Dibs

Don't you mean next year.....or the one after. It's rare for a rookie to make a difference to a team. All of those picks won't help much this season more than likely. I agree they may well be a force in the West this season but that's won't be due to the number of draft picks they have.

Nice post PG.

This only makes sense if we are looking at signing another player to a 'deal'. $30mil was the figure people quoted & we have not reached that yet in new money spent on FAs. Signing another name FA may well make things too tight for our cap situation but as is, we are not tight......or am I wrong? Have we spent over $25mil already in cash on our few FA signings? Dockery......$18.5mil guarenteed & $23mil over 1st 3 seasons......lets say $10mil this year. Walker......$25mil over 5 years.......lets say $6mil this year. Thomas, Thomas & Whittle???? Lets say $7mil for all three this year. Even under the inflated figures I put forward we would still have another $7mil. As I said, it implies to me that(assuming it's a truthful factor) we are looking at another signing.

I'd pay $10,000 for the Bills to win a super bowl.

"due to salary cap reasons". If there is any validity in this statement(& for the sake of discussion I'll assume there is) what could those 'salary cap reasons' possibly be? We have only sign 2 decent contracts which are really only the equivalent of NC & LF. We must be looking at another decent signing to have legit salary cap reasons for getting rid of Spikes......even considering our self imposed 'cash to cap' situation. Who might that signing be? There are still a few FA DTs available......but I feel we will wait until after the draft to see where we go with DT. Turner? As above, see what happens with the draft. There are however 2 top LBs looking to be traded. Lance Briggs & Al Wilson If, as I said, there is truth to the salary cap reason then I would think we have some sort of a deal lined up for either Briggs or Wilson......probably Wilson. ***Probably no truth to the reasons given for wanting to trade him though......If he's past it you wouldn't advertise that when putting him on the trade blocks***

How come nobody here gave the heads up about this? I thought TBD had it's finger on the pulse of all things Bills. Had I known, I would have kept an eye out for him. Everything he said about Aussie rules compared to American Football was correct(IMO)......and I gave up arguing the points myself a looooong time ago. Mind you, his argument holds for basketball as well.

I tend to think 'holding your own' means(& what I meant when I said it) that the player is not a liability. Most starters in most positions around the league 'hold their own'. They are not stars(or good).....nor are they liabilities. Most rookies cannot 'hold their own'. Pennington couldn't. However........ Whitner, Simpson, Williams could......meaning that for the most of it, they were not liabilities......meaning(back to your original concept) they were not playing simply "out of sheer desperation and lack of depth", those guys were playing because they could get the job done without being liabilities to the team. Again, I agree that people saying "Oooh, Pennington started & was a 7th round pick.....he's ACE....Marv's marvelous!" is thoughtless since he did start "out of sheer desperation and lack of depth".....but for you to lump all the other rookies in with him is equally wrong.

K.Williams & McCargo don't play the same position. Williams played because he beat Anderson for the starting spot. Sure it's only Anderson but he(Williams) certainly showed promise since he was a rookie etc. He held his own & gives legitimate reason for hope in his future progression. Remembering that rookies tend not to start or 'get it' in their first(2nd) years as pros, it is also encouraging that McCargo was showing improvement just before his injury. I understand your point......and a good point it is......but you have done the opposite to your initial argument. You have generalized the other way. You name every rookie starter.....even Whitner.....as starting out of sheer desperation. From all accounts, Whitner & Simpson held their own admirably......Simpson impressing enough to have the cutting of Vincent an easy decision.....and Whitner ending up 6th highest number of tackles for a DB in the NFL. IMO, I'd say you are absolutely correct in regards to Pennington & maybe Ellison.......but you are incorrect in regards to Whitner, Simpson & for the most part Williams. Due to his play, Williams would have gotten plenty of rotation time even if the guy in front of him was a top starter. ***I'm assuming your point is that these rookies were not as good as your standard starter. If you are meaning not as good as 'good' or 'probowl' starter the point is relatively meaningless.***

The problem as I see it is.......the clueless have an extraordinarily hard time comprehending opposing arguments to their clueless thoughts. Please people, do as I have done.......embrace your cluelessness so that harmony may once again reign on this board.

"With age comes a reduction in the excuses for being moronic." - DIBS "The young argue with the vigor of youth......the old argue out of habit." - DIBS "The old have years of experience arguing their views. This does not make their view correct." - DIBS "Once an idiot......always an idiot." - DIBS

I'm an Aussie......we breath sarcasm.

I am convinced that the apparent improvement of the OL after the bye was a bit of an illusion. Sure, Peters protected JPL better than Gandy did but overall(& the stats back this up) the sacks kept coming at a similar rate & the running game still struggled(particularly in short yardage). The playcalling changed after mid season which dramatically effected how the offence looked in relation to the passing game. More 3 step drops, the allowing of JPL to use his legs, more shotgun & hurry up(?).....all of this contributed to more point on the board & more yardage gained.....and made the OL look a bit better.....but overall they performed at a below average level in similar vein to pre mid season. The major attempts to upgrade the OL this off season I feel back up my views on how the OL was performing in the second half of the season. As this thread put forward.....3 new starters!

Why are so many people looking at Branch as a potential Bill? As I understand it he is a total non fit for the Tampa 2.....he is this years equivalent of N'Gata. Is my assessment of him incorrect? Does he have the initial burst & pass rushing hustle required from our DTs?

I've been thinking similar thoughts. It seems most people forget about the concept that not only are 50% of 1st round picks total busts but usually do not make much of an impact for a team in their first year regardless of how good they will become.

The Rams did it with Bruce & Holt. Bruce was a legit top 10 WR as was Holt....at the same time....& they kept both. Cardinals are doing it now with Boldin & Fitzgerald......though we'll see what happens when contracts expire. It's not common but it has happened.

You have problems following simple concepts. I never said these guys will make a probowl.....I even said Whitner would obviously have more of a chance. What I pointed out was that you said these guys won't make a probowl. (humorously after saying it's too early to tell how good they will be) .....& again YES......Everett is a potential Pro Bowl player. It is possible that he comes on & by the end of his career makes a pro bowl. POTENTIAL (meaning #2) and what possible reason is there to think it impossible that Butler improves & develops into a probowl player. Again, not likely......but totally possible. How is it possible that this is an argument?????

I think you make great points. The Bills should go this direction.

I'm gonna ignore your please & tell you that both Williams & Ellison are Pro Bowl Potential players.......as is every young player that has not reached their full potential yet.....that includes our 1st round picks Whitner & McCargo.....our 4th round pick Simpson.....even our 5th & 6th round picks Williams, Butler & Ellison. There is obviously more chance that Whitner makes the probowl than Ellison.....but at this point how can anybody(you included) say that these(or any other) young guys won't become the next Zack Thomas, Jason Peters or John Randle?

Slow down MDH.....you are making too many good points in too many threads too quickly. I'm not being facetious either.

This is the loonies thread isn't it?

:D :wallbash: :wallbash: I just had to poke fun & point this out.

I'd have said MASSIVE. #2 = 2600 #12+#74+#92 = 1552 We'd have to add the #15 pick in the draft to even it up. There is no way this rumour is anything but rumour.

I totally agree with these thoughts. I wouldn't be surprised if we are targeting Okoye.....he seems the perfect type of DT for the Tampa 2. I would guess Anderson was re-signed in case all else fails.....i.e. we don't get Okoye....nor a lower draftee DT......nor one of the FAs. It looks to me that the FA DT movement has been so slow due to the quantity of decent DTs in this draft.

I didn't want the trade. I figured that we have other areas of need & trading WM(a decent starter) probably creates another area of need while the draft picks we got.....based on odds....probably won't produce a starter caliber player as good as WM. That being said......I fully understand that had we kept him, he may have been a large distraction due to contract demands.....& even if not, he was likely gone after next season with nothing in return. Basically, I trust that the front office knew more about the situation than I did.

My point on McCargo is that if you can't slot him in as a starter, who can you do it with? If we draft a DT 1st round.....same logic says you still need a starter since he is unproven. McCargo was drafted to be a starter & unless things go drastically wrong, it will be assumed he will start. Even if he is an average or even a below average starter, we still are not looking for his replacement until he shows us those things. You should have stopped at the first bit....that was my point. The coaching staff may well have a lot of faith in Crowell etc. You & I do not know.....therefore cannot really say...."Oooh we have not got a starting MLB." What I'm doing is saying....."Perhaps the sky isn't really falling. Perhaps Marv & Co. actually know some stuff that we don't." IMO, If we still needed a starting MLB, DT, RB, & CB.......they wouldn't have grabbed 2 expensive OLmen knowing they would be overly deficient in so many other areas.....especially since most of those areas is defence(which Marv & DJ claim to hold as important). I'm concluding that we are not devoid in all the areas that we may appear to be.