If We Want to be Competitive Right Now

[Captain Hindsight]

We have a great front office? I admire your faith and optimism. I don't know that even the heartiest fans could deep down agree that our front office is great. We don't even have a true GM. We have a financial guy and John Guy, Modrak and Jauron. Any way you slice it, great is not the word that is often thrown around when discussing them.

The colts dont have a GM either, Man they suck. Let the plan run its course. i wanna make the playoffs too but as we see with Washington, oakland, and SF. Your plan just doesnt work plain and simple

[BenchBledsoe]

I did mean moot sorry i cut a few fingers the other day so my typing is a little off this week. Explain to me how we could easily abosrb the cap hit while paying for peppers? IIRC we have to pay Kelsays Bonus and any contract that we inherit from peppers which im sure is substantial.

 

As for a reciever worth of 11. You might be right about that but the goal of the draft is to get players to help your team. I personally don't care when we draft them so long as they contribute. Just becuase Kiper throws around the word "value" doesnt mean a player isnt valuable to his team if hes drafted earlier than expected by all those ESPN "experts"

As far as cap hits, aren't we 20-some million under the cap? Maybe Clumpy can chime in. How would trading Kelsay affect our "Cash to Cap"?? (not our cap total)

[BenchBledsoe]

The colts dont have a GM either, Man they suck. Let the plan run its course. i wanna make the playoffs too but as we see with Washington, oakland, and SF. Your plan just doesnt work plain and simple

What about Bill Polian?

[Captain Hindsight]

As far as cap hits, aren't we 20-some million under the cap? Maybe Clumpy can chime in. How would trading Kelsay affect our "Cash to Cap"?? (not our cap total)

You tell me. You the one that said we could absorb it. Back it up

[BenchBledsoe]

You tell me. You the one that said we could absorb it. Back it up

There's no way Kelsay and Peppers could total a 24 or so million dollar cap hit this year. Maybe 15 million, at most

[Pete]

We have a great front office? I admire your faith and optimism. I don't know that even the heartiest fans could deep down agree that our front office is great. We don't even have a true GM. We have a financial guy and John Guy, Modrak and Jauron. Any way you slice it, great is not the word that is often thrown around when discussing them.

We have had as good as an offseason as any other team. The past two drafts were tremendous. We are in great cap shape and did not overpay for free agents. We are loaded with draft picks and positions we need filled-WR, TE, DT, CB- are deep. There is value in those postions through the first 3 rounds

[UBbills Kids]

As for a reciever worth of 11. You might be right about that but the goal of the draft is to get players to help your team. I personally don't care when we draft them so long as they contribute. Just becuase Kiper throws around the word "value" doesnt mean a player isnt valuable to his team if hes drafted earlier than expected by all those ESPN "experts"

 

 

I personally think Kiper knows what he is talking about. And these "experts" as you sarcastically quoted them as, must have some credentials if they are paid to break down the draft for a living...

 

So before you out down proffessionals, think about that.

[ajzepp]

We have had as good as an offseason as any other team. The past two drafts were tremendous. We are in great cap shape and did not overpay for free agents. We are loaded with draft picks and positions we need filled-WR, TE, DT, CB- are deep. There is value in those postions through the first 3 rounds

 

We found a few nice players in FA, now build it up through the draft...

[In-A-Gadda-Levitre]

Where on earth did you get the idea that this is a good, deep WR draft class and it will be easier to come by one that way? Unfortunately for us, this is the weakest WR class in recent memory. There are NO WRs viewed worth the #11 pick in this draft. Sweed, Kelly, Thomas are all considered reaches at that point and there are no guarantees with them being as good as Roy or Anquan. In fact, odds are, they won't be as good.

I think you would hard pressed to find a single analyst, sports web page, coach, or even a knowledgeable fan that doesn't think this year's draft is incredibly deep in WR, one of the best in many years.

 

Are they worth a first round pick? Some likely are, but that's a subjective thing.

 

Will they be as good as Williams, Anquan or anyone else in the elite NFL receiver club? I doubt if anyone can really say they will or they won't.

[ax4782]

If we wanted to be very competitive right away, this is what I wish we'd do. I'm basing these trades on reports I've heard that these guys are being shopped. I'm trying to be fairly realistic. . .

 

1) Trade our own original 4th (quite high) rounder to Philly for Lito Sheppard. If a 5th or 6th rounder next year is needed to seal this deal, so be it. Sign William James. Instant upgrade at starting CB and nickel.

 

2) Trade our high 2nd rounder, our low 4th rounder (compensatory pick) and Chris Kelsay to Carolina for Julius Peppers. Sign James Hall or Kalimba Edwards too. Yes, reports I've read say Peppers can be had. And a 1st rd pick may not be necessary to get him. Peppers had a very off year last year, but the risk that he'll return to be an elite player is a good bet. If they want JP in any deal, work him in and say keep the compensatory 4th or Kelsay.

 

3) Trade our #1 (11th overall) to Detroit for Roy Williams or to Arizona for Anquan Boldin. Yes, this is the tough one to swallow, but with the WR draft class so weak this year, this makes a lot of sense. They are both young and proven, and ready to contribute hugely right way.

4) Trade JP for a mid 4th round pick, (if he wasn't needed as ammo to get the above trades done). Some will say trade him for a 3rd round pick, but as I said, I'm trying to be realistic. Don't know that we'll really get a 3rd for him. Sign a vet back up. Daunte Culpepper? Gus Frerotte?

 

In summary, we'd have our original 3rd rounder, Lito Sheppard, William James, Julius Peppers, James Hall, and either Roy Williams or Anquan Boldin. That sure beats Sweed or Kelly and some unknown questionable CB in the draft.

 

ALSO, aren't we going to get another compensatory pick for losing London Fletcher and Nate Clements? Like a 3rd rounder??? Anyone?

 

Okay, so one at a time.

 

1. Just say NO to Lito Shepard. If the Eagles don't want him, he must have problems. And he does. He has injury issues and not only that he wants a ton of money. Not Nate Clements figures, but pretty high. He's not worth what we can get in the 4th Rd. of this years draft i.e. Owen Schmitt or Jordy Nelson, who could potentially provide instant upgrades at need positions. I do agree that we should sign William James to provide some depth and security at CB.

 

2.This is never going to happen. First, if we trade Kelsay, we'll take a big cap hit. Second, Carolina isn't going to trade their hands down best player for our second best DE and a second round pick. Further, Minnesota is interested in Peppers and the talk is that they give up their first next year and pick up the 20 mil in guarantees that Peppers wants as part of a contract. Sure, I would love to have peppers on the team. But with nearly 75 mil already locked in at the DE spot with contracts for Schobel and Kelsay, I don't really want to see another sixty or seventy mil going to an aging guy who is starting to move out of his prime. I do, however, also agree that we should sign Jason Hall or Kalimba Edwards for some depth at the position as the next guy on the depth chart is Ryan Denney who is good, but the only other DE worth starting.

 

3. This move I could get behind, if the contract price was right. I don't want to sign Boldin or Williams to a 60 or 70 mil contract and then lose Evans next year. That would only put us back where we started. Further, I don't want to end up like Detroit and have so much money tied up in the receiving corps that I can't sign any other decent offensive players. The Bills need to be smart and sign good players to long term deals that make economic sense. Boldin and Williams may be too pricey. I think there are a lot of receivers in the draft who could help this team immediately and give Evans more opportunities to get in the game. Devin Thomas, James Hardy, or Malcolm Kelly would all be good picks at #11. Also, Jordy Nelson is a sleeper in later rounds. All of them would help immediately. I think this trade would be immediately beneficial but terrible in the long run. Sign Evans long term, then draft a new guy to a five year deal.

 

4. I'd rather have JP as a backup than Daunte Culpepper or Gus Frerotte any day of the week. If you trade JP, you have to draft another QB to back up Edwards, and there is no experienced backup. That would really put the screws in if Edwards gets hurt. Better the devil you know than the one you don't. If Buffalo can pick up another QB after next season, fine. But JP is really the best option right now at backup. He knows the players and the system.

 

So, generally I disagree with most of these options. They may help now, but they are bad for the team in the long run. Build through the draft on offense and it will pay dividends not only this season, but also in the years to come.

[Captain Hindsight]

There's no way Kelsay and Peppers could total a 24 or so million dollar cap hit this year. Maybe 15 million, at most

prove it. Your only speculating your not giving proof

[Sen. John Blutarsky]

If we wanted to be very competitive right away, this is what I wish we'd do. I'm basing these trades on reports I've heard that these guys are being shopped. I'm trying to be fairly realistic. . .

 

1) Trade our own original 4th (quite high) rounder to Philly for Lito Sheppard. If a 5th or 6th rounder next year is needed to seal this deal, so be it. Sign William James. Instant upgrade at starting CB and nickel.

From all reports here Philly is looking for a #1 in return for Lito. They won't settlee for less than a 2 given that was the market for DeAngelo Hall. #4 won't happen

[SnakeOiler]

That you, Dan Schneider ?