Erik

Is it me or do the owners seem to simply want to punish the players union because they raked them over the coals with the last CBA, which is completely ridiculous because I don't recall them putting up much of a fight (well, most of them at least) when they agreed to that collective bargaining agreement? I don't know, I just can't get behind the owners at all on this, there is just something about their whole stance that is off.

He's over 6 years in the league so he is a UFA regardless of the new CBA.

The greatest sports writer in the world chimes in: http://nationalpost.stats.com/fb/story.asp?i=20110301175627322301308

Decent depth. Better than Chambers, not as raw as Wang...hopefully they upgrade starting RT through draft of free agency (someday). If they do, not a bad signing at all.

He's an absolute goofball but you must give him credit for this: DonteWhitner TWHITNER @ @GWilson37 congrats G! Ur the hardest working guy I know and U deserve it homie...

What makes you think that he would have had success with us if he didn't have success with New England?

I'm shocked by this...I'm no scout or anything but just based on watching football for almost 30 years you can tell whether a guy has anything left in the tank or not...it didn't seem like Stroud had much left in the tank last season.

Centers too but they are generally the smartest guys on the field anyway.

That's not entirely true. At this moment in time the current CBA isn't expired and since the franchise tag is part of the current CBA it is valid right now. That all changes when the CBA expires obviously but it seems that the owners are working under the assumption that they can negotiate the franchise tags into the new CBA while grandfathering in the previously franchised players of the past few weeks, thus they are tagging the players now. If they can't negotiate that (which I doubt they won't be able to) then oh well, they will need to scramble to sign these guys but if they can that's one less thing to worry about when the lockout ends.

Generally if you wanted to retain a player than you would have re-signed him by now...with the CBA issues it seems like most teams are using this as a fallback for the guys that they couldn't sign (mostly because of the 30% rule). Generally I don't think there are more than 5-6 franchise players assigned an offseason, if that...how many do we have now? Seems like 11-12.

I'm fairly certain that the franchise tags will hold up, at least until the new CBA is agreed upon. If the new CBA has franchise tags then they keep them, if they don't then they don't.

Semantics...McCargo's contract is up after the new NFL year starts (whenever that may be) so you can't really cut him.

You know it's the dead of the offseason with a lockout looming when a Pat Moran tweet generates 34 posts.

I'm pretty sure that is just from the bogus Nike designs that came out a few months ago...Nike has nothing to do with designing uniforms, it's the team's prerogative.

I saw the guy who played Uncle Junior in The Sopranos do it at Fenway Park once and he was great. Random people like that are always better than these huge pop stars.

It wouldn't surprise me if all three of the guys that you mentioned got the franchise tag placed on them.

Don't forget that the league implied that franchise tags will be available as usual so you can bet that some of these names will be crossed off of the list shortly.

I have to kind of disagree with this take. Jauron was the epitome of drafting for system. The problem was his system was stock up on D-Backs and fill the front seven with smaller, faster players. Go right down the hit list, Maybin, McKelvin, mcCargo, Whitner, they all fit into the same philosophy. A stupid plan, but a plan no less. The problem with the Bills has been lack of consistency in the front office and coaching staff, not lack of identity.

Well, we beat the same coaching staff, with our offense scoring 49 points, when it counted so I, along with Chan, will likely not lose any sleep if they beat us in an exhibition game.

It was about Miller...he would essentially only have to get two sacks a year for Thoner to lose his bet.

You really don't think he'd get more than 2-3 sacks a season?

FWIW AdamSchefter Adam Schefter To those asking where Texans A+M LB Von Miller will go in the NFL draft, the early signs are, Top 5 pick.

How fair is it to reference Posey in this thread and omit Spikes, who we signed in the same offseason? Posey was signed to be a supplement to Spikes and Fletcher at LB.

I'd say if the CBA is not settled by the draft it would be pretty pointless to trade Evans since the most you would get for him is a pick in 2012.

I'd take Bell over Scott.