HappyDays

IIRC Hairston was getting reps with the 1s the last week of OTAs but seemed like there was a rotation between him and White.

I guess I understand White getting 1st team reps to start camp but I really hope the plan is for Hairston to win the job. Need him on the field ASAP for the upside.

We're back!! First practice is tomorrow. Here's the training camp schedule:

I thought Rousseau's extension was a bit of an overpay. I feel the same about this one. Karlaftis gets $3.25M more AAV and an extra $8M guaranteed compared to Rousseau. Not a bad deal, just fine for a good but not great player.

It's a good question. The Bills have lacked stars and those are the players that you need to make game changing plays in critical moments of critical games. If Kincaid was a star last year we might have gone to the Super Bowl. So yeah it's a meaningful talking point. The obvious place to look first is young players from last year that looked like they were on the verge of breaking out, especially at premium positions. In that respect there aren't any obvious candidates for the Bills. I expect Coleman to take a significant step but I can't say he is on the verge of being a superstar. Bishop at this point I'm just hoping becomes a decent player. Same goes for the rest of last year's rookie class. From the 2023 class Kincaid is the only name that seems even remotely possible, and yeah I'm not ready to predict that. So then I would look to the first picks of this year's draft class. It's very difficult to become a star as a rookie but we drafted some players with high end athletic traits for a defense that badly needed those traits so it's at least reasonably possible. Sanders I expect to have an impact but being part of a rotation behind an established vet in Oliver will limit his opportunities. Same for Jackson and I think he's two years away from reaching his ceiling in any case. So for me the most likely candidate on the team is Maxwell Hairston. His path to a full time starting position is clear. CB is a premium position and makes impact plays. And he has the athletic ability to make plays that go above and beyond the scheme which is what defines stars. In actuality I'm not predicting he becomes a star that quickly because of the learning curve but he's the only candidate on the roster I feel reasonably hopeful for. A sneaky pick might be Spencer Brown. He doesn't meet the usual traits of a breakout star because he plays a non-premium position and is already several years into his career. Penei Sewell and Lane Johnson are probably the only RTs playing today that would be considered to be stars. But if Brown takes another step forward from last year he could be in that discussion. To me he's already a star as a run blocker. If he can get his pass protection a little closer to that level I'd put him in the star category.

Chiefs at Chargers is a neutral site even in LA!

Getting the #1 seed should be the goal this year. Our schedule compared to our AFC competition's schedule is set up as favorably as it's ever been. Anything that contributes to KC losing an extra game or two helps us attain that goal.

If nothing else Keon has clearly put the work in this offseason.

I can't make heads or tails of it. Some of the other CBs that were honorable mentions or got at least 1 vote: Jalen Ramsey L'Jarius Sneed Charvarius Ward DJ Reed Carlton Davis Joey Porter Jr Tariq Woolen Marshon Lattimore Alontae Taylor I feel like I'm losing my mind. To me Benford is at least one tier above each of those names, if not multiple tiers, but the NFL doesn't even see him as in the conversation with those players??

Let's hope for 6 games. KC has a tough schedule to start - at Chargers, vs Eagles, vs Ravens, and vs Detroit is 4 of their first 6 games.

Not only is Benford not on the list, he got zero votes. 1) Pat Surtain 2) Derek Stingley 3) Denzel Ward 4) Trent McDuffie 5) Sauce Gardner 6) Christian Gonzalez 7) Jaycee Horn 8 ) Jaylon Johnson 9) Quinyon Mitchell 10) Devon Witherspoon Then there's about 20 players mentioned as honorable mentions or receiving at least one vote. Taron Johnson is listed as getting a vote. But no Benford. He's way underappreciated by the league IMO.

Right, so like I said we did not have a Wilson or Gardner caliber of player to be traded.

We didn't have any players at the level of Wilson or Gardner when McBeane came to town. If we had, we wouldn't have traded them either. Those are both franchise cornerstone players at premium positions and the Jets would be crazy not to keep them around for the rebuild.

Just to be clear though, it isn't just Mahomes' statistics that have been down. It's his on-field performance. There's a reason that the other 3 top tier QBs all got into the MVP conversation last year, while the QB of a 15-1 team wasn't even mentioned, and it's not because of Mahomes fatigue. He just very plainly hasn't been playing at that level the past two seasons. And the counterargument seems to be that you can just cancel all of that out because his team has won championships. Which I get but that's not how a neutral evaluator would rank QBs. I'm not aware of anyone that studies film and/or analytics that has Mahomes ranked as the #1 QB solely based on on-field performance over the past 1-2 seasons. At the end of the day it's all splitting hairs, right? Everyone knows the top 4 QBs could turn pretty much any team in the league into a Super Bowl contender. The individual difference between those 4 is not going to be as important as the difference between their respective teams. That's the point of putting QBs into tiers - the tier grouping tells you more about how they impact the team's success than the individual ranking.

You're arguing against your own point here... Having an elite WR helps whatever QB they draft to be their future become the best version of himself. There's no sense in waiting when the WR market is only going to get more expensive.

So if next year they draft a QB what's the plan?

If you take that idea to its logical extreme, you might as well say that no investments are worth making until you have your franchise QB. That of course would be a ridiculous philosophy for a team to take. When you find your franchise QB you want the team around him to already be in good shape. There's nothing to criticize the Jets for with this extension. They signed a great player to a market value deal.

I'm surprised Stroud didn't make that top 10. I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction on him. His 2nd year was a step back from his 1st, but people are being a bit too unfair and reactionary. He had horrid pass protection all year and his pass catchers were decimated by injuries. Like if you put Hurts in that situation I don't think it looks any better and for my money it would look significantly worse.