NY Nole

Each draft pick gets a little less than the player picked before them -- so it goes to reason that until the guy in front of them signs, they will be reluctant to strike a deal over fear of getting screwed out of some money. Unless the Bills offer substantial money over the general range that a draft pick and his agent think they are worth -- there's not going to be any real urgency. The other fact is this is the earliest the Bills have opened camp (while most other teams don't report for another week). Until other teams get serious about signing their picks (usually in the days right before they open camp) the Bills will probably not have any top picks signed.

That article was pretty stupid. While it is certainly noble to help the poor and needy, TO (or anyone else above the poverty line) should not be shamed every time they make a purchase because of what that money "could have done" to make the world better. I find the premise completely absurd and think it shows the writer to be an ultra-liberal who probably enjoys communal living. Exactly how much of this writer's "wealth" do you think he has given to inner city kids or activist organizations. Do you think he is followed by a camera crew when he goes shopping and then people get to criticize him for his purchase(s). TO does a lot of charity work (although this information is buried at the bottom of the article). His work on behalf of Alzheimer's is not as well reported as the evil villain image that ESPN portrays, but he making a difference in ways the rest of us could never financially match.

They will forfeit their 3rd round pick in next year's draft. No other player was selected. I know some here thought the Bills might have an interest in this guy. He would have been suspended for his entire Senior year for testing positive for banned susbtance. Anyone know how the supplemental draft works? Would we know if any other team made an attempt to grab him with a lower pick?

Just caught the interview with that psycho chick Joanna Krupa talking about being back on Superstars show with TO and her meltdown with him on the last episode. Apparently another team had to drop out for some reason and the TO show is back in. Girl is completely nuts, although she has apparently made up with TO and went to some event with him. According to her, they do really good on tonight's episode. She said the only thing she regretted was all the foul language she used -- but she wasn't sorry for the "blowup" as she didn't think TO gave a good effort. She said if she had to do it over again, she would still want TO as a teammate (from the rest of the cast) only this time she would like to "focus him better" on their show and not spend so much time worrying about his "other projects like the Buffalo Bills." I love how she views the Bills as one of his "projects" and not his JOB! Oh - she also admitted to getting into it with Warren Sapp about Michael Vick and her animal rights advocacy -- apparently she is an equal opportunity psycho. Alas -- Bills fans must wait a little longer for this TO project to be officially over. The football season cannot start soon enough for me!

He is from Florida State. He was a really good player at FSU then got hurt (at the combine I think) and was out all year last year. I think it's great to see him out there competing, but sadly I think it is an injury that will prevent him from ever returning to original form and I highly doubt he cracks our 53 man roster this year, even with a stellar training camp. Still -- should he come back -- it would be great to see!

I just read Peter King's MMQB and was surprised to learn of the new-look Colts coaching staff. For those that weren't aware: Interesting that Polian plucked these former Bills to man some critical positions in Indianapolis. Why didn't Ralph ever look them up previously...I gotta think they would have at least given serious consideration to returning to the scene of their NFL glory (and we probably could have used some QB/TE/Oline help 4-5 years ago).

Sounds like a workout wonder to me and at 298 pounds he is too light in the ass for me. I still remember days of Ted Washington and Pat Williams -- this tampa 2/cover 2 defense is the worst defensive scheme in the history of defense. I hate the morons that say "he's a three technique" or "a five technique." Bullsh$#! I'll take the big men with attitudes and plug the middle of the line all day against your penetrating gap DT's.

Great job by Ross Tucker - one of the surprisingly best NFL analysts in the business IMHO. I do disagree with his personal opinion of making Peters play out his contract, we tried that last year and it didn't work out so well -- and then he filled us all in on his mindset during the Philly press conference. As I said in Tim's blog -- be careful what you wish for Philly -- if he has one good year he'll be demanding his $11.5 mil/yr contract. As for speculation about Bills drafting OT, I think his point was that there is now a bit of doubt to the teams picking below us which way we go (in case any of them are targeting Michael Oher/Andre Smith).

touche. Now I am picturing Modrak clapping two cymbals together. Funny stuff. Hell, I'd still watch.

Just caught "Outside the Lines" on ESPN -- and they were taking a look back at past drafts. Today was focused on the 2004 draft. That year, they had an ESPN crew follow Roethlisberger all draft week/weekend. The morning of the draft, Big Ben was in his hotel room with his parents and agent (Leigh Steinberg) going through the possible draft scenarios. Of course, the big news going in was Eli Manning stating that he would not play for San Diego. Steinberg told Big Ben and his parents that their best case scenario would be #4 to the Giants (should SD take Manning anyways). He said that if the Manning saga took another twist, he would go to either Pittsburgh at #11 or Buffalo at #13. It was thought that the Steelers were more interested in OT Shawn Andrews. Well after the Manning/Rivers thing went down, the Steelers FO was still unsure about Ben and apparently ready to go in another direction (Andrews). Dan Rooney made the call to rethink the selection and we all know what happened from there. I don't mean this post to be an anti-Trent Edwards or Bills need to draft another QB discussion, just thought this story was interesting. I would have loved to see Big Ben in Buffalo. Even back then, I thought he was going to be the best QB from that class and would be the best pick for the Bills given that he was from a cold weather climate and his physical attributes. I still remember the incredible bowl game he had that year. BTW, Bills drafted Lee Evans with the #13 and then, sigh, traded back into the first round for JP Losman at #22. I guess we were 1 for 2. I wish there were camera crews filming the Bills draft war room and they could release the footage following the draft or the following year. It's kinda cool to see what goes on in there.

with Peters, Crowell (sorta), Greer, Dockery, Fowler and Preston. Regardless of whether you like the Peters trade (and maybe Parrish) -- what exactly did we do with them that we can't replicate without them? I for one applaud the FO for trying something new (and quite possibly better!)

It sends the message that this team is moving forward with or without you. I fundamentally disagree with your high regard of Peters. He was a Pro Bowl tackle 2 YEARS AGO. He was a shell of that last year. I would argue the OLINE played as good without him as they did with him (and even with him at a pro bowl level we went 7-9). Also -- last year, he balked at the money after getting an inflated head about his pro bowl and demanded the team show him the money -- after being given a new contract extension a year before. If we signed him big a year ago -- do you think he would have been receptive to giving money back after last year's pitiful performance? Bottom line - we got a first round pick, a fourth round pick and a TBD pick for an undrafted free agent that is inconsistent. I'll gladly take the money he left on the table and work on making the team better -- it happens all the time. You win with those on the field. Peters wasn't last year.

For my two cents -- I believe we do not deviate from our draft strategy before today. I'd still like the best DL prospect available at #11, come back with the best player available at the next spots (preferably Wood/Unger/Sintim).

No mixed feelings from me -- get that over-rated POS out of Buffalo. LT's are not easy to find -- but this guy wasn't exactly a premier LT prospect either. I feel more comfortable going into the season with the talent we have (Bell, Walker, Chambers) and a Michael Oher competing for the LT spot than I would have with another holdout/disgruntled Peters. He did not deserve the Pro Bowl last year -- most everyone agrees that he was gifted a pro bowl ticket based on his past work. I do believe that he will play well in Philly, but believe we can find a cheaper alternative that yields no worse than what we had last year.

He was just on Sirius NFL radio talking about the schedule in general. When asked about the Bills/Jets game in Toronto -- he said that no one from OBD expressed any displeasure with this scenario. Which tells me (1) he is lying or (2) the Bills FO confused the Mets with the Jets. How can anyone think moving a division game to Toronto is not a disadvantage to the Bills?

First, kudos to Tim for actually coming on this board to defend/support his material -- if only some of the others at ESPN would be so brave. However, I disagree with you Tim on your overall premise that Lynch doesn't deserve a reduced suspension. Goodell has already established a precedent for such reductions (i.e Brandon Marshall) and "what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Regardless how much you think pro athletes are held to a different standard -- it's not going to change anytime soon. You could write several more articles on this topic alone -- but one needs only to look at the ridiculous way these kids come up through high school and the recruiting process to see how different their lives are from the rest of us. Also -- Marshall was convicted of a reduced offense related to his drunk driving case and sentenced to a year's probation. The girlfriend assault was dropped -- but he had also one more offense than Lynch -- "He was cited for allegedly disobeying his lane assignment, driving without a license, and driving without proof of insurance." That made 3 incidents within a year long period. Just sayin -- Lynch's transgressions should not be overlooked -- but shouldn't be held to another standard either.

Seems it might be a bit high - expect an appeal and possibly reduction. Didn't Brandon Marshall get his reduced last year. I thought 2 games would be more acceptable.

I also want to thank you for your service. In terms of Simmons -- I wouldn't mind seeing him in Buffalo either, but he had surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon in October and it was supposed to require at least 8 months of rehab. He also has Diabetes, which could impact his recovery. I think teams/Bills are waiting to see how his rehab progresses.

How much would we save by jettisoning Ko Simpson?

He was just on Sirius NFL radio with Pat Kirwin and Tim Ryan (who in my opinion do a wonderful job with these interviews and really give you a better handle on who these NFL prospects are). Anyways -- I thought this kid seemed really sharp. He was a four-year starter for the Crimson Tide and can play all 3 interior positions. If anyone is familiar with Alabama football, I would love your thoughts on this kid. Seems like he could be a good pickup in the third round and help out our team as an eventual starter/solid G/C backup. His vitals: 6'3 309, 23 Bench press reps and has run a sub 5.0 40 time.

Pretty funny jab at ESPN's continuous attempts to disparage TO. http://www.bangcartoon.com/2008/shuffle.htm

In full disclosure, I'm a big FSU fan and familiar with his game but I gotta say this was a great interview. Highlights: - He received a degree in December from FSU - He comes from a 2-parent home (very close to his father) - He compares himself to Dwight Freeney -- modeled his spin move after him - Has had 25 college starts, made 70 plays in the backfield (23 sacks + tackles for loss) - Is a HUGE student of the game, studies all defensive positions. Said during the summer 7-on-7 drills at FSU, would compete with the LB's and CB's and would pick their brain about what their assignments were, what they key on, etc. - Said when he arrived at FSU, Defensive Coordinator Mickey Andrews told him he was already a great pass rusher, but he'd better be able to stop the run too. - Official height is 6-1, 256. He ran 4.73 (plans to redo at Pro Day and thinks he can improve) also squats: 650 lbs, power cleans 400 lbs and did 26 bench press reps. - Considers his best game was at Miami and worst game against Virginia Tech (because he missed 3 tackles that could have been sacks). - His Pro day is scheduled for Monday. Bottom line, I think this would be a great pick for us on draft day. Brown is fairly well versed and I can't stress enough how much he loves the game and is a student of the game -- something that differentiates good picks from "busts".

I would trade Peters for Thomas and never look back. Git'r done Russ!

I'm assuming you're talking about Hangartner as the journeyman Center. If so, he's only been on 1 team (Carolina) and would have started for the Bills if he'd been here during that time. Carolina's Oline across the board is better than the Bills.

Watched him play against FSU. He had the talent to absolutely dominate at that level -- but was very inconsistent. One play he could make an incredible play, the next he would be non existent. I think I would take Brown, Jackson or Ayers over him -- but wouldn't be disappointed if we ended up with him either.