BarleyNY

My interest in the Bandits is about as high as any sport that isn’t football. That’s not a high bar, but I’ll make some time for them. That puts them in my distant second tier after NFL/NCAAF.

What a great playoff run! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Only went to one game this past season, but I intend to up that to at least several next. The atmosphere is so much better than Sabres games. Such a blast.

A serviceable (or better) CB and a DE who can rush the passer.

I hope you are right and I’m underselling this group.

I think that each squad lacks true difference makers. One elite WR and that squad looks so different. Samuel and Shakir as options 2 and 3 (in either order) and Coleman to develop. I’d sure take that. Similarly the DE room lacks a difference maker (barring a Von miracle). If we had the old Von or equivalent talent, then Rousseau could be a lot more effective in his complimentary role. As it stands he’s going to limited like we’ve seen since Von got hurt. But I think the WR room can be adequate. They at least have the different roles covered. For example, MVS has drop issues, but he can play X and get deep. At least that is nominally covered. But I don’t see where our outside pass rush is coming from. Unless Von has a resurgence or another player takes a huge leap forward (both very unlikely), then we don’t have much of a pass rush. Obviously the consequences of that would be severe.

I hope he develops into a stud, but depending on anything from a 5th round rookie making the transition from Troy to the NFL would be foolhardy. Miracles happen, but that’s basically what you’re forecasting.

I’d like to see Hughes back as a situational pass rusher. It’d be nice to have him on the team again and he seems like he still has a season or two (of situational play) left in the tank.

Lots of talk here about adding a WR, but to me a pass rushing DE looks like the biggest need on this team. Our top three are Rousseau, Miller and Epenesa. I don’t know what Miller will provide this season, but I don’t want the Bills to have to depend on him. I linked Spotrac’s available FA Edge players below. Thoughts on who might be a reasonable addition on or around 6/2? https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/_/year/2024/status/available/position/edge/sort/contract_value

Usually I just flip it up with my foot and leave it like that

People are the worst.

I prefer to smoke most meats - especially pulled or shredded meats- before the bath. The smoke gets in the bag jus and when I add some back to the meat it gives it the smokiness I want. I’m not one for bark on pulled meats so that’s not an issue for me. But I do take some cuts to the grill for a sear at the end. Ribs are an exception. Gotta smoke after for the right exterior. I still finish them over a flame to caramelize the sauce.

I wouldn’t read too much into the drafting of older players this year. Due to Covid and NIL this draft was full of older prospects and was horribly weak on day 3. Getting anything there would very much be beating the odds.

Whoa there! Injuries are only a valid excuse for the Bills on TBD. Ditto any impact that refereeing has on the outcome of the game.

I think “drops” is the wrong term. It’s more a case of Coleman catching a low percentage of his targets for various reasons. His QB’s accuracy was inconsistent, but I still came away very unimpressed by his performance catching the ball. Many were contested, but It’s not like DBs in the NFL aren’t going to be better than what he saw in the ACC. As for the guy doing the video, I certainly didn’t need him to tell me what I was seeing. At least Coleman is young and flashed in college. He’s got that going for him - as well as what seems like a great attitude. But if he makes it in the NFL, then it’s going to be a process as he is nowhere near ready for it right now.

Here is a video of all of Coleman’s targets this past season. This is video 2 on him from this guy. Video 1 goes through some of his metrics, the entire Wake Forest game and his highlights. I’d watch this one first. Fair warning, it isn’t likely to make you feel any better about him.

Something to keep in mind regarding Mahomes and probably Allen: “Mahomes signed a revised contract in September of 2023 that moved cash forward from later years, effectively giving him a raise of $48.3 million from 2023-26. The reworked deal also added two void years in 2032 and 2033 and changed his incentives to escalators to help create roughly $2.5 million in 2023 cap space.“ https://overthecap.com/player/patrick-mahomes/5594 The Bills similarly moved cash forward into this season for Allen. He is getting $60M cash in 2024, but “only” $14.5M in 2025. I’m not sure if that will get reworked or not - or even if there is an understanding with his agent about doing something. I’d think the Bills would be very happy to have Allen play on the current deal, but I don’t know how realistic that is. https://overthecap.com/player/josh-allen/6892

That’s pretty effed up. When the NFL discusses teams’ markets they certainly include Rochester as part of the Bills’ market.

Really? I find that odd, but not as odd as the false binary you offered. It’s actually possible to have one great player AND several good players. Good WRs aren’t that difficult to find, but difference making WRs are. That’s because they’re rare and very valuable. One of their valuable impacts is that they can elevate the players around them.

No. Just players. Coaching salaries are kept pretty quiet by teams.

Thank you. One thing I suggest keeping an eye on is cash spending. Actual cash spending as opposed to cap space. It’s more difficult to manipulate than the cap. The Bills were top 5 in cash spending the last couple seasons. Today they’re sitting at 23rd for 2024. They will likely drop further as teams pay their draft picks signing bonuses. This tells me that they’re operating in an “old school” way where they ramp up spending to compete for a title, then purge players and dramatically decrease spending in order to reboot. If I’m correct, then they’ll be very aggressive next offseason in both creating cap space and pursuing difference making FAs. There is also a possibility that they’ll take a second year to purge before ramping up - or even that they won’t do it again. Circumstances will factor into that as well. There simply may not be difference making players available that they can acquire. If you want to see teams that using a highly aggressive “new school” cash/cap system then look at Philadelphia and Cleveland. They’re top two in spending and they’re manipulating the cap so that it is sustainable. Ignore New Orleans unless you want to see how not to manage a team. They’ve been a mess and are nowhere near digging out of it. I was hoping that the Bills would adopt the Philly model, but this one can work too. At least Pegula showed he will spend. KC and Cincy have owners that won’t. Both are very cheap by NFL standards. It really makes KC’s success all the more impressive. 2024 NFL Cash Spend by team

Also you extrapolated the data linearly, which is a big assumption. It is very possible that GR would wear down and become less effective with that workload. Also Parsons plays LB and doesn’t rush on as high a percentage of his plays. Taking out pass drops would be a better gauge. In any event, no one should be touting an edge player averaging less than 6 sacks a year. Not as a pass rusher at least. I’ll note here that GR does a very good job of setting the edge and using his length to contain and shed blockers to make tackles. He’s just never going to be a guy who can get to a QB quickly. He’s a complimentary DE, which is okay. What I can’t fathom is why some people feel like they have to make believe that he’s something more than that.

I agree with that. Samuel definitely has the potential to be a solid WR2. We’ve only seen that one season from him though - and garbage QB play is a fair caveat as to why. I am excited to see him with Allen (both as a Bills and Buckeye fan).

It’s just a shorthand for the quality of a player. Nothing artificial about that. You don’t need to use it, but it’s helpful to understand it.

The performance of the WRs in the corps is what concerns me. It is also what determines their numbering. I like Samuel and Shakir, but they are both WR3s in a good WR corps. We will see what Coleman can become. I’ll leave that as TBD. Beyond that I just see WR4s and below.

No problem. Yes. Fifth year option salaries are fully guaranteed so Rousseau will be on the books next season for $13.4. Some other things impact future cap space. For example, if less than a full roster was under contract for the future year then space will decrease as it fills up. Another thing that happens is that roster moves - like post June 1st cuts - that impact future years shake out. The Bills won’t have much space going into next offseason, but they will be able to create some. How much will depend in large part on how much cash the Bills are willing to spend.