BarleyNY

It just seemed like Irsay jokingly took a jab at a friend. I don't think it was meant as a criticism so I wouldn't read too much into it.

The correct term is "Pornstache".

I missed that. Thanks. It's good to have a working deadline. Sometimes deals don't get done unless there is a sense of urgency. Creating that sense of urgency, be it real or fake, is common for negotiators (and advertisers). The start of the regular season is a common deadline in the NFL, and it's almost certainly real. It's better that everyone knows where things stand going into real games. Happy or not, everyone can do their jobs without continuing negotiations distracting them.

Oh, sorry. I misunderstood you,.

It probably is because of ties to agents and the league office. Not only does that mean the national guys have a wider net, but they also are a lot more valuable from a favor trading perspective. For example, Schefter might get a scoop like this from an agent or GM and in return he might be more willing to drop a positive or negative report about another player or situation a later date. Not much point in doing stuff like that with a local guy.

I still think Gilmore gets extended before the regular season starts. If not, he is looking at playing under the one year, guaranteed option this season and the one year, guaranteed franchise tag next season. That's a tough road. He could get more total guaranteed money with a new deal now than he'd get in total this year and next. That's a powerful motivator. I think he's looking for the last nickel on his contract and is taking it as far as he can, but will still sign. I'm surprised there hasn't been a deadline imposed by one side or the other, probably the start of the regular season. The only reason I could see him not signing is if he is set on leaving Buffalo for some reason, but I doubt that's the case. Actually it'd be $3.5M in dead money if KW was cut now as his $500k roster bonus was already paid. I don't think the Bills will part ways until after the season. He makes sense to keep in 2016, but letting him go next season would save $6.8M ($1.5M dead money). The only other real possibility is that he takes a big paycut. http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/kyle-williams/

I agree. Nicely done. A fair deal that does a lot for both sides.

We will have to do the complete forensic analysis of the contract after full details come out. If you don't like the deal, then you certainly might have justification at that point. But Paxton Lynch? Your plan was to to burn pick 19 on Paxton Lynch, jettison Taylor (after he played out his contract this season) and then go on down the road with Lynch? That's your solution?

I think I am!

That's the kind of contract I was hoping to see. I'd have preferred a two year show-me period, but I can certainly live with one year if it means only adding $6.5M in 2016. I was thinking a guaranteed two year show-me period at the rate of about $24M (equivalent to his $3M salary in 2016 plus franchise tag amount for 2017) before the regular expected market value years kicked in. But this might be way better. Looks to be way less risk here.

True. We can just speculate at this point.

If true, it looks like a fair deal. Tyrod gets some nice guarantees and has a chance to earn some very nice money. The team gets a long term deal at a decent price, but can get out early without destroying their cap situation if they need to. We have to wait for details to come out to know for sure though. No. If he got injured yesterday and couldn't play another down he'd have a nice seven figure nest egg to live off of. If it happens tomorrow he's got a much nicer eight figure nest egg to live off of. If he has a long, successful career it might be a mind numbingly large nine figure nest egg. That's a win.

Meh. We're talking about our second 6th round pick here so this is a minor point of contention at best. The Bills CBs are set three deep right now. Sure, Seymour is in the mix for CB4 or 5. Or it wouldn't surprise me to see him on the practice squad for some or all of this season for developmental purposes either. I think he's a good bet to land there since he's got a lot to work on and it'll be tough for the Bills to put him on the field. CBs have to be consistient. It is an overstatement to say he's going to be cut and on the street though. Cut and back on the PS is a possibility and is what I was thinking. As I said before, it's early and we haven't even seen him on the field. I'll hold my opinion until then.

That's good news. No need to put too much on the kid too quickly. Bring him along right and it'll be better for everyone in the long run.

No need to jump the gun with uninformed opinions about the contract. We won't know enough about it to do that until the details come out - which will take days.

Well, I agree with you on Williams. The "he is obviously a drunk and a liar" is definitely too far. I'm pretty sure downplaying how much you drank to a cop testing you for a DUI is pretty common. Certainly it was a stupid and dangerous decision for him to drive while drunk, but he has never been in any other trouble like that before so I take this situation as something that bears watching. Seymour I'm going to agree with him on. Teams do find diamonds in the rough in late rounds and he's got as good a chance as most, but I read the scouting reports on him. Physically gifted, but has real trouble with the technical aspects of playing the position. USC should have been able to provide him good coaching on technique, but they've had a lot of turmoil there so maybe that didn't happen. I don't know. I am going to wait until I see him under real (regular season) game conditions before thinking he's anything more than a developmental player with a lot of upside. The Darby comment was dumb though. I don't see anything that leads me to believe he won't be the same player as last season. I'd have to see a decline in his play during real games before I believe that, too. Everything else was pretty spot on, though. And he didn't even mention that scouting reports had Washington as a player in need of a lot of refinement in his technique. He looked to be a guy that should have been rotational to start his career and work his way up to starting in season 2 or 3, but it looks like he may start right away. That's concerning because we may see some real growing pains this season.

Wow. You're going to get hammered for your negativity on this. Don't get me wrong - you're absolutely right. But few posters care for stuff like this until it's witch hunt time. Then it's all the rage.

Outstanding.

Dray flat out sucks. He sucks as a receiver and he's not much better as a blocker. I was shocked when the Bills signed him. It's worth noting that Hue Jackskn cut him loose right away even though the Browns had nothing else but Barnidge at TE. Even if Dray was a reliable blocker (which he's not), dedicating him to give Mills help would still remove one receiving threat from play whenever he's on the field. (And he's not much help run blocking either.) That's not something you want on a regular basis. It bears watching to see if Mills can handle the pass rush by himself on a regular basis. If he can, then it'll be a big help.

It would sure help to have solid play from the right side of the OL, particularly Mills. If Clay doesn't have to stay in on passing downs to block or chip it adds an important receiving weapon.

I feel this way, too. Them being unseated this season will would more to do with their decline than another team's rise. That said, the Bills have a shot. The Phish are some competent QB play away from having a shot. I just don't see it with the Jest though. I don't see how they win with Fitz behind that awful looking OL

Shaq will be eligible to come back to practice after week 6 and its jumping the gun to say that's a given. When he does get back he will not have had an NFL practice under his belt and he will be nowhere near game ready from either a physical or mental standpoint. That will take time. So don't expect much out of him this season. The best case scenario for him is to get him healthy and get him some experience by easing him into the lineup situationally. He may very well go on to have an excellent career here in Buffalo and if he does his selection will be hailed as a good pick. I'll be happy that it worked out, but I'll still disagree with selecting an injured Shaq Lawson at 19 overall (though I thought it was a very good pick when I thought he was healthy). I'm not knocking Lawson here, I like him a lot as a player. I'm knocking Whaley. If you're going to select an injured player, then you've got to get that player at a discount. He didn't do that, despite what some here are saying after the fact.

Agree on Ragland's injury being a fluke, but Lawson went about where expected. The highest I saw him mocked was 11th and that was with the notation that he'd be a reach at that pick. Most had him going a few picks ahead of the Bills.

I'm not describing anything and I've read Whaley's account. Again, what would you expect him to say? He was barely sticking around after the Pegulas bought the team. Of course Whaley is going to back with the HC they wanted and he's going to paint a rosy picture. Again, I'm not defending the job he's done. There's plenty to criticize, just not the Rex hire.

That means nothing. If he liked the Rex hire, he's just telling the truth. If he hated the Rex hire, then what's he supposed to say? "I think the Pegulas are idiots for hiring Rex and I can't believe I have to work with that tool." How do you think a less than glowing public endorsement of any HC would have played out? I'm not on the Whaley bandwagon by any stretch, but this is a ridiculous criticism. Oh, and for better or worse Whaley and Rex are tied together here. If one goes, the other goes with him - although I don't expect that to happen until after the 2017 season.