silvermike

The Bills may well need two QBs, unless they really have more faith in Gibran Hamdan than they let on. They need a backup QB who can come in and play a few series/games without requiring an overhaul of the offense, creating a quarterback controversy, or making us wish we had just forfeited. Any ability to get Trent a few pointers would be a huge plus. And then, as someone said above, it's almost certainly worth having a longshot prospect in the emergency QB role. Just in case you find a diamond in the rough. But I'd hate to rely on a shot in the dark to take out the Pats.

This'll be the floor for Greer - a nickelback expected to compete for a starting role next year. The Eagles may well let Lito Sheppard go and go with Hanson-Samuel; not far from the Bills' plans to potentially go with Greer-McKelvin if they decide they don't want to keep McGee. Hason received about $4M/season.

Fair enough - but what about the $8M for Hayden?

So what happens to the market when this goes down? The first thing is that every CB's asking price goes up $1M. Sure - but since this doesn't affect the salary cap, there's no change in the amount of money out there for free agents. So something has to come down in response - is it just spread out over all the other positions?

So he's in the average starter range? Excellent! It'll beat out our current tandem of a terrible starter and unknown backup.

I don't think Jackson would be a bad pick at 18, it's just that I can't believe no DEs will be taken in the top 17 picks.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/02/20/...ine-mock-draft/ I like Florio and PFT, but this thing is bizarre. The Bills take Jeremy Maclin...with Crabtree on the board, who ends up the 3rd WR taken. Tyson Jackson is the first DE taken at 18. Orakpo drops all the way to 29. Maybe he knows something everybody else don't, but man...

Steve Fairchild managed to get himself an OC gig after being Gregg's RB coach , but all of Gregg's original coaches sucked out loud. But then Donahoe hired him a whole bunch of also-rans, some of which have won Super Bowls since (Gilbride, LeBeau), and then there's whatever happened to Les Steckel.

Gregg Williams was surrounded with ex-pro HCs, from Dick LeBeau to Les Steckel.

I don't know about Tyson, but with any major athlete, I do always wonder what would happen if they had started focusing on another sport in 8th grade instead of where they ended up. 7'+ guys should probably stick with basketball, but I dunno, could Sid Crosby have been a CB instead of a hockey player if he grew up in Arkansas instead of Canada?

Note that Royal and Kelsay are always there to say nice things about Jauron when a reporter comes calling.

This is true - this is a management problem, not a bargaining problem. If this was happening because of rookie deals, that's legit, but there's a hard cap on player spending, so any dollar eaten up by the Kelvin Haydens of the world is not going to another player; it's a zero-sum game. CBs are heavily overvalued now, I think LBs are undervalued.

Well, I'd say $10M isn't worth it - the average of the top five CBs? He's not one of the top 5 CBs in the division, and he's not one of the top 5 available CBs in free agency. $5M sounds about right to me - McGee is at $4.5M/season, and I think the players are roughly comparable, especially once you factor in some inflation from 2005. Scout.com has him rated at three stars - last year, comparable players went for between $3M and $4M. So again, that sounds like a raise to about $5M - maybe less. That's half the cost of the franchise tag, and I think any team would have to be very desperate to send the Bills anything and double the salary of the guy from his 'market' price. Now I could be totally wrong here - Hayden signed for $8M/season without being rated higher than Greer. So it's a bit of a crapshoot. That said, I think the Colts heavily overvalued him and if this means they'll lose Saturday, they've made a mistake.

If the Bills have $10M to throw at an average CB, I wish they'd spend it on a lineman.

I think that this board heavily overvalues Jabari Greer, who's a good enough cornerback, but hardly more than a decent starter. There's not some huge buzz around the league: Outside of Buffalo based sources, you get quotes like these: "After Asomugha and Robinson, the talent level drops off to players like Jabari Greer (Buffalo), Bryant McFadden (Pittsburgh), and Phillip Buchanon..." (Cleveland Examiner) The Sporting News ranks him as the 47th best player in free agency, well behind even Angelo Crowell, and ESPN has him as only the 7th best CB in free agency. Nobody's going to offer anything of value AND sign him to a mega-deal if had the franchise tag.

I'm always skeptical of this - generally, it seems to me like NFL owners would maximize revenue regardless of what they're paying out - ticket prices as high as can fill the stadium, concessions the most that will sell, etc. This does give them better cover to sell price increases, though.

Ugh. If we're lucky, hello rookie. If we're not...welcome back Robert Royal.

I like Ronald Curry a lot, and I wish he hadn't gotten injured and abandoned to the Raiders. But alas, there's no value there any more.

It's a lot easier to fudge your #1 RB than your #1 QB, say. Lynch could formally get the start, but the backs would regularly relieve each other and as each game went on, the guy with the better play would get more carries.

The basic issue here is that the Bills need to decide what they're going to do at the cornerback position not just in 2009, but in the future. Assuming Leodis McKelvin has one spot locked up, the Bills need to choose their other starter between Greer and McGee. One's contract has expired, the other is up after this coming season. There's no way they should spend the money to retain both of them. There is the option of going with a journeyman signee or a mid-round pick (Youboty, Corner) but they both seem like longshots. So of those of us that want to see Greer stick around, there comes the question of what to do with McGee: you can keep him and let him walk in '10, or decide to get what you can now while the getting is good. Given that I think the Bills aren't a strong nickel-corner away next year, I'd like to see them start looking at the 2010 season and pick up some value for their asset in McGee while re-signing Greer.

When the Bills make a serious playoff run, they'll be stronger at the #2 WR position than they are now. However, Josh Reed is at least an average #2 right now, and we're not going to improve on him by playing musical chairs with the Hackett/Bryant Johnson/Jerry Porter set. The best way this problem gets solved is if Johnson or Hardy steps up next year. Otherwise, eventually, we will probably need to sink a first round pick into the position in 2010, or pick up a mid-round steal in 2009. Tight end is more urgent, since we have virtually no talent at the position, and an offense that could really use a reliable option at the position.

Garcia's already outlasted the rest, basically, besides Vinny Testathuselah. Even Gannon retired at 39, and that after missing a season. The Bills aren't a playoff team in '09 with Garcia, and by '10, I don't think he'll be in the league.

Check my math here: Todd Collins: 2nd round pick Rob Johnson: 1st and 4th + big contract Doug Flutie: Big contract Drew Bledsoe: 1st round pick + big contract JP Losman: 1st round pick + 2nd round pick + 5th round pick So that's 3 firsts, two seconds, a fourth, and a fifth, plus three big contracts on the QB position in the now 15 years of the post-Kelly era. And nothing to show for it but a 3rd round prospect starting.

I would consider Garcia as a backup, however, while I wouldn't be surprised if he would have made a better starter than Trent in 2008, that's not at all clear for next year, and the year after, he'd be 40. I think Garcia's gonna hang'em up at some point this offseason.

Not for nothing, I think, it should be noted that Greer and McGee are both Donahoe signings. Even in our position strengths, this dundering group in the front office and on the sidelines can't do better than the last chump to hold the cards.