Dan Gross Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Listening to the rhetoric it appears the bridges are burned and Moulds will not play for the Bills this year. The Bills will look for any compensation in a trade deal that will allow the Bills to help decide where it is that Moulds goes. Levy floated a 4th out there as an ideal, but I wouldn't be surprised to have him accept less to a.) ensure Moulds is out of the East, b.) get Moulds' contract off the cap, and c.) move on. I would expect that Levy will hold Moulds as long as it takes to convince those interested that the decision now is to trade Moulds. Despite the "we can wait 'til he's cut" mentality, there are teams that are desperate/crazy enough to do the trade to ensure they get Moulds. Houston's a prime example, as Moulds the free agent would obviously take less money to play for the Eagles (his clear desired destination, and why not?) than more money to play for Houston. I don't see Moulds as one to refuse a trade, so that may be the only scenario for Houston to be able to get Moulds... Losman is, dare I say it, a victim of last year's coaching staff. He was named the starter without earning the job, which is something that even he was uncomfortable with it. As a result, I'm sure his teammates, who have all had to fight to earn their starting spot, did not fully buy in to a QB who was inserted into the mix. That certainly didn't help Losman last year as he tried to keep his starting role. It would also account for any rumoured "team doesn't like him" messages... As to where things are now, it's kind of silly to think that the Bills would be ready to shuffle him off without even seeing him make one throw live, just based on tape. They just started the offseason conditioning program last week, so it seems far too early for the coaching staff to have assessed his current capabilities. Does that mean that Marv and company are not "testing the trade waters?" Absolutely not. You have a 3 way competition at QB (as Marv and Dick pretty much had said all along...Dick saying no one will be handed the starting job at any position, that it has to be earned, and Marv saying they'd be picking up a 2nd tier Free agent QB to give us 3 (non-NFL Europe) QB's), which means that there are 2 out of 3 outcomes that result in Losman not getting the starting job. Now this doesn't mean that Losman only has a 33% chance of getting the job, but if he can't beat out two other candidates in a practice scenario, then he's not going to cut it as a #1 QB for this offense during the season. If one of those two situations happen (Nall or Holcomb get the starting nod), you need to be ready for plan B. Plan B cannot (or at least shouldn't) include keeping Losman as a number 2 so you have to determine what your other options are. A trade is the best overall option because you get something for him. So where people are complaining that Levy won't get anything for Moulds because it's already clear the Bills will release Moulds, he's taking the opposite tack of looking for trade partners first in case he needs to dump Losman. This rumored "trade scenario" is not about Losman losing the team's confidence before he even steps out on the practice field, it's not about dumping a "TD guy," it's talking hypothetically with other teams to guage interest in anticipation of a possible outcome. This scenario would be completely consistent with everything we've heard from the coaching staff and front office, and I haven't seen them do anything that's inconsistent with what they've said they were going to do.
Ramius Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Listening to the rhetoric it appears the bridges are burned and Moulds will not play for the Bills this year. The Bills will look for any compensation in a trade deal that will allow the Bills to help decide where it is that Moulds goes. Levy floated a 4th out there as an ideal, but I wouldn't be surprised to have him accept less to a.) ensure Moulds is out of the East, b.) get Moulds' contract off the cap, and c.) move on. I would expect that Levy will hold Moulds as long as it takes to convince those interested that the decision now is to trade Moulds. Despite the "we can wait 'til he's cut" mentality, there are teams that are desperate/crazy enough to do the trade to ensure they get Moulds. Houston's a prime example, as Moulds the free agent would obviously take less money to play for the Eagles (his clear desired destination, and why not?) than more money to play for Houston. I don't see Moulds as one to refuse a trade, so that may be the only scenario for Houston to be able to get Moulds... Losman is, dare I say it, a victim of last year's coaching staff. He was named the starter without earning the job, which is something that even he was uncomfortable with it. As a result, I'm sure his teammates, who have all had to fight to earn their starting spot, did not fully buy in to a QB who was inserted into the mix. That certainly didn't help Losman last year as he tried to keep his starting role. It would also account for any rumoured "team doesn't like him" messages... As to where things are now, it's kind of silly to think that the Bills would be ready to shuffle him off without even seeing him make one throw live, just based on tape. They just started the offseason conditioning program last week, so it seems far too early for the coaching staff to have assessed his current capabilities. Does that mean that Marv and company are not "testing the trade waters?" Absolutely not. You have a 3 way competition at QB (as Marv and Dick pretty much had said all along...Dick saying no one will be handed the starting job at any position, that it has to be earned, and Marv saying they'd be picking up a 2nd tier Free agent QB to give us 3 (non-NFL Europe) QB's), which means that there are 2 out of 3 outcomes that result in Losman not getting the starting job. Now this doesn't mean that Losman only has a 33% chance of getting the job, but if he can't beat out two other candidates in a practice scenario, then he's not going to cut it as a #1 QB for this offense during the season. If one of those two situations happen (Nall or Holcomb get the starting nod), you need to be ready for plan B. Plan B cannot (or at least shouldn't) include keeping Losman as a number 2 so you have to determine what your other options are. A trade is the best overall option because you get something for him. So where people are complaining that Levy won't get anything for Moulds because it's already clear the Bills will release Moulds, he's taking the opposite tack of looking for trade partners first in case he needs to dump Losman. This rumored "trade scenario" is not about Losman losing the team's confidence before he even steps out on the practice field, it's not about dumping a "TD guy," it's talking hypothetically with other teams to guage interest in anticipation of a possible outcome. This scenario would be completely consistent with everything we've heard from the coaching staff and front office, and I haven't seen them do anything that's inconsistent with what they've said they were going to do. 646729[/snapback] I like your use of combining the moulds and Losman response into 1 big response. well done!
Poeticlaw Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Losman is NOT RESPECTED in the locker room. I am sure the players have expressed their opinions to the new coaches and management. The team doesn't believe they can win with him. Losman was Donahoe's baby. The new regime has no loyalty to Losman as a draft pick they must justify or defend. The possibility of trading Losman does not surprise me at all. The problem is that he has no tradeable value at this point. Moulds was completely frustrated by the failure of the Bills to address the QB problem and the OL problem. The frustration was seen many times in the past where Moulds was quoted as saying how disappointed he was that the Bills couldn't find a decent QB to get him the ball since Jim Kelly left the team. He often commented how nice it would have been for him to be in a situation where he could build a long term partnership with one QB (i.e. Kelly-Reed, Montana-Rice, etc.) Now that he is nearing the end of his career, he is hoping for once last chance to establish some kind of legacy for his playing career. He is convinced it won't be in Buffalo. 645915[/snapback] Look this need to be reiterate or restated the players do not respect him-who are these players and what is your source. I know of 2 players that have voiced there discontent of JP one is Sam Adams stating he would not want to play for us if JP started and hes been released and the other grey area person is Eric Moulds who should be dealt to Houston in a matter of days. Other than those two on the team the only person i would specualate would be Kelly Holcomb who helped mess up the Clevleand Brown Qb situation with Tim Couch Because Kelly wants to be a starter not a back up. I have watched gamse this past year wher it really looks like JP and Evans not only have a good realtionship on the field but seemed pretty good to each other off the feild, i have seen many time sam aiken, josh reed and Lee evans helping him through his Qb contraversy times of the season. Since its the offense that needs to be led and these are the guys hes throwing it to unless you show me some lineman who dont respect this kid I strongly believe with Moulds influence over the team gone and the true QB competition coming up the JP will out shine the other 2 and be ready to show us they great stuff i saw in preseaon before he broke his leg, the great stuff i saw of him in college games, and the flashes he has shone in KC/Houston and Miami games. If the start using Mcgahee as a screen option and if Royals can realy catch in the short game like Marv beleives he can this kid is going to improve a great deal in waht is his true SOPHMORE season.
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