Tipster19

The rift between him and Mangini appears to be widening. At one point Rogers asked for his release and the relationship is definitely fractured, especially since Rogers is refusing to show up at Cleveland's offseason workout program. There is plenty to debate that could make this a possibility. Now that Buffalo has seen the recognition it received by making a splash with signing TO, they may want to really make a push to put this team firmly in contention this year. Marcus Stroud is no spring chicken and the time to utilize this investment is now. Drafting a DT in this year's draft may not prove to be enough. If the Bills have to use their 1st rd pick on one would only limit their resources to address other areas of need. If they use a pick after the 1st rd it would take longer to develope the prospect to compliment Stroud. Rogers is due a guaranteed a 5 million bonus on March 31. That's a big investment for someone who doesn't want to be there. Rogers just may be willing to be flexible on terms due to his desire to get out of Cleveland. The Browns gave up their 3rd rder and CB Leigh Bodden in a trade to Detroit for Rogers. I wouldn't think that the compensation would be insurmountable to obtain him in a trade. In a salary cap move I think that a combination of either Roscoe Parrish or John McCargo and/or a draft pick could be something that would be fair compensation. I'm not smart enough to figure out exactly what it would take but I believe that any of them would be possible components for a trade. Parrish is going to cost 2.5 million this year and another $500,000.00 as a roster bonus if he's still on the team. It's no secret that the Bills tried to trade McCargo and that fell apart. It's kind of like Denver/Cutler, it's just a matter of time before a team separates from a player that's not wanted. As far as a draft pick for compensation, we are in the early part of each rd and it would be a lucrative pick, especially if it's coupled with one of the above players. Trading for Rogers isn't fulfilling the DE position but it would most definitely compliment it. Crushing the middle of a team's offensive pocket would sure make our DEs much more effective. Rogers might have caught the Bills' attention when we played against Cleveland and if so I believe that this could be a viable trade to consider. I also think that if this were to happen it would make our 1st rd pick much more fluid. The last few years fans have been clamoring for the Bills to build their lines on both side s of the ball. Trading for someone like Rogers pretty much makes us solid up the middle and eliminates forcing us from having to take a DE at #11. Several of the projected prospects at DE are slated anywheres from where we pick to as far as the early 2nd rd. I would love for us if we selected OL Michael Oher at #11 once the middle of our defense got fortified. There is no reason Buffalo couldn't trade back late into the 1st rd and still get viable DE if that were the desire. Having Rogers and Stroud in the middle, Oher as a young OL and drafting someone along the lines of a Maybin-Ayers-Johnson would be a very successful off season to me. What do you think?

I'm not disagreeing that good/great players haven't been taken with a #11 pick. I just don't think that the one or two players that would help us in this year's draft is not going to be available for us to take. Based on that assumption I believe that a trade down would be more beneficial for us not only in this year's draft but also possibly in next year's draft as well.

In hindsight it wasn't a terrible pick. I suppose that some fans would have liked to see us take Ngata but I really don't have a problem with us taking Whitner. Check it out for yourself and tell me what you would have liked better, if at all. http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft...mp;round=round1

The crusty section.

I'm not ecstatic over this move but I do feel better about missing out on Crowell because I believe that the Bills' brass didn't think too much of Crowell other than him just being more of a depth LB.

Socks??!!! I'm not gonna change my underwear until we win the Super Bowl!

...every time I play the Florida state crossword scratch-off with the serial #81 I win and every time the serial # is 84 I lose. Ooooohhhh! Go Bills!

I like the way you think. My contention is that I don't believe that there is that great pass rusher at #11 but if there is then I wholeheartedly agree that we stay put and take him. I still think that sliding back in the rd we can still get a comparable talent at this position and compensated at the same time.

Whitner?? I'm not sure what your point is. Is it because we picked him with the 8th pick?? If so he's still on the team and while he might not be considered a bluechipper at this point in time it doesn't mean that he's not or won't be an important part to this team or defense. I'd rather swing and miss than not be up at the plate at all. I'd like to see the Bills dictate than just be grateful to have a pick. The way that we have been drafting it hasn't put us over the top as of yet. If mediocrity is what we are going to shoot for than let's at least get compensated for it so when it's time to take the shot on a gamebreaker we will be able to do it because we have the resources to put ourselves in that position.

These are great examples of why a team should make their defensive lines a priority which we obviously didn't. In all fairness the players that you have mentioned were all drafted under the Donahoe watch and I would have to question how much or many of those scouts and figureheads are currently with the Bills and making the decisions and supplying the input.

...and Adrian Peterson was taken at #7. Who would you rather have, him or Lynch? While what you state has merit it doesn't reflect on what their respective teams needed or the surrounding players around them at the time of selection. I get your point though but my question is this, who is available when we pick at the #11 slot that you think that can help us and be of the same or better talent level of the above mentioned? If there is someone like that then that's who we should take and not trade back at all. Me personally, I don't think that that type of player is there for us when we pick.

I stated a 3rd OR a 4th rder for a pass catching TE. I also don't think that we need a "signiicant upgrade" at this position either, just a compliment. I don't know what you consider a tirade but that was not the intention of this post. I just wanted to explore, suggest and interact on the possibilities of improving this franchise and it's future, that's all. As far as top tier 1st rders go we wouldn't really know about that because we haven't been in the top 10 for quite sometime. The last time I remember was when we selected that memorable OT Mike Williams at the #4 spot. Although there's a difference there is also a corralation between hoarding and being in position to be able to select the proper players. Having multiple picks will allow a team to package choice picks to be able to move up in or into another rd. This permits an administration to be in position to select a quality player who could fit their team's profile. If our administrators are not competent or capable to succeed when they are in the proper position then they should be replaced. Until we are in the right position though then I don't believe that any of the above can be assessed properly. I don't remember Derek Fine being advertised as the TE that we all wanted or hoped for. I do remember the Bills' brass saying that he was a good blend of a blocking and pass catching TE. I think that a big portion of the fanbase have been hoping for a Tony Gonzalez or a Dustin Keller type of TE. I think that if we do address this position early in this draft or trade for an established veteran then it will be for that true pass catcher that so many fans have been craving for. In Denver under the Shanahan regime they also employed TE Daniel Graham heavily also but he doesn't get the headlines like Scheffler because he is used primarily as a blocker. This is who I think Fine most resembles. More picks, more oppotunities. Having more picks is having leverage and leverage is power. Why in the world would anyone resist this theory??! Another way to accumalate more picks or to move up in rds is to trade a player(s). Keeping our salary cap managed is part of this decision process and I for one are not capable of figuring this out accurately. There is one player though that I'm curious about and that is Roscoe Parrish. Initially looking at his role on this team and his salary figure, I'm wondering if Parrish would better serve us by trading him come draft day. I noticed that KC just signed Bobby Ingram. It wouldn't shock me if Seattle were to be interested in Parrish for their slot/punt returner. I realize that Nate Burleson is now manning both of these positions for them but this could be a realistic scenario due to Deion Branch and his salary cost. Branch could be a cap casualty thus moving Burleson up as the #2 WR to Housh. If we didn't get an outright pick for Parrish then maybe just trading draft pick positions with the right team would be just as effective. Just a thought. All the scenarios that you mentioned are valid logic but that's not my point. My point is that in the last several years we are never in position for that blue chip player that is usually found in the top 6 or 7 picks except for that time we blew it on Mike Williams.

What has contibuted for teams like New England and Philadelphia to become successful is the way that they accumalated draft picks. We are always rebuilding so our draft picks were an immediate need. I believe that we now have a pretty solid core with some areas of need. In this draft I think that our two pressing needs for our 1st rd pick would be the DLine or the OLine (aren't you sick of hearing that?). The DLine (DE more so) prospects are suspect. The ones who appear to be available for us when we pick at #11 have been projected to either fall to us or even slide as far as early 2nd rd (Maybin, Ayers, Jackson etc., etc.). My suggestion would be for us to trade back in the first and select somebody like DT Peria Jerry, who in the last third of the rd would be a tremendous value and would also fill an important need for our team. This draft is also projected to having a plethora of OL prospects. Here it appears that we have a glaring hole to fill at the LG position. I haven't read or heard too much about anyone from here or abroad predicting that our first pick at #11 be an offensive lineman. This need should be adequately addressed in the 2nd rd or even later in the 1st admirably if we were to trade down. I suppose that there is plenty of people who would love for us to take TE Pettigrew but I just don't see it in the 1st rd for us, especially at #11. The TE position has never been a big priority for us traditionally and this is a position that has averaged only 1.5 TEs going in the first rd in the last several years. Our core is not that solid to allow us to afford this luxury. We would be better served to either take a TE in the 3rd or 4th rd or actually use one of those picks for a trade for a current veteran. Obviously trading one of those picks for Tony Scheffler would be ideal and regardless of the current false rumors, I do believe that this trade will still happen. If not, we go into the draft and select one like Shawn Nelson, Jared Cook or Chase Coffman. The point is that there really isn't someone that we have to have at the #11 pick. A trade down and gathering either extra picks in this year's draft or in next year's draft, which is supposed to be more lucrative, especially at the QB position. I would like to see us in a great position in the 1st rd next year and not because we earned it with a losing record. I think that if we could get ourselves in the top end of the 1st rd next year we would have an awful lot of clout in continuing trading with other teams. The QBs that will be available in the first rd could propel us in really solidifying our team with more quality draft picks. It would be perpetual based on us getting ourselves in this draft position. It can all start in this year's draft. I suggested the above scenario but even if someone wanted to put a different twist on it I think that the point would be similiar. We need to start accumalting draft picks instead of just using them when we're slotted or packaging them for trade ups. It seems like we're always selecting between #11-#13 the last few years. It's never high enough to be able to get a blue chip prospect but it's at the top end of the next tier of players. I would like to see us be able to have the resource to be able to move up into the top 6 or 7 picks where a team stands the chance of taking a top tier prospect. It killed me to see New England have the #7 pick last year and then trade down with New Orleans to the #10 spot and STILL be able to take LB Jerod Mayo! We need to be able to get ourselves eventually into this type of position and it can start this year with our 1st rd pick at #11.

Good point. He would have to be given strong consideration of playing in front of Bell and Oher. If that were the case then it would give these two younger guys time to develope more during the 2009 season so that they would be more prepared for the 2010 season.

Seeing all this talk about Bus Cook in Buffalo, I thought that I'd take one more shot at this post.

I agree but I think that we could also either draft our own pass catching TE for less money and for a comparable pick. I'd like to see us use aour 3rd rd pick for a bigger need, like on defense and then use our 4th for the TE position, regardless if it's Scheffler or in the draft.

Even before the decade, how much did we really employ the TE position for offense? I do agree that we should and will be more aggressive with our TEs, especially now that we amped the offense with the TO signing, but now we only need a TE to be a competent threat, not a primary target. If people are expecting us and this offense to suddenly make the TE a primary focus, like Dustin Keller of the Jets is going to be, then I think that they are going to be disappointed.

You're exactly right. Denver already has TE Daniel Graham (ex-Patriot) on the roster and they just re-signed Jeb Putzier. Both are good blockers with decent pass catching ability. If you think about it New England doesn't really employ a pass catching TE. Ben Watson was/is their biggest offensive threat at this position and he has been awfully inconsistent and injured. Oh, the Patriots will sprinkle in a little to the TE but they also use every player in various ways and they also utilize every inch of the field. The TEs aren't a big scoring/yardage threat in their offensive scheme.

I hope not. We pick in the early part of the 4th rd and that is more than sufficent for a TE who has only completed one season out of three. Add in the fact that this is a draft that has plenty of pass catching TEs in it and we probably wouldn't have to deal with his agent Bus Cook. I posted earlier today about Cook. Word of caution, be careful what you wish for but I will say that if we could come into agreement with him, Scheffler is the kind of TE that could put this offense over the top if he were to stay relatively healthy. http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showtopic=85255

I think that you're missing my point my friend.

Lombardi was in Denver's front office a year ago and still has close ties to the organization. He's good, real good but he hasn't stayed healthy. He's definitely the pass catching TE we need but only if he can stay on the field for the whole season.

That's the beauty of signing TO, a player of that magnitude. We are now firmly on the map this year as a place to consider for success, media and money. TO was a marketing dream come true.

No doubt that Buffalo made a committment when they signed WR Terrell Owens and this offense should open up considerably from years past. A pass catching TE is needed, especially later in the season when the weather will be inclement and the shorter routes will be counted on more. TE Tony Scheffler could be an ideal fit for this offense ability wise but be careful what you wish for. His agent Bus Cook is not the easiest to deal with and the dissension that is brewing in Denver is being speculated that it was initiated by his agent. I was an advocate for making a trade for Scheffler but if there is any truth to what is being rumored then I don't think that we don't need the potential drama/baggage that would go with his agent. Here's a couple of links that helps explain the current situation and that past dealing that went on with Farve. http://blogs.nbcsports.com/home/archives/2...-at-ending.html http://www.milehighreport.com/2009/3/11/79...bus-cook-and-th http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nf...vre-trade_N.htm I think that Buffalo just might be better served if they found this type of TE in the draft. I would like to also mention that Allen Wilson stated in his live chat that Buffalo is looking for a big season out of current Buffalo TE Derek Fine. This position might be better situated than what appears at this time.

Before anyone gets a bent hanger up their @$$, I'm going to put in a disclaimer. *This thread is fictitious and is meant for entertainment and creativity purposes only. Please add your scenarios if you were the acting GM for the Bills in the upcoming draft. Thank you and enjoy. The first call of order I would do is trade Jason Peters to the Philadelphia Eagles for their first 1st rd pick (#21) and their 4th rder (#117). 1st rd (#11)- Ole Miss OT Michael Oher 1st rd (#21)- Ole Miss DT Peria Jerry 2nd rd (#42)- Oklahoma OG Duke Robinson 3rd rd (#75)- Ohio State OLB Marcus Freeman 4th rd (#106)- Texas Tech DE Brandon Williams 4th rd (#117)- I would trade this pick to the Denver Broncos for TE Tony Scheffler. 5th rd (#139)- Rutger SS Courtney Greene 6th rd (#170)- Ball State OT Robert Brewster 7th rd (#202)- Virginia ILB Antonio Appleby It was just a coincidence that the first 2 picks were from the same school but I believe that both players are the best available for our positions of need. I would also add FA OL Kevin Shaffer and would seriously attempt to re-sign LB Angelo Crowell. I would then shift Langston Walker to LT, start Duke Robinson at LG, Geoff Hangartner at C, keep Brad Butler at RG and start Kevin Shaffer at RT. I would have Demetrius Bell and Michael Oher for developement, depth and rotation. This line would be seasoned with quality youth and depth for the upcoming year with massive size and agility. In 2010 I would have to re-evaluate Walker's contract to see if it was condusive to our long term goals and if Shaffer didn't prove to be a solid T for us we would have Oher and Bell to fill their positions.

I'm going to put a post up on being the Bills' GM and see what kind of moves, picks and trades people can come up with. This is the time of the year that I really love, so I'm curious on what kind of scenarios can unfold.