GunnerBill

Mailata isn't elite? Are you serious? Wow. He is the best left tackle in football right now.

McDuffie is the best slot corner in football. He is literally the best player at his position. I don't know how that isn't elite. AJ Brown is a slam dunk too for me. I think he is severely underrated. For me the only two receivers better than him right now are Jefferson and Chase. On Carter you maybe have more of a case. That one might be slightly generous in terms of elite status. He is probably a tick below that right now but he is so darn talented.

Who there do you not think is elite?

I was just answering the question in respect of guys who "struggled" as rookies. And I certainly do not think it is all pro or bum. The Bills have a very solid, deep roster. What they lack is elite difference makers. Hopefully one or two emerge.

That struggled as rookies? Elam. Epenesa. Basham. Bishop. Cody Ford. Shakir. I don't put Keon in that category. Keon was okay pre-injury. He wasn't an impact player but struggled is harsh. Of the guys that did 'struggle' AJE and Shakir turned it around. The jury is out on Bishop. The others not so much.

The Chiefs currently have 3 - Mahomes, McDuffie and Jones. I don't think Kelce is anymore but at his peak may have been the greatest TE of all time. The Eagles currently have 4 - AJ Brown, Barkley, Mailata and Carter. And both Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean will be in that category if they back up their rookie year in 2025.

Wyatt is an interesting one. He had a couple of elite level years in 2020 and 2021. He hasn't really been that since. Over his career I think he is more in the good category than elite. But he did have a couple of elite seasons, so you have an argument I think.

I think there is a long list of "good". I think "slightly above average" is harsh. Beane has drafted a lot of good players. But you are absolutely right, the list of elite guys he has drafted begins and ends with Josh Allen. Of the current roster (excluding rookies) the two guys I think have the potential to get there if they can improve again are Spencer Brown and Christian Benford. They both had good seasons in 2023 and excellent seasons in 2024. If either of them goes up another level they are there. Whether they will remains to be seen.

Thing is that middle class is very small. Baker is probably the ideal landing point. $33m AAV and performing as well as many of the $50m guys. Its just hard to find them.

Yea. I don't think Keon is even that good at jump balls. What he IS good at is YAC once he has ball in hand. That is where his mix of agility, athleticism and size is at its most dangerous.

If it is something else that will get proven in the long run. Talent always wins in the NFL. There are guys who get misused and then go somewhere else and excel. I don't think that has happened a ton with guys the Bills have had. Poona Ford is one. I don't think the Bills maximised him in his one year here. But there are not a ton of others. In actual fact quite the opposite. There are numermous guys - EJ Gaines, Dane Jackson, Jordan Phillips etc who could never replicate their success here in other stops.

If that talent works out as well as the Eagles guys, definitely!

Vic Fangio is a much better DC than Sean Desai. That is obvious. And Desai was definitely part of the regression between their very good D of 2022 and their bad D of 2023. So in that sense yes, of course Fangio made a difference. But the main thing that changed between 2022 and 2023 was their secondary collapsed they couldn't stop anyone in coverage. And the main thing that changed between 2023 and 2024 was they infused the pass D with talent. 3 new guys in the secondary and a coverage linebacker.

Purdy is better than Tua are creating off script I agree. But I don't think he is better from the pocket when his first read isn't there. I think he hesitates and ends up late on throws if he is going through progressions pretty consistently. If he moves in those situations he normally has better outcomes than when he stays in and tries to get to his 2nd or 3rd guy.

I'm young. I don't remember the 1890s 😂 EDIT: Of course production matters be all and end all.

Slay has been an elite corner the majority of his career. I think much more likely 2023 was just a down year for an ageing player than Fangio being responsible for the rebound. As for Baun - certainly possible. I'm sure Fangio was involved the in the evalution to fit him into a different scheme than he had played in. I am not saying Fangio had no impact. But Talent > Coaching always and forever in the NFL. Coaching matters. Talent matters more.

Yea you are way off base. The Chiefs defense did not suck under Sutton. Not at all. They were top 10 in points 4 times in 6 years and top 10 in yards twice. They were good in the playoffs too. There was basically no change under Spags until they threw multiple day 1 and 2 picks at the unit. That is when the D majorly improved. Spags history is he is very good with good talent. But when he had lesser talent he does not get that talent to over perform. As for Philly - yes they sucked in 2023. No question. And Fangio made a big difference. No question there either. But getting a rebound year from Darius Slay, adding Zach Baun and three secondary guys in Mitchell, DeJean and Gardner-Johnson was the biggest change. That talent infusion was the #1 reason for the improvement.

McConkey isn't Shakir. He can play some snaps outside. But he isn't going to be more than serviceable outside. Where he will shine will be in the slot. As for Coleman I said he was a big slot here well before the draft before any of the big name talking heads were saying it. You don't to persuade me on that score.

Hoecht I'd have made the same decision they did. They are signing him for 3 years. 6 games is a small chunk of that. But Ogunjobi I'd have called off personally.

They really didn't. They had a round 1 bust and Josh Palmer. And even when they were getting zero production from them they left Ladd in the slot. Because he is a slot receiver.

But it is also unavoidable. It is the market. On Purdy he reminds me VERY much of Tua. If the first read as designed in Kyle's offense is there he is dynamite. If you can take that away he hesitates and then you can force him into mistakes. He is a better athlete than Tua. But in terms of his from the pocket play they are very similar.

I was not in favour of drafting Coleman. I liked Ladd quite a bit more but would not have favoured a slot in round 1. I wanted the Bills to draft an outside receiver. That was what this offense needed IMO. Instead they decided BTJ wasn't worth a trade up then passed on Worthy and Legette to draft a big slot in Keon Coleman. If you were gonna take Coleman then you'd have been better taking Ladd IMO.

I think you would almost certainly be right averaged across that period. Indeed I suspect the Bills would come out slightly below average in terms of sheer volume of injuries. I can't be accused of not having context across the league. I do know who the starters are and who the backups are for the other 31. And teams just don't go on deep playoff runs with the cluster injuries the Bills had on defense in the 2023 post season. I'd have a real bet on that let alone a fake one. Teams don't make Superbowls when half their defense is backups. I would also have a fake bet that no other team over the past 8 or 9 years has lost its two highest paid defensive players to season ending injuries halfway through the year in back to back seasons. I haven't sat and gone through that properly but I have had a think and can't recall one. As I said earlier... being down one player isn't an excuse not to make the Superbowl, I'm not saying that. But it is still pretty rotten luck injury wise.

This is where I STRONGLY disagree. It isn't any knock on Spags or on Fangio who are both among the best defensive coordinators of their generation. But is talent #1. It is ALWAYS talent #1. In both cases the defensive improvement can be tracked specifically to the point the talent was significantly upgraded. In Fangio's case the two happened simultaneously. In Spags case though the evidence is pretty clear. He became DC in 2019 and their regular season defense actually got worse, and their post season defense stayed about the same, until Brett Veach committed to getting him better talent to work with. Then it took off.

Yea. McConkey is a slot receiver. He is darn good but he is a slot receiver. Forget the fact that the Bills already had one.... I just never love the value of taking those guys round 1. Unles they are true elite guys (and maybe Ladd is) the positional value is hard to overlook.