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I agree, he may not know the two guys well enough to have an informed opinion. I was hoping for a glowing review of Nix to be honest, but it wasn't served up that way. You can't just disregard what he said either, I think most people around the league had the same reaction.

To be honest I'm not sure and I'm not sure if John Wooten was as he made no mentnion of it. I also find it funny that now Jerry Jones is saying he's "worried" they could lose Miles Austin to a team that signs him to an offer sheet (which would require giving up a 1st and 3rd round pick). I don't think any team would be crazy enough to give that up for a WR who had one very good year in a pass happy offense. It's almost as if he's trying to stir up some interest in Miles Austin hoping someone will pony up a lot to get him. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/...pill-minefield/

Last night I began a "General Manager and NFL Scouting" online course through smww.com. Part of the course involves weekly chats with John Wooten, who has a long and decorated career in the NFL, both as a player and an NFL executive. I had the chance to ask him his honest opinion of the Buddy Nix/Chan Gailey combo up in Buffalo. His response was something like this: "Buddy Nix at 70 is a spring chicken compared to their owner. The hire of Chan Gailey really had me shaking my head. He flamed out with the Cowboys, flamed out with Georgia Tech, and flamed out as an offensive coordinator.....I'm wondering what the Bills think will be different this time around. I'm very biased to Leslie Frazier and I think the guy is a cross between Tony Dungy and Tom Landry. I believe he has all the makings to become a tremendous head coach and I was shocked the Bills didn't sit down and meet with him. Don't forget he had that Vikings team on the verge of going to the SuperBowl, despite the offense turning the ball over 5 times. So basically that's my answer to what I think of the Nix/Gailey combo in Buffalo, I hope you understand that." Although I figured his comments would be a bit harsh, I was hoping for some more insight on Nix, but I'm not sure that he ever crossed paths with Nix during his career, which I wasn't able to ask him. Another few interesting tidbits that John Wooten provided: - The NFL offered the NFL's Player Union (NFLPA) a one time $100 million payment into their pension plan and in return the NFL would be allowed to implement a rookie wage scale for this upcoming 2010 NFL draft. He said the NFLPA rejected the offer and that the deal is off the table. Said the NFL knows their pension plan is lacking behind those of the NBA and MLB and wants to get it up to speed, but they really want to start a rookie wage scale. Said the whole mess with Crabtree wanting to be paid like the #5 pick even though he was the #10 pick was a joke, and he's in big time favor of a rookie wage scale. - The Dallas Cowboys will think long and hard about signing Brandon Marshall to an offer sheet. Miles Austin had a great season, but the Cowboys can't expect that from him in the years to come as he's not a great athlete. If they can become comfortable with Brandon Marshall as a person, they will highly consider signing him to an offer sheet.

My personal opinion is that Joey Porter helps this team, and at a minimum is good for 6-7 sacks if he stays healthy. The problem is Porter has become a liability against the run. My friend who is an avid Dolphins fan said he's okay for generating the pass rush, but sucks vs. the run and mixed in with his bad attitude he was happy to see him leave. Don't forget there were reports of him refusing to leave the field last year when the coached wanted him subbed out. I don't think that behavior will fly with our new staff. Nonetheless the Bills are desperate for some 3-4 talent and I think Porter has enough left in the tank to produce for another 2 years. With that said, I'm thinking Porter probably values himself a lot more than NFL GM"S do, and is probably asking for entirely too much.

Had 10 season tickets last year, will only be renewing 4. Do I think we'll be competitive this season? No. Am I willing to give Nix a chance to assemble a quality football team over the next few years? Yes. If all goes to hell again and we're back at this point again in another 3 years, I will not be a season ticket holder anymore. That's where I stand. As a passionate Bills fan I hold out hope, but you can only take so many years of financially supporting a team that never sniffs post season play.

Teams find it difficult to trade for a player that has a 50% chance of being released. Chad Henne's return is 100%, Pat White's return is 98%. The obvious choice to get released would be Thigpen, but the fact that the Dolphins were unwilling to cave into Pennington's attempt to get a no trade clause, at least indicates the team may possibly be looking to move Pennington rather than Thigpen. To appease Pennington the team wrote in that if they do trade him, they will owe him an additional $1.5million. So, in all likelihood they'll hold onto all 4 for as long as they can hoping to get some trade value for Pennington or Thigpen to. Personally, I wouldn't mind bringing in either if they were released, but I wouldn't be thrilled about giving up draft picks for either. I don't think either is the answer at QB so why squander picks on them. Don't forget 7th round picks can become Pat Williams', Jason Peters', and Jabari Greer's (all of whom were UDFA's).

Dansby is good. He is not the best LB in the league, but he's probably right around top 10. If the Dolphins want to pay him like he's the best than so be it. Will he improve their defense, yes, is highly overpaying for FA's a great idea, not really. With that said I think a team like the Dolphins who have been competing as of late can afford to overpay for a FA or two, to try and get them over the top. A team like the Bills............ we need a couple of solid drafts before we can consider overpriced FA's, because at this point we're no where near competing for a championship. I'd rather throw money at a proven product like Dansby, who at worst will be a very solid starter for the next 2-3 years, than the guys the Bills have overpaid for in the past (Dockery and Walker come to mind first), but that is the difference between winning and losing organizations. Once the Bills can string together consecutive successful offseasons (both draft and FA) than we can all start thinking playoffs. With Nix calling the shots (we all hope) I have confidence he can get us back to the playoffs in 3 years, no question.

Very good news, thanks because I couldn't find this elsewhere. Bryan Scott would've been scooped up quickly on the open market IMO. He and G. Wilson were the top 2 guys I wanted to see the Bills retain I'm sure the numbers are more than fair for both sides. 2 years - $4.5 million with the first year guaranteed is my shot in the dark at guessing the contract. I'll be interested to see what the numbers actually are.

Any word on some of the other restricted FA's? I was hoping the Bills would tender George Wilson, Bryan Scott, and Richie Incognito, but still haven't heard anything. I think Incognito did enough in his couple of games to at least stick around and compete this offseason. As for George Wilson and Bryan Scott, I think both are underrated players who afford our secondary a lot of flexibility. Both are as good if not better than Whitner IMO, and would come at a fraction of the price. It would be especially surprising if Wilson was not tendered, as there were rumors abound that the Bills were looking to extend him. EDIT: It appears Bryan Scott is actually a UFA as opposed to a RFA, so he obviously can not be tendered. Nonetheless I would love to see the Bills extend him an offer. If not I wouldn't be surprised to see him signed fairly quick as I think guys like Scott who provide versatility and come in at a reasonable $, don't last long on the open market.

I'm interested to see clump's salary cap page when it comes out, to see what the Bills cash to the cap will be this upcoming season. I honestly think the Bills came out with the cash to cap policy to appease the fans who realized we weren't being very competetive when it came to spending on players. Truth be told, I'm not convinced the Bills (Ralph) are going to spend anywhere near what it'll take to be competetive.

I hope Nix and company pick the player that they think is the best available player with the #9 pick. I would also hope that they don't go into the draft saying, "we can only take a QB, NT, LT, or LB with the first few picks". You're right about pointing out where the weaknesses are on this team, and ideally the best players will also fill glaring needs, but to think we should ONLY consider those postions in the draft is foolish. That is precisely how you get into trouble with the draft (reaching for players that had no business going that high). If you stick to the discipline of taking best available player, over time (I'm talking 3-4 drafts) you end up in a much better postion than constantly drafting based on need. I'm fully confident that Buddy Nix understands this, which is why I'm excited about our upcoming draft. Whether or not Ralph has handed over the keys 100% to Buddy, and keeps his nose out of things remains to be seen, but one can only hope.

I am never opposed to taking the best player available, and if Dez is the best I would not be pissed about the selection. The Bills have squandered 2nd round picks (Hardy, Reed) and FA money (T.O) trying to find a #2 and really haven't been successful. If (and it's a big if) Nix thinks that Dez Bryant can become the next Andre Johnson than why not pick him? I think when teams reach for needs you end up with first round picks like.......J.P. Losman, John McCargo, Donte Whitner, Marshawn Lynch & Aaron Maybin. The biggest change I'm hoping Nix brings to this franchise is drafting the guys that he feels are the best football players. If your between two prospects that you graded identically and one fills a team need more than the other, than that's fine. However if you have a guy who's clearly graded higher than the other and you choose the other, that's just foolish.

I'll admit I'm pretty down on Marshawn Lynch. Even scarier is the fact that he's one slip up away from a year long suspension, which would render him completely useless. With that said, I'm willing to give Lynch a chance to get his career back on track. With a new coaching staff and a new conditioning program I'm hoping he will be motivated and in shape. Under Camp Dick it looked to me that Lynch got away with being an out of shape football player. Under the new regime I'm hoping he sheds a good 10-15 lbs., as he was clearly poorly conditioned and overweight last season, and comes in hungry. Lynch also is 2 seasons away from a contract year, and funny things happen to a players drive and motivation when he realizes a good year could result in many, many millions of dollars. If Lynch can get back on track our running game could go from above average to a real strength. I also like the idea of having 2 solid backs come the second half of the season, as the two of them will both be fresher. If Lynch craps out again.......well then he's toast and you're looking at the Bills having to spend another high pick on a tailback. Here's to hoping the Bills get a productive 2 seasons out of Lynch before his contract is up.

I've been a season ticket holder since the 2002 season, so going on 8 years. I've upgraded my seats as much as possible over the years and this past season I was in Section 113, Row 6, 4 seats together. My first time being in seats below row 20 and I really regretted it. The seats were simply too low and it was very tough to see the action on the field. My question goes out to those season ticket holders who are pretty close to the 50 yard line (Sections 111, 112, 133, 134): How many tickets do you have together and how many years did it take you to get there? Do you guys have a particular preference for the home or away side? I've been on the away side all 8 years and I'm thinking about switching over to the home side, the sun is right in my eyes on the visitors side and I'm looking to get away from that. It's my belief that a good amount of season ticket holders won't be renewing this upcoming season, so I'm hoping to be able to make the move into a prime location. Ideally I'd love to be able to get over on the home side and get back to row 20 or up. Row 6, looking into the sun this past season was just as discouraging as what I was actually watching on the field! Thanks, I appreciate the thoughts and answers guys!

Cash to cap has nothing to do with the money made from ticket sales, but has everything to do with the league salary cap. It is peoples belief though, that if Ralph charged more for tickets and people paid the increased prices, that maybe he'd be more willing to spend a bit more on players/coaches. Put it this way: If Ralph charged an additional $10 per ticket per game you're looking at an additional revenue of $700,000/game. Multiply that by 8 home games and you're looking at an additional revenue stream of $5.6 million. If Ralph were to spend this additional "profit" to improve the roster (players/coaches/front office guys), that's a huge if, that would be an extra $5 + million he could use without making any less of a profit than he's currently making. The more likely scenario from a businessman like Ralph would be to pocket half of the increased profit and maybe spend the other half on improving the roster and coaches, which would still amount to $2.8 million. BTW, with the increase in ticket prices (which are still one of, if not the best deal in all of sports) Ralph will be making an additional $8/seat/game this upcoming season. To put that into perspective it means an additional $4.5 million in revenue through ticket sales assuming every game sells out. The kicker is that the salary cap is also ever increasing so the increase in ticket prices may just go to offset the increasing players salaries year over year.

The Bills did whoop the Chiefs, they scored over 50, bit the Chiefs offense also had their was with the Bills D as they put up over 30 points. The game itself was basically featured two crap teams, who each had their best offensive days of the year. The pistol offense could maybe work in very small doses, but as a base offense in the cold Northeast you can forget about it.

I was going to post the same thing myself. Just took a look at ROGER SAFFOLD, and nfldraftscout.com has him ranked 10/157 offensive tackles and the 101/2759 of all the prospects overall. Don't know much about him other than 2 quick youtube clips I saw of him, looks a little slow to project as a LT in the NFL at a quick glance, which is where he played for Indiana. Given the fact that the Bills have a handful of college assistants on their staff I'm hoping we find a few off the radar guys that can become players.

I can't speak for Ellis because I don't really have an opinion one way or the other, but when it comes to Maybin I don't like his chances as an OLB in the NFL. During the combine drills last year, Maybin looked lost when he was asked to drop in coverage and move in space. Add to that the fact that he looks to be about 230 lbs. and gets swalloed up by NFL offensive lineman, and it doesn't look promising. I'd like to be wrong, and hopefully with some quality coaching he can make some contributions on the field this next season, but if you just look at Maybin there's no way he looks like an OLB in a 3-4.

Terrence Cody is not close to a top 10 pick. I would be real upset if the Bills picked him at #9. Cody is the guy who will drop quite a bit this year much like Alan Branch did a few years ago. I see him going in the 25-40 range.

You'd think losing a top 10 pick from 3 years ago would be a real concern, but not in this case. Whitner is a non factor on this football team. An okay backup is the only thing Whitner has proved to be in his first 4 seasons. The Bills need more guys who just come in and let their play on the field do the talking (Byrd, Levitre, Wood, Kyle Williams, Freddy Jackson......and so on). Less Twitter all-stars like Whitner and Maybin and more football all-stars would be music to my ears.

McCoy and Suh could very well be #1 and #2 in the draft overall. There was a poster last week who was irate over the fact that Nolan Nawrocki could have McCoy going ahead of Suh in his 1st mock draft. Looks like Mayock, at this point, has the two of them graded the same way. I put stock in these 2 guys predicitons because they have a pulse on what the scouts are saying, which is what is most important on draft day.

I agree that WR is a slight weakness of this team. I do however remember being 5-1 to start the 2008 season with the same bunch. It'd be nice to upgrade, but it is possible to field a quality offense with the receivers we have IMO, not an explosive offense by any measures, but definitely one that can compete. With that said: I wouldn't be shocked if Dez Bryant was the pick at #9. I don't know if he's a Nix type pick, but if the Bills brass has him rated higher than any of the o-lineman or defensive players they may decide to go in that direction. I remember liking the freakish athleticism of Rashaun Woods when he entered the draft out of Oklahoma St., and he flamed out big time for the 49ers. Dez Bryant is not Rashaun Woods, but given that receivers very rarely make big contributions right away I'd rather the Bills not go in that direction, this team needs contributions immediately. I'd prefer Chris Chambers to Donte Stallworth if we went the FA route.

Whitner is not versatile nor VERY versatile. Yes, he has played multiple postions (free safety, strong safety, cornerback and nickel cornerback) and the reason is he was being outplayed by backups at each of his positions so the Bills moved him to try and keep him on the field. He hasn't been good at any of the positions, actually he's been average to below average at most spots the Bills have put him. At strong safety he was outplayed by Bryan Scott and George Wilson. At free safety he was outplayed by George Wilson and Jarius Byrd. When the Bills slid him into nickel corner when our CB's were banged up he was absolutely lit up and exposed during the Jets game in Toronto. Maybin has potential, but any realistic fan at this point is very justified in having serious doubts about whether the guy can live up to being a high 1st round pick. You can't hit on all of them, but you like to at least see your high draft picks make solid contributions within 2 years. I'm willing to give him another year beore I declare Maybin a bust, but he's got to show a LOT MORE this season. Watching Maybin during drills at the combine last year had me very nervous. Very stiff and not fluid in his movements at all. I've seen girls catch the football much more fluidly and athletically than Maybin. I'm not saying catching the football is a priority for a DE/OLB, but it's concerning to see a #1 draft pick catch the football worse than my girlfriend. Personally I was pulling for Robert Ayers last draft. I'm not sure how Ayers played last season, to be honest, but that's who I was rooting for. If not Ayers I wanted Orakpo over Maybin, Maybin to me was the riskiest of all the 1st round DL. I hope he proves all his doubters wrong. Time will tell.

I think Peppers is destined for the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles are huge fans of signing the big ticket FA's during the offseason. Just a quick look back and you're looking at - Terrell Owens, Jevon Kearse, Asante Samuel, Jason Peters. There are already leakings coming out of Philadelphia that they are looking to upgrade their DE position opposite Trent Cole. Andy Reid falls in love with these big name FA and they have the front office that isn't afraid to pony up a lot of cash. In the end Peppers will probably be in store for a 5 year - $80 million deal with around $25-30 of it guarenteed. Based on his play as of late I thinks Peppers is a big risk for that amount of money.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/...n-eagles-staff/ April as ST coach and Juaron as DB's coach. April is a good hire, and while Juaron stunk as a HC he's more than qualified as a DB's coach.