Buddo

Interesting read. The 'culture' side of things was especially so, in that all of the guys basically said that now the moment someone comes in, they see how hard they are expected to work, and pretty much just have to do it. It certainly appears that within the 'process' there's room for personalities, just not divas - you only have to watch White to see the truth in that.

As regards medications, anti-inflammatories are pretty much a non-starter if you are taking blood thinners, due to the possibility of internal bleeding. In a serious contact sport, I expect the use of those is pretty ubiquitous, and not being able to use them, makes life that bit more difficult - especially with the increased propensity for bruising that exists from the blood thinners.

The O-Line is key to how well the rest of the 'skill' positions can perform, in many respects. Having said that, they aren't being especially negative, and the rider appears to be that they might be a fair bit better than currently thought of, as opposed to being mediocre full stop. Biggest area of concern at the 'skill' positions, is (still) TE, where the injury to Kroft means we aren't exactly looking set. Smith is fine as a blocking TE, but it's the pass catcher we need, more than anything. Hopefully the rookie can step up, as I doubt Kroft will be ready to go fully for the start of the season. The WR group as a whole, actually looks pretty solid. While it would be nice to have a guy who can do it all at the position, as a group, I think they have a good complimentary skill-set, able to give the variety of options a QB wants to see from his wideouts. If the O-Line comes together, and we (finally) get competent play there, I think there's a lot going for the guys we have, and see no reason why with our solid D, we should not be in every game we play.

Trust the Process, just has to go, as it's corporate BS at its finest. McBeane I find sort of convenient, when talking about decisions the pair of them have come to. Idleness about typing I suppose, but I'm not a secretary.

I’m pretty much on board with most of this post. I’m still on the sceptical side of being a true adherent to the ‘cult’, yet I am becoming increasingly convinced that McDermott and Beane, do practise what they preach. There are a lot of signs all over the place - and.I’m not talking about the ones in the field house. I couldn’t tell you for one moment what precisely the plan is, but it is obvious there is one. Moves made this off season, are major evidence of this. Areas of weakness have been identified, and addressed. Whether or not the right address is on the envelope is a moot point, but progress will be made, even if it isn’t spot on. Imho, there’s a very good fighting chance that we will have a contending team this coming season, with a distinct possibility of a playoff berth again. Next year onwards, with a tweak or two, I’m hopeful we will have the basis of a roster that can contend for the foreseeable future.

Good sensible move. No fuss, no bother, and an important piece locked up for the next few years.

No, you can't fix stupid.

I've never felt before that Kiper paid enough attention to the actual NFL, and the various teams needs. Seems as though he took some time to watch the Bills last year, after all. He was on the money when he talked about back to back penalties, drops etc. and it was obvious that he had at least watched a couple of games, as he was pretty much doing a play by play. It's also true that what he says about not having to like one and hate another, is the way things should be, but mostly aren't.

Chances are, as someone else pointed out, Oliver will naturally play more snaps than Kyle did, due to being a dozen or so years younger. Anyone who thinks that top 10 picks in todays NFL see every snap on their side of the ball, is not paying attention. I'm sure Oliver is going to have a serious impact for the Bills D, but that impact might be lessened, if he isn't used to the best advantage, which will mean some rotation to keep him fresh. Explosiveness has a physical cost, and for all these guys are professional athletes, it's nigh on impossible to keep up throughout a game.

This is true. What's also true, is that we do not have a genuine #1 WR. What isn't true, is that you pick those guys up all the time, most of the way through day 3 of the draft.

I thought the idea to drafting guys, was to improve on what you've got. Was there a WR that was better than Beasley or John Brown, or even Foster, after we took our 2nd round pick? Unless I'm very much mistaken, there were only 2 WRs taken in the first round, and both from mid twenties to last pick of the round. That screams 'not elite' to me. There was one WR taken before our 2nd round pick. Then from #19 to #32 in the 2nd round there were another 6 taken. Says, 'probably decent' to me. I just don't believe that we would necessarily be getting a guy who makes much of a difference from any of those. For sure, there will probably be one who does shine through, but it's incredibly difficult to predict which one that will be, especially when they are all obviously rated around the same. Our WR corps has already been improved a whole heap, with the additions of Brown and Beasley. Williams might also be a big help. For sure we don't have an obvious #1 WR, but it isn't as though we don't have guys who cannot make plays. With improved O-Line play, guys will have more opportunities to get open. If Allen starts finding Brown and Foster downfield regularly, I'm not sure having a #1 WR would make much of a difference, and TBH, what we really are lacking in the WR department, is a true #1 WR, not just a.n.other WR.

Tbh, I wouldn't bother offering anything until after the draft. Seahawks are going to be up against it in the not too distant, cap wise, and they may have to take a low ball offer for Clark, just to get his cap hit off the books. Staying at #9, the Bills are quite likely going to be able to find some D-Line help, that will also lessen the need for Clark. The time the Seahawks could maybe have done better in respect of a pick for Clark, was before Wilson got his new deal. Now everyone knows it's going to be tougher for them in the next year or two to retain guys.

Both Feliciano and Long can play Center. They are also both Guards. I doubt Bodine is anywhere as near as effective a Guard as either of them, and will probably end up being released. Dawkins might be in trouble, as both he and Nsekhe favour LT, although Nsekhe has been capable of playing RT. Much depends on how well Dawkins bounces back after an indifferent year. He obviously wasn't helped by the guys inside of him much. I believe Dawkins was drafted to play Tackle, and so I think he gets first shot at it. I can see Dawkins, Spain, Morse, Feliciano/Long Nsekhe being the most likely starters. Feliciano probably has an edge over Long due to familiarity with our new O-Line coach. Waddle shouldn't be discounted from RT, for the self same reason. I would say that those 7 guys will almost certainly all dress come Sundays. Long/Feliciano would be Guard, Backup Center/Guard, with Waddle your backup Tackle. If Dawkins goes down Nsekhe flips to LT, and if Nsekhe does Waddle comes in for him, as he does if Dawkins goes down and Nsekhe flips. I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that Nsekhe beats Dawkins to the LT spot. I think then Dawkins becomes the backup Tackle. I don't believe that that would mean we are necessarily giving up on him, as I think he still has a bright future, but if he gets beaten out, I think he needs to exhibit some patience and dedication. I really don't think he's suited to play on the right. Currently, even if he was switched to LG, I don't see him getting past Spain on the depth chart. Having said that, I do still think that ultimately, he will get the start at LT.

I can think of one reason to do it, and that would be to stop the Patsies from trading for him. He could be a natural successor to Brady, and might be able to run their current offence fairly successfully. I would also suggest that he is likely to be the ‘type’ of QB McDaniels can work with best. Note, I am not for a single minute advocating this be done, but simply as a viable scenario for it having some value. Tbh, I can see it as the sort of thing evil Bill would be quite prepared to do, in our situation. Prevent one of your immediate adversaries, from improving themselves. i also think that it would be extraordinarily unfair on Rosen to do that.

Old 'stone hands' knew what he was doing at the position though. He could run routes, (and get open) he could block - both pretty well. He simply couldn't catch a cold.

Tbh, I can see Nsekhe beating out Dawkins at LT, but I don't see Dawkins as a RG. LG maybe, but he appeared to struggle a lot more when he was being used at RT. I believe he may be best suited to the left side, even if it is at guard.

More QBs taken in the top ten, the better for us, if for no other fact than it drops quality down the board to us. While I understand the salivating over trading down with someone to get more high round picks, if 3 QBs do go in the top 10, we are going to have some serious options still available at the #9 pick.

As it seems we are going with a major makeover of the O-Line, I think it's important to note that two of the signings there, have 'previous' with our new O-Line coach. I'm guessing that he also had significant input into some of the other signings for the O-Line. That is something to be optimistic about, as again, it shows there's a plan in place. While it goes without saying that the O-Line guys are literally hungry, for many of the signings made, I'd say it's a figurative one as well. Some of these guys have been good backups, stuck behind better players, who are desperate for a genuine chance to start. They are going to get that opportunity with the Bills, and the competition will be fierce. I also think that that level of competition has the chance to raise the level of play of the group as a whole. Dawkins better not be giving anything less than his best effort, as he could find himself on the bench PDQ. Regarding the other signings at WR, well Brown was a guy they wanted from the year before, as they want speed on the field to get the most out of Allen's arm. In other threads, people have pointed out that while Flacco was still QB, Brown was on pace for his best season, numbers wise. Once Jackson took over, that fell off a cliff, mainly due to a lack of a passing game. Beasley is a receiver whose speciality is getting you another set of downs. I don't care about his numbers, if all he does is convert 3rd downs. Beane specifically referenced this in talking about Beasley. Sometimes I think people lose sight of the 'team' part of football, and get obsessed by the numbers game. No matter which side of the ball you are talking about, you need guys to be complementary to each other, to work as a unit. The NFL is littered with people who put up big numbers for their respective positions, but have won sweet FA, mainly due to the other parts of the teams they were on, simply not working. Having said all of that, while I'm cautiously optimistic for the coming year, these guys haven't set foot on the field yet, so there's an awful long way to go. I have confidence that they will be an improvement, however, the bigger question is by how much, and will it be enough?

Based on the article linked, Polite probably shouldn't be selected until about the 5th round, as it sounds like it'll take him all of his first contract years, to figure out how to be a pro. A good DC will get some production out of him in the meantime, especially on obvious passing plays, but you wouldn't want to bet the farm that the guy understands what it means to be a professional in the NFL, before about his third year - and he seems so uncommitted, that it may not even be then. This has 'dumb kid wastes talent' written all over it, as a highly possible outcome.

Very tricky one. Currently he's nowhere near worth $12 million per (or even $10 million), yet he's become fairly reliable - most of the time he's lost was in his first year, which is also why he is somewhat 'behind the game' in his development. Last year was a solid year, both in terms of performance, and work ethic, where he showed the coaches and Beane, he was wiling to put the work in. There's a good chance he will improve further this season, to the extent that he could actually 'earn' the option being picked up. Trouble is, that's purely a projection. I think perhaps the way forward that covers most angles from the Bills pov, is to pick the option up, but also to tell Shaq, that if there's any slacking off, they will drop it just as quick. I'm saying this because I don't believe we've seen the best of the guy yet, and it's the safest way to find out, just not the cheapest. As it's for a defensive player, I'm way more inclined to trust McDermott''s judgement on this, so if he green lights it, then fair enough. A couple of additional observations on this, would be that expecting the draft to fill the position, is not really a sensible approach, even though the #9 pick isn't a bad spot to be in, it's not high enough to get a guaranteed difference maker (if any slot is), or at least 'blue chip' prospect. Also, that while next years cap situation is atm very nice, it would seem that unlike this year, where we had a lot of our own still under contract, next year it's much less so, so a decent chunk of that space will be needed to get guys we want to keep, re-signed. It's not a major issue, imho, but a cautionary note needs to be taken when assuming we will have loads of cash to burn again next off season. We will certainly have enough to make almost any signing we want (one off), but we won't have as much freedom to go out and sign a dozen vets we want to take a chance on.

I get the impression that NFL players tend to work in the same way we do, as regards forming initial opinions. They read much of the same garbage etc. Funny how you didn't hear much about Allen being no good, from the guys who had actually played against him last season. Once they see the tape, or look at it properly, because the Bills might be in their future, either as a destination or opponent, I'm fairly certain we've not had too much in the way of negatives. There will inevitably be comparisons between Mahomes and Allen, for no other reason than the Bills passing on Mahomes, to take Allen the following year (not the literal scenario, just how things worked out), yet there are others, especially in respect of arm strength, and mobility. Currently, Mahomes is way ahead of the curve, but has an extra season in the NFL to account for that (and a terrific mentor originally in Alex Smith). Hopefully, Allens second year in the NFL, will pan out similarly to Mahomes.

We were successful as a D against a lot of good passing teams. Think those teams will not bother looking at the tape of how the Patsies killed us? It's a definite issue, and has been with our D in both the last two years. Back to the OP. I can see where the guy is coming from, and he makes a good case for drafting Metcalfe pretty high. Like, late first round, to me. For all he does make good points, there are too many iffs and buts around system/QB and coaching, for me to want to take him any earlier. For sure, you can take a chance on the superior athleticism, but you aren't getting superior production, from his history. The talent is there, the production to back it up, isn't. I'm not taking that much of a gamble, on a non QB with a top ten draft pick, when there could be a bona fide blue chipper dropping to me.

It might be for a little while. You might need to superglue it there though, as I believe it can get a bit windy up there.

Morse hasn't allowed a sack in something like 3 years, iirc. Might just be the reason he got paid by the Bills, who probably lilke the idea of an upright Josh Allen From the above, I think you'll find that Morse actually rates very highly in pass pro.

Not if he doesn't start.