Hapless Bills Fan

I agree that the Bills still have needs on the offensive side of the ball - most notably on OL as well as needing to continue to take shots in the draft at improving our receiving corps. (I think the mid-season slump wasn't caused by lack of a YAC WR and wouldn't have been fixed by one dropping in from the sky, but Another Day, Another Discussion) That said, while I'm No Way a fan of a big trade up that costs us draft picks, a cogent argument can be made that while the Bills defense has been good enough to win enough regular season games with the CB play we have had...it hasn't been good enough to CLINCH THE DEAL against some of the better teams and in the playoffs. Yes, McDermott runs a DB-friendly system, and it's been able to handle plugging in a lesser player at CB #2. That said, when we had two lesser players on the field in Levi Wallace and Dane Jackson, it didn't work well enough to stop KC in the divisional round or even slow them down too much. And expect new Miami coach Mike McDaniel to be power-studying that film. It doesn't seem too arguable that better pass rush alone won't seal the deal against teams that have both a run and a pass threat, and that employ the quick passing game to get the ball out before the best pass rush can get there. The bottom line is that McDermott's defenses have historically been very good, but not Good Enough. Sure, we need to protect and support the QB...but Championship teams do need a defense as well.

The latter. We had to EXACTLY match the Bears offer sheet in order to exercise the "right of first refusal" tender. I did, too. Learn something every day.... TBH, I think the Bears may have looked at Buffalo's cap situation and needs and said "yeah, they can't match much, this should work." Then Beane said "Hold My Beer" I don't think it's an accident that the Diggs extension (and any others that may have been in the works) took place AFTER Bates got his offer sheets.

Wait, What? We can do that?

That top tweet was....Disturbing

LOL both @RyanTalbotBills and @Matt Parrino post here sometimes. I'm sure they'd like your critique. I think they do some good work. This is not "that thing" IMO, you're right, it's pretty tenuous. You know, Beane has been talking and talking and talking about how we really need cheap labor now that we're moving into Josh Allen's second contract, so we need to hit on our draft picks. That makes it seem very unlikely he would trade away next year's first round pick plus a 4th and 5th rounder this year. On the other hand, this is the same guy who went on and on about how we weren't going to be big spenders in FA this season and we saw how that went. But seriously, it's worth looking at Beane's big trade moves (I'm gonna count 2017, because I think McDermott had some input): 2017, to draft their "franchise CB", the Bills traded DOWN 17 spots from 10 to 27, gained a 2017 3rd round pick, and a 2018 1st round pick. They traded the 3rd round pick to Atlanta to move up in the 2nd and draft Dawkins as a franchise LT. 2018, to draft their hoped-for "franchise QB", the Bills traded our former LT during the off-season to move up from 21 to 12. He then traded 2 2nd round picks and #12 to get to #7. In the same draft, to draft their hoped-for "franchise MLB", the Bills used the extra 1st round pick and traded UP 6 spots from 22 to 16, giving up a 2018 2nd round pick Fundamentally, in all these moves, there was a theme: Beane fought like hell to keep from giving up a future 1st round pick. He swapped players for picks in the off season, he swapped picks within the same draft. He's not afraid to move around. But if Beane wasn't willing to forgo a 1st round pick in a future draft to obtain "his guy" at CB, QB, or MLB, and at a point where all these guys were getting rookie pay, I don't see it happening for a CB in this draft when the Bills have Big Bills to pay. I think you do it if you think there's a guy who will really put you over the top defensively - that zone CB who can play press man or who has the speed to stay with some of the burners. Is "Sauce" Gardiner that unique player who will do all that? Dunno https://www.nfl.com/prospects/ahmad-gardner/32004741-5215-2629-6c74-87ce99a3689f Strengths Tall corner with long limbs and sticky hands. Desired blend of confidence and competitiveness. Allowed just 6.6 yards per reception in 2021, according to PFF. Presses like a boxing match with jabs and flurries. Punches and posts through release phase. Digs the grave and buries an outside release. Accelerates from opening to stay connected to the route. Improved eye balance in 2021. Recognizes play development and alters assignment accordingly. Creates very cluttered workspace on contested catches. Attacks passing lanes from off coverage with burst and stride. Has two career pick-sixes. Handled business when matched up against Alabama WR Jameson Williams in national semifinal. Weaknesses Skinny legs with below-average build. Unnecessary disregard for technique. Plethora of holding and interference calls over three years. Grabs and holds when pattern matching goes awry. Some hip tug when trying to flip and run. Footwork needs to become a priority. Average gather-and-go quickness from his pedal. Inconsistent coming to balance in pursuit. Catch-and-drag tackler. Some of that sounds unappealing to me. Plus, the Bills have NOT been subtle about showing interest in their picks in prior drafts - have they shown interest here? That's more or less my take. If there's one position where I have fairly high confidence in this team to recognize and develop talent, it would be in the secondary.

Rachel Bush has >3M Instagram followers and who knows how many OnlyFans subscribers, and I'm sure a number of them don't keep both hands in sight while they're viewing her accounts. Some guys who have "been there" like being with that, others would tell you living with that has its down side. As far as support - none of us know whether/how she supports him in private. She's tweeted about hating that she has to live in/be associated with NY State. For all we know, Poyer may know he's got a good thing going on in B'lo playing in McDermott's system and partnering with Hyde, and be willing to trust his agent to negotiate a fair deal in turn, but wifey is pushing him to insist Beane negotiate NOW or trade him to somewhere she likes better - which may or may not be to his benefit. Or maybe she does truly support whatever he wants, career-wise. Don't know. I'll let Diggs point out the downside of the player being too involved or too public about contract negotiations: https://youtu.be/sy-mJC-f8ek?t=404 In case that doesn't link to the right timestamp, about 6:44 in. Diggs says he didn't have any conversations with Beane, he trusts his agent to go to bat for him, he "lets those things figure themselves out rather than be too involved, because it can put a tarnish on a relationship, this is a business" Do you honestly think Beane negotiates player contracts, or prioritizes which contracts to negotiate next, based on what's trending on Twitter and Insta or what the player or his spouse put out there? I think it would be safe to "bet the rent money" that he doesn't. But I do think the team has people who monitor social media, and certainly fans do. The potential to tarnish the relationship with the team or with the fans vs. a player who just keeps it business, hires an agent he trusts, and then steps back, seems pretty clear.

Errr.....the guys who play the most in preseason are usually the guys who are closest to the "bubble" and fighting for a roster spot You know that, right? End of the season, Johnson and Hamlin got equal playing time subbing in for Poyer and Hyde in the final Jets game and in the NE playoff game What evidence of a preference you have?

There's a charming 'ol Bitcoin investment thread in Off the Wall if you feel the need for beating your breast. FOMO doesn't bother me These baller guys are on a whole different level, but IME at a much lower level: Trust me, when you have a bit of $ no shortage of folks to advise you on that point. Would-be investment advisors proliferate faster than fungus gnats

He was given the nickname "Bitcoin Barkley" when he was here in 2020 I think Josh has a financial advisor who handles his investments

It seems very fair to me. It gives him a bunch of new money this year (I peg Diggs as a man who is fully up on the meaning of the term "net present value") It gives him a raise consistent with his performance the last 2 years It really only locks the Bills in one extra year over his current deal (3 year deal) And... it gives us $6.1M to sign our draft class/sign a FA/renegotiate another contract

That's not in question, the question is whether the "skinny boy club" (eg WR) would object IOW can Josh Allen call Diggs "fatty"? I'm thinking "No"

I think, combined with the twittering Poyer's wife has been at since Von Miller signed, it means something that he's changed agents. Rosenhaus has been cheek-by-jowl with a lot of the Crazy in the NFL including Antonio Brown and before that Johnny Manziel His firm represents something like 100 players, so it's probably unfair to judge him entirely by that

Fact: When Poyer was out for the Houston game, Jaquan Johnson started in his place.

NOW we know how Stefon got that contract done. (Memo to Jordan Poyer)

That made me laugh. Yeah, that's classic Josh. "Say something nice about Isaiah McKenzie" "Something nice about Isaiah McKenzie"

I could be wrong, but I don't think it would go over too well if Josh called a member of the "Skinny Boy Club" (Dawkins name for the WR) "Fatty" What was missed in the original exchange, is that when Diggs yelled out "Hey Fatty, how much do you weigh?" Josh answered "ONE Twenty" not "220" as Diggs repeated. (that's probably closer to his girlfriend's weight)

Oh, that's a good theory.

A key point to remember is, when you hear about some fantastical contract, never judge until you learn the details. There's a good article about it here. The data are pretty startling on how few NFL contracts are paid to completion: https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2019/3/15/18266458/free-agent-contracts-guaranteed-money-how-long-do-deals-last The point is when we hear about Von Miller signing a 6 year, $120 million contract - "OH NOES! We're Going to be Paying him when he's 38!!!" - we need to look at what's actually guaranteed and understand that $51.4M guaranteed really means it's essentially a 3 year, $17M contract. So when we hear 4 year, $104M contract extension with $70M guaranteed, wait to see the details. Yeah, it's confusing. The info is there in Spotrac, but you need to know what you're looking for. And one of the guys here and I have had some back-and-forth whether Spotrac doesn't have features to account for the top-51 displacement (the verdict was, it does not and I was shown that I wasn't accounting for this)

It's not $8M for the rookies. It's been discussed over and over in various threads that the actual top-51 cap impact of signing players for our current draft slots is about $2M. That's because only the first 3 round picks will fall into the top-51, and each of those picks will displace a player being paid $.895M who is currently being counted in the top-51.

We're all here on a message board to discuss "this football stuff". Most of us also understand that none of us are "decision making". We can still discuss it.

A lot of guys seem to employ separate agencies to coordinate their personal appearances/brand building/charity work vs. the sports agent who negotiates their contract, but IDK, maybe Rosenhaus says "you do it all through me" or at least "I represent you, we sit down and review all your work" His wife tweeted something about a barefoot rainforest walk outside cell service yesterday, so could it just be a confliction between a more recently planned vacation and an earlier planned charity event?

That's an interesting point. They love Johnson as an STer, but I sort of had the impression that he'd been passed up on the depth chart for Safety by Hamlin, but Johnson did start and play the Houston game for Poyer. Thing is, Johnson will be a FA next season, this is the last year of his rookie deal (oh, and his agent? Drew Rosenhaus)

Open question, I have no idea: How many safeties play at an elite level at age 33-34? Tyrann Mathieu is still looking for a contract. He's about a month short of 30.

You said he was the oldest of the two safeties, part of my point is that he's not, actually. I don't watch the Vikes so I have no idea how Poyer compares to Vikes safety Harrison Smith, that's my point about level of play.