GunnerBill

After this I am all but certain Morse is on the team. I could see cutting him and keeping Bates. I think that and diverting the money was probably my preference but I understand why keeping the best line of the Allen era together was their priority and so getting something back for Bates makes sense.

Latu is really good. I'd be happy with him. I don't love trading up for him, but if he ended up on the Bills I would not hate it.

I still think he is worth that money. Especially if you can knock a mill or two onto next year's cap.

He costs $2m regardless. So unless you think you can upgrade Poyer for $5.7m AAV (I think there is next to no chance) then it doesn't make sense to me. I'd do a dummy year, lower hit this year push a couple of mill out into 2025 and bring him back. He was fine last year. He was still an above average starting safey and played well in the dime role too.

Adams is a Poyer alternative so unless Jordan is cut I don't see it. But hopefully yet another guy on the market pushes a better option's value down for us. We need a FS really.

I think so. He isn't under contract to the Bills they have no rights over him but it is a fair question I am not 100%. On your Gabe point the thinning of the WR FA class helps us I think. I am thinking he likely gets us a 4th now. Twelve and a half AAV was the range for that last year and that is where I think Gabe lands. $12-14m.

I think he is in the safe game manager category.

You have to have a net loss of qualifying contracts. Non-qualifying very low value contracts don't count. Cincy this year are an example. They were net equal but two of their gains were such low value they don't count in the cancellation process. So they will gain two comps. The Bills should be in position for comp picks next year too with Davis, Dodson, AJE and Floyd all potential guys to get decent deals.

Joe Milton and Carter Bradley.

Yep. I do think them liking Anderson as a similar cheaper version is a factor but mainly it tells me Morse is here for 2024.

The numbers were fools gold. The tape looked very different.

That doesn't even scratch the surface. Trust me.

Agree. The most authentic coach in football with the leadt authentic Quarterback.

I am not sure he is a very good Quarterback. He was the worst starter in football in 2022. He was slightly better in 2023 but still bottom 3rd. But you are right about the locker room stuff. Some of what I have heard about Seattle was truly unbelievable. And you just have to hear how the guys off that team talk about him. Normally players will go to bat for a QB who helped them get a ring, however, with that squad their defense of Russ is always flimsy and conditional. Which makes the think I should believe the unbelievable.

I think they should be open to OL all the way through. Even if they keep Morse this year, looking to 2025 he is surely gone. So that brings IOL into play (McGovern could slide to center if you draft a guard or stay where he is if you draft a center) and avoids the situation we are in with safety now where your vet ages out and the cupboard is bare in terms of in house options. At OT Dion had an excellent season in 2023 but you and I have talked many times about his body type gets harder to manage with every passing year as he hits his 30s. Brown is a UFA after the season. I suspect they are leaning towards an extension but it would be nice to have a young tackle in the building as insurance for that not working out.

No. Dodson is a free agent, Spector is a backup and I don't know we have seen enough from Williams yet to say he can definitely play. I'm actually looking forward to a year of Bernard and Milano. That feels like a playmaking combo to me.

Yea I like Legette a lot. I think he can do everything Thomas can down the field and has more versatility to be used in other ways. I do think he will probably go day 2 because I think the one year production and the age thing will count against him. If he was 21 and had put up say 650 yards in 2022 and then had the season he had in 2023 people would look at some of the rawness that is still there on the film as untapped potential. But when you are 23, played 5 years of college football and only broke out your final year then they look at it as being tapped out. I get it, I understand the thinking. But I can't help loving his film. There is a bit of work to do on his feet at the line and the release package but that is absolutely something NFL coaching can refine. I'd happily take him at #28.

I've made a couple of tweaks to my board based on the Combine. I think a lot of what I saw there was confirming things I'd already priced in so have left it unaffected but the things I've changed are: - bumped Ladd McConkey up two points. He was just more explosive than I expected. You something get that with guys like him who are such smooth movers that you underestimate the explosiveness. He had a good week, moved him up two points on my grading chart; - bumped Xavier Worthy up one point. I knew he was going to run fast but fastest ever, that deserves recognition, up one; - bumped Troy Franklin down three. Isn't just an over reaction to the "underwear olympics" the problem for Franklin is all the things that were in the negatives column when I watched his film were exacerbated by what showed up both in the measurements and the drills and the things that were in the positives column were slightly undermined. I think I was guilty of seeing how he could be used in the Bills offense and thinking with red, white and blue specs on when originally grading him because I wanted him to be a potential weapon for us. I feel worse about every benefit of every doubt I gave him on the film post this weekend. - Keon Coleman down one. I thought he'd run high 4.4s, maybe low 4.5s and I'd have been fine with that because I don't think speed was ever going to be his calling card. 4.64 doesn't totally rule him out of being a good NFL player but I wonder how effective he is really going to be as a deep threat outside at that speed. The lack of separation is explainable by that run. I wonder now if his best fit in the NFL is as a Big Slot. I left Adonai Mitchell unchanged. I need to go back to the tape on him because I was baffled by the testing. Does not show up on tape. So doing the same thought exercise as @DCOrange above and ignoring the top three that leaves me with a wide receiver board of: 1. Xavier Legette (1st) 2. Brian Thomas (1st/2nd) 3. Adonai Mitchell (2nd) 4. Ladd McConkey (2nd) 5. Xavier Worthy (2nd) 6. Troy Franklin (2nd) 7. Keon Coleman (2nd) 8. Roman Wilson (2nd/3rd) 9. Javon Baker (3rd) 10. Jermaine Burton (3rd)

Are you sure they met Josh at the Combine? I don't think they did. I thought it was Senior Bowl then on a visit to see him at Wyoming, then they brought him in to Buffalo. Tre they might have done, I thought that was just Senior Bowl but I could be wrong on that it is purely from memory. It is a fair point though about who goes to the Senior Bowl. I don't think McDermott usually goes. He did in 2018 when they were in the QB game but as a rule I don't think the coaches attend. Beane normally does, but how much of a group they send down there is a fair point. They do have a track record of drafting a LOT of Senior Bowl guys though so whoever does go definitely holds some sway!

I dunno. If Ladd was one of the Bills specific requests a 25 minute interview is a pretty significant chunk of time. In terms of non-WR meetings with guys who are at least in the mix for day 1 I make it: Byron Murphy, DT Kamari Lassiter, CB Cooper DeJean, CB/S Graham Barton, IOL Sure there were others meetings we haven't heard about yet, as metioned above the Elam news came late in the day and not sure Kincaid was ever public pre-draft. But at the same time it is interesting to look at who might be in their thoughts.

I thought McConkey had said he didn't meet with the Bills? I thought that was where that came from? Agree though I don't think we knew that they met Kincaid last year. In 2022 the meeting with Elam only became public knowledge in the last 48 hours before the draft. I remember commenting on it because I had all but dismissed him as a possibility not seeing the scheme fit and with no meetings and then it emerged right at the last minute he had met with them at the Combine. 2021 there was no Combine and all meetings were virtual. 2020 they didn't have a 1st round pick. 2019 - Ed Oliver they definitely met at the Combine. 2018 I don't think they met either Josh or Tremaine at the Combine. But they had Tremaine in on a 30 visit and the met with Josh at the Senior Bowl and on private visits. That year I would submit was slightly different because they were in the QB market and that dictated a lot. I think they have said since their plan was by the end of the Combine have met all of the top guys at least once and they had covered Josh off at the Senior Bowl. That said I think Tre in 2017 was a Senior Bowl meeting rather than Combine as well from memory. I am not wedded to the idea it must be a Combine meeting for their first round pick. But it will be someone they have met with. If they met with Ladd at the Senior Bowl he is still in play. If they didn't but they bring him in for a visit likewise. But they will only draft someone they have met in the 1st. I don't think they have ever taken someone round 2 without an in person meeting either. It is just who they are. Hell, they have often met their day 3 picks. I am actually more interested in who are the non-WRs they have met so far? Because that might give us a clearer sence of where their head is at beyond the obvious.

There have been videos in both cases as part of the Embedded series. The "notebook" conversation with Elam was at the Combine and the interview with Kincaid on last year's you can clearly see they are in a suite at Lucas Oil with the stadium visible out the window at the back of the room.

Guerendo will go after Benson and Wright for sure.

That is 100% not true I can tell you that for a fact. Most teams work on a board of around 150-160 max. The Patriots famously under Belichick had less than 100 guys on its draft board most years. The reasons a player will generally be off a board: 1. Medicals 2. Conduct 3. Personality (distinct from conduct as in there are no specific incidents but the vibe they get from work area scouts do is the individual just isn't a fit) 4. Scheme 5. Failure to meet physical specifications for the position (every team has them, some are more slavish about them than others) 6. They don't give them a draftable grade My suspicion since Beane arrived here has always been he operates towards the smaller end board wise. I'd say somewhere in the 120 range. I have second hand confirmation from someone who was in the building that it isn't far off (though the number fluctuates a bit year to year and class to class). Remember last year when after taking Shorter in round 5 Beane started trading back multiple times? I strongly suspect his board was empty. Broeker and Austin were very likely prioritiy UDFAs for them rather than draft board guys. They'd just ran out of the latter.

There was definitely some.