scribo

I've read in a couple of places that he was the year's highest rated UDFA. Yes, Ben Rottenburger said some nice things about him. Yes, he is big, and that is an obvious need for our WR corps. Yes, it seems he did well in the OTAs. But if he is so good, why didn't he get drafted? I really doubt so many of us would be as excited about him if the Bills actually drafted him in the seventh round. If that was the case, I think most here would be predicting a spot on the practice squad for him. That is the real basis for this post. I understand Peters, Fletcher and Moorman are just a few who made it into starting lineups despite being overlooked completely in the draft, but what is it about Martin Nance that has a lot of you thinking he has a chance to join that group?

That didn't suck.

My bad, I was talking about Ahmard Hall of the United States Marine Corps.

Semper Fi! A sixth for him would be great. I could see this happening, but some other team, the Cowgirls for one, may take him as early as in the fourth.

What the hell? Only one round! If we suck this year, then I hope we really do finish in the cellar so we can get Brady, but if we're halfway decent, then either JP of Nall will likely deserve to stick around anyway. My biggest worry is that we suck, but just enough to miss Brady by one or two picks.

How do you figure it's too late to trade him? The Bills still have the rights to him. The one problem the Bills could run into is that a trade partner would likel require Nate agree to a new contract with the new team before pulling the trigger on the trade. At this point, the only teams that would likely want to part with a first-round pick would be teams that feel they are "one player away." In which case, Bate would likely want to go play there. By the way, as for the transition tag, here is a good link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Tag

Bill, I know we went through this a couple of months ago. The transition tag is not a use-only-once-ever kind of thing. Nonetheless, it would be very underhanded and not wise to tag Nate with anything next year after telling him what they apparently told him.

I agree with Water that keeping Nate around until shortly before the trading deadline seems like a good plan, especially if Nate is having a good season AND Youboty is showing the ability to step in as the #2 corner at least by the '07-'08 season. If Nate is playing less than stellar D in the new system, he may be willing to re-sign for a reasonable price. If he is playing well, and I predict he will be, then the Bills should be able to get a first for him from an NFC team in the playoff hunt. But reality, in my humble view, is that I expect Marv to make a stong push to keep him around. And there may be a shortage of teams willing to part with a first round pick for a player in the middle of the season because Nate would have to learn the new team's system right then.

I was just talking to a buddy today about how the really good coaches are the ones who figure out each player's natural talents and put them to use. MM and company, really TD too, opted to instead pick out a system and then try to mold the players they had into the types needed for the system. It seems to me Marv and Dick are taking the right track now -- evaluating who is on the roster, deciding who they want to keep, then picking the systems that best fit those left, then adding players who naturally fit the new systems. In all, I have nothing good to say about the Mularkey era. I am just glad he is gone and now a stinkin' fish. Oh, and I'd think that after being around long enough to have 6,000+ posts, one would know our RB's last name.

Success in my mind for this season would be positive development of one QB, the young o-linemen and the three keey rookie DBs. Get that done, and the win-loss record of '06 really doesn't matter. because we'll be primed to fill the gaps with some vets and really make a run in '07.

I think the current o-line ties directly into Marv's plan. Gandy is going still a young guy. He is going to get his chance this year, and if he does well, Marv has a hell of a bargain at LT. If he doesn't prove himself to be a longterm starter, the Bills will have plenty of cap space to bring in a veteran at LT. It seems to me the Bills have determined which positions to test/develop this year, hopefully, with the intent to fill the positions that don't pan out with veterans next year.

The thing that is most telling to me is that he had a gun. Apparently the gun was legal, but some guy who is also driving around with pot, armed and running stop signs is bound to get in even more trouble than this.

If you buddy ends up living a little south of D.C., which is becoming more and more common, there is a growing group of Bills Backers in Fredericksburg. There was about anywhere from 15-35 Bills fans for each game last season at the Hard Time Cafe and Cue at the cornder of U.S. 1 and Courthouse Rd. Click on the link in my sig line if you need more info. The Bills game is on each week on a large screen with sound. I won't be there this year as I jsut moved to Maryland, but it waas a good time last year in Fredericksburg.

It is going to be real tough for teams to get away with that this year with all the speed we have at WR. If that is the case, I sure hope JP is given the go-ahead to audible into a shotgun formation this year.

Nice post, Mike. Marv and Dick have seemingly set the table very nicely to start things off. The one major shortage this group will have in three years though is big-game experience. Veteran leadership will need to be infused each season to ensure there are guys in Buffalo blue who will be able to remember which way is up when things get intense.

I don't believe Marv wrote that rodeo letter. He may have signed it, but the glaring grammatical mistakes tell me there is no way he actually wrote it.

Anyone see the movie 40-year-old Virgin? I doubt he'll much trouble getting someone to blow for him.

I firmly disagree, as I believe Willis was a very good "shifty back" in college and in 2004. Under diretion form MM, McGahee tried to be more of a bruiser last year and was unable to make game changing plays. His style, up until last year, was to play the edges, use his speed to gain seperation and then use his strength, not wieght, to roll over a DB. I am excited about his new wieght. I only hope he brings back that wicked stiff arm that was so great in 2004. Of course, you need to have at least a little space to punch some stinkin' fish in the mouth; otherwise, you're stuck just trying to put a shoulder down and run him over. As long as the coachhing staff figures out ways to create a little space around Willis, he will have a real shot at the Pro Bowl. It is promising to already hear the coaches say they will throw to him and use in space in other ways more. MM was looking for a Bettis to run the defense MM had in Pittsburg. Rather than putting the talents he had to good use, MM decided to try to use McGahee in ways he was less than ideal for. The fact that WM was still able to gain over 1,000 yards is proof that WM has real talent.

Sure, that likely goes for any coordinator. That isn't my point. I am saying that Saban knows how MM operates before he hired him. If Saban didn't want MM's offense, which was last year's Buffalo offense, then Saban wouldn't have brought MM in.

That is a very good point. There really is no depth at either offensive tackle position. So, what is a decent LT worth to you?

Just for fun... If you were the GM of the current Bills, which position on the current roster would you trade for to fill? For the sake of this exercise, let's not look at what players/teams are looking to trade. Just figure out which one position is in the most need to be filled with a veteran from another team. I wouild say left end, and I would be willing to give as much as a second round pick for someone who would immediately solidify the position. He wouldn't have to a be a superstar, but he would have to worthy of starting 16 games and being able to play all three downs.

First, I think Hull is the most underappreciated player of the "Glory Years" Bills. He held the line together, made all the right calls and was a great leader. There is no doubt in my mind that the center is the most important position after QB on the offensive side of the ball. I am not sure Mangold is the next Kent Hull, but center is certainly a position I would think Marv sees a great deal of importance in. Let's give Fowler a fair chance before saying passing of Mangold was a mistake.

Would you hire someone if you felt that you were going to have look over his shoulder the whole time? Not me. I have to believe Saban thought about this before hiring MM. So, yes, I believe Saban is going to let MM run his offense. The thing that boggles my mind the most about hiring MM is that Saban saw first-hand last year's Bills quit on MM.

This is actually pretty bad news for us. Teague would have sucked in NJ just like he sucked in Buffalo. He would have taken the majority of the snaps in camp, taking snaps away from Mangold and thus slowing his development. This is as good for the Jests as a Holcomb injury would have been for the Bills last season.

I likely would say no to that tradde, but, regardless, that is not the real question being debated here. Brown is not better than McGahee as of today. Will Brown be better in the future? I don't know, but that is the question needed answering when debating trade value.