Bills trade for LeSean McCoy + Matt Cassel

primetime said:

In the game he was so-called "excellent" last season, Cassel threw for 6.8 yards per attempt and fumbled twice (though both were recovered by the Vikings), and the Vikings scored on long runs by Patterson, a pick, and short drives thanks to turnovers.

Cassel has been remarkably bad since the 2011 season. Sanchez, meanwhile, played well last year with the Eagles once he was out from the clutches of Brian Schottenheimer's playcalling.

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You didn't watch him play, I'm guessing.

Matt Cassel won 10 games as a starter with the Patriots in 2008. Since then, he's won a total of 23 starts over six seasons. Since 2009, the only qualifying QB with a worse QBR is Mark Sanchez, who like Cassel is a former USC QB who played for Rex Ryan in the NFL.

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http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12419545/buffalo-bills-get-matt-cassell-trade-minnesota-vikings

I'll leave it at that.

Now if Hoyer can sign with Miami and Mallet with the Jets we can have the Brady and his backups division

Triumph said:

Im no Sanchez fan but he had his moments when the Jets surrounded him with talent.

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Cassel had his moments when surrounded by talent too. What's your point? Sanchez had his shot with a pretty decent team last year, started out pretty good, but in the end was pretty much, well....Mark Sanchez.

With the transformation of the Bills (Rex, Shady, and Cassel), does this all but guarantee that they will be our opponent in the season opener?

Do we really have to debate Cassel vs. Sanchez? Good lord, there must be better things to do on a Wednesday...

They give to much for him. Even if Sanchez is worse than Cassel, the difference is not great. The cap
ramifications will similar i believe and you will be able to keep your basically fourth round pick (first fifth ). Remember Logan Mankins was a 4th round pick. We got lucky that TB was the worst team in the league and ended up staying nearly a third choice.

meatface said:

Now if Hoyer can sign with Miami and Mallet with the Jets we can have the Brady and his backups division

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And if it stays that way until it's Garrapolo's time then you really will have an ALL BRADY BACKUP division.

Ross12 said:

Do we really have to debate Cassel vs. Sanchez? Good lord, there must be better things to do on a Wednesday...

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There's nothing else happening in football right now, and the mods will move any thread we start about the 15,000 measured penises, so what else is there?

Deus Irae said:

There's nothing else happening in football right now, and the mods will move any thread we start about the 15,000 measured penises, so what else is there?

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Wouldn't they just merge it into this thread and rename this thread, "15,000 Measured Penises"?

brdmaverick said:

With the transformation of the Bills (Rex, Shady, and Cassel), does this all but guarantee that they will be our opponent in the season opener?

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Doesn't the NFL usually try to match up two teams people actually want to watch in the season opener? I guess you could schedule the Jags or the Titans, but the Buffalo Bills are pretty far down the list of teams with big public interest...

Triumph said:

Im no Sanchez fan but he had his moments when the Jets surrounded him with talent.

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His moments of not being embarrassed because the talent carried him?

Cassel is not the future of the Bills and at this point I'd say he's probably a small step down from where Kyle Orton was last year.

Still - he's a good veteran backup and this will buy a little more time for EJ Manuel. Not sure how much patience they have with EJ but I would think they should hope he takes a step forwards this year not backwards....

hwc said:

Doesn't the NFL usually try to match up two teams people actually want to watch in the season opener? I guess you could schedule the Jags or the Titans, but the Buffalo Bills are pretty far down the list of teams with big public interest...

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Not if the Bills win the off-season SB.

JackBauer said:

I think you underestimate how bad EJ Manuel is.

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Maybe so, but EJ Manuel has played a total of 15 NFL games. I think we don't know how good this kid could become. It's a big mistake to assume players don't develop and grow into their roles. We know how much the Patriots change and improve in the course of a season, and how players develop over the course of their careers.

These teams that throw rookie QBs to the small "l" lions, especially when the offensive isn't very good, expect too much. Russell Wilson stepped into an ideal situation as a rookie with a complete team in place, a steady veteran backup as a mentor, and a team that was run-first and defense-oriented.

EJ Manuel is in a similar situation entering his third season. He's physically the best of the trio they have right now - Manuel, Cassell, and Tuel. His job shouldn't be to win games, but to keep the Bills in them. The kid is smart, can run and has a good arm.

McCoy and Jackson is a veteran backfield, the receiving corps is sound (Watson is elite), and this will be a defense-oriented team who should be playing games in the high teens, low 20s. The biggest question for the Bills is their offensive line. If they put a decent line together and their aging RBs stay healthy, the Bills can take the next step to 10-6 and a playoff spot.

Mind-boggling why they would trade for a QB we know inside out.

goheels22002 said:

The kid is smart, can run and has a good arm.

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Eh. He's an inaccurate passer and his decision-making/reading ability sucks. Which, of course, were the knocks on him coming out of college (NFL comparison: Blaine Gabbert). Given that Rex hasn't exactly shown the ability to cultivate QB talent, I just don't see it.

Some comments on the comments: (at least the last 3 pages worth)

1. I'm actually surprised that this transaction generated so much discussion. Regardless of what you think of Cassell good or bad, it would be difficult to say he's an upgrade from the decent job Kyle Orton did. Clearly he's just a fill in until Manuel "gets it" or they have the draft capital to fix their QB position.

2. When surrounded by good weapons a good running game, and a very good defense. Matt Cassell can be an effective NFL QB. He's not one who can carry a team, but then very few can. So the Bills were likely to be a threat next year anyway.

3. I really like this trade for both teams. Kiko is a great inside LB prospect, but with all the talent on the Bills defense, he might have been a redundant asset. McCoy is a top 5 RB in the league, plain and simple. I went to the joint practices with the Eagles, and it was evident to even the casual observer that McCoy was a level above the other RB's on the field. He's a guy who consistently makes defenders miss, even in traffic.

4. Assuming he agrees to go to Buffalo, he will make the Bills the short term winners in this trade as far as immediate impact. It will be interesting to see next week how he feels about having to play in northern NY.

5. If I were a Bills fan, I would be thrilled with this off season so far. Everyone (except me) seems to think they hit a home run in their HC hire. They get an elite RB for a guy who didn't play last season. They get a decent replacement for Orton, and their bitter rival might lose half their secondary in FA. And Boston is the snow capital of the country. What could be better than THAT.

6. I still think the Steelers will be the opening game. Rex and the resurgent Bills might be interesting to us, but would still be a big yawn for the rest of the country

patfanken said:

And Boston is the snow capital of the country. What could be better than THAT.

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Buffalo's the fourth snowiest city this winter, and Boston's fifth. Worcester's the snow capital of the country.

http://goldensnowglobe.com/current-top-10-snowiest-cities/

IllegalContact said:

who was the DC last year?
who will be their NT?
who will be their OLB's?
Mario Williams signed a contract that got him away from the 3-4....they're going to pay him that much money to be a 3-4 DE?

what they played in 2013 is nothing like what Rex Ryan has ever deployed......

guess you must be the one joking

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First off, please don't pretend like you know anything about the bills defense ...lol. second off, Pettine and Ryan DO run a very similar style defense, they worked together in Baltimore and N.J for years. You don't think that they might share a similar approach to defense. It is NOT strictly a 3-4, it is a HYBRID. Third off, they have the same players on d as they did in 2013 for the most part. Do you honestly think that they are all of a sudden going to forget what they learned two years ago. Fourth off, 3-4, 4-3, 46...it doesn't matter, mario came to buffalo for one reason....a S---ton of money.

patfanken said:

I'm actually surprised that this transaction generated so much discussion. Regardless of what you think of Cassell good or bad, it would be difficult to say he's an upgrade from the decent job Kyle Orton did. Clearly he's just a fill in until Manuel "gets it" or they have the draft capital to fix their QB position.

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I think people are forgetting how Ryan won in New York. Cassel's job is going to be to hand the ball off and generally be a 1 read passer, just as Sanchez was in 2009-2010. Ryan's probably going to look for another RB, a couple more OL and a DB, along with trying to convince Harris to follow him to Buffalo.

It's obviously way too early to be saying "Definitely in/out of the playoffs", but these moves put the Bills in the mix, at the moment, in a weak AFC.

AFCE - Patriots/Bills
AFCN - Steelers/Bengals/Ravens
AFCS - Colts/Texans
AFCW - Broncos/Chiefs/Chargers