GunnerBill

I think that was the plan, 100%. But he wasn't very good last pre-season and never made it past 3rd team oline. The one game he played serious snaps in week 18 at New England the pass blocking was not clever. Then he comes into camp on PUP. I do not think his roster spot is as safe as some think it is. And Chase Lundt is every inch a classic Kromer OL, whereas VPG isn't in terms of physical profile. It is a big summer for VPG and he needs to get on the field quick or else it can go sideways for him.

Also worth saying even if you ARE a "rugby phenom" that does not guarantee anything in football. Louis Rees-Zammit was one of the best young rugby players in the entire world. After a year trying to make it in the NFL he has called it quits and gone back to rugby.

Anderson is a lock but I think every day Lundt plays well and VPG doesn't get on the field the chances of Lundt > VPG increase. I will be very interested to see how they use Lundt in pre-season. He played tackle in college but I think they might well see him inside at guard. And if they think he can do some of that as a rookie even then I think he makes the roster. Anderson was the backup center last year, VPG never progressed past 3rd string. Maybe the Bills find a way to keep both, but rostering 10 OL or by IRing VPG.

I am not disputing his athleticism. But until the Bills drafted him he was just a really athletic guy who had tried his hand at a lot of sports without ever really being any good at them.

For a start he played Rugby Union, not Rugby League. Secondly 8th tier Rugby Union makes it sound like there are 7 leagues above it and he was playing in the 8th best league in the UK. He wasn't. We have 38 pro clubs across three national leagues (although while many of the clubs in tier 3 are "professional" the majority of their players are semi-pro). Then tiers 4 and 5 are semi-pro and contain 3 regional structures, each of 38 clubs. Tier 6 is the top tier of amateur rugby with 144 clubs playing in regional competition across the UK. Tier 7 is then your county leagues - well over 200 teams nationally playing only against teams from their own area. That is still a level above where Clayton played in the second division of the Hampshire League. That is very literally a league for your "average Joes" who like Clayton did, work run of the mill office jobs or stacking supermarket shelves all week and then enjoy running around the rugby field smashing into people for 80 minutes on a weekend. Clayton played one season at that level and didn't dominate. He was big and fast but not much of a rugby player. For comparison I played one season of 6th tier soccer which is inordinately higher standard and more competitive than 8th tier Rugby Union. There is no comparison. Even the 4 years I played of 8th and 9th tier soccer were of a superior standard to a season in Rugby Union's 8th tier. I am most definitely an average joe! None of that is to dispute that Clayton is a rare athlete. He ran a 12 second 100 meters aged 15 and you just don't find that freakish combination of speed and size very often. But he has tried soccer, rugby, athletics, boxing and tennis without finding a sport where he can channel that natural athleticism. Maybe football is the one for him, I certainly hope so, but when people refer to him as a rugby star... or even a rugby player it just isn't really true. He was a supermarket shelf stacker who played a bit of rugby at the weekend.

We did see. Week 18. I'd be surprised if White turns that around in pre-season, but it is not impossible.

I mean when they both played week 18 Trubisky looked a million miles better - and he didn't look good.

So I do think McDuffie is more scheme specific than the other three top guys. I do think that is fair. If he landed with a vanilla DC who just wanted to stick him at LCB down in and down out in a zone scheme and say "play your quarter" I think you would be taking away his special. But he is different league to Sneed. I always said Sneed was a product of the scheme and overrated. McDuffie is legit.

He was not a rugby phenom. He was an amateur rugby player. He is a hugely athletic massive man. He has tried about 5 sports without finding a place to harness that. Rugby didn't work out. Maybe football will. But I wouldn't use his short amateur rugby career as a sign of anything.

I think this is pretty close. I think Chase Lundt is going to make it. Been having a really solid camp and VPG is yet to emerge from PUP. Will be interesting to see how they juggle IOL in pre-season but if we see Grable or Lundt get some time at guard I think that spells trouble for VPG. I still think Hamlin is making it. I'd probably swap him in for Forrest. Finally if they are working Dane in at Gunner that makes me suspect they are trying to find him a route to the roster too. They could either keep just five linebackers (cutting Eddy O or Spector) or choose Jackson over Strong. Again will want to see how they shuffle resource in the pre-season games. Four or five days ago I would have had Jackson on the outs. But the fact Max is gonna miss so much time in camp plus the Gunner thing.... Im leanjng back the other way a bit.

Exactly that.

I didn't say the loss was on the offense. But at the end the defense DID get a critical stop and give the O a chance. Bills - Chiefs games come down to the wire. Every game but one in the last four seasons has. They are won inside of the final 4 minutes. The Bills are yet to prove that they can seal the deal whichever side of the ball is out there last. So while there is no doubt that the defense has been worse than the offense in our playoff losses I'd also say the last three times the O has had a chance at the end and it only did its bit one out of three (and the coaching, STs and defense didn't hold up their end). So we can't just say "improve the D and problem solved." The O has to get better to in those situations.

The defense did make that play to halt the drive hold them to a FG and mean the offense, with plenty of time, had a chance to go win the game with a touchdown. And they didn't get it done. We didn't score enough points in that game.

I'd have Johnson best of the rest. I do think he is very very good. I don't quite yet have him in the elite. He is similar to where I have Benford. I'm lower on Ward. I always have been. He has had one great year in the NFL but generally I have always found him a little overrated. When he is good, he is very good, but he gives up too many big plays for me and is too inconsistent at the catch point. That top 4 has separated pretty clearly to my eye. There are other good corners, don't get me wrong, and I have been banging the Benford drum for as long as anyone - he is excellent and the second best player on the Bills right now - but he is 6th or 7th best in the league for me. I am not saying he is stuck there. He might still be getting better.

A nice write up for my guy Chase Lundt and interesting to hear they are working Dane Jackson as a gunner. He has done bits and pieces of special teams in his earlier Bills stint but was normally the #3 outside corner and so could make the roster without needing to really commit to it. However, if he has Hairston, White and obviously Benford ahead of him in the queue then contributing on teams is likely his best chance of a leg up for one of those final roster spots and possibly a game day jersey. As we saw with Elam last year a backup boundary corner who doesn't play teams is probably inactive.

Yea height and consequent length is helpful outside - at tackle and edge. Where I do think @Paup 1995MVP has a bit of a point is on the interior it can be disadvantage because low man wins really counts inside. That said, David Edwards is a big man and he has been a good NFL guard in his career both here an with the Rams.

And the Commanders are the team that I can most justify giving him what he wants. He is already theirs, so there is no trade compensation to factor in, they know more than anyone about his physical condition and are best placed to take a view on how much of his peak remains, they know he fits in their offense and they have four more years of cost controlled quarterback play.

Yep. Literally all he did was say he wanted to get paid at the top of the market for a running back after a year where he led the league (jointly) with 16 touchdowns. His behaviour has been immaculate. I thought he'd hold out of mini camp and would have supported him in doing so, but he even turned up for that. He has done nothing at all to generate the hate he gets from some.

Sauce had his worst year in the NFL last year (was still very good) and Benford had his best year. Last year they were close, for sure. I can take an argument as I say that if you isolate 2024 alone your perspective isn't unreasonable. But Sauce has two absolute elite of the elite seasons under his belt. If you look at his PFF grades for 2022 and 2023 they agree with that. And when you look at catches and touchdowns given up and passes defensed Sauce still has a significant advantage. But the Sauce disrespect has gone way over the top. I know he is a Jet and we hate the Jets but he is an absolute stud.

If you want to argue that Benford played slightly better in 2024, I could take that as a reasonable argument. But Sauce's first two seasons were absolute elite of elite and he was still very good in 2024. He has also given up fewer touchdowns in coverage in his 3 year NFL career than Benford gave up in 2024. There is a gap after that top four for me. They have clearly separated.

He isn't. And I am the biggest Benford guy going. But Sauce is still an absolute stud.

The top four corners in football are Surtain, Sauce, Stingley and McDuffie (and it is Surtain #1 and the other three are close together). You can have an argument about who is #5 and the order thereafter. But anyone who doesn't think those four are the four best guys is simply wrong. And Benford is definitely in that 5-10 range as well. But low profile, 6th round pick, will take time for him to get all the recognition he is due.

I think McLaurin is an excellent player. But he turns 30 before week 2. I don't know that I see a team willing to give up both the draft capital Washington would want and the contract that McLaurin would want to a speed receiver entering his 4th decade. If he was a year or two younger, sure.

I don't really have any hobbies beyond watching sports. Im interested in sport and politics and not much else

Not yet.