Rochesterfan

I would just love to be in that room and then see that video. The strategy and planning that go into that day and the literal ranking of guys that they do must be amazing to see. I am sure that they love the Rousseau pick, but I totally agree - I would love to know who was on the phone and who they wanted to move up for. The Basham pick I can totally believe he was the target for 10-15 picks as he slid, but man I would just love to be fly through the process. I really love watching these Embedded videos and they do a great job. I could watch 30 hours of inside draft coverage and follow-up with all of the picks, but my favorite bit was watching Eric Washington and Rousseau talk and how truly excited he was for this young man. Just smashed it.

Come on Hap - don’t ruin the hot take with facts. 🤦‍♂️

Ok - once again - in all seriousness being totally honest - Why is he considered a home run threat? Wades 40 time and speed were slower than Moss. He is no more a home run threat than Zack Moss. The biggest difference is Moss understands blocking schemes - so he is going to maximize each runs versus Wade that doesn’t. Wade will make a weird cut that works on a rare occasion, but that will be matched by the number of times he loses yards or misses holes because he is still learning. Additionally a third down back needs to be multifaceted: they need to BLOCK, run, and catch. He admits in interviews that he is still learning the blocking and has never run pass patterns. He is basically useless as a third down back. All Wade is at this point is a camp body and a nice story. I hope that he shows he is picking up things and is improving, but unless he gets significantly better - I do not want my season to depend on a 31 year old rookie that is still learning. I want him sitting on the PS as an extra player and nothing more. If he proves it great, but he has not proved it to this point.

To this exact point - he has been released the last 2 years and no one has picked him up. I am not sure in limited time in a few preseason games someone is suddenly going to be like - I need that guy on my final roster. We will see because to get to the PS and the exempt spot - he has to get cut and clear waivers where every team can grab him - so most likely you get your chance to see if others feel the same way.

I am honestly curious as to what you have seen to be able to say this. I won’t agree or disagree until after training camp, but considering all we saw was a very few handoffs 2 years ago. I am not prepared to say he is better than the top 5 RBs on this roster - Moss, Singletary, Breida, Williams, or Jones. He was an instinctual runner 2 years ago with an offensive line and scheme that was more designed to block and allow the RB to hit any hole. Last year that scheme changed to more of an outside zone - get to the hole and go - scheme that favored Moss and even Singletary struggled to pick it up mid season- I am not sure Wade barely practicing was able to pick it up completely and I think it suits him less. My gut/gun to my head thought is Wade has little shot to make this current roster this year. The NFL gave an extra year because these guys got no on the field training last year - no preseason, little training camp, and very little on field practice during the season. I am sure he got a lot of mental reps, but the change in blocking scheme with little practice means he is basically starting over. I would expect him to get cut - clear waivers - and be on the PS as an unusable extra again this year and then when he doesn’t make the team next year - go back to England and work to set up an NFL style training program for Brits that want to make the NFL. I like the dude a lot, but until we see it in TC and preseason - I think he is 6 or lower on the depth chart.

Not to mention - you can typically get tickets online for a couple of bucks. Took the family a couple of years ago - got 4 tickets in the lower bowl for the Giants game for a total of 10 bucks. You can’t beat that and we won and it was a great time in awesome weather and the kids got some autographs near the end as the players milled about.

Typically to sue a Union - a member has to first go through the NLRB board and prove misrepresentation. The NLRB will then review and sanction the Union - then there is an option to sue. Very, very few lawyers would start out trying to sue a Union because the burden of proof that the Union purposely provided bad representation. The issue in this case is that the Union gave terrible advice trying to force the NFL away from OTA’s and it will cost 2 of their members their salary and for James that was a significant amount.

I doubt his suing the Broncos would work as it is collectively bargained and players have lost this in the past. The issue was not what James did, but the NFLPA arbitrarily telling players to stay away without an agreement. James should go after the NFLPA for bad advice, but I am sure like many unions the becoming of a member means you can not challenge their rulings.

Why would they cut a high profile unvaccinated player. It won’t play out like that at all and won’t lead to much discussion. There will be some camp body that isn’t sure and if that is one of the people putting you above the threshold- they will be gone for a variety of reasons. Players like Josh would just keep coming and going as a star.

Washington was a football destroyed because they are the Washington “Football” team. Not exactly clear. Chiefs was ketchup - I am assuming it is a play on Mahomes and the ketchup on the steak. BBQ sauce would of made more sense. Jets - Tasker was destroying apples for “The Big Apple” moniker. There was nothing wrong with it and I enjoyed the idea - really could have been a bit better done. At least they were in order so it made sense.

I enjoyed the Falcons as well - Josh plays a prominent role.

Not near as good as many other teams. See the Chargers thread. Here is Atlanta - Josh Allen is prominent.

He is allowed his position and if he is going to make it public and put it out - then he deserves everything he gets back. Twitter is a toxic place and people dumb enough to post anything highlighting an opinion are going to get hit. He has every right to voice his opinion and others have the same right to voice theirs back at him. If he can’t handle it - Twitter is not where he should state it. If he is fine with the dregs coming at him - then he does not need us.

Time to move on and find someone with the right priorities. LOL 😂

I think they are all terrible - can’t listen in my car anymore at all.

I totally agree with what you are saying. The biggest issue is: the OP and original point was that the Browns by virtue of the off-season have supplanted the Bills and are right now #2 in the AFC. The title of the thread is literally 1.) Chiefs 2.) Browns 3.) Bills. So while I totally agree the pundits seem to have the Browns 5th in the AFC and Vegas have them 9th or so in SB odds - the original point of this thread seems to be focused on the Browns via the draft and FA signings - now being the second best AFC team. I went through the rosters via position groups and do not see a huge advantage either way. The best player on either team is Allen by a wide margin. The second best player is either Diggs or Chubb. Myles Garrett is the best Defensive player on either team for what that is worth. My feeling is last year the Browns played the schedule that the Bills played 2 years ago - “easy path” and nearly screwed them selves up with a late season loss to the Jets. They squeaked into the playoffs and then by virtue of catching a very depleted and dejected Pittsburgh team got a playoff win. This year that cupcake schedule becomes the juggernaut schedule the Bills faced. They will need to be better just to get a record near as good. The Bills on the other hand played a juggernaut schedule with the most playoff teams in the out of the contenders and produced a better record and were a significantly better team. That schedule should back off significantly this year and the team has now dealt with some degree of expectations. They should be ready to go. Talent wise the 2 teams are close, but the #1 difference is the best player is Josh by far and that supersedes any minor talent gap in other places. The coaching is also better and more attuned to today’s NFL in Buffalo.

It still isn’t photoshopped - it was a photo on the official website by the team. No reason for them to photoshop. It is as others have said - forced perspective based on camera angle. You can tell its not photoshopped because McD eyes are looking right into his eyes. The angle was not altered at all or he would be looking in the wrong place.

I know COVID is 5X more likely to kill you than drunk driving and is easier to prevent with a quick shot. Now football related Beane is 100% correct - The coaches, staff, and FO are all getting vaccinated or they can not meet with the players. No reason not to do the same with the players - those that aren’t can not get together with the rest of the team. Consistent rules with the rest of the staff.

That could be - I think Williams versus Conklin is a wash - Conklin is a bigger name, but struggled early. He got better when they went to a run first game. As I said - for each team the OLine is a better fit to do what they want. Even if you go with Cleveland having a better OLine and I can live with that - I think overall the talent is a wash. I just can not get behind all of the statements telling me Cleveland has far superior talent to the Bills and I can not get behind them clearly being the most talented team in the AFC. Cleveland is a very talented team and should make the playoffs and be one of 3-4 teams that need to be reckoned with, but if I am ranking AFC teams at this moment it goes: Top Tier 1) KC 2) Buff 3) Cleve Next Tier Baltimore, Indy, LA

I keep hearing how they are more talented across the board and I just don’t see it. They have some bigger names, but I am not sure they are better. QB - Bills better by a ton RB - Cleveland Better by a ton OLine - Bills Tackles are better, Cleveland better inside - Bills are a better pass group and Browns better run blocking group. - wash WRs - Bills more talented TEs - Cleveland most likely - they have a higher user rate DLine - Cleveland by a ton - although this group is a lot of name other than Garrett the rest have done little in years LB - Bills by a small margin - I think Milano is the best of the bunch but could go draw DBs - I would give it to the Bills I think White is better than Ward and the Bills safeties are a hair better. Overall I think the talent level is very close and the Bills are better than the Browns off the ball (QB, LB, DB, and WR), while the DLine, TEs, and RBs are clearly an advantage for Cleveland. I also think the Bills have a coaching advantage. I think in the modern NFL - high quantity passing attack - the Bills offense is set to be far superior and the Browns defensive scheme makes them better and they will rank better because the offense is a running clock control offense. I just do not see significantly more talent across the roster - I see some positions that are more talented, but those are the same groups that were more talented last year. Not sure Clowney is better than Vernon whom he replaced. Clowney has done little and been injured even more.

Except most current rankings by the talking heads have the Bills #3 right behind KC and TB and now ahead of GB until the Aaron think is figured out. So therefore I think most unbiased observers and even the biased observers that like to put the Bills down think Buffalo is a tier ahead of Cleveland. Could Cleveland win the AFC - of course, but as many of us rightly pointed out - the turning point and best thing to happen to Cleveland was OBJ getting hurt and going out. With him back - it puts pressure on the offense to throw more and that is not a good thing long term. We will see where it goes - I just think the entire thread reads - the Browns picked the guys I really wanted in both FA and the draft - therefore they have supplanted us.

I do not understand the GMs thinking - I would assume they talked compensation, but even a 6th or a 7th would be better than straight up cut. I have to think they are hoping to do a trade still and get something next year, but this borders on complete incompetence. I mean Beane got a pick from Atl for Smith - I just do not understand the thinking here. I agree, but even a late round pick - even next year - clears more cap and gives a minimal return - compared to outright cutting him.

They certainly play a lot of Cover 4 also, but that leaves the same issue - the MLB has significant coverage responsibility and it is much less aggressive toward attacking the LOS. The Bills especially are very focused on keeping pass plays in front of them and for years have given little thought to stopping the run as a primary goal (they give it lip service, but over the years - teams that want to run over and over can).

I totally agree - the issue becomes - will they change it up and risk the big play. I am all for it now that we have the offense - changing up the defense and getting after people. What we know is the offense (and Josh) became super explosive last year and it was even more than expected - they exceeded the wildest dreams of most Bills fans (and my guess is FO and Coaching staff alike). The hard part is they did not get quality practice time and free time together to modify the defense completely- especially as they were still trying to figure out personnel. My hope is with the acquisition and drafting of these bigger DEs that can play inside - we shift the focus to gap attacking DLine - and essentially 2 LB playing more outside to attack edges and a physical safety - maybe Poyer in the middle with a split safety look. Then attack and if you get beat once in a while - so what - let Josh be the hammer and you go right back out and get it. I don’t think Edmunds can be a strict MLB in that defense, but if they play a 4-2-5 (3 Safety) look with essentially 2 hybrid LBs playing both outside and short zone coverage - I think they can be more aggressive. It also requires the off corner to be a bit more physical and able to stay with a WR. We will see if Dane Jackson can get some time in that type of roll or is there a cheap vet they can bring in.

Nice Post. I believe the biggest issue people have with Edmunds and Oliver’s play is related to the style of defense. The Bills play a very passive more traditional Tampa Cover 2 with a MLB they use in a specific deep cover roll. Therefore - Edmunds first and primary responsibility is to get deep enough to prevent easy throws to the deep middle. He then plays from back to front to move forward and make tackles on shorter middle routes and then running plays. This design makes it fairly easy to attack short to mid range and also allows DL men to get off double teams and get a hold of him because he is not attacking run first. Traditional old school LBs - attack run first in responsibility and therefore are in completely different positions relative to the LOS and the DL. The Bills also seem to give their DL more responsibility- rather than just attack. Jordan Phillips was a guy that played out of scheme and attacked and it got him sacks (great), but left holes that got exploited by teams (bad) to the tune that they were not aggressive in trying to re-sign him. I think Oliver is doing more what they want, but it is a more passive role and ends up stifling his greatest attribute of quickness. I would love to see how this team would change given a change in philosophy to more attacking and more pressure, but to be fair - their passive style did lead to the #2 and #3 defenses and they were for those 2 years a top passing defense and were tops against TEs. Last year was more of an outlier without Star and with Harrison recovering and then both Milano and Edmunds getting injured in game 1. They had to really adjust the team and I don’t think they found a rhythm until the second half - where they became a top defense again. The biggest issue with being a passive defense is that good to great QBs and OCs know how to attack you and it takes a near perfect game to be successful. A super aggressive defense can sometimes overwhelm a spot and be disruptive for large stretches - see Buffalo versus NE during the Rex years - but a good to great QB can also adjust to that. We need that change and they got that the 2 prior years - where suddenly they would slide into an amoeba front and bring pressure, whil still dropping 7-8 into coverage. They had less practice time, different players (no Zo that was great at that), and injuries at the second level. I think these caused them to be more passive and make a guy like Edmunds even less likely to make those impact plays (TFLs, sacks, etc.).