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Rest easy, Pancho.

There was a scouting report I read on him shortly after he was drafted and it made a really good argument on one of his main flaws. It said that the person he trusts the most on the field is himself. Meaning, when things break down or don't go as planned, odds are he's just going to run. Never seemed able to toss up a 50/50 ball and trust that the receiver would come down with it. He seemed to always play hesitant and overly-cautious. It didn't help at all having Doug Marrone and Nate Hackett constantly telling him, "Hey, if the throw isn't there just run, three yards and cloud of dust because we coach football like it's 1978!"

Bruce is his godfather, I believe. EJ's dad and Bruce are like lifelong best buds.

Don't feel bad, man. I went on eBay and bought a bunch of autographed cards of his after he was drafted here. For what they're worth now I'd need 200 of 'em to offset the loss, haha.

Because he's really "just another guy" that can do some things well but there's nothing he's exceedingly great at. Players like that will often be replaced by a younger, cheaper option. Plus, Oakland is rebuilding so a lot of guys signed prior to the current front office are gonna be shown the door. Bills needed a guy with some veteran experience to help out the young group they have. He's probably a good locker room guy, too.

Accurate. Kroft had been their longest-tenured TE with four seasons under his belt but the rest of the gang is inexperienced. Croom started college as a wide receiver, Jake Fisher played tackle until this year, Knox played QB in high school which actually gives him an advantageous understanding of the position, and then he and Sweeney are rookies. I gotta say, I like this group, I really do. Nothing flashy (yet, I have high hopes for Knox) but I think they've done well in addressing this area.

Smith will be that one veteran guy they're trying to make sure they have in every room. I think they keep four and it'll be Kroft, Knox, Croom, and Smith, with Sweeney to the PS.

I wouldn't trade a first round pick for Clowney and I'm pretty sure Beane wouldn't either. The dude's highest sack total was 9.5 in 2017, half a sack more than Trent Murphy had in 2016 and half this board thinks that guy should be cut. Clowney just isn't worth it. Good player, but not the "once in a lifetime generational talent" he was built up to be. And yeah, that's just a numbers comparison. I know Clowney is the better overall defender, he's more disruptive and can line up in a number of different spots. Still wouldn't trade a first. And despite turning 31 in August, Jerry Hughes is still playing really good ball. Sack numbers might not always be there but he's also very disruptive and gets a lot of pressure on the QB. I see no reason why the guy can't continue to play the way he has and if he turns in another solid season I'd be all for paying him again. Give him a two or three-year deal and then after that they can do one-year deals or periodic extensions kind of like how they handled Kyle's contract over his last few years.

Others have already said it but yeah, I never thought Mills was as bad as some on here would make you think. He's inconsistent. He'd have games where he pretty much shut his guy down but he'd follow that up with a clunker where he'd get beat quite a bit. From what I've read, he's a great teammate.

I agree, but one of Beane's traits here is trying to have an established vet with every position group. Right now the longest tenured tight end is Tyler Kroft with four years under his belt. Jake Fisher is converting from tackle, Croom is in year two and Knox/Sweeney are the rookies. Does anyone else get the sense that they might roll with four TE's this season?

Haha, well... that wouldn't make a lot of sense (Hallen) but Beane and McDermott are the two guys most responsible for the direction of this team and it seems like they make a lot of decisions together or at least Beane highly values McDermott's input on things. They just seem to be really synced in with what their vision is and how they go about executing it.

Yeah, I'm a fan of McBeane, it's a combination of the two dudes running this team. Easier than always saying, "Beane and McDermott."

That was my first thought. He is indeed the sports director there so The Athletic must be doing pretty well to be able to lure him away.

That would be an interesting transgression as McCoy wore #29 his rookie year before switching to #25 the following year.

Gabriel is a schmuck. There's a reason he no longer has a job in a front office.

They never officially retired #32 but they took it out of circulation after OJ finished his career in Buffalo.

BW's down the road from the stadium is pretty good. Dinosaur BBQ is good as well but it's a chain and I dunno if you're looking for a Buffalo-exclusive type of spot. Now I want BBQ.

I recognize the quote from the scout so I know I've read this report before but I can't remember who it is... Edit: Oh, wait. It's Tremaine Edmunds.

Sounds like he got a minicamp invite where he'd have to try and earn a spot. Maybe he thinks he should've been drafted or signed outright as a UDFA? Clearly he has some skills and you'd think one team out there would take a shot on him but maybe it's his attitude, who knows.

Last season was a rough go for the whole OL, not just Dawkins. I understand how they want competition at every position but last season I really felt like they let the OL battles play out a bit too long. They still didn't have their main five settled after the final pre-season game. Then they rolled out Dawkins, Ducasse, Groy, Miller, and Mills. Groy was swapped out for Bodine, Ducasse eventually cleared the way for Teller, Miller swaped reps with Sirles, Mills was replaced with McDermott a few times. Just a lot of shuffling around. OL is one of those groups that needs to have chemistry and be a tight unit. As others have pointed out, they clearly missed the leadership provided by Wood and Incognito. This makes the Morse signing that much more important. I also like a couple of the veteran guards they picked up. I think their preferred scenario would see the OL made up of mostly homegrown talent, guys that they've drafted. So, Dawkins, Teller, Morse, Long/Spain, Ford. Something like that. All these OL they signed on such short-term deals, it makes sense that they'd wanna have guys that they've mostly drafted be their starters so they can have sustained success and not have to shuffle things around every season. Of course if one of the guards they signed wins the gig they could always extend them.

Ah, ok. I was. I read a list of UDFA's on NFL.com last night and didn't see his name. Thanks.

To date, I don't believe he's been signed as a UDFA by any team nor has he even been extended a minicamp invite.

If Hughes still has gas left in the tank at the end of this season, I wouldn't doubt that they offer him a nice, short-term deal (one, two, maybe three years) and then if he plays out that deal and still wants to play, maybe that's what they keep doing. Kind of how they worked Kyle's contracts over his last few years here.

Can't wait til this guy is throwing tantrums by week four because he ain't getting his targets. He will have nowhere near the success in Oakland that he did in Pittsburgh. And he shuns the Bills, who are further along in their rebuild and definitely seem to have a more coherent plan, to go to a team that doled out a ten year contract for a coach who had been out of football for years who then comes in and proceeds to get rid of the teams best player. They also have no friggin' idea where they'll be playing home games in 2020. Can't wait to see it all implode.

I'd like to see them come away with AJ Brown at 40 but we'll see. Either way, they should have a chance at a solid receiver if that's the route the wanna go.