Alphadawg7

And the anonymous source tweets begin...more will certainly come. So a team with a bad OL who wasn't willing to pay another talented RB in Dalvin is now going to both pay him even more money and give up draft assets (that they will need as their cap balloons soon) for a guy who is coming off am injury and a down year? Color me skeptical. They could have just signed Dalvin cheaper and not had to trade any assets. And Dalvin was making it clear he wanted to play there too.

Well you left of Tre, Dion, and Milano who were drafted with McD here who had a heavy hand in that draft and works with Beane on our current drafts, so don't think you get to exclude them as its still part of this regime. And if Dean doesn't work out and Cook becomes a pro-bowl RB, you would be wrong in your assessment that hindsight we should have drafted Dean...Hence its too early to play the hindsight game with these players. Not sure how this is confusing to you on this point. Make your mind up...on one hand you are complaining our HC has put too much emphasis on defensive players while complaining about drafting an offensive player. You don't see the irony there? I am fine agreeing to disagree, but I don't even know what we are agreeing to disagree on. I mean I was all for drafting a LB, so not sure what it is you think I disagree with in that regard.

Yeah I agree, that makes the most sense. But thinking about it, how many of those scenarios are out there who also have the need for a RB? Off the top of my head, the only team I think it could make some sense for is Bears, but they they just drafted Roschon and have a couple good vets there too that they like. They didn't show any interest in Dalvin Cook who could have just been signed for cheaper and not cost any draft capital...so doubt they are going to be players for Taylor.

This will be interesting because he wants to get paid, so not only do they need to compensate the Colts, but they will need to pay him and I am guessing he is going to expect $10M+ even though he is coming off injury and won't be playing behind that great OL.

In the past when the Bills would reach that point in the season where it's clear they still suck, Lakers season would begin and keep me away from the edge of the cliff lol

Nope, while I knew Edmunds loss was gonna be worse than most people thought, I also didn't want to spend the money to resign him. This is a thread on how we have an open competition at a specific position and we are not letting a rookie, who might be the most talented option, currently try and compete for that position even though the other guys have yet to seize the opportunity.

While something has to give between the 11 guys we have along the DL, I don't think Shaq is one of them. He has played well and brings something to the rotation the others don't. Personally I firmly believe they would cut Ford before they did Shaq. Dodson could be a cut, but that is going to depend on Bernard and his hammy. I doubt they cut Dodson before they know 1) Bernard is ready week 1 and 2) He can play the position. I think they will keep 6 at WR and send Shorter to the PS which makes room for Dodson. Outside of that, I agree on all other positions here.

Yeah, also doesn't help not wanting to get up and get my newly needed glasses now that I am 47 because I have a 13 week old baby on my lap haha

I think you need to go back and read the posts because 1) I said nothing about Bernard and 2) We were discussing Dorian and whether he has any potential or not at MLB in the first place.

You are not even making sense now. The majority of our key players were drafted by this staff and front office. And then there were guys like Hyde and Poyer who didn't reach high level of play until they got here, especially Poyer. Hyde showed some promise in GB as a young player, but he wasn't yet at the level he reached here. And Poyer was an after thought signing that grew into one of the best safeties of the game here. What is the evidence of "heavily" reliant upon free agents? You do know every team in the NFL signs free agents every season right? We don't rely on them any more than any other team and have had really only made one huge FA signing in Von. Meanwhile on offense we drafted our QB, RB, WR2, Slot WR, both TE's half our starting OL...on defense we drafted our DT, several DE's, all our LB's projected to start, all our CB's. And again, we brought in Hyde and Poyer as cheap under the radar free agents that our scouts targeted and developed them into one of the best safety tandems in the league. I didn't alter the context at all...I specifically said its too early to play the hindsight game with Cook. You are just stating your opinion that Cook won't be a good RB and that Dean will be a "solid" LB. We don't know either of those things yet, so again, too early to play hindsight games. Am I the only one that catches the irony here lmao? You are literally complaining we drafted offense instead of defense with Cook while also simultaneously ranting that its because our HC is obsessed with defense? Lol, how does that even make sense lmao

Yeah don't disagree. It is why heading into this offseason I felt this might be Beane's most important draft since landing our QB because we don't have the spending power to go sign top end talent anymore and need to find and develop these guys in the draft.

Good catch, yeah I know the difference and that is what I meant. Just had originally used cease in a different context and missed it on the edit when I was adjusting what I was saying.

Well considering McD and Beane took a perennial losing franchise, changed the culture, rebuilt the roster in one of the best in the league and are now a perennial contender I would say there are more options than "they were lying" and "they don't know what they were doing." I think I will trust their scouting of players for their system more than I will trust internet draft profiles, which almost the entirety of them are not coming off the back of the amount of time and research a teams scouting department does on players they are vetting. I think it is too early to play the hindsight game on Cook who is entering the season with potentially a big role. As far as the hindsight game goes on taking a LB, its funny you say that because the majority of this board was adamantly against using any early picks both last year and this year on LB or even defense at all. So while you say we should have drafted Dean, that was not the consensus around here by any means. I don't personally know what you wanted to do, so that is not directed at you, more a general comment about how people felt around here.

Except he didn't have mind numbing drops. The one big drop was in the playoff game not during the season and that was a difficult diving catch on a 60 yard rope from Allen in the air in a rookies first playoff game. You want to see him complete that catch of course, but it wasn't like it went right through his hands as he caught it but on securing it when hitting the ground and rolling to complete the tip nicked the turf and it was over turned under replay. And people also forget he also a pretty important and touch catch in that game that helped us win the game. So not sure I can agree that he benched himself during the season because he simply wasn't plagued with drops during the regular season.

I mean they drafted a majority of their best players and starters. Allen and Edmunds were both raw...Allen became elite and Edmunds made multiple probowls and was top 5 in tackles since entering the league (and proving it can get a lot worse at MLB with him now gone). Then you got Milano who is one of the better OLB in the league and Tre who was one of the best corners in the league before injury. They took a raw TE out of college and made him into a pretty good player in Knox who has 15 TD's the last 2 seasons despite limited usage in the pass game and never catching a TD in college. Then they took a DE in Groot who sat out his last year of college and was raw coming out and turned him into a promising and pretty good young player for us. Then you have guys who have been good to solid for the team as well such as Oliver, Taron, Benford, Devin, etc too. Then there is still promising young talent where its too early to know like Elam, Shakir, Cook, Dorian, and of course the big one in Kincaid. So I personally think they have done a pretty good overall job in developing guys here in a lot of cases even if I don't agree on how they handled some of them like I mentioned in my OP.

Im not as down on Dawkins as most, but I believe he has the 5th highest cap hit on the team if I am not mistaken, so I get why there are higher expectations around him. I think Dion will be better this year without that trash can Saffold next to him. I am much more concerned with Brown at RT than I am with anything on the left side. I am hoping that the presence of O'Cyrus and more reps to get rust off help Brown take a step forward this year, but until we see that I am going to remain concerned.

It still may be Bernards job to lose if he can get back in time as Dodson's lack of discipline and mental struggles at the position are keeping that door open for him. And not only is he still unproven there, but like you said his size is a concern in terms of being able to play a full season at MLB. Which is where I keep coming back to the need to start seeing if Dorian can acclimate to the position here as the season goes on to see if he can be a better option as the season progresses. You know, its possible that maybe they are keeping Dorian at OLB in case there is a dooms day scenario where MLB just remains a big issue and they have no choice but to slide Milano over down the stretch and Dorian would be ready to step in at OLB in that case. Not saying they are planning on that, but it also would not shock me if that is part of the consideration on why Dorian is at OLB primarily right now. Obviously they want/hope that someone else like Bernard, Dodson, etc step up and cease control of the spot, but if they falter they will have to consider other options there as it's an important position in McD's defense.

I don't take any exception to anything stated here, and I agree that the coaches have shown they can develop guys in the past. But, sometimes the hole is too glaring to not try and get the better talent ready sooner rather than later. Sometimes, out of need usually, you got to trust the kids talents and test his ability to get ready to play the position. And right now, until someone steps up, it appears we have a big need still at MLB and that Dorian has the potential to be the better player at MLB. If the MLB continues to be a weak point, I hope they give him a chance to see if he can be ready to step up into this spot later in the year if needed.

I definitely understand this approach, and its not wrong, and McD and company have successfully developed guys this way in the past. However, there comes a time where the hole is too glaring to not start getting the kid exposed to the position and seeing if he can develop there enough this year to be a better option. I am not saying throw Dorian to the wolves at MLB right now, I mean he hasn't been learning the position at all thus far. I am just saying start getting the kid some reps in practice in case they need to try and make a change later in the season given we haven't seen anyone step up and look ready to cease control of the MLB spot yet.

On the other hand, there is no preparation in regards to pre-season games. So again, I will wait and see how this plays out in the regular season before I start to get concerned. Not to mention, the OL is the part that takes the most reps to gel, especially when there are new players on the line and guys returning form injury like we have. So it didn't really surprise me persoanlly a whole lot that the starting unit didn't look sharp on the OL in its first preseason action. Now if it persists in the season, then yeah, we got a problem. But don't be surprised if it takes a few games before the OL finds its groove

I have a love-hate relationship with how McD and the staff have handled rookies. Unless we have had no choice, we often bring them along slowly. And its hard to argue against the results given they have developed a lot of young talent into superstars, quality starters, or good role players. BUT...there are times where it just doesn't make sense and they need to get the rookies move involved and still don't. And I just don't understand the hesitation at times. For example Shakir last year. With Crowder going down and McKenzie struggling as the top slot WR, it made no sense to not give Shakir more reps out there to at least get him some experience and see what he could do. And they could have always added Cole after if he wasn't up to the task. Instead, we are entering this year with him penciled in as the slot still with big question marks around him because we didn't get him on the field enough last year despite some promising plays from him. Even AJE, they took him 2nd round and then buried him on the depth chart behind guys at the end of their careers and he basically barely saw any time as a rookie. And honestly, he has never not been buried despite strong camps, showing some promise, and even a 6.5 sack season last year. This year for me its Dorian Williams. We came in with a huge hole at MLB, they said he was drafted with the intent he could be a candidate to play at MLB. But then they open camp running him behind Milano where he won't see the field much without injuries. Meanwhile our MLB position is grossly unsettled while Dorian has been shining at a position he likely won't see the field much at. And I get the concept of them not wanting a rookie learn two positions, but that also means someone else is ready to step up at MLB, and so far that isn't happening. I am hoping the continued unsettled nature of the MLB will cause them to start getting Dorian some reps in practice soon or early in the season for a possible switch by mid to late season. He is showing a lot of promise, and I just hope they don't sit on this kid for a season like they have done at times in the past. If someone doesn't lock down the MLB position, they absolutely better see if Dorian can be the guy before we head into next offseason.

I think it has more to do with vets main focus being don't get hurt and not going 100%. We also have a lot of new parts on the offense, some guys coming back from injury on both sides of the ball, a new QB of the D being figured out at MLB, etc. And with the new pieces and guys coming back from injury, its gonna take some reps for everyone to also gel on the field and get their rhythm too. So for me, I am not too worried at this point about the vets turning it on and getting out of the hangover come the regular season. I do have legit concerns until proven otherwise at MLB and RT, but that has been the case all off season given they are our two biggest question marks after FA and the Draft remaining on the team.

I think the answer here isn't complicated, it comes down to: Shakir was a higher profile pic, he was projected to go as high as the 2nd to 3rd round and was a good value where we got him, while Shorter wasn't even sure he would get drafted. Shorter is a rookie behind 3 locks for the roster in Diggs, Davis, and Sherfield while Shakir entered camp as the lead candidate to be our WR at the slot position and doesn't have a lot of competition either. Shakir has a year in the system, Shorter is a raw rookie who didn't reach his potential in college. So if you want to ask why Shakir might make the team over Shorter, I would start with those items above. None of that assures Shakir his spot, but it explains why he has a leg up and why people still believe he has potential. I think a lot of people are intrigued by Shorter given his size and different skill set, but he does have a harder path to the active 53 than Shakir does for the reasons I stated above.

The amount of over reaction to a preseason game is comical. Of course it’s being led by the usual suspects who break out in a sweat of excitement anytime they see something they can be negative about. This board is in mid season form already of usual doom and gloom

Geezus it’s preseason relax