Straight Hucklebuck

Bills fans don't want to admit that they bough Doug Marrone, and sided with him and EJ Manuel because it leaked that they wanted an easier target for EJ. That's why they drafted Watkins in 2014. He was supposed to prop up EJ.

Again, individually those players are great. It's just the point that Etienne is a "home run hitter" and can be a pass-catching RB. As long as the Bills don't become Kamara-dependent like the Saints, or McCaffery dependent like the Panthers, I understand the reasoning. I don't think any analyst thinks he's going to come in and rush for 2,000 yards. Baring that, he is a direct replacement for Singletary and Moss, but he doesn't need to be touching the ball 20-22 times a game.

I thought they were discussing this on WGR the other day, that were only 30-40 some 40-yard runs last year? And Derrick Henry led the league. So we can expect a 2-3 40-yard swing passes from Etienne? As long what's bolded is true, then yes, Etienne makes sense. He gets 15-touches a game and replaces Moss and Singletary. Theoretically that makes us better. But either way, if he is CJ Spiller the first two years (Bills had no plan and gave him 3-6 touches per game and blamed pass blocking) or the Bills ride him like Kamara and McCaffery, then I think our production as an offense will decrease. The best argument for Etienne is the missed screen against Kansas City that Singletary dropped. If that's Etienne there and he catches it, that's a 30-yard completion.

He's 5'10" 200 pounds. So the dumb thing to do would be to pivot and make him a focal point of the offense. Yes, he should be better than Moss and Singletary, played at a bigger school, had more production, is 0.2 faster. If the Bills could manage his touches to 15 a game to where he doesn't become the focal point of the offense, that should make them more explosive. But if they start to feel like they have to justify the pick by feeding him 20 touches a game? That's not going to help. Also, like you said, he was billed as an elite athlete. Like Sammy Watkins though, he timed at 4.41 and 4.43. Fast, but not world class speed. And that was a college Pro Day, not the NFL combine timing.

No way in heck should the Bills be trading up for running backs when they have three of them already on the roster. We aren't the 2020 Jets with 37 year old Frank Gore leading the backfield. Etienne is really going to put the Bills over the top?

Remind me again how many Playoff games the Panthers have won with McCaffery? Remind me again how many Super Bowls the Saints have won riding Kamara (even with an All-Time QB)? 3-4 in the Playoffs since Kamara joined in 2017. My point isn't that they aren't individually great. My point is they dumb down your offense because you're constantly checking down to them. Against the Panthers, you know its going to be McCaffery on 15 rushes and another 10 dumpoffs. Your offense becomes easy to predict. You become so reliant on the easy dump off. Go ahead and draft Etienne. He should be better than Moss, Singletary and Breida. But he should only get the same number of touches that they got combined in a game, because if he becomes a focal point in your offense, you won't win more games.

I see what you're saying, Herbert was so good right away that it wasn't the Chargers. You're probably right on that. But no analyst thought he was going to do that last year, including Greg Cosell. The Chargers themselves didn't start him, and Anthony Lynn wants to play archaic run first football. So he wasn't as much of a project as Allen, but he was viewed as a slight underachiever in college.

It happened last year with Justin Herbert. He came in and tore the cover off reasonable expectations for a rookie.

1. I don't want a Kamara/McCaffrey type, because those kind of guys take over your offense and you become checkdown dependent. Yes, they're great players, but your offense becomes easy to defend. Let McCaffrey catch 12 balls for 8 yards apiece, let Kamara catch 10 passes. It's a running back centric offense designed around one player. 2. The Bills have obvious needs on the Offensive Line, Defensive Line and Cornerback. That's where this pick should be targeted. Absolutely NOT.

You literally learn nothing from these “analysts”. Two busts squabbling over players that have already done more in their careers than these two combined. Pull out a stat sheet Marcellus. By the way, Herbert may be just as good as Allen already.

This idea has been proposed before, wondering if any Quarterback is worth the $40M - $50M it takes to keep elite QBs under contract. No one has done it because if it doesn't work, and you kick aside a starting QB, you have no job.

The only reason this shouldn't/won't happen is the cap and Josh's future contract. Julio Jones for a 2nd/3rd Rounder is a no brainer. Look at our 2nd Round picks over the years and argue that we're better off that way. James Hardy, Jarius Byrd, Torell Troup, Aaron Williams, Cordy Glenn, Robert Woods, Cyrus Kouandjio, Ronald Darby, Reggie Ragland, Zay Jones, Cody Ford, AJ Epenesa. A bunch of outright busts, and none of those guys became Franchise cornerstone players. At best you've gotten a couple of good years out of these guys and they moved on to other teams.

Julio Jones taking snaps away from Gabe Davis isn’t worth it? A HOFer who averages 97 ypg for his career isn’t worth it over a 4th Rounder?

I don't think the Bills should take a RB in the 1st Round given their roster. For that investment, he would have to become their feature back. Not a sprinkle player, who by Week 6 we're asking why he isn't on the field more, and the answer we get is he can't pass block. And if he's a feature back and catching passes, it means we throw less. It's too easy in the NFL to negate a good RB. Etienne catching 7 passes a game is not going to lead to victories in the Playoffs. The Bills need help on both lines and in the secondary.

Well it is a need though, that's not an opinion. The Colts Playoff game showed a team that got zero pressure. Jerry Hughes has been a fixture here, but regardless of PFF's rating (75.3), he's not a sack master. Did anyone notice Addison last year? And after those two, the Bills have "guys". Is anyone betting their paycheck on Epenesa after last season? In the game against Ohio State, he looked like he was on the Doughnut Diet.

4.41 and 4.43 isn't world class speed when it comes to the NFL. He's faster than Singletary and Moss, but unless he steps in and becomes the feature back, does anyone really expect him to be split out like a WR and take targets away from Beasley, Diggs, Davis and Sanders? I hope not, because that means we're dumping off constantly. And as good as Kamara and McCaffery are individually, they cap their teams own offense because everything revolves around 4-7 yard dumpoffs. Too many touches to one player, and their offense becomes stale.

I think he's right. I don't like any of these rules being added to the game in recent years. Expanding replay now, more emphasis on taunting, expansion of defenseless player, targeting, lower head penalties. Now we're going towards XFL with running backs wearing "3" and linebackers wearing "12".

For whatever its worth, PFF has these grades on common suggestions: 1. M. Addison - 56.9 2. V. Butler - 56.1 3. Ike B. - 65.3 4. AJ Klein - 46.1 5. Tremaine Edmunds - 47.9 6. Cody Ford - 53.8 7. Levi Wallace - 60.1 8. Dawson Knox - 61.4 I think this aligns with reality. I think Edmunds is counted on in this defense, and he still isn't good. Occasionally, he guesses right and hits the hole and blows up a play. But largely he looks like he has marginal instincts. And Cody Ford has been a disappointment from the beginning.

I think you point it out, it’s his instincts. This is like the Sammy Watkins blind spot. Cannot accept that he is not an impact player. He fills a starting role and would leave a hole when he leaves, but he there is no impact there. You keep waiting for this explosion that never comes. Otherwise I agree, it’s Ford. He hasn’t been able to crack the lineup on talent from the start, and now the injuries are piling up and sapping his ability further.

I mean what roster hole do the Bills have? Really any position makes sense to me outside of Quarterback and Running Back. This team could use another Corner. In terms of the Defensive Line, Ed Oliver has been a disappointment. Harrison Phillips is ok, Butler isn't remarkable, and our DEs are average starters who got no pressure on the Colts in the Playoffs. As good as Hughes sometimes grades, he comes and goes in games. So a DT makes sense to me, Star L is in his 30's, Addison and Hughes both in their 30's. But really any position you can make an argument for. The Bills have extended both Safety's so that it probably not likely, but Offensive Line, Cornerback, Defensive Line all could use reinforcements, Cody Ford has not been great either.

Jason Peters

Thurman, during the 2019 season, I remember John Murphy on the radio (WGR550) constantly saying he thought the deep ball would come back into play for the offense, it never did. John Brown was more of an intermediate WR, then a true burner. Right from the jump in 2019, the Bills made a conscious effort to shorten routes and make it easier for Allen to complete passes. We saw it right away in the Jets and Giants games, through Dallas. As stated, Allen is great when he can load up and throw darts at 20 yards. But we haven't seen a consistent Robert Foster 20.0 ypc kind of element in this offense since 2018. Allen did have the 50+ yarder to Brown in the first Dolphins game. Beasley is death by 1000 cuts, and Diggs give you a deeper average depth of target. Davis has a knack for end zone, but I'm not sure he is a consistent deep threat yet. It's not an attack on Allen though. The two best throws from Allen in 2020 that I saw was that dagger route against the 49ers to Gabe Davis over the top of Fred Warner, and that throw in the Playoff game against the Colts to Diggs over the middle, and maybe all those toe tapping throws to Davis.

Sanders is a capable veteran and the contract makes sense. He's going to be a 600-900 yard kind of WR here.

Agree with the premise of the article. 1. The Sabres don't draft well. None of their picks end up being that good - Ristolainen, Mittelstadt, Nylander. How long did we hear about Justin Bailey, Brendan Guhle? Never did anything. 2. The Sabres get themselves into horrible deals - Matt Moulson, Larsson, Okposo, Gionta, Bogosian 3. They were like the Bills, they love old minded Coaches and GMs. They love the Phil Housley's and Ralph Krueger's who talk about gritty goals, and checking, and defense. The last GM they had sat there are did nothing for 3 years in Botterill. Their GM before was Tim Murray, at least he tried to bring in SKILL. We love guys like Cody Eakin now.

Age hurts Arizona here, as Green had declining in Cincinnati for awhile now, and Fitzgerald was drafted in 2004. Atlanta’s Top 2 of Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley have huge talent when healthy.