The Bills have a few holes to fill

[Niagara Bill]

I agree, OG,LB,SS,WR,QB and CB are a dime a dozen.

if they are a dime a doz then why have we gone so many years without?

We keep creating holes to add to the holes that we have...ex Levitre, Barnett?? Wilson??

We cannot possibly fill all these needs with good talent in 1 year (history is the proof) even if they are a dime a doz because we is still playin' as if a dime a doz is too much money

[NewEra]

Is this the new hobby now that Fitz is gone? The "we need threads?"

 

It is funny people are neglecting that we are not horrible. Bring in middle of the road OG, LB, and SS and we can do just fine, WR can come in the draft, and CB too.

 

The bottom line is.....we won't do just fine until we get a good QB. Period. We might do better with a new coaching staff, but I can't envision us being "fine" until we have a QB.

[Meathead]

the only positions im worried about are LB and QB

 

clearly the hole at QB is glaring right now. im still mystified why the bills decided they didnt even want fitz to compete for the job. based on what he said in his interview with murph i think he would have taken a cut in pay if they had just let him compete with tjax and a rook. going out and getting another vet now doesnt make sense since they already have their backup in tjax and if they wanted somebody to start until the rook is ready they coulda had fitz do that so they certainly arent going to spend another five mil on somebody else. that all leads me to believe they are gonna draft a qb at eight and just let him play. in fact they probably are gonna take two, unless they think corp could be qb2/3 which i doubt

 

even with the addition of lawson they are still short at least one starting LB and very thin behind that. maybe sheppard and bradham are ready to play well in a 3-4 but they didnt show much last season to make me confident in that. they are gonna have to bring in at least one more free agent for depth there at a minimum. even if they draft a rookie high they still will need one more on top of all that

 

lots of time left to add players so they can get it done. gotta expect qb play is going to be very spotty no matter what. that coupled with the learning curve of first time hc and both coordinators and its an uphill climb for them to win more than six games. there is enough talent that if everything went right they could challenge for a wildcard, but rarely does everything go THAT right

[thewildrabbit]

Don't discount what Gailey did for our offense. He took a pathetic unit and made it respectable.

This is the biggest load of horse manure I've recently read!! You forgetting the fact that Gailey married himself to Fitz for 3 freaking years!!

 

He never bothered to bring in a young QB to groom to take over at some point. He sold Nix on the idea he could win with Fitz so Nix gave him a big pay raise when he didn't need to.

 

Gailey hired the most incompetent DC's this franchise has ever seen.

 

2010 team offense 28th in pts, 25 in yards

2011 team offense 14th in pts, 14th in yards

2012 team offense 21st in pts, 19th in yards

 

So Gailey was able to make a broken QB throw for a bunch of yards, while going 4-12, 6-10. 6-10 in three years. Perhaps that is your idea of respectable. The rest of the NFL is laughing.

[Dibs]

another linebacker (after signing Lawson) to start, a QB to start, a wide receiver to start, a starting off. guard, a back up off. guard, a safety, a defensive end, and that gets us back to where this team was last year...and that doesn't count a TE who is severly injured.

Way too many holes for a team who drafts as bad as we do....maybe we can talk Merriman to come out of retirement and safe the day.

Is it even possible for us to fill these holes before we create more. I do not think so! Your thoughts?

 

How do you figure we need another LB to stay even with last year? We still have 2 of the 3 starters from last year......and Lawson. We are likely better than we were already at LB compared to last season.

 

Similarly.....how do you figure we need a starting WR to be the equal of last year? As I recall our #1 & #2 were SJ & Graham.....we still have those.

 

From the looks we need a backup DE(replacing Kelsay)......and likely have a safety of similar talent(or better) to Wilson already on the roster.

 

QB??? Honestly. 1st round draft choice. Might be crap....might be brilliant. Either way, TJ is comparable to Fitz.....bad is bad, losing is losing.

 

TE Likely will only miss a few games at worst from what I read.

 

OG is the only area where one can think that we have realistically regressed. As OL seems to be a position where we have scouted well recently.....and that our new HC has perhaps a penchant for the OL.....I'd say they likely have a plan.

 

 

There is still a bucket load of FAs available, it should be easy to replace a hand full of players who played poorly or were backup for us last year.

 

 

All that in mind, I am not satisfied if we stay the same level of mediocre that we were last year.......but it is a massive over reaction to suggest that any player that we lost apart from Levitre would actually be difficult in any way to replace.

Edited March 15, 2013 by Dibs

[Niagara Bill]

How do you figure we need another LB to stay even with last year? We still have 2 of the 3 starters from last year......and Lawson. We are likely better than we were already at LB compared to last season.

 

Similarly.....how do you figure we need a starting WR to be the equal of last year? As I recall our #1 & #2 were SJ & Graham.....we still have those.

 

From the looks we need a backup DE(replacing Kelsay)......and likely have a safety of similar talent(or better) to Wilson already on the roster.

 

QB??? Honestly. 1st round draft choice. Might be crap....might be brilliant. Either way, TJ is comparable to Fitz.....bad is bad, losing is losing.

 

TE Likely will only miss a few games at worst from what I read.

 

OG is the only area where one can think that we have realistically regressed. As OL seems to be a position where we have scouted well recently.....and that our new HC has perhaps a penchant for the OL.....I'd say they likely have a plan.

 

 

There is still a bucket load of FAs available, it should be easy to replace a hand full of players who played poorly or were backup for us last year.

 

 

All that in mind, I am not satisfied if we stay the same level of mediocre that we were last year.......but it is a massive over reaction to suggest that any player that we lost apart from Levitre would actually be difficult in any way to replace.

And who os other starting LB...did anyone actually prove themselves last year.

Bryan Scott actually had more plays that Shep.

Cutting Nelson, Fitz, Barnett was a huge mistake when we have no talent to replace them. I am not saying that we can win SB with them but we are creating more holes than we can handle based on our history. Draft, and get free agents into the fold before you open more needs. It forces us to OVERPAY in FA and REACH in the DRAFT as the result of need.

Why do you think we have some cap issues and are a bad team...think about it

[The Helmet of]

I want to say this: god forbid Stevie Johnson gets hurt. Who, then, is the number one receiver on the roster? Ruvell Martin or T.J. Graham? The Bills need to sign some vetren receivers pronto. Otherwise Nix will need to draft at least three receivers, and bring some at least two more as UFA. This is getting ridiculous. David Clowney isn't going to cut it, Buddy. What other scrubs from SD can you bring in?

 

There are four huge holes on this team now, inside linebacker, guard, QB, wide receiver, which Nix has done nothing to address via free agency. We might be bottoming out and putting ourselves in the position for the first pick of 2014. And no, this is not an OMG THE SKY IS FALLING THREAD. This is the reality that we don't have any receivers or QBs on the roster. There is no way we can fill both needs in the draft.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

The QB Prospect Quality appears to be much better in 2014. i cannot see the Bills giving up a first rounder in 2014 to get back into the bottom of the first round in 2013.

 

This.

[eball]

Clowns. Definitely clowns. Who are the ad wizards who came up with that idea, anyway?

[ganesh]

Don't discount what Gailey did for our offense. He took a pathetic unit and made it respectable.

That just showed how bad was Jauron's offense. However, Gailey is still light years behind many of the creative offensive coordinators in today's NFL. Once teams figured out Fitz lame throws in the flat, Gailey's offense stunk. They could not covert 3rd and shorts consistently to be able to move the chain. Gailey's stats are padded a little by what Spiller did in a 1/2 workload.

[ganesh]

And who os other starting LB...did anyone actually prove themselves last year.

Bryan Scott actually had more plays that Shep.

Cutting Nelson, Fitz, Barnett was a huge mistake when we have no talent to replace them. I am not saying that we can win SB with them but we are creating more holes than we can handle based on our history. Draft, and get free agents into the fold before you open more needs. It forces us to OVERPAY in FA and REACH in the DRAFT as the result of need.

Why do you think we have some cap issues and are a bad team...think about it

 

We already know where Nelson, Fitz and Barnett can take us and that is to a 6-10 record. Why bother paying them when you cannot get the necessary returns or a hope for improvement. I would rather sign up street FAs who have more hunger and more disciplined to play for the Buffalo Bills.

[ganesh]

baby boomers scare me--what an f'd generation

 

The Baby boomers were a hard working, earn-your-money-the-hard-way folks...On the other hands the folks from today's generation are.....take everything for granted!!!

 

This.

+1

[ganesh]

May be this coaching staff has a more positive outlook on Marcus Easley than the previous regime.

[Aus Bills]

I have no idea what Nix is planning on doing , but surely they will bring in some FA's at a reasonable price in the coming days. There have been some ridiculous contracts signed during the past few days and i don't think the front office wanted any part of them.

[bmur66]

May be this coaching staff has a more positive outlook on Marcus Easley than the previous regime.

LOL

[Dibs]

You forgot the "A-" in the thread title.

[Dibs]

And who os other starting LB...did anyone actually prove themselves last year.

Bryan Scott actually had more plays that Shep.

Cutting Nelson, Fitz, Barnett was a huge mistake when we have no talent to replace them. I am not saying that we can win SB with them but we are creating more holes than we can handle based on our history. Draft, and get free agents into the fold before you open more needs. It forces us to OVERPAY in FA and REACH in the DRAFT as the result of need.

Why do you think we have some cap issues and are a bad team...think about it

 

The premise of the thread was "staying even".

As I said.....we still have 2 of the 3 starting LBs from last season. Sheppard started 15 games.....Bradham 11 after earning the starting job. Lawson is likely an upgrade over Barnett....so we are actually likely better at LB already than last season.

 

"Staying even" over last years WRs......Nelson didn't play after week 1. A legless octogenarian would be as productive as he was as he was on IR.

 

Please don't argue different points to the point of the thread title that you wrote. Had you written that we are in a bad situation.....that we likely won't win more, or likely will win less etc, etc, etc.....I wouldn't have made issue. But you stated that we need to do all those things "just to stay even".....which is not the case.

[Bills Fan since '64]

No quality WR will sign with a team that hasn't got a QB

[BillsVet]

May be this coaching staff has a more positive outlook on Marcus Easley than the previous regime.

 

31 other NFL teams allowed him to languish on a practice squad pretty much all of last year rather than add him to their 53 man roster. I think Easley is what he is: a fringe NFL player.

 

Any team needs 3 viable receiving threats. Buffalo has 1. Maybe they're planning on going wish bone this season.

[BuffaloRebound]

In 2004 we were desperate to find a starting QB (sound familiar) we traded back into Round 1 (with Dallas) and drafted losman at #22. With this trade we gave up our #1 pick in 2005. Dallas used our pick #20 on a DL. Marcus Spears

 

What scares me is giving up our 2005 pick we missed out on drafting Aaron Rodgers. I can see the Bills repeating this same scenerio, reaching back into the first round to "over draft" a QB and give up a chance to draft a franchise QB next year.

 

I understand that we need a QB, but lets be smart on how we get one--

 

Good post. This is why Nix needs to be gone yesterday. He had 3 years to get a QB in the draft, but he and Gailey hitched their wagon to Fitzpatrick and insisted he was the man for the job. Nix should've been shown the door with Fitzpatrick. No way he should be in a decision-making role anymore.