Matt in KC

I'm very curious to see if McGahee wants to stay in the game this year on 3rd and goal situations since it may affect his $$ in next contract. I do think I'd rather have Dillon running these, especialy w fresh legs. Overall, I think A Thomas is only better picking up blitzers, and Dillon is stronger in every other aspect except perhaps stamina (hard to tell since neither played full time). Of course, Thomas had probably also be had for less. At this point I thnik RB depth/talent is a bigger consideration than the salary difference, so I'd go w Dillon. I agree, 2 years would be ideal.

What, no love for James Lofton, Brian Moorman or Chris Watson?

It looked to me like the arm-tackles were the problem.... (if only he could have returned a few with no one touching him) Speaking of which, what ever happened to fast freddie? Is he going to try out for The Hamilton Tiger-Cats this year?

I agree. I'm worried Duke will "get his shot" this year with us upgrading LG, RT and depth. But, I haven't seen anything to make me think he's up to the challenge. I think he's a good backup, but a weak starter who is already peaking.

If they're targetting Okoye in the draft, they'd better get McCargo back up there quick so they don't inadvertently exaggerate our DT need to all of the teams who only research their opponents on the web....

My guess is that Gandy got praise and a low offer right after the season and said "thanks, but no thanks. Do you know the kind of money a starting guard could get in free agency?" He was right... and wrong. (Or, he'll get a good contract in the necxt few days and I'll eat my words...) He was a weak starter, but would be a valuable backup. The only question is if we have too many O-linemen (imagine that!) and would need to cut one of the "kids" to keep him.

Don't be surprised if you don't hear a response....

AP: http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...PORTS/703030336 5 years $25 million, $10.5 million signing bonus. I think losing London is a big hit to our D as well. Nate played great at the end, but Fletch was a total workhorse.

A Davis was one of our best special teams players (after of course Moorman and Lindell). Thanks for the info on Thomas. I thought they'd keep him w the Jauron connection, and given how thin we are at FB/RB.

over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. (I was just going to type that twice, but I thought the 12th "over" was particularly funny.) I'm sick of the phrase too, but am re-signed to still read it from time to time. I'd sign (and resign) any petition you start about this, btw.

Thanks. Edited.... very long week. find beer soon.

I saw we signed Greer today (to a two-year deal) AP: CB Greer re-signs with Bills Bills Re-Sign CB Jabari Greer It's just a coincidence they wrapped up his contract the day free agency started, right? They could have offered this 2-year deal last week ....and that would have counted as a tender (if the $$ were high enough), right? I've thought all offseason we'd be pursuing A-train, K Thomas, and maybe AndreaDavis again, but haven't heard anything about these guys. Just because they're not RFA's, is there a rule that we couldn't talk to them until Free agency started? I thought they were Bills until FA, when the last contract year expired, so we could have talked to them at any time. So, if I had it right, and we haven't tried to sign these guys yet (nothing reported), does that mean we don't want them back? Or, are the Bills letting them explore the market so they know they are getting a fair deal if they come back (sounds like Marv)? Sorry for the rambling. It's been a very long weak and I'm half brain-dead, but still watching TBD for Free Agent news (so far so good!).

Salaries are going up for NFL players. I know that sounds obvious, but think about it... how come you didn't say he was over-paid because he made (edit:) a half million dollars last year? I'd guess the answer is that you got used to the distorted salaries earned by NFL players. Well, the new salary is no more absurd; it's just one of the only new salaries we've seen since the cap/salaries have shifted. If we didn't shoot at the moving target, we'd lose. This is how the game is played at the GM level.

I generally agree, but you know what? S#it happens that has nothing to do with the talent of our GMs (did I just type that?). If we select a DT in the draft or land a solid FA and any of our top DTs hurt themselves before the roster cut-down, we may find ourselves glad TA is under contract. This has nothing to do with anything but dumb luck (or the strength/conditioning coach ), but is a statement that TA will likely be about as good or better than the other DTs cut from other teams. If we thought he was better than that, we'd have offered him a multi-year deal. How would you feel about being forced to sign someone worse than Tim Anderson because of untimely injury/injuries? Sorry to talk about injuries (bad mojo), but planning for the unexpected is part of the job filling the roster as well as possible.

I thought Denney and Kelsay both played quite well and the weakness was amostly at DT. Our best allignment seemed to be when they'd line up Denney inside of Kelsay on the left. They did this regularly on passing downs and Denney seemed to get as much pressure (and long arms in the passing lanes) as any of the DTs. I'm thrilled we can keep running this allignment since we don't need to shift Denney outside to DE with Kelsay still on the team.

There is nothing wrong with tendering a contract to Tim Anderson for the minimum qualifying offer. No bonus means no money is at risk. If we don't want him, we cut him and he does not get paid, and we do not take a cap hit. He doesn't take a roster spot away from anyone else (see above). We could get a third round pick from another team (or some other negotiated compensation). I wish we had a better player in the rotation than Tim Anderson, but until they materialize, or until Anderson makes the final roster cut, I'll reserve my criticism of the decision to keep him or go with someone else. That decision has not been made yet. If the Bills decided he was the answer, this would be a multi-year deal. Today changes nothing.

Wow, that's funny. I went there, looked at the player names and only after 5 minutes remembered the testimonials: What is that? ...It's definitely not random....

I would hope that if because of your support your company got so rich it started using gold toilet paper, and you became disabled or unemployed later in life because you chose to work there, that they would have the courtesy and compassion to tear off a square for you.

I'm actually kinda middle-of-the road on Kyle as a "run-stopper". I really like him because of his effort, strength and underdog late-round status. But, I do have concerns about him if he can't stay on his feet and hold the point of attack. Fortunately, the descriptions I hear of the Tampa 2 D say the DTs need to create chaos, so maybe this isn't as important as I think. Given that this was his first year, I suspect Kyle will play better each of the next couple years and will not be the weakest link on our D-Line. He looked better to me in year 1 than Tim Anderson ever did (minus one late season game last year... though I forget the opponent). I'm certainly routing for him!

I can't help but think of Kyle as a giant fish, flopping around on land with his opponents not quite able to net him. I'm not sure that he can get to an exact spot (say, where the QB is standing) often but he is good at creating chaos by going all-out. I swear his a$$ hits the turf on 90% of plays.... I think even more than strength he needs to work on balance and technique. I think he had a great rookie year and am excited to have him on the team.

Hey, I was just reading this thread and did a little research to find out if the June 1st rule still applied after the new CBA went into affect. I read on a 49ers board (in a Jonas Jennings thread!) that the team can cut two players before June 1st and choose to have their un-amortized bonus split over the current year and next (normal yearly amount current year, remainder next). This post sounded well informed, but I don't have time to research and confirm it. Here's the link. It's the last post (by TheWiz): http://forums.49ers.com/messageboard/showt...9588&page=4 Also, this article looks pretty comprehensive and easy-to-read Salary Cap FAQ page by Ask The Commish. Though I only had a minute to skim over it, I thought several of you here might like to read it: http://www.askthecommish.com/salarycap/faq.asp

Given that they have 12 other free agents they could lose and only have about 6-7 draft picks (we'll see how the compensitory picks shake out), I think your scenario leaves us short. 2006 Bills who are free agents: UFA LB London Fletcher DE Chris Kelsay FB Daimon Shelton CB Kiwaukee Thomas G Mike Gandy RB Anthony Thomas WR Andre Davis RFA DL Anthony Hargrove DT Tim Anderson CB Jabari Greer RB Shaud Williams Also, I think Villlareal is "shot" and Holcolm could be gone if I read into the press conference right 8-9 of the above are positions we need to fill (others are mainly ST/depth). I'll be very uncomfortable if we head into the draft still needing a OG, MLB, DE, DT, nickle/depth CB, RB2, FB.... The impact of picking up "scraps" after the draft or needing to find players at each of these position who can play in 2007 is frightning. I think it's more likely we sign a couple players before FA (K Thomas, Hargrove, Gandy? Greer?) , match 1 during FA? (Kelsay?) and pick up 3-4 veterans who could play, or who may be bonus-friendly enough to cut if someone better is found. Then we pick up a couple UDFA's and a couple more vets who likely will be cut after training camp.

Marv's forte is not FA or college player evaluations, contracts, the salary cap or Marketing. Marv is the GM PR-savvy face to the public. he is the cure to the sick feeling TD left in his wake. The fact that I love the job he's doing dispite the above shortcomings shows that he is a good choice for this role. He lets his GM team members stay focused on the "heavy lifting" while he makes us fans feel good. ...and it seems to be working.

Also interesting he said he didn't think much of the free agent RB options. I wonder if this includes A Thomas or if he was only thinking of a RB that could replace Willis next year if he leaves. I thought he was tipping his hand that they had RB as a high draft priority. Given the statuses of McGahee (last year), Shaud (remember him), Thomas (not under contract) this makes sense to me.

Booo! I thought of this myself, but it's poor taste to post a topic that looks like it really happened. You should delete this and post in the "guesses about the press conference" topic: http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showtopic=59729