GunnerBill

If he has another good year, yes, he would. If he regresses to 2021/2022 form then I don't think so. As I said it's a gamble. It might work out for them. Let's hope it does.

The rarely seen "Saturday Morning Reflections" from Gunner.... 1. The field. Not blaming it for the Love injury at the end obviously but the field was awful players were slipping all night. Seriously field quality is becoming the biggest risk to the International Series. The NFL and its international partners have to do a better job. 2. Flags. Okay it was week 1 and there was some sloppy play (you basically could have called a false start on the Eagles oline every freaking snap) but when you having 17 penalties in a football game it affects the flow, it affects the product and if you had a game with two less dynamic offenses it would have been basically unwatchable as a result. And I benefitted watching the condensed game so didn't have all the ref huddling up pointing delays that you guys watching live will have had. 3. I felt like it was a bit of a barometer game for an argument that has raged here and elsewhere this offseason. Is it better on offense to have a diverse group of guys or is it better to have GUYS. Green Bay's young receivers were fine... but Philadelphia's offense turned it over 3 times (1 for GB) and still found a way because they have Barkley, Smith and Brown. All the damage was done by those three. Green Bay knew where the ball was going. They just couldn't stop them. Elite talent wins in this league. 4. Delighted for Zach Baun. I was high on him coming out of Wisconsin but the first four years of his career have been a bit of a wash, wasted as he was miscast as a rotational edge rusher in New Orleans. As an inside backer in Vic Fangio's scheme he was the best defensive player on the field. That is a sneaky good pickup by the Eagles. 5. Life without Jason Kelce is going to be a little tougher for Philly as the season goes along. I know they have been trying to develop Cam Juergens for this moment but last night was a rough start. He had some snap issues, was struggling for timing with the rest of the line and wasn't getting the push on those patented sneak plays that they are used to. Lots to work on.

I haven't seen the numbers.

Hmm. I'd have favoured letting him play it out personally. He had a good year last year and it is conceivable he is not yet at his ceiling given his physical potential and the relatively low level of college football he played at (so not exposed to top coaching etc). But he has had one good season, a history of back issues (which at his height is a concern), a shoulder surgery AND their 6th round rookie tackle looked really good in pre-season giving you at least a legitimate contender for the job if Brown ends up walking next year. The Bills could end up looking smart here if he keeps ascending. But they could look like dummies too. Hopefully Spencer proves them right.

Ah yes the "if you take away his elite asset he is below average" game. When you evaluate Lamar Jackson the Quarterback you have to evaluate all of Lamar Jackson the Quarterback. Not just what he does as a passer. His entire game. He is not Allen or Mahomes but he is unique and brilliant in his own way.

Broncos. I have them at 7 or 8. Russ was so bad last year any living male human is an upgrade.

If he was doing that on the Bills I instantly and I do mean instantly feel 20% better about the Bills. And I think Addison is best suited as a Z than an X but he'd be the best X on this team immediately.

Yes I'd have traded up for Addison. I am on the record at the time too as saying that. This.

Yea but he knew before the 2023 draft. The cheap option was draft a guy in 2023 to takeover when I might have to let Diggs go in a year. And not a 5th round flier on a college underachiever who was cut after his rookie year.

best career? Worthy and Keon play with Pat and Josh so that gives them a leg up. I still liked Legette the best of that group he's who I'd have taken but I have limited confidence in the Panthers organisation for good reason.

Team I'm in on: Green Bay... all above the Love Train. I am increasingly of the view that the Bears are going to be good though too. NFC North to arguably be the best division in football and send three teams to the playoffs. Team I'm out on: Take your pick between Chargers and Colts. Chargers receivers suck and the Colts only top level player remains a left guard.

Sure, you can split Cook out on the outside and a linebacker will go with him and you have a mismatch. If you do it 10 plays in a row the linebacker will not follow him they will treat him like a wide receiver and then the cornerback opposite him has the advantage in his favour. Eventually you have to have guys who can win outside against corners. No amount of scheme can hide that deficit, if it exists, over a prolonged period.

So what's the "whatever?" The whole point about playing "outside" in the NFL is it is where it comes down to player vs player. And sure, scheme can help, but the reason wide receivers, corners, edge rushers and offensive tackles are the four best paid positions after Quarterback is that in anything other than the smallest of sample sizes any weaknesses that exist are hard to hide with scheme. Your guys have to win their assignments more often than not. I worry about what the Bills have out there. To me leaving yourself in a position where your top two guys leave in a single offseason and you have no realistic in house options to play outside is just poor planning. And despite the fact I think Kincaid can be great and Shakir can be really good, I suspect their lack of true boundary guys who can win outside caps the potential of the offense.

I don't believe I have had the pleasure of any of the three.....

I don't know how anyone can watch that and not find it butt clenchingly cringey.

This group is not giving up on a season. No way. They didn't give up on 2017 despite the fact that the moves they made before that year were really all about getting a Quarterback in '18 and they ended up sneaking into the play-offs. Agree that there were reasons to move on from players. I'd have kept White personally and released Douglas but we did that to death in the spring, otherwise I would have moved on from all those guys too. But you can support the decisions and still believe this year is a re-set year. It's not a rebuild, it's not a tear down, it's not a give up season but it's a re-set to allow next year to be a re-load.

Where did I say anything about it being just about "raw speed"?

Is it? I'm not sure I agree. A year where they stripped out 3 key every down starters on offense (Diggs, Davis, Morse) and 4 starters on defense (White, Poyer, Hyde and Floyd - appreciate White missed a fair amount of time in recent seasons) and have a quarter of their salary cap taken up by dead money. That feels like a re-set to me. Doesn't mean they can't still make the playoffs, I'm a little more optimistic than @ProcessImproverMan - probably because I'm not as high as others on the rest of our divisional rivals. But I do think this is still a re-set year. I don't think they have anything more than a punchers chance of winning the Superbowl. Like if Josh has a 2012 Joe Flacco style playoff run and they get a bounce or two sure. But I think short of that they are a playoff team not a Championship contender in 2024 while they re-set the table for the fully fledged version of Josh Allen Bills 2.0 launching in 2025.

Or to have not ignored the position beyond two 5th round lottery tickets (one looks like it's worked, one is cut by year 2) in the two prior drafts. My knock on them is less about what they have done at receiver in 2024 given where they found themselves. It is more that they could have been better prepared had they taken different decisions in 2022 and 2023.

I like the Kincaid pick. I think he is potentially a top 3 tight end in football. But guys who win outside are harder to find and more valuable. If they knew their two outside receivers were going I'd have liked to see them come out of that draft with an outside receiver. Could they have got up another 2 or 3 picks to get Jordan Addison (who they loved)? Maybe. They chose not to. And they did have a serviceable tight end, although I don't deny Kincaid is a clear upgrade as a receiving threat. I just think that winning outside matters to playing good offense in the NFL and to spend two years punting on the receiver position in the draft and then find both of your outside guys leaving at the same time to the extent you are now considering whether you might have to start Mack Hollins or a guy who has been 70% a slot receiver for the past two seasons as one of their primary outside guys for 2024. Basically Kincaid could be great this year, be the #1 tight end in football and I still think if our outside receivers can't win their assignments with some consistency it will limit the ceiling of the offense.

They should have drafted a receiver last year knowing it was a strong possibility that both of their guys might walk after the 2023 season.

But to say "well we have given him a few dollars it will all be fine" when they knew their other outside receiver was likely walking as a FA after the season... it is a failure to prepare. Beane gambled. And he lost.

I don't necessarily dispute that. But to not even be thinking that there was a possibility and planning accordingly? Yea I think that was foolish. Beane clearly thought they could make it work. His mistake was he went all in on that hope.

If the Bills thought that they were foolish. This didn't blow up in March. When you have have 14 or 15 months of tension between your QB and star WR it is foolish not to be planning for the possibility that you fail to keep things together.

Yep. I think everything that has happened since that article pretty much confirms to me that its content was accurate. This is just another brick in the wall. From things McDermott has said about it being Josh's team, to the report about Brady getting him to chair and report back on offensive players only meetings, to making him the only offensive captain (when Dion is arguably the second most qualified captain candidate on the entire roster). It says to me that there is a feeling inside the building, right or wrong, that they are not getting everything they would like from Allen as a leader.