CAT

I think Marv wants to plan for a championship team versus a solid team even if it means we have some gaps next year. That means trading picks for moving up and getting top rookies for 5 years versus depth with ok guys. Especially since we wont pay for impact free agents. We have extra 3s the next 2 years that can be used to move up inthe drafts. Lets say we do this to get 6 picks on the top 50 over 2 years and got impact players at rb,wr,te,lb,cb and dline. Plus resign LE and Jp. Would that be better than havig 2-4 extra picks? Lets shoot for a 12 win caliber team vs the saver/quicker 10 win team. Of course many think we are on the way down,not up.

to compete for a championship we need to get 4 impact players over 2 years(plus solid and depth). We need a Rb and aWR or TE for the passing game and 2 LB. Get 2 this year. I like PW and Turner for our 2 and 2008 3rd any other combo that gets us 2 top tier players from the 4 needs works.

using a quartile system of bad,weak/unproven,solid and good how do you see it ? O-line-solid,qb-solid,wr-solid,rb bad. Total offense around 15 to20 in the league representing improvement. D line solid,LB bad,secondary solid. Total defense around 20 to 25 alittle improvement. Special teams good around 5 to 10. My view assumes we get a nice RB, LB,CB,LB with are top picks and depth with the rest. That puts us as a young team that plays hard and wins around 7 to 9 games.

assummig we stay put woith T Spikes and WM and that 3 round on is for depth , potetial and role players we need 1 more FA starter. ILB,DT and corner are candidates. We need to figure out what is available in FA and most likely the draft and make a move. I would like to pick up a solid CB and resign KT for corner and take that off our list and play the draft out for best DT and ILB combination we can. Alternatively someone like Marcus Thomas (DT from Florida will go later than his talent deserves because he got kicked off the team for pot. He will put his $ at risk in his contract and will be ok. If we can get a guy like him in round 3 we may be able to get 3 big time contributors in the draft. Next year cut T Spikes and use $ for Evans, tag WM and trade him.

Lots has been said about counting the full bonus against the cap hurting the Bills vs the league rule of spreading it out over the term of the contract. Flip side is the Bills should not count unamoritized bonus against the years budget when they cut a vet because it is not a cash outlay. We will not have a problem with the league rule of charging 100% of what is left of the bonus because we are way below the league cap. If we cut TKO and Holcomb we will save their salary and the 6.3 million in unamoritized bonus wont be charged to 2007 by the Bills. That money is worth 1 or 2 good players even with charging the full bonus of the new guys.

Lots has been said about counting the full bonus against the cap hurting the Bills vs the league rule of spreading it out over the term of the contract. Flip side is the Bills should not count unamoritized bonus against the years budget when they cut a vet because it is not a cash outlay. We will not have a problem with the league rule of charging 100% of what is left of the bonus because we are way below the league cap. If we cut TKO and Holcomb we will save their salary and the 6.3 million in unamoritized bonus wont be charged to 2007 by the Bills. That money is worth 1 or 2 good players even with charging the full bonus of the new guys.

The Bills top end goal must be to be competitive not a top 10 team. We are at a huge disadvantage with our new approach to the cap. I wonder if the Bills have modeled it out. Lets take JP and L E. If we extend them down the road for a 10 million bonus plus 4 in salary that would be 14 million against our formula vs 6 under the NFL formula assumming a 5 year contract. For each of them if in the same year. Play that out over 4 or5 mid teir guys over the years you can see what it means. Generally, we will loose most draft picks who excell after their rookie contracts and be a minor player in FA. So we will need to get extra draft picks, trade our guys with 1 or 2 years left and limit our stars to 3 or 4 on the roster. 10 teams or more will scoop the talent and have a clear advantage. If we are real smart and lucky we can mix a 10 win playoff season 3 or 4 times per 10 years and never be a real contender. This is what Ralph was talking about when the new deal went through and now he is making his point with this new approach which means the end unless the deal gets fixed. Bills attendance will drop 40,000 to 50,000 less per year with 4 or 5 blackouts per year. Good news is we can change our limit to 80% of the cash cap!

The Bills top end goal must be to be competitive not a top 10 team. We are at a huge disadvantage with our new approach to the cap. I wonder if the Bills have modeled it out. Lets take JP and L E. If we extend them down the road for a 10 million bonus plus 4 in salary that would be 14 million against our formula vs 6 under the NFL formula assumming a 5 year contract. For each of them if in the same year. Play that out over 4 or5 mid teir guys over the years you can see what it means. Generally, we will loose most draft picks who excell after their rookie contracts and be a minor player in FA. So we will need to get extra draft picks, trade our guys with 1 or 2 years left and limit our stars to 3 or 4 on the roster. 10 teams or more will scoop the talent and have a clear advantage. If we are real smart and lucky we can mix a 10 win playoff season 3 or 4 times per 10 years and never be a real contender. This is what Ralph was talking about when the new deal went through and now he is making his point with this new approach which means the end unless the deal gets fixed. Bills attendance will drop 40,000 to 50,000 less per year with 4 or 5 blackouts per year. Good news is we can change our limit to 80% of the cash cap!

looking at were we are contract wise right now we are 4 primary and 4 secondary gaps away from very solid,assumming our young guys continue to progress. Primary: cb,dt,mlb,og. Secondary:#3 de,#2/3 ot,#2/3 cb, o playmaker at rb or te. We will probably cover the #3 de,#2/3cb by keeping our own guys (Kelsey and KT). That leaves 7 gaps. I think it takes 2 years to get all the way there. If we can get 5 of these filled through FA and the draft that will be a solid offseason. I see our 1 and 2 going d. Keeping NC would be big but I am not confident.

Truth is we can not keep/get all the players we daydream about. So what drives your offseason plan. Its your vision. I think Buffalos needs to be strong defense and special teams with a solid control offense offense. Also youth and depth versus big name expensive guys and retention versus recruitment or FA. Think about it: bad weather for 25% of the season,limited budget and limited appeal for manf FA. I think we keep our key FA except LF unless NC does not want to stay. We use our 1 and 2 on impact positions were special physical skills seperate good from solid players(not O line). Finally I think we are in year 2 of a 3 year plan when looking at a championship caliber team. So, we will get a DT, MLB, and TE with our top 3 picks/FA. The next 3 are O line,oline and speed at RB. Next year we replace WM and Spikes

we are now to the inevitable , no playoffs,low ranking O and D and good players are FA and the cap is up. What do you do besides pretend we can fix everything? My feeling is we need 2 young linebackers which we can get in the draft (rounds 2-4), a stong O guard in FA, and another D tackle in the draft (Round 2-4). I like an O playmaker at 1(best player available). The rest is depth and trying to keep key FA other than LF. Do not give WM big bucks. I would use my 4 on a running back. Of course we need some luck because this is a big offseason.

it is becoming clear that our LB are too slow. Say goodgye to LF and hello to 2 new LBs in rounds 2-4

they have M and R. Do you think they will loose them to FA? Do you thimk they will come cheap? Me neither. So, why not keep NC even if he is expensive? We have several holes to fill (MLG,DT,OG plus depth at LT<RB, LB). We can not add more holes and improve. Remember, despite a decent season we are near the bottom of the league in O and D and had a pretty lucky year injury wise. The city can not take another disappointing year.

let LF go ,pick up a solid FA and a guy in the 2/ 3 round. If we can keep NC and pick up a DT in FA or on day 1 we should be at least ok at D. We would need to keep NC and add a big time FA to be really good

how much would it cost to franchise LF for 1 year? Maybe not much given the position. That way would could draft a MLB in the 3 round and let him play behind LF for 1 year and no long term commitment to an older player. I dont think we can/will keep NC which means we will keep KT and pick up another mid tier cb in fa FA and perhaps round 4 or 5. We will keep Kelsey and add a D tackle, OG, OT and a Rb in the draft/fa. We will move up to the middle of the pack on offense(15) and remain at the lower end on D(23) and finish 7 and 9