HappyDays

Me too. And I would love that pick, especially if we trade for DeAndre Hopkins before the draft.

That was our last option to find a capable MLB in free agency. At this point Edmunds' replacement is almost certainly coming in the draft, likely with a day one or two pick.

No way we can upgrade the offensive line in 2023 at this point. What we have now is what it's going to be, likely with a couple draft picks added into the mix. What's your preference for adding a true WR2? Right now the available options are Hopkins for Arizona's asking price, Jerry Jeudy for a 1st, or OBJ for whatever salary he's asking for. If reports are true that OBJ wants to play with Aaron Rodgers on the Jets that gives us just Hopkins and Jeudy as the available options. Unless you have someone else in mind?

This is where we differ - I consider WR2 a need. Davis is okay as a WR2. But on a championship caliber offense he isn't good enough. I love him as a WR4. He excelled in that role in 2020. Getting Hopkins would immediately push Davis back into that role. I think the trickle down effect of that is an underrated piece of why this move makes so much sense, just like trading for Diggs also put John Brown in more favorable matchups against #2 CBs. Adding a top tier receiver doesn't just give you the surface level results, it also makes everyone else on offense better. A championship caliber offense, in addition to a top tier QB, needs to have either an elite group of weapons or an elite offensive line. Right now the Bills have neither. There is no chance of us suddenly creating an elite offensive line this offseason. But there is a real chance of us suddenly having one of the best groups of weapons in the league. What you call a "shiny new toy" I call a necessity to put our offense at a championship caliber level. The new players you mentioned only upgraded our depth pieces on offense. I'm happy with every one of those signings but they didn't improve the top end potential of the offense. We still have an average at best offensive line and a very good but not elite group of weapons. We are missing one piece to push us over the top. Our Devonta Smith, or Christian McCaffrey, or Tee Higgins. To me that missing piece is as big a need as any other hole on the roster. Because we're well past the point in our team building cycle where we're just trying to fill holes. We're competing for a championship. That changes the whole conversation.

For a number of reasons. First, players that get traded a 2nd time don't get the same value. Jalen Ramsey went from two 1st round picks to a 3rd round pick. Brandin Cooks has been acquired for less value each time he's been traded. Hopkins was originally acquired by the Cardinals for a 2nd round pick. It stands to reason they won't get more back for him. Second, he's past the age of 30, he's a two year rental for the team that acquires him, and he's coming off a year with a PED suspension. These factors combined lower his value as a player. Third, and probably most importantly, he costs a lot against the cap and the Cardinals are apparently unwilling to retain much if any of the salary. Personally I would instead use our 1st rounder to acquire Jeudy if that was the asking price. He's younger with more upside and wouldn't cause the same cap issues in 2023 or 2024. Using a 1st rounder on a 24 year old still on his rookie deal makes sense.

No, I was going to mention that Cook is the one player on that list where the jury is still out, but my post was getting long enough so I left it out. But considering Cook is a RB he would have to have a great career, something approaching Saquon Barkley, or at worst Ezekiel Elliott, for me to consider his career value greater than a couple years of DeAndre Hopkins. My overall point is that a 2nd round pick isn't nearly as valuable as all the hemming and hawing over it would have you believe. The cap space issue I am a little more sensitive to.

I'm not saying Davis singlehandedly cost us the #1 seed. But we're talking about upgradeable spots on the team. Allen isn't upgradeable. Dorsey isn't getting replaced. Frazier is already gone. I'm not complaining about Davis just to complain. We have a real opportunity to upgrade a part of the offense that was a major factor in why we fell short last year. Playing the blame game is missing the point. I'm focusing on something the Bills can actually control.

In terms of actual unpopular opinions on here, I'm happy that the Bills prioritize special teams players. Giving the opponent worse starting field position is an underrated advantage. I don't think devoting a decent amount of cap space to those players has caused us to miss out on any meaningful upgrades at other positions.

That quote isn't exactly right. He posts the actual video in the tweet below: Jeremy Fowler says Arizona is asking for "a 2nd round pick and more." He uses the McCaffrey trade as an example, he does not say Arizona wants a 2nd and a 3rd. So this isn't new information. The report all along has been that Hopkins is available for a 2nd rounder plus a conditional pick. As I said earlier if Beane is playing a game of chicken and waiting until Arizona drops their asking price closer to the draft, that's fine. But if he ultimately has to lose the game of chicken to acquire a true WR2 then he should just do it. A brief history of Bills 2nd round picks in the McDermott era: James Cook Boogie Basham AJ Epenesa Cody Ford Zay Jones Dion Dawkins Dawkins is the only player on that list where you would take his career with the Bills over two years of DeAndre Hopkins. This hasn't been said enough - does everyone realize Gabe Davis cost us the #1 seed last year? He dropped a TD in the Dolphins loss. He dropped that ridiculous 70 yard pass on 4th and 21 in the Jets loss which at the very least put us into position to tie the game. And then against the Bengals in the playoffs when we still had a fighting chance he dropped a 3rd down deep throw which effectively ended the game for us. All of that plus he had trouble separating most of the year. So just know if you don't want the Bills to give up a 2nd for Hopkins, you're signing up for another year of that. I don't get it.

I don't disagree with your conclusion, but any analytics tool that has Diontae Johnson as the 5th best pass catcher in football can safely be ignored.

The stupid thing is that this move really wouldn't even mortgage the future. We're not the Rams trading away every high pick we have several years in a row. We're talking about at most a 2nd round pick in a weak draft class and maybe a couple salary dumps of our own. That's not mortgaging the future. The 2nd round pick in my eyes is meaningless. The salary cap is going to explode in the next couple years so I'm not remotely worried about that part of it either. We all know the trade is possible. The ways of getting the cap space necessary to bring Hopkins in have been discussed ad nauseum. Beane just has to pull the trigger. What I don't get about Beane's apparent reluctance to just make a move is that the first time he did it, trading a 1st round pick for Diggs, it was unquestionably a great move. It took us from wildcard contender to the landslide divisional favorite. Did that trade mortgage the future? No. You'd think such a wild success the first time around would encourage him to do it again when we're so close to being championship caliber. Maybe we're just playing a game of chicken and waiting for the Cardinals GM to fold closer to the draft. If that's the case I'm obviously fine with it. I just hope Beane hasn't drawn a hard line in the sand for the three available WR upgrades. Lose the game of chicken if that's what it takes. Because if we're sitting here next January talking about how a critical Gabe Davis drop cost us the #1 seed, or another playoff game, I don't know what argument there would be for Beane to keep his job at that point.

Maybe just once Beane should cross his line. He missed out on Von Miller in 2021 and Christian McCaffrey last year. If it takes a 2nd rounder so be it. We aren't likely to draft a franchise changing player at pick 59. I would trade every player we've picked in the 2nd round since McDermott took over for two years of DeAndre Hopkins. I hope he doesn't pinch pennies over a move that could push us over the hump.

I hadn't considered this. But maybe our line could be Dawkins - McGovern - Bates - Edwards - Brown with a draft pick or two added into the mix. Cutting Morse saves us $5.3 million against the cap in 2023 with no dead cap beyond this year. This is an idea out of left field but I could see it working.

Yeah the only way we could take on the whole cap hit is if we trade Oliver. There was a report earlier in the offseason that Hopkins would be willing to be flexible with his contract on his new team. If true I'm sure we can make it work, just a matter of working out the details.

This guy had the David Edwards signing a day before anyone else, but still take it with a grain of salt:

My one area of skepticism with this whole thing is that Aaron Wilson's source is almost certainly Hopkins' agent. Aaron Wilson on Twitter is usually putting out contract details before they're announced by others which means agents are most likely his sources. It would be in Hopkins' agent's best interest to use the Bills purported interest as leverage to get other teams to increase their offers. I've seen the Bills used in that manner in the past.

Good sleuthing, but Hopkins was in Dallas as of Thursday according to his IG, and there's an owners' meeting in Phoenix this weekend.

The Jets are loading up, and also they might sign Ezekiel Elliott.

He's a character/personality fit. He fills a need. He's been training with Luke Keuchly. That's why I think he would be our target in the 1st round. At this point we're not likely to find a like for like Edmunds replacement. So they'll have to modify the scheme to account for a MLB with less sideline to sideline range no matter what. Beane is dragging his feet, almost like he already knows he can find a MLB in the draft.

I think if we trade for DeAndre Hopkins, Jack Campbell becomes the favorite for our 1st round pick. His fit with us makes too much sense. No one should complain if that happens. We'll have spent the entire free agency period up to that point upgrading the offense. We've signed zero defensive players.

I agree with your order of preference but I'm not going to split hairs. I've said all along we need to acquire one of those WRs or the offseason is a failure. I won't complain if Hopkins is their choice. My guess is Beane really doesn't want to part with that 1st rounder. It appears that Hopkins can be had for relatively low-value draft capital. In that context I can understand it.

That article is just a recap of the insiders that have said we're in on him, it isn't anything new.

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