BarleyNY

I’m more worried about CB/DB depth. No room for an injury to one of our top 3 CBs or top 2 safeties.

The Ertz not coming to Buffalo prediction seems pretty safe at this point if the reports of him working out at the Iggles facility are true. If they were afraid of his contract they would have traded or released him before letting him do that.

That’s a good plan IMO. I’m not saying it (a big step forward) won’t happen, but I think we have seen what we are going to get from Edmunds. I think some team will convince themselves that they can fix his inconsistencies and still get his splash plays and that team will pay him large. If that happens then we should let him go rather than sign him to a top ILB contract. Then we can use that money elsewhere.

Depends on whether I could place a bet on it or not.

I agree. I really thought he was going to calm down and do his job. It’s a shame.

Cruel, but fair

I think the writer just ran with an angle on a story during a time where there are few to be had. I doubt it was more than that as it didn’t seem like he had any recent or inside information. But to his point, teams do not want big distractions and few players are worth that. Beasley is a very good player and I’d hate to lose him, but he isn’t good enough to warrant the kind of distraction we would see if he refuses to abide by the rules. He blew his lid on social media, but I think now he probably has cooled down and he will abide by whichever set of rules he chooses. But if he doesn’t, then that would be a real problem for the team and I don’t see any other real option than the Bills parting ways with him. But again, I don’t think it will come to that.

I discussed financials for last season and this season as well as draft picks since McDermott got here. The Bills defense was absolutely not playing like a top 5 defense at the end of the season. They had some good games, but not against quality offenses. Other than maybe the Ravens playoff game which was aided by Lamar Jackson getting knocked out of it - and a stellar pick six with a 100+ yard return.

You’re missing my obvious point. The Bills defense was very much middle of the pack last season. But the Bills have used more resources on it than any other team this year and last. That’s pretty poor value. It should be near the top of the league, but it certainly isn’t. It’s middle of the pack in defensive scoring, yardage, rushing and passing. This year’s performance obviously has yet to be seen, but it bears watching - and the proper lens through which to watch it is value for resources spent. OTOH the offense has really outperformed its resource use. They deserve credit for that.

Might as well set the goal high and shoot for it all. Some things have to come together, including some players stepping forward, and there has to be some luck, but a SB win is certainly possible. F a SB loss. That’s pretty much the worst possible outcome for the Bills - or at least me personally.

I’m wondering what massage chair @ndirish1978ended up buying and how his back is now. After all it’s been 3-1/2 years since he started this thread.

The money spent on Milano really makes the Edmunds to OLB angle moot in Buffalo. I’m not even saying it’s a bad idea. I would’ve liked him to have been tried there, but in today’s NFL you can’t pay two OLBs (unless you have a 3 man front) so it’s not happening here. The Bills spending on defense has been the highest in the league in each of the last two seasons (2020 & 2021). Add in the high draft picks also used on defense the last five drafts* and that’s a ton of resources devoted to the side of the ball that isn’t really producing. It’s concerning to say the least. *draft picks on defense in first 2 rounds: 2021: - 1st Rousseau - 2nd Basham 2020: - 2nd Epenesa 2019: - 1st Oliver 2018: - 1st Edmunds 2017: - 1st White

Arby’s has been my go to for fast food for awhile now, but I feel that a they have wronged me. Their potato cakes were a hidden gem. They were always made to order so I could count on them being hot and crispy. They are now discontinued. Last time I went I also ordered a Buffalo grilled chicken sandwich and it was not good. Little disks of chicken. Bletch. Guess I’m back to the French dip and curly fries. If I’m going out for a burger and fries I just pony up for 5 Guys. I’m at a point where high calorie meals have to be worth it.

The Bills drafting under this regime reminds me of Ozzy Newsome’s drafting style with the Ravens. Swing for the fences early and don’t worry about whiffing. When there wasn’t an obvious choice that fell to him he usually went with a high risk, high reward prospect. That worked out for him a lot, but he had his share of misses too. For the record I see Allen, Edmunds and Rousseau very much fitting that philosophy. Basham not so much. Tre was like Ozzy’s Reed pick. How is this guy still on the board?

We should change the “Agree” vote to “You’re so money!”

I agree. I’d have loved JOK, but that ship probably sailed when they paid Milano. He sure looked like the BPA at 30 though. I think they took a big swing on GR. I hated the pick and don’t think he amounts to much in the NFL, but the upside and potential is certainly there. He just seems like the kind of prospect bad teams talk themselves into to fill a need, not the kind of pick I would have expected from this regime. As for Basham, it depends on what the expectations are. I see him as a rotational DE who can also kick inside if needed. If people expect more than that then they’ll probably be disappointed. That would not be especially great return on a second round pick, but there is certainly value in having a quality 3rd DE. I don’t expect him to completely bust.

How dare he insinuate that the Bills reign will someday end.

24 minutes to go. Deadline is at 4 pm today

The issue is that the Iggles don’t have any real incentive to move Ertz until just before training camp. They had to make him a post June 1st cut and they already used their two early designations on other players so it had to wait. It also makes no difference to their cap if he’s traded or released. So the only thing they need to avoid is him getting injured working out at the facility, at OTAs or in training camp. He’s stayed away from the first two but something has to happen before 6/27 when TC starts. He will be traded or released before then. The Iggles are just trying to maximize trade value.

The range of yards per rush by RBs is 5.6-3.2. The range of yards before contact among RBs is 3.3-1.4. There is a fat middle to that bell curve, but the Bills have two RBs on the lower tail of it at 1.8 and 1.5. On one hand getting to average or a little above in run blocking would not add that much to total yards in a season. On the other, that kind of improvement might help us close out games on the ground and balance the offense a little.

Honestly this is where things fall apart for Gilmore. He used to be an elite CB, probably the best in the game at one point. But he just had a pedestrian season where he was way overpaid for his production. Now his agent has to sell a team on him being worth a big, new contract as well as trade compensation. I don’t see that happening. In situations like this I’d usually say that keeping his salary where it is and adding incentives would be a good compromise, but those are tough for the CB position unless it’s playing time. I do not think that works here.

It’s actually a very sizable variance relative to yards per carry and across all 51 ranked players.

That the numbers for our two main RBs are close was part of my point. It supports the issue being with the blocking and not with them. Also both have very good yards after contact which supports them being good RBs.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2020/rushing_advanced.htm Rushing yards before contact is generally considered a good measure of how effective a team’s OL is in run blocking. While the Bills OL seems to be built to pass block well, they do not seem to be doing a good job at all of run blocking. The exception would be if RBs aren’t doing a good job of finding/hitting the holes opened for them. The link above shows Singletary 3rd worst in the league with 1.5 yards before contact/attempt and Moss 9th worst at 1.8 ybc/a. I think it is unlikely that both are that bad at finding and hitting holes so it looks like it on the OL. Both backs seem to be excellent at getting yards after contact though. Link Singletary is 2nd with 2.9 and Moss is 13th with 2.4. Looking at those numbers I can certainly see why the Bills didn’t draft a RB, but it makes me wonder why they didn’t try to upgrade the OL, especially the interior.