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Jay Glazer reported on the CBS pre-game show that the Bills are shopping Clements before the trading deadline. He also noted that Tampa Bay was willing to trade a number of veteran players, including Booger McFarland (DT). I recall that there were reports that the Bills agreed with Clements that they would not put the franchise tag on him again next year, which means this would be the last chance to get some value in return for Clements.

Some thoughts/questions below: 1. I hope the Bills re-sign Clements and Fletcher. If they don't, we will be trying to fill too many holes again this offseason. Free agent cbs are expensive, even mediocre ones, and I don't think Youboty will be ready to replace Clements. Fletcher is a leader and the Bills need to show that they can keep their veterans. 2. Is Kelsay a free agent after this season? If so, that will be another hole to fill in the draft or free agency (even if Denney becomes the starter). 3. We need to win today (and approach .500 for the year) because the Bills need to be perceived in the league as an improving team with a bright future by both fans and potential free agents. 4. At what point do amounts available in the current cap year cease to be available for contract extensions? I have noticed that some teams that are under the cap are extending players by using amounts available this year (i.e., Dockett). It sounds like Vincent will count towards this year's cap, but do we have more available? I would think that the Bills would use up their available cap amounts so that there is more available next year.

Not feeling terrible after the loss, because there were some hopeful signs for the future: 1. Whitner was a factor. Other rookies made contributions. 2. Offensive game calling was better. 3. No turnovers. 4. The Bills seemed like a well coached team (not outcoached to the same degree as in prior years against the Pats). The not so good: 1. Poor rush defense. Same problem as last year. I saw many huge holes today for the Pats. This will doom the Bills in '06 if it is not corrected. 2. JP played better, but his stats (less than two hundred yards passing) and no tds are familiar. He needs to show the team that he can engineer a comeback and a victory. 3. Is it our oline or JP? Still not sure. Same with McGahee. 4. Depth was already tested on defense. The Bills will have problems if there are any injuries to our oline. There is no depth (of all things, this is hardest thing for me to understand about the current makeup of the team-- how do you not have a capable back-up at tackle?)

I can't remember over the recent history of the Bills this number of players being picked up by other teams after the final cuts. King, Baker and Smith (regular roster) and Gates, Nance and Geisinger (practice squads). I don't think this goes to our overall talent, although there are some positions that have quality players and depth. I think we have a talented secondary and a number of receivers who are adequate 4th or 5th wide receivers and good special team performers (which made making the team as a receiver tough). The Bills do not seem to have much overall talent on the oline and the dline. Peters, Schobel and Triplett are the exceptions. We will see whether JP is our quarterback of the present and the future.

The jury is out on Preston at this point. His position in college was center and I would have thought after not re-signing Teague that Preston would have had the inside track to be the starter this year at that position. Instead, he is playing guard and backing up Villarial.

Good point, and again this year the Bills followed the same formula: they used early picks on the defensive secondary and late round picks on the oline. Seems to me that other than Williams, the Bills have not made much of an investment (in terms of early picks in the draft) in the oline. Strange, since top LTs and RTs are almost prohibitively expensive as free agent acquisitions.

I am not sure how the scouting for the Bills works, but the Bills have done a good job of acquiring talent in the secondary through the draft and with undrafted players. Do the scouts work by region or by position (I think it is the former)? Our depth is evident and Baker and King have enough potential to be picked up by other teams. If the Bills can find a way to keep Clements, I think our secondary will be one of the strongest in the NFL within a couple of years. Constrast the success with the secondary with the failures with the oline. Williams, Sobieski, McFarland, Puccillo, Geisinger, and possibly Preston. Now we have no depth on our oline and an injury to one of our tackles would be devastating.

Is Parrish really better than Smith? They seem to have similar skills. Smith looked good returning punts a couple of years ago, better than Parrish last year.

Not sure why you think the Bills may be close to consummating a long-term deal with Clements. I have not read any reports that the Bills and Clements are even in negotiations.

After Evans and assuming there is a problem with Price, I don't think we have a #2 wide receiver. Reed has been tried as a #2 and he failed miserably (the Bills drafted Evans after that season).

New coaches and new systems/schemes. Who knows if we have the right personnel to run the offense and defense the way the coaches would like them to be run. It will take time for the players to adjust. Implementing a new offense alone would be tough in one offseason/preseason, and we are implementing a new offense and a new defense. It took a couple of years for the Bills to find the right players for Gregg Williams' system. Combine this with the fairly significant turnover on offense and defense and there is no choice but to be patient and wait to see how things go in the regular season.

Sorry to be negative about this, but I think little progress has been made. Reyes may be an upgrade over Bennie, but he is not an elite level guard. Fowler is undersized and it is not clear (at least to me) whether he is an upgrade over Teague. We need to improve at LT and at RT. I understand that Peters has much potential, but the reality is that our running game suffered after he replaced Williams. I do have high hopes for Peters and I anticipate that his overall play will improve this year with additional experience. Villarail is getting old and has been injured over the last couple of years. He may need to be replaced sooner rather than later. I don't think this team will show improvement until we make a more significant investment in the o-line (both with high draft picks and quality free agent acquisitions).

I really don't care for WM's attitude and I found his recent interview with the Florida paper kind of disturbing. He has skipped all of the optional sessions and does not seem committed to the team in general. I know our line was poor last year, but his play really regressed, and I have no idea whether he is an elite back. There is no way I would re-negotiate his deal at this time. Let him prove himself on the field this year.

Reading the two articles on the front page about the young o-linemen from Buffalobills.com, I think McNally seems to have the most praise for the abilities of Aaron Merz. Interesting that he will be playing center. If this is the case and he makes the roster, what does it mean for Preston? Maybe Preston is shifting over to guard. The other possibility is that McNally and others do not believe Preston is a prospect. Camp and cuts should be interesting.

They have us selecting Brady Quinn. They must think we are going to have a great season and that JP Losman will bloom (not).

What makes this year interesting is that it seems that Levy got pressure from the scouts to move up in the draft to get McCargo (that he wouldn't be there when they picked in the second round). Another interesting comparison will be the play of Whitner versus Simpson (i.e., first round pick versus fourth round pick at potentially the same position).

You still build an oline throught the draft first. Jennings was a decent player and the problem with Pucillo and the other lower round oline picks was that TD should not have selected them. You never know with draft picks. Some years ago the Jets drafted Fabini and Randy Thomas and they were starters (and solid players) from day one. Ferguson and Mangold may play more than McCargo, who seems to need developing and experience (a junior who was injured for a good part of the season). We need a starting dt, so I hope we can plug McCargo into the line-up immediately.

In this draft we know that the Bills passed on Ngata, Bunkley, Leinart and Cutler (among others) to draft Whitner. We also know that our scouts thought that there was a large gap between McCargo and the next group of available dts. If we follow the four players above (and, of course, Whitner), as well as the play of dts selected after McCargo, we will get a pretty good sense of the expertise and judgment of our scouting department. Should be interesting to follow.

I think the entire group is below average. I hope Fowler is an upgrade, but I am not convinced that Teague was the weak link on the oline. I think Gandy would be an excellent back-up, but should not be starting. I like Peters and hope that he continues to improve, but after M. Williams went out of the line-up, our rushing attack suffered. Our back-ups are poor, although there is always hope for Preston and our current draft picks.

Only improvement is Reyes over Anderson. We needed oline to start building some continuity. Guys that we could have drafted this weekend would be strong starters in a couple years. We have delayed this process, which will only hurt in the near term. The teams that have made the playoffs and won the Superbowl consistently featured strong offensive lines (Pittsburgh, Seattle, etc.) I do not understand why the Bills continue to sign cheap free agents and select late round picks to try to fill this critical need.

With regard to the draft, coaches or free agents, after the pick/decision is made, there is always a quote in a newspaper or other publication that RW liked this other guy. For example, Bills draft Whitner, and there is quote that RW loved Cutler. Bills select Jauron as new coach, but RW was really impressed with Sherman. Seems to happen every time.

1. I don't think Coy Wire will be on the roster after training camp. 2. Where are the Bills going to find a LT? The Bills will not acquire a top one in free agency (too expensive and rare that one would become available). Are we looking at least one more year of Gandy at LT? 3. I think Clemens is a goner, which will create another hole. I think he will be traded next year during the offseason. 4. Can McCargo be a starter this year? He is a junior and it seems that he has not played in that many games (he was also injured for part of last season). Even our scouts discussed how he needs experience and needs to grow. Who will play DT with Triplett on opening day? Please don't say Anderson. 5. I am shocked that the Bills did not address the oline in the draft (at least not so far). Are Reyes and Fowler significant upgrades?

The trade for Blesdoe. Taking McGahee instead of Steinbach. Trading up for Losman. Selecting Parrish. Now the selection of Whitner and the trading up for McCargo. There is a pattern here and it has not resulted in success (at least not to this point, I realize we know nothing about how this draft will turn out). Is there a problem with the scouting? Is it the decision makers? Another draft that does not seem to make sense. No o-line again! This really upsets me. Reyes, Fowler, Gandy and Villarail are not the answer. Replacing Williams and Adams with Triplett and McCargo? Most of all, I still cannot make sense of the first pick for the Bills. Maybe the guy will turn out to be a good player, but will he be better than the qbs and dts that were still on the board? Even if he is a quality player, does it make sense to pay a saftey this kind of money? To have this make any sense, Whitner needs to be the top safety (or one of the top safeties) in the league. I would think a solid dt (or better), such as Ngata or Bunkley would have made much more sense. Instead, the Bills had to trade up, losing a third, to get a dt. That also needs to be factored into the selection of Whitner. In other words, selecting a safety with the eighth pick instead of a dt ended up costing the Bills a player. We now have a strong basis for comparison. If Leinart/Cutler or Ngata/Bunkley outperform Whitner (at a position that is not usually a big money or high pick position), than the scouts and Modrak need to go.

I like the idea of trading down and getting more picks, but there seems to be a big drop-off between D'Brick/Justice and the rest of the OTs and between Ngata/Bunkley and the rest of the DTs. We need at least one or two immediate starters out of this draft, not developmental projects.

I agree that no matter what, the national media will be all over the Bills (in a negative way). Our free agent pick-ups have been somewhat questionable (at least in terms of the dollars being paid to Reed and Price), but Modrak runs the show with the draft. It should be interesting. I hope, along with most other posters, that the focus is on d-line, o-line and secondary.