Question for all TSW experts

[Mile High]

With the draft over now and free agency dying down little by little, what holes do you see that this team still needs to fill? With our first four picks being from the defence and our last few leaning more towards the offensive side of the ball are there still question marks remaining?

 

The defensive line seems to be on its way to being more solid than last year with the additions of Larry Tripplett, Mc Cargo, Williams and Anderson (who I liked during the second part of last year). Our secondary seems to be one of the brightest spots for years to come with the youth that was drafted. Our linebackers are continuing to age before our eyes as Posey, Fletch and TKO are all over 30 now. We are all praying that the best player on our defence (TKO) is going to shine and pick up where he left off. Not only is Takeo an inspiration to us the fans he inspires the players around him (which elevates play). Should Marv and Co. pull in one more veteran LB as an insurance policy for TKO?

 

The biggest question mark in my mind would have to be the oline, again. It seems like we go through this routine over and over every year and patchwork is the answer. Alot of us find ourselves asking, why aren't oline drafted higher by this team? Could it be the fear of a bust like big Mike was? Or was Modrak and the scouts just not impressed with anyone available at the number eight slot?

Anyway Fowler and Reyes were added to take over for Teague and hopefully Anderson (sorry VA). Peters and Gandy I believe will stay put in there positions and hopefully we get a healthy Villareal this season. The offence has a ton of wild cards imo. Everett at tight end and the addition of Royal could be the two front runners for the starting position. One more will be kept and I'm guessing it will be Euhus or Nuefeld. The recieving corps look super fast this year. Fastest I can ever remember. If Peerless can get beck to "Buffalo form" look out. I truly believe that one of the younger guys will step up this year and suprise the coaches and the fans (Nance could be the one). The full back position is one that went under the radar last year. Shelton played below average and Goldsberry isn't ready for the NFL. Burns is a good special teamer but lacks the size to hold up against linebackers. Hopefully Shelton finds the 2004 Shelton. HB to me is the most solitified postiion on the team right now. Grabbing Thomas was a good move and will be a nice change of pace. Shaud should be worried about reps, but I still think he makes the team. Qb Qb Qb hmmmm. JP, Nall and Holcomb. All I can say is open competition and we shall see. It's a cop-out but....... Our special teams will be fine and hopefully Moreman doesn't get that much playing time this year.

[Acantha]

I think they are pretty much done with FA (unless there is a big June 1 cut this year, which I doubt), and this is pretty much the team we see on the field this year. Looking ahead, this is what I think the Bills are going to need to do to build this team for the playoff next year:

 

NEEDS

1. OT: Depending on where/how Peters plays, LT or RT is a must

2. G: Hopefully one of our guards pans out, but we still need another

3. CB: Either sign Clements long term, or bring in another guy. Vincent is done after this year and McGee/Youboty will need some help.

4. DE/DT: I put one more "stud" on the D-line. Either DT or DE.

5. 2 LB's: Posey needs to be replaced, and Fletch is getting up there. We can afford to bring a guy along here as Fletch has two more years.

 

Good to have: Can't have top talent everywhere, but upgrading would be nice.

1. Center

2. DT/DE: Whichever isn't filled above

3. FB

4. WR: Depending on how our stable of average WR's does this year, this could go up to the need category. But seeing teams like the Pats get it done with lots of "average" has me thinking system and QB play can get it done with what we have.

 

HUGE WILDCARD:

As always, QB. If Losman and Nall fail this year, this bumps everything down in terms of importance.

 

Of course all this goes on my opinion of how our FA's and draftees perform this year, which...who the hell knows???

But, if we end up only requiring the "needs", I believe it can be done in 1 more off-season.

[RayFinkle]

OFFENSIVE LINE

[MartyBall4Buffalo]

First off let me say the holes we have probably cant be filled this year, so next season our most likely needs are as follows:

 

1. OT- Mike Gandy is nothing more then average at best. Better suited to play guard, lacks the inital quickness to deal with speed rushers. Better run blocker then I thought he would be. Would prefer him at rg. I'd also like Jason Peters to drastically improve as a run blocker.

 

2. OG- Chris Villarrial is getting old. Bennie Anderson moves like molasses. Maybe one of the younger guys will pan out but thats yet to be seen.

 

3. DE- We need a true starter opposite Aaron Schobel. While it would be nice to get that real stud edge rusher I'll comprimise for any sort of upgrade over Kelsay/Denney. I was hoping it would be addressed this year. Kelsay has shown nothing as far as I've seen. Not good at getting to the qb and can't hold up against the run.

 

4. LB- Our Lb's are aging. Spikes will be 30 in December, and coming off an achilles injury. Fletcher 31 on the 19th, and posey 31 in August. Our depth as an insurance policy for any of these guys is slim pickings. The only one who's shown anything as far as stepping in and contribuiting as a starter is Crowell. Hagan and Stamer are good st's guys but due to their lack of playing time at LB they leave a lot to be desired.

 

 

This is it for now. I'll wait to after the season to comment on positions like qb,te, cb depth etc etc.

[BuffaloBilliever]

For LB, Posey needs to go but Fletch and Spikes will pull it out for the long haul IMO, we should be set for a while (since Crowell will fill in wherever needed, also FA after next year will definietly have some solid LB's). The Bills should be alright with Guard if, as stated above about 9 times, one of the new guards "pans out" (Villarial/Reyes should be good for this year), and OT is hell.

[junior]

A young backup LB who has potential to become a starter. He can learn behind TKO, and Fletcher. A good DE who can come in and start opposite of Schobel.

One backup LT. One backup Guard.

 

In the draft next year, I would definitley draft a LB in the 1st or 2nd round

[Astrobot]

A young backup LB who has potential to become a starter. He can learn behind TKO, and Fletcher.

I think this is Crowell.

 

One backup LT. One backup Guard.

There are 15 backups on the depth chart. No starters.

[junior]

I think this is Crowell.

 

685986[/snapback]

 

If TKO and Fletcher go down, will you feel comftorable with Mario Haggan back there?

[Rico]

There are 15 backups on the depth chart. No starters.

685986[/snapback]

There are also 3-4 backups listed as starters, and I'm being generous with Chris V.

[Pyrite Gal]

If TKO and Fletcher go down, will you feel comftorable with Mario Haggan back there?

685991[/snapback]

 

I'm do not think there is a team in the league that can survive injuries to both a Pro Bowl player and to the leading tackler in the NFL the last 5 years. Do you or anyone else.

 

If this happens then this team will be lucky of they are reduced to a Haggan level starter (good ST production but unproven position player production).

[frogger]

for whatever reason I believe that we have kept Anderson to groom him to play RG, it was not a matter of a lack of run blocking, it's his pass blocking that really sucked. CV starts but we might keep anderson for that reason.

I would like to see Mike Gandy moved to RT, he might not be an athletic LT but as a RT he is athletic, and the Rookie are just that, untested and rookies.

LOLB will be manned by Spikes when he returns, Posey is not athletic enough to play in the cover 2, spikes might be the best olb (pre injury) at stopping the run. he is strong enough to take on the TEs, this give the ROLB to Crowell. However I would entertain the idea of getting Tommy Polley who is still unemployed, and has played in the cover two before.

 

Maybe we use a 3rd rounder on Ahmad Brooks, we've already had a brooks ahmad on our team

[JDG]

Top Holes:

 

1) QB - Without a doubt, QB is the #1 hole on this team. Losman was cover-your-eyes awful last year, Holcomb is, well, Holcomb, and Nall is completely unproven. Until one of these guys steps up, QB is our #1 hole.

 

2) DE - Schobel is nice, but he reminds me of a famous comment once made about Marcellus Wiley - "he seems to get more 'cleanup sacks' than anyone I've ever seen." Kelsay and Denney don't inspire confidence in anyone.

 

3) LB - Spikes is coming off an injury, Fletcher is old and is too easily blown out of the middle, and Jeff Posey is perhaps the most invisible starter on the entire defense.

 

4) OT - I think that Gandy is decent. Moreover, I believe that the hole here is less glaring after the additions of Fowler and Reyes on the OLine, and the addition of Butler and Pennington as developmental projects. O.k., OT is a big hole - but just less so than QB, DE, and even LB I know that won't be a popular opinion in these parts, but that's how I see it.

 

JDG

[Rico]

Top Holes:

 

1) QB - Without a doubt, QB is the #1 hole on this team.    Losman was cover-your-eyes awful last year, Holcomb is, well, Holcomb, and Nall is completely unproven.    Until one of these guys steps up, QB is our #1 hole.

 

2) DE - Schobel is nice, but he reminds me of a famous comment once made about Marcellus Wiley - "he seems to get more 'cleanup sacks' than anyone I've ever seen."   Kelsay and Denney don't inspire confidence in anyone.

 

3) LB - Spikes is coming off an injury, Fletcher is old and is too easily blown out of the middle, and Jeff Posey is perhaps the most invisible starter on the entire defense.

 

4) OT - I think that Gandy is decent.   Moreover, I believe that the hole here is less glaring after the additions of Fowler and Reyes on the OLine, and the addition of Butler and Pennington as developmental projects.   O.k., OT is a big hole - but just less so than QB, DE, and even LB  I know that won't be a popular opinion in these parts, but that's how I see it.

 

JDG

686067[/snapback]

I agree QB really is the biggest hole until JP finally does something, but at least I feel there is some upside there... he could be a lot better starting this year & may yet become great. Outside of maybe Peters, I see no upside at all with anyone on this OL yet... just a lot of stopgaps and scrubs who will all be out of the league 3-4 years from now or sooner.

[Buffaloed in Pa]

Left tackle and a starting Q.B. Every other position I don`t feel that bad. With the draft and new player`s we picked up I don`t feel that bad about this team.

[Pyrite Gal]

A direct answer to your question is that I agree with folks that OL is the big question mark for this team. Many posters struck me at really grasping at straws out of desperation about how horrible past OL situation because I think most fans really overvalue the draft as a tool (probably due to the emphasis placed on the draft by great ESPN marketing and fantasy leagues being incredibly popular with fans.

 

Likely position contributors to the team this year are generally found on the first day of the draft and actually usually only in the first two rounds. TD once said that only about 50% of even first round choices are disappointments and though TD deserved cimpletely to be canned by the Bills, I have not seen any fact-based effort to prove him wrong in this claim.

 

The draft is pretty much a crap shoot and given that on the face of it only 7 or 8 players (with compensation picks) are generally provided to a team out of their 53 man roster though it is a team building tool it is far from being the most important team building tool a team has. It is merely one method for building a winning team, important but not all important.

 

Given that the Bills had pretty clearly dictated that the first couple of choices were going to go for a SS (or we start Bowen or Wire) and a DT (we may well have to line up Anderson next to Triplett but a rotation is going to be the thing) posters seemed to be unreasonable IMHO at looking to the draft for more than depth down the line.

 

The other problem is that the prime method of player acquisition (it actually has been on this team) is gonna be through FA. However, the best FAs who provide a reasonable chance at being consistent starters are already signed elsewhere.

 

However, with this forboding situation is some potential good news that MAY (only may) work out for us. They are:

 

1. I like the likely starting five FA players for at least 8 games or so.

 

We likely will go with Gandy (FA acquired last year), Reyes (FA acquired this year), Fowler (FA acquired this year), Villarial (FA acquired 2 seasons ago) and Peters (UDFA acquired a couple of seasons ago.

 

This is a troubling crew to count on. However, though JMac himself says he is no miracle worker (and unfortunately we seem to need a miracle here) I think the quality of this crew is probably equal to the NYG group led by former Bills Glenn Parker at LT and Dusty Ziegler at C which JMac molded into a unit which helped NYG make the SB.

 

Overall my sense of the OL is:

 

Gandy at LT: He proved to be surprisingly adequate last year. I have little faith that he will ever be the stud we want at LT and I am attracted by folks who say he would be a better Guard, but given his performane in the real world last year, I think it is reasonable to think he can be adequate (though not the outstanding guy we want) at LT taking responsibility for the QBs blindside. JPs maneuverability or Holcomb's quick release when necessary will likely be a crucial part of his game working for us.

 

Reyes at LG- Anderson was a huge disappointment for us last year, but Reyes was a starter last year for a Carolina team with a productive offense wioth him at RG. He was available as an FA because NC is high on a player they drafted, but it is good news that apparently they would have worked him into the line-up last year but the team O was successful and Reyes played well enough to keep him on the bench.

 

There is some thought that Anderson actually played well the last 5 games last year. I must admit I was depressed enough by last years play I watched the games but not close enough to say this is true or not (I cannot bring myself to go back and look at the tapes). However, if the bonus we paid him forces is to keep him i am fine to see him compete againt Reyes and only play if he is good. If he deserves a cut then i suggest he not let the door hit him on the way out, but this outcome should be determined on the field and not through our rants.

 

Fowler at C: He is a player I hoped we would draft way back when and we did not. He finally did get a starting job late last year due to an injury to a starter and the word is he did pretty well. Like Reyes he apparently was not resigned due to the team he was with looking elsewhere rather than his play being problematic. However, doing well in a few games is a different beast than starting and though i am hopeful about this he has a chunk to prove. We gave him starter money and he will start for us. Lets hope it works.

 

Villarial at RG- He is a solid player but he is an old player well into the backside of his career. The last two seasons have seen him knocked out of starts by injuries which might have simply been nicks he played through earlier in his career. He is the main reason I am pretty sure our starting 5 will not start 16 even though I like his play and nastiness until he does get killed.

 

Peters at RT- Okay, okay I believe JMac when he sings the praises of Peters as the best athlete he has ever seen at RT (and this is a lot of history of great productuin as he not only OL position coached the NYG team to an SB berth, but also did this a couple of times with the Bengals and oversaw development of an OL there which not only protected Anderson but produced thousand yard rushers. One of the great pieces of reporting during the GW reign or error on O was Larry Felser pointing out the 10+ exp, of a large number of OL coaches of recent SB teams during the GW era and contrasting that with the total lack of OL position coach experience of GW buddy Vinklarek and then eveb GW being forced to reolace his buddy but giving the job to the equally inexoerieced Ruel. This mistake is one of the central mistakes of the GW era IMH0).

 

At any rate, while JMac should not be confused with a miracle worker he brings a ton to this team. He was incredibly high on Peters at tackle which I opposed because Peters primary talent is incredible speed in a big body and incredibly soft hands that I saw as solving our TE problems. Yet due to the mismanagement of the OL under Vinky/Ruel under Sheppard?Kevin Killdrive under GW (hired by TD IMHO over the much more productive Fox and Lewis because he knew he could stop GW from running him out of town like Cowher did in Pitts) I think JMac is slowly bringing his experience to bear to reverse out OL issues.

 

Last year was a disappointment as the non JMac pick MW era ended and the Teague experiment ended. JMac is not perfect as the Anderson hiring was a screw-up, but his predictions regarding and even bigger longshot Peters have proved true. Though Peters still has to prove he can play a full season, i feel very good about him at RT (He should prove to be quite useful as a tackle eligible once we beigin to get in the redzone with some frequency.

 

However, I think the fact is that these 5 OL starters have at least the talent level of the 5 NYG guys that JMac coached to an SB berth. He probably will NOT get the same result from this crew, but it is not impossible and I disagree with all the total handwringing going on on TSW about the OL.

 

Unless D'Brick fell to the Bills and given the plummeting evaluation of Justice there was simply no OL player available to us on the first day worth passing over need picks at SS and DT picks (I think Winston may have merited a 2nd but not more than filling the blank space at DT. I agree that success in this game does generally stem from stopping the run and running.

 

However, given our relative weaknesses at both these tasks and what the draft had to offer in terms of team building (not simply picking good players in the draft which though difficult to do in this crapshoot is still different than team building) the way the Bills did their picks strikes me as intelligent while not guaranteeing success gives us the best chance we can have to do this.

 

Looking at the FA talent remaining, I do not think there are qualiy starters left for us to build an OL.

 

However, as said, I think we do have some chance of turning the starting 5 into a productive OL this year.

 

I do not see it lasting even if the starter do well beyond half a season as injuries do occur and in particular I do not expect Villarial to last, However, the key IMHO is that though there is not the quality out there to expect to find a starter in FA land, we do have rougly $10 mill in cap room and I think we can buy some back-up help where I think this team is short.

 

I doubt Anderson is good enough to start (he lacks focus and diligence and I doubt he will get a personality transplant making him a capable starter (though Sam Adams did so maybe this will happen). However, he may well be satisfactory as a back-up and his cap figure may force us to keep him as Ralph hates paying folks for nothing.

 

I am impressed with Preston's rookie play last year and though it was interesting he was moved on tbe depth chart to back-up LG I like him better at back-up C to Fowler.

 

After that it gets pretty thin, I have no confidence in Morgan as back-up LT, Geisinger as back-up C, Thomas as back-up RG, or Gibson or Jerman as back-up RTs. Any of these players can step up but I do not expect them to,

 

In addition, folks may be pumped about Butler and Pennington but I think it will be a lonshot for any second day drafted rookie to contribute his fist year. Butler provides the slightest of hopes if he actually has first day talent but fell due to a cheapshot he took on a fellow player that got him suspended in college. He has been punished for this transgression and owes no explanation unless he screws up again (though I think both he and the Bills would be helped by the team activiely selling the story that this is clearly an episode for him inconsistent with his other actins- Butler owes no explanation in my view unless he screws up again, but the Bills raised the stakes for them as a corporation by telling their customers they were only foinf after high character guys, the outrageous videotape of Butlet attempting to knee cap a fellow athlete after the play was done is squared for him personallt but the Bills corporation owes its customers some explanation and there is a great explanation available to them), At any rate, from what I hear of what he needs to work on (his footwork apparently needs improvement) that I think it is unreasonable for anyone to consider him a contributor to this team probably at any point until his second season.

 

Yet a look at FA actually reveals that the Bills with some cap room are in good shape to find some back-up OL help.

 

If one checks the Scouts Inc. wrbsite at > http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=64&p=9&c=12&y...=83&rc=16&pid=3 < there is a pretty good showing and ranking of the currently available FA talent.

 

I can see us going for back-ups when the market allows and after we look to see if any of our rookes or players on the roster will step up/

 

Our big need is at tackle and actually Scouts Inc has:

 

#2 rated FA tackle Jeff Backus still available

#3 rated Brad Hopkins still available

#12 rated Orlando Brown still out there

#13 rated Victor Riely still out there.

 

There seems to be enough guys who easily could back-up (and perhaps even beat out Gandy or Peters in a couple of cases) as long as we can get them cheaply

 

 

There is less of a need at G as I think Villarial will likely go down at some point and Preston can back-up at LG but may get more call at C. There are dewer FA guards available/

 

There #13 on their list Matt Stinchomb avilable if you go over to their G page but it then drops to their # 19 or so Nutten and we better hope that VABills is right and the nmuch hated by some Anderson steps it up a notch so we do not have to go slumming for a back-up G.

 

C also liiks a little thin in FA land, but

 

Scuyts #5 Jeff Mitchell is available

Their #9 Cory Raymer is still available so back-u[ level help may be found there (after that you begin talking about FA Billy Conaty and we have already been tbere so I hope we have no interest.

 

At any rate I am no so certain as other posters that our starters have no hope and I think there are both the player talent and we have the cap room to acquire viable back-up level talent at T if no one steps up and we have to do it.

[Rico]

Another huge question mark is Tim Anderson. I don't see any serious competition for him at 1-tech DT, and he didn't come close to showing me enough last year to be practically handed a starting job/majority of the snaps. 3rd-and-1...sorry, I still don't want him on the field.

[Acantha]

Ok gal, you just took it to a whole new level of absurdity.

[ax4782]

As it stands right now, LT is the biggest question mark on this team. I think the QB situation will filter out by the time pre-season is over and that JP will be a much better player by that time. This offense is much more suited to his run and gun style of play and I think he will excel in this system. We don't have a real solid left tackle and that is probably our biggest problem.

 

I agree with Pyrite Girl's extremely thorough analysis of the problem above, however, I do think that we could use a better left guard. Peters is coming into his second season and I think that he will shine at right tackle this season. The rest of the line is upgraded and will be better but I think Gandy is the big question at LT.

 

LB is fine. Spikes is here for five years, Fletcher is not THAT old for a line backer. Look at Derrick Brooks down in Tampa. Posey is slow, but Crowell played well at the OLB spot last season and Haggan is a good back up when he has had to come on the field. This group is solid. The Bills are in pretty good shape IMO for the next three or four seasons.

[Mile High]

Fowler at C:  He is a player I hoped we would draft way back when and we did not.  He finally did get a starting job late last year due to an injury to a starter and the word is he did pretty well.  Like Reyes he apparently was not resigned due to the team he was with looking elsewhere rather than his play being problematic. However, doing well in a few games is a different beast than starting and though i am hopeful about this he has a chunk to prove. We gave him starter money and he will start for us. Lets hope it works.

 

686108[/snapback]

To me this is the most important position on the line besides the qb's blind side. No one really knows to much about this kid. I've heard when he played for Cleveland he sucked, bad. That doesn't give me a good feeling about the oline or whether or not he was an upgrade over Teague. Afterall, the center calls the blocking schemes for the line. Sounds like more patch-work.

 

 

Good post.

[ch19079]

DE is weak after shobel, and our O-Line is not the best either.

 

Clements is here for atleast 1 more year. i think we have decent CBs all the way down the depth chart.

 

RT is locked down by Peters, but the LT is still questionable. Gandy is average at best, but i dont think there are any quality OTs left in FA.

 

ROG is locked down by Velerr..whatever so thats ok, but the LOG is up in the air. we will see how the former panthers OG plays. i dont see how signing any more OGs would help.

 

TE is weak because we dont know what our young TEs can do. but again, none in FA.

 

basically i dont see us signing any big name FA.