Buffalo Bills In House Offseason Moves

[Raptor]

Pretty good read,except I'm not sure if I would extend Carpenter. He was good this year but he has a history of being spotty





1.Dump the Toronto series: Russ Brandon has said that winning will be placed above all else. Well if that’s the case he can no longer sit there saying that with a straight face and continue on with the Toronto series. The competitive disadvantage at this point it clear, the Bills play awful in front of a crowd that on its best day is impartial but more often than not is favorable to the “away” team. The Players hate it, the fans despise it, and the media makes fun of it. Russ has the position he does because of his business savvy. Then he should prove to the fans of Buffalo that winning is placed above all else and use that savvy to get out of and end the Toronto series for good





2.Tag J.Byrd: Whether or not the Bills decide to get a long term deal done with Byrd or not, the one thing that can absolutely not happen is for J.Byrd to be allowed to leave with no compensation besides the hope of a compensatory pick in 2015. Byrd has a rare valuable skill set and the Bills should want to keep this home grown asset if they ever plan on making it back to the playoffs. With 29 million in cap space there is no excuse not to tag him for the 8 million with the worse case being you get another year of elite safety play





3.Lock in A.Williams if Byrd flies the coup: If the Byrd negotiations head South again and he is either traded or allowed to leave the Bills should then turn their attention to Safety A.Williams. While Williams still has a ways to go to learning the Safety position, still takes bad angles, he is light years ahead of where he was as a CB. He has become valuable to the Bills in that he can still play that CB position in a pinch as well as float around the entire secondary and play every position in it. I don’t think it would cost all that much to lock him up now and get ahead of the ball as he enters the final year of his deal





4.Exercise the 5th year option on Dareus: Dareus ended what was a very good year a little shaky by being late to a few meetings. He missed 3 quarters of play in the final two games because of it. I look at this as a mild infraction for a player who looks to finally be on the verge of living up to being the 3rd overall pick. It will cost the Bills about 7 million to exercise this option for 2015 but given what DT’s are paid and if he builds off what he did this year, that would be a bargain. I’m willing to gamble that he does





5.Open a contract dialog with CJ Spiller: I’ve written previously that this is going to be a tricky negotiation....


http://profootballwarroom.com/

[Night Train]

Who is Mike Wadkins ?

[SpikedLemonade]

Watkins. He posts at the dying and decaying Range MB.

[OpIv37]

I'd keep Carpenter even of it's just for a year. There was an article last week that Hopkins still isn't completely healed. If Hopkins isn't ready to go, we won't find anyone better than Carpenter. Also, kickers are fickle. I wanted Lindell gone after his 2nd year here, but he had 4-5 really solid years after that.

I could live with the Toronto series if I saw the money reinvested in the team, but I don't. We still let guys walk we still can't get guys like Byrd under contract, we are still consistently under the cap every single year, and we still go cheap on coaches and staff. So, I agree- ditch it. Show us that the fans and players are more important than Ralph's bank account.

[Raptor]

Watkins. He posts at the dying and decaying Range MB.


Is is he even over there anymore, is anybody over there anymore?

Anyway he post on the linked site and is a good follow on twitter, very informative, knowledgable, and original opinions

[Raptor]

I'd keep Carpenter even of it's just for a year. There was an article last week that Hopkins still isn't completely healed. If Hopkins isn't ready to go, we won't find anyone better than Carpenter. Also, kickers are fickle. I wanted Lindell gone after his 2nd year here, but he had 4-5 really solid years after that.

I could live with the Toronto series if I saw the money reinvested in the team, but I don't. We still let guys walk we still can't get guys like Byrd under contract, we are still consistently under the cap every single year, and we still go cheap on coaches and staff. So, I agree- ditch it. Show us that the fans and players are more important than Ralph's bank account.


How could Hopkins still be injured? Does anyone know what exactly he did? For a kicker to be out this long seems crazy to me

[OpIv37]

How could Hopkins still be injured? Does anyone know what exactly he did? For a kicker to be out this long seems crazy to me

Here's the thread: http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php/222219-I-just-changed-my-view-on-re-signing-Carpenter

He told Chris Brown that his groin isn't healed. I hear ya- torn ligaments, torn Achilles, high ankle sprain, even turf toe- those are injuries that take 5 months to heal. I've never heard of a groin injury taking this long, but if it's not better by now, I'd be concerned that it's something chronic, so I'd keep Carpenter at least through camp to make sure Hopkins can go.

[GvilleBills]

Stevie has had a groin injury for 3 years.

[Beebe's Kid]

I agreed with everything the guy said. Pretty much sums up my position on all of his points. That is a rare find.

It was also refreshing after listening to all the get rid of everybody threads that go on here everyday.

- - - Updated - - -

Haha...the ever-authoritative "I WANT HIM GONE. NOW!" thread.

[YardRat]

Byrd does not have a 'rare valuable skill set', unless being the slowest safety in the league is considered valuable.

[Historian]

I wouldn't mind an annual 'American Bowl' as long as BOTH the teams were rotated in each year.

Stevie Johnson can go suck a lemon.

Carpenter has earned a contract, this stadium's winds have taunted kickers since 1973. (Just watch the AFC Championship against Denver if you don't believe it) Unfortunately, only the dome guys with the big numbers get to go to the Pro Bowl.

[swiper]

Watkins. He posts at the dying and decaying Range MB.

He doesn't even post there any more. Not anything remotely recently anyway. He took his act to Twitter.

I think he's "@Merk256" or something similar.

[Raptor]

Byrd does not have a 'rare valuable skill set', unless being the slowest safety in the league is considered valuable.

All I got from this post was "I dont understand what Im watching but I'll comment anyway"

[Raptor]

Here's the thread: http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php/222219-I-just-changed-my-view-on-re-signing-Carpenter

He told Chris Brown that his groin isn't healed. I hear ya- torn ligaments, torn Achilles, high ankle sprain, even turf toe- those are injuries that take 5 months to heal. I've never heard of a groin injury taking this long, but if it's not better by now, I'd be concerned that it's something chronic, so I'd keep Carpenter at least through camp to make sure Hopkins can go.


I'm not going to even try an pretend that i'm a Doctor, but I agree after 5-6 months of doing nothing and its still an issue, I would be concerned about his long term health. I dont want to have to open a roster spot everytime this Hamstring becomes a problem

[DraftBoy]

Who is Mike Wadkins ?

He's a good analyst with good thoughts. He watches the game and knows what he's talking about.

He wrote for BBD last season when I was running it. He and Anthony decided they enjoyed things more on their own at PFWR.

Don't have much issue with anything he said, it makes sense.

- - - Updated - - -


I'm not going to even try an pretend that i'm a Doctor, but I agree after 5-6 months of doing nothing and its still an issue, I would be concerned about his long term health. I dont want to have to open a roster spot everytime this Hamstring becomes a problem

Could of re-aggravated it in rehab and we would never know since he was already on IR.

[Meathead]

for the bajillionth time, the toronto series is about being financially competitive, and therefore its also about winning games. it allows you to go after big name free agents when the team is close to getting over the hump. they dont have to squeeze every last nickel out of each revenue dollar for every single expense aka contracts. it keeps the local ticket prices low for a lowish income fanbase and thus the stadium filled. and of course its also about keeping the team here

if the bills hadnt sucked ass this whole time that would indeed be a real home game by now. once they get back on top that whole atmosphere will change, probably never like it is here but still dramatically different than it is now. youre not going to get new ppl hooked when you have to talk them into being a fan of a loser team. getting a new stadium in the falls would also be a huge boost to canadians taking real emotional ownership, and perhaps eliminate the need for the toronto game altogether

this is the entertainment bidness, the real game is making money. sure its about good performances but you cant pay the better actors with cans of beans. you wont be around long in any bidness if youre the pauper of the group

[Historian]

I disagree.

I was at a Bills game in Toronto in 1995. Preseason, we beat the Cowpukes 9-7 I think.

The Dallas fans outnumbered Bills fans 4-1.

Monica Seles was even there rooting for Dallas.

[justasportsfan]

Pretty good read,except I'm not sure if I would extend Carpenter. He was good this year but he has a history of being spotty


He's also had a history of making probowl. You're only as good as your last performance and this year he's been better than Lindell.

[GingerP]

Carpenter has earned a contract, this stadium's winds have taunted kickers since 1973. (Just watch the AFC Championship against Denver if you don't believe it) Unfortunately, only the dome guys with the big numbers get to go to the Pro Bowl.

The two Pro Bowl kickers, Matt Prater (Den) & Justin Tucker (Bal) both kick outside, though. Prater does have the benefit of playing home games in thin air, but he was 25-for-26 on FG (with an NFL record 64 yarder, and his one miss from 52). Tucker was 38-for-41 on FG, including 6-of-7 from 50+ with a long of 61.

Hard to argue about those choices. Carpenter was 33-for-36, 4-for-6 from 50+ with a long of 55.

[Raptor]

for the bajillionth time, the toronto series is about being financially competitive, and therefore its also about winning games. it allows you to go after big name free agents when the team is close to getting over the hump. they dont have to squeeze every last nickel out of each revenue dollar for every single expense aka contracts. it keeps the local ticket prices low for a lowish income fanbase and thus the stadium filled. and of course its also about keeping the team here

if the bills hadnt sucked ass this whole time that would indeed be a real home game by now. once they get back on top that whole atmosphere will change, probably never like it is here but still dramatically different than it is now. youre not going to get new ppl hooked when you have to talk them into being a fan of a loser team. getting a new stadium in the falls would also be a huge boost to canadians taking real emotional ownership, and perhaps eliminate the need for the toronto game altogether

this is the entertainment bidness, the real game is making money. sure its about good performances but you cant pay the better actors with cans of beans. you wont be around long in any bidness if youre the pauper of the group


It keeps the team Financially competitive? BS, TV contract Pays the player contracts and the Bills sat on nearly 18 million in cap space all year

Everyobody understand its about money, but there are other ways to make it other than selling a home game to Toronto

[jimmifli]

Here's the thread: http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php/222219-I-just-changed-my-view-on-re-signing-Carpenter

He told Chris Brown that his groin isn't healed. I hear ya- torn ligaments, torn Achilles, high ankle sprain, even turf toe- those are injuries that take 5 months to heal. I've never heard of a groin injury taking this long, but if it's not better by now, I'd be concerned that it's something chronic, so I'd keep Carpenter at least through camp to make sure Hopkins can go.

5 months for a groin to heal is reasonable for a guy that doesn't have to swing his leg over his head. But I'd imagine groin injuries among kickers are like groin injuries for goalies - bad ****ing news. The rehab time is all over the map and recurrence is almost guaranteed.

[jimmifli]

f
if the bills hadnt sucked ass this whole time that would indeed be a real home game by now. once they get back on top that whole atmosphere will change, probably never like it is here but still dramatically different than it is now. youre not going to get new ppl hooked when you have to talk them into being a fan of a loser team.

I would have agreed with you a few years ago. But not now, Toronto is a ****ty sports town. The corporate world sucked all the fun out of it, and if the Bills were a good team, the only thing that would change is the number of tickets sold and the attire of those in attendance. A bunch of button downs & sweaters that show up in the second quarter and don't pay attention to the game, that's the best you can hope for.


A sell out of sell outs for a sell out team.