BarleyNY

Yup. The real problem with trading Manuel for anything at all is his contract. 1 year, $1.616M fully guaranteed. No one wants that. There's no upside to it. If he sucks, the team would be stuck with the contract. If he turns it around, the team would have to deal with him being a FA. Once he's cut a team might sign him to a small 2 or 3 year contract, but that's about it for him. Last chance coming up. The only good news for the Bills is that his contract has offsets so whatever he gets paid by another team next season will be deducted from the $1.616M salary and cap hit.

The Bills need not only an outside WR who is a deep threat (and preferably tall enough to be a Red Zone threat), but also a quality slot WR. Watkins needs another threat opposite him to keep defenses from playing a safety over him. The Bills need to put defenses in a position where they have to pick their poison and they can't do that with their current stable of WRs. They took a big chance on Harvin because a second deep threat was so important. Thankfully he won't be back, but maybe they can find a more reliable player.

Injury risk would be a valid reason, but only if he's too injured to play or hurt in a way that playing carries a significant risk of further injury. You don't sit him if he's healthy though.

The big problem with Ryan's shtick is that although it plays really well with most people when his team does well, it plays terribly with everyone when they don't live up to expectations. And those expectations are often inflated due to his nature.

Because that's the same thing? Seriously, THAT is your argument?

That's odd. Spotrac lists his total guarantees as $26.5M in his header, but in the notes they list $18.25M total guaranteed. Perhaps he's got some injury only guarantees in there or something? Agents sometimes include salaries in years where it is difficult to cut a player to inflate the total guaranteed money and make themselves look good and attract more clients, but Spotrac and OTC usually ferret those out. Odd that OTC has one number and Spotrac has two. My bet is he's got some situational guaranteed money, probably injury. Even worst case the guarantees only mean he's definitely on the roster for two more seasons.

Experience? Plus the not undermining him thing. What's to be gained by sitting him? Unless he's injured, nothing.

"Best" doesn't mean that I think Taylor's the answer, but it's probable that he's going to be the starting QB to begin 2016. That's reality. Do you want him and the team supporting him or undermining him? Personally, I want him at his best. And let's say a new addition takes the job away from him. The feeling in the locker room can either be that the new guy earned it and took the job (hey, we're getting better!) or that the team was just looking to replace Taylor (same old, same old). Players will have the same thoughts when one of them gets benched - legit competition or some other agenda? It's bad business in general, and ridiculously stupid in the case of Manuel.

Doesn't have anything to do with Taylor, just how coaches should handle players. How about this? Benching a player merely "to showcase" another player who is a known low-value commodity is flat out stupid. When it's the QB position involved, it's incredibly stupid. Any time winning isn't the goal it sends the wrong message to the whole team. And that's stupid.

Because benching your best QB - and the only one on the roster who will likely be here next season - sends a clear message that the team doesn't believe in him. Regardless of what the team thinks of him they can't send that message to the team. They've got to support him, not undermine him. The team will bring in one or two players to compete with him in the offseason and it's healthier for the team if that is viewed as "competition" rather than "replacement". Besides, what team is stupid enough to give up anything of value for EJ manual on a one year $1.4M guaranteed contract?

39.3% of his contract is guaranteed, so he's locked in through next season with those guarantees. His guarantee percentage is a little less than the two players above him and the two below him. http://overthecap.com/position/running-back

Schwartz from Cleveland is a free agent and is looking to bolt from what I hear. He'd be decent and not break the bank. He also would be a better fit in a run heavy offense like the Bills. I'm even more worried about Glenn and Incognito hitting free agency and leaving.

Sadly, I don't think that's a lock.

Yup. He's been here for 14 games. Fans can afford to have knee-jerk reactions, owners can't.

Agreed. No reason to get him injured for next season.

I was critical of the McCoy trade and new deal combo. It seemed a lot to give up for a player who was exceptional in another system, but was unproven in the Bills' system. But he has worked out well and that has changed my mind. We didn't get a bargain, but we are getting fair value with him. Here is the breakdown. He's: - the 4th highest paid RB in the NFL - 8th ranked RB in combined rushing and receiving - 8th in rushing - 6th in rushing yards/game That's not out of whack. The Bills have problems, but he isn't one of them.

So no front office ever makes mistakes? 16 straight years of no playoffs and you're assumption to an apparent problem is to assume the FO has everything covered? interesting way to go. I'll stick with what I see because the best way for an NFL team to dig themselves out of a tight cap situation is to draft well and I have little confidence in that.

They've got cap issues, that's for sure. Whether or not they're "serious" depends on your definition. The light might not be blinking red, but it's bright yellow. They've got some real talent they are in very real danger of losing due to their cap situation - Glenn, Incognito, Rambo, etc. It's a manageable situation, but they've got to make real choices now. No more signing everyone they can and the strategy of overpaying for players like Clay is likely off the table.

Every single measurable statistic? Nope. Passing yards - 25th Completions % - 16th TDs - 17th Attempts - 28th Yards/game - 29th You don't help his cause - or your own credibility - when you post ridiculous stuff like that. FWIW, I thought Taylor played admirably today. He showed a lot of heart. But he had issues today (and in some other games) with too many pass plays that wound up with him scrambling as well as some unnecessarily poor throws.

Schwartz on the Browns appears to want out. He's a solid RT that wouldn't be that expensive.

He was awful (again). Sometimes you can't tell what a player's responsibility is on a play, but sometimes it's obvious. He repeatedly was out of position due to over-pursuing or filling the wrong gap. Find a legit MLB and let him compete for a role on the outside.

No idea. Certainly could be a suspension.

Yeah, I totally agree with the part about Whaley being a goner if the report is true. I'm not sure how much of a bad thing it'd be though. I've found his work to be very uneven and average at best overall. I don't know enough about potential GMs to give an opinion on them yet, but being able to work well with Rex and find the kinds of players needed by the current schemes is paramount. The Roman and Watkins discussions don't bode well for Whaley. He's on the defensive about his moves. Watkins shouldn't be held to the standard of what the Bills gave up for him. Once a guy is on the team that shouldn't matter. But the GM absolutely should have to answer for it. His successes have come at very big costs. Wakins is a fine player, but at the cost of an elite one. Clay is a very good all-around TE, but he's got a top 5 TE deal. Shady is the biggest success as he is an elite back. The combination of his sizable new contract and trading Kiko equates to a very fair amount of compensation. The other big issue is Taylor, who is certainly a success - but that was all Rex. Whaley's contributions at QB look very unfavorable compared to what Rex did (whether or not Taylor is a long term answer).

Two Onio State football national championships. That's the whole list.

The OL and WR situations scare me far worse than anything on defense. If Glenn and Cogs walk that OL is a trainwreck. Watkins needs a threat opposite him to be effective so finding one is a huge priority. A lesser need, but a need nonetheless, is a quality slot WR. We really don't have a threat there.I'll wait to see what moves are made pre-free agency before I fully address the defense. Obviously the LB corps need some help, DBs could use some depth (and more if McKelvin is let go) and the DL will need to adequately replace anyone traded or released. Yeah, and probably a kicker.