The Jaeger Plan

Is it bad that I’m kind of disappointed it didn’t involve a few JagerBombs?

You mentioned that you may or may not resign Stevie Johnson, depending on Gailey’s opinion. You also mentioned you’d “look at” Robert Meachem for a speedy outside WR. But other than that, you didn’t really have any action on improving the wide receivers except for drafting Tommy Streeter in your first mock draft.

Knowing the way our franchise works, if you “look at” a free agent, that means you talk to them and then they sign with someone else. Knowing the way our franchise works, if you need both the coach and GM to feel comfortable about a player to bring him back, then that player would be gone.
If you draft Tannehill in the first round, and don’t get any other wide receivers in the draft, we would be stuck with our WR1 being Marcus Easley, who has never played an NFL game. You didn’t mention Roscoe Parrish, so I’d assume he’s gone. That puts us back where we were in the middle of the season – zero depth, a questionable WR1.

I have come around on your thinking that we could use a franchise QB if one is available. But I don’t want to end up depleting a WR corps that is one player away from being great. The first 3 rounds have some amazing prospects at WR. If I am Buddy Nix, I am ORDERING Gailey to resign Stevie unless we find a comparable free agent talent, and I am drafting a WR in the first three rounds to help fill out the top of the corps.

Sounds like blueprint for a house. When this owner gets a clue maybe they’ll follow your ideas, till than hope!

I like Tannehill as well, also like Wilson from Wisconsin but Chan & crew are all in with Fitz. Look for them to get him some new weapons, O-linemen depth and resign everone you listed. If we win Chan & Fitz stay & we are all happy. If not, both Chan & Fitz hit the curb and the new regime brings in thier guy in the following draft.

Seriously Ryan Tannehill? With the 10th pick in the draft nope.

I’d rather pick up an elite WR (e.g. Blackmon) or pass rusher than pick a second tier QB so high.

I like this FanPost mostly because Der Jaeger goes “out on a limb” explaining his plan. Many posters have comments that never have the specifics, saying “we need [franchise QB/pass rusher etc]”, rather than “these players and these moves are what I would do”.

We will have 80 or so players for the upcoming pre-season. With 53 men on the roster and 15 on IR that’s 68 total, subtract the 2 kickers that’s 66. Nine draft picks and about 5 undrafted players puts you at 80 exactly. Obviously some players will not be retained, and most likely a couple FAs will be added. Re-signing Bills players is the first step. If they under-perform prior to the regular season they can be cut. So resigning them is not a crippling move.

I’m still reviewing the FA lists. If the past is any indication Nix will not pursue the top player at a position but look at the second level.

Until the FA period & combine is completed I feel there is too much unknown to opine on the draft.

for Chandler Jones in the second. I like what hes done at Cuse and I want more of the Jones family in my life. Those are some lucky, proud parents. If Chandler the pass rusher is 1/4 of what Jon the fighter is, wed be golden.

i love the part one, but you don’t speak about fred jackson
what if we can’t sign any of your FA targets ?
what’s your third draft if we don’t draft a qb and if the part 2 fails?

is that its realistic. you don’t have some “Madden” plan where we trade for Aaron Rodgers and bring in the best FA possible at every position.

That said, I’m still not sold on Tannehill as a 10th overall pick, maybe he is worth it, that is just going to be a wait and see for me as i learn more about him. As a Syracuse fan, and as much as i like Chandler Jones, 2nd round seems awfully high when he’s someone currently projected as a 3rd/4th rd guy

Two questions I have:
1. Tannehill – I really see him rising the boards from here until April, much like Blaine Gabbert did last year, do you think he will still be available at #10 or do you see a team like Washington or Miami making a move on him if Indy take Luck and the Colts/Bucs take RGIII?

2. With Wannstadt now in charge of the defense will we see more 4-3 fronts and does that open players like Sam Montgomery or Brandon Jenkins to the 2nd round choice – also I predict Mercilus could fall to #41 especially if QB’s, CB’s, OT’s and LB’s go above their board position due to need picks which might save having to trade to go get him.

OUR FIRST 3 DRAFT PICKS NEED TO BE 2 ELIETE PASS RUSHERS AND A BIG FAST WR! WITH A GREAT PASS RUSH IT MAKES OUR DBS BETTER! Look at the giants they invest in what 3 to 4 great pass rushers (tuck, pierre paul, uminyoua) not to mention (canty and kiwanuka) those are all good pass rushers and they consisntly put pressure on the qb which forces them into bad decisions which makes the whole defence better! IT STARTS UP FRONT! If we go back to a 4-3 i would spend our top 2 picks to get a whitney marcelus to play one DE spot and a Vinny curry to play the other and rotate ghem with kelsey and merriman! then in the 3rd get a WR like Sanu from rutgers if hes still there or Toon from wisconsin

A QB drafted in the first round can’t afford to sit and learn unless that team is 1) winning and 2) has a seasoned veteran to show him the ropes. Fitz has the latter skill but not the first. If we draft a player that high we expect to use that player. We don’t have the luxury to bench them and let them learn the game.

In addition, I think taking Tannehill in the first would be reaching: he’s Jimmy Clausen good but without the attitude and the sense of entitlement. If he’s there in the 2nd I think we should take him simply because we do need more depth at QB. But taking him in the first and blowing a 1st rounder on a mediocre college talent isn’t wise given we need too much help on defense.

The only thing on Gailey and Nix’s minds should be defense, defense, defense!!!

Liked the article. Didn’t love all of the draft picks.
But who cares, we need to improve, this year, NOW!

What facts do you have to back that opinion? Do you have examples of QB’s that sat on bad teams and played poorly once they entered the lineup?

To my knowledge there are NO QBs that sat on poor teams and, after sitting on a poor team played poorly because no team, with a mediocre QB who is floundering, has left their first rounder ride the pine. I guess if you know some examples feel free to share them with me and I’ll eat my words. However, pragmatically looking at what you are asking and using, at least, my own logic, it makes no perspective: you have your FRANCHISE player waiting in the wings while your team is bombing??? Even the Broncos realized they couldn’t keep a first rounder on the bench while the team struggled. Yeah they had some success with Tebow at the helm but they never beat a team with a winning record and dropped their last three once the tape on Tebow came into focus.

Tannehill is significantly bigger with natural arm strength.

Really? Tannehill is 6-4 222 lbs and Clausen was 6-3 223 his last year at Notre Dame so I don’t see that as significant. Additonally, Clausen was predicated by many to go in the Top 1-5 range for players in the draft and was considered by some to be the second best QB after Bradford. Additinally, Tannehill’s comparisons to Eli Manning and Rivers seem premature given he hasn’t gone through the combine Hell, prior to the combine CBS sports compared Clausen to Aaron Rogers!!!

Like most, I think re-signing key players is vital if the Bills are ever going to end their playoff drought. Although some have criticized it, I agree completely with your assessment on Stevie. I’d love to see him back in a Bills uniform, BUT not if he continues to ignore the coaches.
I like how agressive you would be in the FA market. If those things panned out to address some areas before the draft then I could see being able to use a high draft pick for a potential franchise QB. With that said though, I’m not terribly confident that the Bills will be active enough in FA to justify using the first round pick on Tannehill when they really need help on the pass rush, an area I’m not sold your plan addresses as much as is needed—it hits it, but I’m convinced the pass rush needs to be this off season’s #1 priority.