BobChalmers

Well we have to assume Barnett and Sheppard are both starting next year. Barnett will line up wherever their scheme has the most challenging pass-coverage assignments, and Sheppard will get the other spot. Either way, therefore, ONE OLB is settled IF they are playing 4-3. Bottom line is that 5 spots on the front 7 are settled. The first four are Williams, Dareus, Barnett, and Shepppard. The "fifth" is Kelsay and Merriman combined.

Aaron already is a solid player. He's arguably already the Bills' top CB. Dalton isn't that amazing - w/o Green to haul in a lot of balls thrown up for grabs his stat-line would be junk.

The theory is that RB's are a dime-a-dozen at this level, and if you have a strong OL and a passing game threat, a mediocre RB can look like a pro-bowler.

OMG - for shame a rookie CB gets burned on a few. He did great - remember he didn't have a proper training time because of injuries. If you want to hold injuries against him, fine.

One useful defintion might be based on the reaction other teams have to the player: You're a #1 WR if the opposing team makes a point of putting their best CB on you, and/or doubles you often. To me - the easiest way to identify a top difference-maker at almost any position but QB is to simply ask - does this guy create frequent matchup problems, to the extent that "average" opposing teams have to often use two players to resolve the matchup. As soon as a team has to double someone - be it a WR or a DLinemen, then they are sacrificing resources at another part of their formatio and you have developed a huge edge. Dareus was attracting constant double's later in the season which was huge - can you imagine how much havok a healthy KW could have created was still in there while teams were committing two players to stopping the rookie? By this definition, I think Stevie demonstrated he was a "real #1" albeit not a dominant one like a Johnson/Johnson/Fitzgerald. The way he was able to defeat Revis was a really big deal. If he caught that wide open ball near the end of the game (at the Jets 15 or so) all anyone would be talking about would be his domination of Revis Isalnd. Sadly, his occasional awful drops - way more than his endzone antics - are holding him back from being a top-5 kind of WR. For other positions, such as a top CB, it's the opposite - it is a big deal on the opposite end if they never need double-help.

Agreed Garcon would be great - but is Ralph too cheap to spring for the extra lettering material for the tail on the 'C' on his jersey?? In all seriousness, I suspect that at age 25 he's the sort of guy the Colts are going to work hard to keep. Reggie Wayne they will let walk bacause they have let it be known are trying to start over with a new young roster.

In fairness - I suppose I could say he is young and improving - maybe if he didn't come off as such a stupid/immmature tool on that HBO Hard Knocks special I'd be more charitable. I blame the media!

Say what??? Sanchez is HORRIBLE. He has career QB rating of 73.2. He was showing some improvement this year before regressing at the end with 5TD/7INT (plus two lost fumbles) and dropping the last three games. The only reason people talk about him as anything other than a total NFL bust is precisely because he has a talented team around him that carried his lousy tail to two AFC Championships. This year they weren't quite as good, and his sorry butt was just too much burden for them to carry. No surprise.

I agree we'll learn more from the draft/FA. OTOH, ESPN is daily proof you don't need to know what you are talking about to be a sportswriter. The team has the transcript on their page - here's the part about defensive alignments:

Am I the only one who listened to the entire Nix press conference and heard absolutely nothing of the kind? I heard him say it's not a big deal - he did not say which way they were going as a bsae defense. ESPN was reading waaaay too much into that. Which (not in so many words, of course) is exactly what Nix said. Guys like Calvin Johnson who are still 'open' when they are covered. Jones is a nice guy to have on your roster at #5 WR. He's not big, not espeically fast for an NFL WR, nor does he have great hands. Maybe he runs great routes - but it hasn't shown up in games yet. You could see from Easley's brief preseason appearance why he has Gailey excited for his potential. Jones I don't get. Fortunately, Nix wasn't sounding satisified with Jones as a starter.

He did? Source? I'm all but certain they are going 4-3 based on Nix's comments that he is looking to upgrade the pass rush with a DE. That's not what DE's do in a 3-4. Spencer is a fine backup 4-3 DT - his actual position. Kelsay will be in the mix at DE if they go 4-3. You don't want to bank on Easley - but believe that Chan is still really hoping he can come through. They also love Donald Jones for some reason - I just don't see it, but they do. Agreed on McGhee - too bad, he's been a good player - but too old and injury prone now. McKelvin might stick as a s/t guy if his price is low enough. Nix actually has me believing that's his plan. Here's hoping he pulls it off. Hard to believe KC will let Bowe get away - I've been assuming Vince Jackson is their target - assuming Merriman and Nix have a good relationship there they think they can exploit.

Nix made it pretty clear he intends to keep Stevie, and that IF he loses him he'll bring in TWO top WR's instead of just one more to work opposite Stevie. Feel free to blow dark smoke and troll here - it's a popular activity here at TBD. Bell may well be gone - good player who can't stay healthy - Nix was plenty up front about it. I think if Bell keeps his demands reasonable he'll stay - hard to know.

Because he's not a "big time receiver". Buddy didn't say anything about getting WR's PLURAL - unless they lose Stevie. He said they want another ONE top starter to go with SJ. There's nothing wrong with Jones your #4/#5 guy. That's has nothing to do with trying to bring in a Vincent Jackson, etc. or sign a 1st-round stud WR.

I really thought it sounded more like he wants to draft an OT at #10 if he's there and that they are targeting a FA WR (Vince Jackson?) to ADD to Stevie as a starter.

I admit I may be overinterpreting - but I really took what he was saying as implying they intend to USE their cap THIS year. Who is a big pass-rusher likely available in FA? He really sounded like he was going to spend hard to get one.

Wow - this press conference is great - he's being WAAAAY more direct than I expected. Sounds like - as we had hoped but not necessarily expected - he wants Stevie AND another top WR. Wants his own Calvin Johnson - nice. I'm betting they are targeting Vincent Jackson big time. Saying it again - "IF WE DON'T GET STEVIE BACK THEN WE NEED TWO". That's pretty no-nonsense. He's not counting Jones/Roscoe/Easely/Nelson - he's talking about "Calvin Johnson (ish)" WR's. I'm also reading in this that they are planning to go with a base 4-3. He said they need pass rushers - then immediately referred to DE's. LB's were an afterthought. Sounds like he wants to go FA hard for a DE. No bones about it - he says next year they should be a playoff team if they can get healthy and fix the spots that need fixing: WR, PassRush, OT, CB. <- somebody correct me if I got that list wrong. Sounds like he's not completely giving up on Bell but somewhat. Fair - unlike Wood, there's nothing "fluky" about Bell's injuries - they are strength kind of problems.

I disagree. I would be happy with them seeing if they do better finding DE vs. OLB pass rush help and moving forward from there. Moreover - as some of the players already said when interviewed - it would be stupid of them to let the rest of the league know which way they plan to go before the draft. I just want them to base their scheme off what players they have when we get to April/May rather than force a system on the wrong players and end up with a DT playing OLB again.

By looking at FILM. Not just their stats.

Not really - not in any meaningful way. As already stated - most kickoffs end in touchbacks anyway - not too big a deal. You have to SCORE a TD to get a celebration penalty. We've had far too few players get into position for that flag. What he has done to hurt the team is DROP MULTIPLE EASY PASSES FOR TDs. I'd still ike to see him resigned - and I don't think 7.5M is too much, but I doubt the stories that that's all he wants. We'll see.

The only thing that gives me some hope in this are Ralph Wilson's comments about getting Fitz better weapons. And before you start with "Ralph is cheap, blah, blah, blah" - consider he was willing to drop $7M/year on a OG (Dockery) plus $5M for a ORT (Walker) a few years ago when his management told him to. He also just gave Fitz $10M which is plenty for what Fitz has actually demonstrated in his career. If they like Stevie, they'll make him a good offer. No, they won't overpay - $10M/year for Clements was a joke - and the 49ers have already dumped him since. Pretty sure they just upgraded at ILB dumping Poz for Barnett - and no, Poz was not a good deal at $7M per. I strongly suspect if they let Stevie go it will be tied to replacing him with a different top FA WR they decide they like better. Obviously, I'd rather they kept him, AND brought in another guy - we'll see. (You do have to like how easily Stevie seems to deal with "Revis-Island".)

Then you need to take a step back and think about the logical consequences of what you are saying. You can put stock in the fact that Chris Brown is: - fairly well informed on what's going on at OBD - works hard not to say anything that would hurt the ownership - rarely says anything surprising or controversial - if he says anything attention-getting, it's with intent, to forward the cause of the team management In other words - the team wants you to hear what CB says, and if he says something seemingly newsworthy, then you can assume he is expressing what OBD wants you to hear. No - his opinions aren't balanced - he works for the team - but they are notable BECAUSE he works for the team.

This is all awfully reasonable and intelligent. Are you sure you've come to the right board? This is the "Ralph is cheap, the Bills suck, we're all doomed." website.

And I believe the truth behind the OP is that he was no longer playing at that level on the Jets either. My guess is teams have figured out his (severe) limitations and solved whatever scheming the Jets were doing with him. So, as the previous poster said - he'll probably be off the team next year.

His neck is hosed and he is insane to do anything but retire.

Yeah - and I believe he was so cheap he didn't let them make Dockery the most expensive G in the league at $7M/year? Oh wait. He's really not that cheap folks - get over your own economic inadequacies and stop projecting them. No, he's not Dan Snyder, but there are plenty of teams who don't do anything in FA. The Bills aren't big players, but if Gailey/Nix like somebody they'll get them. Let's see what happens with Stevie and Freddy though.