Hapless Bills Fan

I think the Bills consider they have a logjam at WR with the guys they have signed. I think they really like Hodgins. I think they may agree with Beasley that he has several more seasons in him. You don't use a 1st round pick on a guy who's gonna sit for 1-2 seasons. That's where you use a later round pick and hope you can develop the guy. Their big gap was a speedy guy who can track the ball. If Rousseau is actually a non-athletic, 3 year project then the Bills made a mistake drafting him. Who on the Bills WR do you think sits this year so Moore could play? Beasley? Sanders? Not happening.

You have valid points about the Bills drafting for continuous improvement, not drafting Spiller-like splashy picks, but I don't think that's true that Brady was probably the only guy on TB who "was a star like Allen and Diggs". You may not personally be aware of or follow their stars, but they're there. He's been playing on a bad team, but Mike Evans has been in the league 7 years with QB the likes of Josh McCown, Mike Glennon, and Jamais Winston throwing to him. He's got 7 - 1000+ yd seasons. If he's not a "star", it's not because he doesn't deserve to be. Godwin had a Diggs like season last year and this year, with Brady throwing to him, his catch % was unreal Gronk may be a fading star, but he's still a star Lavonte David may be the best MLB in the game today. Pierre-Paul may be a fading star, but still a star. Devin White is a rising star. Shaq Barrett is an impact player. Instead of "star" which has connotations of being a media figure who draws PR, let's use the term "significant impact player". Tampa Bay had at least 7 significant impact players beyond Brady, 4 on offense counting Brady, 4 on defense.

Well the Phins did have, what, 5 picks in the first 3 rounds? So maybe they figure they don't need no UDFA guys.

Flip it. Dawkins-Ford-Morse-Feliciano-Williams Ford will be competing for a starting spot with Boettger and with Lamp. Feliciano will potentially be competing for a starting spot with Jamil Douglas (started games at RG for the Titans) and possibly some competition from Jordan Devey. I think the message is "we want run blocking, or we want your space while we try someone else" I'm not sure why you say Bates is a wildcard. He's their swing tackle and can play anywhere else on the line including C. He's a lock on the roster until someone is proven better. But, we did have games where both Dawkins and Williams went down.

That's my thinking. He needs to learn the protections, he needs to maybe up his game a bit to the pro level. Williams starts this year but if Brown really comes on, we could move on from Bobby Hart, which would not make me sad.

You seem much more certain of this than Beane makes himself out to be. Got info or just a "good feeling"?

Yes, he is. We offered him a futures contract and he accepted

Milano just posted an entertaining little workout clip on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/COafl7IB8xv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

No new action since Saturday?

If a FO really sees a strong difference on their board between guys who are there at their original spot, and the number of spots they trade back, the answer is simple: Don't Make the Trade. If you've got 4-5 guys you have graded almost equally and would be equally glad to add to your team, and someone offers you goodies to trade back 3 spots, you take it. If you have 3 guys you have graded almost equally and someone offers you to trade back 3 spots, you don't. Durrrr.

👍 I don’t think the Jets loss is a fair case. I believe that was the game when most of the Brownies WR were out on Covid list, so the Brownies couldn’t run because the Jets just clamped down on the run and said “I dare ya” Point valid that Mayfield had some other games the press would have shreddified Allen for

FWIW, both McDermott and the Pegulas have given different explanations for how the Beane hiring happened. Pegula has said McDermott gave them a list, but there were several names on it with none asterisked and that he gave input, but wasn’t involved in the actual interviews and hiring process. Both Beane and McDermott have at times alluded to cases where McDermott disagreed with a move that Beane made. So I think it’s possible the power structure may be less in McDermott’s hands than is sometimes believed.

TBH, and it’s counterintuitive in some ways, I wouldn’t be totally shocked if Hughes is a surprise cut or trade. Overthecap, which was more accurate about the details of Sanders void year and a couple others (but does make mistakes) shows Addison as having $4.75M guaranteed money this year in addition to signing bonus. That wouldn’t be a shock - it’s typical for the team to give guarantees in exchange for taking a pay cut. So according to Overthecap, it costs money to cut Addison right now and post-June 1 only saves $1.4M with $2M hit next year. I think it’s notable that the Bills evidently didn’t ask Hughes to take a re-negotiation that would push any of his $$ into next year or to extend him. I think Hughes is a quandary for the Bills: if he’s all fired up crazy Gary, he can get to the QB but he also gets stupid prizes (penalties) and trash-talks the refs. If he’s more mature, reasoned Jerry, he may lack that extra edge that lets him get home, and the refs still “see nothing” when he’s held. It would seem stupid ‘cuz “vet leadership” and historically, by far our best pass rusher - but that’s my thinking right now. It’s gonna depend some on how the Bills evaluate him, do they see him as having an “off year” last year due to lack of interior pressure/lack of holding calls or do they see him as having lost a step? I think that’s a good assessment. The thing is, Beane has been talking up Darryl Johnson (and they did give him more playing time at the end of the season) who is also a ST ace - and Zimmer IMHO has earned his stripes. I’m wondering if Beane tries to swap Johnson to a team that came out of the draft with excess at CB or RB.

Click to embiggen. Then with a touch screen device you can enlarge and scroll He did say he stole it from a guy on Reddit. So the guy on Reddit gets the shade and the props.

I’m not a fan of just after the fact draft grades. They really IMO reinforce the grader’s opinion of the players drafted and their perception of how the draft matches the team’s needs (which may not pair up with the team’s perceived needs) But I’m 😂 at the guys giving out “F”s There are many words to describe 1TDT. Glamorous isn’t usually one of them. Actually the most interesting would be to compare our current evaluation of that draft, with the day-after draft grades.

The fumble was a big momentum swing and Mahomes really only missed part of the last Chiefs drive in the 3rd. Where KC got away with one was that Sorensen hit that caused the fumble, IMO. I thought and still think that should have been a personal foul. Henne did try to help the Brownies out with a pick, though.

I don’t understand how Beane and McD plan to manage the roster this year, is my only problem with the draft.

Sorry, but KC had the lead when Mahomes went out. Where the Brownies got robbed is on that end zone fumble. That should have been a PF against Sorensen.

It’s absolutely possible to win a Super Bowl with a QB like Mayfield under center. I would say, though, that the run game and D have to be better than good. They have to be top notch.

Butler improved at 1T as the season wore on, but that's not his natural position any more than it's Oliver's. He was supposed to replace Jordan Phillips. Star has typically taken 40-50% of the snaps in the game since he's been in Buffalo. I looked: 2018 and 2019, he had only 3 games where he took >65%, and the highest was 70%. McDermott has historically believed very strongly in rotation at DT, and it sounds as though with Addison, the theory is they need MORE rotation at DE, not less. You might have to educate me what "someone like Harry" means to you, but before he got hurt the idea was he'd get most of the snaps at 1T that Lotulelei didn't, meaning 30-40, up to 50% against a strong running team - with the "kick inside" guy taking the other 10-20%

All true, but here's the thing. From Sal Capaccio's chart on Twitter: Let's say Cox Jr, Love, and Bryant fall right off the roster, onto the practice squad if they like. Hughes and Addison start. Two guys between Epenesa, Johnson, Obada, Rousseau, and Basham rotate in. We maybe keep ?4? on the roster? ?5? At least 2 gotta go. At a guess, whoever looks the most raw between Rousseau and Basham develops a hangnail in training camp and winds up on IR. Who is the other? Obada is a developmental player in progress, but he would have led the Bills last year in sacks AND QB hits, while typically only playing 30% of the snaps in a game. Beane has gone out of his way to praise Johnson, who really saw his snaps jump at the end of last season and who is a special teams stalwart as well, but the fact is, he didn't manage much in the way of pressure. Do we finally break the stranglehold ST has on dictating our roster? At DT, the expected rotation based on 2019 would be Phillips/Lotulelei at 1T and Butler/Oliver at 3T. But Zimmer did show some chops, and McD does like at least one backup. I would hate to see Zimmer go. Do they keep 10 DLmen? 11? It's a quandry. It's a mystery. I just hope in the end, it's a good problem.

That would be a HUGE philosophical change for McDermott and Frazier, who have stoutly insisted on playing a rotation especially at DT. Then there's needing to have a plan for injury. I can't see them going into the season with fewer than 4 DTs on the roster. Obada, Basham, and Rousseau can all play inside to rush on passing downs, but playing inside on 3 downs to stop the run is another thing.

If you listen closely, Beane will usually drop breadcrumbs that, combined with his actions, amount to a pretty good trail indicating his thinking In Beane's post-season presser, he said straight out: "I think it's so unfair to look at the running backs to point blame on the running game," he said. "Running the football is very complex and it's obviously the o-line, it's the tight ends, it's the receivers and if one guy doesn't make his block the play's probably dead." That was a big breadcrumb pointing at his belief that many of the major problems with the running game lay elsewhere than with the backs. He didn't totally absolve the backs: "I'm not saying there's no blame - sometimes the running back missed the hole", but he seemed to be identifying 1) blocking, both OL and TE 2) scheme 3) practice priorities "it's one of those things you got to practice, you got to emphasize and you got to work on it" Then let's look at the Bills personnel changes: -added 7 OLmen, plus 1 back from IR (3 FA, 3 draft picks, 1 UDFA) -added 2 TE, plus 1 back from IR (1 FA, 1 draft pick) -added 1 speedy RB (FA) That indicates that their 2nd and 3rd and deep dive looks into the season matched his presser saying it's so unfair to look at the the running backs as to blame for the running game. Now, he also said frankly that none of our backs are a home-run threat, and that if you see an RB in the first who is a home run threat you take them. But by their actions, whatever the price was to go up after Etienne, he clearly didn't think the juice was worth the squeeze for that particular guy. If he fell to us, he'd take him, if they wanted (say) our 3rd this year and a 2nd next year, that was "Nope!". So to answer your question, the plan at RB is probably to hope Breida is useful as a speed back, and to dress whichever 2 of the 3 backs looks best in camp along with Taiwan Jones (who would play RB in an emergency, and to hope a combination of improved guard play (either from guys who were here or new guys), improved TE blocking, and improved scheme and focus in practice give us a more reliable run game. And it probably will against most teams. Whether it will be enough against teams with the best DL remains TBD

(do people still know what "broken record" means?) We know that Zimmer and Phillips do not play interchangeably, yes? Phillips plays 1TDT, Zimmer is a 3TDT?