GunnerBill

Yea EDGE generally means you are grouping people who play 4-3 DE and 3-4 OLB together.

I agree. Chase was a specific decision to pair Burrow with his guy, and Burrow campaigned for it. Their bigger need was LT Penei Sewell who was an elite tackle prospect and already looks a high end tackle. But Chase was an elite prospect too and they valued giving their QB his guy. But had Burrow not done his ACL as a rook chances are Cincy win more games and Chase is gone by the time they pick. So you are right even where it was a deliberate decision to pair a QB with his guy it needed a particular set of circumstances to happen. Waddle was less about that and more about just that the Dolphins need at receiver was a speed guy and Waddle was a speed guy. They could have taken Smith (also a teammate) but their priority was drafting speed. They had Parker and Gesicki as "big bodies" their need was a specific skillset and Waddle just fitted the bill. Wouldn't have mattered if he played college ball at Alabama or App State IMO. Was about his skillset.

And they are a team that run an offense I think he fits well.

With his record if he wants a job in the NFL in 2024 he will have one. I think he just looked at the slog that the NFL calendar was and thought I don't have the energy for that, I need to recharge my batteries. Guarantee that come November and December all the young hotshot offensive guys in the potential HC picture will be ringing Leslie Frazier to try and get him to attach his name to their candidacy for hiring season.

The people close to it have all come and said it was just genuinely his call though (including twitter accounts who have tried to dig). It was only once they stopped took a mini break and then were about to get back to work he was like "you know what I'm not sure I wanna do this anymore." I know not exactly the same but I have twice in my career made pretty significant career decisions while on vacation. Sometimes you need the time away and the distance to be able to work out what is fulfilling you and what isn't. To me that isn't that odd.

He will be back earlier than Tre was. It was mental with Tre. The Bills have almost said as much without saying it. Leslie said in a presser last year in one of the weeks after they had activated him but when he wasn't yet doing anything. Something along the lines of "we have been working on getting him mentally ready to go because that's an big part of it." People presumed they just meant the normal mental humps of taking your first hits at the time.... but when you see how Tre played.... I'm not sure how comfortable he even was being out there.

And the fact that Kyle wanted Darnold when he came out. They were big into Darnold that year and had already done a lot of work on him in the summer of 2017. Then Jimmy G became available mid season, they traded for him and he played well enough that they felt like they had their guy. I would not be surprised if he still thinks he can do something there. Lance has trade value. If he isn't your starter you should maximise it.

Swallow it back down. You'll feel better after.

It would make zero difference to my life.

On that one particularly that is a condition of training camp attendance (and a rule that most teams apply) and said reporter had been warned on previous occasions. As for getting Sullivan fired..... I'm not sure PSE did that. Maybe they did, I don't know, but Sullivan was almost universally disliked by the fanbase (he was also not great at his job) and the BN was actively canvassing the fanbase (they even did it on here) for ways that they could maintain / improve readership at a time when they were cutting cost in response to falling circulation. Maybe it was PSE, I suspect it wasn't and they just concluded Sully was bad for business. That isn't to say I disagree with the sentiment that they have fostered a very favourable local media environment. They have. I just watched Beane's pre-draft presser and it was the worst I have ever watched in 15 years. Not because those are sessions to grill Beane about mistakes or ask him critical questions but because they are opportunities to ask about the draft and the Bills approach and instead he got so many soft lob questions about Terrell Bernard and Khalil Shakir and irrelevant questions like "do you still grade Quarterbacks even though you have Josh?" They got very little out of Beane yesterday. And Beane is a guy who tells you stuff. Disappointing. That is a different point though. That isn't about PSE controlling the media. It's about Sean McDermott controlling the locker room. And Jerry Hughes wasn't coming back for 2022 in any circumstances.

Or the less popular "Oliver extension."

Unfortunately toxic shite is spread on the field at least every other weekend.

You missed Josh Allen. We have "paid" five guys on offense. We have "paid" six on defense. Groot and Ed have not been paid. They are first round picks. Of course there is only one first round pick on offense - Josh. There are some legit resource allocation questions but as @FireChans has pointed out some of it is also about talent evaluation. They have had more whiffs on offense. From "paying" a $6m guard last year who was the worst starter on the team, to day two draft busts on O in Cody Ford and Zack Moss and this being a pivotal season for a third day two offensive player in Spencer Brown. So it is a combination of both.

Underperforming relative to a top 10 pick expectations, sure. Underperforming relative to DTs in the NFL? No. But that is the point on an Ed for picks trade that I have made since the season ended. There is no way you are going to get the value for the player you lost. On a one year, $11m contract Ed's likely trade value is somewhere around 4th round. His play for the Bills on the field is considerably above 4th round value. You couldn't take a 4th round DT out of this draft and expect them to perform as Ed has the last two years especially (when fully healthy). So it makes no sense. The ONLY trade of Ed that ever made sense was a player for player trade (you might throw a day 3 pick in with it) with a team seeking to give away an offensive guy they are moving on from. Hopkins and Evans were the two that looked feasible but it appears both are staying put. Definitely not a simple task.

Agree the best bet for a trade down is that someone falls that the Bills are just not interested in..... an edge rusher who looks like clearly more of a 3-4 guy (Nolan Smith I'm looking at you) or a Quarterback feel like the two possibilities.

The other issue is we are paying top money to a corner who was a shadow of himself last year after tearing his knee the year before and top money to an edge rusher who tore his knee last year. Them's the breaks as a useless Prime Minister once said. I think they have made some questionable allocation decisions. I said at the time that other than Von I thought their free agency last year was poorly thought out. $6m on a terrible over the hill guard, a tight end who didn't even make week 1 and three decent sized defensive tackle contracts. Part talent evaluation error, part cap allocation error. But error all the same. This year they had limited room to manouvre and have tried to rectify some of their mistakes. They might go offense in the early part of the draft too but I caution against expecting this draft to be one that throws up too many long term answers. They need a bit better luck and they need at least one of their FA guards and one of their FA receivers to pan out. And they need Dorsey and Josh to figure out how they use Dawson Knox. Because he can be a much bigger piece for us. On that score it is on OC and QB to use whst they have.

Except I don't think this draft will tell us anything. Because it is a bad draft.

So I 100% try and trade down first for 2024 picks I should be clear that would be my preference. I just don't know if they are going to get a team to give up a 2024 1st rounder for a shot at CJ Stroud. Maybe a team loves Richardson, because that I could imagine a bit more (the falling in love with the toolsy guy). But if they can't find a trade partner I'd rather take CJ Stroud than a defensive player. Especially in this class. But I'd only do it after a conversation with my owner where I say: "look, I don't really know about this guy, but it's a bad class, we have two firsts, I can't find a way to punt one of those to next year I think we should take a shot. We will pour everything into developing him but if come next January in our heart of hearts we don't think he is it, I am going to try and draft another one and you need to be okay with that plan right now." I get that it is an unusual play. But if my first option (trade down and punt one of your 1sts to next year) isn't there then that is what I'd do.

Meh I don't particularly like Mingo. I see too many balls end up as contested catches even when he has a beat on his defender initially. He is a 4th rounder for me though I think he will go before that. To be clear of the "Round 2" guys Downs is the only one I have a "round 2" grade on. Tillman and Rice are high round 3 grades but because we are about half a round short in terms of 1st rounders every other round gets bumped up until round four.... the high 2nd round grades will likely go round 1, the high round 3 grades will likely go round 2. That was more the guys I'd be willing to take in each round than where I grade them. And the alligator arms.

They won't pick Flowers I don't think. Tom Telesco has never picked a receiver below 6ft in the first 5 rounds in 10 years on the job. He is a "size guy" when it comes to receiver. If Johnston is there I am pretty confident they will pick him. But if he is gone can totally see Kincaid. Think this Flowers's floor. If he is still there, the Ravens take him. He goes somewhere between New England at #14 and Baltimore at #22.

He is SOOO small. I really like his game. But he will get bludgeoned over the middle in the NFL where he did a lot of his best work in college. He had clearly bulked for the combine (which affected his 40 time because he is faster than 4.49) and even with bulking he was 165lbs. I think he probably plays at least 5lbs lighter than that. I think he will have to be used a LOT behind the line of scrimmage.

He was an edge rusher until last season. Is it fair that he is a "work in progress" as an off the ball coverage linebacker? Yep. But has he already shown some potential at the spot? Yep. The question of "how much of a project are you willing to take on?" is a fair one. The question of is he worth a first round pick, is even more fair. But why do you lean towards someone with the potential to be a rangey sideline to sideline coverage backer? Because ultimately that is the way the league is going.

That is the model for the Next Gen stats prognostic. That isn't the grade. Their grades are still based on tape evaluation as I understand it.

Because its the NFL in 2023, your linebackers have to be able to cover.

Honestly I don't care about having more picks in this draft. Give me 2024 picks.