GunnerBill

And people were indignant that offseason when some of us started to say Howard was not a lock. People including Sal C on WGR who only softened his stance in the final 48 hours before cutdowns when someone had clearly given him the wink he switched to "And I gotta tell you guys, I think OJ Howard could be in trouble here." Less than a week after basically ridiculing a fan who called in for saying the same thing.

At this time a year the arguments go round and round because the news cycle isn't fast enough to move us onto something else. OTAs is the part of the NFL calendar I have just tuned out. When you have a new coach or a rookie QB they are somewhat interesting. When you have McDermott in year 8 and Josh in year 7 you kinda know how the team is going to look and play. Sure, we have new coordinators on both sides but the defense is still going to look like a Sean McDermott defense and the offense is still going to look like a Josh Allen offense.

I wasn't not focussing on the adult. But it is still a weird element to the story.

Iniesta and Xavi = 8 Champions Leagues combined Kroos and Modric = 12 Champions Leagues combined Narrative is a B word.

That isn't how I read it but if that is true fair enough.

If a guy told me he had photos of him ***** my mum I wouldn't go out of my way to find them.

The even odder part of the story is the woman deleted the image from her son's phone but he logged onto his icloud specifically to view it. Oedipus theory alive and well.

I definitely experienced that with Arsenal's Invincibles in 2003/04. 49 league games undefeated and you just never expected them to lose a game. The other thing that team was great at was being 2 nil up inside 25 minutes. They took the drama out of so many games.

Safety. Because unless Bishop can win a job in camp it is the weakest unit we will put on the field week 1.

FIFY

I think Dane Jackson might count here. He had some stretches as a starter, most notably in 2022, but the Bills never committed to him as a starter and he was mainly a backup but a pretty good player all the same. Chris Hogan I think someone already mentioned. Karlos Williams (though only for one season), Ryan Groy the classic backup interior OL who everyone thinks should start..... until he actually starts.... there's a few just off the top of my head from the last decade or so.

Yep. Very true. It is part of AJE's issue to me though that I think he is actually at his best in wider alignments where he can use the get off and speed. I think he will struggle to fully establish himself as a starter because I am not sure in the Bills "base" front if I can use that term I think he has a tendency to get swallowed up and / or lose his lane discipline which we know McDermott hates more than anything.

And he isn't a top DE either. He is a good pass rusher. His all around game isn't close to the level of the top guys. I suppose there is a parallel to be drawn there to AJE... but I am not expecting him to now suddenly start putting up double digit sack numbers.

Clayton isn't really a rugby player though. It would be like my signing for the Bills and being described as a soccer player. He played in the 8th tier of English Rugby. I played in the 7th tier of English soccer. And trust me soccer is a LOT deeper in terms of the talent pool. Clayton's tried everything. He was a pretty talented sprinter as a kid, he had trials with a couple of pro soccer clubs on the back of that speed, then he has tried boxing and rugby but as of yet what he has been is a freakishly large and athletic human who hasn't quite found a sport to harness those talents. Good call on the All Blacks though. Particularly the team between their two World Cup wins in 2011 and 2015. That 4 year period they played 61 test matches, won 56, drew 2 (both with Australia) and lost 3 (one each to England, Australia and South Africa). Richie McCaw and Dan Carter are the two best players I have ever seen play the game and then they had Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith, Owen Franks, Ma'a Nonu who are all in contention for top 5 all time at their positions.

Brazil. 1982. The best pure soccer team the world has ever produced.

I think Maye has the highest ceiling too. But his floor is out of the NFL by the end of year 3. It is boom and bust a projection as you can get.

The Bills definitely need it, no doubt.

Yea, that's not what happens.

And they are particularly not supposed to half ass it in the meantime.

I hope you are right.

They don't have much behind their top two but that top two are pretty awesome.

No of course he is not. That wasn't the point. I have been as critical as anyone of him for his failure to adequately address receiver. In fact I was saying it before it was cool.

Yea I thought the same. Does it mean he has really shone, or is it an indictment on others? We know Keon has had some struggles, which is probably to be expected, but Shakir? Samuel?

I think he is here for 2024 and then will be gone personally. If it was just about reducing cap hit an extension was the move to make rather than the restructure. He will turn 30 before the season starts. I dunno if the Bills want to be tied into him long term.

He is the general manager. His background isn't as a scout though. He entered the Carolina front office as a football ops guy under Marty Hurney, Dave Gettleman taught him scouting. It is why Beane always surrounds himself with really good, experienced, talent evaluators. Brian Gaine has been a scout in this league 25 years. Terrence Gray has been scouting in the NFL since the mid 00s. Joe Schoen had 15 years experience as a scout when Beane brought him here originally as his assistant in 2017 and even Dan Morgan had 8 years experience as an NFL talent evaluator before joining the Bills (originally to replace Gaine when he got the Texans GM job) in 2018. Beane strengths are as a leader and a strategist. He has always leant heavily on his scouts. There is nothing wrong with that - Howie Roseman is arguably the best GM in football and came from the football ops side of the business before he became a General Manager. Mickey Loomis is a Superbowl winning GM with the Saints too and came from the football ops side. John Lynch is a former player, turned broadcaster, turned GM in San Fran. You don't have to have a scouting background to be a good GM. Why the WR strategy lies at Beane's door has been explained to you many times, you just don't like the explanation. He is in charge of personnel, he makes the calls. And the build of this team VERY closely reflects the build of the Panthers teams under Hurney and Gettlemen when he was earning his chops in that fornt office. They chronically under valued WRs too, while spending significant resources on defensive front seven. Just like Beane has.