Our entire offense as of now is BETTER than last year. We have OLine depth that I am very comfortable with, we have amazing RB depth(best in the league), we have a 6’5 fast receiving monster at TE, and we have arguably the best 1-2 WR’S in the league. When I sat here thinking of our starting line up at offense, all I could say was “wow” and it was a GREAT “wow”. The Wagon is very excited!!!

but this rework needed to happen. It has better long term potential and if the coaches can determine it’s strengths over the next few 4 months, then we should be able to get things done while they improve. The athletes are there. I wish Langston would get in better shape. I can’t believe he wouldn’t be a better player if he lost 30+ pounds. That’s probably not going to happen. He’s a decent player that could probably become a great player, but I get the sense he’s “content”. I like Butler at tackle and the middle seems better, but let’s be honest, that’s a lot of question marks with rookies. I like what they’re doing.

I hope

I absolutely love the “nasty” demeanor that our front now has, it was the single biggest problem that we had last year. We had the care bears version of an offensive line going up against arguably one of the toughest set of Nose Tackles in the league.

Our centers were so lousy that it made the whole middle soft & mushy. When you play guys like Wilfork, Jenkins & Ferguson 6 times a year, that’s 2/3s of your season! OBD were extremely smart in fixing this huge problem. I really like our new front three even though our two guards are rookies and playing new positions. Huge upgrade from last year!

I love Butler at right Tackle, he is a mauler & a road grater in the run game and I fell that he will be able to be left on an island so that we can use Derek Fine more on the left side to help in the blocking. Walker did a fine job early last season, he is smart and a great team player. Obviously he might struggle against speed rushers but again, we play against 3-4s the majority of our games. I think he can handle the 3-4 DEs quite well and our blocking schemes with either Fine, Lynch, Jackson & Rhodes can handle the OLBs – I am not that worried. And Brian, you said it perfectly! Peters did not play well last year at all so I don’t expect much of a drop this year.

I really love this line, sans Walker at LT.

However, I beleive it is a line built for next season, not necessarily one that will dominate this year. Our rookie guards have GREAT potential and guards tend to be low-risk picks in the NFL, so it is fair to expect these guys to play well and turn into above average to pro bowl typ players in the near future. You have to give these guys some breaks though, they are rookies.

I think Hangartner is a guy coming into his own, I think we will look back on this signing in a couple of years and go, man, they finally got one right.

I will love to see Butler play RT for a season to evaluate him. He has played very well at guard, but that does not necessarily translate. At the very least, he will be a great backup at tackle for years to come because of this opportunity. If he cannont handle it we have Walker, who has played very well there for the last couple of seasons and Bell to step in next year.

Left Tackle: I hope we can be in agreement here. Walker is not a prototypical “Left Tackle”, he just doesn’t fit the mold, but as you (and I) have discussed, his shortcomings can be overcome by blocking schemes. I think his lack of a “mean streak” will ultimately be his demise.

I am concerned a little about depth. I really would have liked to have seen Buffalo pick up there BEST AVAILABLE TACKLE on their board in the 6th/7th for the future. Instead of wasting their pick. STOP TRYING to convince me that these CB’s were necessary.

Assuming Butler has the quickness to move around on the outside, I think he’ll be better there. His frame is sure better suited for the tackle position, so I think he has a shot to be a very good RT now. I disagree that his injury issues are overblown though. If the team was concerned about a prospect like Marcus Freeman’s injury past, they must really be concerned about their new starting RT’s injury history….Luckily, I think Butler would be most easily replaced if he gets hurt with Chambers (or Bell).

I just hope the interior rooks are ready to go. We need them to be more than ready to play come September. They have to be ready to play well or we’re going to struggle in there.

Walker is my biggest concern, outside of Trent/Turk, going into the summer. I just think he’s going to get abused by speed rushers like Joey Porter, Dwight Freeney, Gaines Adams, John Abraham and bigger, faster players like Mario Williams, Adalius Thomas, and Julius Peppers. I hope he’s up to the challenge, we can’t afford to have him getting beat by these guys, and neither can Trent’s health.

I think you’re right in that we may look to add veteran depth inside, even though we won’t be dressing 9 OL on game days. In that scenario, I think Bell wouldn’t dress, which is fine if he isn’t ready….

Only the Bills coaches know what their plan is and how confident they are in it. But I think having a youthful, nasty OL is great because the huge massive OL we had last year, didn’t produce and money was such a big issue. You had Dockery who was fat and happy and Peters who was fat and unhappy. Now we got fat, nasty, and youthful and no one is making huge money on the OL. I think it’s your perfect blue collar, nose to the grindstone unit that won’t give a damn about getting praise as long as the team wins. No one has any contract issues unresolved which is such a relief.

Is that your nickname for him?

And thats with Langstan at LT. I’ll admit he’s not the ideal fit at LT, but he’s not any worst than the Cards’ Mike Gandy, and if he was good enough to get to the SB, then we should be ok with Walker for now.

The inside of our line looks fantastic to me, even if we have 2 rookies. We’re going to be nasty up front this year and I love it. This is the line that we want if we want to be a power running team, and thats what we should be in 2009.

What I’m really looking forward to is the late2009, early 2010 line:

Bell – Levitre – Hangartner – Wood – Butler.

If Bell is as good as OBD thinks he is, then we’re going to be better off then when we had Peters.

This will be a no nonensense punch you in the mouth and insult your mama type of group this year I think. And that cannot be discounted at all when you consider the number of 3-4 Ds we face this upcoming season. We really need some guys with attitude to get into the dline and up into the linebackers to allow Fred and ML to get some running room and give Trent a chance for PA.

Regarding Walker at LT, yeah I am concerned somewhat do to his size, if he could trim 20-30 pounds I think he goes from serviceable to good at that spot with the increased speed due to decreased weight. As a person trying to shed about 80 pounds himself I can tell you from experience that with that weight gone you do get quicker, and if he can cut down on his fire out times by a few fractions of a second, that can make a huge difference for this team.

As it stands, I believe we will see the Bills go heavily into a 2 TE arrangement with Fine working off the left side to help protect Walker’s lack of elite foot speed at that position. With Nelson able to split the seam, Evans with the wheels and Owen’s ability to work the middle of the field, this is not a bad idea.

Something else for you guys to consider while pondering the current and future states of our offensive line.

Protecting Buffalo from the fact that they did not reach for an OT to start at LT this year are two things:

A) The anticipated continued development of Demetrius Bell.
B) A 2010 draft class that is once again top-heavy with excellent OT talent.

Seriously, take a look at this list. Any or all of these guys could be Top 10 picks next year. (No, I’m not hoping we have a Top 10 pick next year!)

Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State
Trent Williams, OT, Oklahoma
Bryan Bulaga, OT, Iowa
Ciron Black, OT, LSU

Considering, again, the fact that we will survive with Langston on the left side, have a developmental prospect (or two, if you’re counting Joel Bell) at the position, and the strength of next year’s class, the Bills were probably smart for not reaching on a guy like Britton. Not that most of you are upset with that decision at the top of the draft…

Hey Brian… I think you need to write a pice on Demetrius Bell! I am getting tired of us speculating on this guys future. Hell, none of us have really seen him play, yet we all seem to hold out hope that this 7th round pick is going to develop into the next Jason Peters (the good one, not Mr. Hyde). I have even bought into this warm fuzzy feeling about him. I have no rationale, it kind of scares me.

Not for the O Line, though. Everybody seems to agree that the OL was bad and, whether you approve of the trading of Peters or not, this OL as a whole is better than last year’s as a whole. I think they will be adequate and Trent won’t need to up his health insurance. It should be high anyways.

The line will not be the reason this team is not successful. This line is adequate enough to get Lynch/Jackson/Rhodes holes to get 4 yards a carry. This line is adequate enough to give Trent his three seconds. Maybe not more than that but if Turk and Trent do what they are supposed to the ball should be gone. Confident isn’t the right word but I am not terrified.

Nice post Brian.