Are the Bills any good?

[bobblehead]

No, the Bills are not any good.

[Shoutbox]

Very nice effort, OP! My only criticism is that you're not pessimistic enough about our WR, LB, and CB situations. I would have marked 7 positions as RED:

 

1. QB#1 - best chance at upgrade is within the first 3 rounds of the draft.

2. Levitre - pay the man.

3. WR#2 - I'd look for an affordable veteran free agent option here to take some of the heat off of SJ.

4. 3-4 OLB / 4-3 DE - several options with draft or free agency here, but we need another versatile starting caliber pass rusher to pair opposite MW because Mark Anderson is a very major question mark.

5. 4-3 MLB - Kelvin Sheppard is way too slow to be a reliable starter. Either free agency or a 2nd/3rd rounder should suffice.

6. Byrd - pay the man.

7. CB#2 - McGee will be cut, McKelvin may likely leave, Aaron Williams is better suited to backup FS, and Brooks/Rogers were regularly torched. Free agency is the best place to look, unless the Bills act like the Bills and once again draft a 1st round CB with Dee Milliner.

[Tcali]

It's surprising that the Bills won 6 games last season when 23 of their top 26 players are either "great" or "good". On one of the worst defenses in the history of the franchise, 12 out of the top 13 players are "great" or "good"? I think your methodology needs to be re-examined.

yes..a delusional color code. our Lbs should be red enough to blind people without protective eye gear.

[KeisterHollow]

I like the spirit of the thread - but, it can be really hard, if not impossible - as are so many things on this site - to get down to objectively. All we're going to do is put in our opinions, and the roster, in six months, will be mixed up enough that any definitive projection of whether or not we're good will need to be, by then, revised.

 

One of the problems with asking, "are we any good" is the issue of coaching. This is true - some coaching staffs get more out of players than others - so that the very same roster of players might achieve a 10-6 record with one coach, and a 6-10 record with another. Then you've got schedules, injuries, and schemes to consider.

 

One way to get around a lot of these variables is to just say, on a scale of absolutely average to a perennial pro-bowl talent, where do our guys rank?

Now, I've been writing my optimistic point of view on here for a while, and here it is again: I think our O-line has the talent (and I include potential here, too) to be a top 5 unit. In my opinion our line compares, when healthy, to most any in the league - which is to say it is more than just fine.

I think our WR's are less than talented - as our top WR is more of a stereotypical #2 - more because his skill is not as much speed and jump balls (the AJ Green, Megatron mold) but more of a get open make a catch type. Frankly, numbering WR's is not real helpful, as, ideally, you'd like to have all your WR's capable of jumping, catching, and burning guys. On the whole - we need 2 WR's that are tall and fast, and can catch.

As for TE - I think a better pass catching TE to go with Chandler would be good - not that Chandler can't catch, but a TE with more speed - like Findley or Davis - too.

Our RB's would be welcome on any team in the NFL.

Our QB's are the worst in the NFL, I believe.

 

So, on offense, we're a QB, a few bigger WR's, and maybe a TE away from being as good as any offense in the NFL. That's probably 2 years away. However, a QB and WR this year could give us enough to get going pretty good.

 

On defense, our D-line is as good as anyone's. I'm not as high on Mario Williams as some, but he is undeniably good. I just don't think he tries too hard to be great. Dareus and Williams are great.

Our LB's stink. Bradham has some potential - he passes the eye test even for a team like San Fran (what I mean by that is he fits even their mold - big, agile). Depending on how we're using guys, someone like Moats would probably fit in on other teams. Still, LB is our glaring weakness on defense, and I'd like to see us add 2 or 3 more to the roster. The trouble is, the great defenses have 2 or 3 really excellent, 1st round talent at the LB position. For us to get real game-changers like that at LB is going to take a few years.

Our secondary is good - and we're a consistent corner away from being one of the best secondaries in the NFL. Aaron Williams, for all we know, might end up being a great safety if he doesn't end up putting it together at corner.

 

So, defensively, I think our team matches up with even the very good defenses, talent-wise, with the exception of LB's.

 

Total prognosis: We need 1st or 2nd round talent added at QB, LB (2), WR (1-2), maybe CB. That is, no matter how you cut it, another 2 years of excellent drafting and good F.A. pickups away. However, if Marrone and Pettine can light a fire under their units, and if we keep the good ones we have, by this time next year we could be the next team on the rise with a half-decade of excellence to look forward to. Not too far off, but they'll have to turn over many more stones than usual to right the ship sooner than that.