Mango

I was speaking specifically to the first sentence, which was that the draft will be focused on defense. My issue with that is is we have focused a ton on defense with high draft picks and huge allocations for the cap. In regards to LB working out, I sort of agree. It isn’t a bad unit. But I am not sure we will get enough value moving forward. Edmunds is projecting to get $15M. Between Edmunds and Milano, that would make that group something like the 5th highest paid unit in the league. But they’re nowhere near the 5th best unit. I don’t think they cut Singletary. But I do think there is a chance they trade him on draft day.

As opposed to what? He’s spent half of his top 100 picks on defense. He’s taken a defender either in the first round or with his first pick (Epeneza) in every draft he has run. We are near the very top of the league in spending for both DL and DB. If we extend Edmunds, we will be in the 5-10 range in spending on our LB’s. We have dedicated huge amounts of resources to “improving the D”. I like McBeane as a unit. They’ve done a great job holistically. Once we pay Allen, we absolutely cannot keep missing over and over again in FA and the draft like this.

That feels a bit harsh. I guess it depends on the Allen replacement. The line is good enough at pass pro to be able to move the ball around with this WR Corp and a guy like Dak, Tannehill, or Cousins. I think we win 9+ with Trubisky. Not a good enough team to win 9 games with Cam. We have done a good job in finding a gem or good contributor here and there outside of the top 100. Milano, Bass, Davis, Teller. Dane Jackson, Taron Johnson in the slot. It’s the top 100 picks we haven’t gotten enough production out of. None of them are bad. Just nobody is standing out outside of Allen. Having none of Singletary, Moss, Phillips, Oliver, Epeneza, and Cody Ford be a difference maker in any sense is my worry. I think the best chance of that group to be a great player is Oliver at the moment. But I don’t see Phillips, Singletary, or Epeneza being game changers. We’re talking about drafting another edge guy high with our first pick in 2021. Which is cool. Pass rush is important. But we aren’t drafting a guy to play next to AJ. We’re talking about it because we spent huge cap dollars without any output and didn’t get much out of our top pick last year.

I think Beane and McD have largely done a good job. I also generally approach what isn’t going well and address how to fix those things as a normal practice, football aside. The FO with Beane has had some missteps. Every team has them. Beane has done a good job of quickly fixing his mistakes. Bad OL, fixed. The QB room, fixed. Need better WR, done. We’ve also had to double back and address a lot of issues. Most recently, we keep missing on RB. Either that, or we had one of the highest paid OL’s in the league in 2020 but can’t run block well. We have one of the highest paid secondaries in the league, but lack depth behind Tre, Poyer, and Hyde. I am not sure our LB play is worth $25M per year, which is what it will cost when/if we re-sign Edmunds. We spend huge dollars on a DL that has no reliable pass rusher, and that’s with dedicating our first pick 2 drafts in a row. Not to mention, we can’t stop the run. I think we’d view Beane a bit differently had we gotten Rosen or Darnold. Allen became a stud this year. The FO isn’t afraid to fix their mistakes, and having Allen allows them the freedom to swing, miss, and try and address again. They’ve done some good things too. I’ll keep complaining that they need to be better. But I by no means think they’re bad.

Oh god. He is most definitely one of those guys that backs his truck into EVERY SINGLE SPOT even though it’s not necessary. As a dude who has owned pick ups, this has always driven me crazy. It’s really not that difficult or necessary. Just pull in.

Given Watsons current situation, there’s little chance of getting a deal below his.

Agreed with WEO here. It is a tough comparable because Watson was a rising star, but he was on some bad teams and hadn't proved staying power yet. Tiger was different, but Tiger has had some other issues that effected his game. Not winning major, after major, after major, is what dulled Tiger's star, not cheating on his wife with the waitress at Denny's. Big Ben is a tough one, I mean they both assault women. But Ben also won some super bowls with a really stable franchise who could absorb that. Houston can't manage this. I do agree, because he plays the most important position in the league, he will probably see the field again unfortunately. Houston would be one of the few teams though, who would keep Watson around just to spite him. If they do release him (for whatever reason, I don't think they trade him), it feels like Bob Kraft is the perfect partner in crime for DW.

Mario played lights out in Buffalo for the most part. Some guys fall off a cliff quickly. His last two years in the league (BUF/MIA) weren’t good. I just assumed he was toast. Never really held that against him.

I know he is idolized in Buffalo, but Jim Kelly pushes close to the top of my list. I know too many people with too many stories of him personally treating them like crap. He’s been a long time A-hole to people in this town while they are just saying high, asking for autographs, etc. Jairus Byrd, that whole fake hold out with the plantar fasciitis. Trent Edwards. I was never a huge fan of the QB, but when he said “I am not a Bills fan, I am an NFL QB” (paraphrasing), I couldn’t respect him anymore. I have hated coaches way more than players in Buffalo. A huge part of a coaches job (maybe their main job) is getting effort and buy in from the roster. I hated Dave Wannstedt and George Edwards so much. Those guys couldn’t get anything out of a defense with a good amount of talent. Also, Doug Marrone always came across like a total arse hat. Never seemed like a likable dude. Hated Russ Brandon the GM. Liked Russ Brandon the executive.

God, his forehead is just so big. It surprises me every time I see him.

I generally like Kyle Brandt, I think he is good/entertaining on GMFB. But this is way too hammed up for my liking, It just seemed to drag on. I guess I enjoyed it, but not enough to add it to my regular podcasts. It feels like he is trying too hard. The opposite of say a Sean Evans on "Hot Ones", who I think is a tremendously talented interviewer and does a great job of making guests comfortable and keeping the flow pretty natural. This feels like a weird mix of him trying really really hard to be a serious interviewer by thinly connecting the 10 questions to some weird historical references in the persons life and also to be just a cool dude like Pat Mcafee. The COVID thing was a little weird. Totally anecdotally, most people I have talked to who sort of take the same stance as JA17 did here, are anti-vaccine if you start asking some more for follow up questions. So that is the way I took it. Also anecdotally, I haven't really come across any pro-vacciners who are trying to toe the line of neutrality on the issue. I think Haps mentioned it, and I agree, in 2021, not sort of taking a stance on the vaccine here, is in fact taking a stance. Also, weird mention of the constitutional rights. He is from California and plays football in New York, both are states that removed religious exemptions for vaccines for public school students. Otherwise it was a fun interview. You don't normally get too many lax segments with players that last a full hour. Best we generally see is like 4 minutes on ESPN.

This is me, I am super confused by the OP. I’ve been getting a lot more ads lately on my phone. Which is obviously annoying, but TBD has been a safe space for me. I don’t think I get any on the forum. Maybe I do when reading articles? I don’t know,

I know. just joking around/being pedantic since "their" QB was drafted the year after. But they did draft "A" QB in Rosen.

I mean, 1st overall is about as high as you can pick.

The last time the Bills lost the AFC Championship, their first pick in the draft was Thurman Thomas. Basically just confirmed Najee Harris to Buffalo at 30. You're welcome.

WTF are you talking about? Of course there will be some increases. Rushing: 2k season- Let’s say to even have a chance to hit the 2k mark you need to be at 1800 yards after your 16th game. Even that is generous. The only year multiple players were between 1999 yards and 1800 is 1998. Jamal Anderson and Terrel Davis Passing TD’s: Same thing. Let’s say to hit 50TD’s you need to be at 45 coming into your 17th game. Once ever has there been a year with multiple guys between 45-50-TD’s. 2011, Brees and Rodgers. You are out of your gourd.

Will the revenue from an increased week of NFL games and the drop of salary cap for 2021 push the cap to standard rates in 2022? I would imagine it does.

I don’t disagree. Bills probably win the division. But the division was trash last year. NE went on a spending spree. Miami is up and coming. The Jets have to be better (right?). I just think it’s possible to lose the division. We drop a game here and there. Some division teams pick up a game they shouldn’t. Maybe we accidentally split a match up. It could happen and I would be totally shocked. Even if we were to happen to lose the division, it doesn’t change my playoff expectations.

I think it’s a possibility during the 16 weeks. Mostly because the Pats and Jets don’t seem like they were the easy outs they were before. Miami will be as competitive as they were before. I don’t think it changes the outlook on the season of getting back to the AFCC. It just might be a slight different path.

You have missed the point entirely. Of course the player is more concerned with guaranteed money because that amount is greater. Base salary is of course kicked down the road, hence the word extension. But bonus money is paid at the time the contract is signed. Your statement that a Josh Allen extension would not effect the financials in 2021 is wrong. Bonus money gets spread out from when you sign the contract. Say the team takes the 5th year option on Josh before the extension, but then extend him this summer on a 5 year deal. The bonus money then gets spread over 7 years rather than 5. Increasing his immediate cap number, but lowering it down the back end. That is the entire advantage to extending players early.

I think one thing to point out here is that I believe the NFL is the ONLY league in North America where the yearly TV contract exceeds the salary cap for the players (and by a pretty good amount too). The last NBA TV deal was reported to be worth about $2.6-$2.7B. The NBA has a soft cap, so things are wonky, but even at the "hard cap" of $100M and change, by 30 teams, that is still $3B total, and most teams are well over the $100M mark. The MLB doesn't have a cap and their latest TV deal is about $550M per year, the average payroll for an MLB roster is $120M and there are 30 teams. You can't just say "NBA and MLB players took a paycut and NFL players didn't". The NFL TV contract allows the league to pay its entire roster and have money left over. No other league does that.

The whole point of extending him now, is spreading that signing bonus across years he doesn't have a huge salary. Mahomes is the most recent example. His bonus money is literally the same for the next 4 or 5 years but he is only making like $900k in salary. So you are kind of right, extending Josh does not change his base salary. But he would absolutely get a massive signing bonus that would take effect as soon as he signs on the dotted line and spread over the length of the contract. But no QB is signing a long term extension with say a $40M signing bonus and waiting 365 days to get said bonus. If he breaks his leg, tears his ACL, etc. he is toast and loses that money. There is literally no player benefit in doing what you are saying, It would never happen.

My $0.02 is that much like rape, this is not about sex or massages, it is about power. He can afford any massage therapist in the world. He can also afford any escort in the world. If it were about just a "kink" or getting off, he could absolutely have a rotation of women on speed dial that he rotates through every month (or whatever). I am sure there is no shortage of escorts in Houston who do this regularly. But he didn't because it was never about that. I agree, this doesn't make sense from a kink, sex, or even money perspective. All it takes is one to be true, and the odds of 20 women all lying is slim to none. The one thing that has shifted for me is, did ownership know about it the whole time, and work to keep it quite so they could keep their franchise QB. But now that he keeps asking to leave, they are cleaning the skeletons out of the closest.

The biggest thing that would influence this is willingness to pay Edmunds what some have estimated here, $15M per year. I don’t think LB has played at that value and we signed Milano already. If they aren’t sold on Edmunds at that cost, I think this is in play.

I’m sort of taking this as a Beane reaction thread (leaving the McD draft and FA out, ie 2017). He and McD as a tandem have been one of the best things to happen to this team in a VERY LONG time. The upcoming years will test his draft record pretty hard. QB- let’s get this out of the way. He hit on QB, even when a lot of us thought he missed (myself included). Because of this he gets a pass on other spots on the roster. Obviously the Peterman debacle was bad. Dog stayed healthy without reliance on Barkley, and Mitch is a major upgrade. Grade- rock hard. OL- He absolutely upgraded the line through FA. Morse, Williams, Feliciano, have all been important cogs. This is probably his best work in FA. Ford seems very “meh” at the moment. We all seem to be collectively holding our breaths for him to pan out as a second rounder. Most of us would also probably like Wyatt Teller back. Grade, B-. Holding the Teller trade and Fords lack of being impressive against him. He’s done above average here easily. RB- miss. Sorry guys. Singletary is at best meh right now. Moss looks like he could have some spark. But not enough...yet. Plus the Frank Gore experiment, not good. Grade- D, this has just not been a good group from Gore on. TE- Still a position of need. I would love a stud, but overall I am happy with the passing game so I am not going to grade Knox, Kroft, etc. terribly harshly. That was a serviceable group and look to be serviceable heading into 2021. Grade- C, they were “good enough”. We haven’t spent a lot of resources one way or the other. WR- You could make an argument that he did a better job overhauling the WR room than he did OL and I wouldn’t argue with you. Love this group with or without Brown. Davis looks to be a man waiting in the wings. Diggs, Brown, Beasley, all immediate contributors and game changers for how we play that side of the ball. Grade- A, Diggs alone raises this immensely. Plus Beasley, very good group. DL- Our best DLman is from Whaley still. We have way over spent on bad production. Harry seems like JAG. Oliver was out of position most of 2020, so who knows. Star, I’ll call a wash since this board is split. But his contract is a lot, and we ate a huge Dareus contract at the same time to sign him. The rest are JAG. Grade- below average. LB- I am underwhelmed. We traded up for Edmunds, so with that I am a bit underwhelmed. I am not high or low on him. To me he either has the right feel for the game on any given Sunday or he doesn’t. The difference when he is in the right rhythm/zone is astonishing to me. Milano is exciting when he can get his full snap count. At our current price without an Edmunds extension is OK. This group could face a lot of pitch forks and torches if we get 2020 production out of them for what could be $25M +. Grade- wait and see. DB- Tre was here first. Vontae quit. Norman is JAG at the moment. Wallace is great depth, you could do worse but could do better. Our safety tandem precedes him. Grade- FA/Draft has been average here.