BarleyNY

Yes. Deandre Hopkins is probably the correct choice. I wouldn’t say no to Khalil Mack though. I’m still pissed about missing out on him. Myles Garrett would be a great addition and is still on his rookie deal. And I’d love to have Gilmore back to pair with Tre White.

Yup. Kelvin “Don’t mind me, I’m just here to pick up my check” Benjamin. And, of course, the head coach version of that, Rex “Last one in, first one out” Ryan. Dishonorable Mention to his bro too. Rex even managed to find a way to steal more money from the Bills by bringing Rob in. That showed more effort and innovation than anything he did for the team.

I agree. Oliver was the best prospect that I thought could possibly fall to the Bills at 9. I think we got lucky. In addition to Oliver, I also think I’m going to love watching Ford play. Guess I’m being super obvious with these two, but that’s where I am.

Sorry. Misunderstood the situation. I just don’t pay much attention to OTA stuff and thought this was about some people getting on Poyer for not being there.

He’s fine. It’s not like he’s OBJ who is doing basically the same thing.

I don’t think you can say that about Beane and McDermott after they tried to trade for Antonio Brown. Say what you want about OBJ, but he never bailed on his team like Brown did.

Funny how the coaches on the top of that list seem to have the best, most proven QBs. Lotta hard work there. (eye roll)

The PED issue is at least as big as the injury issue . Some players have their production fall off after stopping their use and I worry that we will see this with Murphy. He has one failed test and 4 game suspension under his belt. The next one would be a year, by the way. Since his failed test in the offseason of 2017 he has torn his ACL (preseason 2017), then signed a big contract with Buffalo in 2018. He had a pedestrian season in 2018 with three games missed due to a knee strain. He’s not come close to earning the deal he got and It’s obvious that he will need to show well this season if he expects to see the $7.2M in new money he’s owed in 2020.

Also any perceived slight by the media.

Fans overreact to players with eye popping measurables even when those players haven’t been successful. They also blow perceptions about being a hard worker, smart or a good leader way out of proportion. Often the very existence of those qualities is straight up manufactured.

Thoughts and prayers are being sent Foles’s way by his coach and others in the Jax organization. Might want to pump the brakes on the outrage and give the man the benefit of doubt about the situation.

I’m sure that many players who have been derided by people in the media, etc. take great satisfaction in rubbing their noses in it after they succeed. No doubt about that. Who wouldn't? It’s just that I don’t think it ever really impacts their drive. Too many other factors matter so much more. That proving naysayers wrong drives players to succeed is just a narrative that some fans take satisfaction in. In reality it doesn’t matter at all, it’s just a fun extra.

You are missing that analytics is a very useful tool for players trying to improve. It can help by not only showing them the areas where they are strong or weak, but also point them toward working on the facets of their games that would be the most advantageous. I always think that at this stage the “driven by naysayers” angle is way, way, way overblown - especially for QBs. These guys are looking at a situation where tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars is on the line. Plus then there's the fame, including adoration from truly top shelf women (or whomever they’re interested in) and general fan worship galore. Not to mention the internal drive most of the players have. Proving wrong a few idiots who say they’ll fail can’t even register for most of these guys. Seriously, if succeeding as an NFL QB means that I’m at the top of my profession and that I’m looking at a 5 year $150M contract and Scarlett Johansson as my squeeze, then you can believe me when I say that anything Colin Cowherd has to say about me wouldn’t mean a damn thing.

It should be extraordinarily concerning that a second year, starting NFL QB is still working on holding the ball correctly. That in no way has anything to do with intelligence. Not talking about a player with a good grip tweaking it or trying to change to a better grip. We are talking about a 2nd year, starting QB who isn’t consistently gripping a ball correctly. Very different things. Mechanical flaws tend to rear their ugly heads when a QB is pressured or otherwise stressed. It is genuinely difficult to make lasting changes to mechanics because those flaws are so ingrained into the player by the time they get to the NFL. Jackson has 2 years of QB in HS, 3 in college and this is his 2nd in the NFL. Not to say he can’t do it, just that he is fighting some bad odds. Of course, if the problems are due to the coaches trying to change his mechanics then maybe he’d be fine (or at least better off) if they just let him revert back to his old ones. Which is likely anyway. Still, basic mechanical issues at this point in his career should be a big red flag.

Agree that Jackson is the same kind of QB as TT. Baltimore will play a similar style offense with probably more RPOs than we did with TT, but the focus on run game and deep throws will be similar. He’ll be able to do what TT did - beat the bad teams, be competitive with the mediocre teams and struggle with the good ones. Baltimore likely will have a very good defense so they could conceivably make the playoffs with him at QB.

Who exactly is giving Darnold praise? Other than maybe the media who suck up to large markets? Honestly?

I disagree. Allen certainly didn’t fall in his face last season, but he also has a long way to go. His running and ability to buy time when the pocket breaks down are definite pluses that few expected. But there are still questions about whether or not those are sustainable - especially at last season’s rate. More importantly, Allen had issues with getting the ball out in rhythm and with consistent accuracy. I watched a highlight video and he did a lot of important things on it, including accurate passes, but he didn’t get the ball out at the end of his drops even once on that video. The argument here is, of course, that his supporting cast was poor. It sure was and I didn’t see all 22 film to see if he was missing open receivers. I don’t know, but last season is done. He’s got a much better line and much better WRs this year so let’s see what he does with them. I’m not going to ding Allen when it might not have been his fault, but I’m also not going to blame people who wants to see Allen be effective with those aspects of his game before acknowledging that he can do those things well.

For some background on Aaron Schatz’s predraft QB analysis, here is a thread about that from that time. It uses QBASE Here is an older article that explains QBASE. TL/DR: It’s a metric that tries to rate QBs and incorporates adjustments for drops, level of competition, etc. So let us get right to your argument: That the eye test can show things that metrics can’t. And that Allen is an example of a player who is actually better than the metrics would show. First, is metrics the whole picture and is it infallible? Nope and nope. When stupidly applied, use of metrics can be truly awful. It’s a very useful tool, however. When used correctly metrics can certainly help make better decisions and judgements. The best users know those gaps and account for them. The worst blindly follow the numbers. So so what about Allen? Well, the metrics have never been remotely good for him. They don’t point to him having any real success in the NFL. That’s the rub here. Fans get ticked off because these people - numbers really - are saying Allen will likely bust. But something gets missed in that umbrage. These are predictive percentages based on past performances, measurements, experience, etc. Schatz makes that clear. Now about that eye test. It certainly is useful, but it’s a lot better when it’s unbiased. A big plus of analytics is that it is designed to eliminate emotion and bias. Allen has certainly flashed this past season and while that is encouraging, it’s typical for a fan to remember the good plays and forget about the bad ones. I’d also point to the linked thread above and see what people here were saying about Allen and the other QBs before the draft. Another thing that can happen is that some of the issues players have can be corrected. Some analytic sites don’t even consider D2 and D3 players because the level of competition skews things so much. Furthermore the coaching is often inferior to D1 programs so there can be more progress for players IF they are developed properly. One good thing about Allen is that some of the things that a QB can’t change aren’t his problem - size, arm strength, athleticism. He came from a D2 school (albeit a good one), but there’s a real chance that he can develop more than a typical prospect. At least that’s possible. If you can understand why people like Schatz don’t like Allen’s chances in the NFL it’ll actually give you a good idea of where to look for improvement. Or even look to places their model doesn’t cover. I really think Allen might be more unique than people think. His ability to buy time in the pocket to throw (like Roethlisberger) and run for yardage (like few QBs can) might help him overcome some of the issues that get brought up. Maybe he’s never going to be as accurate as we’d like, but maybe he won’t have to hit tight windows as much if he can consistently buy extra time in the pocket. Maybe his running ability gets him a lot less man coverage and he doesn’t have to worry about that as much. There’s a lot of ways things can still work out for him, but he will still need to improve or work around some of the past deficiencies his critics have pointed out. Let’s hope we get to see him evolve and succeed here. Nothing is written in stone- and Schatz would tell you that.

I agree. People have to understand that these analytics based guys are just talking odds in every case. Schatz simply talked about how he viewed a player predraft and that he hadn’t seen enough in that player’s rookie season to change his mind. He never even said that Allen couldn’t be a quality QB, just that he hadn’t seen it. That’s fair. Heck, he’s right. Allen showed some flashes last season - and a ton of heart - but he’s got a lot more to prove before any of us should anoint him a franchise QB. I’ll be rooting for him, but I’m not going to get ahead of things. I’m not going to cherry pick a game or other data and I’m going to rate him exactly like I would if he were the QB of the Jets, Vikings or any other team. He isn’t going to get bonus points for being a Bill and I’m rooting for him, or because I want him to succeed or because I know his back story. He’ll have to earn it.

I realize that

A 3 technique isn’t a NT. No NT regularly lines up on the outside shoulder of the OG. Typically a NT would line up at 0 or even 1 tech. A 3 tech is a DT.

The guy in the video was very confident, but my joy was subdued by the realization that he was only confident that it’d be 7 or more wins. Oh well, it was still a good sign that he thinks the Bills are on the upswing.

Dude, Flacco played out of his mind in the playoffs that year. I was just as surprised as anyone else to watch him freaking carry that team. And he did that in the last year of his contract, thus earning the huge deal he got. Since then, of course, he has not been remotely worth that contract. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t crazy good in that playoff run and Super Bowl. He was. For the record, I’ll take that deal if I can get it here in Buffalo. Give me a QB who’ll bring a Lombardi here like he did for Baltimore and I’ll be happy to see that man way overpaid.

I was afraid that’d be his advice to young corners again: Extend your careers - don’t tackle. How many CBs have been good enough to get away with that like he could?

Ouch Huh? Rudolph is definitely looking for a payday and long term deal. But they would have a much more difficult time dumping him with a new deal. He’s currently on the last year of a contract and there’s no dead money if he’s released or traded. Doesn’t get much easier to dump someone than that.