HappyDays

"Up to" leaves a lot of room for the real number, but anything over the vet minimum is an overpay IMO. This feels like a classic post-Brady Patriots move which looks stupid on paper and ultimately reveals itself to be stupid in reality.

I'll be looking for 5 major things: 1) I want Torrence getting all the reps with the 1s. I don't need a faux competition where Bates gets reps because it's "his turn." We already know who Bates is as a player. Give Torrence a chance to prove he can capably start for this offense. If he fails the test no big deal, go back to Bates. 2) I'll be keeping an eye on Van Demark and Gouraige with the 2s/3s. I liked what I saw out of both of them against the Colts. Let's see if it's for real. 3) On Dorian Williams, I'll be watching how he does shedding blocks and filling run gaps. He struggled with that against the Colts. Until he can capably perform those tasks, he is not a realistic option at MLB. A little progression in those areas from last week is all I'd like to see. 4) My hunch is Isabella's performance against the Colts is fool's gold but I'd like to see him be rewarded with more playing time at least. He impressed me more than Shakir. I would even give him a couple reps with the 1s, let it be known that the competition for starting slot receiver is still wide open given Shakir's inconsistency there. 5) Epenesa - show up on the stat sheet this time. Basham - prove that he can build on last week's strong performance. Ford - we've heard nothing about him at camp and he was behind Settle on the depth chart, it's time for him to show the kind of impact we paid him for. We can't afford another free agent dud on the defensive line.

That's why Kincaid was mostly unnoticeable in this game. The coaching staff intentionally gave him assignments that they know he is weak at. They already know what he can do as a pass catcher, they are just fine tuning the rest of his game. On the two plays shown above he didn't exactly dominate his man but he did enough to keep them out of the way. For a player that will almost exclusively be a slot receiver that is good enough IMO.

Just to put this on the record... those catches were not "spectacular." They were good catches and good plays but ordinary at the NFL level. If he hadn't made one of those catches it would still have been considered a drop, they did not require a superhuman effort. I think Shakir's tiny arms make some ordinary catches LOOK spectacular.

Bills had a light practice today.

The other interpretation of this is that McDermott doesn't want to praise a rookie too much, to make sure he keeps working for it. He has sounded similarly guarded when talking about Kincaid. "He's done some nice things but still a long way to go." It's generic coach speak, I wouldn't read anything into it.

Sure, I believe catching is something that anybody can get better at, although some are just naturally more or less gifted. But there has been zero progression there from Shakir. It was an issue in college, he had 2 drops on 20 targets in the regular season last year, he had an awful momentum-shifting drop against the Dolphins in the wildcard round, he reportedly has struggled with drops at camp this year, and now he had 1 drop on 3 targets yesterday. Shakir is a 5th rounder with a limited physical skill set. Players like that don't get years to turn it around. The only reason he gets any hype at all from Bills fans is because he was projected to be drafted higher than we got him so the perception is that we got a steal. Instead, we are seeing why teams were lower on him than the amateur draft community. Ideally for a starting slot player you want Mr. Reliable. That's what Beasley was for us before his athleticism fell off a cliff. If not Mr. Reliable, you want someone that is extremely explosive. That's what Harty will hopefully be for us. Shakir as of right now is neither of those. He's just a replacement level slot player the likes of which can be found on the waiver wire every year.

The problem is that that "1 bad drop" has been who he is as a player since Boise State. You can't have a double digit drop percentage and be successful in this league, not unless you are the elite of the elite in some other skill. Shakir is a pretty good route runner, he's pretty good with the ball in the hands, but he has below average physical abilities and abysmal hands (relative to the league standard). If we take away the draft hype around him, that is the profile of a player that should be firmly on the roster bubble.

Thank you as usual Gunner. Your offseason content remains unparalleled. Some thoughts of my own: 1) In preseason you can almost read as much into who isn't used as who is used. For example Kincaid was used to the same degree as Gabe Davis which tells me the team is very comfortable with him already and he will immediately see a big role in the offense. Based on camp reports this is not a surprise, but it's still good to see confirmation. Similarly Sherfield was off the field at the same time as the primary offensive starters so his roster spot is guaranteed. I've seen some fan rumblings recently that Harty may not be a roster lock, however his skill set was not displayed on offense in this game which I think means he is completely safe. He has a defined role as an explosive gadget player at least and can perform that role far better than anyone else on the roster. Similar to my thoughts on Kincaid's usage in this game, I think the team is fully comfortable with what Harty can do so they are waiting to put his role on tape in games that matter. 2) I too was impressed by Van Demark's play. I specifically focused on him and he more than held his own. At LT I didn't see any bad reps. I lost track of him on a couple of his RT reps but the one I did see was a win for him. Maybe the Bills got lucky and found a steal here. He will be my depth player to watch over the next two games. 3) Color me terrified about the MLB position. I remember last year when Edmunds missed time, people said "see his replacements aren't good enough, this is proof we need to re-sign him" and my response was always "don't worry, we will find a capable replacement, Beane isn't foolish enough to let his 2022 backups take over the job in 2023." Well here we are and we have done exactly that. Our main competition Mahomes and Burrow will absolutely pick you apart in the middle of the field if you let them, and I fear that we will be totally vulnerable there. In my mind I'm scrambling for answers but there really aren't any. The defense looked BAD when Edmunds wasn't out there last year. His absence kicked off the Vikings' improbable comeback. The more I think about it the more uneasy I become. 4) On a night where much of the DL from the top to the bottom of the roster showed out, where was Epenesa? I don't have snap counts but I know he was out there and his name is literally missing from the box score stat sheet. I don't recall him having a single QB pressure. For someone that is exclusively a situational pass rusher and leaves you vulnerable on run downs, he needs to show more over the next two games to prove he can have a meaningful role on this defense. 5) On Elam's penalty, agreed that it was somewhat ticky-tacky but we are going to see officiating crews that call those, and I worry that Elam will be a total liability in those games. All along I have questioned why the coaching staff has favored the limited Dane Jackson over Elam but I'm beginning to see why. They at least know what Jackson brings to the table on a play by play basis. With Elam it is more of an adventure. I think it is Jackson's job to lose at this point and Elam will be used situationally.

Rousseau. His Offside penalty was annoying but overall he was very active today. The reports on him from camp have been very promising.

Looked hesitant at first, like he was still thinking instead of reacting. But he looked fast and was a sure tackler at every opportunity. His run stuff on 2nd and goal was a great play. Probably not going to contribute much if at all this year, but I saw some promise for the future.

I thought Dodson looked very rough today. Not much we can do about it now, we are going to have to try and scheme around the weakness.

Barkley better get 2nd team reps next week. If he hasn't earned the opportunity, Allen has given it away.

Van Demark is in at RT now. Just had another very strong rep. I have a new preseason crush.

I'm not 100% sure on this but I think we lose our 3rd round comp pick next year if Keenum doesn't make it for a certain amount of time on the Texans. So trading for him would be contrary to our own interests, unless I am mistaken.

Going back and watching that drive again, I am very impressed with Van Demark. I'll be watching him the next two weeks.

Ryan Van Demark looks the part to me, albeit against depth DL. I like Jordan Mims for the PS.

Agreed. Epenesa on the other hand has been nowhere to be found.

He was the 2nd LT in before Quessenberry or Doyle. That is certainly something to watch.

Dorian Williams has made a couple nice tackles. You can tell he's still thinking and hesitating a bit but not a bad start I think.

Wow Isabella was impressive there. I think he has a PS spot locked up.

Okay Shakir has made a couple really nice grabs. If it's for real that's a great development. Aaaaaand he drops one as I say that. Focus drops on easy catches has been his problem.

I think even Murray could end up being at worst equal to Singetary. I have to imagine he has completely passed Harris on the depth chart at this point.

What is Kyle Allen doing??