GunnerBill

If you didn't let teams start until then they'd be in such a rush they wouldn't be working around the schedules of coordinators coaching in the Superbowl. I mean maybe you knock it back a round and it is only 2 teams coordinators who are ruled out rather than 4 but I just don't think it makes it fairer personally. The calendar is the problem. The NFL has maximised it.

I think people do aopreciate it. But that is the reason people were down on him. Because it is really hard. And Von still isn't the old Von. He has, the last 3 or 4 games, played as well as his body will allow him to but while that still means winning his reps and getting pressure that 6th gear burst to close the gap and get to the Quarterback isn't there. He is speeding QBs up and getting them out of rhythm and that is not nothing but it needs the coverage to be on point to make an impact. I'm hoping it can be enough on two or three key third or fourth downs tomorrow to make a difference.

I think what you'd end up with is coordinators of teams getting past the divisional round just never getting hired. I don't think that is a solution. The ONLY viable solution if you want to do something (and I don't have an issue with how it works currently) is to truncate pre-season and training camp, give everyone the entirity of July off and that allows you to push FA back a bit and the draft back about 3 weeks to mid May. Do your OTAs and mini camps May and June.

Although it increasingly sounds like that was an ownership direction as much as a GM decision. When Gaine went to Houston it looked a good situation. Fell apart quickly though.

You mean the whole process? Possibly. But that still squeezes the time.

There just isn't time. The NFL has maximised the calendar. If you say no coaches can interview until after the Superbowl that leaves 4 and a half weeks until free agency opens. It just isn't time to run a process, hire a coach, hire a staff, self scout your team, scout the upcoming FAs and set your free agency priorities. It is proven already that getting to the Superbowl makes it harder to get hired as a HC because even when they are chosen in advance and start work the Monday after the Superbowl and have made a start on a staff ahead of time it is STILL difficult to get everything else in place to hit the ground running by FA. I know people say well push FA back. To do that you have to then move the draft back too and they did do that one year and have it in May and the teams moaned that didn't give them enough time to get players in and settled ahead of the June down time. And that time in June has to be protected. It is the only time in the entire year coaches and personnel people get off.

Aaron Glenn is the favourite there but also with the Jets. He has to decide which, if any, of those is less toxic. If Glenn takes the Jet job I think McCarthy and Brady will be the finalists for the Saints.

They sort of have. Beane has had three guys hired off his staff to become GMs: Brian Gaine by Houston, Joe Schoen by Miami and Dan Morgan by Carolina. Gaine lost a power struggle to Bill O'Brien and ended up back pretty quickly and Schoen is on the hotseat.

Sure. I am not saying he sucks. I just don't think their chances to win or lose are dependent on him.

The Jets have a list of completed interviews on their own website. Brady has not been interviewed as of yet. I believe technically tomorrow is still a possibility. After tomorrow the Jets cannot interview him until the Bills are eliminated. That could be Monday. But it could be the week after the Superbowl. I think it is likely he is out of the running for that job. Looks to me like for Brady it is New Orleans or nowhere this round. Though Jacksonville remains a dark horse.

Oh I think they value him. They think he is important. I don't think he matters much. Volume running backs who plough into the line for paltry ypc numbers don't make much difference to wins or losses, even by running back standards.

Rice is clearly better than DHop at this stage.

I'm not sure I'd quite have Rice in the elite category. Very good player. Had established himself as a legit #1, but I do think elite is a stretch. On your wider point they have at times been down their #1 WR, the guy they signed as a FA to be their #2, their starting running back, their elite kicker and their #1 outside corner which has meant moving McDuffie outside and then trying to backfill at nickel. So hard to say they have had injury luck. Where they had luck this year was the Broncos FG block, that is a 1 in every 50 play, the Raiders botched snap when in FG range, and Likely's toe v Baltimore week 1. I do think they have had the break of the ball a time or two.

Yea just cos of volume. You could plough anyone into the line a ton of times for 4 ypc.

Meh. I am not sure Mixon is that important to them.

We are fast approaching one of my favourite events in the pre-draft calendar, the East-West Shrine Bowl. I still long for the days when it was the Shrine Game not the Shrine Bowl and when it was played on the Saturday of Conference Championship weekend, not the Thursday of that week, but because the NFL pushed the Superbowl out a week with an 18 game season the Senior Bowl decided staying in the pre-Superbowl bye slot would be too late and therefore the Shrine game sacrificed its slot. That's a shame and I think it has affected the game a little bit the past couple of years, especially because you used to get smaller school kids turning up, balling out all week and then getting replacement calls to go down to Mobile for Senior Bowl practices starting the following Monday. Anyway, this year's game is Thursday 30 January and it is going to get the most attention it has in a long time because Shedeur Sanders (and his brother Shilo) have both accepted invitations. I'm not sure if a Shrine Bowler has ever been drafted 1st overall in an NFL Draft, if they have it was a long time ago. Gayle Sayers being drafted 4th overall back in 1965 is the best I can come up with. Sanders may not end up 1st overall but if 4th is indeed the highest a Shrine Bowlers has ever been selected there is a fair chance Sanders beats that. The rest of accepted invites have some interesting names among them too. Picked out a few to keep an eye on below: Zy Alexander - Corner - LSU Tall, thin, rangey cornerback. Classic LSU corner who excels in zone coverage probably looking like a late day 2 / early day 3 pick Fadil Diggs - Edge Rusher - Syracuse Powerful, athletic edge rusher. Technically unrefined but physically talented. Plays a big smaller than his size probably day 3 but developmental traits. Jamon Dumas-Johnson - Linebacker - Kentucky Versatile off the ball linebacker who transferred from Georgia to Kentucky this year. Former 4-star recruit, if he tests well and has a good process could end up as an early day 3 pick. Tre Harris - Wide Receiver - Ole Miss Big bodied receiver who put up a 1,000 yard season and is a big play threat. Needs some route running polish but if he tests well will go off the board on day 2. Jordan Phillips - Defensive Tackle - Maryland No, not that Jordan Phillips. This one is sleeper day 3 guy who still needs a lot of technical refinement but has a really explosive first step that will impress teams. Jay Higgins - Linebacker - Iowa One of my early draft crushes for 2025. Archetypal, modern, instinctive, coverage linebacker. Watch him rise in this process. I think he could sneak into day 2. Kenneth Grant - Defensive Tackle - Michigan Big, powerful, 1 tech who is going to dominate against the run but has some burst to penetrate too. After Shedeur Sanders the second most likely day 1 guy on the roster. Kyle McCord - Quarterback - Syracuse Let the nation in passing yards in 2024 having transferred from Ohio State. Likely does get picked on day 3 as a developmental guy. Shavon Revel - Corner - ECU (won't play) Really talented, long corner, out of East Carolina. I think his tape is borderline first round worthy, but tore his ACL in September might end up in day 2. I'll update this thread with the guys that caught my eye after the game in a couple of weeks time.

I don't think the problem is the 10, 11, 12 seeds. It is the insistence in rewarding winners of 2nd tier conferences. There is a premier league of college football. It is the SEC and the Big 10.

He has, although the concerns I had have shown themselves up at times - last Sunday being a prime example. His coverage has not been great, all year, but he has been a more consistent and more reliable box safety than I expected. His discipline in run fits when around the line has been better than I'd have given him credit for. I called him backup level before the season but I'm at the point where if you can find a good free safety to pair him with I'm fine with them running him back as the starter in 2025, though they still have to upgrade that unit IMO. I know some are of the view that with a full camp you can try Bishop at free safety and go with that tandem, I am less persuaded. I think you find a mid range vet centre fielder and then let Rapp and Bishop compete for strong safety.

I think he is talking more about the length, especially the freakishly long arms.

A formula needs a rationale beyond arbitrary assigning of numbers. That said, if @Chaos is auditioning for job on Madden this is right on point.

I have no idea what this means.

He is confusing two seasons - 2020 and 2021 at receiver. John Brown was not on the team for 13 seconds. He was released at the end of the 2020 season and replaced by Emmanuel Sanders. Diggs was healthy in 2021 he was banged up and not moving smoothly in the AFCCG in at the end of 2020 season.

Chad Michael Murray

I have zero idea. If you want a guy who is a career OC from hereon in it is Arthur Smith.

It depends by who..... I think you have a group of non-heralded players who are underrated: Connor McGovern is the leader in the clubhouse in that regard, but David Edwards is in that mix, Reggie Gilliam is in that mix and I think until the last few weeks arguably Ty Johnson too. Then there is a group that the fanbase generally underrates and indeed hates on at times that are better than their reputation: The big two here are Greg Rousseau and Ed Oliver. Both first round picks and both among our best players on defense. I know PFF grades are not everything but they were ranked 1st and 3rd among our defensive starters in season grades (Benford was 2nd). Neither is elite and so get hated on but both are critical cogs in this D even though I don't think Oliver has had his best year (he came on strong late and was great the final 5 or 6 weeks). Also in this group though at a lower level is Damar Hamlin. I still maintain he is not a true starting standard NFL talent. But he has not been a total liability this season that some fans would have you think. Some of that is the scheme protecting him but he has clearly played better than Cole Bishop has when he has had opportunities and deserves to start. I think you can throw Dawson Knox in this category too, and there are certainly some fans who will never get past the dropsies he had earlier in his career. His is certainly overpaid for his current usage, which leads to some of the criticism he gets, but I still argue he is underused as a pass catcher (69% of his receptions as a Bill are for 1st downs or touchdowns compared to 49% for Kincaid and his underlying separation metrics are consistently strong) and he has become a critical part of our run game success. Then lastly there is a group that I think most Bills fans and watchers know are really good but who haven't got the national attention or accolades they deserve to this point: Here I put Christian Benford who has been one of the best 5 or 6 outside corners in football this year, Khalil Shakir who is pretty much unknown outside of Buffalo circles and Spencer Brown who at worst was the 3rd best right tackle in football in 2024 and yet got not a single all pro vote while guys he is better than in Zach Tom and Brian O'Neill did pick up the scraps behind Penei Sewell and Lane Johnson.