BADOLBILZ

Free agency always produces more failures than successes. But you can't get anymore consistent that Garrett. He's more consistent than Reggie White or Bruce Smith were.......and they both could still play well late into their 30's. Von was an outside linebacker type. Too much is made of that deal not working out. Lot's of free agents in that pay range don't work out. It just seemed like a big deal because Beane got the Bills in such a cap bind that he want from throwing around $6M for backup CB's and LB's like Josh Normal and AJ Klein to throwing nickels around like manhole covers. Fans weren't critical enough when he was wasting money and now are too critical when he isn't.

The scary thing for the Bengals is Burrow actually played last season in it's entirety. He finished 2 others on the sideline. He's almost due for another injury at his historical rate.

Yeah, it's funny, Bill Barnwell has an article on ESPN about how impressive the cast of available receivers are this offseason and it kinda' feels like none of them really fit the Bills EXCEPT Hollywood Brown........if he's healthy. They lack a deep threat and most of the big names on there are like Cooper. Who is, as Barnwell aptly describes, a 50/50 and back shoulder deep target at this stage of their career. Really weird having like a dozen guys who have put up 1,000 yard season and the class feels weak because of the Bills specific need.

Yeah we are in agreement on that. The variance on what was expected of the Vikings versus what they produced is the greatest example because of the 14 wins. But I think you have to give Mahomes and Allen a different benefit of the doubt. They've rarely missed a game in their careers and they "win" 11 or more every year and win their division. Bills probably should have won the division in 2019 if not for Brady(a seemingly inevitable QB like them). Burrow and Lamar? They have both finished multiple seasons on the sidelines and missed the playoffs multiple times.

If they were a top 5 roster talent team but with just a "good" QB like Kirk Cousins of a couple years ago I would feel like they might have a much wider variance in potential W-L. But with Allen being proven for 5 years and trending up as a leader/winner the past year and a half I agree that 12 seems like a starting number of sorts. Things can always change but I wouldn't bet the under at this point.

Yeah that sounds about right and probably what he ends up as. A solid player. But to be honest I thought JJ Watt was a 3-4 DE and was really surprised how early he was picked. Landon Jackson doesn't have any traits that make me say he CAN'T rush the passer at a high level. He just hasn't. I use the Watt comp because he had very low production in college as well. If Jackson tears it up at the combine he could bounce back into 1st round consideration. I doubt he will test as poorly as Epenesa did and have to change his body type etc..

Point is don't get caught up in statistical anomalies. For that, Mostert is a PRIME example. If Cook had the other numbers he produced in 2024 but only 2 TD's again.......like in 2023......then there is no conversation around paying him like a top RB right now. Look at what they really are. In Mostert's case he was an injury prone journeyman with ELITE speed. Cook has been a good to very good 2 down RB in his 3 years. He's not "elite" like some people have wishfully thrown around.

It's always true that RB's shouldn't be worth much in trade. But all it takes is one team. Prime All-Pro DHop for worn out RB David Johnson and a 2nd round pick actually happened. And that was before this "RB renaissance". It's apropos that LA Chargers get mentioned because Harbaugh would be a guy who might value a veteran RB like that.

Say it ain't so Junkarlo! https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/43876552/yankees-giancarlo-stanton-elbows-uncertain-opening-day Cash needs to get one more bat so they have someone to fill in when Junk misses his 35-75 games and Bellinger and Dominguez miss their time. The obvious fit is Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals. He'd get 140+ starts between LF, RF and infield with the Yanks injury probabilities. If St. Louis would attach him to Arenado and send the 2 for next to nothing I'd do it. I can't understand why anyone would take Arenado and his $75M. Even half of that more than he's going to be worth over the next 3 seasons with his increasingly feeble bat. Whoever gets him is getting Yankees Josh Donaldson 2.0 in 2026-2027 so you hope to get a platoon season out of him and then dump his carcass. But if they got arbitration Donovan that would help make up for the lost value. They'll likely get $60M in value for 3 years of prime Donovan for like $15M in arb salaries so then you are basically just eating $30M taking on Arenado($75M-$45M). Hal don't want to pay that luxury tax though so probably gotta hope Oswaldo and Oswald step up.

Yeah there are a lot of explosive RB's in this draft. Treveyon Henderson might go right where Cook did in round 2 and he is probably a more polished player right now than Cook is after 3 years of seasoning. More explosive than Cook for damn sure and he can actually pick up a blitz like a champ.

You are shooting for upgrades over Cook. Which would be ideal but remember what Cook was when they selected him. He's become almost the opposite of what was expected. You don't NEED a 350 touch guy like Hampton or Judkins in this offense. I like Henderson a lot though. WAY more sophisticated prospect than Cook was. I am hoping Brashard Smith falls to the Bills in round 4. Hoping he runs like a 4.55 or something at Indy because he plays fast, sudden and instinctive. Always been a favorite of mine since he was at the U. 4 star WR but just couldn't beat out Xavier Restrepo for slot reps and wasn't big enough to play the boundary and the Canes always have 4 star RB's to feed so he didn't get much of a chance there. He's really natural at RB and a better prospect than Tyrone Tracy, IMO. He showed great ball security on 274 touches last year too so not as much of a projection as Tracy was so he should go much sooner.

Why are we "assured" that the Bills lose firepower in trading Cook? As I illustrated, Cook was just a top 20 producer in terms of rushing yards. What if they select a RB who can actually play all 3 downs in round 3? Might even find that in round 4 or 5. Cook would have been a day 3 pick in this loaded RB draft. In my estimation Cook went from a good 2 down RB whose production was inflated by scheme, OL quality and the particular QB he had in 2023 to a very good 2 down RB whose production was inflated by those things. He's not a great player. The Bills had to take him off the field on a lot of high leverage/passing downs to maximize his efficiency in 2024.

Individual-pay comes down to a players individual-ability to impact a game. Those guys are going to get paid disproportionately and because they are under-supplied they will likely continue to outpace the cap in general. That's why edge and island positions(like boundary WR) get paid and ultra dependent positions like RB's do not and should not. Brief fluctuations in how teams play offense or defense don't really change that. After a couple years of offense's fighting against the current league scoring in 2024 returned back to the perceived "high flying" 2021 levels that caused defense's to back off in the first place. The Bills have been one of those "prevent the deep ball at any cost" teams since McD got here. Years prior to the league shift. And what are we talking about here? Changing it up defensively. So I wouldn't bet the house on the entire league going with one style of defense again........that was the anomaly, IMO. Maybe passing yards per game topped out in 2020-2021 but it will bounce back.

You can't really quantify "toughest". 117 straight starts and 5 straight 40 TD seasons. 5 straight division titles. Those are the kind of things you can quantify. The main reason the Bills and Chiefs are always deep in the playoffs is because they can consistently reproduce their results. Nobody else is anywhere near as consistent. And a lot of that is projectable. For instance, we know right now that unless one of them gets traded one of Lamar and Joe Burrow will AT BEST be playing on the road in the WC round.

Yeah that's not really how it worked though. They re-worked his 2024 deal to lower that cap hit. It was then a deal that would potentially pay him 3 years $25.5M. They can cut him after 2025 and the total paid will be $16M for 2 years. So $8M aav. And that is the likely result rather than pay him $9.5M in 2026.