Sammy Watkins' Rib

If Isabella is able to claim a spot on the 53, do you think either of Shorter or Shakir could be safely stashed on the practice squad? Will this current Bills team ever keep 7 WR's? Is this a year they could?

I just don’t feel I’ve seen much from Shakir. I’d say so far he had met my minimum expectations of what I would have expected out of him as a rookie. And for now he seems to have a very low ceiling. No doubt he is more nfl ready both now and compared to Shorter when both were rookies but that is to be expected. Shorter is a project. A guy with elite size that needs development time. Just find it interesting that they are picked two spots apart in the draft and yet the common viewpoint is Shorter might not make the 53 but Shakir’s spot is safe. Biggest knock shorter has is him not being ready now, although he could be ready now for a large role on special teams perhaps. Just not sure you can save a guy like him on the practice squad.

I don’t see a line avail blue for the next game against the Steelers . But anything more than a TD in a preseason game seems ridiculous. I am contemplating a large wager on the Jets to win the division. Nothing would piss me off more this year. also contemplating a parlay of Bills, Cheifs, Bengals and Jags to win division.

That has been the popular opinion for that I have seen thrown out. But does it make sense? I haven’t actually heard arguments that back up why Shakir should stay and Shorter should go to the practice squad in such a scenario where Isabella makes the 53. Do we have a bias because Shakir was on the team last year and Shorter wasn’t? Draft capital wise they are nearly identical having been picked two picks apart in the 5th round. Longterm, Shorter seems to have more value with one more year on a rookie deal and a potential Gabe replacement .

we are playing fire if we are putting our hopes into Diggs still being an elite receiver at the age of 31. That’s would be his age he turns in the 2024 season. There just aren’t any revivers at that age that produce at a high level that I have seen in recent years. Now, I predicted last year that Diggs would decline and he proved me wrong once already. But odds are that by 2024 he shows a noticeable decline. We would really need Kincaid to basically take over the thrown of best TE in the game in 2024. Not impossible I guess with Kelce’s age and how good Kincaid has looked thus far.

Gabe himself was a 4th rounder. I still have plenty of questions regarding Gabe. His best years have been when he was consistently the 4th option. It’s not impossible that a 5th round draft pick going into year two could put up similar numbers to Gabe’s 2022 numbers assuming he is targeted the same. Gabe’s efficiency this year needs to go up one way or the other. Either huge numbers on the same large number of targets he had last year or lower numbers but on far fewer targets as the 4th option in most games.

If Isabell can impress will the last WR spot come down to Shorter vs Shakir? Who has more immediate value and long term value? Feels like Shorter can play more special teams coverage and blocking. Shakir can feel in on Punt returns but wouldn’t really be needed with both Harty and Isabella on the team. And Isabella would presumably run a lot of the same routes Shakir would be asked to run. Seems like Shakir would be expendable if Isabella makes the 53. Shorter would be the potential replacement for Davis if the Bills and Davis part ways after this year. So longterm it would seem Shorter also has an advantage. I’m not sure either can be safely kept on the practice squad.

Haven’t we heard that the two Allen’s are pretty close friends? If so, I got to think that could have something to do with Allen being brought in. But yeah, I am definitely not confident in the back up QB spot. Who is the current day Fitz? A career back up fringe starter who always seems to get more action then teams originally anticipate and who is a gunslinger with athletic ability? Minshew come to mind but he isn’t as athletic as Fitz was. But he has the moxy that Fitz had. Turbitzky plays too scared. He looked good on the Bills in the very limited times we saw him but he played like a total wuss on the Steelers last year. Was very disappointed with him.

His athletic ability alone keeps him out of that category IMO. The Bears have easily had one of the 5 worst offensive personnel teams over he last two seasons. Hard for a lot of young QB’s, especially athletic ones that need development time (think JA and Hurts) to look good in those situations. Put Fields on a stacked offense like the Eagles and I would think he looks quite a bit better.

I don’t think they ever really had an idea how long and they probably still don’t.

I think it’s been close to several weeks since he first said several weeks. So we should be expecting him back in about a week?

Thank God Siran Neal is OK.

All three Florida teams in the top 10. Two of them in the top 5.

Christian Wilkins respect for the male genitals.

always take the words zero and all with a grain of salt. There are always exceptions to every rule. We know that. Schatz uses those words to drive home, his larger point or big picture view on Allen before the draft. And it’s that larger point and the big picture view that I agree with.

The only situation where I think we afford, Gabe is if he balls out and we back up the Brinks truck to keep him. Otherwise, I just don’t think the team sees value in paying him 8M to 12M a year for what you can bring to the team.

I don't think any of Schatz pre-draft takes are really wrong. Allen is just THAT unique and special as a QB. I really can't think of a comparable QB. Maybe 30 years ago with Favre out of Southern Mississippi? But Favre was 2nd round pick compared to Allen being top 10. The most recent comps before Allen were guys like Paxton Lynch and Jake Locker. Now we will see how guys like Richardson and Will Levis translate to the next level.

This guy didn't get the memo that the popular media take right now is to predict the Bills MISS the playoffs.

Sherfield has a real chance to push Gabe for serious playing time. If anyone on the roster is going to take Gabe's spot it would be Sherfield. As others have mentioned, at 6'1" 220lbs he's not a small receiver. Seems a good chance that one of Gabe or Sherfield will be on the roster in 2024 but not both.

That and the following week were the greatest two weeks of my 30+ years following the Bills. I was too young to fully appreciate the Super Bowl teams.

honestly, if the worst were to ever happen I feel like it would be a better than 50 percent chance Fitz gets signed mid-season.

Yikes 😬

I believe it is quite a bit more typically. Their on-line schedule shows meetings and spring football scrimmages starting all the way back in May. But standards are loosened when in times of crisis. I’ll know more when I attend my first meeting tomorrow night. Maybe they will keep me off of games for a while until I get up to speed.

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/sports-official-shortage-reaches-crisis-level/article_dfb87734-30be-11ee-b4c9-f70b7bafd39c.html I've debated becoming a High School football official for the last couple of years. This year I think I'm going to jump into the fire. Attend my first meeting tomorrow night, hopefully officiate an intersquad scrimmage later in the week and the following week is week 1 of the high school football season. A recent local news article (linked above) for my county reports that the shortage of high school football officials has reached "crisis levels." They only expect to have 40 officials, enough to make up only 8 of the five man officiating crews that are expected to officiate the 13 or 14 varsity football games each week. As a result, the number of games that will be played on a Thursday night is expected to jump from 36 last year to 59 this year. The article mentions that the shortage of officials is a nationwide problem. Curious if Buffalo is having the same shortage. It would appear the decrease in total number of kids playing football hasn't helped the official shortage. The shortage would only be relieved if High Schools started eliminating their football programs all together. Nobody really does it for the money as the article mentions the rate is about $67- $85 per game. For me I've just wanted to do it to give back to the game that I love, keep my mind sharp, and be a part of a team. Curious to know if any fellow forum members have current or past experience officiating at the high school level and what their thoughts are.

Age of the overall roster is one of my worries. Age of a lot of our top end guys is also something that could factor in. Even Diggs is around that age where he could lose a step. But I thought he would lose that step last year and he proved me wrong. Really had his best year yet as a Bill. But Von, Hyde and Poyer, yes on paper it is better to have this trio on the roster rather than out or banged up like they were last year. But strictly in terms of where we were last offseason compared to this offseason, those players were a year younger and healthy this time last year. Now they are a year older and coming off of injuries. Tre White even turns 29 come playoff time. Milano is 29 now. Mitch Morse 31 and already showing injuries last year. Dion Dawkins 29. Not every player will break down at 29+ but with seemingly so many in that age group I would expect one of two to start to slide in productivity.