Worst case (but plausible) off-season scenario

[feelthepain]

Re: Worst case (but plausible) off-season scenario

First, Fletch said he wants to leave and Marv seems to be building for youth so I don't see him throwing bags of money at a 32 year old MLB. Therefore I'm assuming he's gone.

Now, onto the rest of it. Say Marv decides not to re-sign Nate and we go after Briggs and Samuel. We get outbid in both cases. Meanwhile, Nate leaves. In the draft, both Okoye and Willis are gone before our pick.

Basically, this means we will go into next season trying to plug our existing defensive holes plus the loss of Nate and Fletcher with the guys on our roster, whatever we can scrounge together in the draft and maybe a few FA "role players" (like the ones that worked SO well for us last year- Price, Royal, Reyes, etc).

(BTW, I don't think the loss of Nate will hurt us too bad IF and ONLY IF we fix the pass rush and run D to take pressure off the corners).

Bottom-line: we are in desperate need of a playmaker or two on D, and there's a good chance we won't be able to get one this off-season. If that happens, we'll be lucky to go 7-9 next year.

I think you'll have plenty of talent sitting there at 12.

[OpIv37]

Re: Worst case (but plausible) off-season scenario

I think you'll have plenty of talent sitting thier at 12.

I'm sure there will be talent- I'm just hoping it's talent in the right position.

[jdbillsfan]

Re: Worst case (but plausible) off-season scenario

I'm sure there will be talent- I'm just hoping it's talent in the right position.

I think the Bills could use help at almost every position except for Safety and QB.

[feelthepain]

Re: Worst case (but plausible) off-season scenario

I'm sure there will be talent- I'm just hoping it's talent in the right position.

There is a lot of Dline talent in this draft, they won't all be gone in the first 11 picks.

[X-Era]

Re: Worst case (but plausible) off-season scenario

First, Fletch said he wants to leave and Marv seems to be building for youth so I don't see him throwing bags of money at a 32 year old MLB. Therefore I'm assuming he's gone.

Now, onto the rest of it. Say Marv decides not to re-sign Nate and we go after Briggs and Samuel. We get outbid in both cases. Meanwhile, Nate leaves. In the draft, both Okoye and Willis are gone before our pick.

Basically, this means we will go into next season trying to plug our existing defensive holes plus the loss of Nate and Fletcher with the guys on our roster, whatever we can scrounge together in the draft and maybe a few FA "role players" (like the ones that worked SO well for us last year- Price, Royal, Reyes, etc).

(BTW, I don't think the loss of Nate will hurt us too bad IF and ONLY IF we fix the pass rush and run D to take pressure off the corners).

Bottom-line: we are in desperate need of a playmaker or two on D, and there's a good chance we won't be able to get one this off-season. If that happens, we'll be lucky to go 7-9 next year.

First, Fletch and Nate are absolutely gone, so that not a worst case, but in fact a fact. Since they are both gone, I think its likely we will look for draftees at BOTH spots. Youboty will get a shot to earn the spot, but we still need a guy to replace Youboty's spot. Its likely that one or BOTH is filled on day one of the draft. I dont exactly feel like thats a worst case either. Briggs is likely OUT as an option, latest word is hes likely to be franchised tagged. CB, could be a spot where we sign some guy, buyt I still think a draftee is more likely.

That said, we need playmakers on BOTH sides of the field considering our rankings. Id say draft picks such as the 12th pick will help us day one no matter who it is.

[TigerJ]

Re: Worst case (but plausible) off-season scenario

In theory, the players who get drafted early stand a better chance of making significan contributions to your team than those drafted later, but that does not mean Buffalo can't find good players in the second third or fourth round who could shore up the Bills at their point of need. If Okoye and Willis are gone at #12 and Buffalo drafts Jamaal Anderson of Dwayne Jarrett at #12, Justin Harrell and Kareem Brown are DTs who will be around in round 2 and they both have a lot of upside. Rory Johnson will be around in the third or fourth round and he has awesome upside at MLB. He might be a little less NFL ready than Patrick Willis, but even that is not a sure bet, and his upside might actually be higher. If Buffalo doesn't get Kareem Brown or Justin Harrell or Rory Johnson, there are other guys who may make a significant contribution: Marcus Thomas, Brandon Mebane, and Ryan McBean, Tim Shaw (Posluzny's teammate who has great measurables and knows how to play.) There are always options.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Re: Worst case (but plausible) off-season scenario

Let me add to that the fact that there are plenty of very interesting LBs who should still be around in Round 2 or even Round 3: Siler, Harris, Alexander, Everrett, etc. And, this is a pretty deep draft at CB as well.

I don't expect the Bills to sign a lot of high-priced free agents, OpIv, so your scenario in that regard is not just quite plausible, but even perhaps likely to be what happens there. But, this isn't a draft that ends after the first round. There will still be some pretty good players--indeed, some play-makers--who will still be available after the first round. And, as has been pointed out, if Okoye and Willis are gone by # 12, there are still going to be some pretty good players left on the board, including those who fall to them instead of going to the teams that take Willis and Okoye. (For example: Lawrence Timmons may be the best play-maker of all of the LBs in this draft, but we really haven't talked about him because he is an OLB and the Bills would have to move Crowell to MLB if they were to draft him--still, he's a guy who could be another Derrick Brooks.)

I understand your concerns, though, OpIv, I have wracked my brain over them as well. But, if things don't fall in place so that the Bills can do things the easy way, they are going to have to find ways to get things done the hard way. And, even though I know that it makes you very uncomfortable, there is something that you have to take into consideration as well (because it is something that every coach expects and counts on): not every player makes a splash as a rookie--rookies are expected to get better and develop into solid players, even stars. The Bills have a couple of players, McCargo and Youboty, who didn't contribute much last season, but who the team will expect to be much improved and able to step up and play this season. I know that scares some people because they know that those players are going to make some "rookie" mistakes and that opponents will try to attack them because they are inexperienced (and they are right about that). But, you never know that you are going to have in any player until they face that test and stand up to it. The Bills didn't draft these players where they did thinking that they would not be able to pass that test: they drafted them because they expect them to pass it. And, whether it makes some fans uncomfortable or not, they are going to give them the opportunity to face that test--they have to and they will because they need to find out if those two players are going to be players for them or not. That's something that every team does, not just the Bills--because that's what football's all about. And, it's going to be up to McCargo and Youboty and whoever else the Bills draft this year to prove that they can live up to their potential. And, we're not going to know how well they can do that until the team has played a couple of games (if not more) next season.