GunnerBill

Not yet.

It depends what you mean by "go either way." I don't think there is any chance barring major injuries that they are worsr than 4-13 in 2024. They are gonna be better than that. Now are they good enough to make the playoffs? Or even to be assured 2nd place in the division? Less sure. That remains to be seen IMO. I do think they are getting a bit overbet.

Yea that was my point. Don't think McDaniels is the first fired. Think Daboll, Steichen and Jonathan Gannon are very much on the 6 week hot seat. The Dolphins would have to be a tire fire to make a change that quickly I think.

My only slight pushback on this is Sauce is still very good. He wasn't as stand out in 2024 as he was in 2023 and 2022 but he is still a good player. I think the overreaction is at risk of going too far the other way on him now...... But I agree with every word on Benford. He is a top 10 NFL corner he is not just a 6th round overachiever who fits a specific type of zone scheme. He is one of the best cover corners in football. He deserves his props. I think if he puts up another year like 2024 he will get it. We saw with the likes of Poyer and Milano here that they had to be great for 2/3 seasons before they got the national recognition. And its the same here, not flashy, just does his job, wasn't a day 1 or 2 draft pick.... takes time sometimes for those guys to get recognised.

I like these. Think all of them have a good shot. McDaniels being the first one probably means he is gone during the season, which I'm not sure on, but him being fired and Miami missing the playoffs I definitely think likely.

I think he was on the PS last year? Seem to remember him from pre-season.

Hamlin does have instincts and he isn't "lost out there". What he lacks is the physical skillset to be an NFL starter. If he is half a step out of position it is over because he isn't enough of an athlete to compensate. He has to be perfect every time and even the greats are not that. I also hope Hamlin is not starting for us because he is not that level of talent. I think Rapp, at best, is a passable starter so Bishop developing is pretty important to this team. He was horrible last season. He definitiely DID look lost in coverage every time he stepped on the field. But his run fits did improve slowly as the year went on so hopefully with a full camp and pre-season he can show what he is about.

He was described as "the best player on the entire field" on Monday the day Max went down. At least 3 days so far Tre has had excellent practices. Does that translate? We will find out. But he couldn't do much more than he has been doing so far.

Atlanta leading it is very bold. They have not been top 20 since 2017 and have been bottom 2 in three of the last four seasons. But I just think they finally addressed some talent off the edge and schematically with Ulbrich arriving as DC there should be opportunities. Agree on paper the Giants are one of the favourites for that title.

Total JAG

Not going up for Jordan Addison was still a major error for me. Lots of chat here about whether the Bills trust themselves evaluating receivers.... well I know for a fact they loved Addison. He checked every box. They were all on board if he got to them he was their guy. And yet they sat on their hands and waited. Not going up for BTJ the next year was an error too but I don't know that they had the same conviction on him. They might have I just don't know that they did. But the scouts, Beane, the coaches, the background research, the analytics.... they were all in on Addison. And then just sat hoping he'd fall to them.

Agree and I was on that same train as you but we were not the majority after the KC game. The Gabe Davis hype train fully left the station. I am not saying the regime shouldn't be better than the fan majority by the way, they definitely should. But I can understand those who look back to that summer and say "ah its just hindsight" because the consensus was overwhelming.

Are you talking generally or for the Bills? There are examples of both. I don't think is is totally flawed as a theory I just think there is an over allocation of resource in the pursuit of it. The teams who have made that a staple of their success historically do it finding some gems. It isnt with 7 or 8 premium resource (either in picks or cap dollars) guys.

On pure production, sure. But on talent he was and I was saying that at the time too.

Nah, he wasn't. His production might have been but he was a top 5 receiver and the best route runner in football. I know you disagree on that, fine.

I don't think Spencer or Groot would fetch a first round pick. Think Barnwell major over estimates a lot of these. The list of guys that would fetch a first round pick in trade excluding QBs is pretty small IMO (excluding rookies): The top 7 or 8 young WRs (JJ, Chase, AJB, Lamb, Nabers etc...) maybe three or four OTs (Sewell, Slater, Wirfs etc), then a handful of the elite pass rushers (Garrett, Hutch etc..) and some of the top corners (Surtain, Stingley, Sauce etc) But I think the list is probably no more than 25.

Nobody is disputing that, to be clear.

It can be triggered by it. As can the "I meant it playfully" excuse. Again, I am not defending or condoning - behaving in that way without consent is still sexual assault, but trust me from experience struggling with your sexuality while in hyper masculine sporting environments ain't no picnic and I can totally understand why someone might find they lose all sense of respecting boundaries.

I strongly suspect there is something else going on here. I think he is a troubled guy dealing with some confusion about his sexuality. Not defending the behaviour or condoning it. But suspect there is something underlying.

The point losing Schoen was more about the talent evaluation rather than the strategy. The strategy has always been Beane's but he leant on Schoen a lot for evaluating the guys.

The "WHY" is as Beane has said multiple times he believe it is the way to build the team. Have waves of defensive linemen to send in fresh and attack offenses. He says all the time it "starts up front."

@SoCal Deek - it's exactly as Kirby says above. In the 9 drafts he was in senior front office roles with the Panthers they spent 10 day one or two picks on defensive line - by far their biggest investment in any position group in that time and just 4 on wide receivers. In 8 drafts here it is 8 day one or two picks on defensive line - by far their biggest investment in any position group in that time and just 1 on wide receiver.

I just think two in the first four rounds in the draft in EIGHT years is underinvestment. Whichever way you look at it.

Yea even when you extend it to first four rounds they have only take two in Beane's eight drafts.

We end up saying it every year because they never bloomin' do it! Even the year they did go WR first pick they traded back twice into round 2 before making a pick to make it feel like a bit of a chore that they were "having" to take one.