Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

[Night Train]

..told us instantly Byrd was never going to see a multi year deal at 9 Mil + with the Bills. No surprise today.

Someone will overpay him and good for him. I like the guy a ton but impact players on D are in the front 7 98 % of the time.

New D scheme seems to be an attacking one and up front will be where the $$ is spent in the future.

I don't think saying the " Bills are cheap " goes too far here. Time will tell but I've seen big $$ spent on the secondary the last several years around the NFL and the overall return hasn't been all that great.

[Meathead]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

first rounder, hopefully before the season starts

[NOT THE DUDE...]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

hoping for picks for byrd, realistically, a 2nd and 4th maybe... aaron Williams will be fine imo

[elltrain22]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

I cannot endorse not paying Byrd the money. He's a really good player, and IMO, good teams find a way to keep their good players.

[Mark Miller]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

It is possible that the Bills are hoping that Byrd plays this entire season and convinces us beyond any doubt that he is the best safety in the league before "showing him the money."

[TigerJ]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

Agree with Night Train. I'm not optimistic the Bills will get full value in a trade because other teams can smell the blood in the water and have a pretty good idea Byrd is never going to sign a long term deal in Buffalo. Whaley says the Bills are looking to sign a one year deal now that the deadline is past, but I think he almost has to say that to prop up his trade value as much as possible. If teams think Buffalo is serious about keeping him at least for a year, they may figure they've got to offer a little more to pry him loose

[Goobylal]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

Agree with Night Train. I'm not optimistic the Bills will get full value in a trade because other teams can smell the blood in the water and have a pretty good idea Byrd is never going to sign a long term deal in Buffalo. Whaley says the Bills are looking to sign a one year deal now that the deadline is past, but I think he almost has to say that to prop up his trade value as much as possible. If teams think Buffalo is serious about keeping him at least for a year, they may figure they've got to offer a little more to pry him loose

The Bills own his rights for the year. At this point, all that can be done is a 1-year deal. Whether Byrd signs it and shows up for the full season is up to him, but he gambled and lost a year, unless some team offers a 2nd rounder at least for him, plus $9M/year, which I doubt.

[Ingtar33]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

I cannot endorse not paying Byrd the money. He's a really good player, and IMO, good teams find a way to keep their good players.

2 time probowler in 4 seasons... lead the nfl in ints 1 season the afc in 2 seasons... we're talking about an elite player who struggled 1 year when he was asked to play a lot of man defense, but who's dominated in zone. On a team hurting for top flight talent not paying byrd makes zero sense. This type of player doesn't come around often, and he's the type of player you can build a secondary around. But lets move aaron williams to safety, trade byrd for a 3rd rounder, and spend a 2nd and a 4th on two rookie safeties who won't be in the league in 4 years. This is why we're a perpetually sub .500 team

He wants to be paid like a top 5 safety, well guess what... he IS a top 5 safety. You pay him, make him happy and move on.

[Buddo]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

2 time probowler in 4 seasons... lead the nfl in ints 1 season the afc in 2 seasons... we're talking about an elite player who struggled 1 year when he was asked to play a lot of man defense, but who's dominated in zone. On a team hurting for top flight talent not paying byrd makes zero sense. This type of player doesn't come around often, and he's the type of player you can build a secondary around. But lets move aaron williams to safety, trade byrd for a 3rd rounder, and spend a 2nd and a 4th on two rookie safeties who won't be in the league in 4 years. This is why we're a perpetually sub .500 team

He wants to be paid like a top 5 safety, well guess what... he IS a top 5 safety. You pay him, make him happy and move on.

Well, as Parker as his agent, and 'reports' that Byrd wants to be the highest paid safety in the league, who is to say what the Bills offered?
In principle, I'm with you, that byrd should be getting the sort of money that Weddle and Goldson got, and likely a bit more, due to his age, but that isn't north of $9 million per, which is what the highest paid safety, Polamalu, is getting. The same 'report' said that the Bills had offered top 4-5 money, btw. We've been down this road before with Parker and Peters, and it doesn't bode well for compromise. Seems to me that Parker has a penchant for telling a player he will make them the highest paid at their position, and then will stick it out to be able to make that happen, regardless of the impact that might have.
Imho, Byrd will never quite be the player Reed was in his prime, and it's simply because of his lack of true speed. Not trying to be funny about it, but that small difference in speed, is what is possibly making the Bills shy away from going all in on Byrd. While Byrd may be able to improve some, without that extra speed, I think he's getting very close to his 'ceiling' as a player, and his numbers are probably going to be affected more by the D he plays in, than by his own performance, assuming he's consistent.

As to the drafting of safeties, and moving Williams to the position, I don't think that there was any specific 'contingency' plan in mind. Like Byrd before him, Williams was also talked about before being drafted, as a likely candidate to be moved to safety, but had enough physical ability to warrant being given a decent shot at CB first. The drafting of two safeties, was as much a function of probably the deepest safety group in years, rather than specifically making plans for 'life after Byrd', although it has to be said its not an inconvenient time for the Bills to be faced with such a deep safety class.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

I usually agree with Night Train, but I think that one big reason for our almost 20 year funk is our inability, or unwillingness, to pay and keep our good players. We have let so many young, and young veteran, players go, that we are constantly rebuilding to replace them.

I had hoped that with the organizational changes we would have a change in our thinking. I felt we might even overpay - as the good teams often do - to keep a group together long enough to have a shot at the playoffs, and maybe even a Super Bowl run.

But with the exit of Levitre, and the now very probable leaving of Byrd, I see more of the same old thing. We will certainly be better at some positions this season, but worse at guard, and next season, at safety. And who will we let go after that, when more rookie contracts are up?

I don't believe we will ever build a really good team again without biting the bullet and paying what other franchises are willing to pay to put a winner on the field.

[Night Train]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

I usually agree with Night Train, but I think that one big reason for our almost 20 year funk is our inability, or unwillingness, to pay and keep our good players. We have let so many young, and young veteran, players go, that we are constantly rebuilding to replace them.

I had hoped that with the organizational changes we would have a change in our thinking. I felt we might even overpay - as the good teams often do - to keep a group together long enough to have a shot at the playoffs, and maybe even a Super Bowl run.

But with the exit of Levitre, and the now very probable leaving of Byrd, I see more of the same old thing. We will certainly be better at some positions this season, but worse at guard, and next season, at safety. And who will we let go after that, when more rookie contracts are up?

I don't believe we will ever build a really good team again without biting the bullet and paying what other franchises are willing to pay to put a winner on the field.

I see QB and D Front 7 as the core guys getting the really big $$. OL to a point. The rest, not so much.

Levitre will collect 26 Mil the next 2 years for the Titans. There is no justification for that, even if he was the greatest Guard in NFL history. Cap be damned.

I wouldn't doubt there could be something between agent Eugene Parker and Brandon/Overdorf, going back to the whole Jason Peters fiasco. Parker played the Bills like a fiddle back then and may be forcing something again, knowing he can get his client more outside of Buffalo. Thus the drafting of 2 Safeties in April and the switch of Williams to Safety. The decision could have been made months ago that the Bills were not going to deal with Parker.

[The King]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

Two names have come up in this thread. Polamalu and Reed. Byrd is a very good safety but he's not even close to these two.

These guys gave the top QB's in the league fits in their prime. When you would see Polamalu creep to the line you'd audible, he was that scary.

Byrd is reliable, he can make the big play, but he's not imposing like the other two. He's a top 5 guy, and deserves to be paid as such. But he hasn't proven to be deserving of the contract his agent is pulling for. Maybe with a new scheme he'll look even, better, maybe he'll look worse.

Let's also remember he hasnt shown his face to the new staff yet.

[OpIv37]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

It is possible that the Bills are hoping that Byrd plays this entire season and convinces us beyond any doubt that he is the best safety in the league before "showing him the money."

Possibly but that's not what Byrd wants. Players have short shelf lives and risk injury that reduces their value at any time. Byrd and his agent want their payday now, without the risk of another season before they get big money.

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hoping for picks for byrd, realistically, a 2nd and 4th maybe... aaron Williams will be fine imo

I hope Aaron Williams will be fine. I suspect he'll be off the team by this time next year.

[NOT THE DUDE...]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

we have plenty of time guys. we can still franchise him next year with a slight increase, so its up to byrd and whether or not he wants to deal with reality and the value of his position as a 1 dimensional cover 2 safety.

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here is the kicker, if aaron Williams starts the season out really good, gets like 6 picks, etc. than byrd's value will be even less....

[justasportsfan]

Re: Moving Aaron Williams To Safety And Drafting 2 More In The Middle Rounds..

If Gailey was still the coach, I think we would've paid Byrd.