Hapless Bills Fan

Stevenson? What has he shown you that leads you to believe he would be an upgrade? Yeah, he ran a fast 40 time. But in a short gig of 14 PR and 5 KR over 5 games, he had 2 fumbles and if I'm not mistaken, a couple more muffs. He also appeared to have no field vision based on his tendency to run into the butts of his blockers, and he didn't appear to play "up to" his 40 time. Now maybe he's just got a learning curve - I'm sure the Bills haven't given up on him at all. But I'm equally sure they don't plan to count on him as either a KR/PR or as a slot receiver next season. I think it's very telling that McKenzie won the KR job back for the playoffs. That's part of it. But there's sort of a "mystery wrapped in an enigma" about Isaiah McKenzie. I'm going to muse back and forth here: On the first hand, when there's a question about Beasley's availability due to injury, McDermott and Daboll always say that they have "full confidence in McKenzie to run all the routes Beasley runs". On the other hand, when the rubber meets the road, Daboll's game day decision has been "Beasley with smashed ribs over McKenzie" or "Beasley with broken fibula over McKenzie". On the first hand, when McKenzie has gotten his chances as in the Miami game 2020 and the 2nd NE game 2021, he has killed it, and his teammates say "no one here is surprised, we see what he does every day" and "on another team, he'd be starting" and "that boy a Problem" and "all he has done is work and put his head down On the other hand, we have a first-hand report here of McKenzie body-catching balls during warmup before a game, and (I never have gotten an answer as to source) that McKenzie was said to have bad practice habits and be muffing or fumbling in practice. One can work hard, but not right. One has to do both. What's clear is that the coaches (not just McDermott, but also Daboll) haven't seem to trust him completely, and that may be based on something we don't see (practice and meeting room habits). On the other hand, sometimes (presumably based on practice and meeting room) coaches appear to develop weird fixations on players who can't cut it on Sunday (*cough* Nathan Peterman *cough* Vlad Ducasse). McKenzie has 100%, beyond doubt improved since arriving in Buffalo. When he got here, he could NOT run routes. He could not release against sticky coverage. He could not make sharp, ankle breaking cuts. Now he can run routes, and he can release and cut against most DBs. Add that to his speed, and players have taken note: "(Isaiah) is a real matchup problem.  I won't lie to you, he is." He can't read the defense and find soft spot in the zone or run option routes the way Beasley can; his great game against NE came when they were covering him outside, man2man, and he just ran away from them (then he got some good catches in a later game where they expected that, and he cut and ran a different route, so that isn't all he can do). I kind of have the feeling that McKenzie is a handful to coach and at times, his own worst enemy. He works out like a beast in off season, but largely on his own and not at the high-end "Receiver Factory" /"House of Athlete" specialized places Diggs uses, designed to help him release and cut better and run better routes. McK said in an interview "I'm just a little guy, I have to hold onto the ball however I can" which could translate to "I'm not being coachable about ball security". So I don't know. I don't think McKenzie has necessarily peaked in the NFL. But I don't know if he's going to invest in himself the right way and perceive what his gaps are and keep growing. Beane has commented on the need for speed but also to be football players, to have instincts and be able to play; McKenzie has shown he's not just fast, he can ball, No Doubt. He can block, he can tackle, he can take a hit. I think there's a double-edged sword for guys who have McKenzie's background, which is having nobody in his corner but himself; he hasn't had family supporting him and finding him extra coaching or elite WR camps or tutors or SAT prep, his grandma was just trying to see that they ate and he didn't get shot. Guys like that have to be hard-headed and lean into their own sense of self-belief and "against all odds" mentality. But that also makes it hard to hear coaches who say "you need to do this not that" because you've heard it before and you've flown past it fueled by your own hard work so who knows if they have your interests at heart? My personal belief is that the Bills should try to re-up McKenzie and offer him a multi-year deal with some signing bonus and with performance incentives, to give him some security to invest in his own skills with high-level coaching. Go do that hand-eye training stuff that Knox did. Spend the whole off season at the Receiver Factory. On the other hand, a lot depends upon how Dorsey and now Brady and Kromer (if he's taking over the run game) see him. It might be to McKenzie's benefit to go somewhere else, if he wants a chance to start in the slot and they just don't see him as a potential starter. The NFL right now is a "have and have not" situation. There are about 32 WR on deals with AAV >$10k. There are a double handful (~10) guys who are either well-paid specialists like Beasley, or guys on one-year 'prove its' like Sanders. Then there are high-round rookies getting well paid towards the end of their deals. There may not be a lot of cap space for guys like McKenzie who have shown they can play when they've gotten a chance, but who are older and haven't established themselves as able to start throughout a season.

I'm not doubting your eyes, but just to point out that "better" than he was in the loss to the Jags is a pretty low bar The 3 games remaining games where he started were Indy, New Orleans, and Carolina.

Thought Judge was their ST coordinator?

I don't think anyone is arguing that you can't incentivize people with money. I haven't seen anything that seems interpretable that way. Straw man. But monetary incentivization in general has limits once past the 2nd tier of Maslow's Hierarchy. That applies to a player who has career earnings of $47.9 Million dollars and has likely handled it well. The monetary leverage lessons of hiring contract workers, probably don't apply here. Your exact words were "If he is going to be kept I'd insist that he be there for the offseason and OTA's to prove that he cares about being the best player he can be again." Now you could have said something like "If he is going to be kept, the Bills should propose restructuring his contract to heavily incentivize participation in OTAs". But you didn't. You said "insist" The point is, the Bills can't insist. That's specifically prohibited by the CBA. In the case of Star Lotulelei, again, I'm not opposed to the Bills moving on at this point (that would go with what the FO and coaches saw on and off the field). But what exactly is the Bills leverage to restructure his contract? The Bills can propose a restructured contract they want to link his $3.65M salary to incentives (which it sounds like you're proposing), Lotulelei's agent can say "No". Then the Bills can keep him, or cut him while Star pockets $2.5M additional cash. Looking at the list of DTs available in FA, I wouldn't bet the rent that some other team doesn't offer him $3.5-$4M on a 1 year "prove it" deal. Take a look at the guys who played in that range last season: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/defensive-tackle/ It's not saying that other things being equal, Lotulelei wouldn't want $6.75M instead of $6.5M or $2.5M. Who knows, maybe a season off even showed him he'll miss playing football? But if it comes at a price he doesn't want to pay (more time apart from his family, say), Good Luck to the Bills finding someone to replace him for the $1.5M (or even $4.1 as a post-June 1 cut) they'll save on the cap. Star is an 8 year vet. His minimum salary would be $1.12M if signed by another team, so in fact, if any other team signs him, he WILL be making something with "$" on the front and "M" on the back. PS anyone want to bet that Star's agents negotiated a contract without offset language? That would mean he makes $2.5M from the Bills plus whatever a new team pays him 😈

Thanks, it sounds as though the OL coach could provide information about what he wants the players to work on then, the club just can't enforce that they view the stuff or use it (they can't enforce what's provided in the exit interviews either so What's New?) Eh. They're like any other union in my view, some good some bad

Thanks, guys. What was on my mind more specifically was Aaron Kromer joining us as OL coach. He might have different techniques he wants the OL to work on off-season, that would require different off-season workouts and drlls than they were assigned. Actually there are very specific rules about this, a number of players are on record commenting about how frustrating it is. Injured players can choose to rehab in the facility, in which case the services of the medical staff and athletic trainers are available to them, but they still can't watch film with coaches or talk about football with coaches. They can also choose to train off-season at the club's facility, but unless they're injured, several have commented on how stupid it is that the S&C staff can be right there, working out right next to them, and yet the staff aren't allowed to help or work with them.

This. Of course, there were folks here who held the viewpoint that Star wasn't the "missing link" or that big of a downgrade in 2020, so they didn't buy that talk then, and the end of the season only reinforced that viewpoint. But yeah, I don't know what the people who think "Ankou is better" or "anyone off the street would be just as good" are seeing. It's 100% reasonable to question whether the Bills have received the ROI on the big contract and guarantees they gave Star, especially with the year-long Covid opt-out followed by contracting Covid and reportedly being "affected by it" the rest of the season (per Beane). then there's the mysterious "personal reasons" week. But the pragmatic question the Bills have to answer is: "Can we replace Star with a rookie or with a lower-tier FA DT who will sign for $1.5M (savings pre June 1) or $4.1M (savings post-June 1)?" A person could scan the FA lists at IDL (Overthecap) or DT (Spotrac) to see who is available, with the caveat one needs to dig into what type of DT they are (NT or 1T is what we're looking for)

My point was that the OP I was responding to was wrong about Lotulelei's dead cap, even if cut as a post-June 1. Even if cut as a post-June1 cut, Star's dead cap would be $5.1M this season (guaranteed salary this season and amortized signing bonus for this season). He would then kick $2.6M (next years signing bonus) into 2023. Cap savings would be $4M As a pre June1 cut, of course, both '22 and '23 amortized signing bonus and Star's guaranteed $2.5M salary for '22 would count against this year's cap, so the dead cap would be $7.7M and savings would be $1.5M Both Spotract and Overthecap have different details but agree. The "Dead cap $2M, savings $6M is simply incorrect" in either scenario. https://overthecap.com/player/star-lotulelei/2282/

So, we know that the NFL has restrictions on contact between coaches and players in the off-season. The coaches can have social contact - call the players up to chat about golf or fishing - but are not supposed to watch film together or discuss football. (Yes, I think the coach can have 40 players over to grill steak and cannonball into his pool, but it's unlikely 40 players would be in the same town in the off-season so that would draw scrutiny outside OTAs or training camp) After the season ends, the HC, coordinator, and position coach can meet with the player and discuss his performance and future goals. The S&C staff can give him a packet of off-season workouts. Then that's it. My question is: when a team changes coaching staff, is there an exception where the new staff can contact the players on the roster and give a new evaluation/goals or new off-season workout?

I think that was essentially David Culley's train of thought. "Sign a guaranteed 3 yr contract, get paid $5M, and take home an extra $17M if you fire me? Yeah, I know you're using me, but I'm OK being used like that".

It's Ford's pass blocking (or lack thereof) that concerns me most.

I know, right? Right in the lawsuit, as well as in various appearances, Flores says that he realizes the lawsuit may impact his future employment chances. Now he's saying it actually did what he said it would do, so like, Durr? The thing that chaps me is spouting that clearly the only reason the Texans wouldn't hire him was the lawsuit. Whatever his personal opinion of Lovie Smith may be, the guy took Rex Grossman and the Bears to a Superbowl. He was on the team last season. He had Josh McCown as his QB so if the Texans hired him, maybe he agreed to take McCown as QB coach or OC. There could be a bunch of reasons (good and bad) why the Texans would prefer him to Flores, besides the lawsuit, and it's pretty demeaning to Smith (IMO) to say otherwise.

Lil' Dirty polishing up his footwork

But to be fair - his first year there was obviously a "tank" year with no QB - er, I mean, with Josh McCown as QB Then they drafted Jameis Winston and in his first year, the team looked like they'd turned it around. It kind of looked to me as though the Buccaneers Freddy Kitchened him. Maybe Frazier said "no thank you" after the way the Texans kicked Culley to the curb after a single year.

Lack of interest can come from either side. Correction: the last 13 seconds of the KC game was a disaster, but the fact that the game got to that point was not. Tampa

Wasn't the root point of this whole thing to not judge people by their appearance? All true, but to be fair to the 49ers they did have Nick Mullens at QB. Apparently you do need a certain level of QB play to succeed with the Shanny offense.

I was thinking that prosecutors usually won't pursue charges if the witness disappears or refuses to cooperate. And a confidential settlement can specify that the settlement is void if the parties discuss what happened (including in court) But you do have a point in that the video evidence might make a huge difference. I guess it depends on the DA. I agree that the league will suspend him, and should. The video with Hunt, while against a woman, was relatively "milquetoast" and the young woman suffered no injuries. Hunt was suspended 8 games.

I don’t think that’s correct. He has $2.5M guaranteed salary and a $2.6M signing bonus this year. If he’s cut post June 1, I think they still pay that this season. So the dead cap would be $5.1M. They just get to count next year’s signing bonus…next year.

Hey, wanted to pull this out and respond promptly I think your info on “$12.716M savings” is incorrect Someone pointed out in the Barkley discussion, that the rules have changed and a 5th year option starting in 2018 is now fully guaranteed when it is exercised So there would be no savings from cutting Edmunds He could be traded and the salary would go with him.

It was upthread but here you go again:

You came into a sub thread suggesting we kick Frazier to the curb and hire Flores for a year as a solution to “not good enough” I think your take that there needs to be an upgrade in talent is closer to a reasonable take There are other thoughts but if the question is “what will lift us the final distance?” I don’t think Brian Flores is the answer

Neither was Flores

The idea that the Bills would kick a guy who has worked his ass off for 5 years to the curb in favor of a hotheaded young punk who is suing the league and several teams and just trashed a fellow Black coach in public by implying he couldn’t possibly be preferred for any professional traits ……all I’d be able to say would be “process….I do not think that word means what I think it means”

. Not. A. Chance

It’s also hella insulting of his fellow coach Lovie Smith, implying there couldn’t possibly be reasons they might prefer Smith.