Bill from NYC

If so, it would be small. His signing bonus (which probably wasn't huge) would accelerate and count towards the cap, but his salary does not, so they probably do get some cap relief.

You are correct. He went on to be decent, but before the injury he was playing at close to, if not at, hall of fame level. I too seem to have blocked that game from my mind. As I recall, our lb corps was virtually wiped out. Did Holocek and/or Speilmann go down too? And I think RJ was almost killed. He got hit very late and Marcus Spriggs just stood there and watched him bleed.

After tossing this around, here goes: 1) If they sign him, they will NOT be putting a 20 million dollar (or close to it) signing bonus into the hands of a sick kid as is what happened when he was a rookie. This is obviously good news. It would/should be a Belichick/Mallet situaton. If you screw up, you're outta here. 2) Mathmatecally, there will be at least 1 game where passng will not be much of an option. Check out the schedule in December. This guy can run. 3) If he plays well, they can either keep him (assuming the deal is for more than a year), or trade him and get a return for their speculative investment. Quarterbacks have big time trade value, as we all know. 4) Chan works well with Kordell Stewart types. In short, I am not seeing such a big risk in signing him to a 2 year deal for not so much money, but the key would be a limited signing bonus. Jmo. What happened?

As I think you know, I admire your work. Once, we lost a game and you posted that it was GOOD. My daughter (a Bills fan but not as nuts as us) called me on the phone and told me that someone posted how losing a game helped us, and wanted to know how this could be. I asked her who posted this. She went to the board and said,"ieatcrayonz." She was hysterical, and btw she is an lawyer and an Ivy League grad. But you had her all confused. This time, I think that I let YOU down. I was comparatively tame even with Gilmore (and I don't like the pick at all), and never commented about Graham. In fact, I think that DC Tom is pissed at me for being so mature and civil. Either way, keep it coming!!! You are only a step below Hogboy, who is the all time great troll.

Obviously, it's early to say how talented the players in this draft are. And, the Bills followed their trend of taking a db or running back in round. Some are ready to acknowledge the dismal results of doing so, and are skeptical. That said, I didn't hate the Gilmore pick as much as Spiller because they did as you said. One cannot make a case that the DL isn't MUCH better given the UFA signings. Plus, Dareus will have a full season under his belt, and KW will hopefully be healthy. Looking back at 2010, the Bills went after the right positions. They were simply unable to find the right players. In 2012, they once again drafted players in positions of need. I have zero issues with this. I hope it works this time, and it certainly can. Imo, if Glenn (and I admittedly would have chosen Martin), and any other 2 players can play at a high level, I can see us perhaps winning a wild card spot.

This is a fascinating premise. I could NOT figure out why they drafted Martin. Honestly, the picks (Glenn and Martin) would have appeared to make more sense in reverse. Martin doesn't seem at all suited to be a bruising RT, yet the phins selected him despite having Long on the left side. I don't know anything about his health issues, but it would certainly appear as if the phins are hesitant to pay Long the big bucks. This will be interesting indeed.

OK. I know that you watch this team. Is there any player you would liken him to? He doesn't seem as coordinated as Bell.

So you don't project him to guard?

I sure hope you are right. He is a risk imo, but has as much upside as anyone in the draft. I personally would have preferred Martin, but he might have the same problem as Bell (lack of strength). Was Glenn worth the risk in round 2? Absolutely.

I was on the phone with my daughter during the draft, and I told her that things were not shaping up well. The Vikes GM played his hand perfectly. He was touting Claiborne all week, and my guess is that he knew perfectly well that he was going to draft Kalil. In essence, he got 3 picks for NOTHING!!!!! I tip my hat to this man. Then, Dallas paid (given RG# and Julio Jones) practically nothing to move down. This sucked if we had any intentions of doing do. And Tannehill didn't drop (again, a hit on trade down value) and Barron, who was coveted flew off the board (another hit on trade down value). Look, it's over. All we can do is hope that it works. Btw, Gilmore looked as if he wanted to slit his wrists after being picked by us. He looked more upset than I was!

My comments wrt Buddy falling asleep after making the pick were out of line. Buddy Nix is trying to build a winning team. I know this, so my mean comments were not called for. Now, even though he is a professional football man and I am obviously not, I do reserve the right to disagree with his method of building a team. I do so because I have been a Bills fans for decades. I've seen the results of the first round defensive back merry go-round, and as we all know, they haven't been pretty. That said, perhaps, given the strong DL, things will be different now. I love this team, it's fans, and the state of New York. I want the Buffalo Bills to win as much as anybody, anywhere. So again, I'm sorry for the mean comments. They were undeserved. And btw, I was very restrained. Compared to Whitner and McKelvin, this was good behavior. GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, what a jerk! How could he think that this spendid selection was anything less than a stroke of genius, and a smashing success?

Well, I make no guarantees, because another corner in round 2 (or a safety) will probably get me into Whitner territory. And it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see the Bills do something this stupid. In fact, history would dictate such stupidity.

C'mon, credit where its due, no? Am I not doing better than I was with Whitner and McKelvin. Again, I am more sad than angry. But the fact is, this is yet another top resource down the toilet.

Ya think he will still be awake?

It has kept us locked in the cellar, and for longer than a decade. And be assured, it will take many years for the apologists to acknowledge how idiotic this pick was.

Yeah, but you were loving Whitner too. And JP, and every other stupid selection the Bills have ever made. But cope the way you choose. It's OK. Wave pom poms with Promo. Ultimately, being happy is a better state mind than accepting reality I suppose.

How sad. How truly sad and stupid. When they threw early picks in the garbage for Whitner and McKelvin, I was furious. This time, I am really feeling sorry for Fitz, and even sorrier for us as loyal, true fans. Buddy will probably be fast asleep by the time I have finished typing this post, but make no mistake, he just hurt this franchise. And again, fans such as us deserve better than this absolute, true, incomprehensible idiocy. Another dismal day for Bills fans.

I hope that the Vikes grab Claiborne so he doesn't slip down.

I really do understand this. And I think that soon, the cb position will not be valued as high as it is now. A "shutdown corner" is a good thing to have, but at what cost? The Raiders let theirs walk. The Eagles are shopping Samuels (and his huge contract) for a 4th or so. And, let's talk about Revis. According to Sirius (I think it was Ross Tucker), Revis was paid 25 million last season, counting the bonus. Now, he is threatening to hold out. He makes SO much, they had to extend Sanchez (and give him more up front money) just to stay under the salary cap. So what should a team do, let corners walk after one contract? We tried that, and lost football games. None of the above teams made the playoffs. It really isn't smart (imo) to pay huge bucks to a cb given the rule changes. If a team plays 4 wide sets, Revis can only "shut down" 25% of opposing wideouts. And in many sones, receivers are passed on to safties at designated spots. We don't know how good or bad our corners are. Our leading sack artist played nose at least half the time, and after that Kelsay and Moats were our pass rush. And, teams even ran on us. Once the team is stronger and deeper on the front 7 and OL (and maybe even QB), I would probably be OK with a first round corner. Until then, I simply view it as unwise to devote top resources to the secondary. And sadly, there is a body of poor work by Levy and Jauron to make my case.

Happy Birthday!!!

The right thing to do would be Kalil. The Bills would take Blackmon. It's hard for me to believe otherwise.

Fine, but why waste another first round pick? We need a LT and our LBs, other than Barnett, might be the worst in the league. There is no reason at all to throw another first round pick in the garbage. Last winter was mild. This one might not be, and we do have those late season home games. We need to use our best resources on getting stronger, instead of repeating the same mistakes that have kept us locked in the cellar.

Absolutely.

Well, Parcells could not trade out of the #1 spot when he took Jake Long. And look at how much the Raiders spent to bust out on Russell. I think early picks are worth more in terms of owners not having to take a financial risk on an unproven player. These kids were getting 30 million dollar bonuses. Not any more. Even Whitner held out at #8. We will see how it plays out real soon.