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No offensive linemen???

Given how often Schefter is wrong, does it really matter if he said it or not?

You're right. But who knows, if EJ persevered, he might have ended up in Geno's position. EJ seemed to give up on his NFL career easily. He was signed by the Chiefs in the 2019 offseason to be a backup but retired just a couple months later to work for the ACC Network as an analyst.

I'm with you in prioritizing the offense - particularly the OL. But if they pick the Second Coming of Bruce Smith in the 1st round, I'm leaving my pitchfork in the closet. If Beane thinks he has a shot at a generational talent, he's gotta take his shot regardless of need.

Maybe Beane just doesn't draft guys who are good enough to contribute as rookies.

People said Tony Dungy couldn't win big games, and then he won a Lombardi. People said Andy Reid couldn't win big games, and then he won a Lombardi. People said Sean McDermott couldn't win big games...

I guess we all choose our data points. I'll remember him more like this...

Frazier was a contributor but this was McD's defense. And, schematically, it's not going to change much with Frazier gone. But let's give Frazier credit where credit is due. Frazier executed McD's defense well. From 2017 to 2022, the Bills led D led the league in yards allowed and were top five in a bunch of other categories. I'm not sure we've ever had such a sustained period of excellence before. Frazier was part of that. And, yes, I know there were breakdowns. All teams had breakdowns these past 5 seasons. That's why our stats are better. And, yes, each season ended in disappointment. But all good (i.e. playoff) teams end their seasons in disappointment - save one. And from where I sit, I don't think Beane has yet given McD and Frazier a Super Bowl quality roster. We were never very likely to win it all. Frazier isn't the villain. But he's not the savior either. If the Bills D is much different (either better or worse) this upcoming season, it'll be because the guys suiting up are better or worse.

I'm not sure I completely agree with your between-the-lines interpretation but neither Beane nor McD's is making anything particularly obvious. Ask McD about any player and he'll tell you how well they're doing.

McD: "... but there were also some times when our quarterback got effected a little too early..." Coach-speak, I think, for: the OL sucked and we desperately need to address it.

There's always a blend between BPA and need. For example, even if Beane is a BPA guy, if there's a great QB on the board when we pick, why bother? It would be a waste of a pick. On the other hand, a team needs playmakers. The best way to get playmakers is to not reach for need and instead go BPA. And then fill the rest of your roster with FAs - even if all you can afford are JAGs. I remember hearing a GM talk once - Ron Wolf maybe. He said the goal is to draft All-Pros - one or two each draft. It didn't matter, he said, if your 1st round draft pick was a bust if you found a couple All-Pros in the 3rd and 4th rounds. Every team has JAGs. Championship teams have enough elite players to set them apart. He also said you don't draft to plug roster holes. You draft for All-Pros. That's it.

Chad says he still has 80-83% of his football money. Remarkable if true!

Brandt, formerly VP of the Packers, knows far more about football than I ever will. That said, there's a giant hole in his logic. He says that teams with big-salaried QBs are not challenged to build contending teams. He goes on to explain how rookies on rookie-contracts (more than half the roster) only take up about $30 million of cap space and any money a team doesn't spend in one year is rolled over to the next, and so on. With so much money to spend on a comparative few number of vets, there's plenty of money to build a roster. Here's the problem. A team with a QB on a rookie contract might be spending about $1 million on their starting QB. The Packers, for instance, are spending over $50 million. Teams helmed by youngsters have roughly $40-50 million more to spend on free agents than teams with veteran star QBs. That buys you a lot of talent. It's easy to build up a roster when you have a rookie-contract QB. It's much harder if you don't.

That's just a silly thing to say. They have varying degrees of expertise and there's little doubt some are very knowledgeable. For example, Mike Brown (owner of the Bengals) was the son of the legendary Paul Brown and grew up with football. He was the assistant general manager of the team for 22 years before becoming the owner. Art Rooney II is another guy who's been immersed in football his entire life.

In the 1970's, football was about running backs. The best athletes became RBs. RBs were far more likely to win the Heisman or get picked #1 in the draft than QBs. Offenses were built around great running backs. Defenses - unlike now - were built to stop them. In that bygone golden era, one back stood out like no other, like a man among boys, like a god among men. In the 1973, OJ had 75% more yards than the next best back. Not even Jim Brown did that. Certainly not Emmit Smith, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, or the many other pretenders for the title of RB GOAT. Incidentally, OJ rushing total in 1975 was 46% ahead of the best of his peers. His dominance was insane. Only Jim Brown ever did better, comparatively, than OJ's 2nd best year. I'm not a hockey fan but I get the love for Hasek. But did he ever outperform his peers by 75%? OJ is a horrible, horrible human being, but he was a preternatural football player.

Beane struck gold with Allen and deserves praise for that. It took some clever maneuvering and propelled this team to relevance. Otherwise, it's not just the RBs who are JAGs. Most of his draft picks are JAGs. Not enough All-Pros and playmakers.

The Bills are spending $124 million on offense versus $118 on defense. The top two cap expenditures this year are offensive players (Allen, Diggs). The Bills have invested in offense. What they haven't done is built a good OL. Or found a good #2 WR. overthecap.com/salary-cap/buffalo-bills

I'd vote for OJ: both the '75 and '73 seasons were amazing. But, as an old-timer, I have to dig further back with Tommy Hughitt of Buffalo's original NFL team. The 1920 and 1921 seasons both stand out. As player-coach, he led the All-Americans to a 9-1-1 record in 1920. Tommy played QB on offense, LB on defense, and occasionally punted & kicked FGs. The team began the season with four consecutive double-digit wins - an NFL record not tied till the Patriots of 2007 - and led the league in scoring by a wide margin. The team claimed a share of the championship with a win percentage of .844 - same as the Akron Pros. But the league meeting, led by the Akron owner, declared Akron the champions. The next year Hughitt led the team to an undefeated season - not including two exhibition games that not all players participated in. Once again, Buffalo was screwed. In an infamous miscarriage of justice known as the "Staley Swindle," the league decided to count the exhibition games and awarded the championship to Chicago. Hughitt finished his coaching career with a .694 record which ranks 7th all-time among qualifying NFL coaches. Twice he had the NFL championship stolen from him in controversial league decisions. He should be in the HOF for his accomplishments as both a player and coach. www.profootballresearchers.org/biography/Hughitt_Tommy.pdf

Not a popular opinion but I'm kinda onboard. $120m was a lot to spend on Von even given that many DEs continue to produce well into their 30s. Now we're in cap hell and don't have the resources to fix our weak position groups and create a SB caliber roster.

This is actually humorously logical. But while Beane has thus far been far from perfect in the early rounds, we do have to give him credit for Josh. And I'd hate to give up 1st and 2nd round picks. When you look at a much bigger sample of all teams over the past 20 years or more (instead of just looking at Beane's picks the past few years), the probability of getting a high-quality starter is much higher in the early rounds. The Bills need more high-quality starters and fewer jags.

I'm confused. You said the only OL we should retain is Dawkins. But then you list Morse as our starting center again in 2023 in your bang-bang-bang scenario. And you really want to start next season with three untested rookies on the OL? Yikes!

I like ChatGPT a lot. But it's not ready to run the Bills personnel department... yet.

I don't know what actually happened but I do know innocent-until-proven-guilty is dead in America.

Here's the full quote: "You look at him statistically and what he's been able to do in his first four, five, six years in this league, you know, it's kind of unmatched by anybody," he said. "They're the mantra of what you want to be and how you need to do it. Because, again they're just constantly in the AFC Championship Game; he's been in three Super Bowls now. Gotta find ways, it's a copycat league, you gotta find ways to be like them." It's vague what he means by "you gotta find ways to be like them." He was previously talking about their success: Mahomes' stats and KC's playoff success. Is that what he's referring to when he says 'you gotta be like them.' At no point does he mention how the KC roster was built or the design of their plays so if he's referring to that, he's not making it clear. The only obvious interpretation is that he wants to replicate their Lombardis.

This makes absolute sense. But as much as we need another good receiver, we need OL help even more. It would be great to successfully address both needs but resources are limited.