BarleyNY

My 16 yo daughter waited on Dawson Knox at a local restaurant. She spoke about him at length.

The Dolphins are a QB away from being able to challenge Buffalo IMO. I’m not saying they’d be better than us with one, but they’d be very competitive as their roster is otherwise very, very good. The wildcard is their new coaching staff. That could be a bump in either direction. The Jest got a lot better, but they were trash. They don’t have a QB and their ownership sucks. Saleh is a good coach though. They’ll be better, but that means they will have a chance to not finish last in the AFCE. NE’s ceiling is an asskicking in the first round of the playoffs like last year. Their floor is last place in the AFCE. I expect them to be .500ish. It’ll be interesting to see if they continue to decline without the lure of Brady.

There’s something to be said for that when you see players go from bad team to bad team. And quite frankly when you’re a bad team it’s always about getting paid too dollar or just having a job when a free agent picks you. But when you’re already fielding a championship caliber team, then you don’t have to overpay for FAs. They come to you to win.

Synopsis of Patriots organization from inception to present day:

LAMP

The Jest have had an absolutely fantastic draft so far. It’ll be up to your QB, coaches, ownership and front office to hold back your team. I am confident they’re up to it.

To be fair Belichick isn’t looking like all that great of a GM these days.

I would not argue against Belichick’s defensive genius. That’s inarguably who he is. That’s not his issue. Overall team success takes the right blend of greatness. Belichick is known for running his team in a tough, grueling and absolutely no fun allowed way. That’s great when your QB is Tom Brady. Players will accept that and take less money for a great chance at a ring (or rings). But without Brady, wins in the teens every season and any real chance at a SB, that pipeline of players looking to play for him on below market contracts dries up fast. Suddenly he’s in a very bad spot that he can’t coach himself out of with Xs and Os.

The Bills going CB was obvious. A small trade up was necessary to keep them from getting jumped for their guy. Apparently they didn’t have Booth or another CB ranked closely.

They don’t have to worry about that now!

Pickens?

Long term, there’s isn’t a strong case for RB I’m the first either as few will justify a second contract.

I’m not a fan of a RB in the first either, but I do understand the argument in favor of it - even if I don’t buy into it. If there are nothing but second round prospects at 25, then it makes more sense. Still, I think it’d be a mistake and I’d rather them go after a more premium position. That would make more sense to me too.

Gotta have a trade partner to move back. You’re acting like the Bills are the only team that realizes the pool of first round talent is small.

Albert Breer SI article from today about draft rumors he’s hearing. Bills notes are below. https://www.si.com/.amp/nfl/2022/04/27/2022-nfl-draft-player-grades-trades-corner-projections • I have corner penciled in for the Bills at 25, but their flexibility reflects the job they’ve done building the roster. Someone mentioned to me Wednesday how the Bills are in a spot now where they have to take a more targeted approach just to make sure they’ll have the right job open for the guy they take in the first round. Which is actually what could wind up leading them to consider a running back if, say, the right corner isn’t there.

Our other options at the time factor greatly into how I’d feel about the Bills selecting Hall. I don’t want to reach for a need, but if an excellent prospect at a premium position is there, then that’s how I’m going.

There is no way to make a good guess without a lot more info. Beane knows what it will take to move up and what he can get for a move back - we can only guess at that. Plus we have to see how prospects come off of the board.

I’m envisioning what 11 Barry Sanders vs 11 Aaron Donalds would look like.

Some will surely be released at cut downs, but are you thinking some will come available before then?

I agree. I thought he would have. But there is still time and options after the draft. It is odd. There just hasn’t been the league-wide signing surge just prior to the draft like in years past.

Mine is Kaiir Elam because he’s a poor and unwilling tackler. And I want a CB, if reasonable.

Easy decision.

How does one undervalue a WR with 0 receiving yards?

Fair point. When I am in that position I just try words with 4 of the possible consonants in them. That usually gives me the missing letter on the first try.

A red flag for Becton coming out was that he was a lot more inconsistent than he should’ve been. He dominated the competition physically, but regularly had WTF lapses. That pointed to a player who relied on his gifts and didn’t put in the work to hone his craft. The gap in physical talent was going to be a whole lot narrower in the NFL so that was going to be a problem if he didn’t change. It looks like that lack of dedication extends to him staying in shape. Wow.