BarleyNY

Thanks for posting. It was a fair analysis.

I agree. Probably not, but it happens. And what if he only gets a little more somewhere else? Maybe the cost of moving and the uncertainty of new coaches, teammates and scheme all factor in enough to make it worth his while to stay. Even if he doesn’t stay at least he left on good terms. Maybe he gets way overpaid somewhere and it doesn’t work out. In a couple years he could have a role here again.

Yup. That’s how I see it too. It’s also a respectful way to do business.

Yeah. I think it means that his contract demands are way too high right now. He will almost certainly get paid more elsewhere, but it’s not 100% certain. Phillips testing the market and the Bills leaving the door open is the right thing for both. No surprise.

I pretty well agree with all of that. The only exceptions are that: 1) I do not see the Browns moving on from Baker that quickly unless he is a disaster this season and 2) they need two starting OTs, not just one.

I’m sure there’s a market for this, but it’s not me. Just not the ambiance I’m looking for when I grab a drink with my food I never even think about getting a beer at Chipotle, which is at least a step up in that regard.

I am odd with music. I listen to a lot of different kinds. I’ll get into a style and stick with it for 10 years or so then move to something else. My phase that included Van Halen was over 30 years ago. Oddly that would’ve been about the time I was listening to Van Morrison.

David Lee Roth

Yes, but I don’t have any specifics on that (two way street, one way street, rules, whatever). And again, that’s all just unverified rumor.

I agree. I’m telling him to slow down immediately or I’ll be recording and reporting him to Uber and the cops.

Exactly the kind of thing I’d expect to hear from a ranch dressing loving, bleu cheese hating monster. I went to one of the 5150 shows. It kinda sucked. Bad. Diamond Dave was a much, much better lead singer for them. He always made it fun and kept things loose. That really covered the shortcomings of the band. Hagar didn’t have that going for him. Without that fun edge they were a little sad. Soulless really. Roth could get away with fun, mindless stuff like Jump. OTOH Hagar couldn’t get away with stupid lyrics like “Only time will tell if we can stand the test of time.” Who does that? Roth was a lot better than that.

Rumors floating around is that it would be in line with typical Baker activity, but that it is not an issue with Emily. That is just rumor, however.

Stefanski was an OC. He’ll be heading up the offense and is expected to call plays this year. It’s not any different than many other teams where the HC is in charge of one side of the ball. McD called the defensive plays in 2018. Honestly I’m not sure if he called them last season or not, but it’s still his defense.

A couple media people I know who report on the Browns had this to say about Van Pelt: - Mayfield will be his job - he’s a teacher, not a buddy - he holds everyone accountable - he’s a quality QB coach - Aaron Rodgers loved him - he will coach hard if needed

That makes a lot of sense. Star took a cut in pay for the guarantee of being here - and paid - an additional season. Each side had to get something in the deal.

Ken Zampese was the Browns QB coach in 2018. You are correct in your assessment. Mayfield respected him and they worked well together. In 2019 Kitchens did not retain Zampese and moved Ryan Lindley from RB coach to QB coach. Lindley had been a QB, but he and Mayfield pretty much hated each other. Mayfield didn’t respect him or listen to him - and it showed. I am not assigning blame on that. On one hand Mayfield worked well with his previous coach. On the other he sure didn’t put in the time he should’ve in the off-season leading up to the 2019 season. We will now see who Mayfield is. He has seen what coasting results in and he now has Stefanski as HC/de facto OC. He has gotten a lot out of his QBs in the past. He’s also got Van Pelt as OC/de facto QB coach. His main job is to get Mayfield in order and he is a guy known for hard coaching. The pieces are in place so if Mayfield fails, it’s on him.

Players who are at an artificial ceiling would save ownership the difference between that and their market value. But that saved money does not have to flow to other players. It could easily just go into an owner’s pocket. Any mechanism that artificially lowers compensation for some players will lower overall compensation for players unless there is another mechanism in place to raise it for others. The league could cap some players’ salaries if they raised the cap floor to counter thaw impact, for example.

I don’t hate this idea. Not at all. In fact I think acquiring Lamb is worth a lot in terms of draft capital. If you’re going to suggest something this big it’s a good idea to make a case for why this player stands above so many others. You didn’t really do that in your OP. But I’ve looked at Lamb a bit. He really is the kind of prospect that’s worth making a big move for. If he gets to 10ish he probably could be had for 22, 86 and our 2021 first. We might even get a late round pick kicked back to us. That’s not a bad deal. We have enough day 3 picks to move back up to get another day 2 pick. If the Bills think he’s an elite talent and that he stands well above who they could get at 22 or later, then I’d be happy to see them do it. Wow. A 4.55 40 would knock his value down a bit.

The $28k fine was ridiculous. The league did right by reducing it to $4k. I think the initial fine was probably the boiler plate fine for that specific infraction.

Yeah, this isn’t the part of the rebuild where we could be expected to shed FAs. We purged the roster and built up cap space reserves. We’re spending on FAs for 2 or 3 seasons while this regime’s draft picks are under their rookie deals. In another couple years we (hopefully) will be in a situation where we are shedding FAs that are being replaced by younger/better players. We will earn our Comp picks then.

Yeah. That makes sense. I was thinking about that sort of thing. Once I got past thinking about how the Ford call boned the Bills I could l see why the rule is in place. The upside of reduced injuries is worth the downside of taking away blocks like Ford’s. It sucks when something like that works against us, but the reason for that rule is sound.

I can’t remember who did this, but someone in sports media talked to a bunch of offensive linemen about that kind of block. They all pretty much said that no way are they letting their QB get hit. They’re laying the block on the defensive player. So Ford isn’t alone here. If the rule isn’t getting changed then the blockers either have to use their hands to make contact or find a way to change their footwork so it’s legal. The footwork thing has to be tricky though. If the defender is running, then a blocker stopping is going to get plowed. Ditto if they change direction and stay between the ball carrier and the defender. OTOH defenders have to deal with a lot of rules that work against them. Maybe we just let them have this one. Splitting out a FB, TE or big WR in order to have them lay a blindside block on a defender can be devastating. That’s what the league is trying to avoid. The problem is that plays like Ford’s get caught up with all of that.

Thanks for posting the rules video. Every single one of those plays looked like football to me. It’s a terrible rule that was properly enforced with Ford. So now they have to teach players that they can only punch or push with their hands in those situations. Super.

Yup. I don’t blame him for not wanting to play for the Bungles. He can do his best to avoid that, but he has virtually no real leverage. He might have to suck it up and force his way out later. Play out his four plus fifth year option, then make them franchise him every year until they finally have to trade him or let him walk.

That’s a fair take. My issues with Lewis going in the first are the injury history and the lack of production this season when he was finally healthy all year. Who knows though, maybe he wasn’t all the way back from the ACL. He’s an intriguing prospect though.