msw2112

I believe we had #9. We traded up to get Watkins. Evans went at 7 to the Bucs and I think that OBJ went at 12 to the Giants. Aaron Donald went at 13 to the Rams. If only.... Sorry about the small image size....

If this is all how it went down (and according to Wallace, it is), he made a poor decision. He could have remained a starter on a Super Bowl contender, or go to a lesser team where he has not established himself. Also, the Bills system is very favorable to DBs - I don't know if the Steelers system can say the same. Finally, the Bills were the team that "gave him his shot" as a UDFA, so some guys are loyal in that way, although he also gave back to the team by playing well at a low salary. From what I understand, the Steelers offer wasn't more than what he would have gotten from the Bills. EDIT: If the Steelers' offer was significantly larger than the Bills' then I'm fine with his decision. More money is a legitimate reason to take one offer over another, particularly when you came in as a UDFA and are not making the big bucks that some of the other guys in the league are making. (Based on the limited information I have seen, the Steelers' offer was not a game-changer and probably not more than he would have gotten from the Bills.)

Dax Hill would be a great acquisition at the Bills current draft slot. He's a great athlete that can play all over the field. With our needs at DB (Poyer aging and a potentail contract situation, Tre injured, Levi going to Pittsburgh, etc.), Hill could step in and help in a number of roles. He could start as an outside CB this year, filling that need, and move to safety in the future if Poyer leaves. Or he could settle in and stay at outside CB. He could also play nickel, but Taron has that covered. Hill would simply offer the Bills all kids of flexibilty in the defensive backfield. Hill was a 5-star coming out of high school and went through a back-and-forth recruting battle between Michigan and Alabama, eventually landing with the Wolverines.

You could argue that Brady and/or Rodgers are "better" QBs than Allen, based on stats or wins. That said, given their age, NO GM in the NFL would take either of them over Allen right now. Mahomes and Herbert are in Allen's age bracket, both have great arms and are mobile, like Allen, so you could argue for one of them. Mahomes has also made it to multiple SB's, winning one. Watson is a really good player, but has lots of baggage (LOTS) and I don't think his talent is better than Allen, Mahomes, or Herbert, and he has not made it to any SBs.

Thanks for the tip. I just set my DVR. Looks like a quick 30 minute show.

It's possible that this cockiness cost them the SB against the Giants. Rumor has it that the Bills were out every night enjoying the nightlife in Tampa, including the night before the game. After the 51-3 trashing of the Raiders and being installed as a fairly heavy favorite, they felt the game was theirs. The Giants were more disciplined and more ready to play. Despite this, the Bills talent came through and they were inches from pulling it out. I always wonder if the Bills had buckled down a bit and saved the partying for AFTER the game, the result might have been different. The counter argument is that the cockiness and looseness was what gave the Bills their edge and was part of their success. We'll never know.

My take is that Moss is more of a power back than a speed or shifty back, but he's simply too small to be effective in the NFL in that role. He was able to do it against PAC-12 defenses in college, but doesn't have enough size to do it in the NFL. How many times did he fail to get the necessary yardage on 3rd or 4th and short, or to find the end zone inside the 10 yard line? He's certainly been given plenty of these opportunities since he joined the Bills. The Bills basically gave up on this and have given the short yardage role to Allen. That's fine once in a while, with the game on the line, or in the playoffs, but is not a good regular plan. Allen is great at it (the Tennessee game notwithstanding), but the injury risk to your MVP caliber QB is too high.

I agree with this. Based on what I have read over the years, the positive economic impact to an area from publicly funding a sports stadium is minimal. From a pure dollars and cents standpoint, it isn't a good deal for the public. That said, having a professional sports franchise brings a major intangible benefit to a city, region, and state. It would be a huge psychological blow to the area to have a professional sports franchise leave the area and move to another part of the country, particularly an NFL franchise, as the NFL is by far the most popular American professional sport. The Bills are a major part of the fabric of the Buffalo and WNY community. True, not everyone is a Bills fan, and true there are many other places the funding could go, and true, the Pegulas are wealthy and could potentially spent 20% of their net worth to privately fund the stadium. It's also true that the Peguals could make WAY more money moving the Bills to a larger market, particuarly the current team with a great young QB who will be around for years to come and one of the top overall teams in the league. While the TV revenue is split evenly, they could sell more tickets for a larger stadium, have higher PSL costs, more corporate suites, higher concession and parking prices ($100+ to park is not out of the ordinary in many markets), and could build a palace with hotels, condos, restuarants, shopping malls, etc. The overall franchise value would increase by millions, potentially hundreds of millions. Many other markets would kill to obtain an NFL team, and moreso, one of this caliber. The county and state did what needed to be done to protect the asset that it had. The Pegulas are also kicking in a substantial amount of money to make the deal happen and are willing to forego the potential profits of a larger, wealthier market because the NYS and Erie County were willing to step up and make it happen.

This move makes sense on a lot of fronts: Arians is old and has known health problems. Coaching an NFL team is a difficult, stressful job that involves long hours. Arians has had success with multiple franchises and has a ring. He has lots of money in his pocket and has nothing left to prove. Bowles is a top-notch DC with head coaching experience who is highly respected and is already part of the coaching staff What doesn't make sense is the TIMING of the move, and how it might relate to Brady's retirement and unretirement, particularly given the known friction between Brady and Arians. Obviously, we don't know what's happening behind the scenes, but has Arians' health changed that much in the 2-3 months since the season ended? Why didn't he just make the move then? It's certainly possible that Brady said he'd only come back if Arians wasn't the coach, the Bucs agreed to that, but waited until now to announce it so that didn't look like Brady forced the move. Regardless of the truth, it makes for some off-season soap-opera drama in the NFL, which is always looking for a good headline.

At first, I was thinking that the question was simply "who is the most valuable non-QB" in the league, thus commanding the most in a trade. I would go with Aaron Donald. Factoring in the value of contracts, the benefits of a rookie deal with years remaining, I'd agree with the post that says Michah Parsons.

Not really relevant to this discussion, but I once went skiing in Lake Tahoe and had one leg in Nevada and the other in Caifornia as I straddled the state line. That was at the top of the mountain. You can do the same at street level, but the Nevada leg would be inside of a casino and the California leg would be out in the street, so it might get run over by a car. Arrowhead is in outlying area (from downtown KC) bounded by interstates and it directly adjacent to the KC Royals stadium. Not certain, but they may share some parking lots. So, yes, a new stadium could be in another state and yet still be more of a "downtown" stadium than it currently is.

I don't think the OT rule screwed the Bills against the Chiefs. The Bills screwed themselves. That said, the rule change is an improvement over the existing rule.

I was thinking about starting another Bates thread to see if anyone had any info, but I found some articles online that basically say that the Bills are considering their options on matching or not. I suspect it will depend on the size of the Bears' offer. Unfortunately, to the extent there's any information out there, signals point to the Bills not matching. Of course, the Bills also were not going to re-sign Matt Milano last year, and did. They also were not going to be big players in Free Agency this year and went out and signed Von Miller. So, I will withhold judgment until the final decision is made. I believe the deadline is tomorrow.

Yes, but heated, so the urine doesn't freeze before it flows away seamlessly in the sophisticated plumbing system. And nobody loses any body parts due to frostbite while using them. Sadly, I fear this will be limited to the club seats.

This concept could lead to an entire thread of its own. "Buffalo touches" could include: A giant skating rink attached A sledding area for winter games A giant chicken wing in the south end zone, similar to the pirate ship in Tampa A table jumping area in the north end zone (with plenty of padding to avoid liability) A "no ranch, only blue cheese" area A "Mafia Hits" game whereby you can win free tickets to the next home game, if successful The list goes on....

My interpretation/understanding of what this means is that the stadium will be of a scale suitable to a smaller market like Buffalo. I won't be a $5 Billion palace like they built in LA with condos, office space, hotels, shopping malls, a lake, etc. It won't have a 360 degree wraparound scoreboard. It will have bars, restaurants, and luxury amenities, but not to the scale of a LA, Dallas, or Atlanta type of staduim. It's unlikely to be hosting Super Bowls, Final Fours, College Football Conference Championship games, and the like, so it doesn't need to be built to accommodate those types of events. In short, it will be nice, new and modern, but not over the top.

Please, stop with the facts....

I agree. I'm a big Bills fan with childern who play with these very types of toys. I wanted to purchase them, but couldn't find them online. I didn't want to impose on my Buffalo friends to go buy them at Wegmans and send them to me, particuarly because they sold out quickly and it may have been an effort to obtain them. I'm not going to buy these on Ebay at an inflated price to enrich a collector who is profiting from something being sold for a good cause.

I personally don't have the time and inclination to do mock drafts. Maybe after I retire, but that's a long ways away. If folks enjoy doing it, go for it. I occasionally learn something about a team or a prospect from reading information related to a mock draft, so thanks to those who invest the time.

I didn't read the article, but my thought as to why the Penn State punter was listed and not Araiza in the 6th round is that Araiza will be gone by then. Also, it has been said that Araiza has never been a holder for kicks. The Bills have traditionally used their punter in this role. That said, a thought occurred to me - if they keep both Barkley and Keenum on the roster - a distinct possibility - why can't Barkley hold for kicks? If Allen is healthy, I suspect that Keenum is going to get most of the 2nd team reps and there won't be many reps available for Barkley anyway. Barkely will be more of an emergency 3rd QB/glorified assistant QB coach. If he spends some time with special teams, how deterimental will that really be? Plus, it gives the team a lot more options as to fake FG pass plays. On the flip side (a hole in my own argument) is that you'd need to have 3 QBs active on game day, and that's not a likely scneario.

It's good for the Bills if he leaves KC, so I am all for it. Meanwhile, KC has been better than good to Hill. He got a ring. He gets to play with one of the top 3 QBs in the league (arguably #1....). They stood by him when he had legal troubles (while NOT standing by teammate Kareem Hunt). He got paid once. They are trying to pay him again. I hope he gets traded to the Jests, plays with that lousy team, his stats go in the toilet, and he never sees the back end of his big deal.

The combination of Knox's athletic ability, his desire to be great (with a recognition of what it takes and that he didn't do enough after his rookie year), and a QB with Allen's talent throwing to him give him a chance to be one of the best in the league. I'm optimistic that Dorsey will make the TEs a regular part of the offense and that Knox and Howard will produce.

I've done it, but it didn't tell me much, so I got out my pressure gauge.

I agree that this was not the most exciting piece they've released. But it's the offseason and the building was pretty empty. No players around. Miller was just checking out the place and getting a feel for his surroundings.