silvermike

I don't know this, but I would guess that there's language in the standard player contract preventing teams from making moves like this to deliberately reduce a player's value. You don't get a discount on the franchise tag, say, by announcing the Matt Cassel is now a punter. Peters would file a grievance, and possibly get his release. In any case, Peters isn't going to end a holdout because you changed his jersey number and made him an eligible receiver.

I think firing Jauron and bringing in a big-time coach will do the most to appease the fan base since Rob Johnson got cut.

1 Sep 14 BUF @ NE W 1-0 2 Sep 20 TB @ BUF W 2-0 3 Sep 27 NO @ BUF L 2-1 4 Oct 04 BUF @ MIA L 2-2 5 Oct 11 CLE @ BUF W 3-2 6 Oct 18 BUF @ NYJ W 4-2 7 Oct 25 BUF @ CAR L 4-3 8 Nov 01 HOU @ BUF L 4-4 9 Bye 10 Nov 15 BUF @ TEN L 4-5 11 Nov 22 BUF @ JAC W 5-5 12 Nov 29 MIA @ BUF W 6-5 13 Dec 03 NYJ @ BUF W 7-5 14 Dec 13 BUF @ KC W 8-5 (note: hope springs eternal) 15 Dec 20 NE @ BUF L 8-6 16 Dec 27 BUF @ ATL L 8-7 17 Jan 03 IND @ BUF L 8-8 (and there we are)

And a night game at that.

I'm amazed at how much better I feel about the offseason with McKinney in the fold. Honestly, the talent pool was thin this year, and we addressed needs at WR, OG, OC, LB, and CB.

Yeah, I mean, these pro athletes today would certainly be able to play football for sixty minutes without keeling over and dying, I mean, they guys did it in the Arena League. But a guy playing both sides is going to get creamed by a specialist, both in terms of his freshness on each play and his training at his position.

He's under contract for two more seasons - taking the Bills deal would probably guarantee him about $25M, and possibly more. That's a lot more money than he'd get if he tears some ligaments this year, misses next season, and is a UFA looking for a prove-it deal. And even that could be wiped out by a lockout in 2011.

http://www.draftdaddy.com/MD/index.htm Maybe we'll get lucky and this will happen: Ayers in the first, Pettigrew in the 2nd.

I swing forth wildly on Pettigrew. On one hand, he seems like he could be a superstar TE, and with this team, if we could get an Antonio Gates at #11, it'd be a steal. On the other, Vernon Davis shows that TEs are no more guaranteed than any other position, and we could certainly do better with Fine starting at TE than sticking with Kelsay and Schobel at DE.

Once we drafted Whitner, we were pretty much going to pay him what he got - it's not a re-signing or a UFA deal where we really had flexibility to negotiate, it was a draft pick. Or in other words, we had all but 7 players in the 2006 draft poll to give this contract to, and we chose Whitner. Of the reasonable choices, I'd say he's probably maybe the 3rd or 4th best choice. That's not terrible, and he's definitely better than the safeties drafted before and after him.

Well, if he doesn't end up with a pro career after this, he's certainly already made quite a living for himself.

Ultimately, it just comes down to whether the League thinks it loses more fans by having criminals on the field than it would by giving up the talent those players represent. And to this point, I think there's been very little evidence of fans abandoning the game due to a rise in reporting about player arrests - in fact, it's honestly probably a net plus: an arrest gets your team and your product an extra half-hour on ESPN for free advertising. And ESPN's only talking about it because it's getting them ratings.

Fred Jackson has played out his contract and is currently a free agent. An exclusive-rights free agent, but he has no contractual obligation to do anything.

Is it still 2006? I'm pretty hungover.

I'll note almost all these guys get arrested outside of Western New York - the exception is Lynch's hit and run, for which the charges were virtually dropped anyway...maybe this should be our new appeal to free agents: the cops in Buffalo would rather get an autograph than take you to jail!

When have you seen this? If he's got such tremendous ability, why do Josh Reed and Robert Royal catch a greater percentage of passes thrown to them from the same quarterbacks? Which is why Fast Freddie got cut and replaced. Parrish was supposed to be a viable WR and a return threat. He ended up being a one-trick pony as well. Freddie averaged 13.2 yards per return. Roscoe averages 14.0 I'm not saying that Freddie's some long-lost superstar, I'm saying that since EVEN Freddie had some success returning kicks in our scheme, it may be due more to the scheme than the return man.

No matter what they end up doing, I'm just a lot more comfortable heading into the draft with McKinney penciled in as a starting LG than Brandon Rodd.

Of course it matters - but the fact remains that in this sucky offense, he's never been better than the third-best WR on a team where the 2nd best WR wasn't good enough. This year, he was 6th on the team in receiving yards and receptions, behind Fred Jackson and Robert Royal. And for a supposed deep threat, each one of those guys had a longer reception than he did - as did Derek Schouman. The team has added Terrell Owens and expects some development from Hardy and Johnson. He will not be expected to contribute on offense in 2009. So is he worth a roster spot as a return specialist? I don't know - probably. But I'd be strongly interested in what Fred Jackson can do as our primary punt returner, as he's succeeded when he has the chance. Parrish is more consistent than Devin Hester, so he has a higher average, especially since Hester collapsed this year. But Hester had 5 return TDs when helped the Bears to the Super Bowl. Parrish has never had more than one in a season; I think he's mostly taking advantage of a strong, talented blocking scheme that even sent Fast Freddie Smith to the house.

Well, it's been four months since then, and while he's upgraded the talent on the field, but he hasn't done jack to upgrade the coaching staff or the front office.

You think Ralph Wilson is running Roscoe Parrish out the door?

There's no way Roscoe Parrish is worth 25 yards per game more than an average punt returner! He didn't even have 400 total return yards on the season! I agree that he earns us a few more yards by being a threat than show up on his stat sheet, so maybe his total value is about 400 yards on special teams. But that's still not going to be 100 yards more than an average guy's contribution: and Fred Jackson may well be above average anyway. He averaged slightly more yards per return than Parrish last year anyway, though of course, his 7 returns aren't really enough to judge.

I don't know, it's the NFL. A lot of change happens in a year no matter who's in charge. That said, I think he provides some decent leadership for the organization, though I'd be a lot more impressed if he had canned Jauron rather than extended him. Never has a four-game winning streak set a team back so far. I think the ideal situation is for Brandon to keep his title as COO, but fire Guy and bring in a better VP of pro personnel and keep investing in the pro scouting staff. Since Donahoe left, the Bills' only acquisition that was an unqualifed success was Marcus Stroud. Otherwise, you have some decent moves (Mitchell, Walker) a big bust (Dockery) and a lot of underwhelming role-players (Price, Fowler, Johnson, etc.)

Where exactly are you getting this from? You think Brandon ignores Dick Jauron? Jauron has a ton of influence on this team's personnel moves, it's why we've gotten into the mess we're in. Brandon doesn't even have the title of GM! And believe me, Bobby April gets listened to - we consistently draft and acquire players for his special teams units, and we keep roster spots for a number of players - including Parrish - whose main contribution is on special teams.

Assuming Parrish has a negligible value on offense, how much are his special teams contributions worth? The top five overall special teams units (according to football outsiders) were Buffalo, Oakland, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Chicago, earning a total of no playoff appearances. Parrish led the league in PR average, at 15.3, which is a truly remarkable figure. The middle of the road guys were averaging about 10 - so that's 5 yards per return, over his 21 returns - a bonus 105 yards, or about 6.5 per game. And that's even discounting for the fact that Parrish's numbers are likely inflated by April's coaching and the team's solid blockers. Is that worth a 4th rounder? I'm not sure. But it's definitely not worth a 3rd or a 2nd, and if we get that offer, we need to jump on it.

Obviously, Welker got more looks. That might have something to do with the fact that he could get open, while Roscoe has failed to beat out any of our WRs and break into the starting lineup. Welker also catches passes thrown his way. 75% this year, 77% last year, 67% from Joey Harrington in Miami. Parrish has gone 53%, 60%, and 58%. And don't blame the team - in 2006, he finished 4th on the team, besides such superstars as Peerless Price and Josh Reed, and after improving in 2007, he finished behind Evans, Reed, and Johnson in 2008. Robert Royal's numbers are comprable. He's just not a starting wide receiver. He's got the raw speed to make some plays, but his value is almost entirely on special teams.