GunnerBill

I mean that is not how the E-P works, but sure. The thing the E-P requires most of all is receivers with football intelligence and chemistry with their Quarterback because most concepts have options built in. If people want rid of it because of multiple breakdowns - especially between Josh and Gabe this year - where one read X and the other read Z then fine. But wanting rid of it because it is not "designed to get people open" is nonsense.

I didn't like Johnston much either. I don't think Coleman even has Johnston's speed, but I see similarities in that for bigger targets they both seem to struggle above the rim and play smaller than their size as a result. If we haven't taken a receiver round 1 and Coleman is there end of round 2 for us I could live with it. But I think you'd be re-drafting Gabe Davis tbh but with a 2nd round price tag rather than a 4th round price tag. Definitely not my preferred option.

Hmm. I doubt it. Bill's defense works because he has VERY specific profiles of what he wants in each spot and assigns values to people that match up. I think he'd like Rousseau, Tre White if he can ever get back healthy and at their peak he'd have LOVED the safeties. I might be missing one or two but there is a lot of guys on this defense who would not be Belichick scheme fits. He might make do with Milano for a year because I think he'd love the character and the motor. But he isn't necessarily a natural Belichick linebacker. EDIT: I enter into this as purely a thought exercise by the way. In reality there is zero point zero per cent chance it happens.

I have started with receivers this year (normally do end up starting with what I consider the Bills needs) and have spent the last week and a half on them. My provisional rankings of the guys I have done some work on at this stage are: 1. Harrison Jnr 2. Odunze 3. Nabers 4. Legette 5. Franklin 6. Thomas 7. Worthy 8. Mitchell 9. Coleman He did. He went late 2nd to Seattle.

Yea it is hands and blocking. 9 drops this past year is a legit concern and you get nothing from him as a blocker. I know people will immediately say "screw blocking I am drafting a receiver to catch" and I get that. But in an NFL where it feels like almost half the league are running the Shanahan stretch zone version of the WCO not being able to block reduces your potential landing spots significantly. In a sense that is good news for the Bills if they like him because we are not that style of offense and it isn't as emphasised in the E-P. But having said that Brady has talked up Gabe's blocking a lot since becoming OC so maybe it would influence his thinking if he is retained in that role. EDIT: I should make clear I like Franklin. I am not sure I quite have him as a true 1st but I do like him. He is in that late 1st / early 2nd grade range for me and I think he will slip into the end of round 1. However, those are the major knocks on his film IMO.

This surprises me a bit because he is, in a sense, a faster Gabe Davis and I know you have not been a Gabe lover. He is a speed / size guy and he runs the go routes well but I don't really know how else you use him. To me among that little group with Franklin and Legette he is the least versatile. I don't think you are getting anything in the intermediate game with Thomas. I think I'd like him more as a fit for the Bills if I was sure I still had prime Stef. But I think given there are questions about whether you have that you need a guy who has a few more strings to his bow. EDIT: I do agree he won't make it to the Bills anyway. He is going somewhere between 15 and 25.

He isn't even that good at contested catches. I started off my tv viewings of him this year with a provisional mid 1st on Coleman. I have been through 4 full games of his now and he has dropped a full round in my grading. Wouldn't take him on day 1 even if he was there to be honest.

So I am the least qualified person to give parenting advice.... but I both agree and disagree with the above. I'd say look you don't have to follow the Bills because I do, you have the right to choose your fanhood yourself. But the essense of fanhood is that there are more disappointments than glories. That is true whoever you support. Even if you followed the Patriots the last 25 years. They only won 6 years. 19 of them they failed. So fanhood isn't just about winning. It is about feeling an attachment and a commitment to something and the losing only ever makes the winning sweeter. So no, I doesn't have to be the Bills... make your own choice. But once you have made it you stick with it. Because that is where the pleasure comes from. Not just from winning.

Matt Smiley should be fired and I know he has only been here 5 minutes but I'd question Adam Henry's job too given receiver performance.

Nah there is plenty of flexibility this year. I actually think we were closer to trouble last year.

I don't see Bowers going before Odunze. Bowers will go later than most expect. Don't think he is a top 10 pick.

Congrats to Dan. Former Director of Player Personnel here. Tough job.

I think you'd have to go massive to get any of the top 3... MHJ, Nabers, Odunze. I am not giving away all my mock v1.0 secrets (you have a week or so to wait) but I agree with DJ's v1.0 the other day. I see it being 3 QBs then 3 WRs in the first 6 picks. Don't have the order exactly the same but that is the way the first 6 looks like shaking out to me without trades.

Yea it is a risk. I figure being an older prospect and one year of production and a strong class might push him down just a touch. I think he is in competition with Brian Thomas and Troy Franklin who are both going to run really fast too and are vertical outside receivers... so there is a chance the top 3 go and then the other two go first. Put it this way.... he should get into range to get him even if they have to be aggressive.

Because a lot of that wasn't on him. This is exactly my point. People reach immediately for coaching. It is the crutch of the fan. Overblame coaching. Underblame player performance. Because it is reassuring "well if we just get rid of this useless coach it will all be better..." I blame McDermott for the things that I really think are his fault. This idea that if you don't think he should be fired you must just be a McDermott homer who defends everything he does is totally wrong. Believe me if I thought Sean McDermott was the reason the Bills can't get over the hump I'd have my pitchfork out. I watch the all22 each week I don't, for the most part, see a badly coached football team. Even in the playoffs - with that one exception.

That is your opinion. Barring the obvious - 13 seconds - I don't agree.

Feelings don't matter. Results obviously do. But so do the reasons behind the results.

Jordan Phillips might retire??? Thank *****. One way to stop Brandon throwing more money at him.

I can't tell you what I will think in a year's time because it isn't based on a gut feeling it is based on an honest assessment of what has happened.

I don't know the answer to that question.

The only one on that list who was ever a top 5 back was Ray Rice. Cook is better than most of that list.

When was the last Superbowl winner with a top 5 back? It certainly hasn't been a common feature the last 15 years.

I am a bit behind this year but I made a proper start last week. I dunno maybe subconsciously I expected to be onto the draft by today.

Get out of here with your sensible, mature reflections! There are pitchforks for sale!

Possibly. But I won't just follow the crowd I always asses what I see. I'd have fired him if he missed the playoffs this year. That would have been a major underachivement. Losing by 3 points to Patrick Mahomes in a game where the Bills were depleted and where I don't think coaching was the in the top 3 reasons for the loss isn't. I get those who go for the "at some point you just have to blow it up even if you can't pin it all on coaching" argument. But I am not there yet. I don't think he is beyond criticism. But I think generally among all sports fan bases the tendency is to over blame coaching and under blame player performance and execution.