Albany,n.y.

My negativity can be described more as skepticism than anything else. My skepticism is caused by the actions of others who have seen and analyzed the guy a lot more than any of us have. 1st off, it's unprecident that a QB, the most important position on the field, taken at overall pick 56 in the 2nd round, after a promising college career, is jettisoned to a practice squad after one season. The closest thing to Brohm I could find is in 1992 Tony Sacca was picked in the 2nd round at #40 & lasted only 2 years, never playing again in the NFL. In order to get to GB's practice squad 31 other teams, all who have scouted the guy with trained professionals, decided 1) Not to put in a waiver claim last September and pick him up for nothing. and 2) After he cleared waivers, not sign him to their 53 man roster, allowing him to rejoin Green Bay's practice squad. My second reason for the skepticism is the decision makers at One Bills Drive who signed Brohm. Their track record, to put it mildly, is abysmal in choosing players to sign off other teams. If you told me Buddy Nix was the guy pushing hard for Brohm, I might be a little more optimistic, but as long as this is a player who came from the John Guy-Russ Brandon tree, I can't have much hope for the guy. If he turns out to be half as good as some of you think, that means that Guy/Brandon outsmarted every team in the entire league. That would be near miraculous. I can't see GB's effort to match the Bills offer as anything more than an attempt to keep their insurance policy in Brohm, a player who knew their sysyem already, since they only had 2 active QBs on the roster. Instead of trying to exceed the Bills offer, GB signed another QB to the practice squad to take his place & then another QB after Brohm's 1st replacement signed with another NFL team. Reason number three. You can try to spin it in a positive way-he looked poised, he was willing to throw downfield, all with little practice time, he had the worst line in NFL history in front of him etc; but the bottom line is in Atlanta, Brohm did not play like a guy I'd want to hand the starting job to. While he was willing to throw it long, he was inaccurate when he did throw it long. Now I know that we are starved for a QB, but put his performance next to Ryan Fitzpatrick's this year with a similar line & he's light years behind Fitzpatrick. Some things were evident from the Atlanta game-once again going back to the professionals. Perry Fewell acted like a kid forced to drink castor oil when he had to start Brohm in Atlanta. He even had hopes for Fitzpatrick starting just hours before the game. After the 3 point performance, which once again has to be spun pretty hard to defend, he didn't try to build on it in the next game, he immediately went back to Fitzpatrick even though the final game was nothing more than a glorified exhibition game. Fourth, when Chan Gailey was named head coach he mentioned only 2 QBs, Edwards & Fitzpatrick. It appears, from his words, that while Brohm has a decent chance to make the roster as a #3 project, Gailey does not want to go into next season with the idea of having Brian Brohm as his starter. Now I know this is my weakest reason-maybe I'm reading too much into what he said, but until Gailey starts talking positively about Brohm I feel he's also skeptcal of the guy's chances to start in the NFL. Finally, we are all starving for quality play from a Bills QB. Unfortunately, just because the guy hasn't flamed out in a Bills uniform, is no reason to feel the guy can be our next starter.

I don't really have an opinion on who should be brought in because as much as I like to play GM, the guys in charge are the professionals. The real problem is that in order to have a definitive answer, I'd have to know what Philadelphia, the one NFL team with too many QBs is thinking. I'd also have to know what the Bills are thinking about Bradford & Clausen. If they're totally sold on either, and they decided to go all out, they'd have to move up in the draft ahead of Washington to insure they get their guy. That means either giving up this year's 2nd or 3rd & a high pick next year as well. If they really like McNabb or Kolb, they could see what Philly is doing. Both, I think, are on the last year of contracts. If Philly decides not to sign McNabb to an extension and gives one to Kolb, McNabb will be on the trading block, no matter what Reid is currently saying. A 1st rounder is out, but a 2nd this year & a conditional pick next year might get the job done. Then McNabb would have to sign a 5 year $50+ million contract. Likewise, if McNabb is re-signed Kolb would be available-but we may have to give up a #1 to get him, with no real guarantees he's not the next Rob Johnson, who ironically was acquired when the Bills had pick #9. So in my unprofessional opinion, if the team loves Clausen or Bradford trade up to #3 (Tampa Bay) & get the guy. If McNabb becomes available and they think he's got enough left-he's the win now option, as long as we keep pick #9 & draft a LT to protect him. Kolb becomes the wild card if Philly commits long term to McNabb. Vick is not an option-a team in a big city can get away with Vick, in Buffalo the backlash against Vick is too dangerous to bring him in-I don't have a problem with him, but some of my friends from the area have vowed to disown the team if Vick comes. They have convinced me Vick is not a viable option in Buffalo.

Some team might give us $20 for Lynch. Seriously, his value is no higher than Travis Henry's was and we got a 3rd rounder in the following year's draft. At this point, it's not worth having him around if someone gives us a 3rd in the 2011 draft. IF the story is correct & he's not well liked in the locker room he shouldn't be kept around. If it's not, then he can return. Either way the team needs to draft a RB in the 5th round area.

That's about right. Players are only eligible for practice squads if they've been waived. Once a player clears waivers he is free to sign with any other team's 53 man roster or all the teams, including his own former team's, practice squad. What can confuse some is that PUP'd players are allowed to practice in the weeks between when they become eligible & the time they have to be either activated or IR'd. Practice squad players aren't claimed, they are just free to walk away & leave at any time-the exception being they can't be signed to a contract by the team's upcoming opponent. It used to be that the team that had the player on the practice squad had a right of 1st refusal and could sign the player to their own 53 man roster if another team wanted him-that is no longer the case. On a side note, Brohm was only waived once, back in September. Being a free agent already, he wasn't waived a 2nd time.

Since Jack Kemp's last days, every time the Bills have had a perceived hole at QB, they've made a move. Be it a 1st day draft choice (which really didn't become relevant until the common draft, because the AFL draft choices could be lost to the NFL), a trade or both, the team has never stood pat. Even when the team has appeared set, they still made 1st day moves on QBs. This offseason represents another year when the Bills go in with a hole at QB. I expect a QB in the 1st 3 rounds & possibly a trade before the draft, spending one of these pick on a more seasoned QB. Here's a recap of what they've done. 1970-Spent a 2nd rounder on Dennis Shaw, who became the starter. 1973-Not happy with Dennis Shaw, after his promising beginning, the team drafts Joe Ferguson in the 3rd round. He starts from day 1 as a rookie. In between Ferguson's rookie year in 1973 and his final year in 1984 the team spent a number of high picks on QBs looking earlier for a solid backup & then Fergy's eventual successor. The 1st day picks are 1974-Gary Marangi (3rd round), several later round QBs throughout the 1970s, 1980 Gene Bradley (2nd), 1982 Matt Kofler (2nd), 1983 Jim Kelly (1st). With Ferguson done after 1984, Kelly in the USFL, and Joe Dufek ending up the starter that season, the team did some major work to upgrade the QB spot in 1985 trading a mid-rounder for former Super Bowl QB Vince Ferragamo and drafting Frank Reich in the 3rd round. Then they went to the scrap heap to get Bruce Mathison after they decided to dump Dufek. With Ferragamo failing, Mathison became the starter and Ferragamo got cut, ending the season in Green Bay. Now forward to the following year & the Bills sign Art Schlichter to go with Reich & Mathison, but their real target is 1983 draft choice Jim Kelly, who signs a big contract & along with Frank Reich, solidifies the QB position for the next decade. With Kelly aging, and Frank Reich leaving for a chance to start in Carolina, the Bills look ahead & spend a 2nd round pick on Todd Collins. In 1997 the Bills are not sure Collins can do it, so they trade a 3rd rounder for some competition-Billy Joe Hobert. Collins ends up the starter but only gets a year to prove himself as the starter and doesn't cut it well enough to satisfy the team. It is now 1998 and the Bills once again see a hole at QB. With starter Todd Collins on the thinnest of ice, 1st they bring in Doug Flutie and then go for the gold (and get manure instead) sending 1st rd pick #9 and a 4th to Jacksonville for Rob Johnson, who promptly signs a 5 year $25 million contract. Nothing happens between 1998 & 2000 because the Bills feel they have 2 QBs and are set. The only move for 2001 is to decide which QB to keep between Johnson & Flutie. They conduct interviews with both to see what they think of the team's offensive plans for 2001. The choice turns out to be an easy one as egomaniacs Tom Donahoe & Gregg Williams hear Johnson willing to toe the line while Flutie tells them he'll try it, but if it doesn't work out he wants to do it his way. Egomaniacs don't like that & cut Flutie. After the 2001 final failure of Rob Johnson, the team once again has a hole at QB. They once again make the big move, trading a future 1st round pick for Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe makes the Pro Bowl in 2002 and even though he tailed off in the 2nd half he's the unquestioned starter. After a shaky 2003 season the Bills aren't quite sure how much Bledsoe has left, so they go bold again in 2004. 1st they try to trade up for Ben Roethlisberger, then failing to do so, they end up once again bombing in a bold QB move trading a 2nd, 5th & a future 1st for JP Losman. In 2005 with Bledsoe gone and Losman named the starter, the Bills get insurance with Kelly Holcomb signing as a free agent. Then in 2006 they sign UFA Craig Nall and in 1987 draft Trent Edwards in the 3rd. Through 2009 they now feel Trent Edwards is the answer, but they need a backup after JP Losman leaves & sign Ryan Fitzpatrick with the intent of having a non-threatening #2. Eventually career 3rd Gibran Hamdan, Trent's best buddy, is waivd when Trent is benched & Brian Brohm is signed as the new #3 and the team's latest project. Hamdan returns when Buddy Trent goes down for the season. After this season's disaster the Bills are in a familiar spot-No QB is on the roster that they can confidently pencil in as the starter for 2010. History says they will make a bold move, going for QB gold no later than April's draft. This means they will go with at least 1 new QB, possibly two. If the Bills go into the draft without acquiring one of Philadelphia's QBs in a trade, team history almost guarantees the selection of a QB no later than round 3 and more likely round 1 or 2. Don't be surprised if the Bills trade up in the 1st round if they have Bradford or Claussen targeted. This team has never been afraid to make the bold move for a QB and I'm sure Ralph, who has been the one constant in the Bills history, has told Buddy Nix to get him a high profile QB.

Some of you make it so easy-like shooting fish in a barrel. How do you think he got on the practice squad? Green Bay waived the guy in September. About the only thing you seem to know is that he didn't get waived in November. No team that spent a 2nd rounder one year earlier on a player whose head coach is high on the guy, waives the guy, exposing him to a claim by all 31 other teams. You can do that with late rounders who can go under the radar, but not former 2nd round who you're "extremely high on". Next time you want to tell us a practice squad player wasn't waived, think about how he got there. Every practice squad player has cleared waivers prior to going on the practice squad.

I don't know if you can count me as "given up" on the guy, because I never supported him. Can you give up on something you never approved of? If anyone has given up on Brohm, it was Green Bay, on the day they waived him & the rest of the league when nobody put in a waiver claim. As far as the people in Louisville who rave about the guy, I'm sure you can go to many colleges where NFL busts had good college careers where they still rave about the guy. Just look at all the Heisman winning QBs who flopped in the NFL. That's because for certain players, Brohm included, their college career just doesn't translate into the NFL. It took Green Bay only 1 year to figure that out.

He's on right now. Started by talking about partying with his brothers.

Since Steve O quoted Tucker talking about Bledsoe, my guess is the O-line context was that you can have a good O-line, but it doesn't do much good without a good QB behind that line.

Cottrell was already fired by the Hartford Sentinals (Chris Palmer is the new Head Coach & the team moved to Hartford). He is a free agent, so there's nothing that would hold him up.

Wow! That has to be the worst excuse ever used in defending Brohm. He was on waivers before opening day. Waived players don't go around informing teams not to claim them if they don't have a shot to play-especially if they have yet to play a friggin down in the NFL. Now I'm still trying to follow your premise: So after informing teams not to put in a waiver claim he then clears waivers and signs with the same team's practice squad that he doesn't have much of a shot to play with.

The only shot he's got is H1N1. Green Bay wanted a #3 guy for insurance. All trying to match the Bills offer says is that they preferred to have that insurance as a guy who already knew the system. If they thought enough of him they would have offered more than the 1 1/3 year contract at minumum. So what did they do after Brohm left, they signed Mike Reilly to the PS. Then when St. Louis signed Reilly, they signed Chris Pizzotti to the PS. Then in January they signed Pizzotti to the roster. Bottom line-GB wanted 3 QBs for insurance, nothing more. To even mention Brian Brohm in the same thread as Rivers is more than an insult to Rivers. Rivers was a #4 pick in the entire draft. Can you imagine if SD had gone with Brees & put Rivers on the trading block what Rivers would have yielded in a trade? Now compare thart to Brohm, who 31 teams could have had for the price of a waiver claim and just said NO.

Since Toronto is part of the Bills territory, anyone moving there would have to pay the Bills millions of $$. I'd also like to see how the Canadian government, which is very protective of the CFL treats them. Also-they'd have to build a 70,000 + seat stadium-Rodgers Centre is too small for an NFL team there full time. Lots of roadblocks for someone who wants to move the Rams to Toronto. LA might be a much better option once they look at all the obstacles in Toronto.

Here we go again...bum QB can't cut it as a starter in the NFL & "The Coaches Screwed Him" Insert bum QB of choice here _________________. Clemens was so bad 2 years ago with the Jets & Mangini that he was already out of contention for the starter's job. 1st the Jets, who were afraid of Pennington's injury history were still going to start Pennington over him, then when Favre was traded for & Pennington cut, Clemens got a reprieve & was still #2, even though he wasn't even the 2nd best QB on the roster. I watched the Jets preseason games & Ratliff totally outplayed Clemens-that's probably why Mangini wanted Ratliff in the Sanchez trade. Then when Ryan came in the Jets did everything possible to make sure everyone knew Clemens was not their QB of the present or future. There's nothing Clemens has done as a Jet to make anyone who has seen him play think he can be a starter in this league-especially the guys who see him every day-the Jets coaching staff. Maybe it's time for "the coaches screwed him" bunch to figure out 1) The coaches see these guys a lot more than any of us. 2) The coaches know more about evaluating talent than any of us

What impressed you? Before the Jets drafted Sanchez I thought Clemens had a good shot of playing his way out of the NFL if he had ended up the Jets starter. The guy is worse than JP.

Yep, he'll never make it to the 3rd round. He might not even make it to pick 9 of the 2nd. I'm glad he didn't play in the 2nd quarter. I was watching on a stream & it bombed at the end of the 1st quarter. I finally found another working stream with 9+ minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. Since Lefevour didn't play until the 2nd half I was able to catch all of his plays.

This is really sad. Brohm has more upside because he hasn't proven yet in Buffalo that he's the same guy who was bad enough to get himself waived out of the NFL last September. The reality is Edwards is better than Brohm-put them both on waivers & see which one gets claimed 1st-it would be Edwards. That being said, Edwards is just too injury prone to be counted on for anything. He pulled a Rob Johnson by getting injured in one series when Fewell put him in to replace Fitzpatrick. Speaking of Fewell, look at what he did this season & you get a clue into what the guys who saw all 3 QBs every day thought of them. Under Fewell, Edwards was banished to the bench only to return for 1 brief series where he got injured. Fitzpatrick was thought of as clearly the best of the 3 by Fewell & his staff. Brohm was thought of as the guy Fewell was scared to death of putting on the field. If Fewell thought Brohm had anything, he would have started the final game. But as soon as Fitzpatrick could walk & chew gum at the same time, Brohm was back on the bench. That leaves us where we are today. Fitzpatrick is the best of this sorry bunch, and most would agree that he's nothing more than a decent #2 QB. Edwards can be very good (see 1st 6 games 2008) or very bad (see 2009), but the bottom line is he's such a china doll that no team can count on him long term. Worse, Edwards can't even be relied on as a backup who can keep the team competitive for a few games because he's odds on to go down with an injury even if he's just backing up. But if the Bills bring in a rookie past the 1st round to develop as 3rd stringer, Chan might be willing to have Edwards as his 2nd stringer one more year. Brohm doesn't have any upside-if he's lucky he gets to hang around as 3rd stringer like Gibran for a couple of seasons. Just because the coaching staff knew he wasn't ready & tried to protect him doesn't mean he has upside. All 32 teams said no to the guy last September, otherwise he couldn't have cleared waivers & ended up on a practice squad to begin with. Second round picks with upside don't clear waivers a year after they were drafted. If the Bills draft a developmental QB past the 2nd round, Brohm is toast & might not even make it to camp. Now where do we go tomorrow? Since Fitzpatrick is the only guy they can have any faith in, they have to keep him as #2, but he's no #1. For #1 we have to either draft a QB in the 1st round, trade for one, or pick up an older guy as a stopgap who might become a salary dump by another team. In any case, Brohm is nothing more than a 3rd stringer next year, grateful to be on an NFL roster. He could end up getting cut next May if a developmental draft choice wh was chosen by Buddy & Chan shows enough in the 1st mini camp. The though of Brohm competing for the starter's job is lunacy. Worse, if he does go into camp with a shot, it means that Buddy Nix failed us miserably in the offseason. I do not expect Buddy to fail us & if Brohm makes it to July, he will be getting as many reps this summer as Gibran got last summer. Also, let's not forget Gibran. If he goes to camp & we have a rookie #1 pick, don't be surprised if Chan & Buddy see Gibran as a better mentor as 3rd stringer than Brohm & Gibran makes the team over Brohm. In the rookie #1 draft choice scenario Edwards is long gone by training camp.

The greatest pure talent: O.J. Simpson Bruce Smith was the greatest defensive player Jim Kelly was the most important player. On top of that he was the only one of these three who stayed in WNY and can be seen on most gamedays in the stadium, long after his retirement. So, for his time on the field, off the field & post retirement career, plus the fact he's the only player Ralph has seen fit to retire his number, my vote goes to Jim Kelly.

From the reports at the Senior Bowl this week, Tebow may be headed for a Gibran Hamdan like career in the NFL. So this and 1 more day in April may be the last minutes of Tim Tebow's fame.

If you had a clue, you would know that when Warner was with the Giants, they switched to Eli Manning in mid November. Therefore just about the time the cold weather was starting at Giants stadium, Warner wasn't playing. So the only glimpse of Warner you could have had was of him sitting on the bench while rookie Eli Manning stunk up the joint. So don't call BS on something that you're BSing about.

Two years ago I would have said Warner is probably not HOF, but over the last two years, seeing what he has done with Arizona, I think he is a deserving lock Hall of Famer. THe guy has had an amazing career & can still play in his late 30s.

In 2009 he didn't play much worse than Edwards or Fitzpatrick, so why not? That, and things like "I saw him play in college" have been the argument the "start Brian Brohm in 2010" crowd uses. Leaf might actually be a better option than Brohm. It's just as stupid, the only difference is Brohm is actually on the roster, at least for now.

It seems the guys in the "newspaper game" can dish it out, but they can't take it. After I went to a UFL game where I basically counted the fans in the stands by using the fact that most of the people were in 2 sections and I knew how many seats were in each section, then was able to count the rest of the fans, I came to the conclusion there were between 1,500-1,800 in attendance. I also verified my count by reviewing photos I took of every section when attendance would be at its peak, the middle of the 1st quarter (a ton left at halftime). When I saw the paper had stated there were over 5,000 fans in the stands, I e-mailed the guy, questioning his motivation for reporting his number because I felt he was reporting it since Hartford wants a UFL expansion team. The guy went totally balistic because I questioned his journalistic integrity. At one point in his reply he claimed I couldn't have estimated the attendance any better than he did. He asked if I had counted every person in the stands. I agreed to disagree because I saw this was going nowhere, and apologized for questioning his integrity, but I did state in my reply, as a matter of fact, I basically did count the attendance. I also offered to send him my photos, but he didn't reply and ask for them.

To put things in their proper context, he said he is not a fan, he is a player. That's a big difference from just saying "I'm not a fan of this team". It's not much different than when Marv said that if you start listening to the fans you'll soon be in the stands with them. All he was doing was saying that he's an employee, not a customer. If he was a better player nobody would have twisted the context around to fit an agenda, but since he was playing poorly, it was an easy twist for those who didn't like his play. Jerry Sullivan says stuff like this all the time, stating he is a reporter, not a Bills fan, but since he isn't contributing to on field losses, nobody cares.