Hapless Bills Fan

Marlowe is 29. Jaquan Johnson is 25 and under contract thru 2022. We need to retain and develop young players if we're going to keep this thing building.

That's My Point. Those things can become "tells" for a really detailed offensive coach to prepare his team.

Yeah, that was part of the deceptions. The A gap guys aren't being subtle about it. They're revving their engines and saying "get ready, we're coming!" Then they drop and Klein zips around the end unblocked. The thing there is, if a team is well-coached and well prepared I wonder if the engine-revving constitutes a "tell" - do they behave differently when they're dropping vs. coming?

It's possible that in Kahale Warring's case, they brought him in as an extended work-out and what they saw didn't fit their needs or wasn't better than what they had so...Move On Or possibly the same reason we brought in guys like RB Kerrith Whyte and CB Tim Harris for a "cup o' coffee" - the teams made cuts, then had injuries so they needed bodies at practice, then guys came back from injury or we needed to make more cuts so Last In, First Out. Doesn't mean they didn't show something or couldn't contribute, but they're "pushing a rock uphill" to unseat a guy who's been learning the playbook all spring and summer. I expect there are a bunch of unsung "Traveling Soldiers" moving around the NFL in August, just trying to find a place to sit down for a minute. Note that the "Math" changes once the PS games are done and the teams are filling the practice squad - while yes, better get in the Bills playbook and learn it, being able to learn a different playbook to give the starters good "Looks" every week is now Job One.

Josh is still trying to solidify his status as an elite QB. He hasn't had time yet to cultivate his "inner diva". Josh also seems to make friends easily - he said Mitch Trubisky is already becoming one of his best friends.

Beane seemed to feel that Hollister would draw considerable interest on the open market and sign elsewhere "soon" I wonder if teams are holding back because as a vested veteran, so if he's on the roster opening day his salary is guaranteed? Some writers seem to think the Seasnakes may want him back: https://www.si.com/nfl/seahawks/gm-report/with-colby-parkinsons-status-up-in-air-jacob-hollister-reunion-could-appeal-to-seahawks The advantage to both Seattle and Hollister is that he's familiar with Wilson. They do have a new offense this year under Shane Waldron, so he isn't familiar with that.

Oh, Good Point - I hadn't thought of that. Guy must be an Ace at packing a suitcase:

I don't see how he could not struggle, he has very very little playing experience and he has struggled with injuries to boot (foot injuries, boot, gettit? I slay myself) But if they want to try to create their own "monster" TE, this guy has the "uncoachables"

Sounds like a guy the Bills may have scouted back in 2019 and had their eye on. Roughly fits the same profile as Dawson Knox - sky-high athleticism, minimal playing experience at TE, struggle with injuries. Active in 7 games in 2020 all at the end of last season, 3 receptions and 1 drop on 7 targets. If he can stay healthy he could be an interesting developmental prospect

Who? https://www.nfl.com/prospects/kahale-warring/32005741-5275-2700-ebaf-ccabda046f86 2019 3rd round pick by Houston Spent 2019 on IR and half of 2020 on IR Waived by Houston in mid August and claimed/waived in short succession by NE and then Indy First name is actually Kahalekuiokalani 6'5" 250 Are the Bills hoping that between this guy and Sweeney, they can have one active TE who is not on IR? PS Was actually drafted at pick 86, 10 slots ahead of Dawson Knox in the 2019 3rd.

Except that we were beat up in October. -Allen was playing in a "linebacker brace" 2 weeks out from injuring his shoulder against LV. The ball was clearly not quiet going where he wanted vs. Tenn and KC. -John Brown was playing injured and seemed affected (slow, fell down on one throw) -Feliciano was on IR and we were playing Winters -Milano was playing with a torn pec -White was playing with a back injury -Wallace was on IR On offense, Allen was the biggest "excuse" Frankly I think the injury list in October affected our game plan in January. We assumed we'd be able to do some things (because of key guys back from injury) that we in fact, couldn't. That, too.

Gentle reminder that aside from guys who have come out and given their opinion publicly, we really don't know vaccination status - a guy could have been in the process of getting vaccinated but still be subject to league quarantine rules for unvaccinated folks. I certainly can't argue that it's possible Covid protocols and their possible impact influenced Beane's decisions on who to keep, but let's look at this for a second. What did every fan watching practice/games and every media member say? "Wow, the Bills have a logjam at WR, they have some really tough decisions to make with their speedy draft pick Stevenson and Kumerow playing 🔥🔥 at WR and ST." "Wow, Zimmer is really stating his case for a roster spot. Dang, Phillips got dinged, he was actually looking really good!" "DE 🔥🔥🔥 I know we just signed him, but maybe we'll have to cut Obada. Or I know - cut Addison AND Hughes and keep all the young guys. What a log jam!" We know the Bills coaches stated position is that we missed Star last season and Butler/sometimes Oliver were playing out of position, and that our biggest need is to "affect the QB" more. The two spots where we seemed to have a surfeit of talent were WR and DL So let's look at the numbers, after cuts/IR/resigning: 2020: QB (3) RB (4) TE (4) WR (6) IOL (5) T (4) DT (4) DE (5) LB (6) CB (5) S (4) 2021: QB (2) RB (4) TE (3) WR (6) IOL (5) T (4) DT (5) DE (6) LB (6) CB (5) S (4) After all the dust settled, the numbers at each position are remarkably similar across the board. The differences are 1 less QB (most teams only keep 2) and 1 less TE, which positions were used to keep extras at DT and DE. Looks like they "robbed" the offense at two positions where the depth was not inspiring (QB and TE) to "pay" positions where they would otherwise have had to sacrifice a recently drafted player/promising young player OR a veteran they regard as proven/leadership But it's entirely explainable by where the draft picks were, what everyone saw in training camp, and McDermott's oft-stated desire to keep veteran leadership in each room (eg not cut vet DTs/DEs) - no need to hypothesize that Beane would be lying if he were asked if Covid decisions influenced the choices or if they were influenced by vaccine. 🤷‍♂️ Personally I don't think Urban deserves extra "honesty" points while everyone else is "lying". There may be some Covid influence, can't rule that out. But I think Meyer is just being an arrogant tool, believing he can publicly flout NFL policies without consequences, and indulging in some grandstanding. Could just be me. Re-signed? https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/vikings-re-sign-griffen-add-14-players-to-practice-squad/ar-AANZuBk

I don't think we will, though. I think the Bills believe Damar Hamlin has earned the spot he' received. Exhibit A IMO: Meyer

Huh? If the guy had a back injury, he shouldn’t practice to the detriment of healing up, and he could still study the offense. A guy doesn’t stick under Belichick and Carroll unless he’s a hard worker

This is my concern

I personally think Sweeney looks awkward when he runs routes and catches passes. He gets the job done, he just looks awkward to me.

From the clip I saw he was moving pretty freely too (Sweeney) Well, the Bills decided to go with one less TE, so your TE 3 is the Bills TE 2

Oh ho ho doing a little opponent scouting

I mean, every team in the league could do that if you want your backup QB to be someone no one else in the league wants to sign in preference to their own backup QB Snap

Then there's the "snakebit by injuries/illness" track record. Of course some players who start out that way do become reliable starters.

McKenzie was practicing in a red jersey today. Beane in his presser said McKenzie, Johnson, and Phillips could all be back for the home opener. No.

Isn't that re-framing the issue though? I thought the issue was whether Urban's claim that "he considered players' vaccination statuses when making roster cuts and he was the only one who admitted it", indicated that other GMs and coaches are "lying about Covid" if they said they didn't? To me that means, "I have three CB, I can keep two, I'm going to keep the two that are vaccinated" I think coaches and GMs look at things like anticipated injury frequency when deciding how many players they need to keep at different positions. Now maybe this year they factored in chance of losing multiple players as close contacts, when deciding that. But all things considered, the Bills wound up with 6 WR on the roster, same as last year (Stevenson went to IR, just as Hodgins did last year). Overall, their numbers match pretty closely with how they've built the roster last year and the year before. The exception is DL and TE. We kept 11 DLmen, which is 2 more than we kept last year - but that seems to have more to do with signing Obada then drafting 2 guys back to back, creating a logjam given McDermott's strong opinions on the importance of veteran leadership in each room. That's probably the biggest factor in the numbers game, and there's no reason to think Covid vaccination status factored into that - they have a crowd of young developmental guys BUT McDermott and Frazier aren't willing to "bet the season" on those guys yet, not until they actually get their feet wet in the regular season.

I think we're talking past each other. Let's try to approach it a different way. Does vaccination play into all roster decisions? Clearly not. We're not cutting our core offensive or defensive players for vaccination status. No way. Into decisions about the "bubble players"? Perhaps. But the "bubble players" are the ones whose agents have been pointing out for months that if they want to advance their careers in the NFL and make sure they're not at a disadvantage relative to other players, Get Vaccinated. So it's plausible that with 93% vaccination across the league, they're all vaccinated and it really wasn't a factor. If we look at the Bills roster, about which we all think we know the most - @Alphadawg7 called our 53 man roster almost perfectly, based on reports from practice and watching the pre-season games. Joe Buscaglia got pretty close. Hollister was the biggest surprise, and as I pointed out, that can be argued/defended based on factors like time under contract, better blocking strength/potential and so forth. IF vaccination was a factor, when you get to a personal level, it's private info. So how can you definitively conclude that Meyer is being honest, and GMs who say it didn't factor are for sure lying? Me, I think Urban Meyer is show-boating, trying to claim some sort of moral superiority to which he really lacks the right.

Well, this could just be me, but I think there's a lot more shades of gray in it than that. I think most people have multiple factors driving a decision. If they don't mention ALL of them when asked, are they lying? Or are they telling the truth, but not the whole truth? When we exchange information with a 15 or 30 minute presser and multiple reporters asking multiple questions, is there even room to tell the whole truth if you want to? So, for example when Beane says cutting Hollister was "really a numbers decision. we went heavy at DL" is he telling the truth? Sure. We did go heavy on DL, and he does have to make numbers decisions. Is he telling the whole truth? Almost certainly not. The Bills also chose to go "heavy" at WR (if one can say that of the Skinny Boy Club), including a WR who has TE-type height and is a good downfield and backfield blocker and good STer, Kumerow. So Beane could truthfully say "we felt keeping another WR in Kumerow offered more to the team than keeping Hollister at TE". Is it lying if he doesn't say that? I don't think so. He doesn't have time or obligation to tell the whole truth about his decision making process. There's also a "do right by your peeps" aspect, why shouldn't he do right by Hollister by saying only positive things in public? Someone could point out that it's not just a numbers game, Sweeney who we haven't seen a lot out of made the roster when Hollister (who has shown something in PS) didn't. Beane could respond that Sweeney is stronger and has shown more blocking potential. He could point out Sweeney is locked up for 2 years and Hollister only one, so if they score them similarly it makes sense to keep the 2 year guy. Is it lying if he doesn't say that? (See above) And (totally hypothetical, I have no knowledge) supposing Sweeney is vaccinated and Hollister isn't, and other things close to equal, keep the guy who's vaxxed. Why would Beane have a special responsibility to share that facet of his decision making process or be tagged with lying, especially when a player's vaccination status is in truth, a private matter unless the PLAYER chooses to disclose it? I think framing it as "reward lying and punish honesty" is kind of simplistic.

I mean, that's exactly how his remark struck me. "I'm the only one who admitted it" If that's what you believe, Coach Meyer (and I can't tell you there's not truth to it), maybe there's a GOOD REASON no one else would admit to it. Maybe the other 31 head coaches are SMARTER and WISER Than you in this regard!