Luxy312

Dareus has been unfortunate in his personal life, and of that there is no doubt. That doesn't give you a free pass though. No judge will ever give someone a free pass when they start a statement with "I broke the law because...". Despite his misfortune, his play on the field has been very good. It's not the Bills that need to get Dareus help, but Dareus that needs to recognize that he NEEDS help. At the end of the day, you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped, unless through the penal system. If that is in fact the path that he's going down, I will not lose sleep over it or feel sorry for him. Unlike many, he has the means and access to people that can help him.

100% pass unless they were able to get him in the 3rd round or later. Too many issues to potentially waste a high draft pick.

Give me Mack all day. Ask yourself how teams beat the Patriots. Beating up Brady. Buffalo's defense would become a pretty big nasty!

There is simply no team in the NFL that drafts BPA. In fact, there's no metric that I'm aware of that allows you to even compare positions. I'm sure teams have a means, but I'm guessing that the math is pretty complex. The history of the NFL proves that there is no "can't miss" prospect at any position. What if it's a QB, you ask? They drafted a QB in the first round last year. If you don't think for a second that teams would devalue a position that they think they filled LAST year, then you're clearly not thinking. End of day, BPA = perception = individual.

Ugh....I have 25 players I would take before Ebron.

1 - Clowney. Best athlete in the draft with the highest upside. 2 - Mack. Best football player and will make an immediate impact for any team. 3 - Robinson. Plug and play left tackle. 4 - Watkins. Best route runner in the draft. 5 - Manziel. You can't teach the leadership he brings. I think he'll fail, but have to have him here for now. 6 - Matthews. Can play any position on the line and is still a heck of a tackle. 7 - Evans. Elite size and wingspan. May have the most upside of any WR in the draft. 8 - Donald. While a college DT, I think he projects to a DE for me. Fast and mean off the edge. 9 - Martin. Another guy that can play any offensive line position, but is best at guard. 10 - Barr. Basically an upgraded version of Brian Urlacher. Enough said.

Comments like "Watkins to the Jags" is meant to somehow install fear into the minds of fans. Personally, I think this makes it that much easier to plan for the draft. If every team in the top-8 listed the 3 guys they would pick in any order, you would likely know 5-6 picks before the Bills selection at #9. Knowing that makes narrowing down the options of picks that much better.

While I don't think that the prospect of Zack Martin in the first round is out of the question, I personally think it would be predicated on maybe only 1 QB being picked 1-8. I can only find 8 players that I would pick before Martin in the first. Clowney, Mack, Robinson, Matthews, Manziel, Watkins, Evans, and Barr. Heck, I'm actually even split on Martin versus Barr when I think about it.

RT - The line last year was OK in pass protection, but awful versus the run. The Bills placed a priority on running the ball last year, so I don't know how you put any position above this position in terms of importance. This does NOT suggest that they should pick this position in the first round none the less as there's value later. DB - While I am perfectly fine with the starters that they have right now, the offensive system that they're going to run requires more than just your starting DB's. They need better players for nickle and dime packages and they need insurance in the event that starters get injured. RB - I love Fred Jackson, but he's well on the wrong side of 30. Existing players will not fill that void and clearly Spiller is not an every down back. LB - Also like the free agent pickups in Rivers and Spikes here, but where do you go after that? Both of those guys are getting a bit older and given that the run defense wasn't very good last year, I don't think you can simply rely on what we have. WR/TE - These are pretty much one and the same for me, depending on who the Bills will actually use in their offensive sets. They are really young at WR but not so much so at TE. Personally, they're not in need of a Gronkowski/Graham, because they don't use the position like those teams do (i.e. as a primary offensive weapon).

I'm just going to assume that my board IS the Bills board, because I think I'm that smart. I'll even add some commentary. 1 - Clowney. Characterized by many as a once in a decade athlete, he would be a game changer for pretty much any defense. Can't see anyone else at #1. 2 - Mack. Similar to Clowney, this guy has been called the best football player coming out of college. Given linebacker challenges in the past, he could be #2. 3 - Robinson. Could also be #2 considering the Bills bigger need in the draft is OT. However, this guy will want to play LT, which will be a problem. Luckily he'll be gone anyway. 4 - Matthews. While offensive skill players are the sexy pick, this is purely based on the need stated above. 5 - Evans. Probably a surprise here for many, but the Bills are loaded with guys that have a lot of the qualities that Watkins has. What they don't have is that big uncoverable WR, which Evans is. I would argue that he's the reason why Manziel looked good and not the other way around. 6 - Watkins. Nice consolation prize to have if I'm Buffalo, but it could signal the end of Stevie Johnsons tenure should Mike Williams not pan out. 7 - Martin. He's essentially like Matthews but not quite as good. Can play any position on the OL. 8 - Gilbert. People will hate this, but with the defense the Bills are going to run, they will need more than 2-3 decent CB's. I would not hesitate to draft him at #9. 9 - Dennard. Same with this kid as #8.

Suh's salary for 2014 is listed by Rotoworld as $11.55 million with a voidable $3.505 million in 2015. There's almost no question that he's looking for the last big payday of his career at this point. I'm not sure the Bills can afford him, nor that he would be worth it. He's an upgrade, but by how much is certainly questionable if we had to move Dareus or Williams to DE.

There's a lot to say about "what happened to RB" last season. Spiller suffered a high ankle sprain early in the season that lingered and prevented him from making the same type of cuts that he did the year before. If you watched the games, he would go out and get a carry or two and then take himself off the field. This wasn't just a couple weeks, but the entire season. I blame the coaching staff a little bit here. You have a dynamic runner/receiver that needs to be able to make moves in space and they play him even though he can only run straight ahead. Now look at the offensive line. It was well below average in the running game. So many 2nd and short, followed by 3rd and short because they couldn't move the pile. This was true for both Bills running backs. At the end of the day, if you want 3-6 ypc with almost no chance of a big play, Jackson is the better choice. He's also clearly the better blocker when they need a RB to chip in with the passing game. Spiller has at times been downright awful picking up even a corner or safety blitz. Despite being a down year last year, the numbers still play out as explained. Out of 201 attempts, Spiller had 30 carries for negative yards. However, 11 of those carries went for 15+ yards and 9 of them went for 20+. Out of 207 attempts, Jackson had only 11 for negative yards. But only 4 carries went for 15+ yards and only 1 for 20+. I attribute the negative yards almost specifically to his injury based on the year prior: Spiller - 205 carries, 12 were 20+, 32 were 10+, 16 negative. Jackson - 185 carries, 0 were 20+, 12 were 10+, and 15 negative. I.e. our perceptions are that Spiller gets caught for losses more than Jackson and that's because of 2013. The reality is that was not the case when Spiller is healthy. It comes down to whether you're looking at a running back to break a 10+ yard play 15-16% of the time he gets the ball or another that rarely breaks the big play but gets you the more consistent 3-6 yard play.

Great article mid last season about Dareus. At that point in the season, he ranked FIRST among defensive tackles in stops. People need to get a little bit of a grip about him too and the position he plays. He's essentially taking on both the center and a guard on every down. There is no question that that is huge. http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/Kyle-and-Marcell-a-winning-combination/4d84f742-6e9b-4ad3-bdd2-ca945703963b

He doesn't know how to debate Yoho. All he has is angry rants and insults.

I wondered that too. Like the ones that haven't even been born yet. LOL.

That's where you're wrong though OC. It's not a false charge and there is no absolute answer to that question. Some perceive his comments and actions to be racist and bullying while others do not. He's not being "charged" with anything, whatever the heck that is supposed to mean. In this case, perception is reality. There's nothing really to prove. What's really sad in this case is that you try to make racism and being retarded the same or similar thing. The former is a learned or developed behavior while the latter is a developmental disability. I don't think anyone (other than an idiot) would consider racism a disability. At a minimum it makes you hypocritical to use inflated negative descriptions without "proving" that it's true. To your own point, you owe Yoho an apology. LOL.

Very good read indeed. Thanks!

I'm not sure if either of these points have any relevance to the conversation. I currently work for a company that employs about 2,000 consultants and previously worked for one that employed 80,000. Every single person working for the company signs an agreement that says they will do no work of any kind for anyone else without prior written approval of the firm. Way more restrictive than the language here and legal in every state. Simply put in the context of this case, if you want a different job then get a different job. They have no obligation to work for the management company, nor do they have any right to do the same. At will employment anyone? In terms of getting no compensation for appearances, so what? Irrelevant. I make appearances all the time at trade shows, radio broadcasts, etc. relative to what I do for work and my company gets their name out there. I don't get extra compensation or a cut of what they may make on me. It is also part of my employment contract. There's nothing cut and dry about this at all, and as someone that is in the field of legal disputes, this one stinks a little bit of disgruntled former contractors seeking a payday.

Manziel - Cleveland Clowney - Atlanta Bortles - Houston Mack - Jacksonville Evans - Tampa Bay

Well done C.Biscuit. Enjoy your sense of humor!

While I'm not a huge fan of Martin, this would actually make some sense to me. He's the #1 OG prospect out there and can play both guard and tackle. He's flexible in terms of playing different positions like Matthews. I would argue that he has more utility than Lewan. He was also in for a visit to Buffalo, which says a lot considering that the Bills have been drafting players that have visited in a significant number of drafts. Pre-draft visitors projected to be first round picks now include: Sammy Watkins, Jake Matthews, Mike Evans, Eric Ebron, Zack Martin, Odell Beckham, and Ryan Shazier.

First, the Bills don't need another guard. They signed Chris Williams to a $13.5 million contract with $5.5 million guaranteed. There's no doubt that he's starting at LG next to Glenn. On the other side, the team has been happy with the play of Kraig Urbik. In fact, he earned a $16.3 million contract extension that he signed in 2012. If RI could play and not be a doucebag, would he be an upgrade to either of these guys? Possibly, but the Bills are far from weak at that position. Second, our team is just starting to build chemistry. The simple chance that he goes back to the behavior that was there before is enough to avoid him. Saying that a team should sign a player for just what they do on the field and ignore the off field activity is short sighted. I would actually argue that to believe that, you should probably be riding a short bus and wearing a helmet such that you don't accidentally damage what you have left up there. I've said it before about other guys like this. The NFL is a business and has no place for guys like this. There's a reason why the NFLPA and the owners mutually agreed to a conduct policy. Third, whether RI is a racist or not is debatable, and quite frankly comes down to individual perspective. He made statements that could easily be interpreted as racist. Far too often, people that are bullies believe that they're "just having fun" or that they're somehow helping the other person "toughen up" with their actions. Last, and most important, were there's smoke there is usually fire. The Dolphins organization very quickly divested themselves of both RI and Martin. This does not imply that what was going on was simply locker room banter. It also doesn't imply that the organization had the perspective that their contributions outweighed the issue at hand and the potential negative long term affect on the team.

OK, the cost to Cleveland would be $3.65 million. The Bills already paid the additional $1.75 million roster bonus back in March. For 2015, he's due $5.5 million plus a $250K roster bonus. Not sure you would find a 1,000 yard receiver for $1.8 million and $2.75 million in 2015.

Opening game, looking at $500 per seat for good seats and probably $250 for end zone/obstructed.

I'm in Chicago.