BarleyNY

I think the Browns ownership might have leaned their lesson with Hue Jackson and Freddy Kitchens debacles. They have taken a big step back from football ops since. Jimmy Haslam will always gets the unethical nod from me for the Pilot/Flying J rebate scam though. Many other owners seem suspect in this arena too. The Haslams certainly belong on the watch list for years to come. The worst one - Dan Snyder - is now gone.

It is a good question. But it’s worth noting that the Bills paid him like a starter when the matched the RFA offer from the Vikings. (At least I think it was the Vikings.) Edit: It was the Bears.

Guessing ownership. Probably told him he had to make it work with Wilson. Once they are satisfied it’s not going to happen, then they can move on. Woody Johnson has always been clueless and unethical as an NFL owner. I was surprised when Saleh took that job. It is one of the few HC jobs in the NFL that up and coming coaches should be wary of accepting due to ownership.

It is far, far easier to find quality coaches than an elite QB. Maybe just try that first.

Simms is pretty dialed in. He talks to players and may have even seen some TC. He may not have liked what he heard or saw. One thing I would bet heavily against is that he made that prediction on a whim. He had his reasons even if he isn’t sharing them now.

My general take on Davis: Due to his inability to uncover quickly (lack of lateral agility) he is usually a later option in the QB’s progressions. Therefore the ball is usually out before the QB gets to him and it doesn’t matter how open he is. I’m sure this isn’t news to defensive players or coordinators.

Agreed. Kraft could have that difficult conversation with him. BB retires, gets his accolades and paid out on his contract - which makes him unavailable to other teams. Or a team like Washington is dumb enough to give up picks to get him. I just can’t see this ending any other way.

I think Daboll was blamed for everything on that side of the ball, whether or not it was his fault. This time around people see that there’s blame to go around with Dorsey/McD’s scheme & play calling, Beane/McD’s resource allocation and Allen & Co all having a share.

Agreed. That’s exactly how I see it. This past draft was a nice deviation from the status quo, but too little, too late IMO.

Von Miller - TBD. He’s got this season to return to form. If he does, then he’s got another season here. If not, then I suck it up and designate him a 6/1 cut. (That’s the only reasonable way to do it at that time.) Tre White - He’s a cut. Sorry, Tre. I love him as a player, but the odds of him returning to form and staying healthy are basically nil. He’d probably be a 6/1 designation as well (teams get 2). He’s got a roster bonus due just after the league year starts so it would be before then. Knox - Gotta ride this out. We need a TE who can play inline - which means blocking and catching the ball. We’ve got no one else who is capable at both so he stays. TEs who can do both reasonably well get paid well and that is what it is. (Kincaid is a big slot. Excellent receiver and horrible blocker so he isn’t a candidate for an inline role.)

Best case scenario for the Giants and Dabs is losing enough games to get a FQB. Dabs is definitely a guy you want developing one from day 1.

Florio, sure. But not Simms. He’s obviously very knowledgeable and connected. He’s also been a huge Allen fan. I was not aware that prior to the season he picked the Bills to miss the playoffs. That’s both shocking and very telling. He obviously saw the severity of the issues with the team. To put my surprise into perspective I predicted that we’d see the same this year as in the recent past - playoffs with wins until we lost to the first real contender we played. Regardless of injuries on the defensive side of the ball, missing the playoffs entirely should be the end of this Bills regime - if that comes to pass. Edited to add: The pity from Florio is also telling. Jeebus. “I’d hate to be a Bills fan right now.” Ouch.

I agree, but I think this illustrates the general issues with scheme and play calling. Tempo can help mitigate them. So I agree that we should utilize it more. But it’s a short term band aid rather than long term solution.

It’s worth discussing how much of the issue is Allen not performing versus his circumstances. Is he being put into situations where too much is being asked of him or is him in generally favorable situations and not coming through? I think the blame is a lot closer to 50/50 than 100/0 - something like 60/40 with a lean toward the circumstances (scheme, play calling, talent, etc.) Allen had been put in. Edited to add: Some of Allen’s 40 is probably frustration. This brings up the topic of reasonable expectations with a top QB like Allen. He’s been a top 3 QB in the league. It’s not reasonable to expect SB win after SB win, but it is very reasonable to expect more than what we’ve gotten. In fact, our playoff record with Allen playing as a top QB is a huge indictment of McDermott (and to a lesser extent, Beane).

The Bills are definitely a team that wins with talent rather than scheme. That’s always been true with the defense, but the offense under Dorsey is now in the same category. With all of the injuries this year - especially those to the best players - the defense doesn’t have the horses to do that. The play calling decisions have only made it worse. Exhibit A is the 6 man blitzes against Burrow, who is one of the best at beating the blitz. The offense does not have anything close to the talent that the defense does - at least when injured players are included. I appreciate that they added to the offense in this past draft, but for this season it is too little, too late. Their inability to effectively run the ball (with RBs) is even worse than it looks since defenses usually have light boxes. The passing concepts are pretty basic too. The last two seasons how many defenders have mentioned that they knew what play was coming? That’s a function of basic schemes and a lack of diversity in play design. The play selection leaves a lot to be desired as well. By the third drive I was calling out the runs before the Bills snapped the ball against the Bengals. I wasn’t perfect, but I was legitimately at 80-90%. If I can do that from my couch I’m sure a decent NFL coordinator can do better.

Jim Harbaugh’s coaching at the end of the SB lost them that game. His team should have won. Stupid play calling to keep passing instead of running it in. Ngata was gassed and out of the game. I was dumbfounded by Harbs putting the championship in Kaps hands rather than Gore’s.

The one place Jim Harbaugh didn’t wear out his welcome in 4 years is his alma mater, Michigan - and he had to cheat to make that happen. He’s also a colossal d-bag. It’ll be Wrex all over again if he comes here. I might even openly root for his quick failure so we could move on to a good candidate deserving of respect. It won’t matter though as he will almost certainly be getting hit with a show-cause penalty.

I do not get why the Bills keep using resources to bring players here and then not even try to utilize them. It happened with Hines. That was a very odd situation.

The contracts that the Bills have signed players to rarely surprise me. Harty’s sure did. While 2/$9.5M (plus escalators) is not that big of a deal by today’s standards it was a lot more than I thought he was worth. I agree that the Bills were banking on him breaking out though I’m not sure what they saw to make them believe that.

Agreed. Even designating him a 6/1 cut this off-season would hurt a lot: 2024 Dead Cap: $17,084,000 2025 Dead Cap: $15,417,000 2024 Cap Savings: $6,790,000 I hope that Von will return to his old form (or something close to it), but there is a chance he doesn’t. That could lead to him retiring or the Bills making a very difficult decision. Not with his tackling issues.

Allen is under contract through 2028 so there’s no way he gets extended this off-season. Dawkins is better than fine. $16M is average LT money and he’s only getting $11.9M in new cash. That’s cheap for even average play. An extension is possible but I would be wary due to his conditioning issues and age. I agree that it would be tough to replace both safeties in the same season. I don’t know that Rapp is a good answer though. I thought he was a good pick up but he’s disappointed so far. It does seem like needs are piling up. Lots of work to be done next off-season.

I didn’t know that Spotrac had one. I usually use overthecap’s. I like that it shows running cap space totals for current and future years . Just click on where it says “cut pre 6/1” to change to restructure, etc. Here is the link: https://overthecap.com/calculator/buffalo-bills

IMO Groot quickly developed and hit his ceiling. Largely he is going to stay the player he is now. He’s a good complimentary DE, but he needs a “bend the edge” DE across from him (like Von Miller) to be effective. He will never be that player because he has terrible bend and change of direction. He has good strength and great length though. He has the ability to set the edge against and shed blockers. If a Von Miller is at the other DE spot, then he’ll have opportunities when the QB gets flushed to his side. But he’s never going to be a guy who flies past an OT to get to the QB.

That would have been a problem. Schwartz would not have taken a DC job unless it included him being in charge of that side of the ball. And McDermott isn’t (willingly) ceding control of his defense anytime soon so there would be no way for them to coexist.

Your list really illustrates how important the next two (very winnable) games are. We win those two and we only have to finish 3-3 to get to 10. Lose one and we have a tough road to 10.