BarleyNY

Bravo for Woods stepping up like that. Stuff like this is why Harvin nursing injuries and taking a powder were such slaps in the face to the team.

It's good to have guys like Woods on a team. He works hard, knows his responsibilities and has adequate (or better) NFL talent across the board, but he's never going to be a stud. The problems occur when you either overpay for such a player or that player is your expected starter for the season. Guys like Woods are there to push the youngsters with more talent, step in when they're needed and show the value of dedication to their craft.

Only concern yourself with what's best for your own team. If something has no substantive effect on your team, then go with whatever makes you happy. Personally, I liked that Bills showed heart this past Sunday. I thought the Jest would win that one since so much was on the line for them and really nothing but pride for the Bills. But the Bills showed me a lot, including that they'll still play for Ryan.

Yup,

Probably. I remember thinking along those lines at the time. Here's a guy who did OKAY at Syracuse, but wasn't anything special and supposedly all these NFL teams are suddenly fighting over him. No way. It didn't make sense then, it didn't make sense last offseason and it doesn't make sense now.

Agreed.

He's got a good agent trying to make it look like he's in demand.

I'm hearing the Browns have already agreed with Brian Kelly (Notre Dame HC) and Duke Tobin (Bengals DPP) to be the next HC and GM, respectively. They are going through formalities with the HC search and waiting for Tobin to become officially available (once the Bengals are no longer in playoffs).

I think Marrone's agent is working overtime to make it look like he is in demand. Just like last offseason. There doesn't seem to be any more substance to it this season than there was last.

Harvin's last two years voided so he is automatically gone at the season's technical end. Obviously he could be re-signed, but that's incredibly unlikely.Clay's restructure will move $7.5M into future years.

Yes, Whaley has overpaid for a lot of the talent the Bills have, but I don't blame players for their draft cost. I see three issues capping Watkins' production:1) Taylor's reliance on pulling the ball down and running on such a high percentage of called passes. That directly limits Watkins' opportunities and also indirectly limits them because Roman has to limit the number of hits Taylor takes by calling more running plays. 2) The lack of a deep threat opposite him. Watkins isn't going to beat dedicated double coverage very often, he just doesn't have the size. Defenses eventually adjusted when he was the only real receiving threat at WR and took him out of games. In the second half of the KC game there was a CB up tight and a S over him. After a tremendous first half he got nothing in the second due to that adjustment. 3) Injury. He's had issues missing time due to injury with his current workload. If he gets more use, then he's going to take more punishment. I hope his body is maturing and can handle it, but it's a huge worry right now.

He's a great NFL HC candidate, but I think he's smart enough to know that Stanford is both a tremendous fit for him and a rare situation. I doubt he goes anywhere for a long time. I've been saying the same thing for two years.

The Bills' offense desperately needs a deep threat across from Watkins. It honestly might be their biggest single priority (although I'd probably put the collective OL ahead of it). Sanu or Benjamin would be FA possibilities if they make it. As for Gordon, Cleveland won't be letting him go and he's looking for a big payday as soon as he can get it. He's in debt to his agent already.

I agree that fans care more about rivalries than players. There are exceptions, but those are usually between teams that are in fights for playoff spots and/or meet in the playoffs year after year - Steelers v. Ravens is a good example. The Bills need to be more relevant for that to develop.

That's fair. If his new contract fits his ability to contribute, then I'd be happy to keep him. No more return duties though.

You're dropping 15 players, most of whom are starters or important backups (nickel CB, 3rd WR, back up QB etc.). The Bills are also going to part ways with Harvin, another starter. How are you going to fill all of those holes in one offseason, much less think the team will improve?

Totally agree on Shaw. As for Chip, yes, his GM job was horrible, but he didn't adjust his offense enough for the NFL. It was way too simple for the pros.

Correct. But your original post had numbers that were way off because that article is from March.

EJ. has $1.4M guaranteed, but the team has offsets. That means if he's waived then whatever another team pays him gets deducted from that. Keep him into TC and see what he does. Or trade him if someone comes calling. I wouldn't rush him off the team, but his name would be written lightly in pencil because not much good can come from him remaining in Buffalo.Agree with Mario. Probably have to part ways. A trade would be best. Agree on Kyle. Not sure why some are rushing to part ways with him or why they think renegotiation is a good solution. Much like with Mario, he's likely to play under his deal or not at all. Unlike Mario I don't see him going anywhere this offseason. Gilmore is heading into his option year. Perfect time to lock him up - and save a little cap room for 2016. Agree on Glenn and Incognito. Both should be huge priorities right now, but I worry we will miss the boat on Glenn. Less worried about Incognito, but still concerned. Agree with the rest, except Aaron Williams would only be a $1.2M hit if cut/traded/retired. That could be done (or designated) post 6/15 to push most of that out to 2017 though.

Not sure where you're getting the cap info, but you're way off. Everything I've seen about cap space has been in the $150M-$153M range. Example: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/12/05/nfl-salary-cap-will-rise-above-150-million-in-2016/ The Bills currently have $5.3M in cap space for this year that they can carry over. http://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space/ They sit at $154M in cap expenditure for next season. The figures assume Harvin is gone but they'll add the carryover and another $7.5M in space from the inevitable Clay roster bonus restructure. 50 players will be under contract. They'll need to make moves to free up some space though.

I caught most of that. He said what I hoped he would. Happy with what he's given us, but he needs to continue to develop and we will bring in competition. Hope he becomes "the guy" but not there yet. He was nicely specific about where he's been able to attack the field and where he hasn't. Some good questions too. Taylor needs to worry about his development and improve. He can't do anything about the OL except help them by making good, quick decisions with the ball and improving his pocket awareness and movement. A better RT wouldn't hurt, but they've got FAs at LG and LT to worry about too. That's a nice way of saying they gave him as much as they thought he could handle and that was it. I covered this on the previous page, but the short version is that he pulls the ball down and runs so often that more passing plays would mean more of a physical toll on him. It also considerably reduces his number of attempts in the stat line. It's the right way to bring him along and he certainly passed the test, but he's still got his work cut out for him. I hope he can beat the odds.

This is all true, but I'll add: Taylor has often run when he doesn't see a receiver open, including times he hasn't properly gone through progressions to find someone who is open. He's to be complimented that he's made a lot of positive plays instead of negative ones in those instances. But he's still not recognizing open receivers in some instances and he's taking a lot of additional punishment by pulling the ball down so often. He threw 18 times and ran 14 times against Dallas. Maybe 2 or so of those runs were called. So that means he pulled the ball down and ran on pass plays about 40% of the time in that game. That's way too much. I wish I knew the season numbers. If Roman called more pass plays and he kept up that running percentage Taylor would get killed. He's got to improve his reads and progressions or this is his ceiling.

Keeping Pettine and dumping Farmer is actually a smart way to go. Farmer's been awful.

I assume you mean a deal with $3M base plus incentives. I don't have a problem paying Harvin well, but I do have a problem guaranteeing him any money. It was a mistake this season and it's a mistake going forward. I'd insist on multiple roster bonuses throughout the season - every game if I could get it. It's been done before. Greg Hardy has such a deal, with a $750k base and $9.25M in weekly roster bonuses, plus a hefty workout bonus of over $1M. So if Harvin wants a similar deal - maybe a base around $750k plus something like $500k per game in roster bonuses and bonuses for being on the active game day roster. He can make his $8M-$9M if he performs all season and is willing to gut it out and play dinged. If he steps out of line, nurses an injury or even genuinely gets injured he'd be out. Also if the roster bonuses were small, but the active game day roster bonuses were large he could be kept on the team if he was to miss some time due to legitimate injury, but would be expected back. While I don't think he'd accept that kind of contract, it'd be the only way I'd touch him. *Please note that failure to pay a roster bonus terminates a contract whether or not a player is injured.

I agree almost entirely with those lists. I'd move Cousins and maybe Bortles down to the close, but no list and I'd move Bridgewater, Romo and probably Stafford up to the next tier list.