Kirby Jackson

Very well said and I think that this gets lost when looking at the draft. You talked about Shaq and at this point he is a perfect example of this. Shaq is a quality defensive lineman. He’s going to get you 8 sacks(ish) and be good against the run. He’s not going to command double teams and be in the backfield every play. You look at him as a first rounder and are like, “he’s okay.” If he was picked in the 2nd round we’d feel it was a nice pick. The Maybin example is the exact opposite. He was never going to be a “quality defensive lineman.” He was going to be a beast as a pass rusher or be out of the league. That just feels awfully risky/stupid in the top half of the 1st round. Give me the guy, that at worst contributes, and at best is a star. That’s why Allen wasn’t my guy going into the draft. I didn’t hate him as a prospect but it scared me. In hindsight, I was wrong. He’s a better athlete and leader than I expected which made his floor higher than I realized. He wasn’t nearly as risky as some of us thought because his physical tools are so good that he was going to make a lot of plays with his arm and legs. Josh certainly could have made plenty of mistakes but he was never going to be Paxton Lynch because his tools were too good.

Remember how much and how early @thebandit27 was on the Mahomes train? That’s pretty impressive in hindsight.

Oh I agree 100%. The middle and back of their roster will be filled with young players. The Cowboys won’t have that vet depth that a lot of teams crave. That’s something that the Bills have mastered at this point (although their cap situation is the reason). In 3 years I would think that the Bills may have a similar roster or they made some hard decisions. The Bills may decide, for example, to let someone like Singletary go after his first deal. They may make the decision that the money be better used spread across multiple guys. The Cowboys basically committed to all of their good players and are riding with them good or bad.

But they’ve drafted extremely well so it offsets it. They will have to continue to do so. They don’t have tough decisions to make on core players. The Bills example that I used earlier is that they have to use a guy like Vosean Joseph instead of paying AJ Klein $6M. The Cowboys aren’t going to have hardly any mid-priced vets. They are going to play young guys in those spots. The Bills have a lot of guys like Klein, Murphy, Feliciano, Long, Norman, DiMarco, Nsekhe, Butler, Williams, etc.. that the Cowboys won’t have. Those are the types of guys that they will have to play young guys instead of. They aren’t in a position where they have to get rid of guys like Tre, Edmunds, Milano, Diggs, Etc... Those types of players are already under contract for multiple years. The Cowboys have 7 players on the top 100 that Prisco just did. All 7 of those guys will be under contract for at least 3 more years once Dak signs. Their best players aren’t going anywhere.

Just to be clear I’m not sure he is a championship caliber QB. I’ve also been pretty clear that at this point he’s more deserving of the big contract than Wentz, Goff, Jimmy G, Tannehill, etc.. We didn’t object nearly as much to them getting paid yet they are inferior players. Dak being with the Cowboys is a big reason why he is being downplayed here. I was thinking about starting a thread to rank the QBs for 2020 and then ranking the QBs over the next 5 years. I figured that I’d rather be in the pool though than debating between who will be better in 5 years Goff or Jimmy G. It’s interesting to think about though and is relevant to the discussion. I would think that Dak would be in the top 10 in both groups but don’t think top 5 in either.

It may be. It’s the old Kirk Cousins strategy. It’s certainly riskier now with the uncertainty of 2020 revenue. The cap goes up every year but maybe not now?

I keep asking but who is Dallas going to lose when Dak signs his contract? 9 of their best 10 players are under contract for at least the next 3 years. Dallas isn’t making any sacrifices to pay Dak. He knows that. Honestly it was pretty brilliant to sign last. Usually a QB signs first and the team tries to leverage other players coming back to get the QB to take less. The Cowboys have done everyone else first except Vander Esch and he will be next year. Dak wants 4 years. The Cowboys want 5. That’s the holdup.

Brown could lose some reps I suppose. Beasley plays when they are in a 3 wide and he is in the slot. I don’t foresee that changing when they go to 3 wide. He plays a different position than Davis.

They lost 4 games when scoring 22 plus points. For comparison sake the Bills won every game when they scored at least 18 points. That’s coaching. The “about the team“ argument is not valid. This isn’t little league. This is their career!! Every single one of us wants to get as much as we can at our job. There is not an exception amongst us. We don’t begrudge the lawyer that goes to another firm for more money because he isn’t putting the “team” at his old firm first. We need to stop holding athletes to the same double standard. Dak made an average of $1.225M in each of his 4 years as a starter ($4.9M total) and has produced a 40-24 record. He’s been more than fair when it comes to money. Now, like with all good QBs, it’s his turn to get paid.

I honestly don’t think Dak is great. He’s certainly very good and there are a lot metrics to support it. Saying 20 QBs are better doesn’t make it true. There is plenty of quantifiable data to support him being a top 10ish QB. He is 40-24 as a starter and has 118 TDs to 45 turnovers. At any rate though go ahead and name the 20 QBs that are better and make sure to include Dalton.

We all need to understand that “average per year” does not equate to “cap hit per year.” In terms of roster building the cap hit is what matters when trying to retain everyone else. As an example Amari Cooper averages $20M a year. His cap hit this year is $12M.

See I don’t see Beasley losing any reps. Those other receivers playing will be on the outside. I suppose that they could slide Diggs inside but I don’t see that at the expense of Beasley. It may be with Beasley in a 4 wide set.

Good topic @BisonMan and some good answers so far too. I’m going to go Brown I think. Was last year a “coming out party” or a result of circumstance? I still think that he will be productive but more in the 700 yards and 5 TD range.

Murphy has a tough job in that he followed a HOF voice. He was the QB after Kelly. Van Miller was a legend that could harness the energy and paint the picture. It is a real talent and gift. Murphy isn’t that. He’s gotten better as the play-by-play guy each year. He will never be better than adequate because he doesn’t have the tone or the instincts. Radio is a tough gig. With that being said Murphy loves the Bills. He’s a WNY guy through and through. That’s important to me when it comes to my team’s broadcast. I want guys that have the emotional investment, not guys hired into developing it. Buffalo has always had that and I’m thankful for it.

If you believe this you haven’t been paying attention. Collins, Smith and Martin are under contract for multiple years. They just drafted Biadasz to play center since Frederick retired. Why is the OL suffering? Its the same guys for at least 3 seasons.

I wish that we had this discussion about a “Dak level QB” that didn’t play for the Cowboys. The “Cowboys hate“ clouds this whole discussion and makes people irrational. If we changed the conversation to “pay Carson Wentz” I wonder what the conversation would look like? I definitely think Dak is the better player today than Wentz. It would be tough to argue otherwise. At the same time people here don’t have an emotional investment in hating the Eagles. It would probably make for a more productive discussion. Instead we have people calling a 26 year-old, with a 40-24 record, coming of a season of 4902 yard with 33 total TDs and 11 INTs a “glorified backup.” Dak is a very good to great QB. We can’t have a real discussion until people accept that. At that point we can decide on the value of a guy that’s “very good” and have a real conversation.

That’s not on the QB that’s on coaching. That tells me that you lost every close game that you were in. That’s execution. That’s details. That’s in game decisions. There biggest loss of the year was to the Bills by 11. They were 1-6 in games decided by 1 score or less and 0-5 in games decided by 7 points or less. That’s Garrett. That’s how you end up with a +113 point differential and a .500 record.

You know what’s crazy about Dak? Is he not really similar to Tony Romo at the same point? He’s a quality QB, a pro-bowlish QB but not a top 5 guy (at least at this point). I think that he’s closer to 8 than he is to 16 at this point but it’s a fair assessment. The QB rankings are going to change some over the next couple of years too. You have Brady, Brees, Ben, Rivers, Ryan, and Rodgers winding down. You have Darnold, Allen, Tua, Lock, Jackson, Burrow, Baker, Watson, Mahomes, Jones and Murray coming up. Then you have Dak, Jimmy G, Wentz, Goff as young vets whose stories haven’t yet been written. In 2 years the top 10 QB list is going to look a lot different IMO.

Welp, it’s been fun guys but I just can’t anymore. ??

Solid move for the Jets.

Oh I don’t disagree but that was 6th in the league. For some perspective, the Saints were +117. That just shows what a terrible job Garrett did.

Yep, that’s the sign of a fan base that isn’t accustomed to winning. Instead of enjoying the ride we are going to be worrying about our ability to retain Tyler Matakevich.

Buckle in it’s only going to get worse...

The Cowboys outscored their opponents by 113 points last year!!