OldTimer1960

Barkley has close to 10 years in the league, so he should look good against 3rd/4th stringers. Kyle Allen is learning a new offense and was playing against Colts’ starters. That’s not meant to make excuses for Kyle Allen, it is just a fact.

Whatever it is, it’s game-over if either he or Barkley has to play a regular season game.

Basham is a possibility- he may still have a little trade value and I think he is stuck behind some really good DEs. I can’t think of any OL that they would consider trading that any other team wants.

I agree that turnovers are probably more important than continuous bend but don’t break. I think it’s a little optimistic to think they would choose Elam to play man against opponent’s best instead of using White for that. Still, I understand what you’re getting at and I hope that it’s right. My big question is why can’t a talented man cover guy who works hard learn to play great zone D? I have to think that zone is easier than man coverage. Is that wrong?

Agree that is a big possibility. I was specifically talking about tomorrow’s preseason game, but you may well be right long term.

I think he’s shown to be decent at man. Are you suggesting a platoon where he plays when D wants to go man and Jackson plays when they go zone?

I agree, I thought he played pretty well when given the chance last season. Why he is still mired in a competition with Jackson and Benford is what I don’t understand. There has to be something the coaches don’t like or trust about his game currently. He is a willing, but not great tackler, so perhaps that is working against him, but they really aren’t tackling in camp so what don’t the coaches like?

He will run for a lot of yards tomorrow. The Bills will be evaluating pass rushers and won’t play to contain Richardson in the pocket.

I am pretty surprised at the number of negative comments I got for suggesting that Kaiir Elam is trending to a disappointment. I am not usually a negative poster, particularly regarding young guys. However, Elam was specifically drafted in round 1 because they wanted better than Jackson opposite Tre White. The fact that he hasn’t run away with the job against a guy they obviously wanted to replace has to be at least a bit of a concern. I certainly hope that Elam goes on to be a great player, but if he can’t beat out Jackson, it would have to be a disappointment and waste of a 1st round pick. I am rooting for Elam to be very good.

I agree, I failed to consider that. Still, the other CB spot is at best “unsettled”.

While they don’t have the injury problems that they did last year, I don’t think that CB is any better at all than last year. They tried to replace a weak spot in Dane Jackson with a 1st round pick in Elam and that isn’t looking good about now. Every day I read about Elam being “overly grabby” and he can’t separate himself from the guy he was drafted to replace nor from a guy drafted 5 rounds later the same year (Belford). This is beginning to feel like another wasted high draft pick. I also think that MLB is much worse than last year neither Dodson nor Bernard should be starting on a team that hopes to make noise in the playoffs. I recognize that there is still time for Elam and Bernard to turn things around and be good players, but things aren’t trending in the right direction for them.

I understand that it can take a while for draftees to find their footing in the NFL, but it has to be a concern that a first round pick who was specifically drafted to replace Dane Jackson, is struggling to win that job. Now, I know that Jackson isn’t horrible, but they clearly wanted to upgrade from him and that hasn’t worked out so far. To the 2nd question, if Jackson and Benford beat Elam out, then sure I’d be comfortable trading him. Yes, I saw Elam play last year and I thought he played reasonably well, but it doesn’t seem that the coaches are confident in him.

I was looking at it from the perspective of keeping a first round pick who has been a disappointment. Also, can’t imagine that his trade value would go anywhere but down as a backup to a guy he was picked to replace.

I’m still hoping that the light comes on for Elam, but If he can’t win the starting job convincingly, he should be considered as a trade candidate. Question is, what could you get in return for him?

I think Epenesa showed that he can be a good rotational DE last year. He isn’t going to be a star, but he can be a good player to have on a team. I was, too. I’m disappointed that he hasn’t shown more. I think he is just a tweener between DT and DE.

Injury to Milano or rest breaks for Milano. This is a very good team with few starting spots available for rookies.

He is a rookie from not a big time program. They don’t want to overload him by having him learn 2 positions- and a rookie at MLB calling defense in the huddle is risky. Too early to panic on a rookie late 3rd round pick.

I hope you are right, but compare Bernard to The rookie Dorian Williams who is listed at 228ish. Williams looks quite a lot more muscular than does Bernard. Now, I know speed, instincts and intelligence to know assignments also matter, so maybe Bernard makes it up there? Again, I WANT to be wrong about Bernard.

I understand that today’s LBs are smaller, but faster than in the past, but a difference of 6’1” 236 vs Bernard’s 6’1” 220 is pretty substantial when you consider that is roughly 16 pounds of muscle.

I have never seen why they would have drafted Bernard before very late in the draft and it was extremely disappointing to me that Bernard doesn’t appear to be any bigger/stronger after an offseason NFL strength and conditioning program. I see him as a candidate to be traded for a late round pick before final cuts. I HOPE that Bernard proves me wrong, but I don’t see it.

This is exactly it for me as well. He just looks weak and like he doesn’t belong in a NFL LB room.

True, but you need a decent batting average on early round picks. I have been a staunch defender of Bills’ drafts, but there have been a lot of early round disappointments. Hopefully, Elam isn’t one of them.

I know it is early yet, but LB is a pretty big concern for me. I don’t know that there is any good option as a starting LB at the NFL level among Dodson, Bernard , Klein and Spector. I am also somewhat disappointed that Elam hasn’t yet claimed the top CB spot opposite White. The competition that he must beat out in Jackson and Benford were both late round draftees for a reason and it doesn’t look good that Elam isn’t clearly a better player than either of them. Now, I’m not saying that Elam should get the job if he doesn’t win it, but it would be another early round draft miss if he doesn’t.

This is a pretty depressing position all around except for Milano.

I think there may be a lot of dime defense with Milano being the only LB.