Dawgg

THANK YOU. It's amazing the retarded excuses fans make as to why they don't want to see a player in a Bills uniform. Vince Young has won games, something that Buffalo has failed to do consistently in the past decade. He's extraordinarily athletic. I saw him personally at the Ralph run circles around the Bills' defense. He won't start. Why not let Chan work with him and see where it goes? Worst case, cut him after a year. If he proves to be a problem in the locker room, cut him midseason. Low risk, high reward signing.

Clearly some cross-talk going on. For what it's worth, the Radio City Music Hall was a lot of fun. Met some great Bills fans.

No clue. I got mine from a friend who works at the NFL and the price listed on the ticket is $0.

Nice! See you there!

and wanted to see if any Bills fans are going and if it's an event worth going to.

7th Round, 5th Round, Undrafted, Undrafted. Your answer (again) is borderline moronic. 1. Whitner was a top-10 selection. Regardless of "need," it is patently irresponsible to take a safety in the Top 10 unless he has the "potential" to be dominant. Whitner was never a player of that caliber coming out of college, in contrast to Polamalu, the late Sean Taylor and Eric Berry. 2. You also have to consider replacement cost. The open market for free-agent, starting-caliber safeties is far deeper and less expensive than the open market for starting caliber DLs and QBs.

This is a nonsensical comment. Had the Bills merely hired an intern during the past 7-8 years to blindly choose the best player available on Kiper's board at the time of the Bills' pick, they would have been far better off than the "NFL Caliber" GMs the Bills paid and employed to conduct the drafts.

You are correct – those flags are what dropped Hernandez to the 4th round. That said, it's nothing that the Bills' scouts couldn't have figured out with some due diligence. At some point, the risk-reward becomes too great and this was one of those times. Mel Kiper had him at the top of his list for an entire round during the draft. If the Bills had simply followed Mel Kiper's recommendations over the past 5 years, this team would have made the playoffs multiple times. Oh the irony

Glad we took a receiver from UConn instead of a top-flight tight end from Florida named Aaron Hernandez. I remember watching the draft and Hernandez was clearly the BPA when the Bills selection came up. They took Easley, Pats took Hernandez and the rest is history. Amazing how Buffalo continually tries to outsmart itself on draft day rather than doing the obvious (and right) thing.

Agreed, as was Peerless Price for the Falcons. Donahoe franchised him, the Falcons bit and gave the bills a 1st rounder and signed him to a mega-deal. The rest is history. Bottom line is that the Bills failed to capitalize on an opportunity to convert an asset into something tangible. Although I disagree with their decision to trade Peters, at least they got something in return. Same for Peerless Price. At the time (right or wrong) Nate Clements was widely considered the #1 free agent out there.

Wrong you are. The 49ers actually approached the Bills about a trade the year prior and the Bills declined. That was well documented in the SF media upon his signing and a reason why the 49ers were so quick to pounce – they had already done their due diligence the year before. Just like the Bills converted Peerless Price into an asset, just like the Bills converted Jason Peters for an asset, the Bills could (and should) have converted Nate Clements into an asset. They didn't – due to an inept front office that has held this team back for a decade +.

The Bills from top to bottom were fairly clear that they were rebuilding. They had just come off a terrible season, fired their GM and were looking to contend in the coming years, not the coming months. If you honestly think that the Bills and Patriots had similar outlooks going into that season (which it appears you do), the joke's on you, Doc. Yes. They went 16-0. I suppose by your logic since the Bills lost 4 Super Bowls in a row, all personnel decisions geared toward a Super Bowl run (Bryce Paup, Steve Christie) were bad moves. Again, joke's on you Doc. When you're guaranteed top-5 money coming off a rookie contract, you simply don't sit out for 8 games. There's just no way Nate would sit out and forgo the big money that a 1-year $10M contract will offer. It rarely, if ever happens and it wouldn't have happened in the case of Nate. His agent, Todd France, has never had a client hold out for more than a few days. Again, you're trying awfully hard to justify a boneheaded move by an overmatched front office. Joke's on you, Doc

Comparing the Super Bowl bound Patriots to the rebuilding Bills is pretty foolish, Doc. It was prudent for the Patriots to bring in Asante Samuel for one more season for no compensation because they had loaded up for a championship run. If you recall, that was the year they finished 16-0 in the regular season. There's no excuse for a rebuilding team, coming off a 5 win season, to settle for zero compensation when dealing with its most valuable asset.

No. He could have garnered compensation, but alas, Marv was the idiot who signed a written agreement promising not to franchise Clements a second time. Had Clements been franchised, he could have been traded. He was widely considered the top free agent available (for whatever reason) and would have easily commanded a first day pick.

... and for your reading pleasure: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/134786-another-lee-evans-thread/

That was a classic.

This is far too advanced a concept for most on this board.

The list is long indeed. Doesn't change the fact that poor drafting is a bigger issue. Had the team made more prudent choices, those "quality starters" who were allowed to depart would have been replaced with new quality starters. Frugality is an issue but it's secondary to talent evaluation and personnel.

How were draft-day decisions based on bean counting when the draft system is slotted? There's no denying that this franchise is cheap. But there are other cheap franchises out there too – the key difference is that they make better personnel decision. The root cause of the Bills' failures has not been frugality, it has been boneheaded personnel decisions.

Yawn. The bean counters have nothing to do with the poor draft choices, especially since the draft is slotted. If anything, the Bills have overpaid for a series of underachievers by virtue of their poor drafting year-after year. Yes, bean counters don't extend stars, but please: name me the last player who was top 5 at his position that the Bills failed to re-sign? Jason Peters. That's about the only one - and the less-than-intelligent fans on this board were celebrating when the Bills got rid of Peters, calling him fat, lazy and greedy. Let's not get delusional here. It's not like there have been a litany of top-notch prospects that have come through Buffalo and failed to get paid. When the Bills let Greer go, they paid big money to McGee. When the Bills let Peters go, they had committed a combined $70 million to Dockery and Walker. When the Bills let Marshawn Lynch go, they had drafted CJ Spiller and signed him to a rich contract. Who are the top-notch players you speak of that these evil bean counters blocked the Bills from retaining? Personnel decisions are the bigger issue.

Was it the "bean counters" who drafted Whitner when Ngata, was the obvious choice? Was it the "bean counters" who traded up and drafted McCargo when Mangold was the obvious choice? Was it the "bean counters" who rewarded Derrick Dockery with the richest contract in Buffalo Bills history when there were better guards available on the market? Was it the "bean counters" who signed Langston Walker to $5M/year deal when no other team viewed him as a starting caliber tackle? Was it the "bean counters" who signed Peerless Price to an over-valued long-term deal when the rest of the league knew he was washed up? Was it the "bean counters" who traded up for Poz when David Harris was a better prospect all-around? Was it the "bean counters" who drafted Troup when there were far better options at DT (Not to mention Gronkowski)? Bean counters are a problem, certainly. But there is a far bigger problem at OBD: a repeated pattern of poor personnel decisions that has eroded the depth and competitiveness of this franchise.

Only one problem with your prior statement. Overdorf made the trade, not Nix. See, our GM doesn't make trades.

What record label are you referring to that is attached to the agency?

Most definitely. Why over think this and take the undersized (Donte), inexperienced (Maybin), overrated (McCargo), poor-program player (McKelvin, Troup, Hardy, Easley) when you can take a big & dominant (Ngata), experienced (Mangold), fairly-valued (Aaron Hernandez) big-program player (Gronkowski, Lamarr Houston)? Perhaps you're right about this being the prevailing theme of the Modrak regime. One can only hope!