2020 Our Year For Sure

He's staying, just announced. Not only do coaches, GMs and free agents not want to come here, but now we're scaring kids away from the draft.

The original post said the "elite players get picked by crappy teams," the bolded implying we're talking only about the draft. Elite free agents don't get picked, they do the picking.

I wouldn't rely on Merriman but there's absolutely no reason not to let him come back and hope for the best. You accomplish nothing by cutting him.

Two interior linemen? Levitre-Wood-Urbik, who are the two that simply must be replaced? I thought Wood was playing at a high level before the injury, and Levitre has played well all season long. I know Bill from NYC has a high opinion of Urbik and has been saying he wants the guy re-signed...Bill is about as critical of o-line play as they come so I tend to trust that. If you have a dissenting opinion I would love to hear it. I agree we need a LT and I think we need more depth on the line to be better suited for injuries, but the bolded part reads like you're talking about the starting lineup. Has the line been that awful this year?

Your comments about Simon and Bell are spot-on. Enjoy the Dead, Bill

I respect the optimism Doc. Go Bills

The OP, Wagon Circler, is my father, and was sitting next to me as I typed the post.

hell of an avatar

It was to talk about what the kid has shown in the NFL so far.

The point of the thread wasn't to talk about his potential, it was to point out the misconception that he's playing well right now. That is a misconception, he has a very long way to go. If we were still competitive, Andra Davis would be the better option, so you wouldn't even be able to lean on "but he's starting as a rookie!"

Agree 100%. This guy for better or worse is our starting RT. He holds his own and is better than Cornell Green and the like but still gets beat several times a game. I thought we would've been better served moving Hairston to the right and finding a real LT, and using Pears as depth. But the line performed well in the beginning of the year, so there is some hope.

I just thought of Spencer Johnson also, which was 3 or 3.5 if memory serves. Don't know how relevant that still is. I guess we'll see Doc

This line of thinking makes perfect sense, and if this were any other team I'd be right there with you. But the Bills are the Bills. Any non-QB, non-rookie they sign for any significant amount of change is expected to play and play often. Way off. When is the last time the Bills signed a non-QB, non-rookie for $4.9M/year, and didn't fully expect them to play? As long as he's getting $2M or $3M/year, he's their guy. Just going off their track record; this team does not pay for depth.

I cant be the only one looking at this as a bad thing because it signifies they view this journeyman backup as a long-term starter.

Boy I feel like ive read this about a million times in these parts. Not bad, Dolphins fan, not bad. In high school I had a good buddy who was a Dolphins fan and I've visited the Fin Heaven board a couple times. In my experience you guys are alright (unlike Jets fans). Welcome back to The Wall.

While our front office may indeed be crap, I'd still trade Lynch for Hairston.

For a 4-3 we need two starting DEs and two starting OLBs. For a 3-4 we need two starting OLBs, a starting ILB, and a starter somewhere on the DL. Either way you need to find four starting calibre front seven guys. Judging by what Nix has done so far, we can expect to gain one starting calibre defender per offseason (two offseasons have yielded Barnett, Dareus, and a bunch of question marks/busts). The unit will also likely be poorly coached again. Basically, our defense is gonna be awesome.

We don't need linebackers to play a 4-3? All we have is Barnett. C'mon man

What happened with CM Punk?

Obviously he's not in the top 3-5, that isn't the question. Dumb topic that misses the point

Still worthless?

Give him one more year and if no playoffs next year, axe him. Yes there's little hope we'll land someone much better and re-starting all the time is annoying; but leaving a losing formula there year after year is no better. If we keep firing coaches the chances go up we'll get incredibly lucky one time.

One of my favorite Dead lines! You da man Bill

You guys are nuts. Spiller and Brad Smith are not the answer here.

Move Pears to guard, bench Rinehart? Or more trouble than it's worth?