GunnerBill

And we won two offseasons running under sexy Rexy!

Yea, this is my point. Better, cheaper, slightly deeper.... but still needing a dominant difference maker. And I have Felton at 11 so also not miles apart. I feel like that is closer than we have been on some other receiver classes which might speak a little bit to the depth of quality in this class compared to others.

While you are right re. injuries if you visit an Packers boards or read any Packers media at the moment the consensus there is receiver by committee is nice, but to get over the hump they need a #1 capable of dictating coverage. Which I think is essentially the same as here.

I'll repeat here for reference for those interested the conversation gonzo and I were having in his mock thread with our respective pre-combine top 10s at wide receiver. WR Top 10s @gonzo1105 @GunnerBill 1 Tet McMillan, Arizona Tet McMillan, Arizona 2 Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State 3 Matthew Golden, Texas Matthew Golden, Texas 4 Luther Burden, Missouri Luther Burden, Missouri 5 Tre Harris, Ole Miss Isaiah Bond, Texas 6 Jayden Higgins, Iowa State Tre Harris, Ole Miss 7 Xavier Restrepo Miami Jayden Higgins, Iowa State 8 Tez Johnson, Oregon Tez Johnson, Oregon 9 Tai Felton Maryland Xavier Restrepo Miami 10 Isaiah Bond, Texas Jalin Royals, Utah State

The problem with Christian Kirk now is he is another guy that replicates what we have. When he was a FA the first time we had Diggs and Davis wide and were missing a slot weapon post Beas. Now we have an established slot in Shakir and we have a slot/move receiver in Curtis Samuel who we paid last spring who given he came on a bit down the stretch and had injuries it looks like they will stick with for 2025. Kirk isn't a strict slot but he is a move receiver a bit like Samuel who really you want in the slot and then you can flex out wide in certain looks / packages. If the Bills are investing at receiver this spring in FA or the draft it simply has to be a guy who can win outside. If it isn't I'm honestly not sure I see the point throwing more money at the position.

Not yet dug into the tight ends but I know I will be higher on Fannin. He is a fun watch and I think he will be a good pro.

Jalen McMillan? You are a year behind.... But on the basis you clearly mean Tet my top 4 are the same as your top 4 in the same order (though Egbuka/ Golden is very tight and flippable based on testing). I then have the same order of Harris and Higgins but at 6 and 7 with Bond up at 5. Tez at 8, Restrepo at 9 and Jalin Royals at 10. Allow me to throw one at you.... the thing that most scares me about the Luther Burden tape is I see Laviska Shenault. Discuss.

No I don't. You consistently accuse me of doing things I don't do. I am not a fire McDermott guy. That bit is true. It does not equal giving him a pass. There is a lot of difference between those two positions.

And the team with the worst have won 2 Superbowls. EDIT: look how low the Giants are!!!! And they have won 4 Superbowls in that time.

Takes me between 90 minutes to two hours to put a good round worth of a mock together. I like to think I have a pretty good basic grasp of strengths and weaknesses of all 32 teams to start from but then it takes a bit of research to look at FAs and potential cap casualties and then where there are new HCs or coordinators what that might mean in terms of scheme or style of player they covet. The writing up is the quicker bit.

I an NOT a blame Josh guy. That is total and utter horse crap. It is just that label gets attached to anyone trying to have a reasonable conversation based on reality. I was PLENTY critical of the coaching in the Kansas City game and particularly the defensive gameplan. But if every post isn't "fire the coach" people accuse you of giving them a pass. Again... horse crap.

I'm not saying the offense is the reason we lost. But when you have an elite QB and you have the ball last needing a touchdown to win you are supposed to get that done at least 1/2. I don't put it on Josh that we haven't but he is part of an offense that two years in a row has not made that count. I don't think because the defense has been bad in those games you can discount those missed opportunities.

It's us or Houston. They are the only two that fit that description. I confess I'd be pretty pissed if the Bills left Pearce on the board. He is a top 10 guy in this class for me. I don't think he dominates as a rookie (though he'd make some plays) but by year 2/3 I think that kid could be really, really good.

Yea he looks too stiff to me to be a deep safety. A lot of folks LOVE him. I an not convinced.

No you misunderstand me. 6 or 7 years down the road if he wants to play near home I wouldn't call it a quitter. That's what I said. I'd call it a quitter if in the next 2 years rather than extending his deal he threw his hands up and said "we can't get past KC I want out".

Blame him? I am not sure I'd blame anyone. Do I think it is a quitter's mentality? Yes. If we get to him being 36/37 or something and he is like "hey I wanna go play in California near home" that's one thing. Leaving in the next few seasons because "I want to go somewhere else cos I keep falling just short of a Superbowl" yea, I'd consider that bottling it and quitting. Also I'd say the last two years the offense has had the ball with a chance to win the playoff game and hasn't got it done. I don't think that is primarily on Josh but as the Quarterback you own some of that.

I think I'd tend to go slightly higher up to market at safety and slightly lower down the market at corner.... and Slayton is a meh for me. It's Hollywood Brown or a swing at Dyami Brown / Tutu Atwell as buy low options. Otherwise I like the plan.

Thanks for that. Good read. I have always thought Lurie was one of the better owners in the NFL. I remember the day he fired Chip Kelly 18 months after sidelining Howie Roseman and handing Chip the keys to the castle. He fronted up, did an hour and a half at the podium getting roasted by reporters where he completely owned the decision, set out what the next steps were going to be and accepted he had made a mistake and he was determined to fix it. That's what leadership looks like folks. Almost exactly a year later Pegula fired Rex Ryan and the first person who was sent out to do any media was Anthony Lynn as interim Head Coach. That is not what leadership looks like.

They definitely do like guys they are familiar with. The whole NFL does in fairness. Even the Eagles who have strong links to Georgia's football programme and have drafted from there a ton, and started their rebuild on defense last March by resigning Gardner-Johnson who they knew and had before. Personally I don't think the problem is them over prioritising X or under prioritising Y, I just don't think they have evaluated talent well enough and they haven't found enough difference makers. I don't see a particular pattern to it. They've taken swings on athletic high ceiling guys like Groot, Kaiir and Cole Bishop and they hve drafted high floor "safer" prospects like Kincaid, Torrence and Bernard. Sure, they are probably more protective of the culture than some other teams but Ed Oliver have personality questions on him, James Cook had questions about his passion and commitment too... it's not like they have totally avoided anyone with any flags. It's just they haven't found enough stars and I think it comes down to they gotta evaluate talent better. I don't think it is an approach problem. I think it's an evaluation problem.

Yea. We just need a bottom feeder willing to take on the cap hit for the benefit of gaining a draft pick.

Coleman wouldn't have dropped out of round 2 I don't think. I didn't like him as a prospect, but even I had a late 2nd on him. Those other guys were all higher and better prospects IMO. DeJean is a corner though. I know a lot of draft sites listed him as a safety, but he only ever took the odd snap at safety in college - he played corner and a bit of nickel and he has played entirely as a nickel in the NFL. I always thought he was a corner.

It's the truth. I have spoken to people who were in that building. McDermott was in the driving seat by the draft. And while yes, everyone has links to guys in college, and the Bills still use them - the same Dave Aranda was the reason we took Terell Bernard two rounds higher than the consensus had him - that draft was very clear and very obviously driven by McDermott's contacts book not Whaley's scouting staff. The difference is he trusts Brandon Beane.

I'd take any of those combination of safeties and corners. Holland and Murphy is my preferred combination but that is probably the most expensive combination too. They brought Simmons in for a visit last year didn't they? He ended up signing a 1 year, $8million deal with the Falcons which given our cap position we would not have been in a position to match. He probably didn't play up to that contract in truth, but if he wanted to come for say $3-4m as a 1 year ring chase to end his career (I don't think he has ever even played a playoff game) then I'd be interested.

He didn't scout them in the sense of he wasn't on the road, sure (though really that isn't the GM and DPP role either) but they drafted all guys that he had links to. Tre White's defensive coordinator at LSU was Dave Aranda (a buddy of McDermott's who had interned with the Panthers) who gave a personal recommendation. Zay Jones's wide receivers coach at ECU was Phil McGeoghan who had joined the Bills in the same role that January. Dion Dawkins came from Temple where McDermott had deep connections going back to his Philly days because Temple played at the Linc. Matt Milano came from Boston College where Anthony Camponile (another former Panthers intern who has just been hired as the Jags new DC) was on staff. I don't think he trusted Whaley's scouting reports at all. He relied almost entirely on recommendations of people he DID trust.

Monos was essentially assistant GM, in all but name. His title was Director of Player Personnel but he was over both sides. Rob Hanrahan has Director of Pro Personnel and Kelvin Fisher was Director of College Scouting. The Whaley era did definitely have some success with its pro side. Zach Brown, Lorenzo Alexander, Corey Graham, Mike Gillislee, the Jerry Hughes trade as well (obviously) was on their watch. On the 2017 offseason - the draft was pretty heavily McDermott controlled. I know that for a cold stone fact. I'm not sure Whaley and Monos were doing more than manning the phones to be honest he was in full control. I don't know about the free agency period. First it was 5/6 weeks earlier so not clear by that stage if McDermott had yet convinced Terry to move on from the front office and second you invariably need more front office involvement there because of the contract / salary cap element. And I agree it was a great off season. I don't think Dion has been an all pro but Tre, Milano and Poyer were all first team all pros as Bills and Hyde was a second team. All pros Beane's record is: 1 traded for first team: Stefon Diggs (2020) - n.b. was also a second team all pro (2022) 2 drafted second team: Josh Allen (2020 & 2024); Taron Johnson (2023). 1 free agent signed second team: Cole Beasley (2020)