1B4IDie

My bad I confused McBride with Warrow for a second. Don't know why. :beer:

Most Likely at Draft time. The new picks are likely to hoist the Nike Jerseys

I don't think he would have had the choice in 2012. Given the timing of the deal. It looks like Nix was waiving the franchise tag around. Hence the front loaded contract as opposed to a backloaded contract. A Backloaded contract is generally more common and gives the FO a chance to cut dead weight if a player's skills diminish with time. A Front loaded contract means the contract might comprehend the price of the 1 year Franchise contract. Good job by Nix and Johnson on coming to a deal without dropping the Franchise tag hammer. If they had to use the franchise tag it makes Buffalo look like, the only way a player will sign with them if they are forced to sign. Oh no, a member of the media has picked up on this. My stomach turned when I saw that, because you can just see how that is going to be taken the wrong way. I think it might be a poorly trimmed 13 or #13.

Exactly and this speaks volumes to the locker room too. We have a lot of 7th rounders and UDFA that are contributing on the team. This is a message that if you do your job, if you practice hard and perform well on the field you can get paid well in Buffalo and don't have to find greener pastures elsewhere. This is huge!!! If they didn't franchise Stevie at 4:00pm today I was going to change my screen name to "Are the Bills Serious?" Now I'm good on the screen name front for 3-5 years if I choose. Clearly the "threat" of the franchise tag, moved this deal forward. Good work Bills FO!

If true, this would lead me to believe that the Bills are planning to use the Franchise tag. Meaning anyway you slice It Stevie will be back in 2012.

I like Andre Branch a lot. When you look at Bowers "Highlight" reels. Branch stood out more than Bowers imo.

Whats the difference between him and Andre Branch? Everyone except desperate Bills' fans are in agreement that no DE prospect is worth the #10 pick this year. As much you want it to happen the DEs in this draft are not impressive. The 4 Tackles are world class tackles and at least 1 of them will be available. Then you got Michael Floyd that out combined AJ Green plus has a nice career at ND. All 5 of those players are orders of magnitudes better than the defensive prospects.

Which is a real reason not to tag and trade Mario. The concept a team Tag and Trade a player is not far fetched out of hand. The Texans have a few more hours to make a tough decision. Ben Tate is just as good or better than Foster and got to prove it last year. Ben Tate was drafted to be the #1 RB but Foster came out of nowhere when Tate blew a knee in #2010. I'm thinking they'd survive a Foster departure. However having both backs would be a much better place to be. It's definitely going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.

1.) The cap is not a problem for 24/32 team. 2.) The pool of FA WRs is deeper than most year's pool. However Stevie Johnson is 25 years old, coming off of back to back 1,000 yard seasons, and put on a clinic against Revis while he was banged up. Everywhere except for a few vocal posters on this board have Stevie Johnson in the Top 5 FA WRs. 3.) What does overpaid mean? He will get paid what he gets paid. I don't believe anyone thinks it will be less than 7.5 M a season. Yes it is possible that the Bills sign Vincent Jackson on the first day of Free Agency and poor Stevie is left out in the cold forced to play football elsewhere. Yes that is the risk that Stevie need to take in order to test the FA market. Does anyone really think that is a reason why Stevie Johnson wouldn't test the FA market? Stevie Johnson's particular situation is not representative of all free agents. I don't think we are talking past each other. I am discussing points you are bringing up as reasons why he wouldn't test FA. It looks like we both agree that the reasons not to test Free Agency are pretty weak for Stevie Johnson.

The piece you're missing is that he doesn't know what the Bills contract is in comparison to. You say 7.5M vs 8M (for example) but right now its is 7.5M vs ?.?M You need to see the other offers before you can make a comparison. In order to see the other offers you need to get the other offers. Also saying "I want to come back to Buffalo" and entertaining Free Agent offers are not two mutual exclusive actions. Look at Clabo last year. He tested the free agent market, He reportedly got higher offers, He then took the lower offer to stay with his current team. Again, I understand you have an opinion. However I personally don't understand why anyone in Stevie's position wouldn't test the waters and see what other contracts are out there.

Yes that is the key. Not to mention part of Mike Adams being the "3rd best OT" is that he was caught up in the Tattoo scandal at Ohio State. A bigger concern imo is Mike Adama had a pretty poor showing in the bench press. Which imo makes me concerned that he is lazy. For the last 5 years he knew what he was going to have to do at the combine. A bench press can easily be improved upon if you "Just Do it" If he were in the gym benching a few times a week. A man of that size should be able to blow away 19 reps. Something just doesn't add imo there. I think without the character issues he may not be the 3rd best OT but it just so happens there are 4 good OTs all worthy of a top pick in this draft and FOR A CHANGE the Bills are in the position to get one.

You must not be familiar with Nix. When specifically has he not been transparent with the media? Niix"I want a waterbug" draft they draft a water bug, CJ Spiller Nix "I don't like the DEs in this draft and I won't trade up to get RGIII. I like some of these Tackles" draft: TBD

Thats an interest take, put yourself in Stevie's shoes for a minute and think about it again. What possible motivation would he have for signing before he was a FA? After this deal the next time he is likely to be a FA he will be on the other side of 30. Right now he is in the prime of his athletic potential coming off two good seasons. He is going to be wine & dinned by most of the NFL. I can't imagine anyone that really thinks about the situation would ever sign before they were able to have the experience of being recruited by 32 NFL teams.

I'm on the same page. Nix is pretty transparent and it looks like one of the OTs (Martin or Adams) and an outside chance of Floyd will be the pick. If it wasn't one of those 3 players I'd be extremely surprised. Floyd is going to rise as we get closer to the draft. As long as teams are confident with his character issues. In March 2 2011 Julio Jones was considered a "Top 25" pick, when I was banging the gong that he might be better than AJ Green. When people start to comprehend that Michael Floyd out Combined AJ Green and look at his tape. He is going to catch up with the Much Smaller than antiquated Blackmon.

Not to mention lloyd already rapped Washington for Millions. So at this point in his career he doesn't seem to be looking for the huge pay day. He seems to want to be on a winner. He rescued my Fantasy team in 2010 and was a huge part of my championship season (when you have Roddy white and Calvin Johnson and then your 3rd WR puts up number Lloyd put up you're tough to beat) Then last year he helped me in a desperation at the end of the season, when Britt, Forte, Demecco Murray, and Jennings were all out or hobbled . So I'm pretty familiar with Lloyd up to this point.

See Below: By " a bigger Lee Evans" I mean all the guy does is run the streak route. I've seen enough Steelers games to know how he plays. He is nota fit on the Bills because the Bills cannot successfully execute long passing plays when they had Lee Evans. I don't think Lee Evans was slow or broken down in 2010.

He doesn't have much in common with Lofton. Its more like think Stevie Johnson just a bit faster. Yeah he is following Joshey boy back to New England. Its pretty much a done deal already.

It makes zero sense. Michael Floyd has a higher ceiling and Mike Wallace is a bigger Lee Evans. Lee Evans didn't fit this offense. Its not liktely Mike Wallave would.

A team would have to sign Wallace to a bigger deal than Pitts and give up the tendered pick, which was designated a 1st rounder for Wallace. So Wallace ain't going no wheres in 2012 beside Pittsburgh. The tender is only for 2.2M so I'm guessing Wallace ain't too happy about that but they have time to work out a deal. Like what was mentioned earlier, Stevie is an UFA which means the only way a team keeps him is with the franchise tag.

Its like being an "owner" of the Salvation Army, except you don't get the tax write off. I'm sure the Bills could raise 6.7M if they were allowed to ask for donations like the Pack does. Generally this rounds of "shares" are tied to a program, like the stadium remodel that they Pack completed recently. Is there not an effort tied to this fund raising drive?

That's cute. You are on the practice squad. though so you have some learnin' to do. I believe the Tim Tebow thread a few years back got a few 100 pages. Then Cam Newton thread last year really took off too. So expect this one to climb. Its just interesting there isn't a Luck thread anymore. I guess all the "Matt Barkley is better than Luck" nonsense is just too goofy after Luck destroyed the combine on top of his stellar Stanford career, but it isn't too late to have 300 pages debating Luck yet.

#1

That's an interesting take. Since it sounds like it is as set in stone as it gets.

Yeah. I wish there were a separate area for fan fantasy trading threads. "Now if we just trade 3 1st for 6 2nd and a 3rd, then take those 7 picks and my grandma's meatballs and trade them for Aaron Rodgers and BJ Raji, then Trade BJ Raji for 2 1st to St. Louis for thier 1st, Then trade one of those 1st and Fitzpatrick back to St. Louis for BJ Raji and Steven Jackson. Then Trade Steven Jackson the 2nd 2nd, and Buddy Nix for Von Miller, Tim Tebow and John Elway. Then . . . ."

Yes but its possible that a big WR runs a 4.6 in a unitard and 4.65 in pads, Where a little burner may run a 4.31 in a unitard and 4.65 in full pads. The pads are going to effect different body types, differently. I and atleast SJBF think it'd be more useful information.