If I was the GM (before FA started)

[patmoran2006]

Jon (mudflap) asked me earlier to outline a team with what I would have done If I was the GM. This is a message board and these things are supposed to be fun, so I took him up on that.
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The thing I didn’t like was I already stuck with some choices because I didn’t take over until March 12.
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Well I just outlined what I would do if I had been the GM from last season’s end… Now while Jon told me to I don’t have to consider the cash to cap philosophy, the reality is that I do. So I did. I might go over by a couple of million, but I kept it realistic financially, anybody could be a good be a good GM if they could every good player on the market. I tried to concentrate on need, talent and our style.
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Every free agent I signed with being GM is a guy who went to a worse team except for one; for that one guy, we have to give him more money to want to come here.
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Anyway, this would’ve been my blue print.
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My cuts: Takeo Spikes (yes), Villarrial, Reyes, Holcomb, Peerless Price
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I don’t resign/tender: Tim Anderson, Kiwaukee Thomas, Chris Kelsay, Mike Gandy, Nate Clements.
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I do trade: The McGahee deal.. The exact same deal as well (obviously)
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I DO resign:
* Anthony Thomas- I think he’s a great backup RB and good role player.

* London Fletcher- I’m not signing Kelsay, and the deal <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State> gave Fletcher is close the same amount of money, even less in guaranteed money. So this is a football move, doesn’t effect the bottom line anymore/less than Kelsay. I’ll never get how some of you guys underrated him as much as you did. This guy is a warrior and he can STILL play. Plus, I want a leader on my defense, and we have none. That goes beyond just the “stats” (the money saved by cutting Spikes makes this about even) Fletch still has a couple of good years left, and I'll worry about breaking someone new in starting next year.

* Jabrari Greer- Comes cheap, and is a good dime corner.

* Anthony Hargrove- versatile and cheaper; fine as a backup DE and can also play a little DT.
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I never would’ve Signed:
Langston Walker: This fat slob is not worth $25 million dollars. I’m willing to debate if he’s even better than Terrence Pennington at all. Stats say (10.75 sacks allowed) he was awful. I’m aware all of the Raiders were awful, but I ain’t gambling on this guy. I can think of better things to do with his money (as you’ll see)
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So that’s where I’m at heading into day one of free agency. I brought back Fletcher cause he can still play, my defense is very young and I want a leader on that unit. I don’t bring back Kelsay because I have better things in store (IMO) and I cut loose Spikes because I have a different plan for things with my running back..
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FREE AGENCY ACQUISITIONS

Derrick Dockery: I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the signing. He’s worth it and we needed a quality left guard. Obviously, he gets the same deal.
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Jason Whittle: While I think he’s the typical/neglectful Buffalo FA addition, he comes dirt cheap and if nothing else I got a guy I can trust to come in as as backup.
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Travis Henry, RB: There’s where Langston Walker’s money just went. The deal was about the same, but we gotta give Henry a little more than he got in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Denver</st1:place></st1:City> to come play for a worse team. This guy is an animal, he puts up hugely un-noticed numbers, and the drafting of Willis/trading of Henry was one of the worst deals I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Travis Henry is the HORSE on this team, no doubt.
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DeWayne White: He went to the Lions. He costed around $30 million for 5 years, around the same money per year as Kelsay so it’s a wash financially. White has more upside and he’s DEFINITELY much better at stopping the run. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Tampa</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> wanted him back badly, they were stuck with Simeon Rice though because of what it would’ve costed to cut him.
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Ron Hood: He’s my new starting corner. His contract details haven’t come out yet from <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Arizona</st1:place></st1:State> but I’m going to say it’s a solid mid-range deal. I feel real good about this guy, he was one of the more wanted young players on the market.
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Justin Griffith: Signed with the Raiders, and only got around 1.4 million per year. I’d give him a bit more, and he’s a solid FB who can also catch the ball.
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Draft Day:
I’m not going to be at the draft for very long. Why do you ask? Because I just pulled off the craziest of trades. I just traded out first, second and third round picks to the Tampa Bucs for their fourth overall. And the Buffalo Bills just drafted Calvin Johnson, who’s not only the best player in this draft, he’s going to be the next TO minus the deplorable attitude. Yes, he IS worth it.
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I do have a second third rounder though, so I take whomever is the best LB available on the board with it. Rest of the draft, the standard BPA.
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Your 2007 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Buffalo</st1:place></st1:City> Bills
LT: Jason Peters
LG: Derrick Dockery
C; Melvin Fowler
RG: <st1:place w:st="on">Preston</st1:place>/Whittle
RT: Terrence Pennington
WR: Lee Evans
WR: Calvin Johnson
FB: Justin Griffith
RB: Travis Henry
QB: JP Losman
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DT: Larry Tripplett
DT: John McCargo/Kyle Williams
DE: Aaron Schobel
DE: DeWayne White
LB: <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:City> Fletcher
LB: Angelo Crowell
LB: Keith Ellison
CB: Rod Hood
CB: Terrence McGee
S: Ko Simpson
S: Donte Whitner
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Financially, I barely spent anymore money than the Bills have to this point in real life. Fletcher’s 2007 (Cash to cap) is only slightly more than we saved by cutting Spikes. White’s salary is pretty much the same as Kelsays and he’s an upgrade… Travis Henry’s salary is nullified by the Langston Walker money..
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The only extra money I spent in FA was getting Justin Griffith and Rod Hood.. and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Buffalo</st1:City></st1:place> still had some money to spend this year so I barely even went over the cash to cap.
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As for the Johnson trade I know you’ll all go nuts about: This dude is a sick, freak, monster. Overnight, the Buffalo Bills just got the scariest WR tandem in the NFL. And if you play them too deep, my man Travis Henry will ram it down your throat for 140 yards. Oh ya, and the much improved JP Losman has more time to throw with a solid LG (Dockery) and a RT (Pennington) with a year’s more experience.
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That is a SICK offense, and a defense respectable enough to have some good games.
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See ya in January with my 11-5 playoff team.

[patmoran2006]

BTw.
While maybe not as long, I'd like to see what everybody else would do differently or the same.

[Mudflap1]

First question: you said the Fletcher money was in place of Kelsay's money, then you said DeWayne White's deal (an arguably worse player by the way) was in place of Kelsay. So that's a 5 year - $30MM deal that is unaccounted for.

Jon

[patmoran2006]

my bad.. I meant the money saved by cutting Spikes goes towards Fletch.

I said in the thread that I spend a couple million more than what we did, but thats it.

[Night Train]

If you were the GM, I'd have little problem oraganizing a lynch mob.

[patmoran2006]

If you were the GM, I'd have little problem oraganizing a lynch mob.
Care to elaborate why, or that just a personal attack kind of thing.?

Do you think the team outlined here is not better than our current edition? Is it worse? the same?

[Mudflap1]

Honestly? I like your "take over at March 13th" plan better, and here's why:

You're mortgaging a whole lot for Fletcher, Henry, and Calvin Johnson. While CJ is a stud prospect, Fletcher is arguably over the hill, and frankly, has been a nice player for us, but probably has set the NFL record for most tackles 7 yards down field (which admittedly aren't 100% his fault, but still).

Henry is a decent back, and he may be worth the money to Denver, but I don't think he's worth it for us. Been there, done that. It's better to start off with a young guy from scratch. (By the way, if you're looking for the next Travis Henry, remember he was a 2nd round pick)

DeWayne White sucks. He's worse than Kelsay. So automatically the defensive line got worse.

You chose not to sign Langston Walker. I can understand the methodology, but from the people I've asked, Raiders fans were fairly high on him until last season, of which the entire Raider Nation had a bad year. So before last season, there was something there to be excited about. Maybe McNally finds that? Heck, he found it in Jason Peters, Dusty Ziegler, Glenn Parker, and to a lesser extent Mike Gandy and Melvin Fowler.

I guess my point is you've paid less attention to the OL and DL than what OBD has done up to this point, to sign Fletcher, cut Spikes (which OBD has not done yet), and get Calvin Johnson. I'd rather do what has been done up until now, draft a DT, and get fresh meat for RB instead of a journeyman who has already been here.

Jon

[patmoran2006]

Honestly? I like your "take over at March 13th" plan better, and here's why:

You're mortgaging a whole lot for Fletcher, Henry, and Calvin Johnson. While CJ is a stud prospect, Fletcher is arguably over the hill, and frankly, has been a nice player for us, but probably has set the NFL record for most tackles 7 yards down field (which admittedly aren't 100% his fault, but still).

Henry is a decent back, and he may be worth the money to Denver, but I don't think he's worth it for us. Been there, done that. It's better to start off with a young guy from scratch. (By the way, if you're looking for the next Travis Henry, remember he was a 2nd round pick)

DeWayne White sucks. He's worse than Kelsay. So automatically the defensive line got worse.

You chose not to sign Langston Walker. I can understand the methodology, but from the people I've asked, Raiders fans were fairly high on him until last season, of which the entire Raider Nation had a bad year. So before last season, there was something there to be excited about. Maybe McNally finds that? Heck, he found it in Jason Peters, Dusty Ziegler, Glenn Parker, and to a lesser extent Mike Gandy and Melvin Fowler.

I guess my point is you've paid less attention to the OL and DL than what OBD has done up to this point, to sign Fletcher, cut Spikes (which OBD has not done yet), and get Calvin Johnson. I'd rather do what has been done up until now, draft a DT, and get fresh meat for RB instead of a journeyman who has already been here.

Jon
not a bad opinon, except your grossly underating Fletcher and especially Henry I think...

[Mudflap1]

not a bad opinon, except your grossly underating Fletcher and especially Henry I think...

Well, looking at it simply: you feel Crowell in the middle with Spikes and Ellison outside is worse than Crowell and Ellison on the outside and Fletcher in the middle? See, I think Spikes is still better after injury, etc. than Fletcher is, and Crowell is solid as a MLB.

As for RB, then it's just taste. Yeah, I'd say Henry is better than, say, Chris Brown. But would I take Chris Brown (cheaper than Henry), A-Train, and some RB in the draft like Booker with all of the other said moves? Yeah, I'd do that.

Jon

[RedEyE]

You're giving up way too many draft picks for a moderate necessity. 4 first day picks will help fill necessary voids better then one hot hands WR. Especially a team that is fortifying a young structerd defense.

I'm not sure we need a big time receiver the opposite end of Lee Evans. You first degrade the OL picks made to assist Losman in buying time to throw the ball, then throw all your eggs into one basket for a downfield receiver.

Evans is the deep guy, period. Everyone else works underneath. Then you have an occassional WR that can spread the defense and stretch the safetys. Not two WRs looking for a little love from 1 QB.

Henry is a fine pick up, but he was never even a possibility. I'm sure the Bills had conversations with his agent. Henry never obviously wanted to be back in Buffalo.

Fletch or Takeo? One of them was going to have to go. The Bills weighed their options and made their choice. They offered Fletch what they thought he was worth and his idea of a good payday was slightly higher then the Bills evaluation of his services. End of story.

Too many question marks at CB. One of those 3 high draft picks you used for an unecessary WR sure would look good right about now, wouldn't it?

[OpIv37]

and without Spikes, we're still down a LB. I'm not sold on Ellison.

[Nighthawk]

Your on crack! It would be absolutely the dumbest thing that a GM ever did to trade all those draft picks for Johnson when this team still has a ton of holes.

[clumping platelets]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1auRCameVY

[Ebenezer]

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Jon (mudflap) asked me earlier to outline a team with what I would have done If I was the GM.


you needed to masturbate one more time that day instead of killing bandwidth.

[Buffalogic]

...and because the bills didn't do exactly what this clown wants he bashes them left and right....what a joke.

[justasportsfan]

the only change from last years OL is Dockery and the only change from last years horrible run D is a DE who doesn't even seem to be better than Kelsay? At least with the new scheme we know that Kelsay got better. We know nothiing about how White will do in a cover 2.

No draft picks. How is Fletcher gonna improve the run D? He's not our future.

11-5 and playoffs?

I was gonna say that you are missing a TE but who cares now since all he's gonna be doing is supporting Pennington again on the right side.

Sorry bro. I don't think you should be calling MArv clueless next time.
I don't think OP is gonna agree with your line-up either.

[clumping platelets]

:movie: