thurst44

We've also signed Mario Williams and Micah Hyde in this period. Spencer Long was an outside-of-free-agency signing that teams always do.

Good, dude's probably going to be waaay overpaid as will most of the top FA WRs. Perhaps he takes the next step (and with Luck that may be the tallest of grass for that), but these FA WR are probably not the best investment right now, so not overly upset if we miss out on them.

I've found the premium where you can make trades also worth it. The GM stuff understandably has some bugs and you can't do player trades, but they are very responsive to any feedback, and it's still a lot of fun to do an off-season and gives you a feel for how much money we are actually working with this off-season. If we can convince players to come to Buffalo, even if we overpay, the money goes a long way.

Yeah, something tells me they are not going to incur a 12.5m dead cap hit so they can get rid of someone who's causing no problems we know of when the Bills improved in the areas he was supposed to improve. He was definitely overpaid (and that by design), but the defense played well with him and cutting him helps them not at all.

Judicious does not mean never paying out for large contracts. If they feel that Williams or James (both of whom are just getting into their prime) is worth a larger portion of their salary cap, they will feel it worth it to make Allen's progress quicker (and to win games). DeMarcus Lawrence is a pass rusher in his prime. When we have such a large amount of salary cap, and it's quite possible one more pass rusher could elevate this defense to elite (and up the play of Hughes, Lawson, etc.), it might just be judicious to use a sizable portion on that and on a couple spots on the line. Honestly, I'm not sure which way Beane is going to go. He's unpredictable. He's cleared a ton of cap space, but also shown he's not above overspending if he thinks it fits their vision. For whatever you think of the Star signing it (1) shows he's willing to spend money where he deems it necessary and (2) can be argued successful since even if his play and playing time seemed sub-standard, the defense did improve significantly and in one very specific area that Star was intended to address (qbs stepping up and making short passes, often to the tight end). That may have been coincidence, but...

If Buffalo Rumblings is correct about his price, sure. He's showed extended flashes of promise (unfortunately has been a disaster more often), but as many have said here, maybe with a new coach, and it's insurance if we bust on all of our FA OL.

I'm all but positive they will make an all-out blitz for linemen on Day 1 and that's where we will be willing to "judiciously" overspend (if we're not aggressive, chances are we'll just get another Ducasse and Mills). Part of me thinks this is the opposite of the way they're going to go, but part of me can see this as a logical move. One strategy which has been floating around in my mind: it's a given that protecting Allen and having a line that gives him a chance to succeed is paramount. What I'd love to see them do is use a decent amount of the salary cap space to attempt to sign 3 out of whoever they see as the 6 best linemen regardless of age (provided they realistically have a couple years left in them), ideally to 2 or 3 year contracts, maybe add one younger one (i.e. Daryl Williams, Matt Paradis) to have a veteran line (with Dawkins) going for the next couple years. Meanwhile, use the 2nd to mid-rounds of the draft to target future linemen, and have them work together on same side of line on second team, same with Teller if he does not prove himself ready to start (and try to get Dawkins to take at least a few reps a week with second team maybe to get a rhythm (but i'm not a coach, so that could be not worth as much as i think). Have a vet line to protect Allen for the next couple years and try to put together a future line with chemistry (well, as much as you can given roster constraint

They're 4, 5, and 7...and you mean the rounds we got Taron Johnson and Matt Milano in the last few years? The 5th round where we got our best player for the last decade?

I did not open b/c I was just not in the mood, but I presumed that it was more in the vein of "let's root for them so Brady and Belichick retire." Was it not?!

That pig in that poke may have turned out to be a top cornerback AND a quarterback who is just as good as Mahomes. We don't know yet, so to chalk it up as a loss is premature. Ditto on the Joe T. -- I'm still haunted by it. That I even saw it is crazy b/c at the time i was a kid who watched very little football, but my aunt chose the 'Skins as her secondary team (she was loyal to Bills til the end) and probably that's why it was on.

I'm somewhat close to agreeing with your overall premise, but that whole "Rex's kid was his college roommate" thing is not really fair as it, with ample snark, implies he was ridiculously overdrafted, when in truth, unless the prognosticators were waaaaay off base compared to the scouts here, he actually came off the board late. I remember watching that draft from early on in the night; it took place in Chicago, who held the 11th pick, and the announcers noted the fans were chanting for him, so he wasn't exactly a mystery or even a dark horse. Awhile back, when I was getting a bit annoyed at this revisionism, I looked back at about a dozen mock drafts and the lowest he went in any of them was 19. I definitely would have reservations about them picking up his option, but could also see them doing it as McD seems to have taken to him and they might feel as it's worth the risk considering all the cap space, and worst case scenario he's off the books in 2021. That said, his value would seem to be more vs. the run and in containment, while, if he hits his peak, being an overall Lorax-style pain in the neck for an opposing offense. Adding an above average pass rusher might take this defense from above average to elite, and pass rushers might be the best value in both the FA open market and first round to boot.

Probably will be

The Bills Run D was 29th in 2017 and 16th in 2018, giving up 10 fewer yards per game. They were also solid in most games (under 100 in half), but were so terrible in three that's all many of us remember. Even if you don't like that level of improvement, it's debatable that he was solely brought in to "improve our run defense" -- more often, I heard the justification was that we were getting murdered in the short pass game because QBs could step up into the middle and outlet a quick pass to the tight end. To that end, I'm pretty sure we allowed the fewest yards to tight ends this year. Is the scarcity of snaps concerning? Sure. However, given that this defense improved from 26th to 2nd and we have a plethora of cap space to address offensive issues (and he's not the reason we didn't have wide receivers this year), I trust their moves for now on the defensive side of the ball.

Colts are a cool, forward-looking choice as they may take the reins from the Pats as the power team considering they already are a SB contender and have a ton of draft picks and cap space. This year, I'm kinda rooting for 'em. Luck is a fellow nerd who just happens to be an amazingly talented QB, and hard to go against Frank Reich, but I know that will change after a span of dominance.

Cowboys would definitely be the ideal as I disliked them before I was a full-throated Bills fan (don't tell me who "America's Team" is), and losing those two SBs cemented that. Giants would only be fun b/c it would be such a big deal where I live (about 5 miles from Met Life Stadium). In earlier rounds, would definitely love to take down the Patriots -- although knocking them out of playoffs in two games in reg season would be even tastier. The Titans would be fun to beat to exorcise any demons (plus that franchise seems to play classic playoff games). Allen beating Mahomes with a couple of Tre picks would be a well-scripted Championship game.

Being in the NYC market, this question is slightly more complicated. I decided to make my vote reflect my feelings for the Jets since I have stronger (negative) feelings about them. In fairness, I've gone to three games and the fans have been incredibly friendly, even when I've worn Bills garb. The Giants (with the Packers) rotate as a sort of secondary team, even though that SB came at a formative time in my fanhood, as a combination of having affable friends who are Giants fans and rooting for their happiness, drafting Tiki Barber in a couple of his best fantasy years, and beating the Patriots twice in the SB does not hurt. That said, it's less that I'm a fan of the GIants, than I "wish them no specific harm."

I don't think you're wrong, but the Ravens have had some pretty good runs. However, the Bills have a defensive minded coach and exciting players at key positions. Also, there's reason to believe that the Bills D could be even better with an offense with fewer 3 & outs. Then again, I, too, have watched enough football to know it doesn't always play out that way.

But Wallace has also shown quite a bit, even by one expert metric outplaying a pro bowl rookie, and is the prototype of a McD player. I'd be wary to part with him, even for an insane talent like AB, who despite his questionable focus, I'd love to get paired with Allen. I suspect McD & Beane would be even more wary. They might rather bank on Foster and Jones's development than rob from the part of the team that is working.

Seems is the key word here as it is not backed by the facts in the least. Bills were wildly inconsistent against the run -- "gashed" in three games, held the opponent under 100 in half of the games (only over 120 in four games).

If he somehow drops to 9, we should sprint to the podium to ***** our second first round Josh Allen in as many years. Edit: wow, i'm shocked that word would be censored as it even took me a sec to remember there was an alternate, vulgar meaning for it (although that usage did provide one of the funniest lines in Heathers)

Well, no. First off, that's a gross oversimplification. One reason I always heard cited for the signing was to clog up the middle so that the opposing QB could not step into short passes easily. We here would often grouse about passes to tight ends. This year we were among the best teams for stopping tight ends. Furthermore, we went from 26 to 2 (and one mayfield pass from 1st) in total defense and allowed 15 fewer yards rushing a game than last year, fwiw.

They do look like a team on the rise; however, if that had been us, many would have likely been harping about Mayfield's inaccuracy in the clutch, and how our defense is overrated b/c we just gave up almost 300 yards on the ground. Grass often greener, etc.

In the last two drafts, we got Milano and Taron Johnson in those rounds. Yes, other teams have cap room, but we have more, hence can outbid -- more importantly, it gives freedom to re-sign our own guys.

Edmunds had 120 tackles, 2 ints, 2 sacks as a 20-year-old rookie and looks like he's poised to take over reins as defensive leader at 21 next year. Allen had 5 tds today and almost led the league in qb rushing despite missing nearly half of season. It's hard to expect much more. On another note: they may have found two starters at key positions in the 2018 UDFA market which is pretty impressive. And...don't look now, but Browns about to have ball and if they get 50 yards or so, we can claim #1 defense.

By my math, Browns would need about 445 yards. They currently have 316 and there's a lot of time, so long shot, but not impossible.