thebandit27

A lot of discussion on the Bills' present and future cap possibilities in this thread too: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/183724-spotrac-manage-roster-tool-2016-bills-salary-cap/

No. It's meaningless as a practical matter, as all it tells you is how much money the team has committed in contracts to it's 90-man roster (plus players on NFI list etc.). The only important number is the top-51.

Standard I would assume; the lesser number of episodes is supposedly because of the amount of CGI required to produce them, which means we can probably expect a lot of dragons, walkers, etc.

It's awful. Nothing makes a QB feel more comfortable than zero pass rush and giving him the largest part of the field to use at his will, and a comfortable QB means a confident QB. Apply pressure, force the ball out quickly, tackle properly.

I haven't seen enough of Wheeler yet to form an opinion, but I'll need to shelf my bias against overly tall OTs before I can actually grade him Elflein is also my top interior guy; he's a stud.

Hah! Go figure that a guy playing out of position would look like it The only ugly moment I've seen from Isidora was when Demarcus Walker swam around him for a sack/fumble on Kaaya, but let's face it, Walker is going to do that to a lot of really good players (plus Danny recovered the fumble, so bonus points). The other interior guy I've watched a bit and liked was Kyle Kalis from Michigan. He's not the most refined technician, but he's extremely quick out of his stance, stays aware in space, and shows a real nasty streak.

My only problem with Danny Isidora is that he can get overly aggressive at the POA and whiff on guys. Other than that, you're right, he's got it all. Low center of gravity, solid base, great power, nimble footwork. That he held his own against Walker and the rest of that FSU D-line in the slopfest game last year was all I needed to see from him.

I think Conner is going to be this year's Karl Joseph--a guy that comes back from injury and goes a lot higher in the draft than most expect at this time of year. I also think that Josh Harvey-Clemons is going to be this year's Jayron Kearse. I need to get more into the OL at this point, but there are a few mid-round OTs I like enough to follow. I'm thinking that Casey Tucker from Stanford could be a R4/R5 option at RT if he can clean up some of his handwork issues.

I would love to see Tony Conner, the SS from Ole Miss, return to health this season. He was a force in his shortened 2015 campaign, and really looked the part of an impact safety against Alabama. I love the way he plays around the LOS, and he can handle his business in coverage. His communication skills appear to be solid as well.

Just be on the field at full-speed in Week 1, Sammy. I don't need to see anything from you before then.

If they really wanted to go geographical, they'd swap Buffalo with Baltimore and Indianapolis with Dallas.

Okay, well when you're back, here's yet a 4th opportunity to respond to the same point I've made on Watkins and his supposed "inconsistency": http://www.footballperspective.com/guest-post-adam-harstad-on-sammy-watkins/ http://nysportsbiz.com/2016/01/04/sammy-watkins-arguably-nfls-top-wr-2nd-half-season/ 2nd best WR in the NFL behind Antonio Brown for the last half of 2016. So sayeth the numbers. This on the team with the highest run percentage in the NFL. And once again, the guy is running full speed 2 months before the season starts; the trepidation you show is overplayed. As to Lawson, you are saying in the same sentence that even if he contributes he won't be a factor. That is, by literal definition, wrong. I also said what I did and did not expect out of him, so I'm not sure how and why you're confused. What I am sure of, however, is that I'm done responding to you. There's no real discussion to be had if all you're wont to do is ignore what you don't like and carry on.

Oh, and nice job (again) of ignoring every other point that you cannot easily shout down from my response. Just in case you missed them the first time, here's a re-post of the items you failed to respond to:

Every single report from back in May was that he would miss 5-6 months...that puts him back mid-October. I don't think I said he'd be in midseason form; I believe I said that it's foolish to assume he can't or won't contribute this season. Speaking of out of touch, how about you actually acknowledge that you totally mischaracterize Watkins' injury issues 100% of the time. He's missed 3 games, and he went on a complete tear when he came back from his last injury last year. He put up the best numbers of any WR in the NFL not named Antonio Brown (a point you have yet to concede because you either haven't read the links I've provided the last 3 times we had this discussion or because you aren't willing to admit that your point about him has no merit). And yes, if a guy is running sprints full-speed, that means he's already cleared or very close to being cleared to run patterns and work at full speed. Two months is plenty of time for a professional athlete to get into game shape.

See, this right here is the de facto example of why you're a total hypocrite. You start a thread saying that this draft class won't contribute because Shaq won't play and/or won't be effective if he does (which you have absolutely no way of substantiating) and Jonathan Williams got a DWI (which may or may not result in him being suspended for a few games), and choose to include guys that aren't even rookies in order to bolster a point that started out weak to begin with. When someone decides to call you out for ignoring literally everything that runs counter to your crusade, your response is to criticize the person and make a strawman argument about other rookies that nobody brought up. A nickel's worth of free advice: if you want to generate "quality discussion" as you claim to want to do, try actually thinking about what others are pointing out to you and formulating a logical response. I've yet to see you so much as consider that anyone with any opinion that doesn't match yours could potentially have a point.

Absolutely.

Look in the mirror dude. You ignore every point that runs contrary to whatever is your diatribe du jour. Vis-a-vis: - You went totally obtuse in the discussion of the Bills' run game when it was pointed out to you that it makes no sense to remove QB rushing yards for Buffalo but not for the rest of the league. - You've thrice refused to respond to two different articles that put into context Sammy Watkins' performance relative to his peers on a per-target and per-pass-attempt basis. Further, there has been more than one rational point made in this thread that runs counter to the very crux of your argument, yet you seem to only acknowledge one if you intend to immediately shout it down. Well, let me provide one that won't be shouted down so easily... - To say that Shaq Lawson is "out and unlikely to contribute much if at all this season" is hyperbole at best. He's likely to miss 5-6 games. Odell Beckham had an incredible rookie year after missing a similar timetable, so let's not completely dismiss him yet, as it's not prudent to do so in any manner. SLAP tears heal pretty reliably, and he was a very good college player with the injury. - Shady finished in the top-12 of the league in rushing yards and top-half in yards/carry (and in the top 6 in yards/game) despite missing 3 games last year due to injury, so to assume he can't perform 2 months from now because he was held out of one practice with a hamstring tweak is presumptuous at best; it's flat-out silliness at worst. - If Sammy Watkins' status is truly "indeterminable", then why is he out there running sprints right now? Looks like he's already back to doing some work, so it's just a matter of whether or not he can be 100% 2 months from now--seems pretty reasonable if he's already running full-speed. Given that he ostensibly smoked most of the league once he started getting targeted reliably, and he was less than 100% while doing so, I feel pretty confident that we don't have to worry. - Jonathan Williams' DWI does nothing to portend failure as a rookie. He could potentially miss time due to league suspension, but again, we're not talking about a wasted draft pick because he misses 2 games. This isn't even close to the worst supporting cast in franchise history--compare the crop of Watkins, Woods, Clay, & McCoy to the 2011 group of Stevie, Donald Jones, Scott Chandler and Fred Jackson...please. I'm not sure if you're still serious about some of this stuff, but if nothing else, your posts appear to draw a crowd, so good job with that.

And again I respond by saying that teams don't like to trade 1st round picks AND invest $15M/year for ANY player. If they did, would we really see contract squabbles for players like Drew Brees, Von Miller, Muhammad Wilkerson, etc in this very offseason?

Anything TG? NOTE: I accidentally deleted the original post about 2 seconds ago--stupid iPhone

Yep. He was an astronomical loss to them

This for sure. As a runner-up, I'll go with the catch on the potential game-winning drive by Stevie Johnson against Cincinnati back in 2011 that somehow was ruled incomplete and then inexplicably ruled inconclusive on review

What team ever looks to their CB for a big play? None. Corners are paid to cover, not to make big plays. That said, Gilmore has prevented plenty of big plays over his career. By that you mean what? With the exception that there's no way I could see him walking, I completely agree with this ^ ^ This is a great example of someone that doesn't watch other teams. Every single corner gets beat. All of them. If your opinion is that he gets beat significantly more than the best guys, well, I'd love to hear the rationale, because the advanced stats certainly don't tell that story (neither does the eye test for that matter). Then again, I have to take into context that you think Trent Dilfer was an all-time great QB, so...

Whether Gilmore is a top-5, top-10, or top-20 corner is immaterial. He's a bona fide #1 corner, and he's going to get paid like one (here or elsewhere). That said, he's among the 10 best corners in the game. He's excellent in coverage and matches up well against the bigger WRs in the league. The myth of the shutdown corner would have folks believing that you can't be elite and allow a catch at any point in the season, but most folks that watch a lot of NFL games know the difference. I watch every NFL game every week, and the guys that I believe can reasonably be put ahead of Gilmore include: Sherman Revis Peterson Norman V. Davis Beyond that, you've got a next group that is comprised of: Gilmore Slay Haden Harris Jr. Trufant Butler So I suppose I'm fine ranking Gilmore anywhere from 6 to 11, but anywhere beyond that is, IMO, crazy talk.

The thing is, it's not really genuine to use hindsight to criticize the decision at the time they made it. There was no question at all that Watkins was the best offensive player in that draft, and they did what they had to do to get him. Now, you're correct that very few people would choose Sammy over Beckham plus a 1st (though I'll tell you that--from my perspective--it's a whole lot closer than you might expect). That doesn't mean that it was a bad move. You move up because you fall in love with a prospect and don't want to miss out. They got their guy, it was a definite hit, and he's poised to be a great player for them for a long time. As far as the two players being compared, I watch both guys intently, and they're both open nearly all the time. The biggest difference I've seen is that Beckham really struggles when he's pressed at the line, which too many teams are afraid to do because of his deep speed.

Very unlikely to get a response. IF there is one, it'll skew the topic if history is any indication--(i.e. the discussion about Buffalo's rushing offense, in which we HAD to remove QB rushing yards for Buffalo, but COULDN'T remove them for the rest of the league when comparing). Regardless, the point is irrelevant. Other teams know who they need to stop. It's the reason that Belichick--whose number one priority every week is to stop what offenses do best--gave his pro bowl corner help against Sammy every play in Week 11.