Alphadawg7

I voted for a top 3 team still...here is why: We were already a top tier team before the offseason began. We gained a lot more than we lost. Defense - Our biggest loss is Edmunds, but we managed to keep Poyer and now get Hyde back as well. Plus Tre should be better going into this year as it often takes until the next season to get all the way back from a torn ACL. Von Miller will be back too. So looking at the Bengals game last year, we lose Edmunds but gain Hyde, Von, and a better Tre...that is a net positive by all measures. And we have brought other guys back and some new ones like Rapp and Poona. Bonus - We will have new life from the DC position too with McD calling plays rather than the serial playoff folder Frazier. This is a "change is good" situation in my book, at least on paper. Offense - We got rid of guys at or near the end of their career and made upgrades else where as well. We did not downgrade at any of the 11 spots on offense, and we have actually upgraded many. Out are the end of career guys or guys who really just shouldn't have been starting (Brown, Cole, McKenzie, Saffold, etc). Sherfield is better than people realize and Harty gives us that gadget like player who can also take the top off the D when needed. Kincaid is a potential stud, and Harris/Murray combo is better than the Devin/Moss combo we started last year with. OL is in much better shape (on paper at least) than last year too. Josh Allen - The guy is just special, anytime you have him you are automatically going to be a very tough team to beat. But more importantly, he is back to 100% and also the mental toll that was last year is gone off him. Yes, the whole team went through the same emotionally draining events, but it weighs even heavier on Josh given the kind of person he is, the pressure he has to lead this team, and all this team has had to ask of him to win games. Health more than ever could be a major factor on separating teams at the top this year. The teams are so clumped at the top now, especially in the AFC, that even a small injury can shift hierarchy. Now...all that being said does NOT mean we will still win 13 games again or have a top 3 record. AFC is nuts, our division is tough, and we play AFC West, NFC East, plus Cincy this year. As with any season, there could be some bumps/hiccups at times, injuries, etc that influence some of those games. But I do think we will make the AFCCG and be one of the final 4 teams with a good shot at the SB. Top 5 overall teams IMHO and in NO particular order: Buffalo, 49ers, Eagles, KC, and Cincy. An argument can be made for any one of those teams to be a "top 3" team IMHO, and so I am sticking with Buffalo doing enough to remain up here and be a strong contender for the Super Bowl.

Ha, ok you got me to laugh there haha. I can't speak for anyone else, but I would never personally say Beane "knew" what Dallas would do because that is impossible. My only personal point was that Beane didn't need to know to justify trading up, he only had to feel the risk was high enough to warrant paying the cost to make sure we got him. Plus besides Dallas, there was another team with a similar offer in play for Jax pick, and there is a good chance it might have also been for Kincaid given he was widely considered to be the BPA at that point. Either way, all good and GoBills!

Im stunned...seriously stunned...that @Airsevenvoted for the most negative poll answer. Never saw that coming, so unlike him.

No disrespect, but I have to say, this is a real odd hill you are trying to die on. I mean, no GM in NFL history ever traded up knowing 100% for sure that X team was 100% taking X player and the only way to get them was to trade up. Literally never happened because teams don't share their draft boards with other GM's. They make calculated decisions on where a player might go and weigh the risk of waiting against the cost of moving up to insure they get said player. So the point you are trying to insist on making is honestly just irrelevant to the decisions a GM has to make on draft night when facing the proposition of staying put or making a move to get a guy. And Beane was comfortable with the cost to get a guy he had way ahead of any other player on his board so he pulled the trigger to make sure he got him. I mean if you expect Beane to ONLY trade up if he 100% knows another teams official draft choice before they have made it, then I think you have a very unrealstic view of what information a GM is expected to concretely know before making decisions. Bottom line too, is just about every sports insider, analyst, commentator, and fan pretty much feel like Dallas was likely going to want Kincaid there if he was on the board. So its not even requiring a leap in logic here to justify Beane's decision to move up, it was what most people thought would be at or near the top of Dallas draft board. And given they took a TE right after this, that is pretty much validated they wanted a TE early and that it is entirely possibly, maybe even likely, Kincaid would have been the BPA when they were on the clock. I for one am glad we don't have a GM afraid to make a small move to get the player they covet, especially when that player is WIDELY considered the best player available still at that spot and also widely seen as a top 10 talent. Not sure why it rubs you the wrong way so much, but hey, everyone is welcome to their own opinions and reasons. GoBills

Totally agree

There would have likely been more picks involved, but on the trade value chart their 3rd slightly over pays for the move up. And there were a number of spots he could have gone before Chargers too like Lions, Packers, etc.

Love love love this signing

This needs more laugh emoticon reactions than you’ve gotten so far haha

But you miss me the point of what it means while live in a draft. You equally have no proof Cowboys would have passed on Kincaid if he didn’t trade up. You have Dallas saying they love the guy they took, which they will say regardless if it’s true or not. They are never ever going to publicly say Mazi wasn’t who they wanted and really wanted Kincaid but got stuck choosing Mazi because Bills out maneuvered them. They are 100% going to always, whether true or not, state the guy they got was their target. Everyone and their mom thought Dallas could take a TE there. So as a GM you have to decide is it worth the gamble to stay put or is the guy too good to risk getting taken before you and therefore the cost of moving up is worth it. This is true for every trade up in every draft. No GM knows if the guy they want will get to them and make decisions to guarantee they get their guy.

I don’t know, no specific details as to why have come out, but my guess would be his feet and route running are similar to Diggs. And with Allens ability to improvise and extend plays someone like Addison could really excel like Diggs has. Outside Diggs, our other receivers struggled with getting separation and winning on their initial routes too, so I just gotta think they were attracted to that kind of stuff. That is just my guess though.

Yeah, I think Shorter has a great shot at making the roster and I think its possible we could carry 7 WR's this year with him and that UDFA kid we supposedly signed to a 3 year deal that has all this ST hype that he could be the best ST player in the NFL soon.

Ok, here you go @KDIGGZ, here is the proof you have been wanting. Beane tells Rich Eisen in this interview that yes, he specifically traded ahead of Dallas because he knew they were in the market for a TE because they lost Schultz and could potentially take him. Go to 8:45 into the interview. Which is exactly what I said that it doesn't matter if Dallas really was, or claim they weren't, etc...all that mattered that in that moment live in the draft that they felt Dallas could take him to warrant trading up to make sure they got him.

Yeah, I think wether Beane said so or not, Shakir is the clear penciled in "starter" at slot entering camp. Sherfield is WR3 behind Diggs and Davis, and Harty is going to be a gadget player and occasional deep ball threat. And I expect him to hold on to that starter designation and open the season that way too.

I think you underestimate just how strong our schedule is. I’m optimistic we will win 11-13 games still, but it’s not the lock you think it is. AFCE is much tougher with Rodgers in it. But we also play the AFC West, NFC East which has both Super Bowl teams in them, and we play Cincy who we didn’t look competitive against in the shortened game or playoff game.

Actually, this is not accurate. Peyton had a winning record vs Brady in the playoffs going 3-2 vs Brady. He faced Brady 4 times as a Colt (2-2) and once as a Bronco (1-0). Peyton doesn't have more Championships because he wasn't the same guy in the post season. And in the only 2 SB's he "won" he beat Rex Grossman the first time, and then in Denver he was the worst passer in the NFL that season and had statistically the worst Super Bowl game of a winning QB in NFL history. Tyrod Taylor could have been the QB in that Super Bowl and they would have still won the game as it was all defense and run game for the Broncos that got them a win. So I think they missed out on multiple championships because Peyton was the A-Rod (baseball A-Rod) of the NFL...gaudy regular season guy, not as dominating in the post season. Manning still holds the NFL record for going 1 and done 9 times in Indy, including several of those being as the #1 seed. Yet only 2 of those 9 losses were to Brady.

Agree with most of this, but with McD I am pretty optimistic about him calling plays, more so than worried. Dorsey still has a lot of question marks for me, but hoping he learned a lot year 1 and makes significant strides in year 2.

Personally, my confidence in Davis was sky high last offseason and the polar opposite this offseason to where I now question if he is capable of even being a good WR2 or is just better suited to be a good WR3. So I am hoping you are correct right now, because even though Kincaid has not stepped on the field yet, I have more confidence in his reliability to make the plays than I do in Davis. Heading into camp, feels like Davis would be best suited as more of a 3rd option where we feed Diggs and Kincaid and then focus more on putting Davis in the spots he is most comfortable to make plays with confidence. At the same time, my bigger concern is Dorsey figuring out how to get Kincaid relevant targets still. Yes it is easy for us all to sit back and say Dorsey will use him like Beasley today...its another thing to see him really do it on the field. Last year he struggled to use our personnel for the way they were intended when we acquired them. Cook and Hines were brought in last year to be receiving weapons and despite the struggles at slot and the need to get Josh more help, Dorsey just didn't use them this way and didn't use Hines at all. Knox was brought here a developmental weapon at TE, and he leads the team in catch % the last 2 seasons and also has 15 TD's....yet he only got 65 targets this year, again in a season where the slot position was struggling and Josh needed a reliable weapon. And Shakir showed promise but couldn't get time at the slot despite the slot struggles. I will have a lot more confidence in whether or not Kincaid will truly be a major part of the pass attack when I see Dorsey actually use him that way. Kincaid isn't much of a blocker right now, so if Dorsey treats him more as a TE2 than he isn't going to take Knox off the field a lot and might end up with less than 50 targets and put up a season of 30-35 rec and like 400 yards and a few TDs. So I am hoping Dorsey truly does use him as more of a big slot than a TE, if he does, Kincaid could be 2nd in targets by seasons end.

I mean it does match and correlate though with how Beane handles the situation and moved up to get the player he said was the only one they felt still had a first round grade. And keep in mind, both times we picked at the back end of the round where there isn’t going to be many guys left with first round grades on anyone’s board. So IMHO I think Beane is being authentic here given where we picked, him moving up, and based on who was left on the board that we would potentially draft.

True...but you also are not looking for a "serviceable" RB when you take one in the top 10. Not defending Atlanta, they had a very good rookie RB last year, so puzzled why they take another and I definitely would have picked someone else. But, just saying when you take a RB in first round in general, it's because you want more than a "serviceable" guy.

Solid signing as insurance for Harris. I mean there was no backup no the roster for Harris as neither Cook or Hines could do what he will be used for, so this felt inevitable after they didn't draft one.

Or maybe they don't have a QB anymore who can elevate the game of players through his own ability and they feel the less talented Jordan Love can't succeed without more help?

As someone expecting his first born here anytime between now and the next few weeks, this was both heartbreaking and terrifying when I got the text alert of this earlier. Can’t even imagine what they are going through and heart goes to him and his family.

Mahomes was polarizing leading up to the draft. Many people in media, here, etc hated the idea of him at 10 but were all for it in the second or in a trade down. Then others thought he should definitely go first half of first round. I did not want him at 10 for example because I hated the idea of taking a QB early who everyone said needs to change all his mechanics to succeed and I had no faith at all we were the team to successfully help him do that at the time. We had just hired a DC as HC and had historically been awful at developing project QBs. Only QB I was comfortable with taking at 10 that year was Watson. I wouldn’t have been pissed if we took Mahomes, but I preferred trading down to get him or just taking Watson.

Whitner had a very solid career and definitely was a successful player. However…everyone and their mom would have bet the house Haloti Ngata was going to be our pick at 8. It was as big a no brainer as there can be in a draft. Bills took a guy that was expected to be a late first or second round player at 8 overall. So can’t say Whitner was a bust like a lot of people here would say who never got over passing on Ngata as he had a pretty solid career and better than a lot of guys who went after him and even before him. But the reach here did not have a better career than the guy everyone said we should have taken. Ngata was amongst the best players from this draft, and arguably the best DT in the league at times during his career. So while the Whitner reach did work out to where he had a solid career, it still was a bad pick over the guy everyone was outraged we didn’t take. And it wasn’t revisionist kind out outrage, everyone was furious the moment it happened that it wasn’t Ngata. My aunt had just died and we were clearing out her house during the draft getting ready for the estate sale of her stuff. And I was stunned when they called Whitners name. I remember thinking at least we are getting Ngata to help boost my mood that day, but nope…I was speechless when it happened.

Yes, this thread length is comically long...and I think there are some people here who have definitely clanged to life on this story for sure, but I will say this in their defense...this particular story has been hard core gas lit by not only the media, but our own players, and Hopkins himself. Media has reportedly linked us as one of the 3 destinations per "sources". Hopkins has not only dropped hints at Buffalo for weeks now, but he has flat out said he wants to play here to the media and to fellow Bills players. Our own players have talked about him wanting to play here and some of them have posted pics with Hopkins further fanning the flames that maybe something was close. So, all in all...I don't think anyone is here cuz they like to "waste our time", this story is actually one of the few that had pretty significant teeth to it and that bite kept getting refreshed along the way with new stuff. Granted, reading all the 267 pagres of posts in this thread can be a bit of a waste of time because its the same regurgitated conversation over and over again in between new things that come out from players or the media gas lighting new hope/speculation.