WhitewalkerInPhilly

Any Astro Notes on how Tyrod is doing? To hear from Joe B and even Fairburn the sky was falling but he sounded ok in Astro's writeup

I'm hearing a lot of "I've never seen this in camp before" and I like it. It's hard not to get excited about Zay. It sounds like he catches everything thrown his direction

I am a noted Kool Aid drinker, but I don't know. Something feels different this year. I loved Rex's bravado, but the back of my brain had whispers of things going wrong. This year, the risks are blunt to me: questionable LB group. Thin secondary. Thin WR. But for all that, for some reason, I'm not worried. From all reports, Lawson and Hughes are flying off the ends. Safety is no longer neglected. Dareus and Kyle look hungry. Tyrod has his limitations, but I salivate at some of the bootlegs Sieman was able to run last year. With Shady still in high gear, and JWill to back him up, and a strong FB and backfield receiving game, plus a cohesive O-line for the first time in years, I have few doubts of being a top 10 run team again. Zay looks worth the picks. If we can snag Boldin, I actually really like our WE group.

I did a double take too. I assume Holmes, who has had a rough camp so far. Zay looks like a perfect number two option so far.

Zay is sounding like an excellent investment, and Holmes is sounding like an excellent reason to sign Boldin.

Lol, did he steal that from Astro?

We also lost Goodwin! Isn't that going to be a huge loss? ... *chirp chirp*...*chirp chirp*

I heard a decent point on WGR last week: in terms of body type, Boldin is very similar to Zay. Now, he has maybe one or two year left in the tank, but if he can help Zay refine his game, that's worth a little extra alone. And that's on top of being a surer bet in the slot and a nice possession, move the chains WR at this point in his career, which we can use. Let's open the checkbook.

I agree that Holmes isn't likely to be cut, at the least because of ST and being brought in on a vet contract. But if he has a constant case of the drops, maybe we should up our offer to Boldin.

I just hope I don't get locked out trying to remember! And man, I don't think it's even been a decade yet! I can help with that. Just give me a credit card number, security code, social security number and your mother's maiden name. I kid! I kid!

Anyone know the terms of the trade?

Geez, right before camp too. I mean, it was assumed that he was 4th on the depth chart. For my money, it's a mix of Lynn thinking he might have something while he has Rivers to tide him over and Beane pushing Petterman

No. Just no. The controls you are suggesting are in place in the NBA, and what that did for the Sixers was encourage them to tank three years in a row and pull their best players at the first sign of injury year four. They were "punished" by being pressured to fire the GM who set it up. Now they are being rewarded with a roster full of very talented young picks and bountiful cap space. In the NFL, the point of tanking is to get a QB. Winston, Mariota, Goff and Wentz were 1 and 2 overall picks and none of them have made the playoffs. Goff looks like a total bust. You take your chances.

For me, I'm curious if that is part of what flipped the switch for McDermott to come to Buffalo. I mean, I can understand passing on San Francisco because that's really not a good situation right now, but I could have seen the appeal of working with Rivers.

Fixed it.

Fairburn has been doing some quality work for the last bunch of years. Honestly, I think it's better than a lot of what happens at TBN.

Along that vein, I believe there was something in franchise history that went something along the lines of this. Number of 200 yard rushers vs the Bills from founding-2015: 3 Number of 200 yard rushers in 2016: 2

I'll be honest, the division systems have some weird stuff in them. You get Dallas in the NFC East despite the fact that it's pretty far south and in the midwest. You have Indy in the AFC South when it's in the north half of the country. You get a grouping of the northest in the AFC east (Buffalo, NY, NE) and then the Phins to the south I'd be curious to see the conference redrawn by region, but my quick attempt just didn't work.

Devi's Advocate: How many QBs that have been drafted 5th round or later in the last 20 years have gone on to win a playoff game? How many haven't? Again, there are outliers (Romo, Brady) but you see a lot more washouts. Hey, if the kid looks like the second coming of Brady, I will certainly take him, but even then the smart play is to bring him in slowly under Tyrod, not chase out Tyrod in camp.

Every year, teams without a franchise QB or a top 5 pick hope that they have found a gem of a QB who someone else in need has passed on. Even with Dalton, Kaep, Carr and Prescott, the lowest drafted recent QB to get to the playoffs is Russel Wilson. So yes, I would rather enjoy Peterman to become an all time HOF player, I'm just not having it. To me, a successful camp for him is becoming a better backup than EJ and Cardale were last year. Let's be honest here: I don't think that the Bills trade back for KC's 1st in 2018 and pass on Mahomes because they thought that Tyrod's replacement was in this draft. My money, it's for banking a potential 3 first round picks (Bills 2018, Bills 2019, Chiefs 2018) to go up and get the guy and let him beat out Tyrod in camp.

I get that it rankles people when players like Sammy and Sherman talk about wanting more money. But the majority of player careers are less than 3 years, and they take a lot of physical abuse over that time with longer term health problems. I am ok with more guaranteed money provisions and maybe extended health care benefits after leaving. Don't tell me that the owners can't afford it.

I'm going to say: playoffs. Because even getting to the dance gets you an outside shot at winning it. The Ravens and Giants were wild cards in 2011 and 2012. But if we don't, I honestly hope for a top 5 pick bad season. Agonizing as that would be, with the KC pick and the 2018 pick we could have almost anyone we want

Three. It would be 4 next year. Man, who remembers that stretch where the defense gave Manning and Rodgers some of their worst numbers of the season, only to lose to 'effin Carr and the Raiders...

Is there anything on this at all? You would think that all sides would like to have a decision by the start of training camp at least. He's already lost a lot of time by not getting a playbook.

Honestly, the "Best 11" to me makes me think more along the lines of going with a modified Big Nickel as a base. Realistically, we in a league setup when the majority of times you are in subpackages more than a standard 3-4 or 4-3 base, and I see value in being more flexible in a nickel situation than having to risk Brady ripping us because they go no huddle and we can't get subs in. Going off of what Micah Hyde mentioned, he sees himself as willing to be a hybrid safety/LB. Now, to be honest, I don't love the prospect of either Ragland or Brown as a pure WLB, and I have worried about MLB. But if you are telling me that we are going to yank LorAx (really an edge rusher) from SAM on nickel downs to slide in Seymour as an extra CB, and move Hyde into the box to line up over the slot receiver or TE while Poyer centerfields...well, I feel better about Brown and Ragland to shade the other have the field and run stuff respectively.