2020 Our Year For Sure

Not trying to be an **** to you, but in my opinion the problem is that bolded part right there. There's quite a few defensive ends projected around where the Bills pick depending on what site you look at. The Cover 2 puts an emphasis on generating a pass rush with your front four, to the extent that its as simple as your defense failing if you can't do it. Last year we had one pass rusher, thats great...but I feel our defense needs another one. While improving the run defense is first priority, improving the pass rush should be on our radar as well...and while there are other avenues to improving the run D, the only way to improve the pass rush is to draft a DL early. So in my opinion, we should have let the mediocre rotation player walk instead of overpaying him, and at least kept the door open on going defensive end at #12. EDIT: And what exactly has Chris Kelsay done to be labeled a "bonafide DE"?

I feel like they're doing this just to show that they re-signed someone, thanks to all the clamouring for them to bring back Nate. Kelsay should have been replaced by a real pass rusher.

Why is this board so obsessed with Larry the Cable Guy? I see this post at least twice a day.

It certainly looks that way if you split the stats after the first 7 games. However, one can argue the offensive performance and play calling did not change until week 11, @HOU. Here's the numbers with the line drawn after week 10, @IND: first 9 games 30 sacks....3.3/game 224 attempts.....1 sack every 7.5 attempts averages to 53 sacks in 16 games last 7 games 17 sacks....2.4/game 205 attempts.....1 sack every 12 attempts averages to 39 sacks in 16 games These numbers show a drastic improvement in pass protection from week 11 on.

Where you got that from, I'll never know...

The way I see the Bills right now is that we have alot of positions that are adequate, but could still use some help. DE, DT, OG, RB, WR, CB, LB...none of these positions are really gaping holes at the moment (or at least can be plugged with low-profile free agents). Therefore our draft strategy can really be to just pick the best player on the board at any of these positions. Thats a great spot for us to be in and puts us in a great situation to pick up a true playmaker. Whether its Dwayne Jarrett, Amobi Okoye, Jamaal Anderson, etc...our braintrust can just pick the player they like best, and mostly disregard what position they play, excluding safeties and quarterbacks. Thats where every team wants to be on draft day. Now we have an above average, solid running back with one year left on his contract...and frighteningly little behind him on the depth chart. To trade Willis now for nothing more than the huge question mark a draft pick would present would mean upsetting that balance we have. It would instantly open a gaping hole at our halfback position, which we can't fill in free agency this year. That means we would be, almost without a doubt, locked into drafting a halfback somewhere in the first 2 rounds. Trading McGahee would immediately take the Bills out of that optimal drafting postion of being able to pick the best player available and force us to focus on one position. I just don't think thats whats best for the team.

I'll tell you why not: because we don't have anyone else to be our starting halfback. Thats a bit of a problem.

I don't see that there's any way to prove that Reese saying the Giants had interest in McGahee lead to the news breaking that the Bills were actively trying to trade him. There's a significant difference, and in my opinion there's a reasonable chance that those two things are unrelated. You may be right and this may be cause and effect, but I don't see enough facts to go on in terms of the Bills getting compensation.

I was surprised when my father told me Okoye weighed in at 302 at the combine. That's heavier than Kyle Williams, and I'd estimate its pretty close to the ideal weight for the 1-technique DT in the Tampa 2.

Why is that? Based on what Reese said, all talk could have been initiated by the Giants, and Buffalo may not have even responded in any way. It didn't come out until later that the Bills were "actively shopping" McGahee.

That is correct, we do know that, because some of us realize that our middle linebacker is called on to do more than run forward and tackle.

That's just false, in my opinion.

McGahee and a 3rd for Umeniyora? The Giants would still be left with 2 big-time defensive ends. I wish...

For us out-of-towners, what happened?

I've always thought trading your starting running back right before his contract year for a 5th round pick was a sound strategy.

It all lies in the pass rush. Get a real pass rushing DE on the left side, get John McCargo back, get Kyle Williams closer to his potential, get a real nosetackle to replace Tim Anderson in the rotation...and the Tampa 2 will work, making Nate Clements quite expendable. Its not that you can have "bad" corners...its just that guys like Nate Clements who can cover top tier recievers 1-on-1 are less valuable to us, for the reason that they're rarely asked to do so. You can get by with slightly bigger, slightly slower, smart, good-tackling cornerbacks. Youboty may be a fit.

Can't get anything by you...

I just dominated that paper football game.

Why do you say that? I think that with this team there isn't one position that we MUST go with in the 1st round, especially if London is back. While CB is a possibility, I see no reason why its a necessity. Just because we used to have a playmaking cornerback who is now gone...it doesn't mean we necessarily have to replace him with another high-profile corner. In our Tampa 2 we'd be fine with McGee, K. Thomas (or another similar free agent), Youboty and a 2nd day draft pick. We have a whole lot of positions that could use help, but don't really require a 1st round pick. We could go DE, DT, OT, OG, WR, HB, CB, TE, MLB, OLB...our team really can pick the best player available, instead of just saying that. I see cornerback as just another possibility among a host of other positions. It really makes this draft interesting for us.

...and thank god our management has enough sense that this is the case.

Can't we assume that? What are you saying?

Does anybody really think a rotation of Denney and Hargrove is good enough? Also, its very difficult to find a pass rusher on the 2nd day of the draft. A pass rusher is one of those things that, if you want it, you have to make it a priority and grab one pretty quickly. There's a few defensive ends that are projected in the area of the Bills' top pick, and its the position I'm most hoping we decide to address.

Right, but to get sorta petty and technical, he didn't say "biggest need," he said "biggest hole". In my mind those are two different things. Cornerback is a big need because, as you said, we pretty much HAVE TO acquire a CB at some point. But I wouldn't call it a huge hole, because its a need that I think we can fill with any one of many stop-gap free agent corners out there. I'd say our biggest hole would have to be either OG, a DT to replace Tim Anderson, or DE if/when Kelsay leaves. And bflodan, I don't know how much stock I'd put into that particular comment from Fewell. It feels look coach speak, IMO. Fletcher would be a far more "devastating" loss than Clements, because we'd have to start all over again with someone new in the most mentally challenging position on the defense. We'd also lose valuable leadership, something Clements certainly doesn't offer.

So if I'm understanding your thoughts correctly, you believe we could fill the cornerback position with a decent (yet not spectacular) free agent. There are plenty of veteran, mid-level free agent cornerbacks out there this year, even some with cover 2 experience. So what we have here is a spot we can fill with any one of a bunch of different options, most of which won't cost us much of our resources. With that in mind, how does CB rise to the number one spot on a list of our "biggest holes"? I would think its actually a relatively small hole. And then you add Ashton Youboty into the equation as well.

What makes you say that? Just curious.