What about the DL in the offseason?

[kernowboy]

We all have been quite rightly focusing on the performance of JP Losman and the poor play of the offensive line so far this season but as I sure we have all read this

http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2006/10/bills-trenches-struggle171006.html

with only 6 draft picks we have an awful lot of needs including

A left tackle - enough has been said about the play of Gandhi - definitely not a saviour for anyone.
A tight end who can block but also make himself available as a receiver
A bigger no2 receiver who can help release Evans
A full back as Shelton is at the end of the road
A linebacker as TKO may never be the same again and Fletcher-Baker is in the final year of his contract and has signed with the devil (Rosenhaus)
A cornerback in case Youboty isn't ready as Clements will walk as someone will be daft enough to overpay him.

Some of these positions will be fixed in Free Agency, hopefully Tight End especially with the likes of Graham or Stevens but how do we fix the defensive line?

Kelsay is his usual self - surprising leading us in sacks but not really make the plays himself, Denney doing better than before meaning he is merely good, Anderson/Tripplett are providing a defensive wall with all the strength of wet paper tissue.

We need to spend at least a Day1 pick on the DL, and maybe 2 if we are clever enough. I would seriously consider Dan Bazuin on the LE, and Justin Harrell at DT. I hope the latters recent irony might cause him to drop and I hope that Marv can be sneaky enough in the draft to at least get us an extra Day 1 pick by drafting down. I am not sure if Frank Okam or Alan Branch will come out and even if they do whether they will be a good fit.

Rather than suffer a second Tripplett, cap hit or not, I think we should trawl all of the waiver cuts, or those out of football this year and see if 1 in 10 might work. After all Pat Williams was an OFA. Wendell Bryant might be a bust, Johnathan Sullivan might be a bust, the list goes on but if we can turn round the career of just one, they will not do any worse than Anderson/Tripplett and will not be doing any worse than $17.5m/5 years.

Any thoughts?

[billsfairweatherfan]

We all have been quite rightly focusing on the performance of JP Losman and the poor play of the offensive line so far this season but as I sure we have all read this

http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2006/10/bills-trenches-struggle171006.html

with only 6 draft picks we have an awful lot of needs including

A left tackle - enough has been said about the play of Gandhi - definitely not a saviour for anyone.
A tight end who can block but also make himself available as a receiver
A bigger no2 receiver who can help release Evans
A full back as Shelton is at the end of the road
A linebacker as TKO may never be the same again and Fletcher-Baker is in the final year of his contract and has signed with the devil (Rosenhaus)
A cornerback in case Youboty isn't ready as Clements will walk as someone will be daft enough to overpay him.

Some of these positions will be fixed in Free Agency, hopefully Tight End especially with the likes of Graham or Stevens but how do we fix the defensive line?

Kelsay is his usual self - surprising leading us in sacks but not really make the plays himself, Denney doing better than before meaning he is merely good, Anderson/Tripplett are providing a defensive wall with all the strength of wet paper tissue.

We need to spend at least a Day1 pick on the DL, and maybe 2 if we are clever enough. I would seriously consider Dan Bazuin on the LE, and Justin Harrell at DT. I hope the latters recent irony might cause him to drop and I hope that Marv can be sneaky enough in the draft to at least get us an extra Day 1 pick by drafting down. I am not sure if Frank Okam or Alan Branch will come out and even if they do whether they will be a good fit.

Rather than suffer a second Tripplett, cap hit or not, I think we should trawl all of the waiver cuts, or those out of football this year and see if 1 in 10 might work. After all Pat Williams was an OFA. Wendell Bryant might be a bust, Johnathan Sullivan might be a bust, the list goes on but if we can turn round the career of just one, they will not do any worse than Anderson/Tripplett and will not be doing any worse than $17.5m/5 years.

Any thoughts?
ask yourself this why did we get rid of the run stuffers and why did we draft any?new d and we dont need them' well what about nowwwwwwwwwww

[patmoran2006]

I have two words for you.

Dwight Freeney.

He's a UFA, and I dont care how much money he costs (and it will be a ton) this is the ONE guy the Bills NEED to sign next Spring. Piss on signing 9 "role" players like we did last year.. We need instant impact in free agency.

He would instantly make the entire front seven better, bring a pass rush with consistency, and make the rest of the front seven a lot better as well.

[DraftBoy]

I have two words for you.

Dwight Freeney.

He's a UFA, and I dont care how much money he costs (and it will be a ton) this is the ONE guy the Bills NEED to sign next Spring. Piss on signing 9 "role" players like we did last year.. We need instant impact in free agency.

He would instantly make the entire front seven better, bring a pass rush with consistency, and make the rest of the front seven a lot better as well.


No way Polian doesnt lock him up. They are already negotiating terms.

[patmoran2006]

No way Polian doesnt lock him up. They are already negotiating terms.
If they lock him up they're going to lose some big names then. They cant lock everybody up, and they're not in great cap shape and they have a lot of big contracts on that roster (Manning, Harrison, Wayne)..

Cato June is also a UFA for Indy

[kernowboy]

I never said we didn't need run stuffing DTs. I was unhappy that Williams got cut and despite Adams playing poorly last season would only have released him if we were drafting a replacement.

I called for Haloti Ngata in the first and maybe Daryn College in the 2nd of last years draft

I still think McCargo will do well when he returns to fitness if he doesn't have to play by Anderson who despite his effort simply lacks the ability.

I would love Dwight Frenney but there are two problems.

1) he will never be available unless we give up our number 1 picks in 2007 and in 2008. As a minimum he will be franchised
2) our major problem is the middle. By the time Freeney gets to the QB, the handoff will have occured and their running back will be 6-8 yds up the pitch
3) due to the poverty of our middle, he'll find any easy day will be when he is only double teamed

in that respect, signing Freeney will be a waste of money. Even top players need support and cannot thrive in isolation.

I agree we should never have let Williams go ... I would have let Adams go before Pat, but it happened.

We now need to consider how to move forward tomorrow not navel gaze about what we could have done yesterday.

P.s. When I mentioned Harrell, I meant is recent injury. The guy insisted on playing with torn biceps. I can't imagine Tripplett doing that.

[ScottLawrence]

I have two words for you.

Dwight Freeney.

He's a UFA, and I dont care how much money he costs (and it will be a ton) this is the ONE guy the Bills NEED to sign next Spring. Piss on signing 9 "role" players like we did last year.. We need instant impact in free agency.

He would instantly make the entire front seven better, bring a pass rush with consistency, and make the rest of the front seven a lot better as well.

I'd love to see us bring in Freeney obviously, However, I'll wait and see what Hargrove can provide as a speed rusher, before I say sign Freeney.

The ONLY problem with the defense besides poor tackling, is the defensive line.

We need a bigger Nose Tackle.(Kyle Williams, who may develop and be a stud, is still only 295, and Anderson doesn't deserve to be a starter anywhere in the league)

We had our chance on one in the draft last year(Ngata), but passed for Whitner.(Im not saying Whitner was a bad choice, he'll be a great saftey)

Im not sure what kind of DT's are out on the FA market, but we need a big/quick DT that can stuff the run.

We don't have that right now, and its hurting the play of our linebackers, secondary, and overall defense.

I know we should have plenty of money to work with this offseason, I'll be eager to see what we do with it.


I still think McCargo will do well when he returns to fitness if he doesn't have to play by Anderson who despite his effort simply lacks the ability.

McCargo doesn't play the Nose Tackle position, he rotated with Tripplett before the injury.

We never really went out and signed a big Nose Tackle to play next to Tripplett/McCargo, and its obviously hurting the defense.

[kernowboy]

By saying McCargo plays by Anderson I thought I indicated that I knew Anderson was the NT.

Actually I called for Ngata in the draft.

At the moment there is nothing in FA unless players get cut. Maybe Haynesworth will get released but that is seriously risky.

Justin Harrell, is 6ft4, 300lbs but can be fattened up, is considered the best TV DT since Henderson and Haynesworth and plays hurt. He also I think plays the NT.

I also think that we do need to consider TKO and Fletcher-Baker as this is an impending problem.

If we could get Graham at TE in FA we could then do this

R1 ... trade down and get Posluzny to replace FB or TKO - we have no depth
R2 ... get Doug Free at LT
R3 ... get Dan Bazuin at LE - maybe use a Day2 or compensation pick to move up
R3 ... extra pick from R1 deal, get Justin Harrell

We will then have addressed the positions of

TE
LT
LB
DT
DE

There are always possible big possesion WR lower in the draft, an OFA at FB and we can hope a CB comes available in FA. The Titans have a lot of depth there they might want to cut including Woolfork and Waddell.

[Mahdi]

Obviously the D-Line isnt playing well, we can see that. But, this is a new scheme and mastering the techniques in run defense especially is not an overnight thing. I read an article recently I forget where saying how both the Bucs and the Colts had problems stopping the run in the first year the D was implemented, but improved significantly by seasons end. Last year, the Bucs, Colts, and Bears were all in the top 16 in run D with the Bucs and Bears in the top 11. And none of those teams have a "run stuffing" DT. Its all about how the scheme is applied and I think this run D will get much better. As for Tim Anderson, he's actually made some really nice plays on run D, its just not consistent, which has more to do with everyone doing their job not just him.

[Devin]

I love the Madden like approach to stopping the bleeding.

Firstly regardless of our needs there is only so much realistically you can do in 1 offseason. I believe Marv started us on the right path and will continue.

There is really no one at DL apart Freeney (who we have 0 chance of signing) that will be a significant upgrade. Pray Hargrove plays well.

In FA this year id like to sign Nates replacement. And upgrade the TE position. Some quality TE's that will be FA's this year. A pass-catching TE will help with our lack of a true #2 wr. At first glance a guy like Daniel Graham would be great.

There are a ton of OT's available via FA this year as well as a handful of OG's.

In the draft honestly depending on what we do in FA of course, drafting any of the below would make me happy:

Levi Brown, OT
Gaines Adams, DE
Quentin Moses, DE
Leon Hall, CB

I just dont believe this is the year we worry about LB in the first round. Until we fix the lines, everything else is backseat.

[PECKERWOOD]

If they lock him up they're going to lose some big names then. They cant lock everybody up, and they're not in great cap shape and they have a lot of big contracts on that roster (Manning, Harrison, Wayne)..

Cato June is also a UFA for Indy
I would rather have Cato June versus Freeney. I think were good at DE for now.. A DT is much more needed.


A left tackle - enough has been said about the play of Gandhi - definitely not a saviour for anyone.
A tight end who can block but also make himself available as a receiver
A bigger no2 receiver who can help release Evans
A full back as Shelton is at the end of the road
A linebacker as TKO may never be the same again and Fletcher-Baker is in the final year of his contract and has signed with the devil (Rosenhaus)
A cornerback in case Youboty isn't ready as Clements will walk as someone will be daft enough to overpay him

I would like to take a stud DT in the first round, possibly Alan Branch.

Could get a quality LT most likely in the 2nd round, could possibly trade up if their are any big names available.

LB, we should be good for next season.. But after that were in trouble.

CB, give Youboty a shot or re-sign Clements long term.

As far as FB goes, you can find a solid one that went undrafted.

Maybe we can get a solid reciever with a 3rd round pick or via FA.