silvermike

I don't think Campbell and Euhus are going to shake out to be anything besides 1 and 1a - after all, they have different skill sets and will be in during different game situations.

Is there a job upstairs for Matthews? It seems a little rude to have talked him out of retirement only to see him cut in training camp, although that's the business. Maybe if we could hang on to him as a kind of junior member of the coaching staff, it would glaze over any hard feelings. Not that the top priority should be the morale of a QB you've cut, but it'd help the next time we're trying to talk somebody into one more year.

Ki-Jana Carter, really. He gets a lot of flack as a bust, but it was really just a long string of bad luck that kept him from being a legit player.

I'm going to try to start posting these every day, trying to feel out via camp reports who people think are likely to stick around to the Houston game roster, the practice squad, or else leave the team. Today's positions: QB, RB, WR. Let's get offensive skill out of the way early! QB: JP Losman, Shane Matthews, Kelly Holcomb, Tory Woodbury, Kevin Thompson RB: Willis McGahee, Shaud Williams, Lionel Gates, ReShard Lee, Daimon Shelton, Joe Burns, John Goldsbury WR: Lee Evans, Eric Moulds, Josh Reed, Roscoe Parrish, Freddie Smith, Sam Aiken, George Wilson, Tony Brown, Drew Haddad, Will Peoples. All right, here goes. QB is pretty obvious, but I think also they're going to try very hard to find something to to with Tory Woodbury - seems like a kind of slash player Mularkey loves. I think I see him Practice Squadded, called up if somebody gets hurt, and making the roster in 2006 after Matthews retires. RB: McGahee, Williams, Gates, and Shelton I think are locks. Joe Burns is a whiz on special teams, and we're too deep at KR for Lee to make the team. WR: Evans, Moulds, Parrish have no chance of being cut, obviously. Aiken's coming along well, and Reed will probably have a great training camp. Then it all depends on who can bring the return game, and I think seniority might sneak Fast Freddie into a job for one more year.

That link doesn't tab up their total salaries, just the ones pre-RFA tenders. At www.sabrefans.com (scroll down to the bottom), it looks like we're already pretty close to that $28M mark. Niedermayer would be likely another $7M, well out of our range.

I'm really not sure why Peters won't play TE When we don't have any healthy ones. Hmmm...I hope they do use him in some tackle-eligible kinds of situations. I can't believe they left him out of Madden though.

Maybe, but their publicity seems more important in Texas where people might, like, come to the games. California's already got three teams.

It'd be nice, wouldn't it? Actually, I think the Sabres have enough talent to make a run without anyone new and expensive. Briere-Hecht-Dumont is our best scoring line in quite a while, and Vanek and Roy could be ready to bust through. Even Connolly might be not-bad in a new system of hockey. It's just the D that worries me, but if Noronen or Miller breaks out, we could be playoff bound.

WHy are they in California?

I would be surprised if we sing anyone for more than $2M per season. The team's payroll is already in the high $20M's, something like 27 or 28 million. That's not far below what they said they planned to spend. I don't know how they can spend $5M on Connolly, Pyatt, and Biron, but there you go.

They did qualify just about everybody else - Norm Milley being the exception. And don't have high hopes for free agency, I think, until they trade Biron and free up some cash.

It's too early to say anything, of course. But I'd really rather he looked great than looked average. But he doesn't seem like a practice kind of player anyway.

They really just jumped ship on Henson, didn't they? One start, back to Vinny, on to Drew. THose aren't confidence-inspiring guys to have ahead of you on a depth chart.

Does anyone have the Van Miller audio of the Houston comeback game? I had a tape of it once, but it seems to have been lost. many thanks!

Well, in the sense that Sports, Inc. probably puts these rankings on paper, yeah, we don't look so good on that paper.

He's a 5th round pick, and I haven't heard any sign that he's holding out. He's not under contract, most likely, because the Bills are working on Roscoe first and will get to him. I wouldn't worry, we still have a week until camp.

Do you actually get offered trades in Madden now? That was an annoying non-feature once.

I didn't put this together before, but the Falcons have put three first rounders into wideouts between Price, Jenkins, and White, and gotten virtually no production? That's amazing.

I'm thinking that Everett will be out for the season on IR, so that might be one more roster spot freed up, probably for Neufeld? Also, I see the Bills more likely to keep three halfbacks and two fullbacks - this would leave Shaud Williams out of the mix, replaced, if not with Burns, with some other cut.

While it's unquestionable that Parrish was drafted to be the Bills third receiver, I don't think it's necessarily true that they plan to use him in the slot. When we had Reed, Lofton, and Beebe, we'd go to three WR sets that put Reed in the slot and used Beebe as a flanker or split end - I can see the same thing done with Parrish and Moulds. Burners split out wide in Evans and Parrish, with Moulds lining up in the slot, ready to make the 7 yard catch on 3rd and 6. If Moulds draws a top cover-guy or double coverage inside, then you have Evans and Parrish open deep with big-play opportunities. This makes sense if you think that Moulds has lost a step speed-wise, and can excell as a possession receiver.

That kicks in at some point - I think after four weeks or something. You are no longer eligible to play, and your contract is extended. You can't hold out your way into free agency in the NFL.

is it 30 minute specials, with commentary and such, or their edited versions of the game that cut out commercials and downtime between plays? I remember seeing a few games on ESPN-C that had every play, just condensed down to about an hour or so.

Just so it's clear, are you suggesting that dopers, e.g. people who smoke marijuana, be given the death penalty (to be removed)?

Somehow, Pro Football Talk's proprietor Mike Florio decided that he had a novel in him. And he did...it's called Quarterback...of the FUTURE!link Anyway, it's about a couple of QBs who get sent back in time for some reason...to 1960! They search for a way home, but in the interim, they try to land a job with the Pittsburgh Steelers. With their advanced, futuristic skills, they turn the team around (why both play for the Steelrs is unknown), until one of them gets sent through time again. And he won't tell us where! This has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen - thoughts?

Even EA Sports has got our number. After going up 3-1 on Toronto in the Eastern Conference finals, the Sabres dropped three striaght games, including a 5-0 home defeat in game seven. link