Bleeding Bills Blue

I always thought he was solid with Miami, then he looked good in the opportunity with Arizona. The Raiders move killed any momentum he had, but he got the pay day so it was probably worth it. Running backs sort of have to chase cash. Depending on how bad the broken leg is I could see him catching on somewhere for a couple.

Guy must love process if hes back for round 3.

He's only 28 and this is his 3rd stint in Buffalo 🙂 I remember watching him play for Tennessee last year and he didn't look like the absolute turnstile he did in last years preseason so maybe he's just improved a bit.

Why? Didn't he just have a TD last week?

Can't all be hits. I think its ok considering he has like 30 starts with Buffalo and has mostly been really lousy. Pending UFA next year, and likely wouldn't have factored into a compensatory pick formula anyway, so a 5th round pick to me reads as a steal.

Yeah - i don't mind seeing anyone competing for a starting spot getting some snaps. He adds a lot to the run game, but his pass protection was always a bit of a work in progress.

Special teams players do all play offense/defense positions? At that part of the roster, you don't play on the field other than special teams so you should practice that as well. Why would you intentionally shoot yourself in the foot? We punted 52 times, kicked off 99 times, returned 37 punts, 32 FGs, 51 extra points, and returned 33 kick returns. An entire unit of inexperienced guys means things like blocked punts and FGs, long returns, and just general field position lost. There isn't a coach in the league who wants to trade field position for players who might be better position players (stress MIGHT here because its all board speculation at this point) but aren't very good on special teams.

I think Wind somewhat plays into it, rather than just boot it deep you may want to kick to a specific side of the field and crash, etc.

Bass kicked 56/99 for touchbacks, and this seems to be around the league average. Some guys are higher - 2 regular guys hit TBs on about 80% of kickoffs - but they don't play 8 games in Buffalo with another in NE for good measure. We had among the lowest yards per return on both punts and kicks. We were 17th in defensive drive starting field position despite one of the worst punters in the league. They addressed the punting, but I do think they like to kick short from time to time on kickoffs. Difference from 17th to 1st is about 3 yards - so over 186 drives that's about 558 yards of field position. Special teams players also block btw... its a lot harder to get any yards on a return with lousy blocking. Teams can exploit this and kick short on kickoffs, and kick deeper punts since an inexperienced special teams group might block poorly, or get more penalties. Touchbacks for punts are typically bad as they're likely to occur when you're punting from plus territory.

We traded that pick for EJ, Kiko, Goodwin, and Chris Gragg. He never busted out of gadget/PR player, he's been in the league 9 years now and he's 32 so... he's basically a punt returner on a team that doesn't really have room for a punt returner who can't play WR.

Betweens week 15-18 last year. 12 punts for 425 yards - a solid 35.4 yards per punt with a 32 yard net. He showcased a lot. there was back to back 20 yarders after a penalty on the first. There was a 7 yard punt where he dropped the ball. Constant shanks all season.

I agree on slot WR throws vs. designed RB plays. But being able to have a dynamic RB receiver out of the backfield can help dictate a lot of what the defense is able to do. If they play man coverage on cook with a linebacker its going to be a problem, if they are in a deep set cover 3 or cover 2 then he can turn nothing into like 8-10 yards really easily. It's maximizing the checkdown, and creating a mismatch that forces the defense to adjust. I'd rather have Hodgins than Blackshear if we're keeping a player on the 53 for potential. WRs are harder to find, especially with size and hands. Gives him a chance to continue to work on his route running, and learning how to play bigger and more physical.

To be fair... Daboll was never coach of either of these players with Buffalo. The Giants also already have Breida and Antonio Williams. So if they grab Johnson, or Blackshear - we can just grab Breida or Williams.

I figured they'd use the starters at a home game, they got out of it pretty unscathed. They should spend their time getting ready for the Rams. I'd expect to see a lot of the back end of the roster guys.

Good running back 4.5 YPC Bad running back 3.9 YPC .6 YPC over 100 carries is 60 yards. Over 200 thats 120 yards. Getting that extra .6 YPC is one long run. Or just being used in different situations. Job-share running backs run into the issue of one guy being short yardage, or pass catching, etc. So the short yardage guy may have more TDs per touch but a low yards per carry. Pass catcher might see light boxes. Some offenses feature really good offensive lines or fullbacks and TEs that really open up holes. I think Blackshear's ceiling is probably someone like Duke Johnson. We are cutting Duke Johnson too.

Drop Blackshear (to me this is too many running backs on a 53 man roster, especially for a team that passes on like 60% of plays) and Options would be Sweeney/Morris - add another to the PS Spector, Giles-Harris to then possibly get waived mid-season for Smith (assuming they like smith here) Another Olineman - Tenuta or Van Roten - Likely gets waived mid-season for Boettger So I see it likely being a TE instead of Blackshear. It gets interesting when Smith returns from suspension, and if Boettger returns. I think Smith will only show up based on an injury, and Boettger will be a while on PUP with a torn achilles week 16 last year so I wouldn't base too many roster decisions around him as there's a pretty decent chance he can't contribute much this year.

https://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchartpos/RB Thats a lot of running backs. Pretty much everyone in the 5th column will be cut candidates. You have to really like a player you've never really met, to cut one of your own to bring him in. Especially a 1st year UDFA. I'd expect it to more likely happen mid-season when someone needs a fill in player for a few weeks if they were to do it at all. He was on the Bills PS, then signed to the eagles active roster, then waived to likely go to PS, then claimed by Indy, then released and back with the eagles. Then he was on the saints for a playoff run. Then waived.. and signed with the saints again on the PS. So... he did sign some non-PS NFL contracts his first year. He didn't really play at all until 2 years later in 2012. Cool story when you read it though, he went to wayne state and was security at the Lions training camp, then went on to have his best years of his career there.

It's more than 0. That's the idea. And if either is scooped up? Sign other guys you liked who get cut.

Its a tough market for running backs out there, DS will probably make less than he thinks. Barkley Hunt Jacobs Montgomery Sanders Williams Harris Pollard Plus the draft. Plus a bunch of guys i didn't list. This past year 4 guys got more than 5M AAV - Patterson, Edmonds, Fournette, Penny. 6 players got more than 1 year - Fournette, Edmonds, Patterson, Mckissic, Bolden, Ogunbowale. Obviously dependent on Cook's development and skills, but if you could bring DS back for something like 4-6M then I don't think it'd be bad. Still keeps the total RB cap number in the middle of the pack, keeps continuity and draft picks. Obviously depends how he performs this year too (do we want him back?)

Causation does not mean Correlation. I feel as though the offensive line is at the crux of a lot of the run game issues. We started the year with Dawkins (missed camp with bad covid) Feliciano (lost weight, but somehow looked more out of shape than ever before) Morse Ford (don't need to get into it) Williams Williams is too slow to get outside on outside zone rushes to the right, and too sloppy to prevent backside backers from cleaning up the play. Brown was put in because they felt like he could open up the running game. Williams shifted to RG because Ford is bad. Brown missed some time at T so they shifted Boettger in at Guard. Ford shuffled back in when Feliciano got hurt (that lovely Jax game). There was some covid related shifting for another week, and then Boettger was injured and they inserted Bates. Feliciano returned from IR and didn't have a spot as bates had out performed him, and Williams is a much better pass blocker. That's a lot of shuffling. You also have to look at how many snaps Ford and Feliciano got - for how insanely inept both played. With Boettger on the PUP to start the year, the starting 5 is pretty set. Quessenberry and Doyle appear to be the next men up after that, but Boettger returning rounds out the depth a lot better. Hopefully the Saffold/Kromer additions, healthy dawkins, and healthy Brown will make this unit improved. The only issue i see is that is pretty similar to Cooks skillset. Moss brings a different skillset as a plus blocker, wrecking ball style runner, with good ball security. Cook is the shifty pass catcher type who will likely grow into other roles over the course of the year. Singletary is a pretty well rounded back, lacks some top end speed but hes quicker and tougher than any combine would say. Taiwan jones is the special teams guy who can play in a pinch. I don't think Moss would be active every week unless there are injuries, but on certain weeks i would think it'd make sense to carry him.

6 carries for 11 yards? He seems to be more of a cook type than power back like Moss. He'll make the PS as well. Can he block? Moss doesn't seem to use his power for extra yards - its just... punishment. He runs right at you with the ball secure against his chest. He can block, and he sort of seems to enjoy inflicting punishment. Singletary got a bunch of TDs and a single 100 yard game. He also fumbles considerably more than Moss.

Cincy went to the super bowl - but they were only 10-7 in a year where Cleveland and Baltimore had really rough years injury wise. Their defense has a really good rush defense so they'll always be a tough mark for others in the division (everyone in that division wants to run the ball). They have really solid skill players on offense and have tinkered with the offensive line to try and keep burrow standing up. They used some picks on the secondary - but that unit was bad all year long and I'm not sold on them doing enough there. Assuming injured players come back healthy - Humphrey/Peters/Clark/Hamilton/Fuller is about as good a secondary as you can get and this team usually gets after it pressure wise. They had the worst pass defense in the league in 2021, which i'd wager is highly unlikely to reoccur. Dobbins and Edwards are also such massive upgrades over the old guys they were forced to use a year ago. I think it will be competitive - my pick is ravens - but i could see Cincy winning the division too. Baltimore had a winning record in the previous 4 seasons, and injuries are largely to blame for a defense going from top 10 the previous 3 seasons to 25th. They also went from top 10 in turnover diff, to bottom 5.

We brought him in to do both.

Only thing thats weird is he almost never stiffarms. Always seems to cover up the ball at the end of runs. Ball security won't be an issue if he does this but it sort of limits you on long runs when you cover the ball up and barrel into the safety - Not really setting yourself up to slip that tackle. He did fumble last year - the dolphins one where he didn't cover up and the helmet popped the ball after a catch. He has 2 fumbles listed... but the other one was as he was diving out of bounds, the ground forced it, and he was probably touched on the way down (but why challenge it).

Pretty much this - Moss might not dress some games too. Here's a fun stat - in the top 10 of 2021 carries: Henry played 8 games Montgomery played 13 Chubb played 14 Kamara 13 Cook 13 Gibson and Mixon both played 16 Its not likely that a back plays every game. Its also not likely that they don't get dinged up and touch the ball less than normal in a stretch.