RuntheDamnBall

Why, does Merriman have a sixteen year-old daughter in the Northern New Jersey area?

You'd think the guy had an injury-plagued rookie year and has hardly seen real game time.

Cut Wang, need stretchable band-aid.

We have a witch?

This is the best explanation of all time. It's hard to draft in the NFL.

In comparison to Forrest, yeah.

Don't look now but I think one of the Bills' good guys, and one of their few Pro Bowl caliber players over the past decade, is probably gone. Forrest looks like a pretty terrific punter. It pains me to say it but if trends continue, I see Moorman on the list of cuts. Other thoughts: 1) Carrington wasn't in any danger but he looked great. I feel really comfortable with him as part of the DL rotation. 2) Maybin is obviously toast. 3) Heard improved his position and I would keep him over Jasper if the numbers demanded it, on the basis of current performance. Looking over the long haul, if they think Jasper has the upside they believe he has, he stays so that the team doesn't lose him. 4) Batten is going to be one of those guys who a lot of people like, even if his ceiling isn't high. He'll chip in on STs and can definitely provide good depth. 5) I wonder, if he just continues to suck, if Thigpen could be sacrificed in favor of Levi. No one is getting a fair shake behind the reserve OL here, but this is just a thought. I also wonder if B. Smith could actually end up #2 on the depth chart. 6) Bryan Scott got faked out of his shoes by waiver wire RBs. Didn't really key in on any of the others, but my impression was that the backup DBs were not as impressive as some of the backup front-seven guys.

This x 1000. Bills fans are so warped by this abusive relationship that we're convinced the only day we can win on anymore is draft day.

Awesome. A late fourth at that. Forget these idiots. I'm going to watch this season, but they certainly don't care enough about winning.

Schefter is behind the 4th rounder speculation, which at least gives it legs. That they haven't won anything with him is just such a weak argument. It's the justification of a drain circler at best. Evans is not costing them wins, he's not a locker room cancer, and in fact he is looked up to by his teammates. They do project worse without him until proven otherwise.

Just want to say thanks for the facts and reason in this thread, JW. There are some respectable posters who disagree, but I think you offer some necessary perspective on the situation and posters like me appreciate that you're here to dispel unsupported claims like "evans and fitz" don't connect, etc. And you're doing it in a very civil way, which is appreciated.

There is no way in hell they will suck badly enough to "earn" #1.

I'm possibly in the minority but I might trade Peters for Mangold. The best center in the league is better IMO than is a very talented LT who has some work ethic issues. I do think there's something to the idea that Peters takes plays off and coasts a bit on reputation. He is not as bad as bitter fans here think, nor is he as good as some of his defenders insist. I like Wood a lot, as in he might be one of my favorite players in the current team. I'm of two minds on how it worked out with Peters. He'd already been re-signed and then renegotiated. It would have set a terrible precedent to keep on going that way with him. That said, it's nice to keep your own, and they got a lot of value out of a guy they paid nothing for to begin with. If you look at it with the perspective that he was not long for Buffalo and was going to sulk his way through a continued career here, the value they got in Wood plus two more rolls of the dice does not look bad. If Wood becomes all-pro caliber at center, I think it's a push. Based on what information? Measurables don't mean much. Production means a lot more, and if they're getting rid of Evans because his production is down, signing on a perennial injury risk who has never lived up to his potential as a replacement seems pure folly.

Would you trade Lee Evans for Da'Norris Searcy, or Derek Fine, or Marcus Easley, or Shawn Nelson, or Reggie Corner, or Ko Simpson? I'll even give you starting/fringe rotational caliber players from rds 5-7 as well: Mario Haggan (being generous) Justin Bannan Terrence McGee Brad Butler Kyle Williams Steve Johnson D Bell (being generous) You might say, of course I'd trade Lee for Stevie, or Kyle, but then there's this: these are the keepers among 40 rolls of the dice between 2002-2009 in Rounds 4-7. You're not trading Lee for Steve Johnson, you're trading for a 7 in 40 chance (about 17.5%) that the player amounts to anything. You're trading for about a 10% chance that the player is of the caliber of Butler, Williams, Johnson or McGee. Those are ****ty odds.

Peters & McGahee.

What's "sun"?

I like a lot of your post, I'm not sure I agree with the suggestion that because we made a giant mistake with Walker in paying him double his value (and probably the same with C Green), that it rationalizes another questionable decision.

We really have no proof that they didn't offer Clabo more or equal money. I'm sure that returning to the NFC's top seed in 2010 and sticking with a system he knew was a pretty easy sell. Unless the Bills wanted to blow the Falcons out of the water - and for what, another 2, 3 million more than Atlanta would have paid? - I think it's far more likely Clabo was using the Bills for leverage. Even in overpaying you have to have some kind of budget, and I know that we laugh about how cheap Ralph is, but paying $7MM or more for a right tackle is a really bad precedent, especially for this team. I guess they could have looked at more frontloaded/guaranteed money, but it's a moot point right now.

That's why I at least applaud the effort to get some of the talent that we later hope to keep. But there's lots more to be done.

Guess I sorta like 'em all.

If you suck that badly, 15 over. 23 under might be *sadder*, but it's not worse. There's always misguided hope that way.

PLAYOFFS!!!!!!1

The problem is that so many pieces have to fall into place, even for a team with a great plan for FA and personnel. It's why one out of 32 teams wins the thing. The Bills could have had the best offer out there for Clabo. He could have been using the Bills for leverage only. We simply don't know. Short of Clabo, Doug Free and maybe a handful of other guys, it wasn't happening in FA this season. Both those two and Blalock re-signed with their teams, winners who had a built-in advantage. Jared Gaither can't get a bite from the Raiders, which tells me to stay away. Then there's the draft, where I don't feel like we're doing an adequate job, but also don't feel like we should reach for guys who aren't major improvements over the status quo. If the potential draftee grades as a B-minus, while Bell grades as a C-plus who is already in the system, is it really worth it to put in the long work of teaching a new guy in the hopes that he reaches that marginally better ceiling? Or is it better to hope that Bell, with another year of familiarity with his linemates and one year in the Gailey system, can improve? It's a tough job, and as much as I love sports, I am glad this isn't my job.

It's hard to win a Super Bowl in the NFL.

Because he's smarter and more insightful than anyone on this board, and also has a front-row seat in the war room. Actually, since WEO was obviously there yet did nothing to stop it, I blame him for the selection.