I tend to agree with you on a lot. some thoughts and responses:

1. Fullback. I think it’s a viable need. Regardless of where any of us rank fullback as a need though, it won’t really affect the team financially or in draft picks to get a good one. Good vet fullbacks can be found for near the league minimum. An even better option is taking one in the last few rounds of the draft, or even as an undrafted free agent. I think it’s a need, but not one where if the Bills decide to address it, it will affect their ability to address other positiosn.

2. I think Crowell is a goner. Not to say I don’t like him, but there has been an obvious falling out between him and Dick Jauron. It’s a shame, becaused I liked him on the filed, but we have to look to the future now.

3. Peters: I know I’m going to get a lot of flack for saying this (becuase I’ve seen others get it) but I’m with you an the rationale of trading Peters. I don’t think its so irrational as some makes it sound. The guy may be a 2-time Pro Bowl Tackle, but he doesn’t always play like one. The biggest problem I have with trading a guy like Peters is finding a replacement (good left tackles are scarce). To me, Peters isn’t irreplaceable, his position is.

Good thoughts!

1.) I really think the fullback is a pressing need but like jri111 I do not think it would cost much at all to bring in a really good one. So regardless of where we all place FB on our needs list I think it wouldn’t be a problem for us to just grab a good one anyway.

2.) Keep Crowell! We have too many other holes! Like you though, if we keep him we need insurance and I think we can find good OLBs in the later stages of the draft like a guy like Toal.

3.) I wouldn’t trade Peters for anything. It is simply too hard to find a great LT and as much flak as Peters himself is getting he really played well after he shook off the rust of holding out. Also, players hold out all the time and we can’t just decide the guys a jerk for doing it. So he wanted money, I still don’t blame him for holding out I blame him for the moronic way in which he handled it. Peters is guilty of nothing else then being stupid and easily manipulated by a selfish agent. I bet if we give him a contract he has his best year this year.

I am completely 100% for the idea of trading McGee OR moving him to free safety. Either way it helps our team. If we have three corners that can be on the field we should keep em all on the field and put McGee at free safety. If that doesn’t sound appealing to some then we should trade him with a mid round pick to get back into the first round! Imagine a scenario in which we trade McGee and a third to get back into the 1st round. I think that is very possible and lets us take Everette Brown and Alex Mack. If we look at the potential trade partners who are in need of a corner we have the Saints at pick #14, the Texans at #15 (Dunta Robinson is a free agent I think and Jacques Reeves is terrible), the Detroit Lions at pick #20 (which they would part with as they already have another 1st rounder. A new GM may want all the 1st rounders he can get though) and some others who may be interested (I think the Cards CBs are going to be free agents except for Cromartie -Rodgers). I think McGee and a 3rd are definitely worth a 1st rounder to some teams.

This would be a huge boost to our off-season. We could have a first round which looked like Brown/Mack, Orakpo/Gresham, etc. etc.

You can’t trade Peters. He is a franchise LT. You don’t trade those guys unless your confidence is sky high your OL coach is so good, if you get an average-above average player that he can mold him in one training camp. Not likely. With Jauron’s job on the line, trading Peters just doesn’t make a lot of sense.

If you tried to trade Peters, you would fetch a 1st round pick and let’s say a 3rd this year and maybe a 3rd or 5th in 2010. So now you have 2 1st round picks. 1 would be used on Peters’ replacement and 1 on DE/LB/TE/C. So now you a lot of money invested in 2 rookies and we all know drafting players is an inexact science. I just don’t like the proposition. If we were in for REBUILDING mode, I would consider it, but we ain’t.

As far as McGee goes, we do have some talented CB’s. I like Jabari cuz he is a playmaker. McGee I think is Jauron’s favorite CB. Tough, physical, great tackler. I think Greer & McKelvin should be outside DB’s with McGee on the nickel. I don’t see McGee as a FS. We do need a ball hawk back at safety though. Scott/Whitner combo is OK but nothing special. We need to upgrade there if we can

…or at least hoped it would stir up a 3rd RB vs. fullback debate.

Mcgee to ATL for backup QB – Chris Redman

FB is a need, before speedy 3rd RB. Terelle Smith is a younger version of Lorenzo Neal.

Keep Peters, IMHO never trade a proven LT or pass-rushing DE.

I don’t know that the need for a 3rd RB and a FB are mutually exclusive. Assuming the team really addresses (not just a band-aid) at least one glaring need position (C, DE, LB, TE) in free agency, Buffalo can then address the remaining 3 in the top 3 rounds of the draft—and take a scat back and FB in the 4th-6th rounds.

Re-signing Crowell makes a lot of sense to me, which is a pretty certain indicator that it just won’t happen. He knows the system, is a good (not great by any means) LB and at least smart enough not to burn bridges with the Bills. His injury shouldn’t be an issue at all. If I recall correctly, Crowell was pissed that Buffalo put him on IR for what was a 3-4 week recovery time. Again assuming that I remember things right, the Bills were pissed that he had surgery when he did…and maybe without even telling them beforehand. If Crowell can put aside the mutual animosity then OBD can be big enough to do the same.

Trading Peters creates an instant hole at LT, something the Bills would have to either address in FA or the draft. With FA dollars needed for one of the 4 positions listed above it would likely become a draft need. This would needlessly add to the positions Buffalo had to address in the draft (along with 3 of C, DE, LB, TE). Goodbye #11 pick as it relates to DE, C, TE or LB.

Trading McGee is a slightly more attractive option but only if (a.) Buffalo overpays Greer to stay or (b.) Buffalo wants to gamble that Youboty can make it through a season as a starting CB. Even worse (from my perspective) is that OBD feels a strange compulsion to draft Ohio State DBs….and Jenkins may well be sitting on the board at #11.

Fullback is far from a pressing need, but I think for a team that is building for a day when Trent Edwards can lead them somewhere (could be soon, could be never), fullback is a bigger need than a 3rd running back. What I mean by that is since Buffalo isn’t going to the super bowl next year, backups and players who simply won’t see the field often are less important offseason needs then players who are on the field despite how important FB is vs. RB. I will have fullback as a bigger need then backup QB too. I just think that finding the next Lorenzo Neal gives this team a better chance to be great then the next Frank Reich does.

I wouldn’t categorize Tashard Choice as a fast, elusive style runner too. He weighs 215 which is the same as Jackson and Lynch and since he is shorter, he actually has a thicker frame than Lynch and Jackson do. Choice doesn’t really stand out as a speed or power guy, he is more of a well rounded 3rd RB who can come in and play the role of either Barber or Jones if they get hurt. But since Buffalo actually has 2 RBs that are already similiar in style, I don’t think a 3rd runningback is important until this team is ready to compete and that depth becomes necessary. A team like Dallas needs a good 3rd RB because their backup weighs 200 pounds and might not be able to carry the load if Barber goes down. The Bills have a backup in Fred Jackson who has already shown he can be a starter and 20-25 carry a game guy for short stretches of the season.

Also, Krytime’s point about the Bills not dressing a 3rd RB is a great one.

Honestly, I’m not sure what Buffalo should do with Crowell. I guess it comes down to how much it would take to resign him and what the other FA linebackers will get.

I think you can get a mid first and some midlate round picks like a 4th and 7th for Peters. Or you could get a late first, a third and a late round pick like a 7th. I think those are the best offers you can get for a guy who isn’t really the best at his position, in a draft that is super deep at his position and for a guy who probably won’t play without a new contract. If anything he won’t bring in that much and he might not get anywhere near that in a trade.

McGee doesn’t have enough trade value to consider getting rid of him. His value is somewhere around the 4th to 5th round range. He is a pretty good player, but he is in the last year of his contract. Why would someone give up a valuable draft pick to only have to resign McGee when they could just go out on the FA market this offseason and find a comparable player? Everybody always mentions how the Bills could get value in trades for their average starters, but if they could, why wouldn’t they? Why wouldn’t other teams? Why are there so few trades involving average players?