using Free Agency to improve the team, Whaley has a history of excessively using it for depth and expendable warm bodies, while a majority of the other NFL teams are using it to improve their competitiveness and are stripping top quality players in Free Agency from the bones of the Bills. I hope Butler can contribute positively to the Bills in his own limited way.

Have you heard the saying "Even a broken clock is right twice a day!"? And even if he finds them, he pulls similarly bonehead moves like not tendering Groy for a 2nd rounder for only 800,000 more.

It is not about the 800K more we would have to pay, it is about the 2nd round pick they would have to give us in addition to whatever money they gave him. While I liked his performance, I would not give up a 2nd round draft pick for him.

Nah! They are cheaper in volume, and with Whaley there is gonna be lots of volume.

Another Whaley star pick!

While you may be right, you are not a mod, lighten up. The mods here are generally good guys. Rather than publicly castigate the poster, they would probably just send him a polite private message telling him to just share a brief summary and the link identifying the source. Now if he responded FU and did it again, they would obviously take stronger action. Just loosen up and let the mods do their job. And don't try to be the board police or the board grammar Nazi. I enjoyed the information. He made what I assume is an honest mistake.

Please give it a rest. He is not a rookie. He is a 7 year vet, he is a going to be a 3rd year starter, he is what he is. Would Trent ever be broken of being Trentative if he stayed with the Bills for 7+ years? Did EJ ever get better? He has hit his ceiling and bounced off it. Expecting any more is foolish.

Whaley's star picks again!

True, those rookie defensive backs need someone to help them develop their ball catching skills and their tackling skills and build up their confidence. He was always good at throwing the ball so that the receiver would be perfectly set up to get hammered. He would be great at that in TC.

Let me get this right. We won't tender even the 2+ million to ensure that Gillislee and Groy return. They both have performed very, very well. We bring back one of the worst RT in the league who has not performed well for a 4 Million, two year contract. Oh boy, the Bills front office really is professional. I wouldn't hire them to clean the restrooms at the stadium for fear they were under qualified to do even that. Boy, do I smell a Tank. And not even a smart one at that.

You are avoiding the issue here. If you are freeing cap for FAs, you need to have a pool of decent starters worth signing. The quality level of the remaining players at RT, WR, CB, S, LB is mostly depth/backup quality, and rapidly approaching dumpster dive level. We have exactly 3 draft picks in the first 4 rounds. After the 4th round the odds are such that you are happy to even get potential depth/backup. The odds of getting a quality day one starter are very low. With all our needs, we have 3 reasonable shots at filling all our needed positions in the draft. We still have a QB who is an average bridge QB. Jones is still a major ? to ever develop. We need to select a QB in the 2nd or 3rd to have any hope for the future. The way the draft is now set up, we only need 5-6 Million in cap for the draft. We have exactly one quality potential starter signed in FA for S. We have 1 quality starter at WR. We have 0 quality starters at RT. The dream here is that Kujo will start at LT, flipping our LT to RT. But Kujo is injured. He will miss OTC and mini-camp, will probably be out of shape.No one knows how his injury will affect him going forward. We need another quality starter at CB. With most quality starter level FAs already gone, we have holes all over the place for starters. Cap is nice, but making more holes by releasing starters when there is little chance of getting better at their position in FA or the draft is beginning to sound like a season Tank strategy to me.

What has everyone heard that I have not? The last I heard months ago: "He underwent successful surgery [Wednesday] and it is anticipated that he will be ready for Training Camp.” While it is good that Kouandjio will be ready for training camp, he will not be participating in mini-camp or OTAs according to general manager Doug Whaley." That was months ago, and came from a FO that was already less than forthcoming to the fans about recent draft pick Lawson's medical prognosis. Even if he does come back in time for TC, he will have missed mini-camp, OTAs and might not have had the time to get in shape due to his injury. This is a new staff and a new offensive scheme. He will be behind already. And we don't know what the combined effects of his previous injury combined with the latest will be. If the first one so affected his abilities, it is no stretch to think the later one might do so as well. It seems everyone is concerned about the effect on Gilmore, and pretending there is no possibility that Kujo may have medical or psychological issues from the injury that may be even more of an obstacle.

If the Bills are freeing up cap, I have to wonder for who? Are we building cap space to roll over into next year and writing off 2017? The quality free agents are disappearing rapidly already. We have lost most of our own FAs worth resigning already. But we have done nothing to sign replacements that make us better than last year. We need 2 starting safeties after AW's healthy release, we released another capable CB beyond Gilmore. We just put a 5th on Gillislee, I doubt a 5th would scare off any team that wanted him, all to save 1 million. We have 1 WR worth caring about. We have not signed a solution at RT. We have not solved our LB situation,. We have stayed with a mediocre QB who can run, but isn't very good in the passing game. By my count we need at least 1 quality LB, 2 quality Safeties, at least 2 quality WRs, two quality CBs, and a lot of depth, at minimum. We still need a QB of the future, TT is just a bridge. Jones is a huge question mark. That is a lot to expect to come from a draft with only three real picks, 1 first, 1 2nd, 1 third, and no 4th. Expecting to get a player who will even be with the team next year, much less make a major contribution this year from 2 5ths (one very late) and a 6th does not carry very high odds of happening. I see nothing at this point to even make the team a 5 win team with all our losses and no gains. So far this team's decisions seem eerily like those made during the Ralph Wilson futility era.

I agree, but the problem is that I read in multiple places one of the major reasons be did not resign was he did not want to start at RT, but LT. He might choose to sign at LT somewhere over right tackle, even if it was slightly less. Would we even agree to that, and would he believe us?