BarleyNY

So we shouldn't have gone into the season with more than a quality #1 with injury issues (including a serious, known foot injury), a marginal #2 in Woods, a perpetually injured speedster in Goodwin and nothing else but hope?

You should really look at the injuries some other teams have had. Just because you only follow one team doesn't mean others haven't gone through similar (or worse) issues. As for the WR position specifically blame needs to be laid at the feet of someone. Failure to address the position in the offseason is unforgivable. (Some of us brought up the huge need at WR repeatedly all offseason.) I'm not sure if it was Whaley's decision or if he was carrying out marching orders from Rex and his staff. But someone should be held accountable.

We've got 9 more games this season (assuming no playoffs) before we really need to discuss this. Whaley and Ryan are signed through 2019 so it'd be surprising to see either fired with three seasons left on their deals. If the Bills aren't successful by next season, then I think the house gets cleaned.

He's a stud player when he's motivated, not injured and not suspended. He's deep into the NFL's drug program and is looking at a very long suspension if he has another failed test. He's also got a lot of guaranteed money in his contract. That all decreases his trade value. The dead money the Bills would have to eat if they were to trade him prohibits them from trading him at this point. This has been pointed out countless times in this board.

Trades at this time of year often involve either: - paying a premium for talent with a reasonable contract and/or - taking on an overpriced contract, often for an aging vet at the end of his career. I'd sure be trying to find a WR if I were the Bills, but I wouldn't go crazy with compensation. There's only a couple guys out there and who knows what the demands for them are?

My worry is if injuries are an issue again for him next season. If that happens I can see him playing out the option year. Or at least that would be a real possibility. I just don't know how you sign him to a big deal if you can't count on him staying healthy. Maybe they could come to terms on a contract that gives him a nice payday, but gives the Bills some protection if he can't stay on the field. But that'd be tough to do since his option year would provide him a nice, guaranteed chunk of cash. Hope he stays healthy and earns a nice contract so we don't have to worry about all of that.

I don't see how the Bills can wait until after the 2018 season to retain Watkins (assuming that they do want to retain him long term). WRs are getting paid stupidly if they hit FA. Some team would give him a crazy deal and with his injury history it'd be prudent to let him walk if his price got that high. If they want him, after the 2017 season is when they can get him at a decent price.

The team who trades the player away has to eat the cap hit from the remaining prorated signing bonus. All salary and bonus money already paid to the player stays with the old team as well. The new team takes on all unpaid salary, bonuses, etc. In this case, trading for Smith would cost the Bills $2.8125M in 2016 and $8M per season from 2017-2019 if they chose to keep him on the team. They could take him as a rental or tryout player this season if they could get him cheap. http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/torrey-smith-7777/

The 49ers would eat the remaining prorated signing bonus cap hit. His salary and per game roster bonuses total $5M this season and we'd only be on the hook for 9/16th of that. So, he'd be easy to fit under the cap this season. Next season gets a little tougher, but it's doable. Details: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/torrey-smith-7777/

Thanks! Loved your reference.

I agree.

I like to watch.

Except that the more concussions someone has, the easier it is for them to have additional concussions and more severe those concussions tend to be. AW is definitely at more risk than the average player.

Aaron does need to hang it up for long term health reasons. Personally, I don't want to see him take anymore physical punishment. I'm not sure in can take it emotionally. I can't fathom what his family feels like. Landry did what I saw Hines Ward make a career of. Things are changing in the NFL. A targeting penalty in the future isn't out of the question. Unlike Ward, Landry wasn't grinning ear to ear after the hit. He seemed visibly upset and concerned about Williams. Maybe that was why there was no retaliation.

The Giants are one of about 4 teams that have gotten very preferential treatment from Goodell. This is just another case of it. Anyone else remember how pissed off the Jets were when they were informed that the league and Giants had the coin flip to determine which team got the first game in the new stadium? No notification to the Jets or representative present. Seems like the Giants won that flip. Now this. I'd love to see Goodell ousted, but I suspect he will dodge another bullet here. He's made the owners too much money. He will be hurt much worse if ratings stay low. I can see that doing him in.

That's close. A team can have a player on PUP start to practice with the team during a window from the day after week 6 to the day after week 11. Once activated they have 21 days to activate to the 53 man squad, IR or release. It is promising that Lawson was activated at the earliest possible time. I was sure it'd be a longer recovery than this. We will know what's up with him in the next few weeks.

It didn't look like the AFCN was sending a WC team to the playoffs anyway, but now it seems certain. It's also now even more doubtful that the team winning the AFCN gets a bye. Thats all good news.

He has had injury problems due in part to his style of play. He takes a lot of hits. Early in his career I remember that his passer rating after first contact with a defender was off the charts high - higher than his rating before contact in fact. His ability to extend plays by shaking off defenders raised him from being a good QB to an elite one. He did have an issue in that he often needed to extend plays because it took him a little longer to find his target. That's improved over the years, but he still holds the ball too long at times and the physical punishment may be starting to take its toll.

You should probably take a look at his contract. He couldn't be traded at this point as it would put the Bills way over the salary cap. Like it or not, Darius definitely is a Bill for the next couple seasons - probably longer.

Seems like Miami is the destination of choice for players who want to cash out and put it on cruise control. Used to be Washington.

I heard that about Julius Peppers. His teammates said that he could've been an all-time great if he had loved football the way he loved basketball. In general, I can even see some players that came into the league loving football becoming disenchanted with the NFL.

Yup. They could've blown the game, but they hung in and let the Rams blow it. That's called a "win" when everybody else does it.

That's makes sense. It explains why AMOS has the Bills winning the AFCE at 11-5 and the Cheatriots finishing in second place at 8-8.

Lol. Nicely done

Agree with Moriarty totally. Freaking ridiculous excuse by Grigson. He's been horrific both drafting and trading. He gave away a first round pick to Cleveland to acquire epic bust Trent Richardson - after it was obvious to everyone else that he had no field vision.