MattM

I found this interesting--a quote from Ellis Hobbs on his trade today: On whether he has talked to anybody about his contract and if that is why he was traded: “I think with that situation [in New England] there are a lot of guys that are coming up that are going to need to be paid. I think it has kind of moved from that echelon where there is a lot of guys out there who are not going to take the [bottom] dollar for the win. Guys really want to get what they deserve and each one of those guys that are coming up in the next year or so deserve every dollar they are going to get. I think that with the roster like we had, there were so many guys that needed to be paid, somebody has to move out of the way. Unfortunately and fortunately it was me and like I said I am looking forward to the future.” http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patr..._hobbs_cal.html Perhaps the old saw about people going to New England for the championships has lost a little luster since they haven't won one in a while--maybe that old "championship discount" stuff is starting to wear a little thin on some players, perhaps? One can hope.....

Isn't that where he played in college?

Keiaho and Brooks.....

I'm not too sure where all this Pats*' draft love is coming from--check out their last three drafts (and that was with Pioli and Dimitroff, both since gone) and the only difference maker they've drafted has been Mayo. I personally don't think Merriweather has distinguished himself all that much and that Maroney is a bust, but others could differ on those--beyond that, however, I don't think there can be much disagreement that no one else they've taken those years has contributed or is ready to do so. They seem to save themselves every year with the older guys they'd previously taken (think Wilfork, Brady, Mankins, Koppen, Seymour, Warren, etc) and the new guys they bring in in other ways, like FA, like Thomas, Harrison, Vrabel, Moss and Welker. I do like their stockpiling of picks every year, as I think it's smart of them to do that, but I'm really not too enamored of their recent draft record.....

I'd rather see them sign Keiaho and then go BPA the rest of the way in the draft, personally. Come on, Ralph, use some of that money the Peters' trade freed up on some quality FA's as well!

Even if we don't sign him, his presence on the market drives down the price of other folks we do want, like Keiaho or Brooks, so I take this as a positive.....

No doubt about it--I'm hoping it's to us somehow (if we can, for ex., get a third round pick for one of our castoffs, since I'm sure that's going to be the price).....

From your keyboard to God's ears--if we did that and somehow get a TE I think we're in pretty good shape.....

If we trade back into Rd 3--I strongly suspect that Roscoe, Kelsay and/or Simpson are gone tomorrow....

Supposedly Byrd is being moved to safety, so can I have that high five?

The other interesting comparison between Orakpo and Maybin is that Maybin just turned 21 two weeks ago, while Orakpo turns 23 in July. Maybin's youth may mean that he's going to grow naturally into that 6'4" frame without losing too much speed (fingers crossed).....

Nelson? Who's that?

No way would I make that trade for a second if I were the Bills--that basically values Roscoe as 11 spots between the very end of the 2nd and the third round. No thanks.....

I agree--the guy has been a favorite of mine for a while now to the point where I look forward to his bi-weekly columns. Take a Princeton education, add some NFL experience, and you've got a very good formula for a successful NFL beat writer. Here's hoping he keeps it up. PS No offense, Tim, I still like your stuff as well!

5:30 Saturday mass throughout the year for me.....

It's actually pretty easy to see what the Bills are doing here--dumping $3 million in salary this year for a guy who touches the ball maybe 4-5 times a game (considering at least one or two punts won't be returnable) at most and hopefully spending that money on someone else who plays more than Roscoe does (my vote still goes to sign an OLB for that money like Brooks or Keiaho) and also getting a draft pick in return. Pretty simple, actually, and I can't say that I disagree--particularly reading the posts above about Jackson and McKelvin.

Since he's an ex-Pat* he'll get a pass from the media, no doubt.....

Of course, if it were the Pats* doing something like this (Matt Cassel, anyone?) the experts would be covering them in glory about how they got something for nothing from a few years ago.....

Fred Jackson (who's done it before) or PK Sam, if he makes the team. Either of those guys costs a heck of a lot less than $3 million thisyear, too.....

The value is that you dump $3million in salary for a guy who's going to play 10-12 plays a game. You can then (hopefully) use that money on someone who will contribute more--like Freddie Kieaho or Derrick Brooks, both still out there and both who would improve our D, or Kendall Simmons, also still out there and also someone who, if healthy, would improve our O. It's the same with the Peters trade--people need to look at the totality of it, including cap and cash to cap ramifications. For ex., if the Bills use the 4th rounder and some of the $11 million or so cash to cap I suspect they budgeted for Peters on getting Rhodes (done), Henderson in trade and/or other like the guys above and also get a 1st rounder and 6th rounder for Peter you have to look at all of that as what we got for JP. Looks a bit better in that light (if that should come to pass), doesn't it?

I called it earlier today--watch them sign Keiaho next and, if they do, we'll be pretty well set going into the draft, needing a LT, G, DE and TE. We should be able to get a quality LT and DE in Rd. 1 and then take a flyer on a G in Rd 2 and trade our 3rd for Scheffler and I'd say we've had a decent offseason.....

...the Bills use some of the money they undoubtedly freed up in this trade to go out and sign someone like Freddie Keiaho and/or Rhodes, for ex.? I'm sure the FA had about $10 million cash to cap budgeted for JP this year and no way a late first rounder eats up that kind of cash on his own.

Bingo--"and we have a winner, ladies and gentlemen"......

Let's see, several teams will draft the Smiths (Jason and Andre), Oher and Monroe in or near the top 10 HOPING that they turn out to be as good as Peters (who's what, 25 or 26?) and make the Pro Bowl, but a team won't give up a late first and a third for a known quantity LT--you're the one who needs to put the crack pipe away, dude, thinking that we should give him up for anything at all less than a third and a first. BTW, those top 10 picks will also cost a ton of dough, so the argument about the cash Peters wants as a known commodity isn't all that much of an argument.....

Trade Peters to the Eales/Lions for their first rounders (Lions 20, Eagles 21) and thirds. Use one of the thirds to trade for Scheffler. Use the Bills two first rounders on a DE and LT (in either order), the second round pick on a LG (Robinson, the best in class may still be on the board) and sign Keiaho or June at OLB and then go best available with the other 3rd through 7th. From last year's team we'd regress on LT (albeit not as much as people think since JP played only in 11 or 12 games and took 3-4 of those to get back in shape) and possibly at LG, but would probably be much stronger at C (how can anyone not be an upgrade over Preston and Fowler?), LB (between Keiaho/June and Poz being in his 2nd full year), TE, WR and DL (between Schobel coming back and a first rounder DE). Trent has one more year under his belt, we have the same RB's (albeit missing Lynch probably two games) and our secondary is probably a push in losing Greer but getting Florence and Leodis having another year under his belt. Our special teams should be better (the light went on for Leodis somewhere around mid-season) due to increased depth as well. If we can play relatively injury-free and hit on most of our early round picks this team may not be half bad and may be set up pretty nicely for the next few years--TO and Schobel being the only real oldsters on the squad.....