RFB365: Walker trade falling apart could work out for Bills

[Mitchy moo]

You're responsible for your own happiness, which is liberating in its own way. But that also means you have to work at it and make difficult choices. For example, you could be a <A class=articlelinks href="http://bills.realfootball365.com/"><ACRONYM title="Buffalo Bills News">Buffalo Bills</ACRONYM> fan and feel despair over what the team might end up with if defensive tackle Darwin Walker's (http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2007/06/bills-walkertradefallingapart-couldworkout060607.html#) huffy holdout continues. But you don't have to, as you can decide to be positive about what might take place in terms of the trade's final outcome.
The Bills should look at this less as a possible catastrophe and more as a chance to sever ties with the past and a way to remove a problem player before he's their problem.
The new commotion regarding the old news of Walker's holdout is over the report that if Walker doesn't show up for training camp, he goes back to the Eagles, who in turn would have to send a sixth-round pick to the Bills. The net would then be Philadelphia getting Walker, Takeo Spikes (http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2007/06/bills-walkertradefallingapart-couldworkout060607.html#) and Kelly Holcomb, while Buffalo ends up with that pick plus the seventh-rounder it got in the initial transaction. That doesn't look good, but the positive perspective is that the Bills could end up freeing financial resources while removing extraneous guys.

http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2007/06/bills-walkertradefallingapart-couldworkout060607.html

[OpIv37]

freeing financial resources to use on what? Who's left that's worth signing at this point?

What a joke.

[Jan Reimers]

Nice read. Maybe Walker isn't quite the savior at DT that the FO bashers are screaming that he is.

I wouldn't mind having Walker, but not at any price, particularly when he's not the run stuffer that we really need.

[BlackMetalNinja]

I'm sorry, but Walker, Holcombe, and Spikes for a 6th and 7th rd draft pick doesn't do much for me in terms of happiness...

[madness]

Clearing off some of the few remnants of the Tom Donahoe Reign of Error can only be a positive development. Take losing Spikes, for instance. He may still have the soul of a warrior, but that is useless when you have the ankle of James Caan's character in "Misery." The Bills have their starting linebackers now, and hoping he'd be able to return to his former turf-stomping ways at his salary wasn't worth the gamble to general manager Marv Levy.

:roflmao:

[OpIv37]

Nice read. Maybe Walker isn't quite the savior at DT that the FO bashers are screaming that he is.

I wouldn't mind having Walker, but not at any price, particularly when he's not the run stuffer that we really need.

maybe he's not, but once again- who's available that is better at this point? Do you honestly think our DL is as good with Walker as it is without him? If you do, go back and watch last year's games again.

[Pinkerton Security]

I'm sorry, but Walker, Holcombe, and Spikes for a 6th and 7th rd draft pick doesn't do much for me in terms of happiness...

Well technically wouldnt it be just Holcomb and Spikes for a 6th and 7th rounder? Since they had Walker to begin with? Not really but it makes the situation sound a little better.

And how about this...Holcomb sucks and we may as well have cut him, we are better off w/o him than with him, so its just Spikes for a 6th and 7th...




still sounds sucky. O well, the past is past, and the deed is done. I am not going to lose sleep over whether we get Walker or a draft pick, I like McCargo Williams and Triplett just enough to not care if we ever see Walker on the field for us.

[Stewie]

If those guys weren't going to be on the team anyway, picking anything up for them is a bonus. Holcomb was definitely a goner, and good riddance. I'm not sure if TKO has anything left, but he was an aging LB with injury history who was not going to take a paycut to his current value, which like it or not is important to the FO. Seems like he was gone too. Net net two picks where we had none.

[THATHURMANATOR]

maybe he's not, but once again- who's available that is better at this point? Do you honestly think our DL is as good with Walker as it is without him? If you do, go back and watch last year's games again.
What about Rayburn:?

[Jan Reimers]

Well technically wouldnt it be just Holcomb and Spikes for a 6th and 7th rounder? Since they had Walker to begin with? Not really but it makes the situation sound a little better.

And how about this...Holcomb sucks and we may as well have cut him, we are better off w/o him than with him, so its just Spikes for a 6th and 7th
Plus we saved about 6 Million in cap room.

[casdhf]

freeing financial resources to use on what? Who's left that's worth signing at this point?

What a joke. Lee Evans and J.P. Losman.

[OpIv37]

What about Rayburn:?

I don't know enough about him specifically to comment, but the Eagles were able to trade Walker and they had to cut Rayburn. So it seems to me there were no trading partners for Rayburn, which suggests (although doesn't prove) that he's not being good.

That being said, the real question for us when discussing DTs is "is he better than Tim Anderson?" because if so, it would be an improvement. The answer is almost always "Yes", although some options are still better than others. I think Walker is about as good as we're going to do at this point.

[OpIv37]

Lee Evans and J.P. Losman.

if you think they're going to re-sign without testing the FA market, you're kidding yourself. I'd love to see them locked up long-term, but with the amount of money being thrown around in FA, it doesn't make sense for any player to re-sign at this point.

[DraftBoy]

Nice read. Maybe Walker isn't quite the savior at DT that the FO bashers are screaming that he is.

I wouldn't mind having Walker, but not at any price, particularly when he's not the run stuffer that we really need.


Im sorry but we all thought that getting Walker was a good move for the Bills, and I havent seen one person say he;s the savior at DT (wow this seems familiar to a homer defending the Bills to a realist). Its nice to sit back now and criticize Walker since he's only a pass rusher, but the fact is that at this time, he'd be the best DT on this team, and if you know he wants a new deal, then why trade for him? Why set a deadline unto yourself? Why can nobody answer those questions? Ill tell you why, bc our FO made a mistake, plain and simple.

[casdhf]

We'll have one or both locked up by this time next year.

[jimmifli]

Our worst LB for a 6th and 7th isn't a bad deal.

Getting Walker would've been better but when the deal was made, they had to like this as a fallback. A Backup QB who didn't want to be here and an over priced, injured LB who didn't want to be here, for a shot at an adequate starting DT and some picks. Sign me up.

It's usually hard to get anything of value for guys that might be June 1st cuts.

[Wys Guy]

Nice read. Maybe Walker isn't quite the savior at DT that the FO bashers are screaming that he is.

I wouldn't mind having Walker, but not at any price, particularly when he's not the run stuffer that we really need.

I'm a FO basher Jan, but I've held the view that Walker's nothing but roster fodder since we traded for him. There was more hype here and on other MBs for a backup caliber player with injury concerns and who is 30 than anywhere else.

He's an inconsequential player, as you say, that will not impact the Bills' season on iota whether he's here or not. Given that, let's just take the chance 6th rounder and move on and the FO can tell Walker to go enjoy himself.

[madness]

if you think they're going to re-sign without testing the FA market, you're kidding yourself. I'd love to see them locked up long-term, but with the amount of money being thrown around in FA, it doesn't make sense for any player to re-sign at this point.

So are you saying the front office shouldn't even try and just spend the money they need to re-sign them?

[OpIv37]

So are you saying the front office shouldn't even try and just spend the money they need to re-sign them?

no, I'm saying we shouldn't be dumping salaries solely to re-negotiate contracts unless we have some indication that the desired players are interested in re-negotiating. And maybe, just maybe, we should worry about fielding a complete team before we start locking guys up. I thought the whole deal with "cash to cap" was that we'd have the flexibility to re-sign guys when the time came.

[OpIv37]

come to think of it, has there been ANY indication of the FO trying to lock up Evans, Losman or anyone else? All I've seen on it is message board speculation.

[TigerJ]

Wow, it takes real guts to try and give that one a positive spin. It's possible Buffalo will end op a stronger team this year than last, but no way can you make the case that it was because Buffalo got a sixth round pick for Spikes and saved some money.

[Wys Guy]

Wow, it takes real guts to try and give that one a positive spin. It's possible Buffalo will end op a stronger team this year than last, but no way can you make the case that it was because Buffalo got a sixth round pick for Spikes and saved some money.

Agree Tiger. We really could have used Spikes this year, at least for transitional purposes. As it now stands we head into next offseason desperately needing LBs on top of our existing needs. Crowell's only signed through '08 too. LBs long term might be a huge issue. If Pos doesn't become the monster that we believe he will, then it ain't gonna be good.

[OpIv37]

Agree Tiger. We really could have used Spikes this year, at least for transitional purposes. As it now stands we head into next offseason desperately needing LBs on top of our existing needs. Crowell's only signed through '08 too. LBs long term might be a huge issue. If Pos doesn't become the monster that we believe he will, then it ain't gonna be good.

You mean Keith Ellison isn't the second coming of Jesus Bruschi! I'm shocked!

[HAMMER]

Look to the future, salary cap moves aren't all about today. If we had an aging, declining LB, and another average DT taking up exorbitant cap space next year and we couldn't make the move to lock up Evans and Losman. You "experts" will be screaming for Marv's head, yet again.

[OpIv37]

Look to the future, salary cap moves aren't all about today. If we had an aging, declining LB, and another average DT taking up exorbitant cap space next year and we couldn't make the move to lock up Evans and Losman. You "experts" will be screaming for Marv's head, yet again.

yeah, cuz we wouldn't be able to dump Spikes' salary next year :rolleyes:.

Who have we signed since we cut him that necessitated his cap space? Oh right, no one.

[Carlton Bailey]

That's a bunch of BS. The front office will look like crap if they don't pay Walker. I know the guy's not great, but at least he'd pressure the QB here. Buffalo could certainly use him.

[B-DON]

Even with Walker our DT's dont look to great. We really do need him and i think he has taken a look at our roster and realizes how much we do need him. Thus giving him the upperhand in negotiations.

[henrybacker]

Our worst LB for a 6th and 7th isn't a bad deal.

Wow

[X-Era]

freeing financial resources to use on what? Who's left that's worth signing at this point?

What a joke.

Kendrick Clancy
Lance Briggs trade
Asante Samuel trade

and thats before any more cuts have happened.

[SABURZFAN]

I'm sorry, but Walker, Holcombe, and Spikes for a 6th and 7th rd draft pick doesn't do much for me in terms of happiness...


walker was never here so he doesn't even count.getting rid of a clipboard holder and a high priced LB who is a shell of his former self for a 6th and 7th is ok with me.we saved a few bucks against the salary cap too.

[SABURZFAN]

I'm sorry, but Walker, Holcombe, and Spikes for a 6th and 7th rd draft pick doesn't do much for me in terms of happiness...


walker was never here so he doesn't even count.getting rid of a clipboard holder and a high priced LB who is a shell of his former self for a 6th and 7th is ok with me.we saved a few bucks against the salary cap too.

[OpIv37]

Kendrick Clancy
Lance Briggs trade
Asante Samuel trade

and thats before any more cuts have happened.

TKO's salary was $5 mill a year. If you think that's enough to get Briggs or Samuel, you need to take a closer looks at the Thomas and Clements contracts.

It should get us Clancy.

[YardRat]

I'm at the point right now where if Marv said to Philly tomorrow 'The heck with the deadline, you can have Walker back and we'll take the sixth' wouldn't bother me a bit.

Holcomb was gone, and Takeo most likely was also. Instead of cutting them, we got two late picks.

[Nighthawk]

This organization needs to prove to the fans that they want to win. If they don't sign Walker, then they have done nothing to improve the run defense and it proves to me that they don't care about winning. For God sakes, it's about time this team began wanting to win again! What the f**k!

[ParanoidAndroid]

Walker hasn't gone back to the Eagles yet.

[raphael120]

I just don't understand why Walker was in the trade anyways. If they knew his demands, knew he was a whiner lookin for more money when honestly he has no good reason for a pay raise other than "cuz i said i do", then why did we pick him? Why not just straight up say, here's Spikes and Holcomb, give me a 6th and 7th. Or a depth LB or CB ro SOMETHING that is needed. We are full of young players and absolutley HORRID depth!

Tell me one spot on the roster, that if the starter went down, we'd be alright in that spot?

[BlackMetalNinja]

A lot of you are making decent points here as to why it shouldn't bother me that we lost what we did and will only get 2 draft picks out of it. I'd still rather have a shell of the old Spikes on our team then our current lack of depth at LB and a draft pick however. We clearly need to shore up the DT position as well and I think Walker would be an improvement there too that I'd rather see suiting up for us then back in Philly and yet another draft pick in exchange.

[jimmifli]

A lot of you are making decent points here as to why it shouldn't bother me that we lost what we did and will only get 2 draft picks out of it. I'd still rather have a shell of the old Spikes on our team then our current lack of depth at LB and a draft pick however. We clearly need to shore up the DT position as well and I think Walker would be an improvement there too that I'd rather see suiting up for us then back in Philly and yet another draft pick in exchange. That's fair, but it became apparent through comments from both sides (after the trade) that Spikes didn't want to be here. We don't want guys that don't want to be here.

So, yes my first preference is to have a healthy Takeo that wants to play for the Bills, since that's not possible I'd like a decent DT for fair market value, since that doesn't seem possible I'd like something rather than just releasing Takeo or overpaying Walker.

That's why is wasn't a bad deal.

on a somewhat related note....
That's the problem with rebuilding, you can get people to by in for a couple years, but if you don't go anywhere in year three... everybody wants out.

Try to win every year and you become a desirable destination.