MattM

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.....

If he gets closed out of Bruschi's Roids Program (you got to sign up early for that one in F'boro) there may be room in Rodney's HGH program, especially now that Vrabel's gone.....

It's funny, but the Pats* lose Samuel, admittedly a star, and then Gay (a nickel back, IIRC) and Stallworth (who'd been bumped out of a starting job by year end) and get a motherlode of picks, while the Steelers lose one of the best OL in the game (Faneca) and a starting LB (Haggans) and get one lousy 5th round pick. The League is so far in Kraft's* pocket it's a joke......

The officiating overall in that game was the worst I've ever seen--TMQ even mentioned how bad it was in his column that week. The Pats* were called for 1 penalty all game, while in addition to the gem you mentioned the Bills got several ticky tack calls go against them in the 4th quarter to basically seal the deal for the Pats*. Most galling of all, they won by 2 on a safety--the play before the safety was a sack where the Pats* DE was about three feet offsides when the ball was snapped and yet no call. Go figure....

I called this about a week ago--the NFL shows the Pats* some love yet again, surprise, surprise....

Only way Lynch avoids a suspension here is if he's traded to the Pats*.....

It's been rumored that we play (surprise, surprise) the Pats* the opening week of the season. What a shock if that turns out to be true.....

He's also 37 years old (will be 38 in November). While Jerry Rice played until that age productively, very few NFL receivers do. I'm not too scared of this move, unless the Pats* break out the HGH, which, considering their history, wouldn't surprise me in the least....

For all of you saying he's worth only one first round picks plus maybe a 3 or 4, he's worth at least their two first round picks. If you stop and think about it, he IS what people hope Top 10 picks become--a Pro Bowl left tackle who is, despite what some folks here may think, at least one of the 3-4 best LT's in the League and is only 27 years old. All that means he's worth at least the 21 and 28 pick in this year's draft--Peters has proven that he is (or can be) an elite LT, unlike those Top 10 picks who teams HOPE can become top LTs (see, Mike Williams, D'Brick, etc., which is what you have at least an equal chance of getting with those high draft picks). If the Eagles offer that up and we can't close the gap with Peters, we need to think about it. Ideally, they'd be able to do something like sign Pace to a reasonable (i.e., $6-7 million per year) 2-3 year deal (which to the Bills accounting shouldn't break the bank, as I'm sure they planned to pay Peters at least $8m this season) and then use our 1st rounders on DE (11), TE (Pettigrew) and possibly LB or DT, although I suspect that we'll sign Crowell, Keiaho or June shortly to fill that hole. We still need a LG as well, but you should be able to get a starting quality LG is Rd 2. The other benefit to a team like the Bills of having three first rounders is that you can sign first rounder up to 6 years on their rookies deals (other rounds are 4 year deals only, another gift to the large market teams in the last CBA--just makes it that much easier to cherry pick talent elsewhere), which is something the Bills really need to do and hope they hit on good players in this year's deep draft.....

The reference to "proven winners" leads me to believe that "our friend" here is a fan of the Cheatahs if I had to guess.....

Ahhh, the Patriot* way. Remember, boys and girls, if you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'.....

Yup--notice that the quote comes from "someone close to Crowell", but not the Bills....

I'd wager that those they're losing are being replaced at a rate of about 3 or 4 to 1, also based on what I'm reading here on this board and others....

Technically they've got until tomorrow, I believe, to keep their place in line, although I've long suspected that's not a hard and fast rule (as evidenced by my not being able to move up any of the last three years).....

Those first 8 games he was Hall of Fame material....

I agree wholeheartedly. There's not much to lose here, since if we have another 7-9 season Ralph is going to blow the joint up anyways. I may regret this later, but I support this move and just hope that TO has matured a little bit over the last few years and especially through this process of being cut--time will tell. I also hope he brings a TO-sized chip on his shoulder with him, as that could come in handy next season I suspect. From what I've read, his work ethic is solid (anyone who watched him come back from a severe injury in that Eagles SB can't doubt that) and he hasn't had off the field issues (other than his "accidental overdose") like some NFL players. My only fear is that he'll hinder Trent's development somehow by getting in his face, but hopefully Trent can put on his big boy pants through this process and keep Owens in line even when he's not getting 10 touches a game. I must admit, the thought of Lee and TO out there at the same time makes my mouth water--who are defenses going to double? Mix in Lynch (please make that suspension two games!) and Reed, Hardy and Johnson and new tight end, combined with Trent's extra year of experience and a happy Peters and I think we may have a top offense on our hands.....

While I certainly don't advocate violence in any form and think that the folks who beat on this guy should probably go to jail, even if, as I suspect it's at least a 50% chance here that he may very well have been rubbing in a Pats* victory on the locals on his way to the can, anyone else find the whole thing odd in terms of the picture? I mean, what is it, like two years later, and he's still got bandaged hands and a righteous look in his eyes, in front of a church no less? Me smells a plaintiff's lawyer here (and boy do they smell).....

I've renewed, but am not happy either with the team's direction lately and just told the guy at OBD I was talking to in the ticket office that. No way they're anywhere near 54,000 this year. The bright side is I that I suspect that after 3 years of getting shut out on my request for better seats is that I might actually get them this year.

I completely agree--best of luck in the Big Easy, Jabari!

Supposedly visiting Cinci, as per the Bengals article on Coles on Bengals.com last night....

That link also said that JP is visiting the Bungles--looks like we may be swapping backups with them this offseason.....