GunnerBill

Oh f**k. Let's hope it didn't go anything like the 2022 edition. It was the beginning of the end for that season.

Maybe. I just think you can find Evans level insurance policies on the street even at this point of the season. I mean we did with Ty Johnson last year and he ended up ahead of Evans (who had all the same benefits he had this year of being in camp with the team etc) on the depth chart.

His highest snap count pre-suspension was 29. I think he will be active this week and play 20 snaps or so. This is their plan with Von anyway. Let Smoot (on early downs) and AJE (on passing downs) do a lot of the work. Rotate Von in situationally. Keep him fresh for the post season and hope he can make an impact at that point. The more interesting question is who sits? Personally it would be Toohill but I suspect it will be Solomon. Especially the next couple of weeks where I think the Bills plan will reflect what they did in Seattle - try and take away the run and make Tua / Flacco beat them.

Where do I say anything that argues otherwise? Coleman's ceiling is clearly higher than Gabe's. We saw Gabe's ceiling here - he is what he is. I don't disagree at all that he has is not a natural catcher of the football, he has snatchy hands and he drops way too many balls. But my point is I always saw Coleman as an upgrade at that role in the offense. The bigger body guy who isn't a natural separator, who - certainly on the outside - is going to need to win with leverage and body control and they also had the similarity that coming into the league their release packages needed work. I said it on draft night, 40 time be damned, I think Coleman is quicker than Gabe. He certainly has better hands. And he is more versatile and a much bigger threat after the catch (which I personally felt was his best attribute on film). That isn't giving Gabe some credit he isn't due. The Bills tried to make Gabe a full time, barely comes off the field #2, that wasn't me. He failed at it and everyone knew we were in need of an upgrade at that spot. To me it was always more comfortable to see Keon as that. The Gabe Davis upgrade we all knew we needed. It is why I like the Cooper trade so much. Part of the issue for me coming into the year was I felt like they were essentially asking everyone to play up a spot. They almost had Keon trying to replace Stef Diggs and Mack Hollins trying to replace Gabe. Now with Coop in the fold and Keon breaking out, plus Shakir continuing to play at a high level in the slot I think there is a legit case that the starting wide receiver situation they have right now, today, is better than the one they had last season.

The post you quoted literally says why I think his ceiling is where I think it is. You can disagree, that's fine. It is a game of opinions. But I don't think it is insane or or nuts.

I'm not as high on Riq Woolen as others tbh. I think Witherspoon is the best corner on that team but Woolen isn't a mug by any means and Keon definitely won that matchup conclusively on Sunday. He is ahead of where I'd have had him at this stage. I'd have put him between 650 and 750 yards for the year (although with 7 or 8 touchdowns) and he is on pace for about 840. So there is lots there to like but I still need to see him separate better and more consistently - especially downfield - before I am willing to raise his ceiling to a true #1.

I think this makes our game there next week a tricky one. Bills should still win but it was a slam dunk with Richardson.

Really odd that they protected him and exposed Hardy to waivers. No. He was on IR. They opened his 4 week window to return. At the end of that window he has to go on the 53 or be cut. They don't want to use their open spot on the 53 for him because it is for Von now his suspension is over and so Evans is cut straight from IR.

I didn't mind Coleman as a selection if you were seeing him as a replacement for Gabe Davis. And I had that discussion with @HappyDays way before the 40 time (my concerns with him were never speed, they were separation and the two are different). I think he is a more athletic, more versatile version of Gabe who can do what Gabe could do and more besides. I didn't think he was a true #1 type because he struggled to separate, especially vertically. I still don't. But he was one of the younger guys among this class so I get the bet on traits and hope the best is yet to come take. He had a great game Sunday. He played better Sunday than against the Titans IMO, even though the yardage tally would tell you different.

He isnt even in Cooper's league. Seriously. Because he is a terrible guy in the locker room and in a season going south just get those guys outta there.

Meh. Never really rated him. I think that is cheap compared to what Carolina paid 6 months ago. Tells you all you need to know about him. Average player, bad teammate.

Rex and Woody remain close. And Rex is definitely lobbying for that job. I've said for a while I think he will get a serious look and I don't mean just as the interim. I think they'll consider him as the long term replacement too.

If they want to sell off Gonzalez I'm all ears.

They are both backups IMO. I thought that when we overdrafted both of them. The idea being two backups = starter. It doesn't.

To those who insisted when he was here that Singletary was a legit starting running back: He left to go and be the backup in Houston and has now lost his job to a 5th round rookie in New York. While he definitely played with some less than stellar olines in Buffalo some of the struggles with our run game for years came down to Singletary and Moss being pedestrian plodders.

Appreciate not "win rate" which is % of routes where the receiver is consider to have won the route... those data points are behind a paywall on data.fantasypoints.com but I did just check in NextGen's average separation stats and, halfway through the year, for rookie receivers (with minimum 25 targets) it looks as so: 1. Xavier Worthy - Chiefs (1st round pick) - 3.6 yards (36% slot) #7 in receiving yards 2. Rome Odunze - Bears (1st round pick) - 3 yards (34% slot) #6 in receiving yards 3. Brian Thomas - Jaguars (1st round pick) - 3 yards (26% slot) #1 in receiving yards 4. Xavier Legette - Panthers (1st round pick) - 2.9 yards (33% slot) #8 in receiving yards 5. Malik Nabers - Giants (1st round pick) - 2.8 yards (26% slot) #2 in receiving yards 6. Adonai Mitchell - Colts (2nd round pick) - 2.8 yards (34% slot) #9 in receiving yards 7. Ladd McConkey - Chargers (2nd round pick) - 2.7 yards (68% slot) #5 in receiving yards 8. Keon Coleman - Bills (2nd round pick) - 2.2 yards (6% slot) #4 in receiving yards 9. Marvin Harrison - Cardinals (1st round pick) - 1.8 yards (26% slot) #3 in receiving yards 10. Ja'Lynn Polk - Patriots (2nd round pick) - 1.7 yards (15% slot) #10 in receiving yards Few things to note: I've included the % of snaps each guy has played in the slot because they lend themselves naturally to free releases and therefore higher average separation rates. It's particularly relevant to Coleman obviously because he has the lowest slot percentage which will to an extent be impacting his separation - although I remain of the view that vertical separation is never really going to be his game. Coleman's slot usage was 0% through the first three games. It has ticked up since and has been just over 10% for the past three weeks. I have said elsewhere I think the Bills were guilty of trying to force him into a X receiver straightjacket early this season and I repeat, that is not his game. The acquisition of Cooper allows them to move Keon - they have used him as as some X, some Z and a bit of slot the last few weeks and the results speak for themselves. Equally I'd be slightly concerned that McConkey's separation rate isn't higher given his use primarily as a slot receiver. For comparison, our own Khalil Shakir is #2 among all receivers with 4.3 yards of average separation as a guys in the slot 73% of the time. It is encouraging if you are a Panthers or Colts fan because Legette and Mitchell's separation rates are solid. That supports the theory that their lower production rates are at least in some part due to the Quarterback play. They both rank in the top 15 of uncatchable targets for the season too. Whereas if you are a Cardinals fan I'd be worrying less about the supposed lack of "chemistry" between Murray and Harrison and more about whether Harrison is actually getting open enough to be thrown the ball more. Polk at 1.7 yards is the lowest qualifying receiver in separation per NextGen. He is second only to Coleman in terms of usage on the boundary, which has an impact and his ceiling is impacted by is QB play but he is another guy for whom separation was a genuine concern on tape IMO. Troy Franklin (3.7) and Jaelen McMillan (3.1) both just missed out on enough targets to qualify but will be interesting to look at later in the year as two guys who went later in the draft. Some might say, what does separation rate matter only production matters. While ultimately that is true looking at bald production - especially over a relatively small sample size - can result in misleading conclusions. Looking at the underlying data gives you another layer of understanding as to what is going on. This was a talented receiver class and other than possibly Polk (who as recognised above is probably in the worst combined situation of usage and QB play) the rest of them have all demonstrated at least some exciting potential thus far.

Definitely. I think last season felt like a team that had run out of gas and had missed its chances. What happened at the end of the year is Shakir, Benford, Bernard, Cook, Kincaid really started to emerge and you began to see the Allen Bills v2.0. This season seeing some more young blood added and that further development of those guys is fun. I'd still be surprised personally if this team is a championship level team this season, but I think some of the pieces look like they might fall into place that with the right additions and a bit more development from players and our two young coordinators they could be right back in that mix in 2025.

I suppose Rams looks 4th most likely. I just can't see the Bills losing all four of those games. Is there a surprise loss left somewhere on the schedule? I think Indy if they have gone to Flacco becomes a tougher out than it would be otherwise.

Houston look really average to me at the moment. They have some injuries, and if Collins and Diggs are missing time together I wonder about how that impacts them. Their division is weak but they still have Lions, Chiefs, Ravens to come they'd only have to drop those three and maybe one more to end up as the #4 IMO.

It looks really good so far. Coleman, Davis, Solomon, Grable (I know only played pre-season and now hurt but I was super impressed with him and he had passed Van Demark on the depth chart to be their swing tackle as a 6th round rookie) are the highlights to me. Carter was a bit up and down. I think his ceiling is a rotational piece and I am just not sure that is round 3 value but we will see. Bishop was horrible the one game he got in but he missed almost all of camp in a scheme where safeties have to rely on their brain and knowledge if the defense more than physical ability so I am willing to give him something of a pass for now. And then I still think Van-Pran Granger has potential to be a starter at some point too albeit he is well down the depth chart right now.

Don't they need to wait for the next CBA?

He is better than Hughes was in those runs. I'd say he is kinda what Leonard Floyd was for us last year although he maintained it better whereas Floyd fell off a cliff mid season.

Yea I thought they could be a threat before the season. To be honest I was out by the Denver game a week before Saleh was fired. Rodgers can still turn it on in patches but he doesn't have the heart or the leadership to be an elite QB anymore. His leadership flaw mattered less when his talent was all worldly. It ain't anymore.

I mean I agree with this too. Chargers at 4-3, weak schedule and a weak AFC wildcard field. Harbaugh is absolutely thinking "get in year 1 buys me some time while I carry on rebuilding this roster."

Yes I would think so. And giving that up for a 9 game rental of a 33 year old who isn't a game wrecker IMO when this team is still in the process of reloading and isn't one piece away I think would be foolish in the extreme.