QB                       RB

                                                                            4 T. Edwards       Jackson

                                                                            Fitzpatrick           Lynch

                                                                             Brohm                 Mcintyre

WR                       TE                             RT               RG             C              LG              LT                          WR

Evans                 Nelson                  Green         Wood       Hangartner     Levitre         1. Bell                     Hardy

S. Johnson        Schouman                Meredith     5____       Gaddis         5____          Chambers         6. Parrish

Hawthorne         Stupar                                                                                                                                    Huggins

                                Klopfenstein

CB                                                                    DE                  NT                          DE                                              CB

McGee                                                          Stroud         K. Williams               D. Edwards                                McKelvin            

Florence                                                      McCargo       2. Harvey               Sp. Johnson                                 Corner

Youboty                                                                               Favorite                                                                       C. Harris

Lankster

                                                OLB                                        ILB                          ILB                                          OLB

                                           Maybin                                Posluszny                  Davis                                     Schobel

                                           Kelsay                                  Ellison                         Mitchel                               3. Ellis

                                                                                          Corto

                                                                FS                                                                           SS

                                                            Byrd                                                                       Wilson

                                                            Whitner                                                               B. Scott

                                                                                                                                            N. Harris

The players/positions that are bolded signify areas I feel need to be upgraded and the number signifies the areas in order of importance.  LT is clearly the most important for me as Bell is the starter in the greatest need of an upgrade.  NT and OLB can easily flip flop, especially if Schobel retires.  Depth interior o-line and depth wr are areas I feel will be addressed by veteran FAs.  I'm sure there will be some disagreement about the order of needs, but I'm sure we can all agree that LT, QB, OLB, and NT are our top needs in any order.

Now what does that mean to our draft strategy?  Nix's philosophy is "Take the best player available at an area of need."  So then it comes down to which player at LT, OLB, NT, and QB offers the most value for them at 9.  The strategy will likely be to address 3 out of the 4 of these needs in the first 4 rounds and then go for the BPA at any position from that point on.  So this leads to numerous questions:

1. Do the Bills value Jimmy Clausen at 9 as a future franchise QB that can lead a team? Apparently execs like Holmgren are leaning towards no, but does Chan's prior experience with Clausen make him think otherwise?  Are the Bills in love with any of the 2nd tier QBs enough to take him in the 2nd as opposed to waiting until the 3rd?

2. Which OTs have come off the board by 9?  Do the Bills see any of the available tackles (discounting Okung who is sure to be gone) as starting LT  material?

3. Do the Bills value Dan Williams enough to take him at 9?  Would they rather wait for one of the 2-down run stuffing NTs like Cody to be available in the 2nd?

4. Do the Bills see OLB as big of a need as some of us do?  What do they see in Ellis and Kelsay in there ability to transition to 3-4 OLBs?  What does Schobel decide?

The Bills FO will likely have to answer these questions as they lean toward a decision, and they probably already have most of them figured out.  Do you agree with these being the major questions to answer? Can you think of any others that may alter the Bill's draft day strategy?

Man, I'd love to look at the Bills draft board right now.  Do they have that thing locked up in a safe somewhere?

With today's news, it sounds like Gailey is very high on Kyle Williams and said that they would find a way to work him into the defense.  Question is how and where?

Scenario#1-They bring him in as the NT on obvious passing downs and then throw him in the rotation at DE.

That would require us acquiring a large run stuffing NT for the other downs.  This can either come in the form of Dan Williams in the first or Terrence Cody or Cam Thomas in the second.  Also, they could be really high on Lonnie Harvey, but even then, they would likely need to bring in another guy for depth/competition purposes.

If that is the plan, it may be too much to invest a first round pick in a guy that you only plan on using in a NT rotation.  The complaints about Cody is that he isn't an every down player, which would fit this situation perfectly.  That would then allow us to invest our first in a LT and take either Nicks or Cody with our second.

Scenario #2 Try Williams out at DE and address NT through the draft of FA, with the draft being the more likely scenario due to the recent franchise tags. 

This would make the investment of Dan Williams with the first much more understandable, but it would still leave a gaping hole at our LT spot.

I understand the situation isn't this black and white and could very much change after free agency, but what scenario would you chose?

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/02/if-florence-returns-cromartie-goes-on-the-block/

In the last sentence of this post at profootballtalk.com, Florio references that Drayton Florence is still in talks with the Chargers and Bills.  Are the Bills preparing to move on without Greer?  If Greer is going to cost anything more than 5 mill (and that's even stretching it), I don't want him.  Maybe this will be a more cost effective senario, but it looks like odds are pointing in San Diego's favor.

We all know with JP leaving, QB is one the positions we are certain to address in Free Agency.  I'm with group, which I think the majority of the fans are too, that wants to give Edwards another year as the number one guy.  In that case, the ideal candidate would be a guy who knew his place as a backup and would be sufficient enough to manage the team in the event that Trent gets injured (which has shown to be very probable). Some might want a veteran QB to compete with Edwards for the starting job (which is what I want to stay far, far away from) like Garcia.  Here is the list of FA QBs, make your case.  (I added Kitna because profootballtalk is reporting that he will likely be released in the upcoming days http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/02/20/kitna-to-be-cut-soon/ )

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS:

Brian St. Pierre, Cardinals.

Kurt Warner, Cardinals.

J.P. Losman, Bills.

Kyle Boller, Ravens.

Todd Bouman, Ravens.

Rex Grossman, Bears.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bengals.

Brooks Bollinger, Cowboys.

Patrick Ramsey, Broncos.

Dan Orlovsky, Lions.

Matt Cassel, Patriots.  (Franchise tag.)

Joey Harrington, Saints.

David Carr, Giants.  (Re-signed 2/9/09.)

Anthony Wright, Giants.

Marques Tuiasosopo, Raiders.

Charlie Batch, Steelers.

Byron Leftwich, Steelers.

Jamie Martin, 49ers.

J.T. O’Sullivan, 49ers.

Charlie Frye, Seahawks.

Jeff Garcia, Buccaneers.

Luke McCown, Buccaneers.  (Re-signed 2/9/09.)

Kerry Collins, Titans.

Chris Simms, Titans.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/02/07/2009-projected-free-agents-quarterback/

John Kitna, Lions

This could be complete B.S., but my friend told me the rumor on the Bills boards (I can't even find the thread to set up a link) is that Jauron has a clause in his contract that his extension is voided if the team goes worse than 8-8.  Obviously, I am in NO WAY PRESENTING THIS AS FACT, but it might explain why everyone in the organization is so hush hush about it.

However, it does bring up an interesting question because it seems like there are a lot of people out there who really want Jauron to go.  Although I think the team needs a new head coach, I just can't root against my beloved Bills and would much rather the Bills knock the Pats out of the playoffs.  So if you had a choice between these scenarios which would you pick?

Alright I know most of you are sick of hearing about all of this, but I just can't fathom another year with Dick Jauron.  This quote from Chris Brown's blog sums up what drives me crazy about him:

When asked why he hasn’t practiced outside for the last couple of home games and the Kansas City game he said it was a matter of matching up the weather.

"Trying to match conditions," he said. "It doesn’t make a lot of sense to practice in bad weather if you’re not going to play in a bad weather game. It doesn’t make much sense at all."

http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2008/12/18/why-bills-practiced-outside-thursday/

Why does this guy have to over think everything?  Do you expect Buffalo's weather to be predictable?  I understand that if it's a blizzard outside you might not want to practice outside with injury concerns, but does he really think that nothing can be gained out of practicing outside if the weather conditions don't match exactly. 

It's just like "The Call."  He had to over think the fact that we might as well throw the ball because it would take it to the two minute warning anyways instead of continuing with what was working and keep running it right down their throats.  Do you think Bill Parcells or Bill Belichick would say something like that?  I want a coach that is going to use common sense and not analyze every little thing to the point where he can't make a gameday decision.  I want someone with the attitude that we are going to come to play and smash you in the mouth.  If we play tough, everything will take care of itself.  Not some idiot trying to outsmart everyone.

Ahhh that felt good.

After watching today's pathetic performance, no one can convince me that Dick Jauron can stay.  He clearly shows no game day management and has no ability to prepare his players.  This team clearly needs change because DIck Jauron isn't taking us anywhere.  I mean, he struggles now making decisions-imagine him in a playoff game...we'd be out of timeouts within the first five minutes.  I thought we were stuck with him because of the contract extension that was rumored.  Well, Sully posted this about a conversation he had with COO Russ Brandon:

http://buffalonews.typepad.com/sully_on_sports/2008/12/brandon-unaccep.html

Basically it said that Brandon called the performance unacceptable (DUH!), but he nor Ralph Wilson would confirm Dick Jauron's job security.  It at least gives hope that change is on the way...THANK GOODNESS!