finn

This is where I was hoping Whaley would show some imagination. Offer him the money he would have earned as a first rounder, maybe the money he would have earned with the 20th pick, on the condition that everything works out legally, of course. Everyone wins. Still could do it.

I know you're being sarcastic, but La'el Collins does have future HOF talent, at least potentially, and they could have taken a flier on him rather than draft training camp fodder. Low risk, very very high reward.

My thoughts exactly. I don't understand why they feel they don't need quality people against the monsters at defensive tackle, even after seeing Colin Brown, Legursky, Richardson and Urbick struggle there. Our quarterbacks just aren't good enough to cover for them--it needs to be the other way around, in fact. So you have extraordinary receivers and running backs but an interior line that is likely to be overwhelmed--again. Whaley seems content with mediocrity at a position that is becoming increasingly critical in the game. Yes, Incognito might work out, and one of the young guys might develop. But he's not leaving WR or RB or the defense to chance, only the one position (other than qb) that has been given the Bills the most trouble for three years running.

Why draft a guard? Who needs them against the best d-tackles in the league in our division? You can always get a guard in the seventh round.

A tad worried? Yes, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic, as people have explained here, but going into the draft we have the same personnel at OL as last year, except Incognito, who even the hard-core Pollyannas will admit is a question mark. We have two solid players now. Two.

Love, hate...I mean, think about what that means. Posters here are just channeling their hopes and frustrations, right? We're not being paid to make decisions, so we can be self indulgent and reckless as we want to be. Whaley probably "loves" and "detests" EJ every bit as much as any of us; he just doesn't get to publicly vent his emotions. So I wouldn't be get so bent out of shape at the hyperbolic posters. They may seem like empty-headed Pollyannas or gloom-and-doom naysayers, but they want the Bills to win as much as anyone or they wouldn't be here. Incidentally, there's a personality component to this, too: some people feel more comfortable dwelling on the negative because they instinctively believe it makes a positive outcome more likely, while others see any criticism at all as a sign of disloyalty. In short, don't posts so personally.

You know, this forum would work a lot better if people read more carefully before they posted. I didn't claim that the Bills haven't tried to address these positions; I said little has changed. Look at your list of personnel. The worst three positions have stayed the worst because of these choices. Drafting Glenn is the only clearly good move at this point.

Fair enough. He certainly has the build and evidently the desire to improve fast. I'm hoping with good coaching he'll be solid, but I'm heartened by reports that the Bills went hard after Brian Beluga. I'm just frustrated that so little has changed to two of the three worst positions on the team (G, T and QB) over the past three or even four years.

For a run-first, 50-carries a game offense Rex is planning, it's curious that the Bills have the same awful line as last year at this point except for Incognito, who may or may not work out. I happen to be bullish on him, but Henderson, Richardson and Kujo all sucked: they would have to improve to be mediocre. The afterthought, sneering (pay cut) extension of Urbick may end up being the most crucial signing of all, since you can't run or throw with last year's line, and otherwise all the chips are on the draft. It's natural to be leery of a crew that picked Kujo high and Richardson middle, only to be "saved" by a seventh round mediocrity. Best case scenario: Glenn and Wood turn it around, Incognito returns to form (his good form, that is), a rookie plays great and Henderson is suddenly terrific. Realistic scenario: Glenn and Wood are ok/good, Incognito is rusty/ok, they stick in steady Urbick after the rookies struggle and Henderson continues to suck. In sum, a line that improves from one of the worst all the way to below average. 50 carries a game, man!

This move makes me happier than the more spashy signings, except for Hughes'. I'm with Marv: build through the draft and keep your own people. I would have kept Stevie, Kiko, Chandler and Spiller, although I like the offer sheet to Clay: had to upgrade there. I happen to think building the OL is a higher priority than a flashy back, so I'm less pleased with selling out for Shady. (Not sure what happened with Hairston.) Watkins, Shady, Clay...they will all be pedestrian without a strong OL, and we have the same squad as last year--and the year before, really, since Henderson, Richardson and Williams all look like busts and Incognito may or may not pan out. I know what the apologists say every time: "They tried! They really tried!" Keep it to yourself. Give me results. Urbick has been much maligned, but he's a baller, which you can't say for Henderon, et al. Whaley is lucky Urbick didn't tell him to stuff his pay cut. They'll need him next year, maybe a lot more than the other signings.

We lost Hairston and Lee Smith, too, who weren't resigned.

It's hard to know how to respond to people who misrepresent one's posts. I mean, is it deliberate? A simple mistake? Or maybe a cognitive disability? Tell you, what, Greggy, I send you my contempt, sympathy or best regards, I'll let you decide which is most appropriate. But I do urge you to read more carefully before you sneer. Doesn't make you look very good.

Kiko Alonzo. Yes, I'm honestly saying they're not better on paper than they were a year ago. Where is the improvement? Incognito? An unknown. McCoy? Looks like an upgrade, but at the cost of losing Alonzo and Spiller, I would say it's a wash at best. Meanwhile, they lost Chandler and Searcy, so they added more holes. Ease up on that Koolaid, GG.

Hopeful nails it for me. I give Rex and Whaley credit for resigning Hughes but not much else. The chief weaknesses of the Bills last year, besides coaching, were qb, guard, guard and right tackle. Incognito is a stopgap that might or might not work out; for a third wr, Harvin is a very expensive distraction; McCoy is a VERY expensive dancer who will be wasted behind last year's line or the equivalent. Meanwhile we lost a decent TE and one of the most promising players in the entire league and spent up to or near the cap (I'm guessing there), and we STILL need a qb, at least one guard and a tackle, for the third year in a row. There's still time, but they strike me more like teenagers maxing out their dad's credit card than shrewd insiders who know what they're doing.

Smart. But consider that the Eagles didn't give up a rising star on its roster to get their first-rank RB. To put it another way, before they had just Shady. Not they have Demarco AND Kiko--at our expense.

This would have been my first priority by far. Same with last year and the year before that. It's always seems to be an afterthought with this crew. They seem to think any warm body can block the Suhs of the league. Prove me wrong, Whaley, please. Or plug in those all-stars Williams and Richardson again.

Kicks the can down the road, though. Keep in mind we don't have a qb, and if a great one becomes available in one or two years in free agency, we might not have the cap room to pay him because of these deals, in which case we'd be stuck cutting stars to meet the cap. See Orleans, New.

Mind if I play the pessimist? There's a reason fullbacks are vanishing: they don't carry their weight. Put a fullback on the field, especially one who can't catch like Felton (or so I read here) and an extra linebacker comes on. The box is stacked because there's only three receivers on the field, maybe two, and there's no room for running or short passes, so soon we have third and long with our heroes EJ or Cassel throwing into a blitz or double coverage. Why is everyone so happy? Courteous answers welcome.

What makes you think the Stevie trade was a great move? He was a good receiver for us; hard to judge him in the new context. The Hughes trade fell in Whaley's lap, as he admitted. Sure, he gets some credit but he said it was a "no brainer," and he's right. I hope Whaley's moves work out, but I'm not optimistic. He's acting like a kid on a sugar high. He's paying a high price for his glamorous toys. Watch who's available when our former first-round pick comes up in April. In a RB-heavy draft, that might have been our own Shady, so we would have had him, Alonzo and--if we had a GM who knew his business--Odell or Benjamin, along with a fourth-round pick and a lot more money to spend.

Kiko. It's not even close. A budding star with six or seven prime years ahead of him versus a prima donna with two years of tread left at a price that causes us to lose Searcy and Hughes in addition to Alonzo--in one of the deepest drafts in running backs in years. Heck of a deal, guys.

EJ wasn't just timid. He also threw his receivers into coverage (or body slams), was jumpy in the pocket and reluctant to run. I don't really blame him; I think he could have done much better had he sat and watched a few years, like Brady and others. It's very difficult to judge.

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No, I certainly didn't know they were bad picks at the time, but what does that have to do with whether or not they were good picks? They weren't, nor was Williams a good free agent. Whaley failed, in other words. What, do you want to give him credit for trying, is that it? If the Bills are "bringing in" people of the same quality as Kujo, Richardson, et al., then they'll fail again. Not sure I follow you. Are you happy as long as they seem to be trying hard? If so, you're pretty easy to please. (But you have picked a good team to follow.)

You're right. I'm mostly venting. But it's also true that my restraint in previous years regarding the offensive line ("of course they'll address it") was not rewarded--or "rewarded" with Chris Williams, Kujo, Richardson and (an afterthought) Henderson. In other words, my anxiety-fueled scorn is warranted to a degree!

Intriguing view of what the Bills are thinking, but it's illuminating what is not listed. Based on these tweets, they don't see right tackle and guard as a priority--once again. People here dismissed that Whaley press conference when he seemed excited (good lord) about Henderson, Richardson and Kujo, but together with this information, it seems even more possible that they will go into next year still deluded about the offensive line--the third year in a row. What does it take to make it a priority? We had the worst tackle and worst of the worst guards in football--and their priority is a third WR? A third (or fourth) DL? I can't help but wonder if Whaley's ego is getting in the way: he drafted these three clowns and might care more that they're not busts than the OL being top quality--and, no, they're not the same thing. Doug "just one step away!" Whaley.