HappyDays

Yeah that's one of the more suspicious stunts the NFL has ever pulled off. Institute challenges for PI, never reverse them even in clear and obvious situations, then say "whelp we tried, it didn't work" and get rid of it immediately the following season.

In all seriousness I would add a 2nd bye week, one in the first 8 games and one in the last 9 games with at least a 4 week gap between byes. It's criminal that they haven't already done this.

How about one rule change to ruin the sport? The QB gets a 15 yard penalty if he leaves the pocket, and the size of the pocket is determined subjectively by an umpire standing behind the field of play.

Are you sure about that? I saw people on here freak out because they got Justyn Ross as a UDFA, then again when they traded for Kadarius Toney, and people still haven't learned because we heard it all again after they traded up with us and took Xavier Worthy. I'm keeping my expectations low, where they should be. Still Claypool is more than just another Andy Isabella IMO. He has some sort of past production to lean on so there is a glimmer of hope there. If the plan is to take a shot in the dark on him and then trade for a WR at the deadline if/when he fails, I'm okay with that.

I think of these four best case scenarios, three need to happen: 1) Dalton Kincaid proves he is a top 3ish pass catching TE. 2) Brady proves he is a top 5ish OC. 3) Keon Coleman hits the ground running and is immediately capable of being a full time X receiver with 1,000+ yards. 4) Chase Claypool suddenly turns his career back around and becomes a 1,000+ yard WR. And I have them ranked in order of how likely I think they are to occur. But all of them are long shots and we need 3/4 of them to come true to have a championship caliber offense IMO.

There aren't any. Him being a top 10 offensive mind in the NFL is one of several best case scenarios that need to come to fruition for this offense to be at a championship level. He was thought to be something of an offensive savant in his time at LSU so the hope is that with a full offseason to install his own offense he will prove to be at that level. I'm not particularly optimistic but he'll get his chance. I assume you mean without a true field stretcher. To that I would still definitely say no. MVS is going to be our field stretcher and that's why they signed him - the role was missing from the roster. I don't believe you can have a high level NFL offense without a true field stretcher, even if it's just of the Gabe Davis variety running decoy/clear out routes downfield. The defense has to at least respect that area of the field. I see what the team is trying to do. They're trying to build a more consistent, less boom or bust, move the chains offense where the explosive plays are created more after the catch than before the catch. They're going big outside and quick/fast inside. I have zero issues with the philosophy, I'm just not convinced the talent and/or coaching is great enough to make it all run at a championship level.

I tend to agree. I think the plan is to run something like the 2022/2023 Chiefs offenses. The Chiefs over those two seasons threw just two TDs total of 20+ air yards. Mahomes averaged 4.2 air yards per TD throw over those seasons which is insanely low. They became very much a ball control grind out long TD drives kind of offense and I expect us to attempt the same. The addition of Samuel & Coleman tells me we are going to reduce the air yards per throw and try to increase the YAC per throw to make up the difference. I think MVS will have several Gabe Davis-esque 0 reception games where he's running nothing but clear out routes. Not sure I fully agree with the vision but I see the vision.

I don't but it's not similar team building at all, that is one thing I know for sure. Anyways that's not an argument to keep McDermott. If the current guy isn't good enough you have to try something different. If different fails, well at least you tried. The only reason to keep McDermott is if you think the team has a strong chance of winning a championship under his leadership. That is the only question that matters. So far we have not really come close under his leadership. Now we're entering his 8th season, let's see what happens.

I trust the consulting firm they use to run the search to make a good hire, yes. It wouldn't be too difficult. It's not like last time when the Bills job was considered to be the dregs of the league. Any great coaching candidate would love to get the keys to Josh Allen for 5+ years to start (or revitalize) their career. I think everyone has had their say a dozen times over, yes? There's really nothing else to be said. The conversation this offseason is the same as it was last offseason, just with one more data point of evidence to consider. This coming season will give us one more data point to use to evaluate him. I strongly suspect it will turn out the same as past years, but hopefully I'm wrong.

He hasn't turned anything around though. The latest playoff loss exemplified his worst traits. Poor personnel decisions. Poor defensive scheme that led to fish in a barrel offensive production. Coaching brain farts at critical moments of the game. I don't think McDermott has improved as a coach since 2020 to be honest, and last year if anything I thought he took a step back in certain areas. But man I am already so sick of this conversation. I have no choice but to be in wait and see mode so that's what I'll do.

I'd like to see Kincaid run more seams. Early in the year it was mostly all flats and checkdowns and quick hitches. Later in the year we let him fly down the field more and from my memory we tended to have very good success on those plays. With a WR room that I think will struggle to find consistent vertical separation, Kincaid can possibly be our one consistent means of freezing safeties and opening up pass catchers underneath.

A negative can't be proven 😁 This whole conversation about where McDermott stacks among former Bills coaches really avoids the million dollar question. The question is, can McDermott win ONE Super Bowl during Allen's career? Really the question should be can McDermott win MULTIPLE Super Bowls during Allen's career but I think as a fanbase we've collectively shelved that goal, which is telling on its own. I would feel better if McDermott had one signature defensive game in the playoffs on his resume. Really, just one. I know the Ravens game played in hurricane winds is the example everyone uses, personally that doesn't do it for me. The statistics on his defense against divisional winners in the playoffs are horrendously bad. There's not a single data point that gives me reason for optimism on that front. My one hope right now is that he relinquishes full control of the defense to Babich, play calling and all, and Babich turns out to be a defensive mastermind. Or at the very least varied and creative enough to just slow down some of these great teams in the playoffs. At least with Babich we have no data points to go off of so there is some reason for blind hope.

What if McDermott is the best Bills coach of the millennium, but also isn't good enough to win a championship?

I'm convinced not one person on this board ever watched Kelvin Benjamin play.

I don't know how the WR corps will ultimately come together but there's a clear theme - size, vertical jump, catch radius. They are going in the total opposite direction of recent years as far as outside WRs go. I've always felt Allen would thrive with that style of WR which is why I was so high on Coleman in the draft. If Claypool can get close to what he was his first two seasons we suddenly have multiple physical studs on the field with Josh Allen, for the first time in his career.

So the process you've described here isn't an NFL scouting process. You've essentially just watched his college tape and graded him on what he's done. That isn't NFL scouting. NFL scouting is about projecting the player to the next level. You're evaluating the player as, for example, "how well did he separate in the college tape I watched?" versus "can he develop the ability to separate at the NFL level?" Might seem like a small difference but it changes how you look at the prospect. For me, the answer to that 2nd question is clearly "yes." His size and strength and fluidity and movement with the ball in his hands tells me all the traits to separate are there. His competitiveness and known work ethic and known football character tell me the desire is there. His age and relative inexperience tells me the room to grow is there. So I'm not nitpicking every single college rep because that doesn't help me to answer the question that is being asked. I'm looking at the player and the person as a whole and projecting his ability to become successful at the next level by looking at the totality of his physical and character traits. Replace this entire post with references to Josh Allen instead of Keon Coleman and you'll understand why so many amateurs and fans (myself included) were embarrassingly loudly wrong about him six years ago.

Rapp is going to seriously injure one of his own teammates these days. What an idiot.

Re-posting from the OTA thread: Very first team drill of the very first OTA session open to the media and Coleman is getting starting reps. He's already earned the trust of the coaching staff. He'll be our day one X receiver IMO.

Here come the practice videos and updates: Notice that Coleman is getting worked into the starting offense early... No ramp up period for him. He's our starting X.

Breaking news:

Yeah but it's a re-tooling season anyways. Might as well get the rookie out there, let him develop his game and chemistry with Josh Allen.

Here's the full McDermott quote on Claypool: "Very impressed with Chase. Really just starting with his approach, here's a veteran receiver, former high pick, that has been on a journey, right, through the course of recently in his career. I applaud Chase for coming here to see where things go. He's very focused, he's working extremely hard day in and day out. And embracing not just the wide receiver role that he could play for us, but also the special teams role that he could play for us. You don't find that a lot around the NFL where a player has been at a certain level and then is on a mission right now to reclaim what he once was in that regard. And those are my words, maybe not fair to Chase, respectfully, but I would just say like very impressed with his day to day approach, true pro, high character, smart player, and he's been a good addition to our team." This is extremely high praise from the normally tight lipped McDermott. No clue if it will translate on the field but it's a good sign.

It's May. Talk is all you'll get for a few months...