jahnyc

It is really disheartening to lose quality players, create holes, and then not fill them. We see this year after year and we never spend to the cap. Some of these guys are pro bowl caliber too.

I guess we will never know if Byrd would have stayed for more money if Tim Graham's tweet is correct. If true, can't blame him for truning it down and getting more money from New Orleans, a team with a better QB and a good shot to make the playoffs again.

Bottom line is that we have lost Levitre and Byrd in consecutive years with no replacements (yet) for either one and no compensation. No matter how you feel about these players or the money they received from their new teams, still really hurts the Bills.

It was never clear to me whether the Bills made an offer to Levtire for crazy money or at all. I also recall that before free agency started Levitre said he was waiting for an offer from the Bills. I am not remembering this correctly?

Byrd is now the number one available free agent in free agency this year, just like Levitre was one of the top free agents available last year, and Poz the year before. I am not suggesting that Byrd is the greatest free agent of all time, but it is striking that other teams have been able to successfully re-sign or tag their free agents. I cannot give the Bills' front office the benefit of the doubt any longer. Making a strong offer to Byrd now (if true), when many teams have significant cap room this year and amounts that free agents will be offered may be higher than in years past, does little to convince me that the Bills did everything they could do to keep Byrd. At a minimum, the timing of the Bills' offer was off and should have been made last year or earlier. At worst, the Bills purposely go through a charade of making it seem like they were interested in signing a player, but claim that they were outbid, the player wanted to play in a particular city (or not in Buffalo), or the agent was difficult, so that they can play the victim and deflect blame for not having re-signed the player.

I do think we need to be careful with this $30 million over the first three years of the contract thing. We do not know if it is true, and even if true or patly true, whether the full amount was guaranteed or the number of overall years or dollar amount. Seems like a leak from the Bills to try to claim that we were not cheap and did everything they could do to keep Byrd.

It seems like it is one small step forward and then at least two steps back with the Bills. How can we continue to lose talent and get nothing in return? This team has been 6-10 or worse over the last five seasons and this is one of the reasons why. We have lost too many decent players over the years and we are always trying to fix the holes after their departures (on top of the holes that already needed to be filled).

Why do people give the Bills and the front office the benefit of the doubt in these situations? Clearly, there was bad blood between the Byrd camp and the Bills last year during negotiations and after, but why was that on Byrd? Maybe the Bills did not make a market offer. It cannot always be that the player did not want to be here. Maybe the players do not want to re-sign because of frustration with the pace and substance of negotiations on new deals over a period of years. The bottom line is that we have had one winning season (barely at 9-7) in the last 14 years and we have not made the playoffs during that time. We are about to lose a probowl player with no compensation (after losing Levitre last year). I am tired of the Bills and the front office acting as if they are the victims of difficult agents or players that do not want to be here. We have the cap space. Enough with the excuses.

I recall that Levitre made his statement about free agency right before he was about to become a free agent (after there were little or no negotiations with the Bills). Before that, he seemed very interested in remaining with the Bills. Byrd may be a different story, who really know. But the overall point is still valid. The Bills are worse off without Levitre and Byrd, and once again find themselves trying to replace good players (usually unsuccessfully, as our situation at LG last year shows) when the overall team needs to be improved.

It would be incredibly poor management if both Levitre and Byrd end up leaving in consecutive years without any compensation (other than the possibility of a late round compensatory pick). Drafted and developed by Bills, both players potentially could have been re-signed well before getting close to free agency. The Bills do not have enough talent to have these types of situations to occur on a regular basis. Combined with enough money available under the salary cap to have signed both players, it is one of the reasons we have not made the playoffs in more than a decade.

i would be happy if the Bills drafted one of the top three offensive tackles (Robinson, Mathews or Lewan). Should be ready to start at RT from day one and could slide over to LT if Glenn leaves the Bills in free agency in a couple of years.

Awesome!!! One of my all-time favorites. Really happy for Andre. Very much deserved, even if later than it should have been.

That would be crummy. The only unit that showed improvement last year was the defense. We need a strong defense if we are going to be competitive next year because EJ will still be an inexperienced QB in year two after missing much of his rookie year with injuries.

Please no. We do not need a guy who has never been a DC. Why haven't we hired a WR coach?

So if Pettine leaves, who will be the DC?

I have zero confidence in Marrone to find a strong replacement for Pettine if he really is leaving. His coaching staff is poor other than Pettine.

I agree that someone from the Ryan/Pettine tree makes sense for continuity, but Henderson has not been effective as a DC in the past. I would be very concerned if it was Henderson, the Syracuse DC (which I hope is a joke), or Pepper Johnson (no experience as a DC).

This really would be a disaster. No way Henderson should be the DC. I hope that Marrone and the front office are smart enough to bring in a DC from outside of the current coaching group.

If Pettine leaves, why do you all want Pepper Johnson as our DC? He has never been a DC and we do not need a rookie coordinator. It would be great if we brought him in as a coach for the linebackers.

There were no good choices at QB, but it is harder to explain away the penalties, poor clock management, poor game calls, and lousy special teams. All of these are indicia of good coaching, and for all of these measurables, I believe we were lacking.

I have no idea whether the players like playing for Marrone, or whether they are playing hard for him, but I have been disappointed with Marrone in his first season as our head coach. Other first year head coaches had significant impacts on their new teams, including Arians and Kelly, but Marrone was only able to match our poor record from last year. The defense improved significantly from last year, but I am not sure how much input Marrone has on the defense. Hackett seemed in over his head, and the special teams regressed this year. The team played poorly away from home. Our QB play was well below average. Overall, I need to see more from Marrone. Nothing stood out about him this year (or, for that matter, in his game planning or preparation). I really do not want to go through the next couple of years hoping EJ and our head coach can develop over time.

QB is the key. We need better play at that position to be competitive. Who knows what we have with EJ. I guess we will find out next year.

I absolutely agree that this could have been a good year for us in terms of schedule and opponents. We have faced very few strong teams this year. I also forgot to mention the inexperienced group of WRs other than Stevie. It is unusual for rookie WRs to have much of an impact in their rookie year.

I think that many predicted that this is the way our season would play out. I know that we hoped EJ would step in and play well, but he is a rookie and a project. It seems that the draft experts had him pegged correctly, and his current deficiencies were noted well before the draft. I do not recall anyone suggesting that he was first round talent before the draft. Clearly, the offense misses Levitre and Chan Gailey. I think we all knew that LG would be a problem, particularly when it was not addressed in the offseason, which I still do not understand. The play calling on offense has been uncreative and I do not like the hurry up when the offense cannot sustain drives. The defense has improved, and I expected more, but people were correct in thinking that Wanny was in over his head as our defensive coordinator. Overall, the new coaching staff has seemed overmatched at times this year and I do not have any confidence in Marrone or Hackett at this point. A surprise this season has been the play of Alonso. His overall play has been superb. A negative has been the regression of Spiller. I expected him to have a very strong season. The front office made a nice move in acquiring Hughes, but not filling the LG position after the departure of Levitre and failing to get immediately get a back-up QB after Kolb was injured were inexplicable, as is the failure to get some additional CB help in free agency last offseason (this really hurt us early in the season because we had to play Rogers). I hope we re-sign Byrd. It will be extremely unfortunate to lose both Levitre and Byrd. Overall, I was hoping for better, but with a rookie QB as our starter, new offensive and defensive systems, a rookie head coach and offensive coordinator, and some holes, is this about what we should have expected?

I was disappointed in the Marrone hire. He does not seem particularly sharp to me. Maybe he relates well to players or can motivate them, but I have not really seen that at this point. Regarding EJ, it is hard to believe that the Bills knew something that scouts and draft experts did not. Most seem to think that EJ would be a project. That is where we are.