BarleyNY

I don’t think many people would argue with a bolded, but the context here is that people are responding to the question asked by the OP. So people are discussing what impact the Bills most positively this season. Let’s not forget that teams can err on the focus of long term over near term too. I think the Bills did that last season. If we had made an addition like Von Miller last off-season, I think we would’ve hoisted the SB trophy. This season I don’t want to see an inadequate CB corps derail us the same way. Obviously there is still plenty of time to improve the position via FA, trade and/or the draft. But it’s the screaming need for this team.

CB is the obvious answer. RB and OG could be upgraded at 25 as well, but the biggest and most needed upgrade is at CB.

I’m not a “fan” of many players as I focus more on the team. Most marquis players have a manufactured personality anyway so we usually don’t get to see who they really are. I just don’t pay much attention to that side of sports. Occasionally I will interact with an NFL player, or someone I know does. Allen got a really good review from one person I know who met him in a work related circumstance btw. His gf, not so much from a different person. I have met a bunch of current and former NFL players, coaches and FO people. By and large they’ve come off as good people. Sometimes even better than good, but occasionally not so good at all. Usually the not so good ones were arrogant and self-important. But to the question at hand: Regardless of what team he was on I’d still want to watch Allen play. I enjoy watching talented players play and he certainly qualifies. Plus he has a fun style.

Baker’s looks like a different person, but a person. Ronaldo’s looks like a statue of a DreamWorks character.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I did not catch any accusations that he “forced himself on” any of these women. I saw that two said that he moved his body, which caused his penis to move and touch their hands. I’ve had less than 1% of the massages Watson has had and I’ve had a masseuse bump mine with her hand - and I wasn’t moving. I had a towel on though. I think it is obvious that Watson was looking for more than massages and I’m sure he got more than that from some of the women. I think @SoTier makes a good point. If some of these women weren’t licensed masseuses, then why were they advertising massage services on social media? I can only think of one reason (it’s more than massages). Or maybe Watson asked random women to give him massages for pay. One would have to think that would be for more than massages too. Licensed masseuses are one thing, but the others? Be real.

Hopefully if the Bills do sign Haden it’ll be on an incentive laden contract with minimal salary and guarantees. We gave Norman $6M for nothing but a little bit of poor play.

I use SAUTE. My son uses AEGIS and my daughter uses AUDIO. I am 53 for 53.

I agree that corruption is rampant everywhere in politics. I don’t see a lot of blameless people involved here though. I do see a lot of incestous relationships though. Also I disagree that no one is getting hurt (I think I covered that). As for the $350M “from the Pegulas,” that is going to be fully or almost fully covered by PSLs. That’s obviously funded by season ticket holders who are paying for the right to buy tickets at a stadium otherwise funded completely by the state and local governments (including the funds taken from Seneca Nation). In other stadium/ballpark/arena deals I’ve yet to see PSLs included in the owner’s share. I have always seen it shown as a separate line item in funding. It’s obviously lumped together with ownership contribution in this case because seeing $0 or $50M or even $100M as the Pegulas contribution would be inviting PR problems. There’s also no way that the Pegulas don’t already know what the PSL portion will be. They are very competent people. Also the government will be paying for ongoing upkeep and renovations while I have yet to see that the Bills will be paying rent to play in that stadium. While I am happy that the Bills are staying in WNY, this is a massive giveaway of public money to the Pegulas. I’m going to duck out of this conversation as I’m mostly just repeating things that I have already covered. I’ll just invite people to do their own research and inform themselves as they see fit.

Sure. Virtually all of us would take more. But at what cost? What someone is willing to do to get more wealth, power, influence, etc. is important as integrity and morals are often the limiting factors.

As I mentioned earlier, the $71.25M guarantee amount is inflated. Ward got $44.5M fully guaranteed, which is in line with expectations in a deal this size.

Signing Haden at this point in his career would feel a lot like when we signed Josh Norman.

Odd that they’d limit their investigation to just those two seasons.

Jaylen Ramsey already did that. Ward is easily a top 10 CB so he’s worth the contract he just got. The guarantees reported are almost certainly money included in “total guarantees” not money that is “guaranteed at signing”. Agents often report their clients’ contract guarantees that way as a marketing tool.

Touch football, basketball, kickball, tag, etc.- just about any pickup game we could easily start and stop. Unless we were stuck inside.

Buckeyes twice. Cavaliers once, but that wasn’t the same as the Buckeyes as I was not as invested in the Cavs at that point. Still, it was nice.

First, thank you for a respectful and nuanced response. The Pegulas will make money regardless of how the stadium is funded. My point was more about how it is being funded. They will be putting in a very, very small amount of money. This stadium deal is the first I’ve seen where PSL revenue was considered part of the owner’s share (though maybe I’ve missed that). Of the $350M that is the Pegula’s responsibility, most of that will come from PSLs sold well in advance of the stadium’s opening. For example, Atlanta’s 71,000 seat stadium sold $300M of PSLs prior to opening. I don’t expect the total for the Bills to be quite that high, but pricing hasn’t been released yet. I’d guesstimate $250M for initial PSL revenue, which would put the Pegula’s contribution toward the stadium at about $100M. it could certainly be less. That just seems egregiously low to me based on past deals and what they’re getting for it.

Yeah. The media is getting wind of what GMs already know.

This is correct.

Well we KNOW Hochul lied about Austin. San Diego makes little sense too. I am just being realistic about that. I also think we should all be realistic about the necessity of building the Bills a stadium. Something had to be done or the Pegulas would have moved them somewhere. Zero argument there. Ditto WNY getting state funds. But there is a lot to hate about this deal. $850M in public funds for construction plus another $280M for upkeep is very, very steep. Of the remaining $550M in construction costs the NFL is footing $200M and the Pegulas will be responsible for $350M. But that won’t be from their pockets, it will come from fans in the form of PSLs. Their investment will be zero or close to zero. Then there’s the very dirty mechanics of the deal. The state money isn’t coming from downstate, $565M of the $600M is coming from Seneca Nation. NYS is forcing them to pay 25% of their gross (not net) revenue to run their casinos. They had a contract for that where payments ended in 2016 after 14 years. In return SN was supposed to get exclusively on most of their gambling operations. NYS did not uphold that end of the bargain and the period of payment had ended anyway so SN has not had contractual obligations to pay since 2016. NYS contested that and thus the money was put into escrow. NYS did get a judgement in the case, but SN appealed. Rather than allow the legal proceeding to continue SN was forced to pay when Hochul froze all of the SN accounts. Not just the account where they escrowed the disputed funds (which weren’t being spent anyway), all of SN’s accounts. Oh and it’s Key Bank that did that. The same one whose name is on the Sabres arena. Then there’s Delaware North’s involvement. Not only do they run concessions for sports teams, including the Bills and Sabres they are huge in the gaming industry. They have a big interest in the expansion of that industry and the continued payments of SN certainly hinder their ability to compete in that industry. 25% of gross sales is crippling. Oh and Kathy Hochul’s husband, William Hochul, is general counsel and senior Vice President and Secretary at Delaware North. I know most people don’t know any of that (the mainstream local and national medias sure isn’t talking about it) and that most won’t care anyway. And I know how I will get treated here as the messenger. But this really makes me sick. It’s just the wealthiest getting richer off of the poorest people. The big winners here are the Pegulas and Delaware North. The Hochuls are personally going to do very, very well too. The WNY fans get to keep the Bills. That is something at least, but they’ll pay for it with PSLs (I’m guessing about $350M worth) and an additional $250M in taxes. A bunch of poor Seneca Nation people will just have to stay that way though. I was hopeful that Hochul would be better than Cuomo, but somehow she might actually be worse. There’s my rant so I’ll leave this here.

I’m here in Ft. Meyers until Monday.

Draft picks, full roster of 53 after cut downs, practice squad salaries, PS call ups if they have expanded roster again, mid season additions due to injuries, opportunity, etc. $10M is about the minimum you’d what for all of that. But there are still places to add cap space for more signings if needed so there isn’t anything to worry about.

Wonder if this signing will start the WR market rolling a bit. Usually just takes a move or two around this time.

I love that he posted that. @Royale with Cheese has a great sense of humor. He’s a good dude despite his love of the abomination of ranch on wings. It is a great running joke here. The “boneless wings” addition is fantastic.

Was the city’s interest news to the government in San Diego like it was to the one in Austin? This “revelation” is just Hochul playing politics and giving herself cover for a sweetheart deal to the Pegulas. While I am happy that the Bills are staying in WNY, it could’ve been done with a deal that wasn’t nearly this dirty.

My expectations are that Beane will add a serviceable (or better) CB prior to the draft and give himself more options at 25. Then it would be business as usual in the draft. If he doesn’t, then possibly multiple worthwhile CBs make it close to 25 and Beane can stay put. But if the need at CB is as great as it looks now and the draft falls as I expect, then moving up a few spots would be the smart move IMO. And I expect Beane to make the smart move. Or maybe he has something else up his sleeve. We can’t know what is going on behind the scenes. Maybe he has a trade for a CB lined up with another GM that he trusts and both can wait until draft weekend to execute it. Then why not let everyone think you’re in for a CB at 25? I guess we will see how it all plays out.