Over the past three weeks, we here at Buffalo Rumblings have diligently dissected the mediocre, highly suspect cast of characters that is the Buffalo Bills' roster in our ever-expanding attempt for inclusion in Ralph Wilson's vaunted "inner circle" of decision-makers at One Bills Drive. With those reviews complete - and reviewable here - we can now begin putting together a summary of the fruits of our labor. And the fruits, folks, are juicy and plentiful.
Yesterday, part one of our work was finalized when we identified Buffalo's 2009 core roster. This list of 41 players are the names around which the Bills hope to build a winner in 2009 (I hear you snickering), and form the basis of the second part of our work: our Community Needs List.
What you see below are the 13 needs that this community identified that the Bills need to address over the next few months. Right now, the lists are prioritized by offense and defense as per our lengthy discussions over the past few weeks. Your job now? Combine them into one uber-list. There will be no polling in this step. Instead, if you've got opinions to express, make them known in the comments section. First, the two lists...
Prioritized Offensive Needs
1. Receiving tight end (yes, I'm still shocked that this won top offensive priority)
2. Center
3. Veteran wide receiver
4. Veteran backup quarterback
5. Reserve center/guard
6. Blocking fullback
7. Viable third running back
Prioritized Defensive Needs
1. Pass-rushing defensive end
2. Massive rotational defensive tackle
3. Starting strong-side linebacker
4. Young defensive end depth
5. Reserve swing linebacker
6. Developmental safety prospect
Realistically, I understand that a lot of you are going to want to re-arrange things based on your own opinions, which we've obviously heard a lot of over the past three weeks. Obviously, as I'm no dictator, I can't stop you from doing that. Ideally, however, some of you will find it in your heart to uphold the integrity of the community at large and avoid re-prioritizing the lists. If you can't in good conscience betray your opinions, even if they've been expressed ad nauseam in previous locales, then re-arrange until your little heart is content. My goal, however, is for the comments to center around prioritizing the 13 needs, rather than re-hashing the same old (read: C vs TE, C vs DE, etc.) arguments.
So have at it, folks. I'll join you in prioritizing at some point, but for now, let's get as many prioritized lists in the comments section as we can. We'll use your discussions below to finalize the complete lists, and then we'll get to the fun part - putting together a list of desirable player acquisitions and digging into their bios. For now, let's go, folks!