Maybe there will be a veteran getting cut later when teams trim down to 45 that could provide a little depth and experience. The Bills are 1 injury away from being in worse off than they were last year.

Not is not very comforting. The Bills needed more than 1 new receiver.

First, I went to PSU undergrad and therefore think very highly of Bryant Johnson aka Panda. Even though he was a former 1st round draft pick he does not have the same ceiling as Hardy and is not as good of an immediate fix for our red zone offense. Hardy with his speed and size might be a bust (we dont know), however he has a huge upside and that word other word….potential. A couple things to consider is if Hardy has the physical tools to be elite then we would be stunting his growth by not getting him on the field. Just like Detroit did with Roy and Johnson and Zona did with Fitz and Bolden. Hey Marvin Harrisson started right away in Indy too. WR grow best on the field, same with CB…it is not the same position as QB where it might be better for them to learn the offense for a year.

People forget about salary cap issues, it is my thinking that the Bills really want to sign Evans to a long term deal lets say 6 years…however in order to do that they need a reasonably priced #2 WR. We are not the Bengals or Colts or Cardinals where we will have 2 high priced WR’s. Good teams like the Giants, NE, Pitt, SD do not overpay for WR and only the Colts and Rams back in the day (who both play in a dome) have won championships like that. While Johnson would have provided a solid WR for one year he would have potentially cribbled the future at the spot. We spend our money on our lines and I am happy about that. Now we can sign Hardy for 4 or 5 years at a 2nd round draft pick rate and have no cap issues from the WR’s as Hardy’s and Evans salary together will be reasonable. Look everyone wants to win the super bowl this year, however this year is a sucess if they make the playoffs and potentially win one game…we have a young team and ‘09 we should discuss super bowl possibilities. One step at a time. Good job to the front office for not sacrificing the future for this year. Hardy will be better by his time on the field, he will be cheaper and again his upside is much greater than Johnson.

I believe the Bills have built a playoff ready team for 2008, and have built a team with super bowl potential in 2009.

Hardy is cheap if he has any glimpses of being an effective #2 the Bills will be able to match up Hardy and Evans for 4 or 5 years as a WR thunder & Lighting combo. If not then we can possibly get a #2 next year like a Johnson type player.

If Hardy and McKelvin work out then the Bills should be able to sign Evans & Crowell and 1 other impact player. Maybe a DE, maybe a TE maybe a C/G.

In hindsight had we signed Johnson, Hardy might not have been there (SF could have taken him). I dont think the Bills expected Hardy (and or Thomas) to be there and that is why they went after Johnson. My guess is the Bills brain trust is exstatic things fell through w. Johnson after drafting Hardy.

As much as I would like to say we are a super bowl ready team deep down everyone knows that is unrealistic.  We start by putting the pieces of a playoff ready team together which I truly think has been accomplished and then tweak those pieces next years offseason to take the next step.

i just don’t think we are a playoff team in 2008. We have gotten better, but better from the 30th ranked offense, and 31st ranked defense hardly makes you a playoff contender. I believe we will go 7-9 again but look and rank a lot better than last year. I think the defense will get up to the teens in ranking and the offense will likely be in the low twenties. Sorry guys but Hardy just won’t be enough this year. I couldn’t agree more with all of you that we should have addressed the TE position with a serious receiving option, instead of these blocking hopefuls.

IMO, if Panda signed a multi year deal, then that means Bills will consider him as an immediate #2 receiver. And I think it is more than likely the Bills would’ve drafted a receiver later than the 2nd round because of this move. Now that we have Hardy, his potential is definitely higher than Panda, so from this angle it is a better move for the Bills.
However, if the Bills signed Panda to a 1 year deal, then the Bills cannot consider him to be a #2 receiver, because they’ll potentially lose their #1 and #2 receivers at the same time. For a 1 year deal, the Bills can only consider Panda as a slot receiver while still having to draft someone within the 1st 2 rounds and make the rookie a starter to develop him. So it comes down to whether the Bills want to sign a free agent to compete against Reed and Parrish as slot receivers. Sure that’s extra insurance, but I don’t think that’s money well spent.

I hope everyone here understands that just because there is a high need or demand for a position does not mean there is a high supply.

We can demand the acquisition of an elite WR and/or TE as much as we want. Don’t stop demanding. Unfortunately, besides Roy Williams (can’t we depend on Matt Millen’s decision-making?), our demands were not going to be fulfilled with whatever was available this offeseason via free agency, trades, or the draft.

As much as we want Martellus Bennet, Fred Davis, Kellen Davis, Dustin Keller, etc. to be Antonio Gates or Kellen Winslow clones, they are not.

All things considered and based on need/availablility this offseason, I think the Bills came out of it pretty good, overall. Their offseason certainly could have been worse. I was prepared for the Bills to select Colt Brennan and Mike Hart at #11 and #41 overall, respectively.

I honestly believe that we’ll see at the end of 2008 that it worked out for the best that we didn’t sign Panda for a year.

I realize that having Hardy come in and sit behind a vet receiver might have been better for the offense in 2008, but I think there’s something to be said about having a rookie come in and have the opportunity to start right away. I think Hardy has a lot of talent, and he’s a hard worker, and now he has the opportunity to come in and contribute from day one. I truly believe that rookie and sophomore receivers don’t succeed in the NFL because they come in with a big head and not enough of a work ethic. They’ve been burning defenses simply based on their athletic ability all their lives so they don’t feel like they have to put the time in for running routes, watching film,etc. And that is also why sometimes you see these late round guys that maybe aren’t as athletically gifted but end up starting their rookie year.

Hardy will surprise all of us – you can take it to the bank. He was my #1 rated WR this year, and I was incredibly happy that we got him in the 2nd round. As the Skycap noted above, rookie receivers can produce and produce well. They just need the opportunity and they need to have the work ethic and maturity to understand that they can’t just run by everyone in this league. Having Bryant Johnson really would not have solved as many issues as we think. People keep forgetting that even Johnson has never been the #1 or even #2 guy, not for the majority of a season anyways. So it still would’ve been a gamble to sign him and have him start opposite Lee.

I think that things wokred out quite well. Hardy looks like the best red zone reciever out of the group. Is he a risk? Of course. But it’s not as if Panda was a proven #2, and if we get Panda, there’s no guarantee that the draft works out the way it did. Yes, I’d like more depth at WR, but I’d also like Peyton Manning, Champ Bailey and Antonio Gates. Keep in mind that we did draft Johnson to give us some more depth. All in all, our WR position is good. Not great, but good.