Next Year's DL

[JefftheBillsfan]

I understand that there are very few, if any, legit DEs in the draft/FA that could come in and contribute from day 1. I see what Denver did with Pryce, why not do that with Pat Williams? Have him slim down a little maybe. Then we can draft a DT, who maybe can hold his own against the run, but more importantly get a little push up the middle. It's not like we'd be losing any pass rush pushing Denney out of the lineup, and we would really beef up the line IMO. Thoughts?

[HenryRules]

I dunno ... Pat is such a force in the middle, I'd rather not mess with him.

I'd prefer us to get an upgrade at RDE (I'm not sold on Schoebel as a RDE) and let Schoebel/Denney/Kelsay battle it out at left. I think Schoebel is at least as good against the run as Denney/Kelsay have been this year and that way we'd have two quasi-decent pass-rushing ends. I don't know what RDE's are available though, but my guess is that even if one isn't scheduled to become a FA, there will be a salary cap cut somewhere to release one.

I actually don't think we've done too poorly with our push up the middle ... I think if we had DE's that forced other teams RB to help out on the outside pass rush, our DT's would look a lot better collapsing the pocket.

[TigerJ]

Novel thought. I honestly have no idea how it might work. Right now, I doubt that Williams has enough quickness to play the DE position. What I don't know is how much speed/quickness he might gain by dropping 30 lbs.

[Billsouth]

there is no way pat williams is going to play end. r u crazy. u must be gregg williams with an assumed name. please dont take it personal but that is just not a good idea. williams is a tackle, to wit, big, strong, quick who is not fast. look at ur top de they are fast, strong and quick i.e. bruce in his prime. besides with london as our mlb we need big strong dts.

[Ingtar33]

Schobel, I like more and more with every game... even if he never improves from this point on he'll be a consistent 8-10 sack guy the rest of his career, and as a run stopper he's improved leaps and bounds.

Last week i finally saw some play from our LE position, but it wasn't Denny providing it, it was Kelsay. Kelsay looked a competent force in both the pass rush and run stop, and I imagine might be a similar end to Schobel when everything irons itself out.

What we really need is a pass rush from the DT position. Right now, the only sacks we've gotten from the DTs is Adams 3.5 sacks (Ron Edwards has 1/2 a sack, no other DT has any). The biggest problem with our pass rush is the same it was last year… there is no push up the middle from the base 4. There is no way the DEs can get to the QB easily if the QB can step into the pocket. We need a competent 3rd down option for Pat and Sam… to slide in there and be a wrecking ball from the inside.