Another Offseason Breakdown

[Yasgur's Farm]

Possibilities ranked according to my desire...

QB-
1) We obtain McNabb to start. Edwards learns from the bench. And we sign Hamden or draft Tebow in the 4th.
2) Edwards starts. We sign Leftwich for vet back-up. And we sign Hamden or draft Tebow in the 4th.

C-
1) We sign Brown. And Preston is back-up.
2) Preston starts. And we draft a center round 2.
3) We sign Birk or Saturday. Preston is back-up. And we draft a center round 2.

DE- (Kelsay is a Ralph cap casualty).
1) Schobel's injury forces his retirement. We sign Suggs or Peppers To start opposite Denney. We draft Orakpo, Brown or Johnson round 1. We draft Slaughnessy or Jackson round 3. And Ellis rounds out the unit.
2) We sign Suggs or Peppers to start opposite Schobel. We draft Orakpo, Brown or Johnson round 1. Denney and Ellis round out the unit.
3) Schobel and Denny start. We draft Orakpo, Brown or Johnson round 1. We draft Slaughnessy or Jackson round 3. And Ellis rounds out the unit.

OLB-
1) We sign Crowell or Scott to start. We sign Ellison and DiGi for depth.
2) We draft Cushing, Sintim or English round 2 (Or maybe even Curry round 1) to start. We sign Ellison and DiGi for depth.

WR-
Evans, Reed, Hardy and Johnson are solid in my eyes. My only concern is Reed's back. I don't mind Parrish so much. I just think he makes our Offense one dimensional. I'd like to get some trade value for him. I think we'll pick up a mid level FA and/or mid round draft pick.

SAFTEY-
I'm fine with Whitner, Scott, Simpson, Wendling and Wilson. We sign Wilson or replace him with a low level FA or late rounder.

G-
I'm not real sure about this position. It could be that the entire middle looks bad because of C... Fix the C and they may all look like pro bowlers. In any event, I wouldn't be upset with an upgrade here.

TE-
I'm good with Fine, Schouman and Royal in that order.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

I think your priorities are right on. You use most of our FA signings and high draft picks on positions that are our absolute, unquestioned worst - DE (at least2), OLB, and C. And I agree that Hardy, Johnson, Fine and Schouman give us enough developing young guys to make WR and TE much less of a priority. McNabb would be great, but I'd settle for a competent backup to Trent.

I mostly agree at the other positions as well, although I would like to see another stud DT, to allow Williams to be a good backup, and perhaps a safety (or re-sign Greer and move Youboty to FS).

[ddaryl]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

Why do so many think Mcnabb will be out of Philly ? Philly has no replacement unless they are planning to gut and rebuild then they can use Kolb whom they drafed in 2007, but who hasn't done anything to prove he is ready. The Eagles would need ot draft and/or be active in FA for a QB if they release or trade Mcnabb

The Eagles will try to trade McNabb before they release him. Mcnabb has a 10 million salary in 2009... that would pretty much destroy the rest of the Bills offseason, and would make it very difficult to pay Peters with our cash to cap bull**** system... They could renegotiate a contract for McNabb to make it more palletable if Mcnabb is willing... but I don't even consider McNabb a possibility for us...

Leftwich is more probable...

We must sign a top FA DE, LB, and C IMO... and still leave room to resign Peters to an extesnion, and our own FA's like Crowell, Digi, Ellison, Jackson and Greer. SO I agree with much of what you are saying but I have more urgency at the LB spot then you do

Even if we sign a top DE in FA I would still make DE the #1 priority on draft day and then find the best TE we can after that. If we cannot address LB in the FA market. or cannot get Crowell back semi-cheap then LB is still a major priority on draft day.

We need a LB upgrade even if we can resign Crowell. Crowell is not the answer, but he would be great depth and rotational guy.... I just don't trust his durability to have him as a starter.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

I think Philly would be absolutely insane to get rid of McNabb. He is an elite, playoff-tested QB. But if they decide that Kevin Kolb is their man (which would be more stupid than anything the Bills' coaches/FO has done recently), I'd gladly take Donny off of their hands.

[yordad]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

If the Bills got McNabb I would do the "doh" forehead slap, and piss my pants with excitement at the same time.

[Tatonka]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

i saw the bills game in philly last season.. the fans their seem to hate mcnabb for some reason. they booed him all day. him and L.J. took some serious heat, really for no reason.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

i saw the bills game in philly last season.. the fans their seem to hate mcnabb for some reason. they booed him all day. him and L.J. took some serious heat, really for no reason.

They had McNabb confused with Santa Claus.

[HHURRICANE]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

Unlike Losman, the entire FO is behind Edwards. Anyone who thinks McNabb or a high draft QB is coming here is funny and ridiculous.

I have a buddy inside OBD who tells me that Center is the absolute #1 priority. Higher than DE which kind of bums me out.

Based on this:

1) Center will be the highest priority. How it gets addressed I have no idea.

2) I believe that TE is the next highest priority, follwed by DE. This has not been verified by anyone, just a hunch.

3) I think the Bills resign Crowell and let Bowen develop. Maybe we bring in another FA.

[Typ0]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

you just don't analyze your weakest positions and then go about drafting the bpa at those positions. In the long run you end up with crappy drafting because you aren't taking the guys who you think can really make a difference you are taking the guys you think can fill in for some of your weaknesses. So you end up with a team full of average players and a complete lack of difference makers and it stems right from your need filling draft strategy. Sound familiar? I hope they grab the best guy that is available on their board no matter what the position or our need myself. If we end up with a plethora of talent at a position we can trade and turn that into the players that we need and we will be getting the best value from our drafts like we should be.

[Turbo.GUN.Hawk!]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

When I read about McNabb coming to Buffalo I just couldn't keep reading that stupid naive post.

[patmoran2006]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

There is no cap savings on Cutting Kelsay.. I found this out via my impeccable source (Clumpy)

[Typ0]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

It's too far of a jump from "we're 100% behind TE" to "no way we bring in another decent QB". One thing does not exclude the other. If Jeff Garcia was hired it does not signify anything about confidence in TE. I pick Garcia over McNabb myself but the premise in this thread is the same. There are a few different reasons for this like TE is still young and we desparately need production from that position. All NFL teams really need two starter quality guys at that position. They can be behind TE and still worry about his durability. It's just silly to constantly throw all your eggs into one basket IMO. NE had a lot of injuries but they sure could have used better production at QB for the whole season. I know Cassel started to look better and people started calling him a superstar (for zero reason I might add)...but he played poorly when he started and another win put NE in the playoffs.

Unlike Losman, the entire FO is behind Edwards. Anyone who thinks McNabb or a high draft QB is coming here is funny and ridiculous.

I have a buddy inside OBD who tells me that Center is the absolute #1 priority. Higher than DE which kind of bums me out.

Based on this:

1) Center will be the highest priority. How it gets addressed I have no idea.

2) I believe that TE is the next highest priority, follwed by DE. This has not been verified by anyone, just a hunch.

3) I think the Bills resign Crowell and let Bowen develop. Maybe we bring in another FA.

[ddaryl]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

you just don't analyze your weakest positions and then go about drafting the bpa at those positions. In the long run you end up with crappy drafting because you aren't taking the guys who you think can really make a difference you are taking the guys you think can fill in for some of your weaknesses. So you end up with a team full of average players and a complete lack of difference makers and it stems right from your need filling draft strategy. Sound familiar? I hope they grab the best guy that is available on their board no matter what the position or our need myself. If we end up with a plethora of talent at a position we can trade and turn that into the players that we need and we will be getting the best value from our drafts like we should be.

with the #11 pick the Bills select a Safety

I think this argument has merit, but position of need does figure into the formula somewhat...

The Bills problems have just as much to do with cash to cap, and talent evaluation.

[HHURRICANE]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

It's too far of a jump from "we're 100% behind TE" to "no way we bring in another decent QB". One thing does not exclude the other. If Jeff Garcia was hired it does not signify anything about confidence in TE. I pick Garcia over McNabb myself but the premise in this thread is the same. There are a few different reasons for this like TE is still young and we desparately need production from that position. All NFL teams really need two starter quality guys at that position. They can be behind TE and still worry about his durability. It's just silly to constantly throw all your eggs into one basket IMO. NE had a lot of injuries but they sure could have used better production at QB for the whole season. I know Cassel started to look better and people started calling him a superstar (for zero reason I might add)...but he played poorly when he started and another win put NE in the playoffs.

The Bills need a relaible backup so we agree there. But the Bills aren't going to tie up a ton of cash in McNabb or Garcia, who are still both #1 QBs who aren't going to sit behind Edwards.

[Yasgur's Farm]

Re: Another Offseason Breakdown

There is no cap savings on Cutting Kelsay.. I found this out via my impeccable source (Clumpy)

While this is true for the most part... I was referring to the "Ralph cap". That equates to roughly $3M out of pocket in 2009. Forget about the signing bonus... That's already left Ralph's pocket. But he hasn't paid out the 2009 salary and roster bonus yet!