BarleyNY

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.

Most fans will assume that the only direction for their team and individual players to go is up. But for some reason that’s not something they assume for the other 31 teams and their players. Ultimately wins and losses is a net zero game across the league. Nearly the same WR, TE and RB corps and the same OL and not really anyone I see taking a big step forward. Certainly no big additions with high expectations. Maybe a depth WR could emerge and become a quality starter, but I’m not banking on that. So, no, I do not see any reason to expect improvement in the receiving or running games. Do I hope for that and for even better results than last season? Sure. But that’s my heart - not my brain - talking. Plus there’s one more factor - overall the Bills were pretty lucky last season from a health standpoint. Again, I hope for the best this season, but I know what the odds are.

Not sure I understand this. The Chefs didn’t seem to have a huge issue with it last season and the Bills didn’t add any firepower of note. Sanders for Brown, a late round rookie WR and a back up TE Someone might develop or they might be healthier, but neither is guaranteed.

Notably Beasley already got a $500k roster bonus in March.

That’s not remotely true. PFF has Josh Allen’s overall 2020 grade at 90.3 and Lamar Jackson’s at 79.3. https://www.pff.com/nfl/grades/position/qb

Good point. The ratings would make sense if they’re factoring in things like consistency, longevity, etc.

This frame of reference is key to how EO is viewed. The Bills drafted him so I don’t know how him being the 9th overall selection isn’t factored in. I was hoping he’d fall to us in that draft and I was elated that he did and that we selected him. He had a pretty average rookie year at 3T and a below average 2020 at 1T. Average play in his rookie year is understandable and I get that he was playing out of position a lot due to need last season so he can get a bit of a pass. But in year three and playing his natural position he’s got to start playing at an above average (or better) level. Let’s see how he does.

Quotes like this are some of my favorite parts of the internet. I’m totally serious. An elite NFL player on a team that played in the last two Super Bowls gets busted for illegally possessing an Uzi. The fifth response is someone (probably very validly) trashing him for his garbage selection of firearms. Truly fantastic. Thank you.

Flexibility is a good thing and there’s nothing wrong with that approach, but all of it comes due eventually. Every penny paid will hit the cap sooner or later.

Yup. Pretty much every player who signs a large contract structures it in a team friendly way. Large signing bonuses that prorate over the course of the deals are typical - and those are not exactly hardships on the players. It’s a nice PR move, but in reality he wouldn't be giving anything up. Let us see where it lands and then make our judgements. I would not begrudge him getting paid his worth. It’s a business for him. I do find a lot of the “Josh is such a great guy he’ll take a big discount” crowd very funny though.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/06/18/who-signs-first-lamar-jackson-baker-mayfield-or-josh-allen/ The article’s gist is that with Jackson, Mayfield and Allen all in line for extensions that they might all be waiting for the others to set the market. Also Jackson is acting as his own agent so Mayfield and Allen might be especially interested in him going first since it would be easy to discount his contract if he screws it up.

I do think the Phins f-ed this up too. They gave a better contract to Byron Jones, who is not nearly as good as Xavien Howard. I get why Howard would be upset. Still, he has very little leverage with so much of his contract still to go.

I mostly showed the play to A) illustrate how weak Rivers’ arm was at the time and B) remind people how close Indy hung in that game.

Shhh! Don’t jinx the jinx

Rivers is probably a HOF QB, but he was playing his last NFL game because he was was shot. He had no arm strength or ability to throw deep. And we won by 3. I literally joked in the 2nd quarter “Oh my god, we’re going to lose this game on a 35 yard Rivers Hail Mary.” Needless to say I heard about that for the whole second half. (I’m not supposed to speak during games now as that was not an isolated incident.) But I said 35 yards because of how weak Rivers’ arm had gotten. On the final play he let go a Hail Mary, but the LOS was on about the 47 and he couldn’t make it to the end zone. That game might’ve been very different if Indy had fielded a decent, fully functional QB that day. They deserve to be in the conversation this season - with an asterisk on QB. The issue with Wentz is that he is trash under pressure - and that he often brings it on himself by holding the ball too long. idk if Reich can fix that or not. Indy is an otherwise quality team.

The player and agent wouldn’t offer it, but the team might insist on it.