westphal

All horrible examples. Reed, Smith, and Joe Montana were like at least 36-years-old. OJ didn't have much left in the tank, either. - After Buffalo, Andre Reed played one single season for the Redskins where he caught 10 passes. - Montana was actually traded in a package that gave the 49ers the Chiefs' 1st-round pick. The 49ers traded down and got (among others) Dana Stubblefield, who was Defensive Rookie of the Year, and also Defensive Player of the Year later on. If that's not enough, Montana hurt his arm and basically did not play the two years prior to his trade. Steve Young stepped in, and he was the NFL MVP the year BEFORE Montana was traded. You do the math. It made all the sense in the world to trade Montana, who only played two more years. Montana or Young had to go at that point. - Bruce Smith lasted 4 years in Washington D.C., but he wasn't the same player and played more situationally. He was in Buffalo for FIFTEEN years before we let him go. 15 years. - OJ Simpson was traded too...traded to the 49ers for FIVE draft picks, including the #1 overall pick. He had a bum knee and had already developed arthritis before being traded to the 49ers. where he stayed for two years. It was the OJ Simpson trade that eventually gave us the pick that got Jim Kelly on the Buffalo Bills, through a series of events. True fact. Best move the Bills ever made right here, as it turns out. Also, Thurman Thomas was pretty well played out before his one-year stint in Miami. Things like that happen. Happened to Ed Reed last year. Sometimes it's circumstances too, like with Peyton Manning...Andrew Luck was just sitting there for the taking. You do the math. This Stevie Johnson situation is something completely different, and I already told you why I don't like the trade. Enough about Hall of Fame players, too. I'd liken the Stevie Johnson trade more with the Marshawn Lynch trade if I had to make a comparison. I HATED that deal when it went down as well. Trade Lynch for peanuts after drafting Spiller...trade Johnson after drafting Watkins. Yeah, Lynch is a better player at his position than Stevie is at his probably, but WR is a different beast entirely. The Bills are worse off without Stevie this year IMO, and it makes no sense to me to let him go like we did. Unless somebody wants to offer actual facts as to why this happened without making shit up, I'll continue to think that.

It's surprising to you perhaps because you have not considered that most of the taller guys won't make the team. We're talking about TWELVE receivers here, and the taller guys are on the short list, if you'll pardon the expression.

Exactly. Stevie hasn't had an unsportsmanlike conduct (for excessive celebration or otherwise) penalty since 2011. In fact, he's only had three of them in his entire career: two in 2011 and one in 2010. Jarius Byrd had TWO unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for the Bills one year, but I don't see anybody talking about that whatsoever when we let him walk for nothing. Why not? Here are the three unforgivable penalties, all of which happened after he scored a TD: 1) Stevie fell to the ground while shooting a mock rifle, an imitation of the Minuteman at Patriots games in 2010 2) In 2011 against the Jets, Stevie pretended to shoot himself in the foot (like Plaxico Burress) and imitated the Jets' flying thing that they do, only he mock crashed...it was the falling to the ground that drew the flag, I think. He apologized to the man. 3) On New Years Day in the 2011 season, Stevie lifted up his jersey to reveal "Happy New Year" on his t-shirt underneath it. He didn't think that would draw a flag since he wasn't flagged for basically doing the same thing with his "Why so Serious?" incident, which wasn't too much different. No way Stevie didn't learn his lesson anyway. He had ONE penalty (offensive holding) for 5 yards last year. Three penalties in 2012 for 25 yards (2 offensive holdings and 1 delay of game). In fact, Stevie Johnson has only had 11 penalties in his 6-year career with the Bills, barring his rookie year which I didn't bother to look into. As far as money goes, the Bills paid him a $1.75 million roster bonus this March. Why do you suppose they would do that and then trade him, regardless of Sammy Watkins or no Sammy Watkins? They only owed him less than $4 million this year. His cap hit for the next two years in San Francisco will be around $6 million per year. You'd think they would keep him around for at least this year as an extra weapon to see how things pan out with the other receivers, none of which have proven themselves in the NFL yet...except maybe Mike Williams to a certain degree. Mike Williams, who has seen much more REAL trouble and whose contract numbers exceed Stevie's in 2015 going forward, by the way. Other than that, you are talking about potential for these other guys. This game is about match-ups and nothing else. Stevie would have helped out big-time to exploit mismatches this year, not to mention guard against injuries...even if you want to pretend like he's not a solid #2 receiver. All we did was dump a valuable weapon in our arsenal for next to nothing. Guys like Jungle want to rewrite history to make themselves feel good about moves like this. Stevie never "demanded the ball" or had any kind of "character issues" that I know about. He's a "diva" forever because of the three penalties I mentioned above? His route-running is actually his greatest strength. He has an outgoing personality, but I don't recall any kind of report that ever even suggested that he's made any waves in the locker-room or on the team. In fact, I believe the guy gave everything he had for this team. Yeah, he's made a handful of big mistakes, but he's also made some extremely clutch plays as well. He's only 27-years-old today. He's a worthwhile member of a ball-club, and make no mistake, he had his heart in this team. Stevie was on track for over 800-yards last year had he not missed 4 games. Was he slipping, or does that have something to do with the quarterback situation? I'll put myself on a limb and suggest the latter. We load up on speed, and then have a QB that has questionable long-ball throwing accuracy, and even an unwillingness by the brass to attempt to exploit that speed...that's part of the problem too. Stupid, stupid move to trade him like they did at this point. If there is a "log-jam" at the position, get rid of Graham or Hogan...or both. Put Stevie in the slot when he finally has diversions to keep the heat off. This whole thing makes no sense to me. The 49ers made out big-time in this trade, and it kinda pisses me off. If you want to win now to save your jobs, you keep Stevie in there. Plain and simple. Could be just a simple issue of a personality clash, but Marrone is rapidly approaching his day of reckoning himself...others too.

Spiller doesn't even have an agent right now. That's not conducive to any kind of negotiations.

Yeah, hell of idea for Manuel. He gets $5 million. It's entirely possible that he doesn't pan out and is relegated to back-up duty after only this year or the year after...that would not help his future earning potential. I hope to God that doesn't happen, but it might. I would not purchase stock in EJ Manuel, would you?

Fantex, a brokerage firm based in San Francisco, soon will begin a campaign to sell shares of Buffalo Bills quarterback EJ Manuel on the stock market. Manuel signed a "brand contract" with the company in February, becoming one of the first athletes to receive an up-front payment from the firm in exchange for a stake of his future income. Fantex is expected to announce Thursday when Manuel's stock, which will trade under the ticker symbol EJMLL, will begin trading publicly. Fantex will offer 523,700 shares of Manuel stock at $10 per share. The company will pay $4.97 million to Manuel for a 10 percent interest in his "brand income," which includes his contract, endorsements, and any post-career income such as a broadcasting deal. Fantex's prospectus for Manuel's stock estimates that the quarterback will earn $104 million during and after his career. ...more... http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10863426/ej-manuel-buffalo-bills-stock-sold-brokerage-firm Call me insane or stupid, but I just don't get how this is such a great idea.

Sorry, but I'm not going to read all that. I do, however, feel compelled to make some sort of comment about Diamond Jim Brady for some reason, so there you go.

I'm not proud of it, but I agree 100% with this sentiment. What an asshole. Couldn't just cancel his subscription or whatever if he's that bothered by getting more messages than he signed up for? And we are talking about THREE too many text messages, then this guy goes out and hires lawyers for over a half-million dollars? I think he should be spanked. There is no question that this guy should be spanked...at the very least. I'd suggest anal reaming, but...on second thought, maybe that's not such a bad idea. He feels harassed and then turns around and creates this monumental hassle...doesn't add up. Over a fucking half-million-dollars in lawyer fees, and then he gets $5,000 personally and costs the Bills up to $3 million? What the hell is wrong with this guy? He shouldn't go around calling himself a Bills fan ever again, I'll tell you that.

No use arguing with a guy that has his head firmly shoved up his ass. The Ravens gave up an average of 5.8 points per game in the playoffs. They only needed 2 fieldgoals to win on average. One time, the other team actually put up two scores, although the Ravens were never down by more than one score in that game. In fact, the game was tied before the Ravens' defense and special teams scored more points than the opposing offense in that Titans game. In the postseason, the Ravens ran the ball TWICE as much as they threw it, pretty much. Teams stacked the box against the Raven's rushing attack, which is decidedly advantageous to any quarterback. Dilfer's contributions were still weak, designed to just minimize mistakes because the Raven's had that luxury. Yeah, it's all box scores and fantasy stats, until some dipshit wants to point out that a QB threw a huge TD pass, which was still only thrown 1-yard forward and then run in for a million yards. That's just dishonest to use those tactics...or stupid. Teams weren't focused on stopping Dilfer very much and placed their attention elsewhere. They figured they have to give up a play or two in the process, and that's about all it was...a play or two...maybe. Not much. If you look at how Dilfer played when the Raven's were actually behind in ballgames, you see a MUCH different guy...one you really couldn't defend very much or even rationalize hoisting upon your shoulders. The guy was a cog in the wheel. It's no accident that he hasn't really seen success at any other time despite being in the NFL for 14 years. Ridiculous argument, and one that you can't win against Junk. He'll deflect and talk about it all day if you let him. The Ravens special teams and defense scored more points than what the Ravens defense gave up during that run.

I agree...and there is probably no way that Kaufman makes the team at WR. That's pretty obvious, since the Bills already cut him at that position before, and they've upgraded there since. These aren't the kind of things I'd be holding my breath about. I'm all for it working out of course. BTW, does Stevie Johnson have a little Micheal Jackson action going on in that picture...looks like he might be grabbing his crotch.

If Kaufman is so ready for tight end, he's probably hoping the Bills draft Michael Sam

You can say that again...

I don't pretend to know every single player in the league, but I do not like what I'm reading about this guy whatsoever. Take this for example: This article has NOTHING good to say: http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/7936/bills-taking-odd-risk-in-signing-williams Maybe Marrone has a soft-spot for lineman who are not very good, since he was one himself. Maybe the Bills thought that FIVE guys named Williams wasn't enough, and felt the need to add a sixth. Dunno, but I've yet to find someone that doesn't think the Bills are fools to pay Chris Williams like they did.

I chose Jake Matthews as well.

Stevie is a keeper for at least this year anyway. After that, we'll see. There is absolutely zero chance the Bills even consider getting rid of Stevie this year IMO, so may as well not even talk about it. Drafting a rookie (especially at an entirely different position) will not influence that.