I think:

1) steve johnson is going to eventually take over Josh Reed’s duties. Heck, next season it may be Evans, Reed, Johnson, with Hardy & Parrish as 4th/5th WR’s. We really need a threat to line up opposite Evans and I highly doubt Hardy is that guy.

2) Royal….has to be gone. I’ve been clamoring for a TE dating back to last off-season. It HAS to happen this off-season. Fine/Schouman are not what we need. They maybe valuable special teams players, but they are not the Pass-Catching TE we need

3) The defensive backfield is so intriguing. This makes sense that we have hit on a lot of these players being Jauron a former Pro-Bowl DB himself. I love Bryan Scott, and would to see him return. With Greer, McGee, Youboty, McKelvin, Corner, we are set for next year. Ko Simpson has got to go. He is slow as molasses and a terrible tackler.

4) The Kelsay/Denney combo has had a ridiculously long run, but it is time to cut the cord. I can’t stand another season of seeing are invisible DE’s.

5) I’ll love to see Fowler gone!

Let’s just do something stupid though first and go win 3 straight games, get to 8-5, and have @ NYJ, @ Den, and vs NE to close the season and see what our young team can do. They desperately need to play some meaningful games down the stretch here and MOST IMPORTANTLY…GET BETTER! For the love of God beat KC!

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nflnation/0-3-430/Stewart—Bills-have-to-live-or-die-with-Edwards.html

either seeing them #2, which is why the team will “hope” Hardy develops into that bc he is “their guy.” We obviously have to give him 3 years, but if we don’t have weapons for Trent soon, this offense is never going to get over the hump. We desperately need a playmaking WR and TE

Kaisertown still wants to take me up on the bet that Johnson would overtake Hardy?

Gone after this season – Royal, Fowler, Denny, McCargo, Simpson.

Maybe gone after this season – If Preston is willing to sign for the league minimum, he might be worth keeping due to his versatility at sucking at multiple line positions, plus the fact he has those naked pics of Jauron and Levy. Kelsay is overpaid, but with the injury to Schobel and Ellis not making much noise, he could squeak out another year.

If Greer keeps playing like he has been and Leo finishes strong, I can see the Bills letting McGee go. After all, they have a history of not paying big $ to CBs.

Royal, Fowler, Denny, McCargo and Simpson. Although, Simpson might get another year depending on FA and the draft. Most disappointing to me is McCargo. Yes he is undersized but I did expect more. He is just too small to play DT. We can remember him as coming from a time when we drafted smurfs. Still say that at the right weight, he just might make a decent DE. The self motivation is his achilles heel.

Hardy will develop much faster IF they use him right. Simpson is slow and cannot tackle. Speaking of cannot tackle, if DJ is such a great teacher, why can’t we tackle in the secondary? Whitner is at the top of the list in needing to learn how. Some do well, but too many do not.

Kelsay survives due to depth concerns. Same with Preston. I would be happy with a draft that went DE, C, TE, DE, LB. A good pass rush will take this D to top tier status. Yes we neeed depth at LB, but we are close on D. I predict we look for a LB or two in FA.

It will be interesting to watch how OBD handles Peters. He has not played as dominating as last year, but he is, long term, our man. Will OBD give him a fat contract offseason? I doubt it until he shows up for all the offseason and preseason activities.

I sure hope we resign Greer, but who knows in this whacky FA market. Talent is a premium and Greer will be coveted. McGee, especially after watching him play up close man coverage against Cleveland, would shine in a man to man secondary. He’s a much better player when not playing zone. If our plan is to drop zone coverage in the secondary, then by all means lock up McGee. If we expect to make playoff runs in future years, continuity in the secondary is important.

Steve Johnson should be seen as the heir apparent to Josh Reed. He looks comfortable in the slot and at finding holes in coverage. Good write Brian.

I liked your views on this all together, especially on Stevie Johnson who I was promoting to Bills fans big time since day one as a huge steal for us because I viewed hin as the best big game clutch WR in college football last year, and he was ours to steal in the draft.

With Trent I feel that if there is’nt remarkable improvement with this team down the stretch and especially with Trent, that this coaching staff will be gone after the season(Hopefully not Bobby April)and Trent would then be not only on the hot seat competing for his job, but likely his ship will have sailed as the Bills starting QB.

We would I hope at the very least if Ellis really showed that lil promise to the coaching staff, try and trade Ellis for a late draft pick as im sure there will be some brash coach out there who believes he’s the one who can light a fire in Ellis. I really have no idea with Ellis other than he must be similar to McCargo in that he’s loaded with potential, but is to lazy to harness it.

On our Corner situation, I really hope that we can keep all 5 of our corners together for a while, I think that there is a possibility of us having a new coaching staff in here, and that could mean us playing more man coverage which I think would much better lend to the strengths of our secondary as a whole!

I know he has a bad foot injury this season, but what has he really contributed since his latest contract upgrade? If you want to get rid of Kelsay and Denney, Schobel should be listed as well for kind of the same reasons. At least we get an interception or 2 from Kelsay.

No way that Trent Edwards should be on this list, even with the intro you gave! The play-calling has been horrendously bad and the main reason for the 4 game slide.

Royal=Out, we need to draft a good pass-catching TE (there are no great TE that will be UFA)
Fowler/Preston=out, Matt Birk is a UFA in the off season and I hope the Bills go after him hard. Otherwise we draft one I guess but I’d much prefer getting a veteran with experience. Look at the impact that Kevin Mawae is having for the titans
Kelsay=out, not sure about Denney. He is extremely stout against the run.
McGee, I see your point Brian. I think is McKelvin finishes the season strong then McGee is probably on the outside looking in.
McCargo=out

He’ll need to perform to keep his status as this team’s top cover man (and, for the record, he was excellent against Cleveland).

Really? He was on Edwards the whole game allowing the 8 catches and 100+ yards. Sure, when he manned him up, he was very good. When he backed off, it was pitch and catch for the Browns. If you are saying that McGee played well here, then you absolutely have to blame Fewell for the results.

CHRIS KELSAY MUST GO! What a useless player that does nothing in the run game and even less trying to rush the passer. I would still love to here an explanation for why he was not only resigned, but resigned to such a ridiculous contract. Was there even one Bills fan happy with that??

Ko Simpson probably needs to go to, or at least be in a backup role only. He just isn’t very good and hasn’t really shown anything in his time in Buffalo. Just a mediocre player, who is a terrible tackler.

McKelvin is already showing flashes of how good he is going to be, I think Greer will re-sign in Buffalo for 4-5 mil a year, which is worth it, if we finish the season strong. Strong playoff contenders have three talented, starter material corners and we should too. There is nothing wrong with locking up Greer and going into 2009 with McGee Greer and McKelvin as our 3 CBs. Once McGee starts to age, McKelvin will be ready to be our number 1 guy. As someone mentioned, continuity in the secondary is going to be important to our playoff runs.

Kelsay and Schobel aren’t going anywhere, Denney is gone. We draft a DE in the first round and have him rotate with Kelsay. We can’t just dump our DEs because we have no depth whatsoever.

Goodbye Ko, I thought you were going to be good, I thought the future was Simpson -Whitner I was wrong. But you know what, I don’t think we have to worry about safety as a priority in the off-season. I think Scott-Whitner could be one of our strengths.

I agree with labill, Ellison should be gone. Everyone is talking about how impressive hes been and I counldn’t agree less. The run by Harrison (or whatever the Browns spell back is) if I remember correctly it was Ellison who couldn’t make the initial tackle that led to the break out. I just plain don’;t think Ellison is good. I know everyone says linebackers are easy to draft but forget that. I think we should draft a DE, maybe George Selvie if we can trade up, but that OLB is what we should go after in free agency. With names like Eric Barton (who could tell us all about the Jets), Karlos Dansby, and Terrell Suggs going to be on the open market we can make a major upgrade here.

Finally, we have center of course. The problem here is that there don’t appear to be many centers going to be hitting the free agent market. Matt Birk has potential because the Vikings recently drafted a center and may want to put him in the lineup. If Birk is available snatch him up and draft a center in the 2nd. If he’s not then we have to keep Preston and draft and hope for the best

Goodbye Robert Royal and good riddance. Draft a rookie in the 2nd or 3rd and throw him in. Thats that.

I’ll start with the won’ts:

Aaron Schobel – he is only scheduled to make 3.5 mil next year so he is almost something of a bargain. There is a zero percent chance of Schobel not being on this team in 09. He is going to make over 6 mil in 2010-2012 and over 8 mil in 2013 and certainly won’t play out his entire contract.

Chris Kelsay – His 4 year 23 million contract extension is huge in hindsight (and at the time), but the Bills have already paid 16 mil of it. Kelsay will make about 3 mil next year and and a little under 4 in 2010. I highly doubt he doesn’t make the team next year.

Robert Royal – Sorry guys, but I think he is better than Derek Schouman and I get the feeling that OBD agrees with me. He is only making about 1.5 mil in salary each of the next two years and I think he makes the team (hopefully as a veteran backup) next season.

Derrick Dockery – I know he is overpaid, but he is too solid for the Bills to cut. It’s that simple.

Here are the mights:

Ryan Denney – He is entering the last year of his contract and is scheduled to make 2.4 mil next year. The price tag isn’t too high, but it is substantial enough that if he becomes part of a numbers crunch (highly likely) then he better have a great training camp and preseason.

Ko SImpson – Hear me out on this one. He is a bargain at about 500K next year and makes for a very solid backup. But if the Bills draft a safety in the early rounds to pair with Whitner and keep Bryan Scott around then that will lead to quite the roster crunch. If April gets his way and the team keeps Wilson and Wendling around next year, there just might not be any room on the roster for Simpson next season. It’s unlikely and there are a lot of IFs involved, but it is definitely possible.

The too soon to tells:

John McCargo – Still has two years left on his very reasonable rookie contract. He will make a little over 800K next year and under 700K in 2010. He will certainly be on the roster come training camp time (barring a trade) so everything will depend on whether or McCargo can show up motivated and in shape. His attitude and performance in practice and the preseason will be the only determining factor on whether or not he makes the team next year.

I doubt Robert Royal is a goner. Why? The staff apparently loves him, and you’d think they’d have done away with him before this season. It baffles the mind.

I continue to think the Bills tend to ignore the players that the majority of pundits/other NFL execs covet. Not sure why, but it appears to be a trend. Look at Dan Connor in last year’s draft as an example. He was a steal and I think they drafted Fine instead of him.

The team absolutely needs to find a good FB. Owen Schmitt, what could have been.

DE needs to be a priority. The other 3 starting QBs in the division (Brady being the obvious problem) are too experienced and talented for this current crop of farm boys. Without that talent, they will continue to fall to Brady, Favre, and Pennington, with their quick release and uncanny ability to make the best things happen.

WR Steve Johnson
He knows how to find a hole in a zone, and he’s looked pretty good both as a run blocker and after the catch. This kid has a future. He and Josh Reed could wreak a lot of havoc underneath in 2009.

I don’t see them doing it together. It’s one or the other, possible replacement type of deal.

TE Robert Royal
he is, quite literally, playing for a job in 2009.

As a backup on what team?

DE Chris Kelsay. Kelsay’s contract, as most of you know, is gigantic.

DE Ryan Denney. If Kelsay’s not a goner, Denney is.

We know one of them is gone. Both of them blew contain last week and do it often. I’d be happier cutting Kelsay, starting Denney for none/part/half the year and letting Ellis take over if he’s the guy. I can see both of them being back but on a reworked (i.e. extended) salary where they would be cheaper next year.

I could do this for every player on your list except McCargo who already was gone but as you accurately described he is playing for his next job anyways. Spot on Brian, as always.

What about Derrick Dockery, Jason Whittle, etc. Are those guys really safe at the guard positions?

Goners
Denney- its him or Kelsay, but Kelsay has more contract time, Denney goes and we draft a new guy.
McCargo- After this season’s saga, he gets traded by draft day, or cut soon after to make room for a rookie
Simpson- Scott is making him very expendable, and he has not shown himself much of a Speical Teams guy, so I think they cut bait and let him go.

The Stayers
Kelsay- too much money and too many years to go for the Bills to admit yet he needs to go, besides, we can only toss one bum a season from this spot till we get enough decent players in it.
Edwards- Starting QB, will have another 2 seasons of DJ pulling for him barring unforseen issues.
Johnson- Could become an even better version of Reed, taller and bigger, seems to have the same sort of instincts to find the soft spots in zone, auto keeper, and could be used alot soon in two slot setups with Reed if Turk pays attention.
McGee- Will play out his contract, but the Bills will wait to offer another extension till near the end of next season. He needs to show he can still cover guys and is not injury prone.
Preston- He stays, he is cheap, can play mutliple positions, not well, but play them. He will be the bridge to our Rookie C we draft next season. I think Birk will cost to much for the Bills to be willing to pay to get him.

Who Knowers
Greer- Who knows what will happen, but I have a feeling we see him hit UFA and someone will give him 30+mil to play for them, and the Bills will gameble with a setup of McGee, McKelvin, and Youbuty/Corner. But the Bills also may pull a surprise and bag him for another 4-5 seasons.
Royal- As much as I would like to see his fumbling, bumbling butt gone, the Bills will probably hold onto him, and will not even draft someone to get his sorry rear-end gone. For whatever pathetic reason, they think he is the Bees-Knees at OBD, and we won’t see him leave till his contract it is up.

I hope whoever replaces him knows how to stay at home and contain.