Buffalo Bills Safeties: State Of The Bills Roster

This might have to be addressed via FA. ( I say this seeing as SS is a bigger need than FS IMO)

I wouldnt be that excited to know the B.Scott would be the default starting SS when Whitner leaves (and I like Scott………but not that much)

I can’t see the bills paying him top safety money, he might be a little above average but his attitude lacks maturity and shows downright disrespect for an organization that made him a rich man. I say we make him a fair offer take it or leave

B. Scott has character in spades, so we will probably be starting Scott in 2011 and Whitless will be tweeting with the Bengals

i haven’t really been paying attention to Whitner lately, but he’s going nuts on Twitter. Challenging guys to fights, responding childishly, and seemingly burning the bridge on his way out of Buffalo with the team and fans, while not so subtly talking up his desire to play for the Browns. Oh and his actually changed his name to TWHITNER? HA! If he’s looking to make $7M a year (pipe dream), he might want to take a look at how his Twitter meltdown is playing out.

As for this position, meh. Bunch of average role players with limited physical abilities. The Bills would be smart to add a more athletic player with good recognition skills. Too bad those aren’t easy to find.

I’m not sure if I’m disappointed in Byrd’s season. I expected his interceptions to go down, but not that far. At the same time, he seemed to improve his tackling and was better against the run this year (not that that says much). His physical limitations certainly do seem to hurt him and I still think he does a poor job of recognition and reacting on pass plays.

i have no doubt he will be somewhere else next year.

Two thoughts…

-I think the far more important switch our defense made last year was from primarily a cover 2 defense to a defense that employed much more man coverage. This is without question the biggest reason for the dropoff in picks. Playing either safety position, you face the quarterback much more, which makes it easier to read and react if they try to throw downfield, especially for a player like Byrd who is good at it anyway.

With far less of that type of defense, and more man coverage responsibilities, interceptions were almost certain to decline.

-While Byrd wasn’t nearly as productive with interceptions, he was vastly improved against the run. His rookie year, Jarius was a liability in the run game. Not to say that he was Polumalu out there, but Jarius was a far more sturdy tackler and played his run lanes much better. So, it wasn’t all bad.

I fimly believe that the organization needs to separate themselves from him. He’s not displaying the type of behavior most of the younger players should learn from.

Donte, you are officailly a clown in my eyes. Maybe you should try and get a role on The Young and the Resless and forget the game of football for a bit.

review of our terrible situation at safety. So we add this to glaring needs at linebacker, offensive tackle, defensive end and quarterback. And oh yes, we will probably use the #3 pick for either a wide receiver or cornerback.

We need to re-sign Wilson. He is a captain, he can play both SS and FS, the guy goes otu and fights every play and always seems to make a play or two a game that leaves you feeling good about him.

Sands in the 3rd would be a good pick I think. He can sit a year and rotate in at both SS and FS and then eventually take over the SS spot. Byrd – Sands would be a good combo I think.

Byrd needs a lot of work still. Hes got to learn when to go for the ball and when to go for the hit, also needs to “grow a set” when hes going for the hit. I thought he run support was better this year than last, but its still a work in progress.

Byrd, Wilson, Scott, Sands would be a pretty decent Saftey combo.

Whitner’s career has mirrored a defense that has struggled mightily in developing a pass rush and stopping the run. Along with at least the past three years of poor line backing. Although I don’t agree with the 7 million he is asking for I do agree that he has been asked to do such a variety of different things on this defense that he has never been able to become great at anything other than filling in the weaknesses of other defenders on the team. Those weakness I am referring too could be providing coverage longer than to be expected, being sucked into run defense because the LB’s and DE’s can’t control the LOS consistently, shadowing his coverage with mismatches forced by LB’s on TE’s.

I don’t read his twitter account, I don’t need to I get an eye full here. I also don’t care for much of the content of his twitter account but really could care less what he thinks. I do try to be as objective as possible when analysing his points of view. My point is during his career we have never been able to put a defense on the field where he was asked to do just what his strengths were thus scattering his talents into an above average career in Buffalo thus causing the Bills to offer him the 5 million dollar deal and not the 7 mill that someone else will likely pay for him.

Jarius Byrd, why can a guy go from 9 picks one year to one the next year. Is it because offenses ran the ball more, is it because our defensive scheme changed and his responsibilities were to cover more and force underneath passing. There is a reason for this and I just hope it is not the same reasons as the demise of Donte Whitner and his career. Better players up front in the front seven will improve the play of all our safeties.

but this is getting too diva-ish for me. I do agree that he did a lot to help the secondary and was given additional responsibilities with the new system. However, this is a case of promoting someone too immature to handle the promotion of responsibilities. He’s power tripping !! He needs to shut up, call Winfield in Minnesota to be schooled on how to tackle. Geez…I wish I had a needle to pop the hot air in his head. He’s good but not that good.

BTW greysquirrel…if you have a diva on your team, that will throw his teammates under the bus, I don’t care how good he is and how much you think you need him, for the sake of the TEAM chemistry get rid of him. If I was OBD I’d withdraw my offer and start looking for takers.

For a safety that many tackles is an indication of the poor quality of our linebackers, more than the true skill of Whitner. As much as we might not be able to replace him, his uptick in pass defense ability is about three years too late, and he isn’t great at blitzing or stopping the run.

I would rather spend more money on the defensive front 7, bring in a couple experiments at SS, through the draft or rookie free agents, and let Scott and Wilson man the fort until next year.

Guess my criticism was a lil harsh, so I’ll just say trade him. I was just upset because I was supporting him through the season and now he’s acting very immature….IMO. My apologies to the staff.

Byrd led the team in forced fumbles, which in additon to his interception means he led the Bills in forced Turnovers. which is the most underated stat in the NFL.

BTW…for bonus points (dont use google) who leads the NFL if all time forced fumbles?
(its a tie)