Kirby Jackson

No, it means that the Bills and government are going to be negotiating.

I’d take him cheap to replace Phillips. He can be a rotational 3 technique and be effective. It’s all about risk/reward. Anyone talking about his contract or off the field issues is missing the point. He’s not coming here as a high-priced star. He’d be a “buy-low” high upside piece. He’d rotate in on the DL.

I think that he’s just a guy who started to understand who he was. There is always pressure as a 1st round rusher to rack up sacks. That’s not who he is (although he can be a 10 sack guy). I think once he became comfortable in his own skin he turned a corner. If they could hand Shaq the same deal Murphy got it’s an easy decision IMO.

I think the thing that lends me some confidence is the 2nd half of the prior year he played really well. Everyone was so hung up on him being a “bust” at that point they missed his strong performance. He’s never going to be elite but he’s a really, really solid football player. He’s the EXACT type of guy that the Patriots always have. He doesn’t excel at one thing but he does everything pretty well.

This is where I’m at. I want more explosiveness. I’d much rather have a “3rd down type” with the ability to go the distance than a hammer. With Josh’s size he can be your “big back” in short yardage.

I would be thrilled with this draft: 22: R1P22 WR HENRY RUGGS III ALABAMA 54: R2P22 RB JONATHAN TAYLOR WISCONSIN 86: R3P22 EDGE KENNY WILLEKES MICHIGAN STATE 125: R4P22 OT TREY ADAMS WASHINGTON 155: R5P9 WR ANTONIO GANDY-GOLDEN LIBERTY 167: R5P21 LB SHAQUILLE QUARTERMAN MIAMI 188: R6P9 CB LAVERT HILL MICHIGAN 201: R6P22 LB KEANDRE JONES MARYLAND 207: R6P28 TE COLBY PARKINSON STANFORD

Think this may be where I’m at too.

My initial reaction is that he didn’t do nearly enough to address the skill positions. The Bills need to upgrade their weapons. This doesn’t do it. They aren’t nearly explosive enough.

I could see it. I’m guessing two and a TE but wouldn’t be shocked by 3. My feeling is that they are comfortable with those other guys at the back of the depth chart. They are strong in the middle but need someone at the top.

It’s never going to change if the revenues continue to increase. The players get a percentage of the revenue and the owners get a percentage of the revenue. If the revenues go up the contracts go up.

If we are piling on, I got DirecTV when I bought my house this time last year. They promised me a $200 Visa gift card, Sunday Ticket, movie channels, etc... I never got the gift card. I called a couple of times and they didn’t see it in their system. Eventually they sent me a $100 gift card. I didn’t feel like arguing anymore so I let it go. I go to the Bills bar for the games so I don’t really use my Sunday Ticket. On the Bills bye week, I had a dozen or so people over and smoked chicken. I figured we could hang here, eat, drink, play cornhole and watch football. I came to learn at about noon, that they never turned on my Sunday Ticket for the first 6 weeks!! What a mess!! At any rate, I’m planning to use their incompetence to get it for free this year. Fingers crossed

I love Bowden!! I classify him more as “weapon” but that’s probably not fair. I’d be thrilled if he ended up on the Bills.

He scored 52 TDs at Clemson (8 return, 11 receiving, 32 rushing). Again, AT THE TIME OF THE DRAFT he was considered, without question, the top skill player. He would have gone top 15 in any draft.

Anyone that thinks he wouldn’t have gone in the 1st is wrong. He was sub-4.4, and elite receiver and the top skill player in his class. You need to stop looking at how his pro career went and look at the skill set. That’s how guys are drafted. If you were to go back and look at big boards leading up to that draft he was almost always the top skill player and you’d be reaching to find someone that had him outside of the top 15 players. He was a home run threat in the backfield, out of the backfield and in the return game. Spiller was like Reggie Bush coming out. A guy that can score every time he touches the ball doesn’t get drafted after 40 other guys. Those guys go early!!

Great idea @Dopey!! This was tough in both cases which makes for an interesting poll. I went with Edmunds for the 1st part but could have went either way. I thought both he and Josh had flashes as rookies. Josh became a dynamic playmaker (albeit inconsistent), but Edmunds became a Pro Bowler. I LOVED the progress of both. Part 2 was equally as challenging. I narrowed it down to Knox, Oliver and Joseph. I tried to use the same logic as part 1. Joseph felt like a bit of a cop out in that he didn’t play. If he becomes a starter or even quality depth that’s a big step but felt like cheating. Knox has a chance to be a top end TE so his ceiling had me considering him. If he jumped to 900 yards and 7 TDs next year (or something) he would be right in the mix. In the end I chose Oliver despite him already being good. I am bullish on him being great. I thought that since his first year at Houston and nothing has changed my mind. He’s a double-digit sack guy next year. He’s a Pro Bowler and an impact player in this league.

I forgot about Hamler!! He’s in that Higgins-Pittman-Edwards group for me

Nice topic and thank you for defining “drought era” because every other time we’ve tried to do this people took their own interpretation. I like Mario as an option but think that I’ll go in a different direction and say Takeo Spikes. That LB group would be, by miles, the best in the league.

It feels like this controversy has opened a lot of people’s eyes. At least half of the country though sided with the guy that punched the back of a seat for hours!! That’s how “anti-seat recliner” they were. That guy was clearly being a petty jerk. There was SO much empathy though coming from the, “anti-seat recliner” crew that they found it to be less offensive than the recline! Maybe it really does come down to your appreciation of the experience though. You make an interesting point. If you like to fly and appreciate the ability to get somewhere quickly and affordably you probably have a good deal of patience with it. I already called it a “necessary evil” so it’s the opposite end of the spectrum for me. I find it miserable. I probably fly around 60 flights a year (eg: MSY-Midway, Midway to Buffalo, Buffalo to Midway, Midway to MSY counting as 4). Being in New Orleans I pretty much always have to transfer (although the New MSY is a fantastic airport). From the time I leave my house to get to the airport, wait in line, wait on security, wait to board the flight, etc...I’m just miserable. The last thing that I want is someone making it more miserable. I don’t ever view it as a good thing even when I’m heading on vacation. I just can’t wait to get off the plane (and hopefully not have to wait a ridiculous amount of time for my bags) :).

To me, he’s going to be just okay. He doesn’t separate and is a good, not great athlete. One of my best friends is the President of the Clemson Alumni Chapter in New Orleans. He follows them like I do the Bills. I asked his opinion and he said “there’s no way that I’d take him in the first.” That was all the convincing that I needed. He’s been right on pretty much every Clemson player to date and even sometimes with unpopular opinions (ie he thought Hopkins would be a better pro than Sammy).

Agree to disagree I guess...I’m not saying that Shenault and Higgins won’t go 4 and 5 but there is a consensus top 3 it seems. As an example Daniel Jeremiah has Jefferson and Ayiuk at 4 and 5. Word around the senior bowl is pretty much every team had a first round grade on him. I think there’s a VERY good chance that Ayiuk is the 4th receiver taken. I said that I won’t derail it though so here are my WR rankings (subject to change): - Jeudy - Ruggs - Lamb - Raegor - Ayiuk - Shenault - Justin Jefferson - Higgins - Pittman - Edwards - Van Jefferson (almost forgot him) - Gandy-Golden - Mims - Peoples-Jones

I don’t mean to derail this but I’m not sure that’s the consensus top 5. The consensus top 3 seems pretty clear but there are absolutely teams that will have Reagor, Aiyuk and maybe others ahead of Shenault and Higgins.

It’s a little bit of all of that honestly. The space has shrunk, the fees go up, security takes forever, etc... The whole experience of flying is pretty terrible. In general people look at it as a necessary evil. Whenever people do things to worsen that experience (ie reclining seats, not moving for families to be together, bringing extra carry ons, smelly food, farting, deplaning early, etc...) people just don’t have patience for it. “The experience already sucks for everyone, don’t be an a hole and make it worse.” That’s kind of my take on it anyways. It’s like baseball and there’s certain “unwritten rules” that just kind of keep it at “bad experience” instead of “worst experience ever.”

No one likes the seat being reclined into them!! People tolerate it but no one says, “oh good, I’m glad that guy reclined into me.” If you didn’t know that people hated it you must have been shocked by this controversy.

Really good point on the contract!! Diggs is such a good fit here in that he slides everyone into their natural roles. The receiver room is maybe even a strength (especially after adding a guy in the draft). How about: Diggs Brown Beasley Bryan Edwards Duke Mckenzie Roberts

This is correct. The Bills had good RBs. Spiller was considered the top skill player in that draft class at the time. He was maybe a luxury for the Bills but he definitely wasn’t over drafted as a prospect. That’s about where experts thought he’d go. In fact, MANY had him off the board before the Bills picked. I have a WAY bigger issue reaching on Torell Troup than taking the luxury pick in Spiller.