Alphadawg7

Jets, Bears, Texans please

Here is one stat that gives me hope some new thinking and play calling could help spike our ability to get more pressure and get more from our young guys. Jerry Hughes since being traded to the Bills has played 10 seasons. 5 of them with Frazier, 5 of them without Frazier (his first 4 seasons here and last year with Houston). Without Frazier: Averages 8 sacks a season. With Frazier: Averages 4 sacks a season. Doesn't mean it was all Frazier's fault, could be the scheme too. But, I don't think it had any chance of being "better" this year had Frazier stayed, more like more of the same. At least with McD potentially being more aggressive and bringing new thinking and play calling to the table, there is at least the potential to get more out of our young guys and improve our pass rush. So I am actually quite excited to see if McD can make a positive impact on this defense and ramp up the aggression and pass rush. The one concern is the MLB spot which has been a key position for McD's defenses. Hoping we get one of the top prospects there in the draft in the first couple of rounds to give him something more to work with than an unproven Bernard.

Luckily there is no chance we are going CB in round 1. Zach in the 2nd wouldn't surprise me though.

I do think there is a reason, and it has nothing to do with Knox's ability to get the ball more. It has everything to do with how the TE position is being used in our offenses under Daboll and Dorsey. We are an offense that likes to push the ball down field, while at the same time having OL issues that struggle to hold protections long enough for routes to develop down field. So Dorsey elected to use Knox more as a blocker to try and negate that. And you say a Gronk type player...others say a Kelce type player...I mean lets be real, those are 2 of the top 3 or 4 to ever do it at their positions in the history of the NFL, and some would argue they are the top 2. You don't just find a top 5 player in NFL history when ever you want to. More importantly, its not like every team needs to find a Kelce or Gronk. Knox is capable of being a top 5 TE in the NFL this year, but he can't produce like that if he is not given the targets to do so. I mean look at San Francisco, I don't think anyone would disagree that Kittle is the 2nd best TE in football. If they used Kittle the way KC uses Kelce, then Kittle's numbers would be as good or better than Kelce. But they don't, they are a run first team and when Jimmy G was the QB he was a statue from the pocket, so they used Kittle a lot as an extra blocker. When Purdy took over, Kittles numbers began exploding because Purdy had more mobility to buy time and giving the young QB another safety net like Kittle made more sense so he was used as a receiver a lot more. And thankfully so as he was a big reason I won my fantasy championship after being mostly worthless while Jimmy G was QB. It is all about how a player is used. If they committed to featuring and using Knox as a receiver more (and he leads the team in catch % too), he would easily have top 5 TE stats. I mean Knox only had 65 targets this year despite having 15 TD's the last 2 seasons.

There are several guys on this list I wouldn't mind seeing us sign for the right price. Like it or not, Von is both a question mark and concern given the timing of his injury, his age, and the kind of player he is. So I wouldn't mind signing some depth or insurance of a proven pass rusher, likely on a 1 year deal. And for us, money is going to be the primary factor, as with most potential landing spots for these guys. So I think it's unlikely any of these guys sign anywhere until after the draft. These guys value will go down as teams who might have been potential suitors grab guys in the draft and they have less options on the open market. And with this many guys on the free agent market, teams don't really have any reason to rush to sign one.

And this is why I am still concerned about Dorsey. I get it was his first season as an OC, and he very well could prove to become a great OC. But he isn't a great OC yet and is learning on the job. And the idea we are putting our current Super Bowl window and the prime years of Allen in the hands of an inexperienced OC makes me nervous. And while some things are understandable learning curves, using the personnel properly should not be one of them when he has been here this long and is so familiar with the roster. And it went beyond the use of Knox. Not getting Cook involved in the run game earlier in the season was understandable with Singletary and even Moss still here. But not getting Cook involved as a pass catcher was puzzling given they tried to sign McFlake from Washington in free agency, then signed Duke, and then used a 2nd rounder on Cook and all for the purpose of catching passes out of the backfield. With Crowder hurt, and McKenzie being unreliable at the slot, it was also puzzling that Shakir wasn't getting more opportunities given he was showing quite a bit of poential in the limited ones he got. Then we trade for Hines who I believe he only got him something like 10 total touches on the season even though a big reason we made the trade was to add another receiving weapon. So I am hoping this year is different and we make better use of the talent on the roster. I think Beane had a sneaky good offseason so far on adding pieces to the offense and I am excited to see what else we add between now and camp, and how Dorsey and the offense comes together in camp.

I wouldn't call Woolen a "sleeper" last year, he was one of the most talked about DB's after he crushed the combine and was widely believed he would go in the 2nd round. I was pounding the drum for him to be our 2nd round pick if we didn't go DB in the first, and a lot of mock drafts had him going in the 2nd round, often high 2nd round, after his combine. I was even hoping the Bills would trade down in the first and then take Woolen in the 2nd. Ultimately, he slipped in the draft, but I wouldn't label him a sleeper heading into it. I would define a sleeper is someone not getting a ton of buzz and not predicted to go early. There was a ton of buzz and intrigue around him and he was most often seen as someone who was going to go in the 2nd. Funny in the 3rd round last year, the two players I wanted most that were on the board were Woolen and Shakir. We had already taken Elam, so was hoping for Shakir even though I was higher on Woolen. After we took Bernard I went and did other things since we didn't have a 4th rounder. When I came back, we were literally on the clock and I was stunned both Shakir and Woolen were still on the board. So was stoked we got Shakir, someone I am still high on today. But would have been thrilled with either pick.

Agreed, and I will add that through the first 13 games of the season last year, Dorsey still wasn't using him enough, not even in the redzone where he only had 2 TD's thus far. Then down the stretch, Knox was finally prioritized more in the redzone and it resulted in 4 TD's over the final 4 games. This was something I was incredibly frustrated with Dorsey about last season...his use of personnel. Knox was coming off a season where he had double digit TD's, just signed a big extension, and our receivers were not doing enough to help Josh. For him to not get Knox more involved in the passing game made no sense at all. And of course Dorsey also was failing to get guys like Cook, Hines, and Shakir more involved in the pass game as well despite the need to get Josh more weapons on the field to throw to with some of the struggles going on at WR. I really hope they learned that they need to incorporate Knox more into our passing attack, and certainly needs to be a key player in the redzone all year. Just getting him a little more involved throughout the season would easily make him a perennial 800+ yard and 10+ TD player.

All good, never the less there are a lot of people in various threads wanting us to take a TE in round 1 and I just don’t understand why. Im all for drafting a TE later in the draft, just not so early. But to answer your question, I think I would go WR before TE, but I also don’t feel as much pressure to take a WR early as I really like the 2 signings we did and still am high on Shakir. I think the issue with Knox is not his ability, he’s actually quite physically gifted. It’s more what you said after, we just aren’t using our TE the way others are in terms of a primary weapon. Knox only had 65 targets last year, yet was 6th in TDs. For comparison Kelce has 2.5X more targets. Knox also led out team in catch %. But we just don’t feature the TE position. Im not saying Knox can be Kelce, but he would break 1000 yards if we actually threw him the ball like a primary target and would easily have double digit TDs every year.

Im not against getting one later, I’m specifically talking first round, and even 2nd round. Invest in other areas that move the needle more early like OL, LB, or WR

I have no interest in the Bills taking another TE they don’t throw the ball too personally

Hard disagree with Knox ranking 23rd, that ranking does not reflect his stats. Knox was 18th in targets received but still finished 14th in yards and 6th in TD's. Not mention a pretty good blocker too. Kelce literally had 2.5x more targets than Knox...cant compete statistically when your competition is getting that many more targets than you.

No disrespect, but this notion we are going TE in the first has no rhyme or reason to it. IMHO the odds are low that we are using our first round pick on a 2nd TE that Dorsey doesn't use. We have a talented one we just signed to a big extension that Dorsey struggled to get involved in the passing game. So now we are going to use a first round pick on a "blocking TE" that can easily be found in FA, later in the draft, or even as an UDFA? Or we are going to draft another receiving TE for an offense that has not at any time with Daboll or Dorsey had a TE reach 600 yards in a pass happy offense? This whole notion that drafting another one somehow frees up Knox is silly. Just improve the OL so we don't have to waste a first round pick on a blocker whose primary job isn't even to block. If you want better pass protection so Knox can run more routes, then improve the OL by using the pick on OL and and get a backup TE elsewhere. I mean how many SB winners featured 2 TE's as part of the primary offensive attack? I believe that answer is zero. Not even the Pats did, they lost to the Giants with Hernandez and Gronk. Now how many SB winners had strong offensive lines? A lot.

We don't need another safety right now. We need to spend that money elsewhere.

Here is mine: Dorsey was not very good last year and any OC we could have hired off the street could have accomplished a similar offensive finish inside the top 5. He was really bad with his redzone play calling, he struggled to involve the talent on the roster all season (like Knox, Cook, Hines, and Shakir), his style was figured out and struggled to make adjustments, and the offense was often predictable and lacked creativity too often. We were a top 5 offense last year because we have Josh Allen, not because Dorsey did anything special. Can Dorsey keep growing as an OC, of course, but he has a lot to work on this offseason. The good news...Beane has had a sneaky good off season in regards to the offense already before the draft has even come. So that should give Dorsey a lot more to work with this year.

Fixed I want to love Ed Oliver, but he vanishes too easily. There are games where he plays like a beast, then there are games you wouldn't even know he played. My biggest issue with Oliver is that he is too dependent on the others around him IMHO to consistently impact the game. And I also feel pretty confident that Beane won't pay what he will likely get in FA, so I don't expect him here past next year. As far as the Josh Allen comment, don't disagree that Allen didn't play well enough, but its bigger than Allen. The OL was atrocious, our WR's were not doing enough, and Dorsey was really out classed in the postseason. So, I think saying Allen didn't play well enough lacks the context that impacted Allens play, and that was the whole offense, including coaching, was not doing enough to help Josh either.

They compile mock drafts, that doesn't reflect actual scout grading. Not a surprise Sanders is mocked a bit earlier because he excels more at rushing the passer as more of a hybrid LB who converted from DE vs a true Mike LB. It honestly comes down to the type of LB you want really because both Sanders and Simpson are quite different players than Campbell.

I would bet money LaPorta goes inside the first 47 picks.

I don’t know what is worse…People trying to apply some DaVinci Code type of cryptic meanings to anything someone says on Twitter…or taking any tweet seriously on April Fools. Both seem pretty equally ridiculous.

It’s all good, was just my 2 cents, take it FWIW. But I said it’s how it came across, I didn’t say it was your intention. Even said it may be coming off differently than you intend.

You didn’t say it to me, just seen you say this now in multiple threads and was just saying I think it makes you come across differently than maybe you intend. Was just honest feedback as I think your posts are stronger without it IMHO.

No disrespect Gunner, but I would drop the whole "I got 28 out of the 32 1st rounders in my final mock last year" thing because just about every final mock scored like this or better. That is a lot different than mocking the correct slot and team. In fact, the first 3 I pulled up had 28 or 29 correct of who was going first round. Even my own had 27 correct from my mock draft pool and I in, and I made almost no effort on it as I was so busy prepping for my wedding and honeymoon a month later. It was pretty easy to do last year, not really something to keep flexing on as if it means you have a better opinion than anyone you are talking to. IMHO, every time you say this it just comes across as you trying to say your opinion is better than theirs when in reality this "28 out of 32" was pretty easy to do last year. Just some honest feedback, not meant to be rude.

Campbell is graded higher than Sanders just about everywhere I check. So not a surprise to see Campbell the more talked about player. I think both are potential targets for us, but if we were to draft Sanders I think we would be wasting his best attributes which is rushing the passer as we do not bring blitzes often from the MLB spot in this defense. So unless McD intends on changing how we have used our MLB, Campbell seems to be the more ready to play fit for us. I would be excited about either player personally, both have some exciting positives about them. But I just think Campbell seems to be a more likely choice who could come in more ready to play in this defense.

I would certainly like to see us bring him back. There were times last here where he was arguably playing maybe the best on the whole DL.

Call Dorsey and tell him to use him would be a good start.