silvermike

Since Raheem Morris had been on hte Bucs staff for so long, I figured he'd be a continuation of that defense, but they distinctly seem to be moving away from the Tampa 2. It wasn't working for us when everyone was doing it, but maybe if we're the only bidder on T2 talent, we'll make something happen on D.

I give up. Let's just alternate spending first round picks on running backs and corner backs and trade them after their third year to keep it all going.

If there was any evidence he was en route to rob or kill someone, then I'd certainly think he was a thug. Or if there was any evidence that he INTENTIONALLY mowed down a pedestrian. The blunts I don't care about except that it's stupid if you have a multimillion dollar job that can be taken from you on those grounds. But that's still 'dumbass' and not 'thug'

They went 9-7 in 2004, and were a choke by Reed and Lindell away from going 10-6 and making the playoffs. I'm not saying Donahoe was a good and effective GM; he deserved to be fired. But he was close - he did a lot of the things that good GMs do, he just made too many mistakes in doing it. But unlike the current staff, he has some really solid hits, and was one or two moves away from bringing it together. Seriously, if we could have retained Dick LeBeau and drafted McKinnie instead of Mike Williams, there would have been a playoff team in there somewhere.

I'd trade him for a first round pick, which I'd use on an offensive tackle. Then I'd trade Jason Peters for a 2010 first round pick, which I'd spend on a wide receiver, because in the 2010 draft, I plan to trade Lee Evans for a 2011 first round pick. After getting a first round pick for Leodis McKelvin after we use the franchise tag on him, I'd take a cornerback with our own first round pick in 2012 and use the one we got for McKelvin on on an inside linebacker to make Posluszny expendable, netting us a cool 2013 first round pick. Of course that one wouldn't matter once the world ends in late 2012 and spares us more of this team.

Great info, thanks!

I'm not sure about the guy you asked this to, but yeah, I do want him to play for the Bills.

I really hate to say this, but Donahoe at least made some compelling choices when he was GM. He took too many risks for sure, and his constant meddling with the coaching staff made it hard to build continuity. But I don't think he was too far away from being a very good GM: if Gregg Williams managed to show up in Buffalo with the skills he was showing in Tennessee and Mike Williams worked out to be a franchise LT, that crew may still be together. But for every whiff: Kelsay, McGahee, Mike Williams, Mularkey, Losman, Greggo...there was at least some real reason to think it was brilliant. And for the most part, our top players come from that era: Schobel, Evans, Peters, Moorman. The new regime just keeps bringing in averagenauts. I at least have some hope for Brandon over Levy - Stroud was encouraging.

It's a double risk trading for a franchise player, since you'd both be giving up a premier draft pick (I'd guess a 1st and a 3rd at least for Peppers) and have to pay him a heck of a lot - pretty much giving up your chances on pursuing any other starters in free agency. Now, I wouldn't think about it for some of the lower-rung franchise players out there this year (say, Bo Scaife) but if anyone deserved it, it would be Peppers.

I'd take him back an in instant. Hopefully, he'll stay clean this time around.

Any chance the goal here it to interview him and find out what they can about the Pats?

Here's the top payroll for CBs: http://content.usatoday.com/sports/footbal...BaseSalary+desc I sorted it by base salary since the bonuses were acting strangely - so this isn't a perfect measure, but it's something. You've got: Asomungah (OAK), McAlister (BAL), Champ Bailey (DEN), Patrick Surtain (KC), Antoine Winfield (MIN), Shawn Springs (WAS), Roderick Hood (ARI), Nate Clements (SFO), Charles Woodson (GB), and Mike McKenzie (NO). In that grou, you have three playoff appearances. That's not far from what you'd expect by random chance: 30% here, while 37% of NFL teams make the playoffs. Offensive line, by this same measure, you go six for ten, including two Steelers. LB is also 6/10 DE is 5/10, RB 5/10, DT is 4/10, QB is 4/10, TE 4/10, WR 4/10, S 3/10. So in the defensive backfield, you have the strongest negative correlation between playoff appearances and top salaries, while the defensive front seven and the offensive line are the strongest. It's one year, so take it for what it's worth, but that's what happened.

The Bills were founded in 1959, beginning play in 1960.

Was Schouman a FB in college or am I making that up?

Didn't Robert Edwards - the RB from New England - tear three ligaments in a flag football game? Nobody cares about the Pro Bowl. Scrap it and maybe do an awards ceremony like the NHL does after the season, or else have a skills competition/trick play showcase.

Have you ever asked that question and realized, no, people weren't really that stupid, it was just a misunderstanding? Never, EVER overestimate the intellectual capacity of Buffalo News letter-writers.

They are at least showing some signs of life here. There may be some promising talent coming in between now and August.

The Bills biggest problem isn't that they've let too many players go in free agency, it's that they've let the WRONG players go, and come up short trying to find starters on day 2 of the draft and in free agency. It's inevitable that you can't sign everyone who comes up every year - and all teams find themselves losing a player or two every year they'd like to keep around. But what good teams do is identify the players on the roster who must be retained, and keep them. The Bills haven't had the talent to even bother with those decisions. The most stinging losses - Williams, Winfield, and Clements - were all on the team by 2001. In the past 8 years, the Bills have acquired virtually no star talent besides Lee Evans and Jason Peters. QB has been a bust, RB has seen two above-average backs come through, TE is a wasteland, we've been looking for a 1-2 WR combo since Andre Reed retired, the offensive line remains average at best, the defensive line finally saw some light with Stroud but it's been buried under the Kelsays and Denneys of the world, the LB corps is nothing to write home about, the CBs are deep but unremarkable, and then you get to the Whitner fiasco.

He's a talented guy, he probably won't be too expensive, and he'll be a better 3rd RB option than Xavier Omon and Bruce Hall. Which counts, when our #1 RB option is being prosecuted. I'd be happy to see him play for the Bills.

How close to the "cash-to-the-cap" cap were we last season?

Who's rushing the passer in this scenario?

Well, you ain't getting Peters back for less than $7M per season, if somehow you thought that was possible before. Carey's set to average $7M per season, staring with a $12M signing bonus. I'd say this sets up Peters somewhere in the 6 years, $50M range.

That's quite a conclusive statement for a leak - I'm guessing those "NFL sources" are at One Bills Drive. Oh well... So right now, at CB, we'll have McKelvin-McGee-Youboty-Corner? That's not terrible, they only really need to add some street free agent tot that mix. And at LB, we've got Poz, Mitchell, Ellison, DiGiorgio, and that's it, right - except for the Blake Costanzos of the world.

Ideally, yeah. I'd be happy if we could find ourselves a long-term backup in the draft - so I wouldn't be disappointed if we ended up with a backup QB this year who wasn't planning on sticking around for more than a year or two.

I honestly don't remember the last time an NFL team pulled this off - signing a pending UFA and trading him before the season. Can you think of an example?