Is Kiper Right?

[jdbillsfan]

On the ESPN segment "On The Clock" Kiper stated that Buffalo had the most needs of any team in the NFL and could potentially have the 1st or 2nd pick in the draft next year.

This was based on losing, Clements, Flectcher, Spikes and McGahee. He mentioned 5 holes/needs that need to be filled.

I am guessing he meant: RB, CB, LB, LB, WR/TE/DT?

I think the RB situation makes it seem like we have more holes than we actually do. When a team doesn't have a starting RB or starting QB, a la Miami, the team seems to have more holes.

Looking at FA, it doesn't seem like any team lost more than Buffalo, when you see clements, fletcher, spikes and mcgahee go out the door and no one come in to replace them. I am not saying I disagree with the moves, but a team like Buffalo, who wasn't at the top of the talent pool to begin with, it looks like they lost a lot.

What team around the league has more holes than the Bills?

[casdhf]

Kiper saying this makes me feel better. It almost assures me that we'll be in the race for a playoff spot.

[patmoran2006]

Detroit-Houston-Raiders

[Dicknoze69]

The Raiders easily have more holes than we do.

[madness]

We're talking about the same guy who predicted the 2001 Patriots to be one of the worse teams ever, right?

[Night Train]

ESPN has more "holes" than the Bills....pardon the pun.

[jdbillsfan]

Not sure about the Raiders. They had a good defense last year. Did they lose anyone on Defense?

On offense, they have a questionable QB and need some help on the O-Line, but that seems to be less holes than the Bills and they have the 1st pick in the draft.

[Carlton Bailey]

Oakland needs more than some help on the offensive line. They pretty much need five new starters.

[djjimkelly]

Detroit-Houston-Raiders

there are alot more then that if u dont think MIAMI has WAY MORE NEEDS THE US your kidding yourself any team that has a need at QB has WAY more needs then US becuz to find a QB is like finding 3 other guys. just based on how important.

titans HAVE WAY MORE NEEDS. the list goes on and on we are middle of the pack in needs and talent which in todays nfl could mean anything when it comes to record!!!

[Jan Reimers]

Mel Kiper has as much credibility as my greyhound Neut - but Neut has more personsality.

[HAMMER]

This team, with the right draft, has the realistic potential to be 10-6. They will have another full offseason to learn the schemes, mature, and grow as a team. We lost several games last year that we should have won. I believe we will be right in the mix for a wildcard, and in 08'....lookout.

The media sees the big name defections but they don't know, or address the whole story.

[Romes]

I bet had the Bills signed June to replace Fletcher, re-signed Clements and not traded Spikes or McGahee ESPN would have said that we did well in FA. They would have ignored the fact that the OL would have still been a huge liability, and had two players on the roster who didn't want to play here anymore, not to mention we would have grossly overpaid for Clements. ESPN are morons.

The Bills are better off now than they would have been if they did what the ESPN "experts" said they should have done.

[OpIv37]

wow, even I'm not that down on this team.

I think it would be tough to repeat at 7-9, but we're clearly not going to be picking 1st in the draft this year. Hell, thanks to Miami we're not even the worst team in our division.

[gil]

Not that we were in their league to begin with, but this reminds me of last year when many people were saying the Patriots lost too many people to remain competitive - coaches included I guess.

We lost guys with big names and not so big production - if we had these 3 superstars on our defense last year, shouldn't we have been better than 27th overall or whatever we were? And, if Willis is the big bad, how come he only managed 990 yards?

[justasportsfan]

Mel Kiper has as much credibility as my greyhound Neut - but Neut has more personsality.

Ever since he lost his job, I heard Donahoe has been doing his hair.

[Jan Reimers]

Ever since he lost his job, I heard Donahoe has been doing his hair.

Are you kidding? I wouldn't let TD anywhere near my dog.

(Thanks, justa, for setting me up on an old joke.)

[The Answer]

The Raiders easily have more holes than we do.

Actually a lot of people may not realize it, but the Raiders had one of the best defenses in the league last year - at least statistically.

The only real holes they have are at QB and Oline. They signed Domick Rhodes, and still have Porter/Moss. If they improve their offense even marginally in 2007 they have a shot at being a .500 team, despite playing a very tough division.

Big problem in Oakland as of late is continuity among the coaching staff with a new head coach being hired every year it seems.

~The Answer

[The Answer]

On the ESPN segment "On The Clock" Kiper stated that Buffalo had the most needs of any team in the NFL and could potentially have the 1st or 2nd pick in the draft next year.

This was based on losing, Clements, Flectcher, Spikes and McGahee. He mentioned 5 holes/needs that need to be filled.

I am guessing he meant: RB, CB, LB, LB, WR/TE/DT?

I think the RB situation makes it seem like we have more holes than we actually do. When a team doesn't have a starting RB or starting QB, a la Miami, the team seems to have more holes.

Looking at FA, it doesn't seem like any team lost more than Buffalo, when you see clements, fletcher, spikes and mcgahee go out the door and no one come in to replace them. I am not saying I disagree with the moves, but a team like Buffalo, who wasn't at the top of the talent pool to begin with, it looks like they lost a lot.

What team around the league has more holes than the Bills?

No matter what way you slice it - when you lose entrenched veteran starters and replace them with young unknowns, you're going to be perceived as a team with lots of holes - regardless of what the front office envisions or believes.

~The Answer

[gil]

No matter what way you slice it - when you lose entrenched veteran starters and replace them with young unknowns, you're going to be perceived as a team with lots of holes - regardless of what the front office envisions or believes.

~The Answer

I actually agree with "The Answer"

looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

[feldspar]

That segment sort of lost it's credibility when they mentioned several times that Buffalo had lost it's essential "security blanket" by trading McGahee.

The way I see it, we've improved on offense. I don't know how anyone can argue with that.

As far as defense goes, Takeo Spikes' departure won't mean anything. They acted like this was a huge deal. Apparently they aren't aware that Spikes really hasn't contributed to the team in the last two years...again, they are going by reputation. That said, when we pick up a linebacker in the first or second round, we will have at least made the linebacker position as good as it was last year if not better...IF that linebacker pans out. Being worse than we were last year at linebacker does not worry me too much since we really only have to replace Fletcher. No more of this "will Spikes return to his former self?" talk.

Darius Walker was a good pickup for the D-line. Not great, but good. And McCargo has potential. I'm not sure if they even mentioned him.

The CB situation is not the end of the world by a longshot. We do have Youboty, and I've got a good feeling about him. I've seen Clements play some pretty terrible games. I don't think he played very well in 2005 at all. Once again, that On the Clock episode was generally focused on the reputations of 4 players that the Bills lost. They really didn't talk about much else. What they didn't realize is that we will be better without those players, with the probable exception of Clements.

As far as leadership goes, I think it's a very good idea that some of the younger players step into these roles NOW. Aging leaders on the team are somewhat getting in the way of progress because this young team should grow together...starting as soon as possible, meaing that natural leaders who will be on the team for a while need to emerge.

In the draft, we need LB, CB, WR, and RB...and some more D. I woudn't object to TE, either.

It's really not that bad. I really think that we will be better than last year.

Didn't those clowns say something about the possibility of us going 0-16 this year?