Cash

It's 2010 right now. If the 2012 season is voided, that still leaves 2011, which is next year.

Shameful.

Tim Graham gives it both barrels: http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/19507/after-lynch-are-bills-on-verge-of-unloading I think he got a little heavy-handed towards the end, but the crux of it is right on the money. Bottom line is that if the Bills couldn't have gotten more, they should've just kept Marshawn.

If the Vikings got desperate and offered a 2nd-rounder, that might be worth doing. Otherwise, don't bother. I know that people feel like it's better to get something than nothing, but they fail to consider that every time you sell cheaply, you influence future negotiations. That's why scalpers frequently won't lower their prices, even when they wind up eating the cost of hundreds of tickets. Once that price goes down, it's really hard to bring it back up. That's why the Lynch deal stinks. If we're not going to get good value for him, we're not going to start getting good value for anyone else anytime soon.

Kelsay's extension won't pay itself.

Exactly 1 round better than I expected. I'd rather have a 3 in 2011 than a 4 in 2011 plus a 5 in 2012, though. Also, looks like Ted Thompson's old employee took advantage of Thompson's unwillingness to pull the trigger: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/104358214.html I say this was a steal for Seattle. And I'm sort of glad Lynch went there, because he was already owned in every fantasy league I'm in, and would've blown up in Green Bay. Doubt he'll be great in Seattle, though. How is their non-RB offense any better than ours?

I don't know for a fact, that's true. But I'm making an educated guess based on past NFL trades, and past reports of NFL trades. I'm about 80% confident that the pick is a 7 that could upgrade to a 6 based on playing time. But there's still that 20%. If it turns out that the 2012 pick is any good (maybe a 4 or better), or at least can be upgraded to something good (Pro Bowl makes it a 3rd?), then that'll change my opinion. But it might take weeks for the details of that conditional pick to come out. Until then, I'm basing my opinion off the percentage play. Oh, no worries, I didn't take anything personally, and I definitely didn't think you were calling me out specifically. If anything, I should've said what I said in a more general post instead of replying to yours. It's just that there's been a ton of this "wait before you criticize" stuff this year. We've seen "it's only been X weeks, you can't judge the season yet" posts after each of the first 3 weeks. Plus, you can't judge Nix or Gailey yet, because they've only had 1 draft/offseason. And you can't judge the Spiller pick because he hasn't gotten enough PT. And (my personal favorite) you can't judge Trent Edwards, because even Manning or Brady would look terrible behind that O-line. Personally, I have a longstanding rule: Any time my team goes 10 years without making the playoffs, I get Complaint Carte Blanche. I don't have to give the Bills the benefit of the doubt on any decisions, and I can complain about any facet of the organization any time I want, without apology. Once they make the playoffs, I have to be justified or shut up. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening any time soon. And I'm sick of being right. You're welcome!

Suspended players do not count against a team's active roster. So yes, when Nelson gets activated, there will need to be an open roster space. But I think the Bills will add an RB first, then cut a TE to make room for Nelson. Keep in mind that Nelson's coming off surgery and may not be able to play for a couple weeks anyway. If he's unable to play, the Bills can request a roster exemption to let him practice with the team while he heals, and only activate him once he's ready to play. Such exemptions only last 1-2 weeks, and are usually granted.

I dunno about that. Even when Fred wasn't in the NFL, he was still playing professional tackle football. I agree that mileage is what counts, but saying Freddie has low mileage is like not counting miles driven on dirt roads.

FWIW, Packers fans on at least one message board are generally furious that Green Bay didn't outbid Seattle for Lynch.

Because we've seen conditional picks thrown into trades before, and it's almost always a 7th-rounder that could upgrade to a 6th-rounder. Especially when the value of the 4th-rounder is being reported. If it was "2 conditional picks," maybe one of them could be pretty high. When it's "a 4th-rounder and a conditional pick," typically the conditional pick is somewhat of a throw-in. I've definitely never seen a report of "an X-rounder and a conditional pick" where the conditional pick was able to even match the X pick. And I'm sick of being told to wait before criticizing the Bills. I waited for 10 full years, thank you very much. Now I'm allowed to B word when I want about what I want, and those privileges don't get revoked until they make the playoffs.

Supposedly they like UB's own James Starks(? going from memory), who is eligible to come off the PUP list in a couple weeks. But that reminds me of one of Michael Lombardi's favorite quotes: "Hope is not a plan." You can be hopeful about a rookie coming off a major injury, but you can't plan your Super Bowl run around him. To keep things a little more on topic, Adam Schefter is tweeting that the Seahawks thought they had a Lynch deal in place last week, but the Bills pulled out at the last minute. I'm guessing that that's where the conditional pick came from.

My first 2 thoughts: 1.) I had been encouraged that the Bills were holding out for value. Assuming that conditional pick is low (which is usually the case), I'm very discouraged. We got 2 third-rounders and a 7th-rounder for McGahee. A four (even a high four) and maybe a seven next year is not very good. I thought it would take a second-rounder to get Lynch, especially since there are multiple confirmed suitors (Seahawks, Packers, Eagles), and 2 of them are fairly desperate. Sometimes a contender will overpay for an in-season trade, because their focus is on winning it all *this* year, and next year's draft can't help that. See San Diego giving the Dolphins a 2nd-rounder for Chris Chambers a few years ago. 2.) If I'm a Packers fan, I'm furious right now. How dumb is their management that they wouldn't pony up a third-rounder to get Lynch? Has Ted Thompson watched any games since Ryan Grant got hurt? Brandon Jackson and John Kuhn are taking them nowhere. Lynch could've been the difference between winning the Super Bowl and losing in the first round of the playoffs. I'm sure whatever RB they draft next year will be really solid, but you'd think they'd have a little more urgency to take advantage of the opportunity they have right now. Obviously, if the conditional pick turns out to be something of significant value, that will completely change my thinking.

I thought Kelsay was a really solid OLB?

Problem is, Fitz is one of the very few players who actually looks like he's trying his hardest and gives a damn about the game.

I agree on both fronts. Kelsay, while not horrible as a 4-3 DE, is a waste of a roster spot as a 3-4 OLB. Poz will never be the superstar that his supporters want him to be (white guy with a Polish name! I love him!), but he's a solid starter. Poz isn't the problem, although he's not good enough to be the solution either.

It doesn't look like it. Yes, Nix has a new title, and is now the guy who deals with the media, but it doesn't appear that the organization has really changed the way it does business. When there's a true FO overhaul, typically you see a lot of veteran cuts, replaced by players who are more the new GM's guys. Especially when you have a drastic change in scheme like we had on defense. An overhauled FO probably would've cut Trent, Kelsay, probably traded Marshawn, etc. Instead we got more of the same. And don't tell me about how many roster spots turned over this year. Every team turns over a third of its roster every year. On opening day, there were only 4 starters that were new personnel: 1.) Spiller, although he's being used lightly in a timeshare, and neither of last year's backs was moved. 2.) Cornell Green, who stinks and was only signed because Brad Butler retired. The Bills would have been happy to run back last year's opening day line this year. 3&4.) Dwan Edwards & Andra Davis, who actually fit the mold of new guys being brought in to fit the new scheme. Reggie Torbor didn't play in week 1, but should probably be mentioned, since he typically starts at OLB. He was a Dolphins' camp cut and has been moved to a new position. That's not much roster turnover where it counts. All the changes so far have been largely cosmetic, except for the move to a 3-4, which unsurprisingly has blow up in our faces.

Spelling aside, I agree. We're building, not re-building. We were re-building during the Gregg Williams era, and we failed at that. We have no holdovers from any good teams to "re"-build with. We're attempting (poorly) to build from scratch here. What a crap game by a crap team. This sucks.

Looks like Moats' arm is broken. Send another guy to IR. Do the Bills put their guys on no-calcium diets or something?

And now he's hurt. Wonderful.

I wonder if he still "expects to win" every time the players take the field.

Moats in the game at OLB. Probably won't get a chance to pass-rush, though.

At least Steve Johnson is still playing.

Fitz is our whole offense.

The Manchise? What the F is that?