Dawgg

I have higher expectations for players chosen in the Top 10. If one chooses a safety in the Top 10, he must be a game-changer in order to justify that selection. Whitner never was a game-changing player coming out of the draft and he isn't one now. Otherwise, you wait to pick a safety later in the draft and address critical positions in the offensive or defensive lines. Marv really laid an egg on that selection.

Totally agree... he's a solid starter, but you can see just how much that selection has hurt this team. This team needs that #8 selection to be an impact player, something Whitner simply isn't.

Ed Reed is a far better safety than Donte Whitner can ever dream of being.

Sorry Dibs, but yesterday, Whitner continued to show why he was a poor draft selection in 2006. His contributions on the field are minimal, but his rhetoric off the field continues to impress

Ha! Donte? Take personal responsibility? He talks the walk but cannot walk the walk. That's hi MO Thanks Marv for your awful tenure as GM.

How's that playoff guarantee looking now?

... and neither does the Bills' front office. That, my friend is a major reason the Bills are mired in mediocrity. That year that Bills traded up for McCargo, surrendering valuable mid-round picks: - The Packers got 2 starting offensive linemen who have started in playoff games in the mid rounds. - The Bucs got a starting tackle who have started in the mid rounds. Also chose a starting guard in the first round. - The Chargers got both their starting tackles after the first round. - The Steelers got a starting tackle in the fourth round. - The Saints got a starting guard in the fourth round. The list goes on... these players aren't fringe starters who start on a bad team like Keith Ellison. These are legit NFL starters, many of whom have been extended to long-term deals, and most of whom have started in playoff games. These teams (a) value middle round picks and make wise selections and (b) focus on extending their own star-caliber players whom THEY drafted like Lamaar Woodley, Jeremy Trueblood, Marcus McNeill, etc... The Bills, on the other hand, overpay for other teams' trash. Again, you wonder why the Bills are bad? You realize David Harris has been injured for most of the year, right? That's like saying Patrick Willis had more tackles than Poz last year. Bottom line, they are comparable players. Neither player is that much better than the other... that was obvious on draft day as well. Yet the Bills saw fit to throw away a 3rd rounder to move up to take Poz.

You are dead wrong here. The salaries given to the players is VERY relevant to the discussion. Contrary to what you say, it's the salary cap that is irrelevant. The Bills are a small market team. They have limited resources. They will never spend to the point where they're up against the cap, as the Redskins and Cowboys do year after year. Because of this, salaries are of extreme importance to a team like the Bills. If the Bills overpay someone whose production does not match that pay it absolutely prevents them from signing other players. Kelsay is not a good defensive end, I'm sorry to say. If you actually think he is a good defensive end, you must not be watching the games. He is dreadful. Schobel is an excellent Defensive End, but was signing him to an extension with 3 years remaining on his deal a good move? Particularly when he's pushing 30? Absolutely not. They didn't have to do it, they had all the leverage, but were forced to do it because of the ridiculous contract they awarded to high-motor Kelsay. Absolutely inexcusable. This I absolutely agree with. Ralph is willing to spend and spend big. Unfortunately, the front office staff he has entrusted with his money has made serious errors in judgement. Throwing money at a problem doesn't always make it go away. Paying Dockery like one of the top guards in football will not turn him into one of the best guards in football. He's not even a top 12 guard right now, but is paid like one. That's a big, big problem. It's kind of like being at the bar, on your fourth beer... and all of a sudden the girl sitting across from you goes from a 4 to a 9. It's the beer goggles talking, buddy And thanks, but I understand how free agency works. If they couldn't get the top guards in football, that in no way means they should overpay for an average guard. Teams like the Patriots would never do that. They assess a value on a player and if they can't get him for the value they perceive, they move on. The Pats are 9-0 against the Bills in the past 9 meetings. You do the math. Instead of drafting McCargo, they could have taken Mangold or Davin Joseph, 2 great interior line prospects who already have playoff games under their belt. While the Bills traded away 3rd round picks in the 2006 draft to pacify their annual hard-on for moving up, Green Bay stayed put picked up both of their starting guards in that draft. Again, it's the difference between a front office that gets it and one that doesn't. The Jets, Packers, and Bucs have made the playoffs since then. The results speak for themselves. Again, your beer goggles are doing the talking. Dockery is not even close to Steinbach or Hutch. Yet they gave him the same contract. That's the sign of a front office that doesn't know what it is doing. And you wonder why the Bills continue to suck? Stroud was a pretty solid move. Definite upgrade over what we have and they didn't overpay for him. But I was referring to moves while Marv was GM. This was a move made after Marv left. Poz is not a bust. But they overpaid for him. A high 2nd and a high 3rd is a steep price to pay for a team with many needs. Had they stayed put and Poz was taken by some other team, they could have taken David Harris, who is very comparable. Again, the Bills have traded up or tried to trade up every single year for the past 4 years. Look at good front offices with a history of success and you notice that they don't exhibit this type of pattern. This team is better off than it was 3 years ago because it has the QB of the future on board: Trent Edwards. That's the only positive. Aside from that, the defense is not improved. The offense is still abysmal. Special teams have stayed the course. The team still has difficulty defeating teams with a winning record. Nothing has changed. Take off the beer goggles, Dan.

Let's take a look at Marv's bad moves as GM. 1. Extending Chris Kelsay to a big money deal. If you think that was a good move, stop reading here. You are hopeless. 2. Extending Schobel with 3 years remaining on his deal. Now we have $50M in guarantees devoted to a DE corps in need of an upgrade. 3. Signing Peerless Price to a multi-year deal. He was clearly washed up. He was a bust in Atlanta. He was cut midseason by Dallas. We signed him to a multi-year deal at $2M per when he was worth the vet minimum. 4. Signing Triplett. He received a big, multi-million dollar deal and sucked. 5. Drafting McCargo and trading picks to get him. It was obviously a bad move then, moreso now. 6. Trading up to draft Poz. Gave up a high 3rd to move up 9 slots when he could have stayed put and taken David Harris. While Poz sells jerseys in Buffalo, he hasn't done much else and the price to get him was awfully steep. 7. Signing Derrick Dockery and Langston Walker to $100M in combined deals. Dockery wasn't even the best guard available that year in free agency, yet he was paid like the best -- Hutchinson and Steinbach received identical contracts, but they are WAY better. 8. Failing to get anything in return for Clements. He franchised Clements and could have traded him and gotten something in return, probably a 1st or 2nd round pick. Marv stayed put. The 49ers approached the Bills about a trade and the Bills refused to give them permission to speak with Nate... absolutely ludicrous to allow one of your most prized assets to walk away with no compensation in return. Marv drafted Trent Edwards, which I still believe was a great, great pick. He also immediately got rid of Willis McGahee, realizing he was a punk -- VERY shrewd move. But the negatives far outweigh the positives... and moves like this are typically grounds for a firing. Good GMs do not make mistakes like this.

If Mularkey had a choice, he would have waited to get fired. He had 2-3 years at $1+ million per year left on his contract. If the team fired him those salaries are guaranteed. That's why Ralph decided to keep him. Ralph is too cheap to eat up a contract. But Mularkey ultimately felt that the situation was a bad working environment for him and voluntarily left money on the table.

You're absolutely right. Willis was an absolute machine last year and he locked DROY by midseason.

You were making excuses for Poz. I simply was refuting said excuse. You're welcome BTW, Marv's tenure as GM wasn't all that good, was it? It's really too bad... but at least he brought some stability. And at least he chose Trent Edwards

Agreed, but the opportunity cost of choosing him was very steep, with the high second and high 3rd that were surrendered. Problem is, Triplett wasn't paid like a holdover. He was paid like a starter around which the team wanted to build. Again, a waste of money that could have been better spent elsewhere to improve the team. Kelsay? What a joke of a move. He's not overpaid in terms of what the market bears but that doesn't mean he was worth retaining. We would have been better off overpaying for Clements than re-signing this stiff to a long-term deal. Bottom line, the front office has no idea how to assess free agent talent. There's free agents you retain (gamers like McGee, Parrish, Peters) and free agents you let walk. Kelsay was obvious among them. And let's not forget that the Kelsay contract forced the Bills to extend Schobel with 3 years left on his deal. So now in total, the team committed $35+ million in guarantees for an aging DE and one that just isn't that good. Marv did very little good during his tenure here as GM, unfortunately.

Patrick Willis was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Assuming this is Poz's rookie season, he wouldn't even be in the Top 15. And both of their respective teams are less than mediocre.

When you have an inept personnel department that has been in place for eight years, YES. A coach makes many decisions on player acquisition but the personnel department is the balance of powers that understands the salary cap and can make decisions on (a) what areas of the football team should we invest our limited dollars in (b) whether a player's ability and his salary match and © the value of a draft pick. The Bills' front office has failed miserably on all three counts. Forget the Whitner pick, we'll never agree on that. But trading up for McCargo, spending $100M on DOCKERY and WALKER, extending Kelsay, signing a washed up Peerless to a multi-year deal, signing Triplett to a multi-year deal... these types of decisions can cripple a franchise.

While he's at it, he should bring in a real GM who understands how to build a team through the draft and via free agency. One who doesn't overpay for mediocre talent (Dockery, Walker, Kelsay) and one who doesn't squander draft picks (McCargo, Poz, Losman). That will translate to more wins more than (yet another) head coach.

Amen.

I have seen enough from Trent to believe he has what it takes to succeed as a starting QB. It's up to the coaching staff to get him there. While Turk Schonert is a good QB coach, he's not a good offensive coordinator. Biggest concern regarding Trent is whether he can handle Buffalo-like weather. It's the rest of the roster that really concerns me. We have $50M suck into two Defensive Ends who just aren't that good. Depth behind them is a major concern. We have an aging DT in Marcus Stroud and Kyle Williams, a rotational player at best. We have over $100M sunk into the offensive line and that doesn't even include taking care of its best player. Dock and Walker are just not playing well enough to justify their salary. We have a strong safety who talks a bigger game than he actually plays (Donte, how's that guarantee looking?). The linebackers are wildly inconsistent. Poz is "OK" but not the savior Bills fans think he is. Kawika Mitchell is one of the most inconsistent players I have ever seen. And considering we ran London Fletcher out of town... this is not what Bills fans hoped for. In fact, London would look great in a Bills uniform right now.

What kind of fan are you??? You should be singing this team's praises!!!

Did you watch the game yesterday? The one where the Bills couldn't defeat a 3-8 opponent at home? The one where they couldn't get in the end zone? Watch it and reality just might set in.

Great. So you'd rather have the Bills' roster than the Lions' roster. Is this what it has come to? While beer goggles can make even the most mediocre chick look hot, nothing can hide the fact that the Bills are a third-rate product, thanks to Levy, Modrak, Guy, Overdorf and Brandon.

Sure this team has enough to beat the Browns and 49ers... but that's not saying a whole lot. This team, from a personnel standpoint is still many notches below that of a playoff caliber team.

The personnel department needs an overhaul. I don't think Vince Lombardi can do a whole lot more much with this overpaid, underachieving squad.

I think Nate was a great player for us. He shut down most of the top receivers the Bills faced and provided the defense with a great deal of flexibility. Perhaps he was too expensive. But would you rather have him at $22M guaranteed or Dockery at $18.5M guaranteed? I'd take Clements any day of the week.

Royal hasn't been bad no doubt... but sinking $10M over 4 years to sign him removed tight end from the list of priorities on draft day. As a result, a pass catching tight end still remains a big hole in the offense at a time when one would dramatically aid a young QB's development. I do have hopes for Schouman, but would prefer if the Bills drafted someone more athletic to man the spot. You take a look at the Cowboys, who, over the past few years have drafted Jason Witten, Anthony Fasano, and Martellus Bennett -- all great athletes who have helped their QBs immensely in the passing game.