Guys, why are so many of you missing our biggest draft need?

[X-Era]

Clements is all but gone.

Any team that hasnt watched him that closely this year will think that he is still a great CB. He played awful this year. Other teams will pay more for him than we will.

Levy wont tie up 8 mil of our cap on this guy through a franchise tag.

Hes gone, and whne he is, CB becomes our #1 need.

Now, it could be handled through FA, but will we sign Charles Woodson to some huge contract? Maybe. Probably not.

I think its likely that we fix our O-line interior and add at least one big DT FA before the draft.

That means CB is our #1 need going into the draft. There is simply no way in hell that we pass on Jimmy Williams or Mike Huff, both who could be shut down corners, for a pass rushing DE (when Schobel just had 12 sacks), a DT (when we just signed one in FA), or OT (when its not even our biggest o-line need).

Even if ALL of those spots were equal needs, many teams would STILL take the CB OVER those other positions because its so hard to get good ones that you can trust one on one with the top WR's.

Its conjecture based on what happens early in FA, but I can completely see us taking Williams or Huff.

[ICE74129]

Clements is all but gone.

Any team that hasnt watched him that closely this year will think that he is still a great CB. He played awful this year. Other teams will pay more for him than we will.

Levy wont tie up 8 mil of our cap on this guy through a franchise tag.

Hes gone, and whne he is, CB becomes our #1 need.

Now, it could be handled through FA, but will we sign Charles Woodson to some huge contract? Maybe. Probably not.

I think its likely that we fix our O-line interior and add at least one big DT FA before the draft.

That means CB is our #1 need going into the draft. There is simply no way in hell that we pass on Jimmy Williams or Mike Huff, both who could be shut down corners, for a pass rushing DE (when Schobel just had 12 sacks), a DT (when we just signed one in FA), or OT (when its not even our biggest o-line need).

Even if ALL of those spots were equal needs, many teams would STILL take the CB OVER those other positions because its so hard to get good ones that you can trust one on one with the top WR's.

Its conjecture based on what happens early in FA, but I can completely see us taking Williams or Huff.

Screw CB. And I mean that, Screw the damn CB position. Look LINES are our issue! BOTH of them. I cut 2 OL and not re sign teague. I bring in a Center and LG, Draft LT. I also sign a DT and Draft a starting DT as well! If sam Adams re does his contract and gets his act together then fine, just draft one.

After the lines are addressed THEN you can think CB. New England won the superbowl last year with BACKUPS! the #4 and #5 CB's on their team started! PASS RUSH and schemes make average CB's good enough to win. We have talent sitting on the bench right now. Starting talent? Who knows, they never get on the field.

Nate Clements won't accept anything less than top dollar. So you franchise and trade him to someone like the Giants for thier first round pick. THEN Draft a CB.

[The King]

Making the D-Line better will allow you to sacrifice talent in the backfield. Although if we Tag and Trade Nate as many think we will we should be able to land Williams or Huff.

[TigerJ]

If all your assumptions about free agency are right, your prognostication of the Bills' draft need is right on, but at this point that's all they are, assumptions. You assume Clements is gone and you assume the Bills get solid line help in free agency. Neither is a given until it happens.

[T-Long]

Our biggest need is NOT CB. We NEED to address the offense and defensive line. PERIOD.

[alohabillsfan]

Sign Hutchenson from Seattle watch him this week when he locks on to a pass rusher they get no where! Marv please sign him! :limpclap:

[mysticsoto]

Screw CB. And I mean that, Screw the damn CB position. Look LINES are our issue! BOTH of them. I cut 2 OL and not re sign teague. I bring in a Center and LG, Draft LT. I also sign a DT and Draft a starting DT as well! If sam Adams re does his contract and gets his act together then fine, just draft one.

After the lines are addressed THEN you can think CB. New England won the superbowl last year with BACKUPS! the #4 and #5 CB's on their team started! PASS RUSH and schemes make average CB's good enough to win. We have talent sitting on the bench right now. Starting talent? Who knows, they never get on the field.

Nate Clements won't accept anything less than top dollar. So you franchise and trade him to someone like the Giants for thier first round pick. THEN Draft a CB.


jp-era, you have to understand that one way or another, we should get something out of Nate. Either we franchise him, nobody bites and we keep him another year at a price that is still less than what he would want, I might add, or we, preferably, trade him to another team in need for a 1st rd pick. The Giants have shown interest, and I'm pretty sure there will be others showing interest also. Either way, we either keep him or use another 1st rd pick to get a new top CB...problem solved.

[THATHURMANATOR]

12 sacks is great in this league.

[RedEyE]

This has been addressed several times before. According to the site capologists (Eb and Clump), the tag #s will only be in and around 5$ mil. Slap on the tag, bait the trade and if no one bites, hold onto Nate for one last year.

[Historian]

Yea, cornerback isn't as pressing a need, although my guess is that they take one later on, maybe with their 4th or 5th.

[mysticsoto]

Yea, cornerback isn't as pressing a need, although my guess is that they take one later on, maybe with their 4th or 5th.

A Safety is probably a higher need though, but maybe they can get a player that can do both...unless they address S in free agency and get someone like Archuleta! We cannot have Coy Wire coming in if Milloy gets hurt or needs a breather.

[OpIv37]

Screw CB. And I mean that, Screw the damn CB position. Look LINES are our issue! BOTH of them. I cut 2 OL and not re sign teague. I bring in a Center and LG, Draft LT. I also sign a DT and Draft a starting DT as well! If sam Adams re does his contract and gets his act together then fine, just draft one.

After the lines are addressed THEN you can think CB. New England won the superbowl last year with BACKUPS! the #4 and #5 CB's on their team started! PASS RUSH and schemes make average CB's good enough to win. We have talent sitting on the bench right now. Starting talent? Who knows, they never get on the field.

Nate Clements won't accept anything less than top dollar. So you franchise and trade him to someone like the Giants for thier first round pick. THEN Draft a CB.

news flash- Nate SUCKED this year. Another CB can come in and suck just as bad. And even if Nate stays and/or an equivalent replacement is found, it's not going to matter without an OL to help us score points and a DL to stop the run. The CB situation will need to be addressed, but OL and DL are infinitely more important.

[Buckets]

[QUOTE=jp-era]Clements is all but gone.

Any team that hasnt watched him that closely this year will think that he is still a great CB.QUOTE]

You gotta be kidding. A team is going to go after a FA and not know his past years stats or rep?

[Typ0]

I have to agree with some of the comments here except on the ones that say Nate sucks. Any cornerback and safety is only going to be as good as the defensive line and that's the way it is. There is nothing you are going to do back there without some pressure on the QB. Once that pressure is there then it can become a turnover frenzy if you have good corners.

And I also agree and have no idea why the morons had Coy Wire in there this year at safety. He is one of the worst safeties I have ever seen in the league. If we are going to put him on the field we might just as well stay in the lockerroom and watch on TV as the other team marches up and down the field.

[RedEyE]

Coy Wire's play on ST has dropped this year as well. If he can't hack it in training camp this season, cut his ass. He's not doing this team any good.

[Typ0]

wasn't he covering Chambers on that last second play that cost us the game? I mean what the hell was Wire doing there anyway?

[Jan Reimers]

In the discussions involving Clements, I've seen little or no references to King being a viable replacement. I don't think either Thomas or Greer is the answer, but King may turn into a very good player, based on his performance this past season.

Regardless, the D and O lines are our biggest needs. With Spikes a question mark, and Posey no more than an average player, I think the LB position needs attention, too. Ditto safety, because of our age back there.

[tantra]

Exactly in addition to bolstering our O and D lines we also need to address our our safeties, cornerbacks and linebackers positions. Our safeties are slow and proved inadequate against both the run and pass coverages. We need to be able to draft a speedy physical safety at least and the same goes for a big physical fast cornerback who wont get outmuscled by opposing wide receivers while going for the ball when dfending the pass and who also must be brutal tackling against the run in the corners.

With the injury to Spikes and the increasing wear and tear on Fletcher, we also need to be able to draft a late round line backer in the mould of Spikes, who is a solid tackler able to close down gaps in the defense fast with his speed. Bringing in speedy safeties, cornerbacks and linebackers who are solid brutal tacklers against the run and who can provide blanket against cover against opposing wide receivers, tight ends and running backs is an absolute must if we want to sharpen our defensive unit for the upcoming year.

[OpIv37]

In the discussions involving Clements, I've seen little or no references to King being a viable replacement. I don't think either Thomas or Greer is the answer, but King may turn into a very good player, based on his performance this past season.
Regardless, the D and O lines are our biggest needs. With Spikes a question mark, and Posey no more than an average player, I think the LB position needs attention, too. Ditto safety, because of our age back there.

or, to sum up, our entire D except Schobel and McGee could use an upgrade. This is why I don't think we need to be messing around at CB.

[Mudflap1]

If we tag and bag Nate we'll get a likely 1st rounder for him. We can take a CB with that if we choose. I think we can move Vincent back to CB and let Baker start. If we beef up the OL and DL this offseason, the team will be vastly improved. Those are the true areas of need. I do agree, in theory, that if we address (hypothetically) all of our needs for the OL and DL in free agency, we could be then free to choose a CB in the first round. Preferably though, I would like it to be with the second pick that we have in the first round (compensation if we tag and bag Nate). What moves we make early in free agency are the key.

Jon

[ublinkwescore]

In response to the starter of this thread, I hope to god some team does think Nate still has it - that will bring his value up, we get rid of him, get someone younger that won't sink with the ship when the Dline talent diminishes.

[The_Philster]

I have to agree with some of the comments here except on the ones that say Nate sucks. Any cornerback and safety is only going to be as good as the defensive line and that's the way it is. There is nothing you are going to do back there without some pressure on the QB. Once that pressure is there then it can become a turnover frenzy if you have good corners.I think we also have to take into consideration the fcat that he was consistently placed 10-15 yards off the LOS...that's not a system that will allow a CB to make any plays. Same thing happened to Antoine Winfield his last season here...he was played way off almost every play and people thought he sucked in coverage..and if I'm not mistaken he had a decent season in Minnesota this year under Ted Cottrell....

[tat2dmike77]

I think we also have to take into consideration the fcat that he was consistently placed 10-15 yards off the LOS...that's not a system that will allow a CB to make any plays. Same thing happened to Antoine Winfield his last season here...he was played way off almost every play and people thought he sucked in coverage..and if I'm not mistaken he had a decent season in Minnesota this year under Ted Cottrell....
Winfield 05 stats

G Total Tckl Ass sks int yds avg lng td pass def
<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=bg2><TD>2005</TD><TD>Minnesota Vikings</TD><TD>16</TD><TD>98</TD><TD>89.0</TD><TD>9</TD><TD>0</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>5</TD><TD>1.2</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>0</TD><TD>4</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Not bad but not shut down like he was dubbed. Still tagging nate and using him as trade bait is a good idea. The o-line and d-line are sending up smoke signals for help. Will this scenerio play i dunno but hopefully it does.

Even if the bills don't trade him there are a few corners that could be there in the 2nd round. Youbotty from OSU is a good corner and maybe he could be drafted in the 2nd. But i'm no guru at this stuff.

[X-Era]

Our biggest need is NOT CB. We NEED to address the offense and defensive line. PERIOD.

Ohh, OK, fine.

So Mike Gandy and Jason Peters were the cause of our o-line problems? I hope your not suggesting taking a G or C at 8. IMO, NEITHER was much of a problem, our INTERIOR was the issue. So, why is a OT our biggest need necessitating a 8th overall pick? I dont see that.

DT? OK, I agree. But who is worthy of the #8 pick? based on the bowl game Ngata's stock has dropped, as I said, hes worth a 15 to 20 1st not a 8th right now, so we reach for him? Thats not very smart. Yes, he was double teamed, but he also COULD have been in on many more plays and just jogged or didnt even try either, that type of ethic is one of our problems, you want to spend a 8th overall on that? I love the potential but its a reach right now.

So both those spots are now out, which by the way is OK because we were like 29th in both O and D and despite many assessments here, that simply MUST mean more problems than just the lines.

McGahee showed up when he felt like it and tsrolled through other games, he claimed he is the best RB in the league, did he prove it to you? If noty, we have yet another character issue. Now, Deangelo Williams may drop to 8, he has been called the next LT by many. Sure would be nice to have a hack and slash style runner like LT when our o-line does what its done the past decade and fails. Williams doesnt have a ny injury concerns and also no attitud eproblems, trade McGahee for a pick or two and draft him? I can see that.

LB- Posey? please. Fletcher without 2 bogtime DT's became a liability at times, love the guy but guys like Hodge, Brooks, Hawk, Greenway may be there and could be great players.

CB- I already mentioned the quandry there.

TE- The lowets of our needs, but what if Vernon Davis is what I think he is, the next Gates, would he be worth that pick?

DE- Kiwi and Super Mario could be the next Peppers, what would THAT mean to our team, especially with the pocket passers in our division and a 12 sack DE in Schobel?

Theres plenty of positions that can help us. If you lock your bnrain into 2 and only 2, you are set to reach and that leads to trouble.

It could easily work itself out with a great workout from Ngata and/or a big post season bowl game. Who knows whats gonna happen, but at 8 you better get one hell of a player, Ngata at times has looked great but he also looked pretty damn unimpressive in the bowl game.