BillsVet

OP suggests it because the link discusses Williams' cap hit for 2014 being in excess of 18M.

In the 3 off-seasons Nix was solely GM (2010-12) I count 17 players receiving extensions or signed in UFA by the Bills. NFL careers are relatively short, but when a team signs a player it means they're confident the player can help them for the duration of the contract. If, and it's an if, Anderson, Lindell, and Smith are released that's more than two thirds of Nix's signings who no longer play for Buffalo. Buffalo will need to be better with personnel decisions under Whaley, especially considering that Byrd and Wood will need contract extensions. UFA / Re-signed players not with team Dwan Edwards: Signed as an UFA to a 4 year 18M contract March 2010 (cut September 2012) Cornell Green: Signed as an UFA to a 3 year 9M contract March 2010 (cut November 2010) Chris Kelsay: Re-signed to a 5 year 28.2M contract extension September 2010 (retired February 2013) George Wilson: Re-signed to a 3 year 7M contract March 2011 (cut February 2013) Drayton Florence: Re-signed to a 3 year 15M contract July 2011 (cut May 2012) Tyler Thigpen: Signed as an UFA to a 3 year 11M contract July 2011 (cut March 2013) Nick Barnett: Signed as an UFA to a 3 year 12M contract July 2011 (cut February 2013) Ryan Fitzpatrick: Re-signed to a 6 year 59M contract October 2011 (cut March 2013) Vince Young: Signed as an UFA to a 1 year 2M contract May 2012 (cut August 2012) UFA / Re-signings Kyle Williams: Re-signed to a 6 year 33.6M contract extension July 2011 (2013 starter) Brad Smith: Signed as an UFA to a 4 year 15M contract July 2011 (potential cut 2013) Rian Lindell: Re-signed to a 4 year 10M contract extension February 2012 (potential cut 2013) Steve Johnson: Re-signed to a 5 year 36.25M contract extension March 2012 (2013 starter) Mario Williams: Signed as an UFA to a 6 year 96M contract March 2012 (potential re-structuring 2014) Mark Anderson: Signed as an UFA to a 4 year 20M contract March 2012 (potential cut 2013) Fred Jackson: Re-signed to a 3 year 10.8M contract extension May 2012 (2013 primary backup) Kraig Urbik: Re-signed to a 4 year 13.3M contract extension December 2012 (2013 starter)

And Wood is going into the final year of his contract. Haven't heard anything about the Bills working on an extension, although there's time. Then again, Overdorf can only handle one negotiation at a time, which frees him up to work on Wood now that we know little to nothing is happening with Byrd.

Kirwan probably knows Brandon has Parker right where he wants him. Just like in 2009.

Teams are indeed taking TE's that can run by people and eschewing the slower footed types who are safety valve types like Chandler. Nothing against Chandler, but with teams playing more Cover 2, having a guy be able to run the seam and attack secondaries is important. The Bills haven't had that in forever and that won't change in 2013. He's coming off an ACL tear and will be inhibited early on, perhaps most of the season. Unfortunately, there's nothing behind him and definitely not anyone adept at catching passes. This is a position that hasn't been adequately addressed because they were too busy drafting defensive players to facilitate converting from a Cover-2 to a 30 front and back to a 40 front defense.

Is that what you think he'll run when he's recovered from his ACL surgery? Or are you going from combine results 6 years ago? I know most people like to quantify things with statistics or combine results, but when I watch games I see someone who isn't getting behind defenders. It's not his game and the current staff seems intent on improving team speed. Chandler's going to be even slower post-surgery than he was in 2011-12.

Well, for a HC and OC who want their receivers to be faster, Chandler doesn't exactly fit. He's a Buddy guy, not a Marrone/Hackett/Whaley guy. I wouldn't be surprised to see them feature him less in their offense between the 20s in favor of more WR's given his lack of speed.

Kinda like 2008 when the Brady-less Patriots proceeded to go 11-5 with Matt Cassel quarterbacking them?

This about sums it up. But what should be patently obvious is that in the NFL, you don't win 10 plus games 10 years straight without talent at all levels: front office, coaching, and of course, players. People who chalk success up to luck are looking for an out to excuse their team which does not succeed.

Why did TB hand out a huge contract to Dashon Goldson, formerly of the SF secondary that was torched in the SB? Or the contract Eric Weddle got in SD 2 years ago? Proven safeties are scoring large contracts, especially those who collect turnovers like Byrd. Byrd has more leverage, if only based on contracts handed out to other safeties in recent history. At the same time, I see the stories about Aaron Williams and his transition to playing safety, which seems a little optimistic. The Bills don't have a safety on the roster right now with more than 3 NFL starts at the position. You don't plug in inexperienced players, particularly when a new defense is introduced (the 4th in 5 seasons) and not expect growing pains. And just to compare, Aaron Williams has 2 FF and 1 INT in 20 NFL games. Byrd has 33 (10 FF, 5 FR, 18 INT) turnovers in 62 games.

Have to believe they'll go into camp with more than 3 arms, only one of which has thrown a NFL pass. Costs them 500k for less than 3 months or work.

You mean the team that does this to a guy 8 years into a NFL career that had missed 14 games in 2 seasons: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6951906/troy-polamalu-pittsburgh-steelers-agree-four-year-contract-extension

And this is the reason eternal homer-optimists cannot understand those they deem as "negative." It will never change, because fandom is different for all fans. But for people to lord over us what the definition a fan is, i.e. always being optimistic is the height of self-righteousness. I don't expect you to agree with me (ever) because I don't understand the insistence that people like me are branded negative for having a dubious take after all these years. I'm optimistic about a lot of things in life, because there is evidence things are better. With the Bills, it's the boy who cried wolf every year and that's precisely what's caused the backlash.

FYI...Allen hired Marv Levy as the NFL's first ST coach. I get that some want to get amped up over anything and everything relative to their favorite team. But as Code Money pointed out above, realism has led to rampant pessimism, particularly since Donahoe's departure. And who can blame people for taking that attitude considering the results?

Because Colin Brown has 12 career GP and 2 starts since being drafted in 2009. He's on his 4th team in 5 seasons, including his time in the UFL. If the Bills were confident in guys like Brown, they wouldn't be kicking the tires on two guys like those brought in today.

Take the last three (EDIT: 1st-2nd) rounds of the NFL draft. In 2013, 10 OL were taken in the first 2 rounds. In 2012, 12 were selected in that same timeframe. 13 taken in 2011. By my count, that's 35 dudes out of 192 selections, and they're not all left tackles. Lot more interior OL at the top of draftboards. The league trend is away from 330+ pounders and more to nimble guys who can pass block to support the more pass happy offenses. Teams just aren't taking maulers anymore. In theory, that's 35 new starters from 3 drafts, or about 1/4th of the opening day starters.

Jim McNally used to coach the Bills OL and was handed very little to work with. Not surprisingly, the OL struggled particularly running the ball in short yardage. What should concern people is the team doesn't use high resources on their OL, instead focusing on players from the waiver wire, practice squads, or late round draft picks to round out their OL. Meanwhile, several teams are drafting mobile athletic types who can move, not the space eater win in a phone booth type preferred by Nix. At this point no one knows who'll start at LG, a position that demands outstanding agility. Urbik's penciled in at RG, the RT position is a question mark, Glenn has 1 year under his belt, and Wood seems solid. The depth behind them isn't strong either, marked by plenty of UDFA's and street FA types. The line is not in any way shape or form a strong point despite who the coaches are.

And Byrd's been in 3 in 4 NFL seasons. There's a chance for a lot of things, but it's a huge leap to think not showing for TC will mean his play suffers significantly to warrant a smaller contract on the open market. There's a chance he could have another All-Pro season in a scheme that should generate more pressure and therefore more inadvertent throws into coverage. The point to all of this is Byrd will get paid. If the Bills don't like paying the going rate, well, it's Peters 2.0. And that worked for the player and agent last time.

Huh? That's a heckuva a stretch to declare missing the off-season automatically means him playing poorly and therefore he won't get the cash after this season? Revis held in 2010 for the entire post-season and did just fine and yes, I recognize one is a CB and the other a S. It's probably the last thing on Byrd and the agent's mind going into negotiations. Byrd's adapted fine to playing in 3 defenses in 4 seasons. I doubt it'll take much to pick up what Pettine's preaching.

Goldson is two years older, has four less INTs and four less fumble recoveries in playing 19 more games than Byrd.

Some are still bashing Jason Peters 4 years after he was traded so this isn't surprising. Homerdom knows no bounds.

Who cares? Dude hasn't played for the Bills since 2008. Move on already.

If Ozzie Newsome makes mistakes, what does that make the tenures of Donahoe, Marv, Brandon, and Nix? And if the standard of excellence is perfection, every GM falls short. Bills fans can only dream of having a QB worthy of re-signing with the team after winning in the post-season.

I'm not sure if I'd call it hatred, but If Russ was as concerned with being semi-real as he is with optics, perhaps more fans wouldn't question his integrity. It's one thing to talk about establishing an analytics department and then not do it. But to tell fans the GM (who delivered no results) was going to be around for a long time, people have a right to question the guy's frame of mind and remain dubious about his motivations. Brandon's been in top level management with this organization since early 2008 and he certainly wasn't just hired 1/1/13 as you indicate. In 5 lackluster seasons he rose from COO/GM to CEO and now to team president without any on-field results. It's for that reason that people will be skeptical about Russ Brandon, as he will be identified with poor results.

I take this as a shot against Eugene Parker, who has a habit of negotiating in the public arena.