HappyDays

This sucks.

Yes, the usage he got in preseason is the same kind of usage we give to Singletary. In real games he will have a defined pass catching role that we haven't seen yet. If DCs think they can beat us like they did last year dropping everybody into deep zones, James Cook will exploit them.

He played one special teams snap last year...

I don't agree with that. I'm not saying Howard played well but it was better than anything Sweeney has ever shown. You may be right that they decided that his heart isn't it, and I don't mind if that's why they cut him. I just don't agree Sweeney's "heart" comes anywhere close to bridging the talent gap. All this being said it's possible Sweeney is a temporary roster spot that they'll eventually replace with a better TE or another position entirely. In that event no complaints from me.

If they decided to keep Morris over Howard I can live with that, Morris is at least somewhat of an unknown. But we already know what Sweeney is in this league. For all intents and purposes the Bills had one TE on the roster last year, they stopped dressing Sweeney after his awful showing in the Panthers game. He can't block, he can't separate, he can't catch. He is not even a JAG. Personally I wouldn't even keep him on the PS. I just can't figure out why this regime would keep him over Howard considering the dead cap hit.

Yeah it's Sweeney. I know OJ Howard had a disappointing offseason but he is a better TE than Sweeney by default. I don't understand eating the dead cap hit only to keep a lesser player on the team. Hopefully he is only on the team for right now until they need his roster spot for a different position.

Does Anderson give us positional versatility or is he a guard only?

I hope another team's castoff can replace Sweeney. He still is not a roster worthy player.

I wonder if we would be interested in bringing him back. I know @GunnerBill would support it.

This is more exciting than the OBJ saga.

I think Stafford's elbow is a bigger concern than the team is letting on. Injuries like that for a QB tend to linger. So I picked the 49ers. Shanahan has made it deep into the playoffs with mediocre QB play and they might have the best roster in the league if you exclude the QB.

It's worth mentioning that Belichick has always felt this way. It's not a commentary on the Pats right now. For Belichick, September has always been about figuring out what kind of team you have so that you can maximize that team's potential for the rest of the season. All that being said I expect the Pats to be pretty bad this season.

Beane said in his press conference that if any of the allegations turned out to be true, they would not be comfortable with Araiza on the team. It's possible that they were unaware of the statutory rape charge before the civil suit was filed, and that charge alone may be enough for them to have cut him regardless of how involved he was with the alleged gang rape. I know people in this thread have argued over the merits of that charge but from a Bills perspective I can't blame them if they decided to just cut ties with him altogether rather than making a public stand over the fine details.

Between Kern and Martin I'll take the cheaper of the two, so probably Kern. Either way we get an upgrade on Haack and we'll be one of the least frequent punting teams in the NFL. All we end up losing from this whole fiasco is a 6th round pick.

The first time the new punter takes the field the commentator will briefly mention that he was recently signed to replace Araiza, and then it will never be mentioned again. Occasionally the media will report updates as the civil suit progresses but the Bills' involvement with the story is now over.

This is 100% false. Only local members of the media have been trying to criticize the Bills' process, and that criticism has gained no national traction. All of the national reporters I've seen are giving us credit for making the right decision quickly, and have specifically mentioned how much better we handled the situation than the Browns handled theirs. Now that Araiza is off the team the story is gone from the national media's radar. We will quietly sign a competent punter and head into the season with the controversy put to bed.

It's become clear from your posts in this thread that you think random sex between strangers at college parties is inherently sketchy. It's fine if you believe that. But it isn't a crime or inherently immoral. If the worst thing Araiza is guilty of is giving a drink to a girl at a college party without asking for her ID and then having sex with her I don't think that rises to the level of career-ending offense. And if it does, I can't even imagine how many NFL players should be unemployed right now. For most of us when we are ascribing guilt or innocence to a person's actions we try to compare it with what an average person would do in that same situation. We don't compare it to some ideal moral do-gooder who follows every law to the letter.

A lot of college aged men (and women) who go to college parties have those same ulterior motives. Going to a party with the intention of having a random hook-up not only isn't a crime, it's a staple of the college experience for many people. As long as you have a reasonable belief that the sex is consensual there is nothing criminal (or IMO immoral) about buying a girl a drink and then having sex with her. This is an allegation that has somehow become fact on social media. Allegations should be treated as such on this board, at least until there is even the barest amount of evidence that it is true.

The Bills don't have the time or resources to "find out what really happened." They have decided to remove themselves from the situation and get the team totally focused on the upcoming season. The allegation clearly affected the locker room.

He was saying the case itself needs time to develop. He wasn't saying Araiza is guilty or innocent. Just that it's best for him, and for the team, for the two to separate right now so Araiza cam focus on the case and the Bills can focus on football. He kept his statement as neutral as possible, as he should.

He may have gotten a bad deal. We just don't know yet. Ultimately this was still the right move for the Bills to make. We can't have a dark cloud hanging over the entire season because of our punter. I hope Araiza is able to get his name cleared and if he does I would welcome him back if he would be willing to.