jwhit34

The Wall of Fame roster is kind of odd: Offense: 12 Defense: 9 Special Teams: 1 (Tasker) Coaches: 2 Admin: 3 (Wilson, Polian, McGroder) Other: 3 (Van Miller, 12th Man, Eddie Abramoski) War Vet: 1 (Kalsu) That they have as many members who are not in for their play (I include Kalsu in the group since he played in only 14 games)as they do for defensive players is kind of odd. It is also pretty strange that the committee hasn't met in 3 years. If you look at the defensive players (B. Smith, Talley, Edgerson, Sestak, Hansen, R. James, Stratton, Saimes, Smerlas), I would say Bennett was definitely better than Hansen, probably better than Stratton and Saimes, and would get the nod over James, who had 2-3 terrific years but a short career. Bennett's best 2-3 years were as good or better than James' best 2-3 years. Talley is beloved because he was the soul of the defense. They had different roles but in 9 years in Buffalo he had 52.5 sacks, 6 Ints., 22 forced fumbles and 19 fumble recoveries. In 12 years Talley had 38.5 sacks, 11 ints., 14 forced fumbles and 12 fumble recoveries. They both averaged 6 tackles a game. I think Bennett is one of the 5-6 best defensive players in Bills history. Bennett and Moulds should be the next two that go in.

Frank Gore has now crossed over into to Joe Namath to the Rams or Johnny Unitas to the Chargers territory. I really wished he retired and went to all his son's college games.

Mine would be: 1. Belichick 2. Shula 3. Lombardi 4. P. Brown 5. Halas 6. Landry 7. Walsh 8. Noll 9. Parcells 10. Curly Lambeau or Gibbs

1975 - All three Buffalo teams were really good and the Bills got off to a 4-0 start including a win vs. the Steelers who had thrashed them in the playoffs. I think that 1975 was OJ's best year, better than the 2,003 yard season because he had over 1,800 yards and set the NFL for TDs in a season (and had over 400 yards receiving). Jim Braxton had over 1,100 yards from scrimmage. Their offense was unstoppable but their defense couldn't stop anyone, especially in the 2nd half of the season. I was 13-14 years old, and when they started out 4-0 and beat Pittsburgh I thought they had a chance to go all the way. Then they lost to a bad Giants team on Monday night and of course lost to Miami the week later and the season headed south. Watching McAdoo win another scoring title and the MVP (and the Braves having the 3rd best record in the NBA) and the Sabres make it to Stanley Cup helped a lot but that Bills season will always be a huge disappointment. I thought all 3 teams had a chance to win a championship that year.

Trying to be as objective as possible, are the Patriots stronger than the Bills at any position group? Bills definitely stronger at: QB, RB, WR, TE, DL, LB Bills probably better at: OL Think Bills are better but closest: DB Maybe punter? Yes they have the best coach. Pats go 3-3 in division, 1-3 vs. NFC west, 2-2 at best vs. AFC West, lose to Ravens, flip a coin vs. Texans, that's 7-9 or 6-10.

I think this is pretty right on. It does point out the difficulty in keeping 3 QBs and if you want to figure out how to maybe keep Hauschka and Bass for a year it will be difficult. Also don't know if they would only keep 9 DBs particularly 3 S. So the only spots I would possibly see a change: RB: If they think Taiwan Jones can take a carry or two in a pinch maybe they let Yeldon go TE: Lee Smith may not make it. Sweeney over Smith if he can step up his blocking DL: May not be able to keep 9, does that make Murphy expendable? I can't see them letting anyone else go on the list. S: Add one - Marlowe? That opens up 1 slot which they could use for the extra kicker

The hope is that the draft becomes like it was in the Super Bowl years. Some perspective on that: 1991: Picked 26th, Henry Jones in 1st, Phil Hansen in 2nd, Mark Maddox in 9th 1992: Picked 27th, John FIna in 1st, Matt Darby in 5th, Kurt Schulz in 7th 1993: Picked 28th, Thomas Smith in 1st, John Parrella in 2nd, Mike Devlin in 5th, Corbin Lacina in 6th 1994: Picked 27th, Jeff Burris in 1st, Sam Rogers in 2nd Point here is it was harder to get the superstar players picking at the end of the draft but there was an influx of players that had good, solid careers each year that helped fuel the continued success of the team. No perennial Pro Bowlers but guys who started in the league a long time. I picked the ones that had at least 100 games played in the league there were others that had 4-6 years in the league. Parrella of course played more for Chargers than Bills but had a nice career. This ends up being the first draft for Beane (and hopefully not the last) where he is drafting at the back end of each round, it will be interesting to see how he does in adding talent to an already pretty good roster. The encouraging thing is listening to him talk, he has a plan/methodology and so far his drafts seem to be pretty good. I ascribe to the theory that drafts should be evaluated 3-4 years after they happen so we'll start to see how he's doing in the coming years. The McDermott draft seems to be pretty good hitting on 3 good building blocks (White, Milano, Dawkins) let's see how the subsequent ones pan out.

Yes and maybe a 6th WR one of Foster, McKenzie and Duke. My money would be on McKenzie.

There seems to be a lot of good players left for 2nd round, I would be more inclined to move up in 3rd or trade back into bottom of 3rd.

I think this is the list of roster locks: QB: Allen, Barkley RB/FB: Singletary, Demarco, T. Jones (ST) WR: Diggs, Brown, Beasley, Roberts (ST) TE: Knox, Kroft OL: Dawkins, Spain, Morse, Feliciano, Ford, Nsekhe, K, Long Snapper: Hauschka, Ferguson DL: Oliver, Star L., H. Phillips, Hughes, Jefferson, Butler LB: Edmunds, Milano, Klein, Matakevich (ST) DB: White, Norman, Wallace, T. Johnson, Poyer, Hyde That's 35 locks, leaving 18. I think they use their first 4 draft picks for a RB, WR, DE/Edge and either DB or OL. The open spots and how they fill: 2 RBs: Draft 1 plus Yeldon is the most likely scenario, could still sign a vet or Fournette trade? 2 WRs: Foster, McKenzie, D. Williams and they probably draft 1 so 4 vie for 2 spots 3 OL: D. Williams, Long, Bates, Boehm and a draft pick battle for 3 spots 2 TE: Sweeney, Smith and Croom battle for 2 spots 2-3 DL: Murphy is probably safe but if they draft 1 and D. Johnson takes next step maybe they go younger and cheaper 2 LBs: V. Joseph, C. Thompson are most likely but T. Dodson could be in mix 3-4 DBs: Safety is interesting, seem to like J. Johnson and keep bringing back Marlowe, Neal, Gaines would have inside track on CB spots but will also draft one so that's 5 for 4. 1 P: One of the two current or who knows if they pick up a coleege guy If this is accurate maybe 4 draft picks make the team (RB, WR, DL and CB) with an OL maybe the 5th. So that means Beane either as 2-3 picks for practice squad or has a couple of picks to play with to move around in draft. I can also see Beane trading some excess players, particularly OL, DL and CB, to get some picks next year.

This was pretty fun to do. QB: Peyton Manning (2000s) Back: Jim Brown (1960s) FB/TE: Bronco Nagurski (1930s) WR1: Jerry Rice (1990s) WR2: Don Hutson (1940s) FLEX: Calvin Johnson (2010s) OT1: Anthony Munoz (1980s) OT2: Rosey Brown (1950s) OG1: Billy Shaw (AAFC/AFL/USFL) OG2: Mike Michalske (1920s) Center: Mike Webster (1970s) My strategy: 1920s and 1930s: Bronco Nagurski seemed like a no-brainer, all time great at a position that has little relevance in the modern game. Also figured picking a dominant guard would make sense and Michalske was All Pro around 7 straight years. Also figured guard was a position that I could fill in with an older era player. Had to have: Jerry Rice and Jim Brown, both considered by many (including me) as the best football players ever. Also Munoz is considered the best OT ever so I wanted him. OG1: Billy Shaw was a bit of a homer choice but he's a HOFer and considered as good as any OLman to come out of AFL. QB: Lots of good choices pick at end depending on which era was left, though I didn't want Staubach. 2000s had a lot of good players, but the players at the other positions were not significantly better than others. It came down to one of the OTs or Manning. 1950s were a challenge, but Rosey Brown is kind of the first of the modern day OTs and was All Pro 7 straight years. Plug him in at RT good bookend with Munoz. Had to pick one from 1940s and Don Hutson was dominant and revolutionized the WR position. And I have... Calvin Johnson as my flex. Hutson becomes my 3rd WR. Wanted a top 3 center and while the 1970s is very deep I'll take Webster. So my team can go 11 personnel with Peyton Manning at QB, Jim Brown, Jerry Rice, Calvin Johnson, Don Hutson and Bronco Nagurski, with Webster and Munoz anchoring the line.

Goodell should pipe in booing in the background. A little self-deprecation never hurt anyone.

Free agency is for shoring up your roster now, adding vets that can play. Drafting in all rounds but particularly outside of round 1, is about building your roster for the future. Beane has shown he understands that and essentially has characterized both in this way. Why a WR? As others have pointed out while Diggs is young (26) and signed for 4 years, Brown and Beasley have only 2 years left on their deals and are around 30 years old. Bringing in young talent to eventually replace 1 or both and maybe chip in a little now is super smart and strategic. That is how you have sustained success. If I was a GM, I would look at the draft in rolling 4 year cycles. If I have a full complement of picks in rounds 1-4 each year I would draft: A WR 3 out of 4 years A CB 3 of 4 years A RB 2 of 4 years (and 1 in rounds 5-7 at least 1 year) OL 3 of 4 years DL 3 of 4 years That's 14 picks, then I use the others to address the other positions like S, LB, TE. Hopefully you have your QB so don't need that for awhile though at some point you bring in a developmental guy but use free agency to have a vet backup. Use rounds 5-7 for BPA and draft athletes hopefully at least 1 per year turns into a player and 1 other sticks on roster.

If I had to choose it would be Dawkins but I don't think it comes down to that. Possible moves: Ford still on rookie deal, they will not pay 2 starting guards a combined $11.75 million, Feliciano may not be back and in the spreadsheet that's $6.5M Lee Smith cut saves $2.5M Don't pick up Spencer Long's club option saves $4.35M (also see guard spend - they wouldn't have $16 million tied up in position) Hughes either gets restructured or released depending on what kind of season he has could see 1 year added to stretch the money. Star L. could be in perpetual restructure until released John Brown and Beasley could get extended and bring their cap #s down Bottom line is Beane has a good cap management system based on how he structures contracts, if they want to keep both he has the tools to do it.

The approach is so different now given the devaluation of the position, the fact that probably 25+ teams do not have a Derrick Henry type and the shelf life is limited (4-6 years in most instances). I think the way to build the RB position is to draft one in rounds 2-5 pretty much every year. You're not going to hit on all of them. Right now drafting one in round 2 or 3 make sense because the team is thin at the position. If they hit on another one like it appears they did on SIngletary then they can go with the those 2 plus Yeldon this year. If that works out then in '21 Singletary is the vet, you have the guy you drafted in year 2 and they can probably wait until rounds 4-5 to get RB3. This approach keeps the money spent on the position pretty low (you have 2-3 guys drafted in rounds 2-4 on rookie contracts for 4 years) and if you get in a bind you can always find a vet in free agency that will be pretty reasonable financially. But I like the thought that you draft one in the middle rounds every year.

Given the moves made so far and presuming they add solid players in rounds 2-4 in the draft here are my 3 pieces: 1. If Allen plays the same as last year, playoffs and maybe 1 playoff win 2. If Allen make that "next step" in his development they win the division and 1-2 playoff games 3. If Allen takes a quantum leap (which happens between years 2-3) they are a Super Bowl contender

Still believe that they will draft one in rounds 2-4 who will make the team and if Roberts is a given as return man that leaves McKenzie, D. WIlliams, Foster, Ray-Ray, maybe a round 6-7 draft pick or other vet FA to battle for the last spot in the WR group: 1. Diggs 2. Brown 3. Beasley 4. Draft pick round 2, 3 or 4 5. Roberts 6. Open competition (see above)

If the presumption is that they will keep 6 WRs: We know the top 3 spots are set (Diggs, Brown, Beasley) 1 will be for PR/KR Andre Roberts That leaves 2 spots: They will likely draft at least 1, my guess would be one in rounds 2-4 and then 1 more in rounds 5-7 The one from rounds 2-4 takes spot #5 Foster, Williams, low round draft pick and possibly a low $ deal free agent pickup battle for spot #6. Oh yeah and Ray Ray too. If the top 3 stay healthy, then they will play 90+% of the snaps so it becomes a who cares situation. The other thing that I think lends credence to this analysis is that they didn't make a qualifying offer to McKenzie, they have let him walk and may offer the vet minimum to compete if no one else takes him. Beane has mentioned how deep the WR class is so that is a strong indication that he will take at least 1, also his multi-year strategic bent will lead him to looking for a replacement as Brown and Beasley get to the end of their contracts.

Presuming it's Edmunds and not Edwards, I agree with all except Dawkins who should be better than last year. Also if you look at positions not people, all 3 WR positions are better: WR1 Diggs vs. Brown - better WR2 Brown vs. Beasley - much better WR3 Beasley vs. Foster/McKenzie/Williams/Roberts/Zay - way better

Was there ever any doubt he would be re-signing?

When looking at career stats I was underwhelmed by Gordon's numbers. Good receiving #s but pedestrian yards per carry and only 1 season with 1,000 yards. It all depends what they are looking for, a change of pace back, a really good receiver (I'd go with Dion Lewis in that case), someone with similar running style to Singletary, etc. They should draft one, but having the 1 year "prove it" deal back every year would be okay with me, in that case Lamar Miller could be interesting presuming his health is okay.

I consider late rounds #s 5-7, here are the picks by year: 2017: Matt Milano, Nathan Peterman, Tanner Vallejo 2018: Siran Neal, Wyatt Teller, Ray-Ray McCloud, Austin Proehl 2019: Vosean Joseph, Jaquan Johnson, Darryl Johnson, Tommy Sweeney Milano is a huge get, Neal is a probably a league minimum guy in future (many thought he wouldn't make the 53 his rookie year), rest of '17 and '18 are either out of league or barely hanging on. 2019 is TBD, but many thought Joseph would have been cut/practice squad if not injured, J. Johnson and Sweeney were inactive most of the year, D. Johnson shows some promise but no one really knows. Hopefully a couple become really good pros. I bring this us because a significant number of people expressed angst over the trading of late round picks in the Diggs deal and how good Beane is at finding gems in the late rounds. My take: They have done okay, nothing spectacular. Almost every team hits on a late round pick on occasion. One could make the case that Peterman, McCloud and Proehl were really bad picks. The Milano pick was excellent and inflates the perception of late round drafting success. So trading those picks are really worth it. Compare that to Bill Polian, who as GM oversaw 6 drafts (1986-91). Here is who he picked in late rounds that had NFL careers spanning around 100 games or more: '86 - Mark Pike (7th), Butch Rolle (7th) '87- Keith McKellar (9th), Howard Ballard (11th) '88-Jeff Wright (8th), Carlton Bailey (9th), Martin Mayhew (10th) '89-Richard Harvey (11th) '90- Marvcus Patton (8th), Mike Lodish (10th) '91-Mark Maddox (9th) Fewer teams and no comp picks back then though. His picks in 5th-6th rounds weren't very good. He's still the standard by which all Bills GMs are measured/compared.

Diggs changes so much on offense: If the Bills are in 11 personnel (Diggs, Brown, Beasley, Knox, Singletary) and send 5 out, defenses will probably commit 2 to Diggs. Are the other 4 all facing single coverage? It probably brings 6 DBs on the field - matchup advantage for Knox? On passing downs will defenses be forced to drop 7 into coverage and only rush 4? If so, that helps pass protection Teams cannot commit 7 and 8 "in the box" to stop the run - does this open up run lanes for Singletary? Knox could be a huge beneficiary - if D has to drop at least 2 deep for Brown and Diggs then intermediate (seam) routes open up for Knox especially if they send Beasley short and he has to be accounted for Tougher for teams to "spy" on Allen because they have to respect the receivers - more RPO opportunities? Does this open up the screen passing game? Now Allen has to develop and be respected as a passer, most of this dissipates if he doesn't take the next steps forward in his development. Knox's development is also important. Look at Austin Hooper's progression: Year 1: 19 catches 271 yds. 3 TDs Year 2: 49 catches 526 yds. 3 TDs Year 3: 71 catches 660 yds. 4 TDs Knox was 28/388/2 if he can get to at least 50-55/550-600/4 then the passing game is going to take off.

It's now a 55 man roster per new CBA. While it seems like there aren't a lot of spots left to fill, by my count there are probably 16-17 roster spots in play, about 38 locks. If there are 38 locks right now: 1. They have 64 on roster so the first group fighting for jobs numbers 26 2. They will have 7 draft picks (as of now) 3. That leaves 19 roster spots to fill out to get to 90 going into training camp (actually 20 I think they still get exemption for Wade). Locks on offense: QB: Allen, Barkley RB: Singletary FB: DiMarco WR: Diggs, Brown, Beasley, Roberts (return man) OL: Morse, Dawkins, Spain, Feliciano, Ford, Nsekhe, Long TE: Knox, Kroft, Sweeney Total locks on offense: 18 Special teams: Hauschka, Ferguson and a punter - 3 locks Locks on defense: DL: Hughes, Addison, Jefferson, Butler, Oliver, H Phillips, Star LB: Edmunds, Milano, Klein, Matakevich CB: White, Wallace, T Johnson, Norman S: Hyde, Poyer Total locks on defense: 17 That's 38, 17 spots left. Spots to fill: RB: 2 Yeldon likely, at least 1 not on roster yet. Wade is a wild card but far from done deal. Add vet FA and/or draft 1 WR: 2 more, will get at least one in draft then either add a free agent or maybe D. Williams or Foster. OL: 2 more to get to 9 maybe even keep 10 with the roster now at 55. Bates probably stays but depends if they pick up a minimum guy (Waddle) also think they draft at least 1. TE: Probably keep 4 so 1 more not convinced Lee Smith is here, could be cap casualty. DL: Add 2, probably keep 9, Murphy probably makes it but could see them cutting him loose, also have Darryl Johnson, if he shows promise they will want a developmental/young/cheap guy LB: 3 more, Joseph and Dodson in mix, could bring back minimum salary guys for 1-2 spots and draft one CB: 2 more, will draft 1, have SIran Neal who likely makes it S: Need 2 have J. Johnson who they seem to like, may draft 1, Marlowe is always out there. That's how I think it breaks down.

With Star, H Phillips and Oliver they need a 4th DT to play 30-40% of the plays. That's where you get a player like Cory Liuget for a lower price, a $1.5-2 million guy. And whoever you get will have a particular strength (vs. run or pass) and you strategically play them in the situations to take advantage of their strengths. I think they did that with Jordan Phillips and maximized his results and that led to both good productivity on the field and salary requirements that made it wrong to keep him, because now he's being paid to be an above average all around contributor and he will not do that in AZ (as many have pointed out he is not good vs. the run). This is an example of good cap management.