My 2007 Plan

[IAG]

The Bills are not that far away from being a team that is playing in such a game this weekend. However, this offseason is essential. While they have the cap dollars available, I have little to no confidence in the owner to come through.

Goals:
1. The defense must develop more integrity against the run
2. Continue Losman's development

Steps:



1. While I am not a fan of DT's being "light in the pants" it is obvious that Jauron and Fewell will go that way. Therefore, they need to sign a veteren DT to go with Tripplett. Williams and McCargo can be rotational guys.
Examples: Vonnie Holliday, Ian Scott, Hollis Thomas.

2. Let Fletcher go, move Crowell to the middle, keep Spikes and sign Cato June to a big free agent deal. He is perfect for the system and can run, run, run.

3. Open up the vault and bring Nate Clements back. The market is easy to figure with him. The Bills have developed him and have a wonderful pass defense. He make unprecedented dollars in terms of the Bills. He probably will not live up the contract. However, losing him will be a step backwards.

*** I think these moves brings the defense to another level

4. Offensively, keep the two OT's. From there, I would let Gandy walk. I would then replace him with Steinbach or Diehlman. Those would be a great upgrade.

5. For continuity sake, I would keep the rest of the O-line. However, in round 2 or 3 I would bring in someone to compete with remaining interior O-linemen. Always, on draft day interior linemen slip. Good value could be sought.

6. Last and certainly not least, Buffalo must enhance Losman's development. I would advocate for the Bills drafting either Dwayne Jarrett or Teddy Ginn Jr. (imagine what April could do with this guy on specials). Now, you would have two young, legit weapons for Losman. I also think Reed and Parrish are nice as #3's.

***I think that this would accomplish the idea of Losman developing into a playoff caliber QB.

With all this being said, I bet something like this will not happen. WHY? If Ralph Wilson is to make a case that he is bleeding money based on the new CBA, he cannot go out and give bonus babies to Clements, a standout LB and an offensive linemen. He would lose any credibility from his constant rants.

Unfortunately, if Ralph takes this approach the Bills could take a step backwards after a surprisingly productive and fun year.

[BuffaloBillsStampede]

wishful thinking, but it would be great

[Yasgur's Farm]

The Bills are not that far away from being a team that is playing in such a game this weekend. However, this offseason is essential. While they have the cap dollars available, I have little to no confidence in the owner to come through.

Goals:
1. The defense must develop more integrity against the run
2. Continue Losman's development

Steps:



1. While I am not a fan of DT's being "light in the pants" it is obvious that Jauron and Fewell will go that way. Therefore, they need to sign a veteren DT to go with Tripplett. Williams and McCargo can be rotational guys.
Examples: Vonnie Holliday, Ian Scott, Hollis Thomas. I'm 100% onboard here.

2. Let Fletcher go, move Crowell to the middle, keep Spikes and sign Cato June to a big free agent deal. He is perfect for the system and can run, run, run. Yes, let Fletch walk and move Crowell to middle. I'm not comvinced about Spikes... I think he may never be the same... and at $4.6M may end up a casuallty. That being said. In addition to Cato June, I feel we need another top end FA or round 2 here.

3. Open up the vault and bring Nate Clements back. The market is easy to figure with him. The Bills have developed him and have a wonderful pass defense. He make unprecedented dollars in terms of the Bills. He probably will not live up the contract. However, losing him will be a step backwards. I'm afraid to give Nate the big dollars. I gotta wonder where he was during 2005 and the 1st half of 2006. Did he decide to take it up a couple notches when he felt his stock was diminishing? I'm concerned he'd revert back after his payday. I'd much rather persue Asante Samuel for a few mill less. If all else fails, we hit round 2 depending on the LB situation.

*** I think these moves brings the defense to another level

4. Offensively, keep the two OT's. From there, I would let Gandy walk. I would then replace him with Steinbach or Diehlman. Those would be a great upgrade. I think Stenbach or Diehlman are excellent pickups... But I think Preston will be demoted and Gandy will be resigned and start at LG.

5. For continuity sake, I would keep the rest of the O-line. However, in round 2 or 3 I would bring in someone to compete with remaining interior O-linemen. Always, on draft day interior linemen slip. Good value could be sought. I agree with drafting additional interior line help in the 3rd.

6. Last and certainly not least, Buffalo must enhance Losman's development. I would advocate for the Bills drafting either Dwayne Jarrett or Teddy Ginn Jr. (imagine what April could do with this guy on specials). Now, you would have two young, legit weapons for Losman. I also think Reed and Parrish are nice as #3's. Yes we have a great #1 and a stable full of good #3's. Dwayne Jarrett (Or dare I dream for Calvin Johnson) would make this O purr. I'm not sure I wanna use my round 1 pick however if it was only Ginn remaining. Most of my logic revolves around a bigger #2... And Ginn doesn't fill the bill.

***I think that this would accomplish the idea of Losman developing into a playoff caliber QB.

With all this being said, I bet something like this will not happen. WHY? If Ralph Wilson is to make a case that he is bleeding money based on the new CBA, he cannot go out and give bonus babies to Clements, a standout LB and an offensive linemen. He would lose any credibility from his constant rants.

Unfortunately, if Ralph takes this approach the Bills could take a step backwards after a surprisingly productive and fun year. We'' see!!

[OpIv37]

Nate Clements isn't coming back. It's time we accepted that fact. No matter what we offer him, someone will outbid him. And he's the best CB on the market this year, so he's going to get way more than he's worth.

[mysticsoto]

Nate Clements isn't coming back. It's time we accepted that fact. No matter what we offer him, someone will outbid him. And he's the best CB on the market this year, so he's going to get way more than he's worth.

Unfortunately, this is probably true. Additionally, IAG, I don't understand why you want to get rid of Gandy when he played well at LG?! Did you happen to miss that pretty much McGahee constantly ran toward the left side of the line and got good yardage? Why would you mess with that? It's the right side that left alot to be desired and RG was atrocious!!!

I still think drafting a top DT that fits our scheme is more important. Top WRs can be had easier than it is to get a top notch DT for our scheme. Bennett and Wilford are available in FA and they give us size if that's what we want. Additionally, Chris Denney was just sent to Europe (from our PS) and he might be a decent prospect (w/size) as he develops. Wilson was signed off our PS at the end of the season, and this kid has flypaper hands. I don't know much about this guy, but Daunta Peterson was sent to NFL Europe also and he's supposed to be a WR w/speed. These guys may develop as they get experience over there. But even if they don't, there are plenty of other options we can follow in the WR area vs in the DT area...

There is nothing more important to fix in this offseason than the run-D.

[HHURRICANE]

Are we 35 million under the cap or 60 million under the cap? Cato June, Steinbach, Vonnie Holiday and Clements. Put the crack pipe down.

[IAG]

Are we 35 million under the cap or 60 million under the cap? Cato June, Steinbach, Vonnie Holiday and Clements. Put the crack pipe down.

You absolutely could get those players...You are the second most under the cap. Between backloading contracts, having the signing bonus be in the form of a roster bonus and ACTUALLY spending money up to the cap this can be done.

I will grant you that Clements and June could be a lot of money, but the Bills have the cap room. The owner though will not spend on any of this.

You will pick up the crack pipe this spring when Clements and Fletcher walk, no suitable FA's replace them and Bills spin it by saying, "we'll have a good draft this April." If this happens the Bills take a step backwards and stay in the group of the Lions and Cardinals.

[kernowboy]

The Bills are not that far away from being a team that is playing in such a game this weekend. However, this offseason is essential. While they have the cap dollars available, I have little to no confidence in the owner to come through.

Goals:
1. The defense must develop more integrity against the run
2. Continue Losman's development

Steps:



1. While I am not a fan of DT's being "light in the pants" it is obvious that Jauron and Fewell will go that way. Therefore, they need to sign a veteren DT to go with Tripplett. Williams and McCargo can be rotational guys.
Examples: Vonnie Holliday, Ian Scott, Hollis Thomas. NO .. lets not waste money on a aging Vet .. only Scott is worthy and he'll be resigned due to Tank Johnson's problems. Holliday is now as light as hell. We either go for someone in the draft like Glenn Dorsey or better still AMOBI OKOYE, who has the size and athleticism we need.

2. Let Fletcher go, move Crowell to the middle, keep Spikes and sign Cato June to a big free agent deal. He is perfect for the system and can run, run, run. You want to sign a LB be of dubious character who plays for a team with an equally bad run defence? He's no better than Ellison will be after another year. Want a Free Agent LB - look at CALEB MILLER or BOSS BAILEY, and draft POSLUZNY to play in the middle. TKO is moved on unless he restructures

3. Open up the vault and bring Nate Clements back. The market is easy to figure with him. The Bills have developed him and have a wonderful pass defense. He make unprecedented dollars in terms of the Bills. He probably will not live up the contract. However, losing him will be a step backwards. Love this but cannot see it happening. We need to look around to see if there is a vet like Ahmad Carroll, or Mike Rumph .. who can be coached, is still young and could still step up. We will look to have Youboty starting I feel.

*** I think these moves brings the defense to another level

4. Offensively, keep the two OT's. From there, I would let Gandy walk. I would then replace him with Steinbach or Diehlman. Those would be a great upgrade. Not sold on Steinbach as the LG we need. We resign GANDY, and we sign KRIS DIELMAN, DAVID DIEHL or VINCE MANUWAI to replace Villarial. Preston goes back to backing up Fowler. If we want to look at the future for LG, look to see if we can draft Doug Free in the 3rd who in a couple of years can step up, but can ably back up Peters as well.

5. For continuity sake, I would keep the rest of the O-line. However, in round 2 or 3 I would bring in someone to compete with remaining interior O-linemen. Always, on draft day interior linemen slip. Good value could be sought. Agreed and hopefully that can be Doug Free

6. Last and certainly not least, Buffalo must enhance Losman's development. I would advocate for the Bills drafting either Dwayne Jarrett or Teddy Ginn Jr. (imagine what April could do with this guy on specials). Now, you would have two young, legit weapons for Losman. I also think Reed and Parrish are nice as #3's. Again I disagree. Work still needs to be done on the trenches, not quick fix free agency options that in fact may not fix anything.
With the money we already have invested here I see us maybe looking at a FA TE to go with a 2 TE set or having seen how well Marques Colston has done, look for a big WR on Day2. We need a big WR possession option to provide variety to the offence .. if Lee cannot get free, there's someone the ball can be dumped off to to keep the chains moving.

***I think that this would accomplish the idea of Losman developing into a playoff caliber QB.

With all this being said, I bet something like this will not happen. WHY? If Ralph Wilson is to make a case that he is bleeding money based on the new CBA, he cannot go out and give bonus babies to Clements, a standout LB and an offensive linemen. He would lose any credibility from his constant rants.
Again .. massive money on marque names has not turned the Redskins into champions. Intelligent selection of the right players like the Patriots have done has .. Clements only picked up his play to look for a new deal and I question his character - he wasn't interested earlier in the season. The Pats build through the defence and the trenches first getting role players not bright shiny individuals who can disappear if the circumstances aren't right. Lets get the foundations of the team sorted first. A strong draft of basic needs can allow us to go after strong skills players like WR, RBs etc in 2008

Money spent on potential flops and vets who only last a season or two cannot then be used to extend Lee, JP, Donte, Ko, or Angelo and even better deals for Jason and Aaron. It also means we struggle in subsequent Free Agencies and Drafts.

Unfortunately, if Ralph takes this approach the Bills could take a step backwards after a surprisingly productive and fun year.

[YardRat]

I still maintain that the problems the defense had stopping the run isn't as much a matter of personel as the philosophy of how the personel was used and what the defensive priorities were. This defense is going to be much better aginst the run in '07 simply by virtue of experience and a slight adjustment in philosophy.

Clements is gone, and so is Fletch. Steinbach will be over priced and I'd rather replace the MLB with someone already on the roster than over-paying for someone like June who isn't all that impressive to me, to be honest.

We have plenty of cap room, this is true, but not enough to sign a bunch of big names. That cap # (I would assume) has already been bitten into with the re-signing of Lindell and will shrink even farther as the team re-signs more of it's own players from last year's squad that are currently free agents.

If you really want to make a splash in the free agent market, you're not going to be able to walk away with all the prizes...you'll have to 'pick your poison' and sign one guy and let others go elsewhere.

[ShadowHawk7]

I like the Ian Johnson or Hollis Thomas pickup at DT a lot. But for the MLB position, I say we resign Fletch and draft a 1st or 2nd round LB and force Fletcher/Spikes to push their level of gameplay up or be cut/benched. Small or not, London has been one of the most disruptive MLBs in the NFL and was snubbed for the Pro Bowl again. Just because he's 5-11 and is 31 doesn't mean we can just afford to let him walk away. At the very least, we'll be developing a solid LB starter when Fletch/Spikes leave in 2008.

[Tatonka]

wow.. kernowboy just said bring in amhad carroll.

:puke:

[YardRat]

Also...



2. Continue Losman's development


I really take issue when individuals are singled out as 'necessary' for team development. JP's development isn't anywhere as vital as the development of the offense as a unit, including the back-ups. The offense needs to be developed to be successful regardless of who the QB happens to be.

[Saratoga Slim]

I still maintain that the problems the defense had stopping the run isn't as much a matter of personel as the philosophy of how the personel was used and what the defensive priorities were. This defense is going to be much better aginst the run in '07 simply by virtue of experience and a slight adjustment in philosophy.

Clements is gone, and so is Fletch. Steinbach will be over priced and I'd rather replace the MLB with someone already on the roster than over-paying for someone like June who isn't all that impressive to me, to be honest.

We have plenty of cap room, this is true, but not enough to sign a bunch of big names. That cap # (I would assume) has already been bitten into with the re-signing of Lindell and will shrink even farther as the team re-signs more of it's own players from last year's squad that are currently free agents.

If you really want to make a splash in the free agent market, you're not going to be able to walk away with all the prizes...you'll have to 'pick your poison' and sign one guy and let others go elsewhere.
Yeah, I agree with most of the above. Good post Yardrat.

1. I absolutely agree that this defense can only improve regardless of personnel additions. First, the 4 rookies, with a full year of NFL experience, including significant game time, should be markedly improved. Moreover, as you note, some coaching tweaks and this past year/this offseason's experience will have everyone performing smarter.

2. Clements and Fletcher are probably both gone. The only way I see us regressing is if we can't adequately replace Clements. From the coments out of OBD so far, I think they're pretty focused on upgrading the MLB position, and I think it can be done.

3. I agree that June, Steinbach, Briggs (as well Fletcher and Clements) will be overpaid. We could no doubt break the bank and grab one of them.

However, I'd rather let the names above walk, and then make a run at say two of the second tier FAs like Ian Scott, Asante Samuel, Chris Diehlman etc. I think thats a more likely scenario, and would probably end up paying bigger dividends.

[DraftBoy]

I disagree and instead of saying it all again, Ill just link my post in the scouting zone and show where we differ:

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=117960

[IAG]

See, after watching the Pats win tonight. We need to bring in the players that make the big plays. The draft alone will not cut it.

[DraftBoy]

See, after watching the Pats win tonight. We need to bring in the players that make the big plays. The draft alone will not cut it.


Pats make mediocre players look great; David Patten, Jabar Gaffney

They also draft great; Logan Mankins, Lawrence Maroney

[IAG]

Logan Mankins is great? That is a little strong...solid maybe, not great. Maroney is far from great too...Go down to New Orleans and see their first round pick for greatness my friend.

[DraftBoy]

Logan Mankins is great? That is a little strong...solid maybe, not great. Maroney is far from great too...Go down to New Orleans and see their first round pick for greatness my friend.


So wait Maroney isnt a great pick but Reggie Bush was?

Maroney-745yd 6TD 4.3 ypc
Bush-565yd 6TD 3.6 ypc (9 Total TD's)

Interesting....

Mankins is one of the top emerging tackles in the AFC, to not recognize that is shows that you are wearing the rose colored glasses.

Also I forgot to mention before they also drafted Dan Kaczur another good young lineman.

[camelcowboy]

So wait Maroney isnt a great pick but Reggie Bush was?

Maroney-745yd 6TD 4.3 ypc
Bush-565yd 6TD 3.6 ypc (9 Total TD's)

Interesting....

Mankins is one of the top emerging tackles in the AFC, to not recognize that is shows that you are wearing the rose colored glasses.

Also I forgot to mention before they also drafted Dan Kaczur another good young lineman.

I agree about Mankins he is a beast, he's a throw back. I think he's a guard though?

[DraftBoy]

I agree about Mankins he is a beast, he's a throw back. I think he's a guard though?

Could be....if so, an honest mistake

[IAG]

His rose colored glasses got in the way of discussing Mankins...

Also, I like how you selectively choose various stats to prove Maroney is better than Bush.

1. Bush first of all is near the top for receptions
2. Defenses adjust their preparation and alignments to where he is
3. He has more explosiveness in his big toe than Maroney does combined
4. He shares time with a Pro Bowl RB in McAllister

Maroney is solid no doubt, but Bush is the rarest of talents we have seen.

The Pats win because of their coach, the best player in team sports in Tom Brady and a great d-line.

We need to build up the talent base and go to war with this. I do not want to sit and watch them anymore. Do you?

[DraftBoy]

you dont mention Maroney also split time with Dillon this season, may not be a pro bowler but he took away from his carries.

Your not even begining to discuss the real difference here which is the Pats consistently draft after 20, and yet turn out starters, and you also havent address how they turn other teams rejects (my ex. were Patten and Gaffney) and make them into good players (Gaffney) and all pros (Patten).

In the end all Im saying is that my philosophy is that it takes a good combination of FA and draft, but I think drafting the right players is much more benficial than just concentrating on FA.

[IAG]

Absolutely, I agree with you that winners and championships come from the draft. However, between Donahoe's solid drafts and last year's the talent is almost there. I think the Bills now should get agressive and close the gap on Pats via free agency.

[DraftBoy]

Absolutely, I agree with you that winners and championships come from the draft. However, between Donahoe's solid drafts and last year's the talent is almost there. I think the Bills now should get agressive and close the gap on Pats via free agency.


Dont see us anywhere near that close. We got lucky a few times in the end we are still two seasons away imo. I dont just want a team who barely makes the playoffs rather just see a team that actually will get there and compete.