msw2112

What color face masks did they have this past season? I watched every game and probably every snap. And I have no idea.

I'd agree. Or he seems confused about what play has been called, or about which player he is subbing in for. The positioning of the fingers on the left hand is not indicative of a clap.

I'd clarify and say that these signings have no bearing on who the Bills would draft in the early rounds. They could impact what the Bills decide to do in the 6th and 7th rounds and with UDFA pickups. These are end-of-the roster signings, or potentially camp fodder.

Improving the running game is a key to taking the next step. Three reasons: 1. It's difficult to throw the ball on windy days, so you need to be able to run it then. See the first Chiefs game and the Ravens playoff game. 2. Some teams play good defense against the pass and/or there are times when the passing game is off (perhaps your QB or WRs are banged up), so you need to be able to run it then. See the 2nd Chiefs game, and arguably the Tennessee game (was Josh's shoulder banged up?). 3. Sometimes game situations dictate you need to run the ball, such as when you have lead, it's late in the game and your opponent has been moving the ball well and scoring. You need to run it down their throats, make them use up their timeouts and run out the clock. The Bills did this well against the Steelers. In most games, the Bills had large enough leads that this wasn't a factor, but it's needed in the playoffs. Both Indy and Baltimore had chances to make late comebacks because we couldn't finish them off. In both cases, our defense held, but the Ravens were down to a backup QB and the Colts got dangerously close. I'm not at all complaining about the Bills offense or their season. Both were terrific. That said, an improved running game will make them even better and perhaps allow them to get to the Super Bowl and/or win it. (Some improvement on defense would help too).

Knowing the story behind this - a family and their kids having fun during the pandemic - I'm going to embrace this more than I would have had I not known this fact. Some clever ideas, for sure. The Bills have a great color scheme and logo, so it's pretty difficult to improve upon it. I prefer their current scheme/logo to all of these, but I like the creativity!

I'm a huge football fan. I love the NFL and watch as many games as my schedule allows for. I'm also against this move. For many of the reasons articulated above, and perhaps my own spin: 1) It dilutes the product. Enough is enough. 2) It increases the change of injury to players, particularly for those teams preparing for the playoffs. Look at the Bills WRs down the stretch this year, as an example. They were really banged up at the end of the season and it hurt the Bills a lot in the playoffs. Imagine if they had to tough it out for one more meaningful game to secure playoff seeding? 3) It throws off statistical comparisons to prior seasons for purposes of calculating records 4) As much as I love football and miss it during the off-season, I have a family and other things in life. I target "after the Super Bowl" as a time the year to start on some weekend projects that were put on hold, travel (maybe a ski trip that I don't want to take during football season), spend more weekend time with the kids, start my diet (I eat better and drink less when it's not football season - how about you?), etc. Pushing it back a week or 2 is disruptive for me personally. It's not the end of the world, but I'm against it.

The Bills have a great WR corps, but Sanders and Beasley are up there in age and may not be as fast and quick as they once were, and also may be more injury prone due to their age. I'm certainly not complaining, but just pointing out some realistic information.

I agree that the lower cap means fewer dollars are available and the offers out there are not meeting players' expectations, so they are waiting it out. Also, it seems like more rookies are contributing than in the past (Gabe Davis, for example), so teams are may also be waiting to see how the draft plays out.

Hollister looks like a depth signing who will help in the run blocking. He likely was not brought in to stretch the field or be an athletic receiving option. I haven't watched him play enough to know if he's a good run blocker, but it was noted up above in this thread. I have seen him make a few catches, but those make the highlight package. I have no issue with this signing in and of itself, but if they were planning on adding a receiving threat at TE and this was the best they could do, I would be disappointed.

It will be interesting to see if the out-of-market NFL games are included with the subscription to ESPN+ and/or Amazon Prime, or if there will be an additional cost. Also, it will be interesting to see how that might work with any type of DVR service. I have been with Directv/Sunday Ticket for a number of years and rely heavily on my DVR for Bills games. As much as I dislike Directv, sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don't. It's a pain in the butt, but almost every year, with enough effort, Directv and Sunday Ticket can be negotiated to a reasonable price.

Off the top of my head, I would say Detroit, Cincy, and Houston. Jax has been a bad team, but has the #1 overall pick, a new coach, no state taxes, decent climate, etc. so they might be considered more than in the recent past. Buffalo certainly was on that list for many years, but with the current regime, great team culture, state of the art facilities, and recent success, it has become a more attractive destination.

Are Nsekhe and Winters the only OL not returning? If so, that's pretty good. The team finished 13-3 (15-4) and had a prolific offense, so OL continuity is good. Obviously, they need to improve the run game, but some of that could be RB and some could be play-calling/scheme, which are correctable with the current OL bodies. Plus, Feliciano was injured at the beginning of the season and Ford was in the middle and at the end, so having both healthy could help the line overall. Ford/Ike, Morse/Feliciano, Feliciano/Ike as our interior line, with Bates as a backup across the board, isn't bad. I don't know much about Devey or Adams, but I assume they are camp bodies that will compete with Bates any draft picks/UDFAs for final backup spots and PS spots.

Not to be disrespectful, but who is Cynthia Frelund?

I don't see how this is even possible. Lee is a good team guy and did some good run blocking over the years and made the occasional wide-open catch, but to get anything in exchange for him is a total fleecing.

For some reason I have never been much of a Sanders fan. He's been with the Steelers, Broncos, 49ers, Saints and now the Bills. I always wonder how good a player really is by the time they are on their FIFTH team. If he was such a great player, why would 4 other teams move on from the guy? I see it as a quality veteran depth move, but not a game-changing signing.

I don't have time to read a 6 page thread, but WTF? This doesn't make sense to me on so many fronts.

They just won the SB and (obviously) have a team whose window to win another one is now and is closing soon. This move makes financial sense. Kick the salary cap challenges down the road while you still have a chance to win again. By the time the rest of this cap hit is absorbed, Brady will be long gone. Arians might be retired (again) too. Looks like Fitz.

I was hoping that Watt would sign with the Bills. He plays a position of need, and was probably the best in the league at that position when younger and healthier. He likely has enough left in the tank to be an upgrade for the Bills. That said, the guy clearly went for the cash and not for the ring. It's his choice. He won't get a ring with the Cardinals. Even with the miracle win against the Bills, they still couldn't get into the playoffs. Their head coach and GM are not very good and their QB, while highly talented, has probably hit his ceiling. Signing with the Bills would have given him a much better chance at winning a SB, but it would not have guaranteed it, so he opted for the sure thing - $23M in guaranteed $. I live in AZ now and can't stand Kyler Murray and I'm sure I will soon get tired of Watt's media presence. Worse off, Larry Fitzgerald, who is all class and a great guy in the media and community, will be retiring soon, so the market will really be stuck with Murray and Watt.

I'm all over the board on this one. Fitz: played great football last year for Miami. Flores screwed him and the team going with the overrated Tua. Cost his team a playoff spot. He'd be a fantastic backup and can certainly win games if Josh went down for a period of time. I don't see this happening due to 1) Fitz may want to go somewhere that he can start and/or play a lot. 2) he may command more than the Bills can afford under their cap constraints. Barkley: has played OK in limited action, particularly in weeks when he got starter reps in practice. If the defense and running game improve, Barkley could keep the ship afloat for a few weeks. He can read a defense and run and NFL offense. His arm strength and mobility aren't great, which is why he's a career backup. He's not going to take the team on his back and win one and I don't think he's going to take a team deep into the playoffs unless the Bills return to having a top-3 defense. May be the best option due to his "off the field" attributes and chemistry with the team - great teammate, supportive of Allen, not looking to be a starter, knows the playbook. Fromm: I have no idea. Perhaps the Bills coaches do. If they think he is ready, I'm OK with going with him. He had a great career in college, taking and keeping the starting job over guys that were more highly recruited and highly rated than him. Got GA to OT of the Championship game. Seems to be a competitive guy with some football ability. Maybe not the best athletic skills. He certainly got himself in some twitter trouble in the past. Webb: I have no idea. The fact that the Jests and Giants both moved on from him and that he was basically the 4th stringer for the Bills doesn't give me a lot of hope for his playing talent. I think he's going to be a good coach someday. Kyle Allen: had not thought of him before seeing this thread today. He's played some decent football in the NFL, but not enough to be a consistent starter. He'd be fine as a backup, but I don't know that he'd be a big upgrade over what we already have. He's probably more physically talented than Barkley, but I don't know much about his personality, mental makeup, etc. The rest of the field: I don't think there are any better options than what is listed above for the type of money the Bills have to spend.

This seems like a good deal for both sides. Wentz was done in Philly and has a huge salary and cap hit. While Philly didn't get that much in compensation, they unload the contract and disgruntled player and got a couple of Day 2 picks in return. For the Colts, they didn't give up that much and got a guy who has the potential to be a franchise QB (again). In exchange, they take on the bloated contract and risk that Wentz is done. If Wentz gets back to the form of a couple of years ago (the SB season prior to the injury), the Colts will be scary good.

I played 4 years of HS football. 1 year freshman, 1 year JV, 2 years varsity. I played offensive tackle, defensive tackle/nose tackle (depending on which defense we were running) and a lineman spot on special teams. The only time I touched to the ball was when I forced a fumble....I went to a college with a top-10 football program, so I wasn't good enough to earn a scholarship and wasn't interested in being walk-on/tackling dummy. I had the (limited) speed of a lineman, but was smaller than many of the LBs on the team. They played in the Rose Bowl and many went on to the NFL, while it was academics (+ beer and girls) for me. I played some intramural sports for fun. It's been a few years since then. Having played gives me a bit of a connection and perhaps a heightened sense of the action when watching NFL football, compared to someone who didn't play at all, but to be honest, I don't remember much from my playbook from all those years ago and the NFL playbooks are way more advanced. Plus, I was only in the trenches, so I have no idea about WR route trees, etc. That stuff I just know from watching years of football like everyone else. I tend to see holding plays along the lines and great and/or missed blocks much sooner than the folks I watch games with, and often sooner than some of the network guys.

I agree - Clements was good, but I always thought Winfield was the better player.

I love Buffalo, but it isn't a major metropolitan area like SF is. And while SF has legendary cold summers, it doesn't have ice cold, snowy winters. If a guy's girlfriend didn't want to live in Buffalo, no big deal. If she had come to town/lived in Buffalo, her attitude might have changed. No need to feel offended or slighted. And, as mentioned above, while Buffalo has great early 1900's architecture, that may not mean a whole lot to most people (I happen to like it, but it wouldn't be a major factor in where I chose to live). People might forget that one Jim Kelly didn't want to come to Buffalo either....

As much as opening against the Jests isn't a very sexy matchup, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Starting with a lesser opponent gives the team a chance to gel, get a fairly sure win, and get some momentum for the season. This is particularly true if the pre-season is scaled back or scrapped again.

I think we retain him and go with the 2nd round tender. We don't want to get into a bidding war over a punter. I doubt most teams would be willing to give up a 2nd rounder for a punter though. This kid has developed into one of the best punters in the game and field position is huge. Credit the organization for recognizing his talent and sticking with him as he developed, despite the many calls (on this board - can you believe it?) to move on from him. Their patience is paying dividends. This is a good example of trusting the process. Same goes for Bass, who was shaky at the beginning of the year, but they stuck with him. I can live with his missed PAT in the AFCCG given that he nailed 2 51 yard FGs in the same game.