Bleeding Bills Blue

I'm strangely optimistic on Miller finding a new normal as a solid rotational player. I didn't think Floyd was as good as his sack number was, and he really faded down the stretch (1 sack, 2 TFLs, 2 QB hits and 12 combined tackles in the final 8 games of the season including playoffs). By comparison Rousseau had 2 sacks, 6 TFLs, 9 QB hits and 21 combined tackles in the same stretch. Lawson was a JAG, and i don't see how Smoot can't replicate that production. Rookie Solomon likely starts at 5 on the depth chart. It's an interesting rotation though imo.

I'd say safety - i think the feelers are likely out there for Hyde on the cheap cheap, or a Simmons/Jackson vet. Rapp's AAV would have made him the 13th highest paid FA safety this offseason, and Edwards was 17th. Rapp is the 38th highest paid safety in the league at AAV, and Edwards is 49th. Considering how many players on their 1st contract, they're basically high-end depth.

There are a few teams in similar spots - KC - Rice was their strongest but is also a 2nd year player with some off field challenges, and a rookie Buffalo passed on. Hollywood Brown is a nice upgrade for MVS, but I'm not sure he's much stronger of a player than Samuel. LAC - Palmer, Johnston, McConkey Den - Sutton, Reynolds, Mims and rookies. Meh. Pitt - Pickens, jefferson, Rookie. Meh. NE - Bourne and Douglas plus rookies. NYG - Rookie #1 and scrubs. GB - Reed was a pleasant surprise, doubs and Watson are 3rd year players looking for a jump. I don't put this group ahead of buffalo by much at all.

I felt like Sherfield was interfered with on a lot of his targets, but never got a call. But he also never really had much in the way of separation, and his only TD was a fluke.

I think Hollins is probably an upgrade over sherfield FWIW. I'm going to go with Hardy as PR/KR and ideally not playing a snap on defense.

I don't think position matters as much on kickoffs - but taking your kicker off gives you an 11th football player which i think can help tremendously.

I'd say they got worse at the top 2 spots for sure, at least on paper. - Samuel is objectively worse than diggs. I'd say the only thing Samuel offers more than Diggs is YAC. He's faster, but I'd trust diggs to create more separation on a deep route. However Diggs is going to be 31 in November, and while he's largely avoided injury - age is always creeping up. Is Diggs today the same as the Diggs people compare to Samuel? I think an argument can be made that he is not the same Diggs. I'd still take Diggs the player over Samuel though. +/- Coleman is a rookie. It's a see it to truly believe it type of thing - but rookie WRs have come in and made huge contributions in the past so it wouldn't shock me. Higgins (also pick 33) had 67/900/6 his rookie season with a rookie QB and Boyd/Green taking a lot of targets. Comparing him the player vs. Davis? Davis had certain routes that he was really good at, and flashed an impressive catch radius at times. Great sideline feet. He was also a plus blocker. My issues with him were concentration drops, and miscommunications. It just felt like the majority of throws to "no one" were almost always with him reading the coverage differently. I do think this spot in the offense may get more targets, and i think there is the strong possibility that coleman exceeds davis production. Big strong dude too, who likes the physical blocking aspects of the position. = Shakir is the returning player... but he's also in year 3, had a very strong year 2 despite giving up targets to players like Kincaid Diggs and harty. And i think he's primed to take a good step. He has become a very solid blocker as well. + Sherfield couldn't create much in the way of separation, played special teams on a lousy unit so i don't see much of a reason to bring him back anyway. Hollins can hopefully help improve the teams unit, and has made much greater offensive contributions to his prior teams. + MVS technically replaces Harty, who never really got going here. Did have an absolutely money return at a critical juncture, and made a few plays here and there but never saw the field enough to make any noise. Buffalo drafted a returner who also is a DB, so judging him just based on offense - He's been upgraded with a superior deep threat, and any of his gadget type contributions are likely upgraded with Samuel/Shakir. I think the thing is - we weren't particularly strong at WR before either. Just had Diggs as a reliable bonafide #1.

He's played 3 full seasons out of 8, played fewer than 10 games 3 times including each of the last 2. It's not "old" its just risky.

I always look at this in the context of Brokeback mountain. Came out in 2005 - and was looked at very negatively, jokes were made, etc despite clearly being both culturally impactful and just generally the best picture of the year. That same movie comes out in any of the last 5 years and it wins best picture in a likely landslide. Not even 20 years ago it was a punchline on late night TV.

Of the 3 playoff misses - 1 was low trajectory and blocked, and i think he slipped on the short one against pittsburgh in the playoffs. One against the Eagles was also blocked. I'm hoping he's trying new stuff to avoid blocks. He likes to kick them high and push from the one has through, but that is harder to do in wind conditions late in the year. Last year his harder kicked balls were low trajectory block targets, so that's not going to work either - but i don't think the team has given up on him, nor do i think he's unable to improve at it. His miss in KC wasn't a chip shot, but it was that bad hash again where he doesn't seem as comfortable. I don't mind a player having a preferred spot, but that needs to get cleaned up, and he needs to have multiple kick types for locations and conditions.

Perhaps he's trying something different. Wouldn't minicamp be the time to try stuff?

I mean - you're trying to win but you also DO want to get scouted and go pro. It's a lot harder to do that when you're not playing.

I just picked a team at random (the rams) and they also had 8.

Good call!

There are 8 team captains - Buffalo only has 2 currently returning: Josh Allen and Von Miller. Hyde, Poyer, Morse, Davis, Diggs, and Matakevich are no longer on the roster. Assuming Josh Allen and Von Miller are captains who are the other 6? I was going to make this a poll but then i realized it was too many options. Offensive - Allen, Dawkins 1 of - Samuel, Knox, McGovern, Brown Defensive - Miller?, Milano, Bernard Maybe DQ? could throw Groot or oliver in the mix too ST - Gilliam or Hollins i guess?

I tend to agree with Matakevich (a captain) and neal gone. You want a vet in the special teams meetings. Figure Hollins replaces sherfield, Ulofoshio or Morrow works into that unit to join spector and gilliam as core STers. Hardy has a chance to stick as a returner - so the other gunner is probably a different safety/corner.

The Texans just traded for Skowronek. Didn't give up much, but to me that indicates there's a market for a primary ST WR.

It's tough. I probably watched 50 games and went to 5 this year? They've been so bad on home ice for what seems like forever, and they look so uninspired when you watch them. I sat behind the net i think 4x this season and it was jarring to see a guy like cozens totally avoid a check behind the net. They don't seem to do things the right way, are passive, and just generally have an entirely rudderless feel. Hopefully lindy can infuse some juice not only in the fan base, but in the actual team.

I mean - the bills have a history of misery. However, losing to the eventual super bowl champs in the playoffs is a lot less miserable than the longest professional sports playoff drought. We have one of the top 3 QBs in the league. They're fun to watch. So i don't really think of it that way. The Sabres are miserable to watch though. The organization as a whole is so uninspiring and its hit a point where its not even misery anymore, its just become this sense of complete apathy. No one goes to watch, and no one watches them on tv anymore because no one has cable and there are blackout restrictions. The people that care are honestly more angry than miserable.

There's definitely still fights but... most stadiums are pretty serious about it and there's a fan hotline to text if you ever feel threatened. It's the... i'll handle this business myself crowd that tends to escalate it. I've used it at the bills stadium and they tossed people very quickly (my wife's a patriots fan and a girl behind us dumped a beer on her sisters head). They walked up and i stood up and pointed at the girl who did it. Her friends relocated to another section because there's really no recourse. What are you going to punch me in front of security? There was normal ribbing - "how can you marry a patriots fan?!" "We got married in August, they weren't playing that day". But the super drunk girl was too much.

dude... SAME! I was at average joe's on sweethome and i pointed at the screen and said Dez bryant. Hell even Demaryius Thomas might have been nice. I'd have hated a tebow pick but at least you're GOING for something. CJ spiller popped up and i was just... so confused. Chan gailey had mentioned wanting a "waterbug" back and everyone assumed that meant interest in dexter mccluster. In any case - Russ brandon was our freaking GM so of course we did stupid stuff. They had used some picks for wood and levitre the year prior (don't worry, they drafted maybin too.. can't have nice things), but bulaga or anthony davis might have been a nice pick there. We started Mansfield Wrotto in 7 games at RT, and LT was in flux after moving peters . Graham or JPP might have been nice to add a pass rusher since maybin seemed a bust from day 1. These aren't even reaches, they're like the next players off the board.

I wore a bills jersey in KC 2 season ago, and while people gave me some grief but nobody was particularly hostile? I did go with a group of chiefs fans though. Scariest dude i've probably ever met (probably 6'8 350 biker dude with a mohawk and his head painted like a chiefs helmet) was actually really nice in the beer line. The issue there is just how cocky and condescending their fans are towards the rest of the league. It's obnoxious and they desperately need a humbling. Philly fans have a bad history of violence, but i feel like you'd probably be ok at this point. It's likely very similar to buffalo - a couple hundred bad apples needing to perpetuate a stereotype. In buffalo thats... drinking in massive excess, and performing dangerous table related stunts. In philly its also drinking in massive excess and being jerks to just about everyone and everything.

Talented camera man?

I don't think anyone we have will be a top pass rusher in the NFL this season. But i also look at that list and see dollar signs and 0 super bowls. I wa Shaq barrett had 19 sacks in 2019, followed by 8 and then 10 - after never having more than 6 in his first 4 years. Harold Landry didn't crack double digit sacks until year 4 in the league. Zadarius Smith didn't hit double digits until year 5 after leaving baltimore for GB. I guess what i'm saying is... i don't expect anyone on our roster to take the jump to being some kind of feared player. But the possibility of adding a few additional pressures, and several pressures turning into sacks, isn't unheard of to see a jump from like 6 to 12 sacks.

From a more modern perspective of teams I've actually watched. They didn't even win a super bowl but that 2007 patriots team was ridiculous. Buffalo lost 94-17 across two games. Lot of older players but they had the goods across the board.