What's the Diggity? Part 2

Since I felt my first post needed a prologue, but this post is equally long, (perhaps to the dismay of others); I will try to (but also fail to) get right to it.

This is my further evaluation of the Bills’ roster in its current state. In my last post, I covered the Buffalo Bills’ Quarterbacks, and the Offensive Linemen. For this next segment, I will be elaborating on the Running Backs (including FB- Chan might have, but I sure didn’t forget we have one), and the Tight Ends. Though I had planned to include WR, I think I would rather give each guy his due diligence, and just respect. (Plus, there are a BUNCHA WRs, and this post would have been just way too long). Additionally, by cramming them in here, along with making this longer, would mean that the 3rd would only be wrap up of the offense, and/or my total guesstimate mock draft.

Enjoy fellow Rumblers, and feel free to provide me some feedback. As you all know, I rarely avoid a poll… because we sure do all like a quick button press for that instant gratification, to find out if we are right, and confirm how smart we are… even though that small risk exists we might just be the dunce. ENJOY!!!

Running Back: While this position has been reduced in the NFL, many teams that have truly good RBs have found ways to use them productively, and rely on them to carry them to, and sometimes through, the playoffs. I believe we have RBs capable of doing this, already on our roster.

Fred Jackson: Fred demonstrated this year that his game had elevated to put him in the top of the entire league, leading the league in yardage, at the time of his injury in week 10. He is "the engine" of our offense, and has significant abilities that he brings to our offense. Buddy Nix has claimed he wants to see FredEx retire as a Buffalo Bills player. I hope that he holds true to this, because as a fan, though I recognize his trade value (which I feel is a potential 2nd round pick, though I have received some contention on this belief), I still think that were I the GM, I would be kinda dumb to put him in the position to hold-out, which I feel would be his next recourse towards a pay increase(and rightly so). I re-sign him, for approximately 13 million over 3 years, with... wait for it… 8-9 million in guarantees. Some might think this low overall, some might think it crazy to pay him that much up front, but we are giving Fitzpatrick 4x this amount, so there is no way it is too much. First and foremost, he has been too significant, so far, that he has already earned that money. Additionally, I feel he is the driving force of our offense, while being underutilized. That, along with our relative need to stabilize the core of this unit, means we can't afford NOT to pay him.

C.J. Spiller: I called this pick. I wanted this pick. I stood by this pick. I have been rewarded with satisfaction for my patience. This kid has the potential to be similar to a Jamaal Charles, or even a Marshall Faulk/Emmitt Smith/Thurman Thomas (who I personally hate to even reference, but I feel like he has this inherent potential) caliber runner given our large line, and his shiftiness and speed. I also think he has NOT been used enough, considering he was a first round selection, and has more talent in one leg than most of our roster. I think that if I really were GM, I might have considered trading Fred week 6, just to get Spiller out there, and get some kind of value still from Fred. (However, Fred’s play was something that was probably too good to justify a trade, which is probably why he will be re-signed.)

Tashard Choice: While he may not actually be on the roster right now, I DO expect him to be re-signed, and if I were GM, I would do the same, much to the chagrin of many fans. Why so many others don’t see the value in the guy, I really am not sure. He can be an every down back, he is good in pass protection, he understands what Chan is trying to get done, and I see him and Johnny White as very similar backs, which means that Johnny will benefit from seeing Choice’s game, as well as his knowledge in the system. Though Johnny probably won’t see the field much the next couple seasons, he is a good reserve back, and with the three ahead of him on the depth chart, he has a lot of time to learn his craft, and can be an excellent second back to CJ in the future.

Johnny White: I feel White was a value where he was selected, and is worth having on the roster, especially since RBs suffer injuries. (Oh yeah, and I just spent half Choice’s space on him) He can’t be on the practice squad, and he is inexpensive, still has upside, and will only be released, should we feel that we are comfortable with carrying as few offensive linemen as we have consistently.

Tight End- a consistently underutilized position in recent years, the NFL TE can create mismatches against DBs and LBs alike. A talented pass receiving TE can provide a large weapon, a talented blocking TE can add another body to get onto a defender, or a versatile one, can do both. The addition of former Bills’ great TE Pete Metzelaars should help any TE on our roster, learn to improve their game. Aside from Riemersma, we have not had ANY TE who has been even close to effective as Pete was “back in the day”. This is the FIRST position where we are SIGNIFICANTLY lacking. We haven’t proven capable of using the guys we have to the most of their capabilities (somehow) and we still have relative unknowns on the roster.

Scott Chandler: This guy has some real potential, and he displayed it early in the season. I think he has been underutilized not only in this offense, but in general. In the beginning of the season Chan’s “hoped it keeps them (opponents) up at night”. How that means: “we don’t need to use this guy, even though he is tied with the leader at the position (Clarence’s own Rob Gronkowski) for total touchdowns scored, on FEWER receptions” is beyond me. I say we re-sign him to a 4 or 5 year deal because frankly, we need one. If it isn’t him, we need to find another candidate, either out of one of these next guys, or some unknown.

Lee Smith: I personally feel Lee is a solid, versatile TE. My issue is, that I have seen Mike Caussin, and Kevin Brock play as consistently. While this is likely due to their relative experience being similar, and their experience in the system similar, and the overall underuse of the TE in this system; without seeing each of these guys getting some more use, and work, I really don’t know how we as fans can assess them, and to speculate might not do any of them justice.

Mike Caussin: See: Lee Smith, replace “Mike Caussin” with Fendi Onubon.

Fendi Onobon: Fendi, is probably the one TE that is separated from this group. His background is in basketball, he has good size, and very good speed, but for all I know, he can’t catch a cold. We really need to see Chan tweek his system some, because it is ignorant to not recognize the advantages a large pass catching TE can do to a nickel/base/team without a large safety or athletic LB because this type of thinking carried teams this season. If we don’t find a way to match up, and give ourselves advantages as we have failed at doing so far, then we shouldn’t expect we can elevate ourselves to compete with them. As I pointed out, it would help our defense to have to cover some of these guys, and it would help our offense (especially our inaccurate QB who CAN find the mismatch) to develop them.

Kevin Brock:See: Lee Smith, replace "Kevin Brock” with any of the above.

Full Back: Full backs are often used as lead blockers in the NFL, but are a “dying breed” as most teams are running multiple WR sets, or would rather put the TE out onto the field.

Corey McIntyre: C- Mac is a true fullback, who we recently re-signed to a multi-year extension. He is a solid fullback, a good special teamer, a team leader, and a good veteran presence on the team. He is also, completely ignored in Chan Gailey’s system. For whatever reason, Chan insists on employing a spread offense, featuring the likes of undrafted free agents, and 7th round picks, rather than using the strength of the roster, the large linemen, and excellent RBs. I personally think this is more a matter of trying to “keep up with” the rest of the league’s passing attacks, but that it also fundamentally ignores the strength of the team. I would like to see more use of I-formation (strong/weak/standard) and more counters/traps (since we do a lot of zone blocking anyway) that our fast shifty RBs can take advantage of, instead of just relying on screens. I think it would be just as easy to get a “hat on a hat” with fullbacks and TEs blocking those LBs, than asking WRs try to do so.