BarleyNY

You are correct, of course. I think that it’s good to understand the whole landscape though.

That was a very fair assessment of what happened and where the Bills are.

I don’t know if this is common knowledge or not, but the armed forces almost always pay for the salute to service stuff at NFL games. They are literally just paid advertisements. In case it has not been mentioned, forcing people who are otherwise able to ignore a big problem or issue to confront the issue is the point of these protests (and pretty much every other protest ever). The fact that some people typically are able to opt out of having to deal with the issues at hand because they don’t directly affect them is why this protest has come to the sports you love. Edited for clarity and grammar

It’s a BS argument to say “we can’t agree on where the line should be so we can’t use a line”. “I don’t think there should be a moral component” or “the line should be here” are valid arguments, however. That holds whether or not I agree with them. I’m embarrassed to have OJ on our Wall of Honor. I’d be embarrassed to have Ray Lewis, Aaron Hernandez or a number of other people on there too. As you point out, 3 out of 4 people voting in the poll don’t have a problem with it. That’s their opinion and while they are welcome to it, it doesn’t quite jibe with the outrage I see so often for players on other teams for doing almost nothing comparatively. I mean, how do you complain about Brady deflating some footballs when you’re cool with keeping a dirtbag like Simpson (armed robbery and kidnapping convictions on top of that double murder thing) on your wall? I can’t bring myself to do it. I’ll just leave my part in this conversation at that.

Funny thing. I just re-read the rules and it changes things a bit for me. One rule was that the starters other than the 4 drafted players would be average NFL talent. So the QB issue would boil down to this for me: I’d take the best QB I could in the first round if they were better than average. But I wouldn’t burn any pick on an average or worse QB since I‘D have that on the roster anyway.

That is such a BS argument. Just because we can’t all decide exactly where a line should be drawn doesn’t mean that the vast majority of us can’t agree that certain things are way over it. You are free to say that there should be no line, no moral component to special honors like this. But just come out and say that. Just out of curiosity, if the Bills move into a new stadium and OJ’s name doesn’t get put up again who’s going to be angry about it?

Yeah. I wasn’t expecting any teams to double up at QB. And I agree that there’s little reason to take any other position in at least the first half of the first round. But if I’m picking past the point where I can get a good QB, then I think it’s better to play a longer game. I live with a placeholder for a year while I build at the rest of the premium positions and get one the next year.

I think you’re proving my point with your example, but I don’t want to go down the Allen debate path here. If I am picking where the Rams are (20th) I’m taking Baker Mayfield. Then I’m going after the best CB, Edge or WR with my next pick. If I am picking in a spot where the best QBs are gone then that’s a different story. If, say, 20 QBs are gone and I don’t see much of a difference between QB 21 and QB 26 then I’m going in a different direction. At some point the only QBs on the board will be ones I expect to have to replace anyway , so why not shore up other positions with elite, young players? The biggest problem with that mock is that they let the writers draft players on their own teams. Lots of homer moves that don’t make sense. They should not have allowed any players that was on a team in ‘19 or will be on a team in ‘20 to have been picked by that team. You are correct in general, get the best QB you can. But there aren’t close to 32 QBs out there that you’d want to build a franchise around. If you’re picking 31st or 32nd are you still taking a QB if 30 are off the board?

I don’t agree. Their are tiers of talent at QB and other positions. Once the elite and near elite QBs are gone then other options are on the table. There’s just not that big of a difference in what you’re getting in a QB at that point so why not get a young, premier player at DE, CB or WR?

Take him off. The wall in the Bills stadium is a reflection of its fans. It is a list of those we respect the most. Simpson certainly was a phenomenal player, but that’s not the whole test for me. He murdered people. He’s trash and I don’t respect trash. I don’t want his name up there. Fans shouldn’t have to stand under it to cheer and good human beings like Lorenzo Alexander and Kyle Williams shouldn’t have to play under it.

In that case then IMO he has earned it and should get a contract commensurate with that level of success. Much like having a HC on a series of one year contracts, doing that with your QB really would undermine him and the team. By the end of year 4 we will know what we have in Allen. There’s no need to dodge the difficult decision at that point. Commit to him or wish him well. There is just such a narrow path for your scenario to even make sense. So for the next four seasons he’s going to be good enough that you want to see one more year of him, but not good enough that you don’t want to see three more years of him? I can’t see that happening. Then there’s the very high probability that Allen would refuse to sign a tender and force a real decision. And on the slim chance he would play under two tenders, then he’d be a FA after the second tag. You think he’d come back here after getting jerked around like that? I get that it’d be a tough spot to be in, but these guys get paid well to make those decisions. No way should this go further than one tag after the option year which leads to a LTD before that season. If he’s not worth committing to by then, then that’s the decision. One last aspect of this is that if they are not sold on Allen, then what about bringing in real competition? Fail to do so and you risk losing a season or two. Do it and you risk QB controversy and a divided locker room.

I get that you’re referring to using a 5th year option and two tags, but I can’t see how kicking the can down the road would work for that long. Too much money at stake and too many other factors. Can you imagine the impact on signing free agents? Or the locker room discord? Even with Allen being as raw as he was, we should know for sure by end of year 4. Even with some mitigating circumstances (like lost time due to injury) I definitely can’t see this going past five years without a long term commitment or parting ways.

QB purgatory is truly the worst case scenario. Good ownership that has a handle on what it has in the coaching staff is huge in that case. I believe that there are a number of times that a marginal starting QB got a big contract simply because the GM and/or HC thought he’d be out the door with him if they moved on. IF that’s how it goes here, then I hope the Pegulas keep McD, Beane & Co. around.

I think it has to do with the risk of injury to QBs. It’s not a high risk percentage wise, but it could be catastrophic in the rare event it happens. Even having the QB pulled out for concussion evaluation would be an issue. But Allen is so physically imposing that it would be a mistake not to use sneaks. I’m happy that we employ it as much as we do, at least while Allen is young.

First of all, I’m not proposing anything. I am explaining what happened in this case as well as many before it. That’s how protest work. I get that you don’t want your leisure activity to include a demonstration. Okay. But the other side sees an America where they are second class citizens. They see black people die at the hands of police over and over and nothing done about it. They see the few incidents caught on video where the offending officers are held accountable as the rare exceptions, not the rule. The biggest factor in how people view this issue is whether they see the recent deaths of black people at the hands of police as isolated incidents or as something systemic. It’s as simple as that. The people protesting definitely see it as systemic. Protesting in that case seems pretty justified to me. If the murder of George Floyd hadn’t been recorded, then he’d be just another statistic. Does anyone honestly think that anyone would be held accountable? We’ve heard the officers say he was resisting and seen the videos that show he wasn’t. But without those videos who’s questioning the story of the police? Personally I can’t see how some momentary discomfort at a football game outweighs the outrage of that. I’ll just ask that you think about the position of people who live every day like that and I’ll leave it there.

I understood what you wrote, but you’re missing my point. What you don’t like about it is exactly the point of it being done that way.

Very well said.

I found this too. Estimated value of $300M. VCs probably have a pretty sizable share of the company. There might be some cold blooded decisions made, but that might be necessary to save it. As long as they don’t do things to hurt their long term success (like cutting talent they can’t get back or adequately replace) they should bounce back. You never know with stuff like this. It often depends who’s making the decisions and why.

I do not know if they have a lot of VC funding or not. But I can tell you that if they do, then the VCs are probably driving the bus right now. They seem to always have ways to protect their investments baked into their agreements directly or indirectly. Cost cutting in a downturn is going to happen with VCs involved.

I think that’s the point of it though. To use that particular type of platform as a way of putting issues in front of people who could otherwise ignore them. The fact that it makes some of the people who typically live in relative comfort a little uncomfortable is intentional and designed to make those people stop and think. All won’t, but some will.

Check yourself, bud. And don’t put words into my mouth. I responded to the assertion that the $1B redirection of funds from NYPD would be catastrophic to the city with businesses shut down and general mayhem ensuing. I gave facts. That the $1B would be over 4 years and that it amounted to $250M/year or 4% of their $6B yearly budget. A budget that has grown 30% since ‘14 when it was $4.6B. I just called out BS as BS.

See my previous comment on the finances of the NYCPD. I don’t GAF about Debasio. But the reality of the finances versus the mischaracterization of them here and elsewhere is ridiculous. Cliffs notes: $4.6B budget in 2014 up to $6B now. The proposal to redirect $250M per year, or about 4% of the drastically increased budget, for 4 years is hardly going to have a big impact. Learn your facts.

That’s a sweeping statement and I debunked one example you gave in minutes. There are looming budget crises in innumerable cities due to the economic slowdown caused by COVID-19. Police departments are usually impacted the least when cutbacks happen, but they probably won’t dodge them this time due to the magnitude of the budget shortfalls. Rightly, some people have pointed out that under these circumstances PDs should have to shoulder some of the burden. Others do seem to want to do so as a punitive measure. While I would be wary of using budget cuts punitively, they’ll probably happen this year for economic reasons alone. Those cuts shouldn’t be confused with punitive ones and it should be up to each city to prioritize their spending.

I just looked this up and the reality is VERY different from what you are indicating. The proposal is to redistribute $1B over four years our of a $6M yearly budget. That money would go toward revitalizing disadvantaged neighborhoods. $250M of $6B is 4.17%. Quite frankly, I wonder why their budget rose from $4.6B in 2014 to $6B. Seems like trimming it to $5.75B in 2021 would be manageable. https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2020/06/04/brutal-math-the-nypds-6b-budget-must-be-cut-advocates-and-lawmakers-say/

Wow. This is the world we live in. Shannon Sharpe is a concise, coherent, well-reasoned and well-spoken voice in the darkness while our President mostly sits in a bunker sending ridiculous tweets, has peaceful protestors tear gassed for a photo op and threatens to use the US military against its own citizens. Up is down, high is low, dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria. Honestly, this is the most insane time I’ve ever seen. By a long, long way. It’s like we’re all in some crazy Truman Show-like reality show and the producers are sitting there wondering how we haven’t figured it all out yet. Sometimes your head explodes.