Dawgg

Nate Clements is an established player who had one bad year. He had 3 solid seasons before suffering a major setback this year. It happens. Trading an established, young talent in exchange for a younger, uncertain (and more expensive) talent is not smart business. We would be much better off as a TEAM retaining his services for one more season and letting him go afterwards than we would if we traded him to move up in the draft. The Bills have all kinds of leverage with Clements. He is forced to stick with Buffalo this season. Moreover, if he simply signs the one-year tender, he risks getting injured (like Javon Walker) and losing out on a huge paycheck. So yes, this team is rebuilding and it should start, not end, with Clements if at all possible.

True, but Travis was a solid pick in the second round and was a key player for the Bills for a few years. Clements, Shobel and Jennings played at a high level in Bills uni. I think that turning the 13 overall pick into Clements, Henry and Jennings was a very solid move on Donahoe's part. I'll give him credit for that. His subsequent drafts? Not even worth discussing.

I wouldn't judge the success by the posts during those offseasons. In fact, there were numerous people complaining about TD's drafts immediately afterwards, but they were outnumbered by those fans that gush about every move TD made. I think TD proved one thing: he's great at identifying "players" and acquiring them. He didn't do so great at assembling a team.

This is hilarious. I can't believe a GM is being admired for the "hype" he generated in the offseason. There was once upon a time when the Redskins signed everyone under the sun -- Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Lavar Arrington, Brad Johnson, etc.. and they were the talk of the offseason. Year after year, they lost. But I suppose we should admire them for their efforts.

OK, let me get this straight: we should all strive for making moves that make the headlines but yield mixed rusults? No thanks. I would much rather be a "boring" team that stockpiles talent not only in the first round but in the middle rounds of the draft. I'll give Donahoe this: his 2001 draft was superb. He did everything right, trading down to get Clements, picking up Henry, Schobel and Jennings in the 2nd and 3rd rounds respectively. After that, however, his drafts left much to be desired. The sign of a good GM and scouting department is one that finds solid contributors in the middle rounds. McGee and Crowell turned out well... but overall, the drafts were subpar in that regard. Perhaps that's why TD is looking for work?

There's no need to read between the lines for that one!

Adam Schefter of NFL Network said that the Cowboys are *very* interested in Michael Huff. He is from the area and they brought him in for a visit earlier in the week. They pick at 18 -- and Schefter said that they would not bring him in unless they had thoughts to try and trade up. Because he is going to Detroit at #9 by many mocks, an ideal place to trade into would be the Bills' spot at 8. You can watch the video for free here: http://www.nfl.com/?clip=http://images.nfl...2005/0417-5.ram Thoughts?

1000%? What team have you been watching? I sure hope you don't deal with numbers in your everyday job! Perhaps he installed some key players at key positions -- that's what GMs are supposed to do. But they are also supposed to build "teams" that perform well together and have balance on both sides of the ball. And as an architect of a "team," he failed miserably. Going from 3-13 to 8-8 to 6-10 to 9-7 to a whopping 5-11 hardly qualifies as a 1000% improvement.

Tom, is that you? Donahoe was not arrogant, he just failed and failed miserably. Is he a bad executive? Of course not -- but he made a slew of dubious moves that have sent this franchise into a downward spiral during his tenure. As for your premonition that TD was making moves towards 2006? You couldn't be more wrong. He genuinely felt that Losman could lead that team to the playoffs -- and he was wrong... which is why he was shown the door.

Haha Agreed. Wake up at 10AM, bright and early, watch the debacle. Then on with the day.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The truth hurts sometimes.

Typo... my bad. I know it really riles you up when people paint a negative light on your team, judging from your posts in the past. Can't blame you... I'm just telling it like it is. The fact still remains it is one of the longest droughts in the NFL today.

Well said. Nobody knows what happened in the Miami game. It's easy for a coward like Mularkey to lay down a suspension -- but I will tell you this for a fact: the entire team (and some coaches) were dubious about that decision because they felt Moulds did nothing wrong.

At least they have some promising players and a solid coaching staff committed to turning it around. Only 2-3 years ago, the Bengals looked like a mess. Enter a new, solid regime and they managed to turn it around. Unfortunately for Eric, he saw a revolving door of incompetent coaches, coordinators and front office personnel drive this franchise to an uncertain QB situation, an aging defense, a horrible offensive line and now -- a GM that has been out of the league for 10 years. Now I'm not saying that Levy will make a bad GM. I'm simply saying that one can't blame Moulds for wanting to move on. Staying for 10 years and playing some solid football and leaving in your 11th year hardly qualifies as "quitting."

... and so will your beloved Bills, as they have since 1996, among the longest playoff droughts in the NFL today.

First of all, the Texans gave him $5 million up front as a signing bonus. Staying with the Bills would have involved staying for LESS than he could have received elsewhere. So get your facts straight. Second, if you saw the pathetic excuse for a passing game this team has had over the years, then you would understand his frustrations. One can only hope Fairchild sets things straight in this organization from an offensive standpoint because the team surely needs it. By going to Houston, Moulds gets to a team that could contend in a few years and has a great offensive-minded head coach. Cincinnati managed to turn things around in 2 years. Same can happen in Houston now that they have some solid pieces in place. The Bills, on the other hand, have an aging defense, an uncertain QB situation for the 10th straight year, a putrid offensive line that has been continuously ignored, and an inexperienced general manager who has been out of football for 10 years. But yeah.... I hate Moulds!!! He sucks!!!! It's all HIS FAULT!!!!!! Bills RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!

That logic once upon a time was used to sign a guy named Rob Johnson. With two years left on his deal, there's no reason he should be extended at this point.

New England didn't ingore the defense for 2 straight years. They consistently made it a priority in the draft. 2 of their recent first rounders were defensive linemen: Wilfork & Ty Warren. Meanwhile, the Bills were drafting offensive skill players and undersized receivers in the early rounds. In the last two years, you want to know how many draft picks the Bills spent on defense? TWO Eric King and Tim Anderson. Woo hoo. Meanwhile, our counterparts in New England spent over 50% of their draft picks on defense, despite having dominant units already. Go figure.

I disagree. SAFETY: ===== Vincent and Milloy are comparable to Troy Polomalu and Chris Hope? Not even close. LINEBACKER: ======== Fletcher, Posey and Crowell are comparable to Joey Porter, James Farrior, and Larry Foote? Fletch is definitely in that league. The other two can only wish they were. DEFENSIVE LINE =========== Schobel is the only one worth mentioning. There's a reason why Sam Adams has not been signed yet. He simply lost it. As a unit, the Steelers are deeper and better. CORNERBACK ========= Comparable.

When your front office completely ignores the defense for 2 straight years and you sustain injuries to multiple key players, even a super hero like Dick Lebeau can't do much.

I'm sure Dick Lebeau doesn't feel the same way

In this case, saldly... yes. I don't know what else to tell you, simply because Moulds is not the only player on the Bills (or the NFL for that matter) who isn't a good father.

I am also waiting for this information.

I'm going to go out on a limb and try and veer this conversation back to football -- by just stating the fact that Moulds does not deserve the degree of criticism he is getting on this board, particularly in the cases in which his personal life becomes an issue. Moulds has never had an off-field issue that inhibits his play on the field and that's really all that should matter here. He has been a very diplomatic teammate, having worked with the likes of Todd Collins, Rob Johnson, Alex Van Pelt, and JP Losman. This year, after years and years of ineptitude under the Tom Donahoe era, Moulds snapped. I feel it's time for him (and the team) to move on. With that being said, I'm not going to buy into the pattern that is constantly followed around here -- trash the guy on his way out the door. If you want to talk about his refusal to go back into the Miami game, fine... what he did was wrong -- but from what I have heard (and I do have some sources on the team, regardless of what people believe), he had a legitimate case and had the unequivical support of the great majority of the team. For those of you who want to cite his off-field life and plethora of offspring -- you're really reaching for stuff because that simply is not relevant. If you think it's wrong, that's perfectly fair -- but I would suggest that you turn a deaf ear to what's going on because NFL players sleep around, cheat on their wives, pay for prostitutes and engage in pretty much every immoral act out there -- if you want to believe otherwise, more power to you. But that's not why I watch sports, or the Bills for that matter. I do not confuse sports and church. I long to see players who want to be here, players who love the fans and have a sense of pride in the Bills. After the Super Bowl years, those types of players have been few and far between -- Moulds is as close as it gets (along with Chris Spielman). Whether you want to believe it or not, he wanted to stay in Buffalo and wanted nothing more than to bring a winner to its fans. Was he in the class of Harrison or Moss? No.. but he was an elite receiver for many years and came to play on Sundays. I hope for his sake he lands in a good situation.