Alphadawg7

I do think Sweeney has a shot to make the roster, so that wouldn't surprise me either and I had him on there until I realized I had not added in the kickers yet. While I like the upside of the young WR's, I just don't think they will keep 7 WR's. They haven't kept that many before, even when it made more sense with less top end talent on the WR depth chart.

I took that into consideration, but end of the day, there is just more developmental depth on the defensive side of the ball than on the offensive side. We are pretty set on offense, so I don't think we will run as deep on the offense as the defense this year, which the defense was clearly the weaker group last year.

Agreed, its always important. This year the key battles are pretty well known in terms of starting positions...CB2, TE, DE, and RB are the most unsettled. One big wildcard for me is a popular player discussed around here, and that is Antonio Williams. He put on a show in a regular season game and has been flashing in camp too. The problem is for him, the other 3 RB's have also flashed. So be fun to see if AW gets some good playing time in preseason and what he does with it, because if he has a great preseason, he could make the RB decisions very hard for Beane. If he goes on to have a great preseason coupled with impressive performance in a regular season game last year will make him nearly impossible to stash on the PS without someone snagging him up.

Here is my first attempt at the final 53 and also who I think starts come week 1 based on camp reports ahead of our first preseason game. Obviously some of these are certain locks, and others are fluid and preseason could change some of them: Preseason is going to be quite important I think this year to the final makeup on this roster at several key positions. And not just for backup roles, quite a few starting roles up for grabs too as we all know. I would say RB, TE, DE, CB2, and KR (although I think McKinzie is now a pretty strong favorite for KR/PR duties) are all spots where not only is depth chart uncertain, but the starting spot is certainly in play as well. My first stab at the final 53 (starters listed in bold first, followed by backups) QB Allen - Trubisky RB Singletary - Moss, Brieda FB - Gilliam (not in bold because we wont ever "start" a FB in this offense, but Gilliam will be the only FB on the roster) **UPDATED** TE Knox - Hollister WRS Diggs and Sanders - Davis, Kumerow Slot WR Cole - McKenzie OL: Dion, Jon, Mitch, Cody, Daryl - Ike, Bates, Brown, Doyle LDE: Hughes - Obada, Boogie RDE: AJE - Addison, Rousseau DT: Star & Oliver - Phillips, Butler, Zimmer WLB: Milano - Smith MLB: Edmunds - Matakevich SLB: Klien - Adams LCB: Tre - Taron RCB: Levi - Dane, Lewis SS: Poyer - Neal FS: Hyde - Johnson, Hamlin PR/KR: Mckenzie (already counted above to the 53 total) K: Bass P: Haack LS: Ferguson NOTES ON ABOVE: As you can see I have AJE beating out Addison, Singletary staying atop the depth chart, Levi starting, and Knox keeping his starter status ***UPDATED*** At CB, I think Dane is still in the mix, but I think Levi has got a sizable enough lead that its probable he holds down the starting job week 1. With AJE, I think they want to get some of that youth on the field and AJE has apparently been tearing up camp. With Addison being older, rotating him in to keep him fresh makes a lot of sense even though Addison has been getting his own share of praise too and still could start come week 1. AJE and Hughes is a nice balance of vet and youth, with a nice combo of vet and youth rotating through as well. At RB, I think all 3 of them have had good moments in camp, but Moss is dinged up again and coming off an injury. Singletary has been looking good in camp, so I think he holds onto his starting spot to start the season with Brieda being more used as a change of pace back. Honestly, I think our run game is going to be a lot like SF had when Brieda was there, any given week one of them can be the lead dog and have a big game. I think we will have a good overall ground game, with no one guy dominating the season touches as they ride the hot hand or game plan each week. ***UPDATED*** With Hollister and Knox, the guy I want to win the job is Knox just based on the matchup problems his physical ability can create. Originally I speculated Hollister was going to emerge as the starter just based on how critical some of the reporters covering camp had been on Knox thus far. But with this report today 8/11, McDermott is giving Knox a lot of praise and saying he has had a strong camp overall. So given this story today, I have updated this to be Knox winning the job based on McD's praise as I trust his opinion a lot more than others as he has shown to pretty much always mean what he says in his time here. https://billswire.usatoday.com/2021/08/11/sean-mcdermott-dawson-knox-really-good-training-camp-buffalo-bills/ Speaking of trades, after the draft I have previously speculated, like many, that Addison (or maybe Hughes, but less likely) could be someone who gets traded if AJE, Obada, and the rookies keep impressing. And while I won't rule it out, the more I think about it, the less likely I think it happens. If I had to guess right now, I think we keep all 6 DE's and constantly rotate fresh legs to help wreak havoc in a year we are expected to challenge for a SB. ESPECIALLY after how they saw the Bucs get to Mahomes and beat the Chiefs in the SB. And right now, it appears we have 4 starting quality DE's and 2 high quality rookies for our future. Thats a lot of pass rush fire power for us to have fresh to go after Mahomes and the Chiefs, the biggest foe in our path to a SB.

Ok fair enough, maybe its that you come off so dismissive on cap management because you are countering those that are too far the other away in terms of their obsession with the cap. The board around here can make one do that for sure. And yes, without question, Bills and Chiefs are 1 & 2 in terms of the GM/HC/QB combo in the entire league, and 3rd IMHO is a distant 3rd in that regard. And as far as what you said on the cap, that is something I 100% agree with. The cap is there to retain good players and its dumb when people get upset that it gets used for that. Especially given how well Beane has structured the contracts. I cant fathom how anyone could be anything but thrilled with the Allen contact personally. What I will add though, is that too many GM's aren't protective enough on that cap space and waste money on bloated contracts trying to buy progress rather than grow their own. But that also starts and stops with their draft record. If they cant draft the right talent to retain, it forces them to over pay for free agent talent, or trade away draft picks to get costly proven talent, to close the talent gap. But at the end of the day, I feel like Beane has put on a masterclass to the rest of the NFL in how to truly do a full rebuild into a championship roster.

First, I LOVE THE JOSH ALLEN CONTRACT (all caps for enthusiasm)!!!! It was a great deal for both sides and that contract will be a bargain soon enough. If the NFL was doing a redraft of the NFL, I think more often than not Allen is probably the second pick behind Mahomes right now. Nothing but respect for you Gunner, but at the end of the day you’re wrong in how you seem to completely dismiss the importance of it, just like the people who are totally OCD and overly obsessed with cap space are also wrong. Truth is that it definitely matters and is important, and the great GMs make it look easy while lesser GMs bungle it all the time. You are not wrong in how some people overly exaggerate or obsess with it though. Allen’s contract is a brilliant example of how to use cap space. And not every GM gets this right. Cap management is absolutely critical in how you both build a championship roster and maintain a championship roster. Beane has built this team to contend a long time by locking up guys like Tre, Dion, Allen, Milano, Diggs, etc long term on deals that give us the ability to also keep Edmunds and others. And they are all under 27 years old. Beane has put on a clinic on how to repair and clear out the cap for a rebuild while acquiring draft assets to rebuild a team. Then he was excellent in how he used that draft capital and cap space to build a team, and do it in a way that put him in prime position to retain that talent once it developed. There is a bloody road of GM dead careers who did it all wrong. I feel like Beane has changed Buffalo so much in his time here that people forget what it was like to have leadership who made so many mistakes. Cap space is not the only important thing obviously, drafting the right players, signing the right players, hiring the right coach, etc are all critical and very important. But how the GM manage things like the cap and draft capital along the way is critical in being able to both retain said players and still keep adding more talent going forward to the overall team. IMHO, Beane is the best GM in football right now, and is definitely without question top 3. And his cap brilliance and draft management is definitely an important part of why that is the case.

Huh? All of our RBs, including Brieda and Antonio Williams, have gotten lots of praise during camp and had stand out moments.

CAP is actually quite important, at least in terms of sustained success for a long period of time. And what you are seeing is a MASTER CLASS by a GM in how to first clear it out and repair it, then build the roster talent up, breed a culture the players want to be part of, and then properly structure contracts to keep the right players here who also want to be here and win here. That is why everyone calls Beane a WIZARD. There are a ton of examples of how bad cap and draft capital management has been the downfall of teams. Where teams went all in on trying to "win now" by over spending on big names in both contracts and draft picks. End of they day though, its not how much you spend, its HOW you spend. That will forever separate the top GM's from the next ones to be fired. Does not mean its not worth making that big trade or making that big signing. Its making those moves for the right players and then structuring those deals to continue to have flexibility and plan ahead. Beane PLANNED for these extensions to retain them in how he used the cap the last 3 years. He has been masterful in how he has both found talent, acquired talent, and retain talent. That being said...There are many ways to win a championship...there is never going to be a team who will regret winning a SB after they mortgaged their near term future on high cost players and traded away their premium picks. But when they do that and dont get a Championship out of it...well, thats usually the end of the line for the GM and staff and house cleaning begins with a new FO and Coaching staff most the time. That teams goes back to the bottom half the league usually at that point and has to start a long process of building back up given they dont have the draft capital to do it quickly unless they have assets they can trade away for picks.

CONGRATULATIONS JOSH, YOU EARNED IT!!!! CONGRATULATIONS BEANE, YOU DID A GREAT TEAM DEAL TOO!!!! What a great damn day! I had given up hope it would happen before the season began with the deadline looming. I was never worried Josh was going anywhere, but I just wanted this to be a non story during the season and also knew signing now would be a much better contract for the team than a year from now when Josh is the reigning NFL MVP and the reigning Super Bowl MVP! I love this deal so much!

Very interesting indeed. I think we can all agree that Davis roster spot likely isn’t in any jeopardy barring some extreme regression in preseason. But the Kumerow buzz seems very legit and like he’s gonna be hard to keep off the field. I mean Diggs, Sanders and Cole are gonna eat targets this year if they all stay healthy, so it will be quite interesting to see how targets and snaps get deployed to Davis, Kumerow, and McKenzie. I mean even McKenzie is getting a ton of praise and hype in his own right. Often being labeled just totally uncoverable so far, so he’s gonna get snaps too, especially with those specialty plays Daboll likes to use him for. Knox on the other hand seems to be credited with a bad drop every practice. So if he’s not reliable enough, that will open up some more 4 and 5 receiver sets to get all these guys on the field too.

I was just wondering the same thing. I dont think Davis's roster spot is any kind of jeopardy obviously, the team and staff love him and are high on him for obvious reasons. But if Kumerow is impressing this much and keeps it up, to get him on the field its going to cut into somebody's snaps. Not to mention, all reports have really been talking up McKenzie too, literally referring to him many times as just unguardable. How do they get all these weapons on the field and in a rotation is going to be interesting and fun to see how Daboll uses them all. Coming into the offseason, I was very confident Davis would start opposite Diggs, even after they signed Sanders. But Sanders has also been supposedly hot and impressing and him and Josh seem to have rapidly built timing and chemistry like he did with Diggs last year. So Sanders seems to be the lead dog to start opposite Diggs right now. So you got Diggs, Sanders and Cole as big cogs in the offense...if they all stay healthy, there wont be a ton of snaps left for Davis, Kumerow and Mckenzie. Davis opportunities as a rookie came from the injury issues to Brown and how much time he missed. Ive got a bunch of people talking about Davis as a late round target in Fantasy, but I actually think his stats go down this year, only due to the fact I just don't see how he gets as many snaps without injuries. The WR group is so deep right now.

Ratings should be based on the quality of the roster, not their finish the previous season in terms of record. Teams both under and over achieve every year, so record cant be the end-all, be-all way of determining ratings. That being said, Bills defense was mediocre at best last year, its not surprising to see our rating at an 86 with a potent offense and mediocre defense last year. I dont think this is crazy to have us at an 86 and 6th overall. Now, I do fully believe our defense will be much improved this year, but that isnt going to really impact Maddens ratings before the season begins. We didnt add any big established talent to it, we added some role players, good ones, but not super star like guys and we added some rookies. And those type of players are not going to make a big swing in the ratings overall for our defense in Madden. Now, the real travesty was rating the runner up MVP last year an 88, same rating he had the year before. That was ridiculous. Josh Allen should have been at least a 92 a 94 for his elite play making ability, much improved accuracy, dangerous running ability, and the strongest arm in the game. He sure as heck should have been higher than Lamar and more on par with Wilson. Heck, Watson should also have been higher than Lamar. Not to mention, how is Rodgers not a 99 coming off one of the best seasons all time as a QB and an MVP? But...at the end of the day...who really cares about these ratings anyway, means nothing. And honestly, I really do LOVE the fact they "disrespected" Allen, because hes been using that as motivation and that is fine by me!

Well this certainly is not a "new" thought, as many have speculated on this possibility. Here is the thing...I am not convinced Daboll leaves next year unless we win the Super Bowl. And while winning a SB IMO would make the odds higher he took a job as a HC elsewhere, I still don't think its definite either. Daboll seems to really truly love his job, love Allen, and love it in Buffalo. His bond with Allen is boarder line father like too, I mean he legit loves the kid and the feeling seems genuinely mutual. Even all the coaches and Beane seem to be quite close and tight as well. He is young enough where he doesn't have to just take any job. I think he will be patient and wait for the right job personally, and that may come next year or it may not. But he doesn't strike me as in a hurry to do it. The makeup of this team, the locker room, the staff IMHO is something very rare and special right now in terms of culture, bond, fun, focus, commitment, talent, etc. That being said, Daboll is certainly on a lot of teams radar heading into this season, and barring some unimaginable regression this year offensively, he is surely going to get interviews for HC openings next year. So will be fun to watch. And to the point of the OP, I do really think Trubisky is going to get a chance to compete next year for a starting job. So it makes sense that if Daboll takes a HC job and was impressed by Trubisky during their time together here, that he would look to pursue Trubisky next year and feeling would probably be mutual for Mitch.

Bryant Johnson thread was epic haha

Oh totally agree. The big “wrong Josh” crowd here became believers once the games begun, especially the Vikings game and the final 6 weeks of the season. The vast majority of the melt down happened from draft night until camp. But once both Allen and Rosen hit the field, the wrong josh crowd started realizing they were wrong and converted to the Allen train pretty quickly with the bulk of the holdouts really coming around in the Vikings game. Few held on to the wrong Josh narrative a little longer, but by the end of the Vikings game most the people here were either ecstatic about Josh or at least cautiously optimistic.

But this also happens all the time with little to enforcement. And mostly no enforcement

Good stuff all around in your reply here Baker coming out for me was the safest pick to be a quality QB in the NFL. I too felt his history fit well with a team like Bills or Browns. I was on the Baker train early in the CFB season and even pegged him as the Bills QB in the draft because back then he was more considered later first or second round by most, but kept moving up the boards during the season. Once the season was over, I was sure we couldn't get Baker without a big trade up. Allen was not one I was high on at all until the offseason, didnt see him play much. But I was intrigued by his buzz...then he won me over with his massive improvements in short work leading up to the draft and his insane combine. By the time the draft was approaching, he had over taken everyone but Baker who just felt more ready to play and had a lower floor even though Josh by far had the highest ceiling. Feel the same about Lamar...he took the league by storm with his unmatched athletic ability as a QB in the NFL right now, but at some point he needs to make the next big progression as a passer in order to have sustained success. Like you pointed out, the best version we saw of Vick as a more complete QB when he was in Philly and was much improved as a passer to go with his ability with his legs. Like I said during and after Lamars MVP season, the offense was too gimmicky to sustain that level of effectiveness. Once defenses caught up to it and figured out a better way to defend it, the offense and Lamar were going to be inconsistent. He needs to now take that step as a pocket passer, and if he does, he will be amongst the best in the league for the rest of his career. But that also is a function of the talent around him, so this will be an interesting year for Lamar as a passer given this is the best cast he has had yet in terms of targets to throw to. Wonder if Baltimore still runs the same style of offense or opens it up more to see what he can handle

I would say it was more Pro than Con though on Rosen as I and some others were definitely in the minority on ranking Rosen below the other 4 guys. But it wasn’t really a ruckus and hotly disputed topic really until Allen was drafted though, that’s when the losing of the minds really commenced and the divide on the board began on right or wrong Josh lol.

Oh I remember, because I absolutely hated Rosen and had him ranked last of the top 5 projected first rounders. People were losing their minds around d here defending Rosen. Living in LA, it was pretty well known what douche he was on and off the field, lack of passion for the game, and poor leadership skills. I had several friends who personally vouched for that having known him in some capacity. I had my rankings on draft night Baker, Allen, Darnold, Lamar……….and way down the list Rosen. And even though I had Darnold over Lamar, I preferred drafting Lamar over Darnold because I felt his ceiling was higher even though his floor was lower in terms of risk on how he would project to NFL. Even started a thread titled “My case for Lamar” if Baker and Allen were gone and we could stay put and not trade up and take Lamar. But once the news was clear Browns were gonna draft Baker, I was all in on the do anything to get Josh Allen train. And now he is already my favorite Bills player to watch play of all time. Him and Barry Sanders are my two favorites to watch play of all time because on any given play they can do something seemingly impossible or mind blowing like no other.

Regardless if its Brady or any other player...I never really saw the significance of this or why its even an issue. The only way I can see how it could be a problem is if a team was misleading the public to confuse who the other team would face. But Brady missed no time, and played through something that was relatively minor and not in danger of impacting his play. My personal opinion is that teams should NOT have to disclose this info, because after "Bounty Gate" it seems to add an unnecessary level of risk to players to disclose something minor thats not going to affect their availability and create a target for opposing defenses to focus on. Doesn't mean a coach was literally going to put a bounty on the player, but the players themselves just knowing a key player of an opponent has a minor injury that could be further aggravated in game could tempt them to target that area. So for me...regardless this is Brady, this whole thing is really a non story and a silly rule in the first place given it has literally no impact on the game being played outside potentially putting the players safety further at risk.

Im not set against trading any of our RB's if the leadership feels strongly enough about 2 of them making one expendable. However, no one is getting traded (or cut) IMHO until they see Moss and Breida on the field. Moss is coming off an injury and Brieda is new to the offense. Additionally, the only way I see any of the 3 really getting moved is if Antonio Wiliams or Christian Wade pop and turn heads and make a strong push to make the 53 and force the issue. And right now, Singletary is the most proven and reliable guy we have on this roster. So for him to get moved, we would need good enough value to warrant moving our most reliable RB thus far, and someone else in that RB group is also going to have to really outshine him during camp and preseason. So, if I was to wager on it, I would bet that Singletary doesn't go anywhere.

PS: IMHO, 0% chance they trade any of our RB's before seeing what Moss and Breida look like on the field. Moss coming off injury in a rookie year and Brieda doesn't know the offense and had his own spat of injuries in his career. That being said, I am fine if one of them gets traded if they are confident in our other guys. But, I am also comfortable with our current stable of RB's and really only see a trade happening if either Antonio Williams or Christian Wade have a camp that forces their hand to keep one of them on the 53 man roster.

Has there ever been a fan base who complained more about a RB with one of the best career YPC averages amongst the current crop of RBs in the league? Is Devin going to lead the NFL in rushing? Nope...nor does he need to. We are a passing offense with a QB who can also do damage with his legs. We dont need Barry Sanders, we need a guy who can average over 4 yards per carry and help move the chains. And we have 3 of those RB's on this roster right now. More importantly, everyone is obsessed with the "homerun" play. Devin as a rookie and part time RB was just a few runs shy of the NFL lead of 20+ yard runs. And we are talking about a play that happens LESS THAN once per game by even the league leaders. Our biggest issue last year in the run game was blocking and scheme, not our RB's. Sure, we can improve our RB's like most teams could, but people act like we have the worst stable of RB's in the NFL around here. I think Devin, Moss, and Breida are going to do just fine...or 2 of those 3 if one gets hurt, cut or traded. I am not nearly concerned about our RB situation as this board makes it out to be. I am however concerned in our ability to RUN BLOCK and OPEN LANES. That hasn't been the strong suit of our OL and we mostly are returning the same unit. Although, even then I am not that concerned because the more important thing they need to do is pass block and let Josh dominate the NFL...and that I know they can do pretty darn well.

hahaha same

Not long…queue it up in 3…2…1…