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I thought Al was retiring? Of all the broadcaster shuffling this year, it’s upsetting Collinsworth hasn’t been traded to a greasy spoon outside Cincinnati where that Piccadilly dipschnitt can ramble on about “here’s a guy” to the four barflies who stumble in for coffee at 2 AM.

I would love to retain Bates. I’d also like to know why it took the coaching staff so long to give him a shot as a starter. They went with Feliciano, Ford, and Boettger all before rolling with Bates. Was he just not showing it in practice? When he got in there he definitely seemed to play a lot better than all the dudes he was behind at one point. I did read that he has been adamant about making center his main position. So I don’t know if they viewed him strictly as the backup center and didn’t want him at guard in case something happened with Morse? But they also had Feliciano who could fill in at center and it’s not like they don’t shuffle their OL around all the time so yeah, I dunno. Also, if he was as solid as we all believe him to be you’d think Beane would’ve put the higher tender on him, even if they were up against the cap because the money wasn’t all that much more. Hope they can keep him but if they can’t then I’ll still be trusting the ol’ process.

If it turns out that McKissic going back on his deal and returning to Washington forced Beane to let Levi walk then yeah, I can see why he’s so mad with them. If the negotiations were done the way they’re supposed to be done then Beane would’ve operated knowing that Washington was still in the running to re-sign McKissic and he would’ve been able to communicate that with Levi’s agent like, “If we land him, we can’t re-sign Levi, but if we don’t then we can explore options for Levi knowing we’d have some money to move around.” Instead, he was told from the jump that Washington was out, and had no interest in re-signing him. So Beane may have been like, “OK cool, that money is going on the McKissic deal, let’s let Levi’s guy know that we won’t have the money to bring him back.” So Levi takes the deal in Pittsburgh and then the next day McKissic backs out. If that’s indeed the case then he actually lost out on two players. I’d be pretty irritated as well.

Beane puts a lot of value on his draft picks. He was able to go out and sign a guy on the same level as Mack (probably a little better given his consistency, leadership, and how he shows up in big games) for the same money Mack got without sacrificing draft picks. I remember that. It was definitely strange considering he never really said anything about Buffalo before that. At the time I thought maybe he got all fussy because perhaps he expected to be drafted to Buffalo. If that’s the reason then it’s a pretty poor reason to be all sour grapes considering the entire front office in 2018 was completely changed from the group that was in there when Mack was drafted in 2014.

Wow, neato. May both Watson and the Browns FO get clocked in the nards with an errant golf ball. Kapow. Friggin' weird-faced little pervert.

Yeah, I’d be good with this.

I’m pretty sure the two played together at Fresno State. They’ll probably do pretty well.

Must be muy caliente by now.

I wanted them to draft this dude a few years back. I know he hasn't done a whole lot in the league but maybe a change of scenery will give him a spark.

Great googily moogily!! Earlier today I was starting to actually believe they were gonna sign Chandler Jones based on the roster moves they were making. And then as usual, some team comes out of left field and scoops him up. Had no idea all the space clearing was for Miller. Dang. That's big time. Dude still plays at a high level, he won't have to take a huge percentage of the snaps and he's an absolute beast in the playoffs and big games. 6 years, wow.

Never ever trust any player when they claim it's not about money and they "just wanna win." Every time I've seen that type of situation, the player always goes to the highest bidder. And Beane absolutely refuses to get into any sort of bidding wars. I'm sure he's out there making the calls and telling agents what type of offer they have. Something like (and this is hypothetical) "Yeah we can go 3 years for $30 million overall" and the agent says "Well, Vegas says they'll give us 3 years at $38 million, you wanna match? My guy says he wants to play there..." And Beane says, "Welp have fun with the other team. Bye. *click*" They just do not have the assets to chase any of these big names. They're so tight against the cap that no matter their offer, there's at least a dozen or more teams out there that can easily outbid them. Ah well. Keep on truckin'.

What a yutz. When I see players sign with teams like Jax, NYJ, and Washington, I just think to myself, "Huh. Winning must not be important to them." Money is all well and good and I get maximizing your talent but if you're being offered the exact same deal from two teams, one that's been a dumpster fire for years and one in a legitimate Super Bowl window and you chose the dumpster fire then I dunno what to tell you.

Mainly just Joe.

It's hilarious how you see the same people cursing this move when they were all calling for the dude to be cut anytime an opposing receiver made even the slightest play on him. Fickle. That's a very manageable deal, though. Surprised they wouldn't try to retain him if that's where the money was at. I can't imagine they looked at Dane Jackson and said "this guy is ready to make the jump to full time starter." He played well at times last season but also got caught out of position a lot. They're definitely drafting a DB within the first three rounds. I'd imagine they have their eye on a FA or two to bring in for depth. Or maybe they plan on swinging a trade. I think it's a pretty solid prospect group for DBs but I dunno if they're gonna get as lucky as they did when they picked Tre in 2017 and he's been rock solid since day one.

He said it was down to Steelers or Giants. I think he made the right call. While he would know the system in NY with Daboll, ownership there has made it real clear they're gonna do all they can to make Daniel Jones the guy. Mitch gets a much better chance to start where he's competing against a QB the Steelers don't have a major investment in with Rudolph. But it is interesting to see how this dude went from undesirable to "come win a starting gig" after a season in which all he did was kneel, handoff, run for a TD or a throw a pick. Understandable though, since there are quite a few QB-needy teams and the prospect group isn't great this year.

This seems like it could be a sneaky good signing. The guy didn't see many snaps in Washington because he had dudes like Allen and Payne ahead of him. He definitely fits the Bills in terms of what they're looking for in free agents (players on the younger side with untapped potential and just need a chance to shine) as well as in terms of players overall. His scouting report said he plays with "infectious energy" and takes well to coaching. As they've been telling new acquisitions in the McBeane era, come be the best Tim Settle you can be.

This is like the fourth or fifth reporter I've seen saying Bills have interest in Landry.

He’ll get paid somewhere.

Oh for farts sake… what? Unfinished business?! Lol what else could there possibly be for this dude…ya got seven flippin’ rings, the MVPs and All-Pro’s and pro bowls and records out the wazoo. Is he mad they gave last seasons MVP to that dirty hippie Rodgers? I bet that’s it. I bet that dude who spent $518k for Tom’s “final TD throw of his career” football is big mad right about meow. I dunno man, what the heck else anyone could ever want or need out of a career but here’s ol Tommy Pickles still slingin’ it over them there mountains. What a friggin weenie. He’s eternal isn’t he? I bet he’s some kinda weirdo pervert vampire or something. Son of a….unfrickinbelievable. Go home, Tom! Take your stupid ball and your stupid seven titles and stupid frickin’ records and just go home, nerd!

The Beane shade in this thread is hilarious lmao.

Played decent in spots. But my lasting memory of him as a Bill will be seeing him 12 yards away from the play as Jonathan Taylor rips off another 15 yard run. Good lord that game was abysmal.

This kid is really something….a putz comes to mind…perhaps schmuck as well. The arrogance is really something. He’s basically trying to say he’s the grand savior of the team and if they wanna continue to allow him to save them then they must pay up. It’s clear some of these kids haven’t realized how unimportant they really are. You play a game, dude. You’re not saving the world. At the end of the day what you do is really not that special. Get over yourself.

I was a wee lad in the late 80s right when the Bills started getting good. I can remember Ronnie Harmon dropping a game winning (or tying, I can’t recall for sure) TD pass in the divisional round against the Browns. I also think that was the game where Don Beebe got dropped on his head. Those are definitely some of my earliest Bills memories. But back in those days I picked a favorite team based on uniform colors lol. One year it was the Bengals because I dug the orange and black but then Joe Montana and John Taylor made me sad on Super Bowl Sunday. The next year I picked the Raiders because well, silver and black. And then Jim Kelly and the Bills decimated them in the AFC Championship game and I got tired of the family teasing me so at halftime of that game I took off my Raiders shirt and said OK, I’m a Bills fan now, and have been ever since. I’m sure I have plenty of favorite moments over the years but right now my favorite thing is just the progression of Josh Allen. After watching this team struggle to adequately fill the QB spot for 20 some years I can’t even describe how awesome it is that they’ve finally found their guy. I know coming out of Wyoming there were questions and concerns but during his rookie season you could just see there was something about the kid. I kept coming back to the term “gamer” and the sense that if this kid is always gonna give you a chance to win. And just his ability and skills are nearly unrivaled right now. His arm is ridiculous, he can kill you with his running ability, he’s nearly unstoppable when the play breaks down and he starts creating on his own, he’s improved every single year and the craziest part is he maybe hasn’t quite reached his ceiling yet. So yeah, seeing him come along and turn into the All Pro he is has been my favorite thing. My favorite player from the past has always been Jimbo. I’ve still got a handful of signed cards from him when my dad would take my brother and I to camp when it was still in Fredonia. I also loved Thurm and Bruce. Over the years some other favorites have been Fitz, Stevie, Lee Evans, Fred Jackson, Kyle Williams. I really loved the Sammy Watkins pick, really thought that dude was gonna be a star. Wrong on that one haha. I thought Karlos “Pudge” Williams was gonna be a good one too. And I wanted so badly for JP Losman to become the guy but meh, stuff happens. Right now I could list the whole team as my favorites. They just seem like a really tight knit group and you just wanna root for them. Obviously love 17 but also 13, 14, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 49, 50, 55, 58, 60, 71, 73, 88, 91, 99. As for TBD, I wasn’t real active on it until the Bills website shut down their forums in lieu of their social media. I’d been poking around in the old Bills forums since like 2002. It was a bummer they shut it down. But TBD has become a great alternative. It was pretty flippin’ rough following the divisional round loss this year, yeesh. But it’s been better over the last week or two as we now have free agency and the draft to blabber about. Go Bills!

I’d be down for this. I haven’t bothered to pay much attention to Kirk and some of the more higher priced FAs because I don’t think Beane will be in the mix for those guys. But, he does make a splash every other year or so and maybe this year he sticks to his guns in re-signing some of their own FAs, while finding some bargains and then maybe making the splash by maneuvering around the cap to bring in Kirk.

No. He's a coach that challenges his players to be the absolute best they can be. Competition breeds excellence. You've gotta earn your spot here and I think most players respect and appreciate that.